by P. R. Adams
She was going to leave everything unlocked. For me.
I had the car change destination to Gillian’s apartment building. We needed to talk. Maybe about us; maybe about her past and her relationship with her mother. But we had to talk.
The entire way, I rode in silence other than the Grid chattering in my head. I did what I could to handle the minutes before the car parked alongside hers. I ran, barely slowing when the entry door popped open as I approached, then dashed up the stairs. Her door opened at my touch. I locked it behind me and crept into her bedroom. She was asleep, her pink T-shirt, jeans, and panties on the chest of drawers, folded. I ran a finger over her hair and wondered what was going through my mind that stole my ability to see her as anything more than just another attractive young woman.
Her eyes opened—sleepy, slow—and she looked up at me. She leaned up on an elbow, and the covers slid back. Any hint of frumpiness was gone. “Did you come to ask me more questions?”
“I can’t remember.”
“It’s cold out.” She scooted aside and pulled the covers back for me.
I slipped out of my clothes and into the bed, reassuring myself I was in control, that this was all part of me figuring her out. We kissed and her heat quickly warmed me. When we made love, it was with measured and controlled touches and motions, but it was still intense. I fell asleep with her in my arms, wondering what the hell I was thinking. I couldn’t kill her. I had to protect her.
I woke suddenly. The room was dark, and the light slipping in through the curtains came from street lamps. Gillian had rolled free of my arms and lay on her back. A razor-sharp blade—silvery in the light coming through the window—ran from her ivory neck up to Ichi’s gloved hand. It was her father’s wakizashi. She wore the black outfit used for such missions, but the hood was pulled back to reveal her face. Tears welled in her eyes.
I shook my head slowly, and felt the fury and sense of betrayal roll off of Ichi. I nodded toward the dining room and slowly slid out from beneath the covers and gathered my clothes.
She followed me, pulled the door shut behind us, and watched me as I dressed behind what cover the dining room table provided.
When I had my shirt on, she leaned in close, and hissed, “Liar!” The blade was still out.
“I didn’t lie,” I whispered. “This is all part of the job.”
“I saw what you did with her. It was not a job!”
“Ichi—”
“You said I should trust you, but you sleep with her instead of killing her! Would you have treated my father in such a way?”
I lowered my voice. “We still have time.”
“No. I can kill them both. I will show you.” She pivoted, blade pointed out and low.
I grabbed her shoulder, and she pivoted back again, the wakizashi now pressed against my jugular. “No more lies!”
“No more lies. We’ll finish this tomorrow.”
It seemed I had gone too far, that she might slash my throat and end it all right then, but she pulled the blade back and sheathed it.
She pointed at the door. “You return to the hotel with me. Now.”
There was no arguing the point. I led the way to the car. Gillian’s scent was on me, which seemed to annoy Ichi even more. We didn’t speak the entire time, and when we got to my room, she followed me inside.
She pulled off her shoes, threw back the covers of my bed, and slid beneath them. “Wash her off of you. Sleep in the chair.”
Arguing was out of the question.
Chapter 27
My neck ached when I woke, and my mouth tasted like I’d licked Abhishek’s ashtray. Ichi was still asleep on the bed, the covers drawn up to her chin. She radiated warmth in the coolness and the faintest aroma of cherry blossoms. It was Heidi’s fragrance, meant to antagonize.
Fair enough. I deserved it.
I opened the curtain a crack. It was dreary outside, with snowflakes fluttering to a pristine field of snow in slow spirals, like butterflies drawn to blooms. The chatter on my cybernetic implant indicated the snow would melt some before the end of the day, followed by freezing. Wonderful.
As I showered, an idea came to me. I hastily dressed in jeans and pullover, still piecing the idea together.
Ichi was gone when I stepped out. Almost immediately, I heard her shower through the open adjoining door.
I carried my data device to the dresser and connected to Chan.
The connection was almost immediate, and there wasn’t a tremendous improvement in the magenta eyes glaring at me. I said, “Chan, don’t disconnect. This is important.”
“Sleep is, too.” The tattoos on Chan’s face twisted, and the ear-LEDs glowed.
“I need a huge favor from you.”
Those magenta eyes rolled. “When don’t you?”
“There’s doing the job, and there’s a favor. This is a favor. I want to use you as a lure to pull the last android in.”
Because of the tattoos and other modifications, Chan’s eyes were harder to read than most people’s. Not this time. There was a look of complete disbelief. Combined with the mouth dropping open, I read the reaction just fine: Are you crazy?
Chan disconnected.
I reconnected. “Chan, it sounds insane. I get it. It’s safer than you realize.”
Chan gave the most energetic head shake yet. “Gridhound, not field agent.”
“And I’m not asking that to change. I don’t want you to be the bait; I want your Grid ID to be the bait.”
“I am my Grid ID!” Chan’s finger reached toward the manual disconnect.
“But wouldn’t you prefer to be your Grid ID for a long time to come still?”
The finger froze, the head tilted in curiosity.
I had a chance. “We spoof your ID. We make it impossible for someone like Jacinto to ignore. He sends in the android, and we destroy it.”
“How?”
“We knock the Grid down locally, severing Jacinto’s control. The android has to function on its own. That should buy us at least a few seconds of disorientation. Maybe it renders the android completely non-functional. Either way, we take it down before Jacinto can resume control, and we end the threat.”
With lips twisted and forehead wrinkled, Chan said, “Destroy Jacinto, destroy the threat. No other options work.”
“For now, for what we’re doing—” Ichi stepped out of her bathroom, still toweling off. I turned away. “This operation is about something other than Jacinto. Let’s get it done, then I promise I’ll help you against this thing.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not the immediate threat the android is.”
“Why help me later?”
“Because you’re part of my team.”
Chan’s painted nails pinched chewed lips. “All right.”
“Good. Meeting in ten minutes. My room. Get cleaned up.”
While keeping my back to the open door to Ichi’s room, I texted Danny about the meeting. I didn’t need Ichi’s distraction, whether intended to punish me or just another reflection of how little she understood how male-female dynamics worked.
I called over my shoulder, “Meeting in five.”
She darted into my room and bounced off the end of my bed with the slightest squeak. “You wish to destroy this android. Why?”
“It’s an unnecessary complication. It limits our options.” I glanced at her, saw she was wearing her familiar leotard and shorts ensemble. “And maybe because it’s a stick in Stovall’s eye.”
“That is personal.”
“Like I said, Rule 1A. He made this personal. Plus it doesn’t run counter to the mission.”
She frowned. “I worry everything has been personal for you on this mission.”
I settled into the chair, which now filled the open doorway between our rooms. The steam from her shower carried the scent of her soap—a light musk. I liked it better than the cherry blossoms.
After a few uncomfortable minutes, I said, “I can explain
what was going on with Gillian.”
“I saw what you did.” Ichi shrugged. “You will feel sadness when she is dead.”
The nonchalance was annoying. The thought of Gillian’s death being imminent brought on an unfamiliar anxiety. I honestly couldn’t explain what was going on between us, so I let Ichi’s comment go. “You can still trust me.”
“With my life, Stefan-san.”
Some of the anxiety slipped away.
I heard a knock, saw Danny on the data device. I let him in and waited at the door for Chan, who stumbled in looking like a half-drowned puppy. They settled on the bed alongside Ichi, Danny in jeans and the thick jacket he’d worn to pick me up at the clinic; Chan in baggy black jeans and a hoodie that was damp around the cuffs.
Once I closed the door, Danny asked, “Uh, is Heidi coming?”
“I’ll fill her in later.” I put a foot on the chair armrest. “This is going to be quick. We’re taking down Maribel. Chan, I’ll need a spare system, something sturdy enough that you can run it remotely.”
“Yeah.” Chan surprisingly seemed enthused.
Danny blinked. “Maribel? The android? I thought we had two days to get the job done.”
“We do. And this is going to open up our options. We take Stovall down, we assume control of the operation. No more outside forces threatening to ruin our plans.”
“O-okay. How do you plan to do this? Hasn’t she been more than you can handle up to now?”
“Well, it starts with you getting a new drone. Can you have one running in four hours? Better optics, longer flight time.”
“Yeah. I’ve got contacts.”
“All right, then here’s what we do.”
The Rosaryville Assembly Hall parking lot was a brilliant white, marred only by the deep tracks of my rented car. A dusting of snow covered its silver exterior, almost blending it in with the parking lot.
The chatter of the Grid settled my nerves. I leaned my seat back and pressed against its warmth, hotter than the heater’s rose-scented air. It wasn’t enough for Ichi, who kept rubbing her gloved hands together. I wore an all-black outfit similar to the one she wore, with reinforced elbow and knee joints and along the forearm and shin; we almost blended against the black interior. The armor wasn’t meant to stand up to the sort of weapon Maribel had been using, but it could probably stand up to the impact when we blocked or struck.
Ichi bowed her head and whispered beneath her breath. It was a strange preparation ritual I had never seen Norimitsu do.
When she straightened, I asked her, “Is that something you got from your mother?”
She nodded. “She taught me to do it before each routine. For concentration.”
“That didn’t sound Korean.”
“Only when I am mad. Norimitsu-san did not like me speaking in her language outside the training center. It made her sad, but she respected his wishes.” As if sensing I was close to pressing her about Tae-hee, Ichi turned away, fogging the window with her breath. “You are sure she will come?”
“Yeah.” I leaned forward and cranked up the defroster, then lowered the windows to clear the snow away. The air blew in cool and sweet, but Gillian’s car was nowhere to be seen in the afternoon gray. I closed the windows again. We still had time.
Ichi crossed her arms. “If you two do not care for each other, why should she come?”
“Maybe she does care for me. If she doesn’t, there’s still what this can do for the election campaign. Take down the assassin responsible for hurting her mother…it’s big news. If the campaign can be salvaged, it’ll play huge. Sympathy. There’s already plenty of free coverage, even on the corporate-run networks. She’s got a huge lead over any potential opponents.”
Ichi’s eyes softened as she looked at me. “Could you kill her? Now. After we kill the android?”
“No.” The honesty was a jagged wound. Part of me rebelled at the notion I could feel for someone like Gillian, but another part of me welcomed the acknowledgment.
Ichi drew in a sympathetic breath. “I can. You do not need to see it.”
Danny’s voice popped over my data device’s speaker. “Car matching the ID Chan sent me approaching. ETA…um, two minutes.”
“Thanks, Danny.” I popped my door open, happy to be free of Ichi’s innocence and bloodthirstiness. The chill of the air was cleansing. “Leave Gillian to me. She’s my obligation.”
I pulled the hood back and wandered away from the car, waving when Gillian turned into the parking lot and headed toward me. She parked dead center of the assembly hall and got out. Her hair was pinned up but not so severely as the night before, and the same sweater poked out from a heavy jacket that covered the top of her jeans. There was the same sort of impatient testiness I’d noticed the night before, when I’d woken her. It was understandable. Who could possibly be happy being drawn out to the middle of nowhere on short notice to discuss vague concerns. It was the weakest part of my plan.
I waved toward the steps leading up to the assembly hall entry. “You want to go inside? It’s cold out.”
Gillian glanced at the car. “What’s this about, Stefan? Who’s that in the car?”
“One of the consultants from my team. We have an idea that we think you’ll like.”
“Help you take this assassin down, I know. I don’t know how you expect two people to take on someone who plowed through half of Ravi’s staff. And I can’t imagine she’d want to come out here again. This seems ridiculous.” She rubbed her arms and bounced up and down, and some of the sharpness left her voice as she said, “Why’d you leave in the middle of the night?”
I kicked snow from my sneakers, resenting the lack of pain or numbness in my toes. “Business.”
“This? This whole thing came up last night while you were with me?” She stepped closer, and her perfume leaked out of the depths of her jacket. “Did something happen? Did I do something wrong?”
“No. This is about protecting you. And your mother. Why don’t we go—?”
She looked past me. At Ichi, standing beside our car, dark hair fluttering in the wind. “Are all your consultants so pretty?”
“Ichi’s special.” I waved toward the steps again.
Gillian stomped until she reached the steps. She took those more cautiously, and I stayed close behind her in case she slipped. She stopped at the door and looked back toward the parking lot. “What’s she carrying?”
I glanced back. Ichi had our carry bags, one slung over each shoulder. “Gear. I’ll explain once we’re inside.”
Gillian frowned. “I don’t like this.”
The door opened at my tug. “We’ve got the building until midnight, but I’d like to be out of here before it gets dark.”
She stomped snow from her boots and turned back to watch Ichi. The interior of the building seemed to drop a few degrees as Gillian scowled. “You screwing her, too? Is that what the business was?”
I pulled the door wide for Ichi. “Ichi plays for the team you experimented with.”
Ichi grunted as she passed me and shrugged one of the bags into my arms. She gave Gillian a scoffing glance, then headed to the main doors to the auditorium. Gillian followed. I hurried after them and set the bag down in the middle of the empty auditorium floor. Razor-thin scars marred the wood floor, all that remained from the flechettes Jose had fired into the crowd.
I unpacked my bag; Ichi did the same with hers. It was a strange mix—cameras, Chan’s spare system, several thin plastic forearm-length boxes, and an assortment of guns and close-combat gear. Everything was spread across a small area, then separated into piles: weapons, systems and surveillance gear, and the boxes.
I considered the heavy swords in the weapons pile before selecting a long, sleek, black plastic stick—a Night Eel. I shifted it until my hand found the proper balance and fit with the grooves. There was a small button just above my thumb, which would normally trigger a high-voltage, low amp charge that would release wherever the shaft made contact. This
device had been modified to burn the battery out in two strikes. It would deliver a much higher current than normal.
Gillian inspected the gear as we set it out, but I caught her eyes frequently drifting to Ichi’s scowling face. Gillian picked up the interface to Chan’s spare system, and said, “I haven’t agreed to this crazy idea. You need to explain what’s going on. Now, or I leave.”
Ichi shrugged, snatched the interface back, and began assembling Chan’s system.
I said, “In about ten minutes, we’re going to leak to a group on the Grid that someone more valuable to the assassin than your mother is here, trying to crack the security system to pull video out.”
Gillian stepped away from the flurry of activity. “Who’s more valuable than my mother?”
“You. Don’t worry, not actually you. Technically, it’s another of my consultants, but you’ll be playing the part.”
“You want me to be the bait for this robot assassin? Are you serious?”
“Android. And that android nearly killed your mother three times. This is our chance to shut it down, out here in a pretty sturdy building, where no one else is at risk.”
Gillian snorted. “Two of you?”
“We have a team supporting us, and we have something that will give us an advantage.” I nodded, and Ichi tossed me the device. I held it up for Gillian to see.
“That little thing?” Gillian groaned. “Nope. I’m out of here.”
“Gillian. Please. We can do this. I guarantee you, we can stop her. And more important than that, we can go after the people running her.”
“Running her?”
“She’s an android, but she’s also a…drone. There’s some brain matter inside her, but it’s not in control. We need to get to the people who are in control.”
“Who?”
I flinched, knowing the inevitable reaction. “The Agency.”
Gillian pinched the bridge of her nose. “That makes no sense. My mother’s one of the Agency’s biggest allies in Congress. I couldn’t get her to budge on that. I don’t know if I ever could. It nearly convinced me I couldn’t work with her. She’s just too…” She sighed. “It can’t be the Agency.”
