This Sin Called Hope (New Reality Series, Book Seven) by Anna Mayle

by Anna Mayle

  “Salvation.”

  The voice from behind caught him by surprise. Enoch spun and grasped the last lever, but had no chance to duck the solid pipe the Angel wielded. There was a crack as the lever came free, but he couldn’t push it into place in time. His head felt thick, sluggish. It had been a good hit, he couldn’t risk another.

  Enoch let himself stagger and twisted up at the last minute. The wrench, clenched tightly in his fist, met the solid resistance of the Angel’s skull, then continued through it. A gurgling protest and hot, wet spray across his cheek answered his knocking. One down. The contact had taken all momentum from his arm and so Enoch used the force of his movement forward to continue down with the body and lash up with the legs. He couldn’t do as much damage in such a position, but it would buy him time to get to his feet again.

  The Angels closed in, his perimeter’s hummed with current, and the final lever to complete the trap now lay beyond the backs of his assailants. “Anyone else want to be saved?” he asked in a bored monotone, it was all he could do to hide the rushed workings of his mind. Salvation, from what? This is the only state of being they’ve ever known.

  Apparently not ones for self-examination, the rest of them remained silent. And attacked.

  Chapter Four

  Jacobi flew through screen after screen and measure after measure, all of his previous finesse and subtlety gone in favor of speed and results. He cringed at the destruction of the artful alien masterpiece of Enoch’s security. If there had been a god of hackers, lighting bolts would be shoving their way up his ass for the wanton chaos he was leaving behind. But if he could save the man, maybe he could help him rebuild. Maybe he could learn more. Maybe he could lean in just that little bit closer and share his space for a while.

  Save him, then fantasize, he chastised himself.

  A motion in the monitors displaying the outside of the shop caught his attention. The emotionless look of Enoch’s face as he killed the Angels charging him was strange, out of place, but the flash of hope when he tried to reason with them was worse. The thought of something killing the tiny sliver of hope the cynical man had left in him was…

  Someone new stepped into view behind the mechanic.

  “Enoch!”

  Jacobi watch the large man spin, saw him jerk that final lever out of its lock. He was helpless to do anything about it. The real world slowed to a crawl for him and Jacobi watched nearly frame by frame as Enoch staggered and began to fall.

  Frantic, he lost his place in the sequence he’d been inputting. Fuck! I don’t have time to start over!

  One moment he was falling and injured, the next, the large mechanic had the Angel laid out beneath him. There was a moment when everything seemed to be all right again.

  Then they attacked in mass.

  The flurry of fists, weapons and boots was captured in real time and sequential images, all of it too far out of Jacobi’s reach. He watched helpless, panic welling up inside of him, as the tide of assailants came at the lone mechanic with zealous fervor. This wasn’t about a lone breeder. He had no idea what this was about, and he couldn’t bring himself to care at the moment because, regardless of what their reasons were, they were attacking his puzzle. And they were winning.

  Enoch gave them a hard time of it, fought them back with a cold and calculated fury that was almost artistic to behold, but he was one man, no matter how fit a specimen he was. Slowly, but all too quickly for the hacker, his new friend began to falter.

  Hands taking their places once again, Jacobi put everything he had into breaking through the security. If he could only direct the electrical impulses he might be effective. If only.

  Damn it, Enoch! I need a clear weakness here, not a puzzle. Where’s the back door access? There has to be something!

  Light glinted on one of the screens and Jacobi’s attention shifted. Enoch was looking straight at a camera, not the attacking Angels. He was saying something, but audio was compromised by the quickly shifting positions and the sounds of the fight.

  He focused solely on microphones, but he could only piggy back the feeds, not change their perimeters. He managed to make a copy of the current video feed, but he couldn’t alter that either. Fail! Enoch had been trying to tell him something! Now he was back to fighting, facing away from the camera.

  A spray of anonymous blood and grunt of pain from someone in the melee, Jacobi forced his attention away from the outside screens. He couldn’t do anything there, but maybe there was something…

  Opening up a separate operating system inside of Enoch’s, Jacobi took the copy of the video feed and scanned the Network for information and programs to do with reading lips. It took three different programs, but finally one of them worked and managed to catch a word right off. “Passcode.”

  “Win!” Jacobi crowed.

  A glance back at the video screen while the program worked stole his exuberance right away. Enoch was a mess of blood and dirt. Another Angel lay unmoving, but the victory was stale, seeing as it hadn’t stopped anything, only lessened the punishment by two fists.

  Jacobi put everything he could into upping the efficiency of his operating system and the program’s speed. It had uncovered ‘Passcode United States Of’, but the last word was one the system very obviously didn’t recognize. That would take longer for it to piece together.

  A loud crack filled the microphones, and Jacobi saw Enoch fall to one knee. The mechanic struggled to stand again, but another blow toppled him forward and into the sand.

  Dust billowed up like a cloud around his body. When it settled, Jacobi watched helpless as a halo of dark crimson slowly bled out to color the sand around Enoch’s head. Motionless, he might have been one of the stained glass figures in the windows of his Network office: beautiful, cold, and dead.

  The Angels lifted Enoch from the ground. Jacobi wanted to scream. He couldn’t do anything to help him! He’d only managed to get control over base electrical systems and the recognition program was still working on deciphering the passcode!

  They took Enoch to the wire and draped him across it. Jacobi swore and cut all power to the outside. The cameras went dead, but hopefully Enoch wasn’t. He didn’t dare reconnect things until he knew that the mechanic wasn’t still hanging over the cable. He didn’t know what the sharp metal had done, how far it had dug…useless.

  A small sound brought his attention to the tool boxes. The girl child had managed to crawl up and peek out from them. She was so thin, her bones prominent and fragile beneath the surface. Her hair had tangled into a ratted nest of blond and blood, her skin burnt dark by the angry sun of the Waste. She had the chisel and hammer Enoch had given her tucked in her belt like weapons. She didn’t seem quite human. Like a little creature of pure emotion, or an Angel in human flesh. He couldn’t talk to her or the Angels would see her. Couldn’t connect to her via the Network, she was a Wastrel, she had no port. All he could do was watch.

  She slipped down from her perch and crept along the wall, eyes never leaving the door. Jacobi might have envied her the ability to see what was happening outside, but she didn’t see the com unit on the wall. He did. Yes!

  The volume down to the level of a whisper, Jacobi transmitted, “Hey Cora, don’t spaz, I’m a friend.”

  She stiffened, but managed not to yelp. He sent a quick thank you to no one in particular and continued.

  “The man who rescued you, Enoch, can you see him?”

  Cora gave a small nod, eyes staring into the void where Jacobi could not go.

  “Is he still on that wire?”

  Another small nod.

  Damn it!

  Her voice whispered to him, spun sugar soft, “They will kill him. They killed my people.”

  Jacobi refused to accept that. They still had time, and time meant a chance! “He was trying to pull a lever at the end of the wall. Can you see it?”

  She looked to either side and shook her head.

  “Listen, I’m trying to hack the system to get
control enough to help him, but I can’t turn the power on out there while he’s on the wire.”

  “You want me to watch,” she guessed quietly, tears melting the sugar in her tone.

  I am so going to whatever bad and eternal punishment place really horrible people that make kids do fucking fail type things go. He babbled internally, wished there was another choice. The kid had been through enough, but…“Yes.”

  Cora’s voice was so small when she responded, “Okay.”

  “Listen while you watch, yeah?” he checked each of the programs running but there was nothing he could do outside of waiting. “The levers are on the outside of the garage, just to the side of the main door, almost at the right corner of the building. Two of them are down, one is part way there. When he’s off the wire, I need you to run for the lever when you see a chance to make it. If you grab it as you’re running, and let your momentum carry you, it should be enough to jostle it into place.”

  “What will it do?”

  Jacobi wished he had a definitive answer for her. “I’m hoping it’ll complete some kind of grid with those wires, like the one he’s lying across, and fry the bastards.”

  “You don’t know?”

  “I haven’t gotten full control of the system yet, so I don’t have the schematics.”

  “Shouldn’t you know?” she sounded confused, but at least less terrified.

  Jacobi smiled widely, even though she couldn’t see him. “Nah, I just met him, but he seems like a good guy, huh? Kind of like a hero.”

  Cora looked out the doors. “But he’s an Angel.”

  “Angels can be heroes.” Jacobi insisted kindly. “He saved you, remember?”

  The little girl nodded. Her eyes were a little brighter than before. Jacobi couldn’t tell if it was from tears or hope.

  One of the screens around him chimed and Jacobi brought it forward. The corrupted data was still processing but there was progress. His databases had updated to include new names and places under Once World. Jacobi pushed the screen back. A word cluster caught his eye as it moved and he grabbed for it, tripped and barreled through the other windows. Five words, The United States of America. “United States of, the passcode!” He just managed not to crow.

  “Huh?” Cora asked, confusion clear again.

  “I think I can get control of the systems now. Hold on.” He righted all of the demolished windows with a quick key stroke and a thought Thank the skies for the Network. Knowing the passcode, and with all of the previous groundwork laid, Jacobi flew through the files with ease. “I was right! The lever does just what I thought it did. We can win!” He whispered to Cora excitedly.

  She didn’t respond in kind.

  “Cora?”

  The little girl was staring out the door, her face pale under the layer of grime.

  Jacobi took full control of the physical system. He could turn the outside camera’s back on without restoring all of the power if he just…Got it!

  Enoch was alive! Jacobi had no idea how the mechanic had managed that trick, especially when he’d seen what the wire had done to the Angels before him. He wasn’t going to complain, he wasn’t even going to ask. Jacobi was good with miracles.

  The Angel bending over Enoch took a wireless jack from his belt pouch and any joy Jacobi had felt at his accomplishment and Enoch’s miracle was shattered by sheer panic. One large, meaty hand turned Enoch’s head to the side roughly, exposing his port. The dirty, pieced together bit of tech was plunged into the vulnerable opening. Then the Angel flicked open the buttons of his fly and ripped Enoch’s trousers down the seams. Jacobi realized, to his horror, that another vulnerable place was about to be taken.

  “Cora, look away. I’ll yell out when you need to run for the lever. Just look away now.” Jacobi hoped she listened, because he didn’t have a chance to check any image but the one he was staring at. While they’ve jacked him into the Network…he’ll go mad. The dual sensations will tear his mind apart.

  With the first bloody thrust, Enoch screamed. The sound echoed in both worlds.

  It rang in his ears while Jacobi worked. He had to think fast, but there was something breaking his focus. Emotions, feelings of anger and panic threatened to drown him. Pushing them far aside, he pulled up a Network simulation of the grounds of Enoch’s shop. The danger of plugging in without something to dull physical stimulus was due to the sheer volume of unresolvable sensory conflict that would occur in the brain.

  Most people who plugged in weren’t aware of why they dulled themselves to the world. It was just how things were done. Jacobi unfortunately knew enough of the forbidden arts to know why he should be afraid. Although the mind, through the somatosensory system, could naturally handle some simultaneous sensations, there was a limit. Because the Network ported directly to the parietal lobe, the part of the brain that processed information and integrated sensory input from the rest of the body, it was fully possible to overload the mind like blowing a fuse. A mind was much harder to replace.

  Enoch’s avatar was easy to find. He’d instinctively gone to his office but now he just stood in the center, completely still. His face showed supreme concentration. He was trying to process everything. Involuntary ticks and twitches and a deepening frown told Jacobi that he was failing.

  Jacobi steeled himself, stepped behind the large man and grabbed his wrist, mimicking the hold the angel had on him. He pulled them both into the simulation he’d created, curled the fingers of his other hand around Enoch’s neck and slammed him down over the Network approximation of the wire, bringing his rendering fully into being. When the position forced Enoch’s ass up and out, his trousers were torn and hanging as the Angel had left them and Enoch slid to fit perfectly against Jacobi’s groin, both men gasped…likely for different reasons.

  Thick muscles tensed beneath him. Jacobi didn’t give him a chance to fight. He modified his own length and girth to match what he could see of the Angel on the security feed and thrust hard into Enoch’s bared opening, stretching him wide and making him scream just as his physical self was doing. It was eerie to watch the struggling man’s violation while matching his thrusts and placement of hands to the video feed of the aggressor on the screen. Made even more awkward by the pulse of heat washing through him, originating at the place where they connected.

  Jacobi wanted nothing more than to power down the hateful screen in front of him, turn Enoch to face him and bury himself again, gently and fully into his waiting body. Jacobi wanted to sooth each of Enoch’s aches and stand as a barrier between the strange man’s obviously injured heart and whatever dared to bruise it. Instead, to save him, he was forced to cause him more pain.

  “I am so sorry,” Jacobi whispered.

  Enoch snarled and bucked against him, threatened to unseat him. On the screen, his physical body did the same. It was working. With a mighty heave, Enoch broke free from his assailant and rolled along the wire to slam a solid fist into his face. Jacobi gave just enough resistance, took the hit as the Angel did, and then grabbed ahold of the wrist again, forced it up. On the screen, another Angel took hold of it. Jacobi made a duplicate of his own arms and hands and set them to the task. He didn’t have time to write a visual bot, but Enoch must have realized the problem. On screen and in Network, he closed his eyes and gave himself up to Jacobi’s mercies.

  “So sorry,” he choked and made another duplicate.

  Enoch’s arms were both twisted behind him. His hands clutched the wire like a lifeline as the Angel in the real world and Jacobi in the Network lifted his legs up to their shoulders and thrust in deep, hard and fast. Jacobi split his focus between screen and partner.

  Each sensation threatened to overwhelm him. He’d never acted upon physical desires. He’d set the physical aside in favor of observation and knowledge, information. Because he’d never engaged in such acts, he had failed to factor in his own responses to the rescue scenario. Enoch’s body was strong against him, taunt beneath him. His ass was warm and tight around
Jacobi’s cock. The motion as the man fought to free himself sent shocks of needful lightning to curl in his belly and strike throughout his veins. His knees went weak and he struggled to keep moving in tandem with the image on the screen.

  The wire was made loose enough by Enoch’s weight to act as a kind of swing, forcing him to glide into the thrust almost as if he was willing. If only he too could have closed his eyes, maybe he could have pretended. But the labored breath wasn’t a pleasured sound, and the tears slipping silently over Enoch’s strong face weren’t of joy.

  The Angel ripped Enoch’s shirt away from his limp body and Jacobi mimicked the action in the Network, saw the pale skin and hard lines exposed violently under his own hand. Anger joined the brilliance building inside of him. The Angel over Enoch was an interloper in what might have been special. He’d corrupted it!

  Jacobi faltered and Enoch sucked in a sharp breath as sensations failed to sync up. Redoubling his focus was difficult, but he managed. The anger simmered under the surface, lending force to his charade and strength to his knees.

  Enoch’s face was so wet with tears but he hadn’t screamed since the beginning. Jacobi imagined the man was holding back for his sake.

  A drop of water splashed against Enoch’s stomach and Jacobi realized for the first time that he was crying too. The man beneath him groaned and the sound both centered and unmade him.

  “I’m sorry,” Jacobi choked out.

  At the same time, Enoch whimpered, “thank you.”

  On the screen, the same words must have come from Enoch’s physical lips, because the Angel pulled sharply away and spat something about mocking. The other’s holding the mechanic’s hands pulled back and his grip on the wire set him to spin and scrape his face along the sand. Enoch let the wire go and lay there.

  “Cora,” Jacobi whispered urgently, “Now!”