Paired Pursuit

by Clare Murray

  Gareth shook his head slowly. “Yeah, it’s different. So there are two of them in this City. This one, and the one Dr. Aquino hid.”

  “Two? No wonder the aliens are going bonkers. Shit, with the state of those walls, we need to get the hell out of here as soon as possible.”

  Chapter Seven

  Mari drifted into consciousness, sensing the tension in the room. She’d been propped against a pillow, but her feet were atop one of the men’s legs. For a minute she let herself lie still, taking every scrap of comfort she could get, as if wrapping her hands around the lingering warmth of a just-emptied coffee cup on a winter’s morning. Her only regret was that both Twins weren’t there.

  Reluctantly, she pulled away, sitting up and stretching. The sun was beginning to fade, late afternoon rays glinting in Finn’s dark green eyes as he looked down at her. “Hey, beautiful.”

  She couldn’t resist a smile. When had she last felt so loved, so safe? It was strange to feel safe in a besieged City, but Finn’s presence bolstered her confidence like nothing else. “Hi. Sorry for conking out on you.”

  “Not a big deal. I think you needed the extra rest. Even Patrice went to her bedroom to lie down.”

  “Where’s Gareth?” Mari scanned the room, anxious to see the other Twin.

  Finn didn’t answer for a long moment. She glanced at his profile, trying to gauge what was wrong.

  “Did you find it?” she whispered.

  Finn nodded. “It’s in my jacket pocket.”

  She resisted the urge to lean away from him. Those stupid, stupid devices. He probably thought her father had been a total idiot to have kept the one he’d found, and even more of an idiot to hide it somewhere in the City.

  Mari swallowed. “Where’s Gareth?”

  “Gareth went to the walls. He’s concerned about them holding up. We’ve contacted the Complex and asked for rapid transport out of here, but it will still take at least twenty-four hours to arrange pickup.”

  “You…plan to leave in the next day, then.” What happened to a week?

  “Yeah.” He pulled a thin triangle out of his jacket and held it up. “Look at this.”

  The world seemed to ice over. “Oh my God.” The words were a strangled murmur, barely forced out through a thick throat. “So Dad was right—Patrice’s daughter did have one of the devices.”

  “Yes, although this one looks different from the one Dr. Aquino sketched in his diary. Gareth briefed the Complex, and their theory is that they have something to do with each other. They also agree that the aliens can track these things—so Scar City has two things the Barks desperately want.”

  “Or two halves, like my dad theorized.”

  “Or that,” Finn agreed. “Kind of hard to know for certain.”

  The air seemed lighter, easier to breathe. So her father hadn’t singlehandedly brought down the alien’s wrath upon this City. The aliens had been tracking Patrice’s device as well. She only wished she could have told him before he’d passed away. Maybe then he’d have died feeling less guilty.

  “So what happens now?” she asked.

  “We defend the walls. Preferably while you sleep.” Gareth strode in, his normally serious face even grimmer. “And the powers that be want a closer look at what’s causing all this ruckus.”

  Mari watched as he turned the triangular apparatus this way and that. When he flipped it downward to carefully examine the outermost edge, she gasped. “That’s what he meant by failsafe! The device he found is one half, just like he theorized. Look, if you turn it that way, you can see it isn’t designed to be used on its own. It’s designed to slot into—into another one, just like the strange door hinges on the spaceship I accidentally opened.”

  The Twins digested that in silence. Then Gareth flicked a gaze her way. “Nice thinking.”

  It wasn’t lavish praise, but she glowed all the same. “It was my father who thought of it. He probably experimented with the one he had until he figured it out. He must have been really disappointed when he couldn’t get hold of the other half—and then terrified when he realized the aliens must be tracking them.”

  Jorge Aquino had been a peaceable, intelligent man who’d enjoyed building and inventing as a hobby. That was actually one of her earliest memories—him bent over the kitchen table, wiring some crazy contraption together. He’d been at it until after her bedtime with single-minded focus, to her mother’s gentle exasperation.

  “Good design, actually,” Finn was saying. “Halving the device means the aliens can’t set it off by accident, and it forces their leaders to work together, spreading the power out.”

  “I’d like to have been a fly on the wall when the bastards found out Mari’s dad stole the other half.” Gareth held the device up to his commtablet until it emitted a faint beep. “There, pictures taken. Let them chew on that for the night.”

  “While arranging transport, I hope.” Finn’s voice was mild, but Mari felt that edge of tension.

  “Either way, we’ve gotta hold out another night. No way around it. It’s just a shame we can’t find Dr. Aquino’s half. Wait, what the hell? The thing beeped.”

  “It did?” Mari blurted. She hadn’t heard a thing, but apparently the Twins had.

  “Really faint.” Gareth picked it up again. “Hey, maybe it can track the other half.”

  “It’s probably calling to its alien masters.” Finn’s voice held a warning. “Mari, do you want to come with us or stay here?”

  “Come with,” she said at the same time Gareth said, “Stay here.” They glared at each other briefly.

  “She’ll be safer with us.” Finn settled the argument in an uncharacteristically brusque manner. “Let’s leave a note for Patrice and get this done with.”

  The last of her sleep-induced bleariness wore off the instant she stepped into the street. Dusk was beginning to fall, and even the most hardcore junkies had found a nook to retire to, leaving the streets deserted. A stiff breeze roiled up a layer of old garbage, blowing faded plastic bags past their boots as they walked.

  “Beeping’s increased,” Gareth said.

  “What did Command say about us finding this stupid thing?” Finn tucked Mari under his arm, keeping her between the two men, much to her pleasure.

  “The leaders are very eager. They want us to report any results immediately, make this mission priority.” Gareth shrugged. “I think Dr. Felton has a hand in it. He’s fascinated with anything alienkind.”

  “And doesn’t mind risking humankind to satisfy his curiosity,” Finn said dryly. “Fine. Let’s assume if the frequency of beeps increases, we’re either getting closer to the aliens—or its other half. Mari, any ideas where your father might have left his device?”

  She mulled the question over as they turned the corner. “He spent a lot of time at the walls. I’d say he either buried it there or at our old place near the middle of the town. He wrote that he couldn’t bear letting the aliens have it back, so probably he’s left it near the wall in the hopes that if the aliens did breach the City, they’d grab it and not go rampaging through the middle. At least, not on the device’s account.”

  A pang of grief caught her unexpectedly, making her throat tight. Her father hadn’t been perfect, but she’d always admired his thoughtfulness and thoroughness. His death was forcing her to come to terms with her mother’s passing as well. At least she’d been able to scatter their ashes together. Cremation had been something they’d both insisted upon, since Barks dug up corpses and ate them, regardless of formaldehyde. So they were together again, their ashes eddying across Arizona.

  Regrettably, Mari hadn’t had the courage to construct a memorial outside the City walls. Born partly of necessity, partly of defiance, City denizens had replaced graveyards with memorial gardens, where hand-carved plaques and statues immortalized lost loved ones. Mari had commissioned a plaque for he
r father, but her terror of being outside the walls had stopped her from placing it personally in Flagstaff’s memorial garden.

  Someday, she promised her parents, and held tight to Finn and Gareth.

  “Where did you used to live, Mari?” Gareth asked. “We ought to swing by, see if the beeping changes.”

  “Okay. I recognize this area. If we keep going this way, I can lead us there.”

  They walked past a burned-out supermarket. Everything here was looted within an inch of its life, but Mari remembered scavenging a candy bar wedged between the top shelves of a nearby store. She and her parents had shared it that evening. Letting memory guide her, she led the Twins onward.

  “Here.” She almost didn’t recognize it, but that was definitely her apartment building, with its scarred door and small windows. What would her life have been like if her parents had stayed in this place?

  A man shouted nearby, and a rat scuttled across old broken glass, its bare tail flicking as it disappeared down a grate. A pair of junkies stared sullenly from the stairwell, their pale eyes and shaky hands marking them as frequent users of Turquoise.

  “It’s not located around here.” Gareth broke the silence. “The beeping is slower, if anything.”

  “Back toward the walls, then. You okay, Mari?”

  She managed a weak smile for Finn. “I’m remembering, is all. Wondering what I might be like if we had stayed here.”

  “Worse off,” was Gareth’s fierce opinion. His green eyes raked her with that typical possessiveness of his, his grip on her arm tightening. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  Their first clue that something was really wrong was the increased activity at the wall. The place swarmed with soldiers and armed civilians. Technicians threw wires around, working to stow away the solar panels and set up UV lights…but even to Mari, they looked woefully underprepared.

  One of the soldiers strode toward them, his sharp gaze assessing. “Only the one pair of you? It might be enough to hold the walls tonight, but we need a long-term solution.”

  “We weren’t sent to hold the walls—we’re on a priority mission. And a good evening to you too.” Finn glanced over at his brother with what seemed to Mari to be a quelling gaze.

  The soldier scrubbed at his face. “Sorry, my manners are a little short. We’re in trouble. We flew a glider reconnaissance mission near dusk, and our pilot spotted a huge goddamn mass of Barks assembling in the shadow of the hills. So forgive me for saying this straight, but your priority mission ought to come second to staying alive.”

  Some of the tension left Gareth’s arm, and both men nodded. “Okay, fair enough,” Finn said.

  “I’m Ramsey, by the way. Sergeant John Ramsey. You the ones who put in that evacuation request?”

  “We are.”

  “I did too, about an hour behind you. Crazy how it seems to deteriorate so quickly. Couple of weeks ago, I figured this place had another six months in her. Now…well.” Ramsey scrubbed at his face again. “I was there when Detroit fell. Got out by the skin of my teeth.”

  “Lot of survivors got out of Detroit,” Gareth observed. “Your doing?”

  Ramsey only shrugged. “Maybe in part. We had some luck on our side—and heavier equipment than we have here. I’d be obliged if you would take a look at our current setup, maybe help us get a battle plan going.”

  The sergeant led them up several flights of concrete stairs, pausing occasionally to advise another soldier or lend a hand with a stray solar panel or cord. Two people winched up a large concrete block, wedging it into a gap near the middle of the wall.

  “Thank God for small mercies,” Ramsey said, nodding toward the repairs going on. “We’ve got plenty of concrete and other building materials available. Those sons of bitches—pardon my language—do a real number on our walls. Those sucker legs look soft, but they can whip a man’s head off. You can imagine what six of them, times several hundred, do to concrete over nine plus hours of darkness.”

  “We’ve seen a few up close,” Gareth replied dryly.

  “Yeah.” Ramsey shook his head as if waking up from a dream. “Of course you have. I’ve been dealing with rookies for months…lots of new recruits. Happy to have them, obviously, but I’ve been in the habit of explaining the nuts and bolts of everything for months now.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Finn said, but the concern in his eyes belied his easygoing words. “We’ll help as much as possible. Can you give us a list of soldiers? And maybe some extra UV lasers?”

  “You got it. I’ll give you a private room and maybe you can jerry-rig us up something. There’s a lot of half-working parts that we haven’t had the time to fix up. This location means we have plenty of juiced-up batteries, so there’s that at least.”

  Ramsey pulled out a set of keys and unlocked a badly fitted iron door, leading them into a kind of turret room. It held a table, chairs and piles of parts. Mari blinked at the jumble, wondering how on earth the Twins would be able to do anything with all those wires, cracked bulbs, metal rods and other things. But the men seemed confident, striding in and pulling out chairs.

  “Here’s the list,” Ramsey said, pulling out several folded pieces of paper. “And the key to the room. Feel free to lock yourselves in and get to work—but remember to get the key back to me. If we live through the night.”

  The sergeant let out a harsh chuckle at his own grim joke, peeling the key off the ring and dropping it on the table. Mari nearly winced at the loud clang the metal made against the wood. Was the situation really that dire?

  “Evacuation in less than twenty-four.” Gareth’s voice was calm, soothing the edgy mood in the room. “We concentrate on getting through the night, then we can refocus on the bigger picture.”

  “I’m on it. See you on the wall.” Ramsey snapped a crisp salute and turned on his heel, closing the door behind him.

  “You’re more diplomatic than I am sometimes, you know,” Finn said to his brother.

  “He was recently promoted. Leadership is stressing him out.”

  “How do you know that?” Finn asked.

  Mari listened to them chat, trying to quell the fear she felt at the idea of the walls falling. She twisted a wire in her hand, wishing she could turn it into a weapon, yet the thought of actually using it on the aliens made her skin crawl. She had her gun tucked into the waistband of her skirt, but that was small comfort.

  “I’m not the only one who hacks in and reads confidential records.” Gareth cracked a rare grin, then sobered. “The woman in charge of Reno was killed two months ago while undertaking a wide patrol. Ramsey’s likely her replacement. Anyhow…let’s get to work. We can do a lot with these parts.”

  “You can?” Mari blurted.

  “Yep. Would be nice if we could put you to work as well. You can help me, and we’ll compete against Gareth.” Finn reached out to tug her chair nearer his.

  Mari snorted but complied. She began rummaging through the jumble, locating promising pieces and sorting them into piles at the end of the table. The Twins pulled repair kits from their leather jackets, and Mari tried not to imagine how much her father would have envied those kits. It wasn’t long before they managed to construct two things that looked to Mari’s untrained eye to be suitably lethal.

  Wordlessly, she handed Finn a screw, watching closely as he tightened a joint in his contraption. It looked vaguely like an oversized gun, with dual bulbs at the front.

  “Close your eyes,” Finn ordered. There was a zap, and a flash that she saw behind her shut eyelids.

  “Not bad,” Gareth said. “Gonna suck up a lot of battery juice, though. Mine’s more efficient.”

  The way they affectionately competed against each other, extolling the virtues of their separate inventions, made Mari smile. Yet even as she felt herself begin to relax, lulled by their solid, protective company, the sound of Barks i
n the distance made her tense up.

  “Well, they’re here. I’m going to take a quick stroll, see what’s up on the wall.” Gareth scooped up his invention, hesitating at the door. “Lock yourselves in. I don’t know the soldiers here, and I don’t trust some of them not to freak out and do something idiotic.” His gaze caressed Mari briefly.

  She sat, bending an old wire in her hands, as Finn went to the door to lock it behind his brother. Slowly, idly, a dog took shape between her fingers, complete with wire ears and a stub tail. Bending one hind leg into shape, she suddenly registered Finn’s gaze.

  “That’s neat,” he said. “Do you mind if I keep it?”

  “It’s not useful,” Mari muttered. She slid the dog across the table, abruptly hating it.

  “Sweetheart…useful isn’t the be-all and end-all in this world. There has to be beauty too. Otherwise what would we live for?” Finn pulled her chair even closer, so that the wood banged up against his own seat and their thighs were pressed together.

  When she startled again at the howling of Barks, Finn began stroking her back, a comforting gesture. She leaned into him and simply absorbed his presence, grateful that her life had finally taken a turn for the better. What if she’d taken the train a day earlier? Or if the Twins hadn’t been aboard?

  “Hey. Easy with the overthinking.” Finn whispered the words right against her ear, making her shiver. He followed the command up with a tiny nibble of her lobe.

  “I can’t help but overthink. Life could be so different.” Even her protest was weak, just as her knees were beginning to be.

  “Yeah, life could be all crazy kinds of different. The aliens could have headed in the opposite direction or we could have fought them off more successfully. Those possibilities don’t change the fact that we are here, now. Together.”

  This time, his lips strayed to her cheek, kissing a line toward her mouth, which he accessed by tilting her chin gently but firmly toward him. And she was lost in his warmth instantly. Gravity skewed as he pulled her atop his lap, never relinquishing contact for a second. Mari settled atop his muscular thighs, the bulge at his crotch brushing tantalizingly against her sex. She was wearing a skirt, so all they’d have to do was pull down her underwear and unzip his fly…