Danger’s Vice
Page 21
His eyes focused somewhere over my head. “I’d like to say it’s fifty-fifty,” he answered. “But in reality, it’s probably about twenty percent, and that’s being generous.”
“But it worked on me,” I pointed out. “That gives me hope.”
He nodded. “That’s true, but you were infected for less than a day and a half. We’re talking about curing people who have been ingesting Plush for years on end. If everything documented in the formulas is correct”—he glanced down at the pico, then back at me—“it could work. But we’re going to need a mass supply of it to help everyone.”
I nodded as I stood. “Twenty percent is good enough for me. Mary’s only been infected for a week or two. Her chances of coming out of this are better, right?”
“Again, hard to know, but based on what we’ve seen with you, I’d say the odds are in favor of her making a full recovery.”
I walked to the door, Daze coming after me. I turned at the last minute. “And, Darby, stay out of trouble while I’m gone. We need you in one piece.”
“That’s the plan. That’s always the plan.”
As we headed out, I slung my arm across Daze’s shoulders. “This journey isn’t going to be easy, kid.”
“I know. But it doesn’t scare me.” His voice held a note of something that belied his words.
“Then what does?” We stopped in front of Mary’s door. I nodded to Ned, and he followed us out.
“Losing you.”
I dunked his head playfully. “That’s not going to happen. I’m tough, if you haven’t noticed. You’re stuck with me for the duration.”
“Does that mean you’re going to sustainer me for longer than a year?” His voice held hope.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, kid. One day at a time.”
Sneak Peek of
Holly Danger: Book Three
DANGER’S
RACE
CHAPTER ONE
“Can we trust this Ned guy?” Bender asked, his voice expressing more than a little grumble. It was just after dawn, and an early riser he wasn’t. But the timing couldn’t be helped. We were gathered in his shop, the communal place for most of our meetings, to discuss our new mission. We were each taking off in separate directions to find key ingredients Darby needed to concoct a cure for Plush, the pharma-psychotic drug that permanently altered the DNA of the user, turning them into mindless pleasure seekers.
It was the best—and likely only—chance we had to help Mary, an innocent woman who’d been caught up in the dangerous games of zealots and outskirts in this dark city. Mary was the first in a long line of seekers who needed our help. But starting with her made sense. She’d been recently infected and had a high chance of pulling through with no lasting effects.
I stood with my back against the wall, arms crossed. Daze sat in a chair, fiddling with a gadget he’d found on one of the worktables. Lockland had his shoulder braced against the cooling unit, and Bender was situated on his regular stool, a jug of aminos gripped in his fist.
Case stood off to the side, near the hallway we’d just come through. It was strange to have him here, but since he was my partner on this journey, it was necessary. Darby was back at the Emporium, with Ned, the person who was currently in question, trying to finalize everything so when we arrived back with all the necessary ingredients—hopefully within a few days—he could put the cure together.
“All I can go by is our history together,” I told the group. “When I first met him, he wanted to make a deal. He wasn’t in Hutch’s group by choice. Then, two days ago, the day we sent Cozzi off, he took me to Dill’s residence and we scoured the place. It was a dump. I’m pretty sure the cockroaches still scurrying around the city have better accommodations. Dill, it seems, was a fairly new recruit to the group and not in the know. Ned was friends with Mary before she was infected, and wants to help.” I shrugged. “He’s agreed to protect Darby and take care of Mary while we’re gone. Claire can’t get away, and the rest of us are taking off to places unknown. He’s trustworthy enough on a non-vital level, but I’ll go with whatever we decide. He’ll walk without issue if we tell him to.”
“Ned can stay,” Lockland said, shoving off from the cooling unit as he reached into his pocket, withdrawing a small box. “Having somebody look after Mary sounds like a good idea to me.” He walked over and placed the item into my now outstretched hand.
“What’s this?” I asked, as I popped the top off, leaning over to examine it, not believing my eyes. In the box, nestled between a piece of soft cloth, sat a very rare status reader. “No way! Where did you find this?”
I knew what it was based on its shape and color. It was a small oval made of white, semi-shiny polymer. These were fairly common before the dark days. It had a flat section on the bottom so it could rest on a counter or a desktop. They were purported to relay directional information, temperature, atmospheric readings, and could even detect human matter, all upon request. People called them “status eggs” for short. I only had a picture to go on, but it did look remarkably like an egg.
I’d actually found one intact a long time ago, but hadn’t been able to get it to work. Most of the time they were smashed or damaged beyond repair.
Daze hustled to my side, intrigued by what I held in my hand. He made a move to touch it, but I shook my head, pulling my hand back. “There’s a reason it’s in this box with the cloth,” I told him. “The organic matter on your fingers could contaminate the sensors. It uses Lidar technology to measure distances and take readings.” Lidar was short for Light Detection and Ranging. According to the data, the egg sent out light out to accurately detect things. “When they were first made, they had some sort of coating on them, but who knows if it’s worn off or not. Let’s not take any chances.” I glanced at Lockland. “Does the voice activation work or is this one manual only?” It had a switch tucked inside the flat bottom that would turn on the basic settings so they would be displayed on the top of the shell. Voice activation, as a whole, hadn’t held up over the years. The software needed to generate it was fragile and decayed over time.
Lockland arched a cagey eyebrow at me. “Give it a try. To power it up, say ‘reader on’.”
I’d lowered the box in front of Daze. “Go ahead, you try first.”
“What should I ask it to do?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Ask it what the temperature is or how many of us are in the room.”
“Okay.” Daze licked his lips like he was getting ready for a long, important oration. I grinned as he cleared his throat and, in a voice several decibels lower than his natural speaking voice, commanded, “Reader on.”
Amazingly, the thing popped to life.
An array of colors dotted the surface, tiny pinpricks of light blinking faster than I could track—the Lidar tech in action.
Everybody gathered around to see this rare piece of technology actually work, including Case.
“Who needs to know the damn temperature?” Bender grumbled. “It’s always cold and rainy. End of story.” His attitude belied the fact that his eyes were riveted on the thing, just like everybody else’s.
A few low beeps issued out as the colored lights jumped around on the surface before solidifying into two glowing green numerals. The number fifteen flashed twice, followed by a soft, fluid female voice, “The temperature is fifteen degrees Celsius, the barometer is dropping rapidly, expect rain.”
She’d answered Bender’s question—that hadn’t really been a question—with a real answer. It was nothing short of amazing.
“Expect?” Bender snorted. “How about it’s raining now.”
“Stop spoiling the fun, fun-spoiler,” I told him as I nudged Daze. “Go ahead, ask it something else.”
“Um,” Daze hedged. Then in the same low, comical baritone, he asked, his lips only inches from the thing, “How many people are in the room?”
The egg’s lights zoomed around on the surface, shooting off a kaleidoscope of colors. Several bee
ps sounded and the number five flashed again. After a second, the woman’s voice, which was kind of freaking me out because it was so polished and perfect, flowed out, “I detect five humans within two meters, nine humans within twenty meters, and thirty-four humans, and several invertebrates, within one hundred meters.”
We all gasped.
Holy shit.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amanda Carlson is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, with a BA in both Speech and Hearing Science & Child Development. She went on to get an A.A.S in Sign Language Interpreting and worked as an interpreter until her first child was born. She’s the author of the high octane Jessica McClain urban fantasy series published by Orbit, the Sin City Collectors paranormal romance series, the contemporary fantasy Phoebe Meadows series, and the futuristic/dystopian Holly Danger series. Look for these books in stores everywhere. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and three kids.
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Nothing is created without a great team.
My thanks to:
Awesome Cover design: Damonza.com
Digital and print formatting: Author E.M.S.
Copyedits/proofs: Joyce Lamb
Final proof: Marlene Engel