“You should have.” She wiped sweat from her face with her filthy skirt. “She really will pay for you.”
“You want to hike through here on your own?” He grinned at her, then his smile faded. “Besides ... I just wasn’t going to sit there. I think that’s partly why my father went off to be an artist and be poor. He could have been an artist and stayed rich and inside the family. But he didn’t like the rules. And yeah, there are rules.” He looked up as the light dimmed suddenly. “I think it’s going to rain.”
No kidding. Kayla’s eyes widened as the patches of sky visible through the canopy went from blue to charcoal gray in minutes. Without warning, the clouds opened and water fell, straight as a shower. Ethan caught her wrist and pulled her into a natural shelter created by a tree that had partly fallen and had been covered in vines. The thick leaves blocked most of the downpour. Kayla licked the sweet drops of water from her lips, laughed, and stepped out into the downpour again, wet almost instantly to the skin. It felt good as the warm rain sluiced away sweat and dirt. She slid the top of her dress down her shoulders, the water cascading between her breasts. Felt damn near clean. The rain stopped, just as suddenly as it had begun.
The sun emerged above the canopy and the air turned instantly into a sauna. Water dripped, flashing like jewels in the shafts of yellow light that speared down through the leaves, and a bright bird with crimson and blue feathers fluttered between the trees. Kayla laughed softly, her wet hair plastered to her head, her dress still around her waist. “It’s beautiful,” she said. “It’s a hell of a place to hike, but it’s beautiful.” She turned to look at him and deliberately stepped out of her dress. Jeruna be damned. She was on another planet. Kayla spread the dress over some branches to dry.
Without a word, Ethan stripped palmlike fronds from a low growing clump, spread them on the sheltered space beneath the mat of lianas. A tiny monkey with a clown-face of perpetual surprise chattered at him from a tree trunk, then dashed upward to vanish in the shadows. He turned to face her, still without speaking, took her hands in his and pulled her to him, his hands light on her shoulders.
All of a sudden the cuts, bruises, the steamy heat ... none of it mattered. She leaned forward, let her lips brush his, traced their outline with her tongue. Felt him shudder. He pulled her roughly against him, his mouth on hers, hard, fierce, hungry as her own.
They made love, drowsed, and made love again. He told her about the universe of the very wealthy and what it was like to live on the edge, not really inside, but not really allowed to be entirely independent either. Family was family ... you were a commodity in a way as much as a tribe. But he was still inside. She told him about growing up in a crèche. Outside. Finding out that she had a strong empathy rating, that she had the talent to be a chameleon.
“Is that why you do it?” He leaned on his elbow beside her, his fingertips tracing the curve of her cheekbone. “So you can get to live inside?”
“Yes.” She gave him truth because she found she didn’t want to lie to this man. “I do want it. And it pays well.” She yelped as something bit her. “Damn bugs.” She sat up, slapped, and glared at the blood on her palm. “Maybe we’d better walk some more? You might be wrong about them coming back.” But she winced and nearly fell as she tried to stand.
Ethan sucked in a quick breath as he examined her feet. “Kayla, why didn’t you say something? Sit down and let me look.”
“There wasn’t any point in complaining,” she said, but she couldn’t bite back a cry as he used a torn sleeve from his dress shirt to wipe the mud from her feet. Blood streaked the fabric and the cuts smarted and stung.
“We can tear up my shirt, at least wrap them before we start walking again. I’m sorry. I just didn’t think about you wearing sandals.” He stroked the tops of her feet gently. “You know, I’m chipped.” He laughed, a note of bitterness in his voice. “If they bothered to look.”
“Chipped?” She pushed her damp hair back from her face.
“I’ve got a GPS locater embedded in me. From birth. It’s a family rule. If they looked for it, they’d find us.”
“Why wouldn’t they look?”
“Kidnappers use a masking device. It was probably on top of the box. Everybody plays by the rules, so they’ll wait to hear from the kidnappers, give their answer. They won’t go look.” He frowned, looked back the way they had come. “You know, as efficiently as they did the raid, I can’t believe they blew the snatch. Those guys do their homework. They should have been able to pick out their targets in the middle of the night, on the run.” He shook his head, sighed. “So you might be right and they don’t play by the rules either.” He gave her a crooked smile. “We’d better go.”
He managed to tear the real-cotton fabric of his shirt into rough strips and bandaged her feet so that she could still wear the flimsy sandals. She still limped, the tiny cuts and tears painful now that her first rush of escape adrenaline had faded. Slowly, laboriously, they made their way along the game trail, following it generally toward the setting sun as it wound through the neverending tangle of leaves, vines, and soaring trunks.
The light faded quickly as the sun sank and they finally stopped for the night, finding another sheltered spot beneath an old, dead tree trunk draped with vines. Sure enough, it rained not long after the last hint of light faded. Shielded from the worst of the brief downpour, they drank some more water and ate what turned out to be dried mango and papaya. And made love again.
Terror stalked the night. It wore no form but made sounds. Grunts, whistles, a coughing roar that had to be a jaguar. Ethan identified each sound, each detail of what was going on in the thick, rot-smelling dark, as if he had a magic flashlight to pierce the night. He banished the terror and Kayla heard the love in his voice as he turned night into day. She almost laughed. Rabbit in a briar patch. It might have been a fun hike, if she’d had a good pair of shoes. At some point she drowsed, woke, felt Ethan’s slack, sleeping arms still around her, drowsed again because Ethan knew that nothing would eat them. And that was good enough.
She woke, stiff, her stomach cramping with hunger in spite of last night’s dried fruit as the dark tree trunks and fan-shaped leaves of the plants sheltering them took shape from the lightening dark. Ethan slept beside her and she looked down on him, barely visible in the hint of dawn. His face was flushed, and when she touched his skin it was hot. Feverish. I will not remember you, she thought, and a pang of grief pierced her. If a chameleon withheld the nano, that chameleon lost the union seal. You didn’t spend a fortune to have your hired pair of eyes and ears walk away with the memory you wanted or hold it for ransom. That union seal that she had paid dearly to obtain meant that she was entirely trustworthy. If she violated that trust only once, she lost it forever.
And it wouldn’t help. The nano self-destructed in a measured length of time if not filtered and stabilized. In a handful of days, the memory would evaporate, whether she handed it over to Jeruna or not. Of course, in a handful of days, she might still be here. She smiled mirthlessly into the faint gray of dawn. Maybe she should hope they didn’t find their way out of here. At least not soon.
She didn’t kid herself about after. The wall between inside and outside was impenetrable. You could slip through it for awhile. But not for long. Rules. No forever after with Ethan. She let her breath out in a long, slow sigh, wishing she had said no to Jeruna, wishing that her broker had found her another contract. She ran her fingers along the curve of Ethan’s cheekbone, watched his eyelids flutter, his golden eyes focus on her, watched his lips curve into a tender smile of recognition.
No, she didn’t wish it. She leaned over him, met his lips halfway.
* * * *
They reached the red-dirt track in the heat of noon, clawing through what seemed to be an impenetrable wall of leaves and vines out into hot sun that made them blink and stumble. For a few moments, they could only stand still, clutching each other, squinting in the sun. Then Ethan whooped, scooped her i
nto his arms and they both tumbled into the dust, weak with hunger and thirst, laughing like idiots.
The little electric jeep came around the curve in the little track a few moments later and the dark-skinned driver in jungle camo hit the brakes. He spoke Central-American Spanish, but so did Ethan and he translated. Their rescuer was a ranger in the Preserve and just happened to be checking this sector this morning. He made it clear that they were lucky, that he only came this way very occasionally, and clucked and shook his head as Ethan explained what had happened. It offended him, he told them, that the kidnap gangs used the rainforest for their boxes. It made it sometimes dangerous for the rangers. He had water with him and a lunch of bean and corn stew that he shared with them, and then he drove them four hours back to his headquarters.
The family machinery had leaped into action by the time they arrived, never mind that Ethan was a marginal member. A jump jet with medics on board met them and they were examined, treated for their minor injuries, dressed, and loaded before Kayla could catch her breath.
“They’re taking us to the family hospital for observation and treatment,” Ethan said as he settled into the plush seat beside Kayla. “My uncle sent them to get us.” He touched her hand, his hazel eyes dark in the cabin’s light. “We’ll probably be separated for a bit. Kayla...” He broke off, drew a breath. “I don’t want you to forget ... this.”
“I can’t help it.” She struggled to keep her voice calm.
“Yes, you can. Keep it. Assimilate it, like your clients do.” He gripped her arms, his face pale. “They can’t stop you from doing that.”
She shook her head. “I’m immunized,” she whispered. “The nano won’t release to me. I can’t assimilate it.”
“How can you do this?” He was angry suddenly, his eyes blazing. “How can you just ... walk away from part of your life? How can you just throw away your past?”
The past had teeth. It was something to run away from, not to cherish. Up until now. She turned her head away from the accusation in his eyes.
“If I knock on your door, I’ll be a stranger. None of this will have happened. I could be anybody.”
“Maybe,” she whispered. “I don’t know.”
“I want you to remember this.”
She looked at him, met his eyes, realized that besides the anger she saw ... fear. “I can’t,” she said, because she would only give him the truth.
For a few moments he said nothing, then he looked away. “Will you ... give this to Jeruna?” he asked hoarsely.
She would only give him truth, so she said nothing. If she did not ... what job was she suited for? And inside was inside.
He wrenched himself to his feet, his face averted. “Whore,” he said, and stalked to the rear of the plane.
For a long time she sat still, staring down at her scratched and scabbed hands, her bandaged and sanitized feet throbbing beneath the cotton hospital pants the medics had given her to wear.
In a handful of days, she wouldn’t remember that he had said that, either.
* * * *
She hoped she would see him again. They kept her overnight, did enhanced healing to mend the damage to her feet, returned her luggage from the wedding resort, and offered her a ride home in a family jet. Just before she was due to leave, a knock at the door of her very plush private room made her heart leap, but it was simply a family lawyer, who handed her a very large check and a waiver for her to sign, absolving the family from legal blame.
She signed it. It had not been their fault that the kidnappers were so inexplicably incompetent.
A slow anger had been building in her and she pressed her lips together as the lawyer bowed very slightly to her and retreated. A silent attendant arrived to carry her luggage to the private jet and she followed slowly, her newly healed feet still a bit tender in the flat sandals she wore. She climbed the carpeted stairs to the jet’s entry and turned to look back at the private hospital grounds. It had the look of a gated residential community with cottages, walking paths, and gardens. The main building might have been a vacation lodge. The few uniformed staff on the paths ignored her and the old man in a smart-chair out for a breath of air never looked her way.
She boarded and the jet door sealed behind her.
* * * *
She ignored her broker’s insistent emails as long as she could. When she finally lifted the block, Azara’s image appeared instantly in the holo-field, her dark eyes snapping with anger, her beaded veil quivering as she faced Kayla. “What in the name of Allah’s demons are you doing? The client has threatened me with legal action. As you know, the contract protects me, but I am threatening you. And not with legal action, you spoiled child. No chameleon of mine has ever stolen the product. You had better not be the first, do you hear me?”
A part of Kayla’s mind marveled at her rage. She had never seen Azara show even mild annoyance before. “I want to speak with her,” she said.
“I will not play games with you. You will go immediately to the clinic,” Azara snapped. “I spoke with your technician. She tells me you have only twenty-four hours until the nanos degrade. That is barely enough time to filter them and secure a digital copy for transmission.”
Ah, bless you, An Yi, Kayla thought. She had begged, but An Yi had not promised. “It is more than enough time. I will go straight to the clinic.” Kayla bowed her head. “As soon as I speak with Jeruna Nesmith.”
Azara narrowed her eyes and her image froze. She was multitasking, clearly contacting Jeruna, on Mars. “She is willing to speak to you.” She looked slightly puzzled. Apparently Jeruna’s response had surprised her. “If you fulfill this contract, I may give you one more chance ... if I never see such childish behavior from you again. But of course ... you had a trying time.” She regarded Kayla narrowly. “Our client does not blame you.” She raised her eyebrows, as if waiting for Kayla to comment. Shrugged. “I will not hold this lapse against you if she is satisfied.”
Timing is everything. Kayla stood up. “I’ll email An Yi and make sure she can filter me.”
“She is expecting you.” Azara’s red lips curved into a slight smile. “Do not disappoint me, girl.”
The threat behind those words went beyond loss of her union seal. Kayla bowed her head once more and blanked the holo-field.
Ethan had not contacted her.
She had not really expected that he would. His final word hung in the air like the bitter taint of something burned. She waited as the holo-field shimmered, making the distant connection to Bradbury.
Jeruna Nesmith’s aged face shimmered to life in the field. Her expression gave nothing away, but a hint of triumph glimmered deep in her eyes. “I was sorry to hear that you were traumatized,” she said smoothly. “Is that not a boon of the science? Even terror can be eliminated by an hour spent with the filters.”
“You sent the kidnappers.” Kayla sat calmly in her chair, her eyes on the woman’s withered face. “You had them take me. And Ethan.” Her voice trembled just a hair as she said his name and she watched Jeruna’s eyes narrow. The triumph intensified. “Why?” She tilted her head. “Why spend all that money? Why play that game?”
“You are very intelligent.” The old woman’s thin lips curved into a satisfied smile. “How did you figure it out?”
“Kidnappers aren’t that incompetent. Not if they’re snatching insiders.” She shrugged. “You forget. I read people. They weren’t at all unsure about who they had. They knew they had the right people. And that ranger happened by so conveniently. He was tracking us, wasn’t he?”
Jeruna was smiling openly now. “Are you pregnant?”
Kayla swallowed, feeling as if she had been punched in the stomach. “No,” she said. Pressed her lips together. “Is that what you were after?”
“No.” Jeruna sighed. “But it would have been an ... added bonus.”
“Why did you do this?” She dared not raise her voice beyond a whisper.
“To atone for my sins.” Jeruna sho
ok her head. “Hard as it may be for you to imagine, I was young once. And rather attractive. And smart.” She smiled. “One of my distant relatives fell in love with me. He loved my mind as well as my body.”
“Ethan’s father,” Kayla said.
“Oh, no, sweetheart, you flatter me.” Jeruna cackled. “His grandfather. But I was hot to leave the planet and he was not and I believed that love was something that would wait until I had time for it.” She eyed Kayla, her smile thin. “Never make that mistake, child. I now believe that the universe gives you one chance only.”
No! Kayla swallowed the syllable before it could erupt. Kept her face expressionless. “So you wanted what? A memory to replace what never happened?”
“Something like that.” Jeruna’s smile widened slowly, her eyes hungry. “And, I suspect, you have brought me the past I was not smart enough to live. I will be forever in your debt for that. Believe me, I will pay you very very well.” Her smile broadened, a hint of satisfied dismissal glazing her eyes. “A very generous bonus. To pay for your trauma.”
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection Page 73
