Sketches

by Teyla Branton

  Stifling a roll of her eyes, Reese pulled up the holo menu and saved the information to her private feed, which was accessible by all her devices. “How will I get ahold of you? Do you have a number I can call?”

  Nova snorted. “No way. But if I learn anything to pass on, I’ll tie a black ribbon around that flag pole outside the sky train closest to your house. You do the same. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.” Nova’s iTeev disappeared under her sweater. “I always keep my word. Guess now we’re about to see if you’ll keep yours. Can I go?”

  Reese nodded. “Go ahead.”

  Nova reached for the harness, but Jaxon stopped her. “That stays here.”

  “He’ll kill me!” But this time something was lacking in her assertion.

  “Then you die. You’ll figure something out. Now scram before I change my mind.” He sauntered to the door and opened it. “Oh, but you can have this back.” He extended her knife.

  Nova glanced once more at the harness before grabbing the knife and dashing through the door. Jaxon closed it behind her and returned to Reese.

  “You think she’s telling the truth about the factory?” Reese asked, rubbing her bare arms. Now that the danger was past, the cool breeze wafting through the hole in the glass was uncomfortable.

  Jaxon returned to the couch and began searching the cushions. “I think so, actually. But she must have some pretty big secrets to risk coming here like this.”

  “Well, she obviously has problems with the CORE and doesn’t want to face enhancement.”

  “Yeah, but it’d be a lot less dangerous to approach you somewhere other than your apartment.”

  “Maybe she was afraid El Cerebro would find out she was talking to us. Anyway, I think she’ll be more use to us on the street.” Reese hoped it was true and not just her pity for the girl that colored her perception.

  “I agree.” He ran a hand under the couch.

  Finally, she had to ask, “What are you doing?”

  “Getting ready for bed.” He shook his head, holding one finger near his lips before bringing it to his ear. “You aren’t kicking me out now, are you? Who knows what might show up next? Let’s get some sleep and talk about this tomorrow.”

  “Fine.” She watched with interest as he continued his search.

  With a triumphant smile, he lifted the couch, turning it on its back, and pointed to a small device attached underneath. Reese came closer to peer at it, unsure whether to be upset or impressed that the little punk had bugged her apartment. How Nova had managed to place it there, more than an arm’s length away from where she’d been sitting, and right under Reese’s nose, was a mystery.

  She was about to crush it when Jaxon grabbed her hand. A shudder of something pleasant rushed through her—a memory or a desire, she wasn’t sure which. “Not yet,” he mouthed silently.

  “If you insist on staying,” she said, “you’ll have to help me do something with that hole in the glass. I think I have a roll of sealant in one of the boxes piled in my bedroom.”

  “Sure. I’ll help you find it.”

  Leaving the bug exposed, Jaxon followed her into the bedroom, where they shut the door and began to talk in whispers. “I didn’t think she came only to give us information,” Jaxon said. “One of us could have shot her.”

  “I like to think I’m a little better trained than to shoot a child like that, but something does smell funny about her visit. There’s no way a kid like her would steal tech from El Cerebro, even if she had access. And a man like him doesn’t get where he is without being smart.”

  Jaxon nodded. “Yeah, she’s either lying about where she got it—”

  “Or he sent her.” She paused before adding, “Well, him or someone else.”

  “Right. Someone who wanted her to tell us about the black shuttle and where it went. Maybe they even made it up.”

  “Could be a trap.” That still wouldn’t explain Nova’s sudden shift in attitude about looking for their attackers. “Do you think El Cerebro was behind the attack last night?”

  Jaxon blew out air and sank onto her bed. “I sure hope not. Regardless, sending her here kills two birds with one stone: gets us off her back and out of his business. Especially if he’s feeding us what he wants us to know through her. I vote we leave the bug there, at least for now. We can use it to pass misinformation. Make sure they aren’t expecting us when we do go check out the address Nova gave us.”

  Of course they had to go, but they would at least go in smart.

  He heaved a sigh. “One thing I know for sure is that her coming here means my informant is working for El Cerebro as well as for me. He wasn’t supposed to tell anyone I was looking for the girl.”

  “Looks like you need a new informant.” After several seconds of silence, Reese added, “Or maybe Nova is exactly what she represents, and El Cerebro isn’t involved in her being here tonight. That doesn’t explain the tech, but she could have left the bug to make sure we weren’t planning to turn her in.”

  He tilted his head and met her gaze. “I guess. Anything is possible.”

  Reese laughed and moved closer, settling next to him on the bed. “You always used to say that. I kept remembering those words all the way through the academy when I was tempted to drop out and do nothing more than draw. Drawing was always easy.” No, that wasn’t quite the truth. “Well, I mean, I didn’t really have a choice about the drawing.”

  “I know. It finds you.”

  The silence grew thick between them, and Reese became all too aware that they were alone in her bedroom. Something in his eyes had changed—like it had at her aunt’s house. The rhythm of her heart increased in that instant from a steady beat to an irregular pounding. His head dipped toward her so quickly, she didn’t have time to think. His lips brushed hers, pushing harder when she didn’t object, but slow and steady, still tentative. Her mouth parted slightly, and his tongue glided over her bottom lip.

  Suddenly there was too much time to think. It would be so easy to lean into him, to wrap her arms around him and bury herself in his warmth. But this was Jaxon, and she’d only just found him. No way was she going to lose their friendship over this. She knew the way that went, and he meant too much—their past meant too much.

  She pulled away. “Jaxon, I—”

  “No, I’m sorry.” He chuckled and rubbed a hand through his hair. “It’s all the adrenaline from what happened, and you showing up here like this, bringing back all the old memories. You’re a beautiful woman, and I’d be blind not to notice. I let it go to my head.”

  Reese wasn’t sure if she should be flattered that he thought her beautiful or offended that it was only her looks that had driven him to kiss her. But if he was anything like the Jaxon of old, he’d meant it well, so she chose to be flattered. “Thank you. You’re not so bad yourself.” More than not bad, but gorgeous hunk sounded like something the child Reese would have said instead of coming from the woman she was now.

  “Don’t worry about it,” she added. “It’s weird feeling like we know each other when we really don’t.”

  To show him that she had no hard feelings, she leaned forward and gave him a quick, platonic kiss on the lips. Or, rather, it was supposed to be platonic. The energy roaring through her veins and the widening of his eyes contradicted her intention. She should know better than to send mixed signals, but she couldn’t even figure out her own emotions, much less own them. She pulled away, avoiding his eyes.

  “I know you, Reese.” His words were firm, unyielding.

  She wanted to tell him he didn’t know everything, but that might lead to a conversation she wasn’t ready to have. Instead, she chose distraction. “I hope you realize how silly you looked perched on top of Nova,” she said, standing and reaching for the first packing box that came to hand. “Like a bear pouncing on a rabbit. I’m probably going to tease you about it for years.”

  “It was dark, and the rabbit had a knife,” he reminded her.

  The sealant wasn’
t in the first box, and as she reached for another, she said, “When you were out on the balcony, Nova and I talked about the attack last night. She seemed eager to help find out who’s behind it, but then when we came around to it again later, I could tell she didn’t want to look into it at all. She only agreed so we’d let her go. Can you think of anything we said that might have changed things for her?”

  Jaxon considered a moment. “No, but I’ll keep thinking about it. Could be she was just trying to make us feel sorry for her.”

  “What about her father? We can trace him to see what we learn.”

  “Might be difficult. We don’t know her real name, and nothing came up in the database when we ran your sketch of her, so we don’t know her parents. The database might not be able to find a match with the sick man in your sketch.”

  “I can also create a drawing of what he might look like without the illness. The eyes and underlying facial structure wouldn’t change.”

  “It’s worth a try.”

  At last, Reese found the roll of sealant and the separate activating agent. “Here we are. But before we go out there, when are we going to move on that address?”

  “I think we need to stay with our plan of going to the Coop in the morning, but I’ll send a message to Garrett, let him know what happened. We can trust him to stake out the place for us. The more I think about it, the more sure I am that we need to tell him what’s going on in Colony 6.”

  “And you’re sure you can trust Garrett?”

  “With my life. But aside from Garrett and Hammer, I’m not sure who else at division we can trust. At least not until we find out who distributed that receptor with your image, or figure out what’s happening to our evidence.”

  Her gut tightened at the words. Words that were new but at the same time expected. She’d felt that way most of her life, like she couldn’t trust anyone at work. Her relationships always stopped short of full disclosure. Yet in less than two days, she’d admitted to one of her two deepest secrets, not only to Jaxon but to three other people.

  Her crew.

  “Okay, then. We’ll go with Eagle tomorrow and let Garrett check out the address. Now let’s go fix that hole.”

  Back in the main room, Jaxon held the glass in place while she smeared the entire tube of activating agent over the break and covered it with strips of sealant. Once dry, the glass would be as strong as ever, but hazy and ugly in that spot. At least she didn’t have to worry about fixing it immediately. As they worked, they talked about inconsequential things, ever mindful of Nova’s listening device.

  When they were finished, Reese nodded at Jaxon, hiding a yawn behind her hand. “Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight. See you in a few hours.”

  Reese’s smile stayed on her face even after she climbed into the soft new bed, slipping between her silky white sheets. How odd to be smiling when someone had placed a target on her back, and when El Cerebro himself might have them in his sights.

  Just before she dropped off, she remembered Nova’s guess about their being from Colony 6. That was the moment, Reese thought. The moment the girl’s attitude had changed, as if just being with them was more dangerous than any connection she might have to El Cerebro.

  Chapter 13

  NOVA DARTED THROUGH the deserted streets, winding back and forth and retracing her path, making sure enforcers weren’t following. The streets were cold tonight, a harsh wind whipping between the tall buildings, seeming to latch onto her, sinking icy fingers into her skin. Before long, she was shivering, though how much was from the cold and how much from her narrow escape, she couldn’t judge.

  When she was reasonably sure she hadn’t been followed, she sat down in the shadows next to one of the tall apartment buildings and hugged her trembling knees to her chest. She was all right. She’d made it out of that plush apartment in one piece, and she’d succeeded in deflecting the enforcers’ attention from her. Maybe. Above all, she had helped point them in the direction of the clothing factory.

  They needed to go to the address. Even if her information was a lie.

  After her shaking stopped, she contemplated the option of reporting in voluntarily rather than waiting to be summoned. El Cerebro would know she was gone by now and that she had taken the harness. She’d better face the music. Pushing to her feet, she turned and almost ran into the man. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart pounded wildly against her ribs.

  Then she saw who it was. “Oh,” she said, her panic easing.

  “Nova,” El Cerebro chided, “what did you do?”

  She wasn’t surprised he’d found her. He had put a tracking chip in her foot on the day her father had died, as part of his promise. Nova had hated him for doing it. She had tried to dig it out twice even though it had already saved her life.

  She looked up at him in the darkness, his muscled body looming even larger in the soft glow of the distant streetlight. He was wearing his public disguise: a black knit cap pulled low over his brow, flattening the long brown hair against his neck, and the thin skin-like mask that all too successfully concealed his identity. Only El Cerebro’s top men knew what he really looked like.

  And Nova.

  Everyone else saw ruddy, too-smooth skin that looked like he’d received an overdose of Nuface therapy—an obvious mask that most people accepted without question. His reputation Underground and the C tattoo on his fake cheek was all anyone needed to follow him without question. El Cerebro got the job done.

  “I went to see the enforcers.” She lifted her chin slightly but kept her voice steady, trying to be strong without showing too much defiance. Open defiance always upset him.

  “That wasn’t safe.” The sternness in his voice sent prickles of anxiety through her. “I told Derria to go tomorrow.”

  “They wanted me, not her. They were never going to believe I sent her.”

  “A risk I was willing to take.”

  “They might have hurt Derria.”

  His head gave a sharp shake. “They’re well-trained enforcers. They’d ask questions first, and our intel was enough to interest them.”

  “Then I was safe.”

  “No, because you are not fully trained.” He reached out and touched her split lip gently. “And as you said, it was you they were looking for, not Derria.” He paused for a moment before adding, as if in afterthought, “What happened?”

  “I told them what you told Derria to say about the shuttle and the factory, but I also admitted I tried to talk to the woman enforcer last night, and they guessed that I’d seen those men attack them. Now they want me to look into it.” She stopped talking, until his brown eyes compelled her to rush on. “But I can’t do that—I found out they’re from Colony 6!”

  “I know.”

  He knew? “But . . . that means those men last night . . . It’s too dangerous to attract their attention. You said so yourself. We’ve got enough on our hands.” Nova felt colder than ever, and she was grateful she’d been hiding too far away last night to identify the attackers.

  “We always knew this was dangerous and would become more so. We’ll need people like those enforcers.”

  He sounded so reasonable, and while she always felt safe around him, she had learned that safety of any kind was an illusion. “I don’t see how we can use them, even if they are special.” She hadn’t understood how the woman enforcer had drawn that picture of the men dumping the body, or the one of her father—not until she’d admitted to living in Colony 6.

  He laughed. “You will. But they aren’t ready yet for the role they will play in our plans.”

  “And if they never are?”

  There was no change in the expression on his face, smoothed as it was by the mask, but his eyes seemed darker somehow, hollow. “Then they will die like the others.”

  The sound of a vehicle made him pull her into the shadows against the building. He gave a sniff as her head neared his face. “Child, when was the last time you bathed? You should come home with me.
There’s plenty of room for you to stay.”

  She laughed. “I’m fine Underground. I’m fourteen, not a baby. Besides, how would you explain my sudden appearance in your ‘real’ life, especially with my picture floating around the enforcer database? I may have gotten them off my tail for now, but who knows how long that will last?”

  Which was the real reason she’d gone to see the enforcers tonight. She knew how important El Cerebro was to the movement, and no matter his feelings for her, she couldn’t allow him to put himself at risk because she’d been stupid enough to be a witness to not one but two crimes. If this kept up, she would have to add a dirty blindfold to her public orphan ensemble, or at least dark glasses that made people think she was blind.

  “Get on home,” El Cerebro said.

  “Oh, wait. I forgot to tell you. I lost the launcher and harness. They kept it.”

  “You didn’t.” Once again, she could feel his disappointment. “You broke into her apartment?” He sighed and answered his own question. “Of course you did.”

  Was that a little bit of pride seeping into his voice? He’d seen her use the launcher in the empty zones, so he should know climbing a building this size was comparatively simple for her.

  “How else was I going to talk to her alone before you sent Derria in the morning? I tried to last night and those men showed up. And today she arrived in a shuttle and didn’t leave. So finally I took care of the alarm like you taught me, waited until everyone left, and went in.” Not everyone had left, though, since the woman’s partner had still been there. Nova had been wrong to assume he’d left during the moments she’d drifted off during her stakeout.

  “This is why you need to clear things with me. I could have found you a better time.”

  “You mean a better time to send Derria,” she retorted. “Anyway, it was my dad’s tech. He’s the one who died getting it. Not you. It should belong to me!”

  He held out a hand and dropped it downward, a sign for her to lower her voice. “Well, now it belongs to the enforcers.”