by Lola Dodge
Before I had any answers, a new message popped onto the screen. Sending a file. If you can pick up these guys, we’ll talk.
“Downloading now,” Cipher said.
Pick up guys? Was that how we ended up at the bar? “I’m not dancing.”
“Huh?” Cipher’s lips curled like I’d said something crazy.
“Never mind.” I waved for the cam. “Thanks for the file.” I hoped it turned out to be helpful. It could be a virus for all I knew.
Knight hit the cam switch. “Let’s go. We need to head north. We’ll check what they sent from the road.”
Cipher packed up her comp stuff. I climbed back into the Humvee. Dex was already at the wheel and Devan and Tair were hopping in.
We needed to get out of here before anyone else stumbled in, and regardless of what the plan was, there was still a lot of distance between Alpha Citadel and us. We weren’t saving anyone if we couldn’t make it there before Nagi’s deadline.
“I’ll give our guy his sendoff,” Knight said, heading to the back of the garage.
I turned away, but the poor man’s future kept replaying. I bumped my forehead with a fist a few times, trying to knock the image out. I couldn’t save everyone, and I definitely couldn’t risk sacrificing anyone else for a man who didn’t want saving.
We were playing a game of chess. The man lunging for serums on the other side of the garage was a pawn we had to sacrifice. At least I knew what a terrible way that was to go through life. There just wasn’t much I could do about it.
Tair helped me up into my seat, and I kept a tight grip on him as Cipher and Knight piled in back with us.
Even after Dex turned on the engine, I could still hear vials clinking. I had to put the sound out of my mind. If we couldn’t come up with a real attack plan, there’d be a whole lot more deaths on our horizon.
Chapter Eight
ALTAIR
Devan kept a loose illusion around the vehicle as we headed north toward the Mediterranean Sea. The subtle shimmer of her powers kept drawing my eye, but it would end in a headache if I fixated on it for too long. I had enough of a headache with our lack of a solid plan.
Quanta’s hands glowed blue and white as she flicked at the air, staring into space. I hoped she was scouring the future for ideas.
Cipher had sent the Roboloco file to her tablet and was busy decrypting. Now that we’d made contact, I was even less optimistic. We needed concrete leads and “pick up these guys” was so cryptic it was useless.
We had nothing. Absolutely nothing.
“I’m driving us to the port,” Dex said, “but someone tell me if I need to change course.”
“Just a sec.” Cipher chewed her lip ring as she typed rapid-fire into a projected keyboard. “Okay.”
“What do we have?” Knight leaned over her shoulder to read the screen. I prayed she’d decrypted an answer. Otherwise, I had no idea how to save Cass.
“Ibiza. Right?” Quanta jumped in her seat. “That’s it!”
I gripped the edge of my seat. None of this was making sense. I needed to know if I could dare to be hopeful. “What are you talking about?”
Knight set the tablet one of the packs on the floor between our seats. “They ID’d the Black Helixes who took your sister. The squad is on rec in Ibiza.”
I couldn’t wait any longer. I grabbed the tablet to scan the info myself.
Roboloco had compiled a dossier with the names and photos of eight men. I scrolled through, still not clear how this translated into an action.
A note was tacked onto the bottom of the list:
We have her last known location, but no way past security. Could clone a Helix tat off one of these guys if we had his DNA, but otherwise, we’re screwed. Good luck with that.
The words “last known location” sparked real hope.
“Are they saying they can forge a Helix tattoo? I didn’t think that was possible.” Cipher flicked through the info again as if we’d missed something.
My pulse sped as I pieced together a plan. Helix tattoos functioned as both IDs and tracking devices. They coded into the wearer’s DNA. With the right equipment, it was possible to steal someone else’s identity, but under normal circumstances, it would be pointless. If your face didn’t match the one on record, you’d be flagged as a fake straight off.
But normal circumstances didn’t apply with Red Helixes, and we had Devan Coda on our side. I’d seen her conjure dozens of figures out of thin air. She could generate light and make herself invisible. Disguise had to be well within her ability.
I felt like I could breathe for the first time in hours, but I was getting ahead of myself. I passed the tablet into the front seat. “Could you use your powers to disguise us as these men?”
Devan scrolled, and it was all I could do to keep from jumping out of my seat. Please, let this work.
“It’s hard to go off a photo. I can’t tell height and build, but…” Her brow wrinkled, and the air between us shimmered. When it stilled, a muscled blond man sat in Devan’s place. “What do you think?”
“Holy shit.” Dex hit the breaks, and we all jerked forward in our seats.
I grabbed the window frame. Excitement slashed through so much of the dread that had been weighing me down. The voice was a total mismatch with the shape—Devan’s tone was too high-pitched—but this could work. “How long could you keep that up?”
“For a while if it’s just me, but if it’s all of us…” The air shimmered again, and Devan returned to herself. She tucked her hair behind her ear as she thought. “A couple hours, tops. Less if we have to move around a lot or split up.”
I turned to Quanta, trying to keep my hope at practical levels, but excitement slipped into my voice. “Could we use their identities to sneak into the Citadel?”
“I can’t see that far yet.” Quanta’s hands glowed with ghostly light. “But we can definitely get at these guys.”
“The DNA is easy enough to steal,” Knight said. “All we’d need is some hair. That’s where this goes off the rails. How do we deal with their tracking chips?”
I pressed the bridge of my glasses into my forehead. We could disable their tracking or reroute the signals, but not without tipping the men off. We needed direct access to their tattoos.
“We kidnap them,” Quanta said.
My jaw slipped open. Dex and Devan turned to stare from the front seat.
“We what?” Cipher’s voice spiked.
“Kidnap them.” Her gaze flicked, and I hoped she was seeing a version of the future where we succeeded. “Stash them somewhere and knock them out. That would work, right?” I wasn’t sure who she was asking. After a second, she nodded to herself. “Yeah. It would work.”
I believed her. It was insane, but for a chance at saving Cass, I was willing to try the impossible.
“We’d have to lure them to us.” I had a stash of tranquilizer patches from the hangar’s supplies. We could prepare an ambush in advance and knock them out long enough to reach the Citadel. If Roboloco supplied the tattoos and Cassie’s location, the forged Helixes could get us through security.
“We’re supposed to kidnap Black Helixes?” Cipher’s cheeks flushed with indignation. “From the middle a Seligo resort? We’d be putting ourselves at less risk if we went straight to Alpha Citadel and knocked.”
Knight ran a hand through his hair. “Maybe if we were used to running ops as a team, but right now…”
He wasn’t wrong. We weren’t ready to go on the offensive. We couldn’t make it through the training house without getting in each other’s way.
“Is there another choice?” I’d listen if anyone had suggestions, but even this madness was better than handing ourselves over to Doctor Nagi.
“We could succeed,” Quanta insisted. I caught the thread of hope in her voice and held onto it.
“Succeed how?” Knight asked. “You mean rescue everyone?”
“I still can’t see that far. For now… It looks like we�
��re going dancing.”
“I’m not okay with this.” Cipher snatched the tablet to sift through the dossier again. Finally, she shook her head. “It’s batshit, and just because you think we could survive, doesn’t mean we will.”
“I did ask for other suggestions.” If no one had an alternative, then there was no point in debating. If we were moving forward, we all needed to commit sooner than later.
“I’m not psyched about it—or the outfits we’re going to have to wear.” Quanta wrinkled her nose. “But I don’t see anything else and time’s a-ticking. We can be in Ibiza tonight, put these guys on ice, and be at Alpha Citadel tomorrow. That at least gives us a day to play with. Give or take some timewinding.”
Whether I was working off instinct, desperation, or blind trust in Quanta, I couldn’t see another way. One option—even a difficult one—was better than nothing, and we had a better chance of being successful in Ibiza than attacking Alpha cold. Security wouldn’t be nearly as tight on a resort island.
“Dex? Devan?” Knight raised his voice to the front seat. “You guys have any opinions you want to share?”
“I’m always up for a party.” Dex tone was flippant, but his knuckles were white on the wheel. “And Ibiza’s on our way to the Citadel anyway. I say we check it out. If it doesn’t track, we keep moving north. Eva might come up with something better before tomorrow. Worst case, Knight and I try to resurrect some burned bridges with our old squad.” I’d consider that our Plan B, but I hoped Dex and Knight had better contacts than me if we ended up choosing that route.
“I’m going,” Devan said. She’d been waiting weeks for news of her friends, and now that we had a real lead, I suspected she’d volunteer for any mission we offered. At least, anything that offered a chance of getting them back. I understood the feeling.
“You can help, but I think you’re going to have your hands full with our disguises. Cipher and I probably have to do the heavy lifting on this one.” Quanta frowned into the ether, and I wished she could still show me what she was seeing. It didn’t look promising.
“What? Why wouldn’t we all go in together?” Cipher gripped Knight’s hand, and I felt real sympathy for her. She was being asked to volunteer for the situation she’d been running from her entire life. All of us were heading straight into danger. But determination tamped down most of my fear.
“I mean, we’ll all be there, but at some point we have to get these guys alone…” Quanta’s nose wrinkled in concentration. “But if they’re not all hetero, we might need one of the guys to step up and seduce with us.”
“Why did this turn into a seduction plan?” We’d have to lure the Helixes somehow, but there were other and better ways. And the thought of Quanta seducing some Helix goon…
I gripped my knees. It wouldn’t fly.
“It doesn’t have to be, but that’s what I’m seeing. If we roll up with violence, they’ll meet us with the same. But if we act nice…”
“Define act nice.” I needed to know what that looked like. If it was what I was imagining? It might be easier to kill our targets. I’d volunteer to commit the murders.
Quanta’s shrug only added fuel to my imagination. Knight was scowling. It was one of the rare times we were both on the same page.
The vehicle rocked hard, and Dex called back. “We’re getting in line for the ferry.”
I peered out the window. We’d killed time with all the planning. Now we were at the harbor—just a short boat ride from Ibiza.
“You’re trying to kill me.” Cipher put her head in her hands.
Dex craned his neck to look into the backseat. “It’s a high-speed ferry. No rough waters.”
Cipher groaned while Knight rubbed her back, but it seemed like we’d all come to an agreement. We were going forward with the kidnapping plan. I had more to say about how and where we lured the Helixes, but I didn’t want to spark an argument now.
Instead, I pulled Quanta against me. “How are our odds?”
She leaned her head against my chest. “I can see us dying, and I can see us getting out safe. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep us on the right path.”
“So will I.” Between Quanta, Cass, and our mismatched crew of Reds and Ravens—I had a lot more to lose than I’d ever had before.
I was ready to fight.
Chapter Nine
QUANTA
The ferry ride could’ve been a whole lot worse. We got to stay in the Humvee while Dex drove onto the boat, and with a little help from Devan’s illusions, he fed the security guy a story about returning to our jobs on the island. The guy wasn’t scanning Helixes, so we didn’t have problems.
Yet.
Luckily, the ferryboat was high speed. It didn’t chop over the waves enough to set Cipher off, so we didn’t have to deal with any seasickness in close quarters. Thank goodness.
I tried to keep a little attention on the near future in case we got ambushed, but nothing tragic hopped out and finding leads for tonight and tomorrow needed the bulk of my focus. No matter what I wanted, I couldn’t see everything at once.
That was exactly why I’d struggled with the training house, but other than practicing a lot more, I didn’t see a solution. For now, I had to do my best finding a balance between the few sudden threats in the present and the million maybe-disasters that could happen after that. It was doable in theory. So I had to make it work.
Now that we’d made a decision, the futures skittered in new directions. I saw a thousand versions of our night at the club.
Bodies thump to music until gunshots ring out. We dash through the club, but only a few of the partiers scatter. Most fall into formation, drawing weapons of their own. Half the club must be off-duty Black Helixes.
Cipher, Devan, and I glow in bursts of Red-Helix fueled power, but we’re too outnumbered.
I’d clocked enough hours in sim room games to make me a killer shot, but I had zero interest in experiencing a real-life shooting gallery. I was definitely doubling down on the non-violent approach idea. We might end up shooting our way out, but that was a whole different set of futures than rushing in, guns blazing.
I peeked out the Humvee’s window as the ferry neared the shore. Music echoed into the harbor, and speedboats cut back and forth across the water, carrying packs of drunk and laughing Seligo kids.
“We totally need to vacation here,” Dex said.
“It’s definitely a party.” Knight leaned into the front seat. “Security shouldn’t be too strict, but we have to deal with facial scanners. Can you distort our faces enough to get us by, Devan?”
“As long as you all stay close.” She chewed at her nails but gave off more of a determined vibe than a nervous one.
“First thing we need to do is secure a hotel room,” Knight said. “Then we’ll locate our targets and we can figure out the best approach.”
I tuned out their voices for the nitty-gritty logistics, trying to focus on the futures instead. But by the time we finally docked, all I had was a headache and a sadly accurate idea what we all looked like bathed in blood.
As Dex drove us down the ramp off the ferry, I let my attention slide back to the present. The beach was packed. Some people lay in the sand, basking in the sun. An army of silent drones flitted back and forth from the shops on the boardwalk, delivering drinks and snacks.
Every single person was Seligo perfect. Their hair and skin colors varied, but everyone was in the exact same height range—tall and taller—with toned bodies and weirdly symmetrical features. They were Tair’s people and kind of mine, as long as I acted right.
But everyone else?
Dex and Knight came close to Seligo standards because they’d gone through the system and earned a few genetic mods along the way. Not that they weren’t good-looking, but they’d need a ton more cosmetic work to fit into the present crowd. Some nose and jaw shaving, for sure.
Devan was more off the mark. She was perfectly cute, but her nose was flatter than everyone else’s and
literally no girl at the beach wore her hair cropped short. Or bangs. There must’ve been a memo that hip-length hair was mandatory this season.
And then Cipher.
The tattoos and piercings would’ve put her out of place, but they were the least of her worries when everyone else was going to tower over her. She’d been malnourished when she was supposed to be having growth spurts, and now she couldn’t roll with Seligo beauty standards. Unless she rolled on platform heels?
It was such garbage. All their eerie sameness. I couldn’t imagine wanting that or spending much time with people who did.
The weirdest part was how happy they all looked. Never mind that they’d grown up on a system that took advantage of everyone not in the chosen group of rich, genetically superior oligarchs. They were here to enjoy the sun and the waves without a care for anyone else.
I nudged Tair. “Have you been here before?” I could read his past like a book if I wanted, but I liked it better when he told me stories himself. It felt less like cheating.
“Not this area, but my parents have a villa on the north shore.”
Of course they did. Before I could decide what I thought of that, a scene from his past demanded my attention.
Teenaged Tair and an even younger Cass sit holed up in a dark den lit only by their glowing compscreens. A door swings open, bathing the room in daylight. Tair’s mother scowls at them in a white sundress, her dark hair pinned back tight. “Why aren’t you dressed yet?”
“I’m sick,” Cassie says without looking up from her game.
“And I’m on a new skin serum.” Tair shades his hand from the rays streaming in around his mother’s shoulders. “No direct sunlight.”
“This isn’t a picnicking trip.” Mei Lin Orpheus jams her hands on her hips. “The delegation from Theta—”
Cass makes a gagging noise and scurries toward the bathroom. The noises continue after the door slams shut, and I’m not the only one who can tell they’re fake. Glaring daggers, Tair’s mother slams her own door.
