Fortunately, the bag had enough room for one pistol as well as her NetMini. She slung it over her shoulder and started toward the living room, but froze as she passed the bathroom. The woman in the full-length mirror attached to the inside of the door didn’t look like anyone she knew. She looked like a normal person.
Risa let slip a nervous laugh on the way to the living room. Maybe the forces of darkness won’t recognize me.
Kree secured the Velcro strip of her spongy sandals around her ankle and bounced to her feet. Risa clasped her hand, took a deep breath, and walked out. A few neighbors passed them in the hall. Two women hurried by without making eye contact; one older man smiled at them, but didn’t stop to talk.
They had the bubble elevator to themselves on the way down; Kree pressed against the transparent shell, mesmerized by thousands of little advert bots flying around an open-air city, darting between buildings. A momentary feeling of being a sniper’s dream target, helpless in a clear capsule, passed. She resisted the urge to pull Kree in and shield her from the outside.
Dammit Shiro. Why did you have to say that? No. I’m fine. Lars is ACC intelligence and he didn’t recognize me. They have no idea who I am.
She couldn’t help but eye the crowd as they exited the ground-floor lobby and caught a PubTran car in front of the building. The nearest park with ‘stuff to do’ for kids required an eleven-minute ride. On the trip, she talked with Kree about school. The girl’s only complaint was the helmet hurt her neck after wearing it for so long.
“I wanna plug.” Kree poked a finger at the socket behind Risa’s ear.
“No cyberware until you’re eighteen.”
“But…” Kree made a face. “You can’t do anything without a port. All the good games require them. I’d like school more if it didn’t look fake like a holo-vid.”
Risa held a hand to her chin, tapping a finger at her lip. “Well, there is one implant we can do that’ll make it seem more real.”
“Really?” Kree’s eyes widened.
“Yep.” Risa grabbed her in a one-armed hug. “We could implant you into a real classroom.”
Kree flattened her eyebrows. “No one goes to real school anymore.”
“Sure they do. It’s just easier and cheaper to do it online.”
Kree shrugged.
Hmm. No immediate protest. Maybe it would be good for her?
The PubTran car let them off at a small lot full of cars. A wide field of grass and trees stretched out ahead of them, a recreation of Earth. Some people played with dogs, others lounged in the shade, lost in their NetMinis. A man passed jogging, trailed by a fist-sized orb-bot spouting off like an angry old man coaching the next great kinetic boxing champion.
Kree gravitated to a playground area with low-impact rides and stuff to climb. Risa followed the cue and went over. She took a seat on a bench where a few other parents watched their kids as Kree ran into the mix. Three fences boxed in the play park, offering a small feeling of security that the only way in or out was past the benches full of parents.
Unlike most of them, Risa didn’t pull out a NetMini, sleep, or try and hit on the guy next to her. She locked her attention on Kree, sparing the occasional left–right glance. The girl went straight for the climbing bars, and seemed to insert herself into a group of like-age kids within minutes.
After an hour or so, Risa relaxed―a little. The children had moved on to a rotating platform after getting bored of the ‘horses-on-springs,’ even if they were shaped like space motorcycles and had harmless laser ‘weapons’ consisting of holograms; typical holovid-style blasts of red or green light in distinct streaks.
“… an update on the latest goings-on with Senator Marta Nur. Moht?”
Her consciousness snagged on the name. Risa swiveled her head around and up at a car-sized bot flying overhead. A too-pretty Marsborn woman smiled from a fifteen-foot square holographic panel suspended beneath it. She vanished, and in her place appeared a youngish man with short, curly hair that appeared wet and lopsided to his left.
Text at the bottom of the image read: ‘Moht Daran, Mars Media Corp Political Correspondent.’ In English, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish, all scrolling at different speeds. The subtitling continued as he spoke.
“Thank you, Aimee.” He smiled. “Senator Nur has recently come under fire amid a series of disturbing allegations involving under-the-table deals with Aegis Industries, a prominent defense contractor.” An image of the sour older woman appeared at the top left, looking much less intimidating behind a podium during a full-panic-mode press conference. “Information which has come to public light via an unidentified source implicates the Senator in numerous ethical violations involving the awarding of government spending contracts to Aegis. In addition, the Senate Ethics Committee is investigating allegations that recent terrorist action, specifically the destruction of Arden Settlement, came at her direct order and was not, in fact, the actions of the terrorist Martian Liberation Front, as previously reported.
“Senator Nur has vehemently denied involvement, however, the number, scope, and variety of the files released to the public by the as-yet-unidentified cyber vigilante have stirred a veritable wasps’ nest on Earth’s Moon and thrown almost one-third of the entire Senate under the spotlight.”
Risa smiled at the fish-out-of-water face the old bitch made. Much better than assassination.
“Nice work,” said Shiro, right behind her.
She froze. Her gaze shifted to the purse, and the almost-recognizable outline of a laser pistol under the thin, silvery material.
“The girl seems to have come out of her shell.”
Tears gathered in her eyes, but didn’t fall. “Please don’t.”
Shiro, hands in the pockets of his white suit pants, walked around the right side of the bench. He sat about a person-width away, leaning back with his sunglasses pointed at the NewsNet bot. “I didn’t come here to threaten you, Risa. You’ve no reason to be frightened.”
“I’m supposed to believe that?” She wanted to go for the weapon, but who knows how much backup he had watching her. A slow gaze from right to left couldn’t find any snipers or anyone hiding in a nearby bush. “You tried to have Pavo killed. You don’t hesitate when you’re given orders to murder innocent people. Innocent people who trust the government you work for.”
“The government I worked for and the government you work for aren’t the same thing.” He reached up to his face―she tensed―and pulled off his sunglasses. “Few things can drive a man to foolishness like love.”
Risa lowered her voice. “Killing a man to steal his girlfriend isn’t love, it’s psychotic. It’s possessive.”
“I suppose.” He folded the glasses and tucked them in the inner pocket of his suit jacket.
“No katana?”
Kree jumped from the moving merry-go-round, tumbled, and sprang upright. Risa shifted her weight forward to stand, but the child popped up giggling rather than crying. She grabbed a slightly taller girl by the hand and dragged her to the swings.
“I didn’t want to spook you.”
“You being here spooks me. Why aren’t you back on Earth?”
“I am surprised you didn’t kill Nur. If I was in your position, it’s what I would have done.”
“I’m not an assassin.”
He smiled. “You’re beautiful when you’re angry.”
Risa narrowed her eyes. “You’re making me prettier.”
Shiro held up a placating hand. “My associates have located your safehouse under Primus. Senator Nur is not yet completely out of the picture and still retains significant influence over the actions of C-Branch.” He locked eyes with her. “Listen to what I am about to say carefully.”
“W-what?” She leaned closer to him.
“A team has infiltrated your old home. Demolitions charges have been placed all throughout the ventilation system.”
Senator Nur’s voice echoed from the sky, flinging around words like ‘spurious’ and
‘smear campaign.’ Most of what she said melted into meaningless babble in Risa’s mind.
She grabbed her purse, fumbling for the NetMini.
Shiro put his hand on hers, holding it down. “They are watching what goes on. The charges are set to detonate in approximately twelve hours. If they see alarm, or signs of an evacuation, they will set them off early.”
“What are they waiting for? Why the delay? You’re here to torture me, aren’t you?”
He shook his head. “No, Risa. The MLF has two event teams out in the field, currently returning from operations. They are waiting so they can catch as many fish as possible with one net.”
“Everett can’t stop this?”
Shiro sighed. “It’s over his head. Internally, Senator Nur is blaming the MLF for ‘constructing lies’ and disseminating the information to the NewsNet. She has convinced enough people that Maris has gone rogue and is plotting a coup to overthrow the whole Senate.”
“That’s so far from reality ‘dustblow’ isn’t a strong enough word.” Risa shook her head in disbelief.
“By the time they figure out she’s lying, it will be too late. You, however, might be able to get in there and shut down the bombs. You did well at Arden.”
“If that’s doing well, I’d hate to see what you call a pooch screw.” Risa rubbed the back of her neck.
Kree squealed and giggled on the swings.
Shiro watched her for a moment before smiling at the ground between his shoes. “I never worked for Starpoint. I didn’t come to Mars because I was a concerned executive willing to donate money to a cause I believed in. When I said I would keep things between us strictly professional, I meant it… at the time. I never planned on falling for you.”
“They sent you here to kill me. Getting the target in bed is one of the easiest ways to assassinate.” She squirmed, feeling unclean at the mere thought of it.
“I was sent here to evaluate your intention and threat level. If you were willing to follow orders, I wouldn’t have had to do anything.”
“But I don’t kill innocent people.”
“Admirable of you.” He sighed. “However, you wanted to quit. They wanted me to get rid of you as a risk, but I believed you really wanted out.”
“I do.” She teared up again at the massive smile on Kree’s face. “I do.”
Shiro clapped his hands on his knees and sat straight. “I regret attempting to kill one man you love, so I wanted to help you save the other one.”
Risa glanced at him, the comment he’d made about how her father should have forbidden her from getting cyberware echoed at the back of her memory. “You knew?”
“Your father?” He flashed a grin two parts smug, one part rogue. “Of course. Why do you think they call it military intelligence? Granted, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. I did run a comparison of Andriy’s DNA to yours.”
“No match.” She let her NetMini slip out of her hand into the purse.
He took his sunglasses out and put them on. “Not even close.”
“How do I know you’re not trying to get me to go down there to get caught in the explosion too?”
“You don’t.” He peered over the sunglasses, holding steady eye contact. “I am not betraying you. I don’t expect you to forgive me for Pavo. This is my attempt at apologizing. If you do decide to go, you’ve got twelve hours.” Shiro stood and watched Kree. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.” He stood silent for a little while, bowed his head, and started to walk away, stopping after only one step. “Kurasawa.”
“What?” Risa blinked.
He bowed his head. “My real name. Jun Kurasawa.”
She sat in silence, watching him walk off into the crowd. A gleeful squeal from one of the kids distracted her for an instant. When she glanced back to her right, Shiro had vanished. Risa traced her thumb over the screen of her NetMini, shivering from worry. Trap? Genuine warning? Something about the tone of his voice made her believe him. Her throat tightened at the sight of Kree’s grin, trailed by her waving hair as she went around and around on the spinning ride.
Shit.
25
An Impossible Choice
Risa rushed in the door of her apartment, tugging Kree along by the hand. She’d given a brief explanation, ‘someone is going to hurt Garrison,’ which stalled the tearful protest at having to go home early. On the elevator ride up, she’d tried to call Pavo, but got his ‘on duty’ immediate punt to Vidmail. She sent a text-only message after that, which the Defense Force allowed since they could be read at will and did not demand instant attention: ‘Emergency. Need you here asap.’
The child followed her to the bedroom. Risa stripped, kicked off the sandals, and retrieved her ballistic suit from the closet.
“Are you gonna kill people?” Kree stood in the doorway, twisting side to side.
“No, sweetie. I’m trying to stop people from dying.”
“When can we go back to the park?” asked Kree.
“Tomorrow, we’ll spend all day if you like.” If I’m still alive and this isn’t a trap.
Kree wandered to the nightstand and brought Risa her weapons harness, sans pistols.
“Thanks.” Risa patted her on the head and slipped into the black nylon rig.
“Who’s babysitting me?” Kree squatted and ripped open the Velcro on her sandals. “Is Aunt Gen coming over? She left a popsicle on the floor last time, but it didn’t melt.”
“What?” Risa blinked.
Kree shrugged. “A purple popsicle. It was big, and it didn’t smell like grape. She screamed at me to drop it like it was gonna burn me or something.”
I’m going to slap the shit out of her. “Oh, I’m sure it was just a bad popsicle. Food goes bad sometimes. When I get back, I’ll get you a nice one.”
“Okay.” She tilted her head. “Are we gonna have lunch before you go?”
No way can I eat right now. “I’m not hungry… I’m too nervous. Come on.” Risa grabbed the wearable electronics suite Raziel sent her, and pressed it into the skin over her right ear. Her stomach clenched at the thought of metal threads weaving into her skin. Indicators flashed by as the scanning modes synced up with the computer in her brain.
Risa jogged to the kitchen and dialed up macaroni and cheese from the reassembler for Kree. Within a second of the plastic bowl hitting the table, the doorbell rang. She sprinted over, spotting Pavo in a black shirt outside.
“Thanks for coming so fast. That was umm… fast.” She pulled him inside.
He smiled. “You sent a hell of a text. What happened?”
“I’ll explain when I get back. Can you watch Kree?”
“Sure.”
Risa ran to get one laser pistol from her purse and the other from the drawer in the nightstand. Pavo stood in the center of the living room, hands in his pockets. She raced for the door, but skidded to a halt near him, regarding his plain black outfit.
“Your message said you were on duty. You doing undercover work now?”
He rolled his eyes. “I was already in Arcadia. They’ve sent me to see a ‘stress therapist.’ I got a little rough with a shoplifter.”
Risa thought back to the beating he and Aurelia had administered to a cupcake thrower. “Maybe I should go with you next time.”
“That would be nice.” He smiled. “You’re not going to get shot at again, are you?”
“No. Damn, I hope not.” She wanted to kiss him, but that would lead to more than a kiss and she didn’t have any time to waste. “Sorry. I’ll be back.”
“Call me if you need anything. I can drop her at the station and come in, guns blazing.”
“Kree, I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she yelled.
The girl came zooming in and leapt into a hug. “Don’t die.”
Risa nearly changed her mind about going, but she couldn’t leave her father to die… or anyone else down there. One tear ran down her cheek. “I’m not planning to.”
After a brief squeeze, she s
et the girl down on her feet and ran out. Instead of seeing herself falling to her death from the Strand, her brain tortured her with nightmare images of the safehouse, filled with smoke and body parts. She paged a PubTran car on the way down the elevator, and it arrived within forty seconds of her reaching the street edge.
She jumped in as soon as the door opened. “Shuttle port.”
“Thank you for choosing PubTran Corporation for your transportation needs.”
“Skip it. Hurry.”
“Expedited trips are available for an additional”―the electronic male voice dipped an octave lower―“fifty-two credits.”
“Fine.” She waved her NetMini again.
The little car with eight-inch fat wheels burned rubber. Sudden acceleration slammed her into the back of a hard plastic seat covered by a thin layer of cloth bearing a repeating pattern of teal squares. She found herself clinging to the ‘oh shit’ handle on the corner of the roof as the demon-possessed AI used a combination of streets and sidewalks to navigate. Whenever they approached a red signal, the auto-driving car it leapt the curb to get around traffic. Several pieces of food, coffee cups, and at least one pedestrian bounced off the hood. At the end of the next block, the PubTran car cut off a giant cargo truck and slid sideways around a ninety-degree turn.
All the shit I’ve been through, and I’m going to die at the hands of a fucking Pub car.
It spun around a right turn, slapping her into the left wall. Something ka-thumped under the vehicle. She twisted to peer out the thin strip of transparent plastisteel serving as a rear window, hoping not to see a child lying maimed in the road. A terrified woman in a white business skirt suit pushed herself up out of a puddle away from a smashed suitcase. Clothes danced in the wind.
Only luggage.
Damn. She exhaled.
The PubTran car squealed around a hard left; this time, Risa braced for it and got her boots on the opposing wall to avoid another body slam. Two minutes and nine seconds after it got underway, it stopped in front of the Arcadia Starport entrance.
Ghost Black Page 31
