Sketches

by Teyla Branton

  “Then maybe that’s why.” Jaxon’s unease dissipated. Alex wasn’t an enforcer, but he was a good doctor and a dependable man.

  Lyssa’s eyelids fluttered. “Lyra’s just made it to division. You know, I think she might be able to lead them here. I can tell when she’s getting closer or farther away. I didn’t realize that. We never had the occasion to experiment on the move like this.”

  “Excellent.” That could become useful if they rejected El Cerebro’s offer.

  Lyssa paused for a moment. “I never thought I’d say something like this, but what if El Cerebro is the good guy here? He’s telling us exactly what Dani told you, and I trust Dani.” Her eyes pierced him with her earnestness. “She takes care of people.”

  “People change,” Jaxon said.

  “No. Not really.” Lyssa shook her head. “I mean, I guess if something big happens, yeah, people can change, but normally they don’t. And even if something huge happens, it doesn’t guarantee a change. You and Reese have been through stuff, but you’re still who you’ve always been. I’ve had some things happen, and I’m different, but not that different, not in the essence of who I am.” She motioned to the groups around the table and the couches. “Look at their faces. Those aren’t evil people. They’re scared. But they trust El Cerebro.”

  Jaxon’s eyes drifted again to the undergrounders. Eyes followed them, scared, worried, some even forlorn. This was a refuge, and the very presence of enforcers threatened them. But not one of them challenged their leader’s choice to bring them here.

  “If he takes care of these people, then maybe he’s not so bad,” Lyssa added.

  “Maybe he just uses them.” But Jaxon thought of Nova and the equipment she’d stolen from El Cerebro. If he was such a terrible man, would she have risked it?

  What Jaxon needed was a premonition that told him what to do, but the only thing he’d seen since their capture was that horrible image of Garrett lying on the blood-stained ground and a flash of Captain Brogan, who was going to be furious at Jaxon’s disobedience at some time in the future. That second flash should have brought comfort that they would be released from the subway, but it only made him uneasy.

  “He seems to have thought of everything,” Lyssa whispered. “Do you think he’s the one responsible for bringing us all to Amarillo City?”

  “If so, he has a lot more power than I’ve given him credit for.” The more he thought about it, the more it had to be El Cerebro who’d organized their reunion—with Hammer and his Teev skills helping, of course.

  Did they have a choice about joining El Cerebro? He wouldn’t permit them to walk out of here if they didn’t agree. Sure, they could pretend to go along, and then once back at division, put Hammer in jail and start a manhunt for El Cerebro and his organization, but what if doing so ruined any chances of getting to the bottom of what was going on in the colonies?

  Jaxon let out a heavy sigh. In front of him, Reese turned, her eyes running over him as if checking to make sure he was okay. He liked that she cared enough to worry, and the anger he felt toward her was dying. Lyssa was right that Reese was who she’d always been. She was tougher now, a little hardened, but she was still Reese. He knew that if she could have saved his mother, she would have.

  He had to find a way to get beyond this, or he really would lose her. He also had to find a way to make sure his premonition about Garrett didn’t come true.

  “I’ll go tell Reese about Lyra trying to find help,” Lyssa said. “She’ll need to be ready.”

  Jaxon watched her hurry forward and link arms with Reese. The action brought an unbidden smile. Just like back in the Coop. And just like in the Coop, the secrets could mean the difference between life and death—only this time it wasn’t just the colonies at risk but everyone who lived in the CORE Territories.

  EL CEREBRO LED them through the common room, out into the station, and down the subway line to another room, this one several times larger than the first office and with far better lighting. Holographic feeds filled one wall—currently depicting a serene beach scene with gulls flying in the distance—and a large rectangular table made of smooth wood stretched on the far side, with enough chairs to fit all of them and a few more. A food bar and a refrigerator were built into the wall. Several work tables with equipment crammed onto them filled the remaining space. Reese was pleased to see a large pad of paper on an easel next to the work station.

  El Cerebro motioned to the room with a sweep of his hand. “This is where we’ll meet, and you’ll have access to any of the equipment here. We can hook up to the feed, but relay our signal, so they can’t track us here. We also use blind spots for sensitive data.” El Cerebro glanced at Hammer, and Reese suspected he’d been instrumental in setting up the system. “I would have brought you here first, but naturally, we had to clear the room of anything you might use to communicate with the outside.”

  Or anything we might use as a weapon, Reese thought.

  “It took us five long years to gather all this,” Hammer added. “Please don’t damage anything.”

  “When did you start?” Reese asked El Cerebro. “Was it the murders?”

  El Cerebro tilted his head, as if considering her question. Was it odd to feel safe around him? Odd or not, she wanted to trust him—which might mean she was starting to go crazy.

  “They killed my brother,” he said. “And no, he wasn’t from Colony 6. But after an infraction, they sent him to Colony 4—the mining colony. He had a daughter, and they used his desire to free her from the colony to send him on trips into the desolation zones for pre-Breakdown tech. It killed him.” He swallowed hard before adding, “But that’s only how it began. Now I want to free everyone. To do that I need your help.”

  “It’s why you sent us to that factory, isn’t it?” This from Jaxon, who for the most part had been avoiding Reese’s eyes since she’d made her confession. He stood near the table between Hammer and Lyssa. “You set us up.”

  Reese thought she detected sorrow in El Cerebro’s eyes, but it was hard to tell with the mask. He sat on the edge of the conference table in a manner that brought an immediate sense of déjà-vu to Reese’s mind. “You wouldn’t begin to believe me now if you hadn’t seen Special Forces’ actions for yourselves. I also hoped any unique abilities you had might link them to the attack outside your apartment. Of course, I wasn’t sure exactly what those abilities were until later, after I listened to the recording from a device I had planted in Reese’s apartment.”

  Which meant their guess about Hammer placing the bug was correct, because the only people she’d ever talked to about her ability had been sitting in her living room—and that was before Nova showed up. Now that El Cerebro knew their secrets, Reese shuddered at the idea of what he would demand of them—what she might do for him if this crazy desire to trust blossomed into something more.

  “One of your boys died out there,” Jaxon said. “I hope your so-called test was worth his life.”

  El Cerebro’s mouth twisted. “His death was regrettable, but it would not have happened if more of them had not arrived when they did. Still, I suspected it was a possibility that you would need help. His blood is on my hands, and that will only make me work harder to avenge him.”

  The additional Special Forces coming when they did couldn’t have been an accident, and Reese was still certain the original group of Special Forces had signaled for them. “Nova implied that the men at the factory might be related to the murder at the Fountain, and maybe the missing scientists. I did find a room at the factory that had been used to hold people. If you took my iTeev from the men who had us, I can show you the recording.”

  “The attack on you and your missing scientists may be linked,” El Cerebro conceded. “But I have seen no proof of that yet. Nova simply told you what you wanted to hear in a way that you would believe. It’s her innate ability.” He sounded both pleased and exacerbated.

  Nova means something to him, Reese thought, filing it away for the f
uture. Something more than the others here. Maybe she was even family. The story of El Cerebro’s brother bore an uncanny resemblance to the story Nova had told them about her father.

  “She couldn’t have very well gone to your place to give you information you hadn’t yet asked for,” El Cerebro added, “so the case you were working on seemed the best option to point you in the direction I wanted you to take. As for the room, it could have been used for others from Colony 6. In the past five years, there have been many disappearances that were not registered on any database.”

  “You sent a child to us?” Jaxon said. “What if we’d taken her to enhancement?”

  That silenced El Cerebro for a moment, and then, “Nova wasn’t supposed to go. Derria was.” He indicated the woman guard with the shorn head. “We’re not monsters here. But Nova is a child, still testing her boundaries. At any rate, I am not without resources. I would have taken care of her.”

  Garrett, the only one who’d sat in a chair at the table, had been listening in silence, but now he said, “So because your brother was a criminal, you want us to believe that you suddenly noticed that people who came from Colony 6 are missing, and out of the goodness of your heart, you want to help?” He jerked his head at Hammer. “How do we know he hasn’t rigged the data? We all know how good he is with Teevs.”

  El Cerebro stabbed him with a hardened stare. “Because ten of the gifted were my people, undergrounders, outcasts from a CORE that has failed them.” Anger laced every word. “You would have no idea of how deeply the control runs. But your friends know. They were born in Colony 6. They lived in the restrictive conditions, they fought to survive, and this morning when they were at the colony, they talked to families of the missing. You all would have been abducted today by Summers if not for my interference. You, Detective Cosgrove, might have been released, but the others would not have returned to Amarillo Division. This is very real for them, and whatever you believe, they are in grave danger.”

  He took a breath and finally released Garrett from his stare, looking around at all of them to encompass them in his next statement. “Make no mistake. Your abilities will increase with use, and whoever’s behind this can’t risk having you against them. If they caught you, you’d be given the choice to work with them, or your names would be expunged from the database. Permanently.”

  Fear crawled through Reese, which was probably El Cerebro’s intention. “You’re saying that we have no choice but to work with you,” she said.

  “Yes.” So much meaning in El Cerebro’s single word. “But if we don’t act, thousands more will die. Please, help me save their lives.”

  There was still one more thing she wanted to know. “When did you put a tracker in me?” She’d been through every minute since she’d arrived in Dallastar, and the only time it could have been done was in the hospital or today with Alex. Remembering the medical examiner’s concern, his sensual touch on her skin as he tended her wound, Reese didn’t want to believe it could be him.

  “Today.” El Cerebro paused. “It can’t be removed, but its life is only as long as the nanobots that fuel it. Eventually, they’ll all end up as waste.”

  Alex. She should have known his interest wasn’t real. “Then Lyra isn’t bringing help, is she?”

  She could almost swear El Cerebro was amused under that mask. Amused, not angry. Her mouth parted in astonishment as she realized who he was. The way he sat against the conference table, the shape of his skull and cheekbones, the safety he exuded, his attitude. His influence with Hammer and Alex. The build was slightly different, but that could be an easy temporary alteration. Now that she’d made the connection, she didn’t see how she hadn’t made it earlier. Her art and reconstruction training had prepared her, but she’d missed every sign. The only excuse was that she’d seen what she’d expected.

  And she’d never expected this.

  “No, but I am having her brought here to join us,” El Cerebro said.

  Lyssa gasped. “No! Just send her home. She has a child.”

  El Cerebro nodded. “She won’t be hurt. She just has to agree to work with me like the rest of you.”

  “So you want our help to find out who’s behind the murders?” Garrett’s voice was challenging. “Then what?”

  “We’re going to bring them down—all of them.” El Cerebro’s mouth opened to say more, but Eagle’s excited voice came from the worktable area.

  “Guys, look at this!” He’d found a device that was larger than an iTeev, but similar in appearance. “These aren’t as good as my glasses, but I can see with them.”

  El Cerebro strode across the room. “Not only can you see with them, but they were built to connect with certain Teevs and 3D printers. I believe with a few tweaks, you’ll be able to use them to print any design your incredible 3D brain can create.” He chuckled. “Well, within the size limitations of the printer.”

  “Pre-Breakdown tech?” Eagle asked.

  “Yes. Something my brother found. We decided not to turn it over to the CORE.” Not doing so meant instant enhancement, yet El Cerebro showed no reluctance in admitting to the crime. “We had no idea of your ability then, of course, though I’d suspected, given your records.”

  “So it’s you who’s responsible for bringing us to Amarillo City.” Jaxon joined them at the table, looking over the tech. Probably still trying to find something that would help them escape. Reese wanted to pull him aside and tell him what she’d discovered, but the way he avoided her eyes made it impossible without attracting too much attention.

  “After examining your histories and parentage, as well as dozens of other candidates, I had Hammer research and locate all of you. Then I started greasing the wheels to get you here. At one time, I even sent two men to make sure Lyssa and Lyra weren’t taken.”

  “The men with the black headbands?” Lyssa asked. “We thought they were stalking us. It’s one of the biggest reasons we accepted the job here in Amarillo City.”

  “Why us?” Reese asked. “What about the others you researched?”

  El Cerebro laughed. “Settling on you was the easiest part. Not only have you all been able to avoid the craziness that many of the colony’s inhabitants experienced as their abilities increased, but the psionic levels in your lineage are high. You were the only crew I found from Colony 6 where all the members had managed to leave the colony and live productive lives, though I wasn’t able to bring the sixth member to Amarillo City. I needed people who could work in the CORE, not Underground, and I believed that your shared past would go a long way toward creating a team that could withstand the fight ahead.”

  “And you think you can protect us?” Jaxon asked. “What’s to stop them—whoever that may be—from marching into Amarillo City and taking us to Estlantic?”

  “Amarillo City is mine,” El Cerebro said. “As long as I’m in control and you do what I say, they will not be able to touch you here, not even inside your division. I am taking measures to make sure of that. So, will you do it? Will you help me stop the murders and free the colonies?”

  “I’m in,” Reese said.

  Jaxon nodded. “Me too.”

  “Lyra and I are also in,” Lyssa said. “But you knew we wouldn’t endanger Tamsin.” A slight bitterness twisted her words.

  “Are you all crazy?” Garrett asked.

  Jaxon met his stare. “We have to do this. How can you not agree?”

  “Because he’s kidnapped us, for a start.” Garrett’s face flushed red as he came abruptly to his feet.

  Silently, Reese willed him to fall in with the rest. The threat of death or a life of imprisonment down here was real for all of them if he didn’t. Besides, they had to follow this trail, wherever it might lead. Too many innocents like those children in the Coop depended on them.

  “It’s your choice,” Hammer said.

  Garrett gave him a withering stare. “Okay, fine. I’ll help, but I will not compromise my duties at division.”

  “I wouldn’t ex
pect that,” El Cerebro said. Reese wondered if he was laughing inside. “But you will be going against the factor of CORE that is broken. You must understand this and agree to use your position at division to fight that factor. It will not compromise your regular duties of keeping the law and maintaining order. In fact, you will be fulfilling that oath more than ever.”

  Garrett swallowed hard and glanced over at Jaxon, who nodded encouragingly. “I’m still in,” Garrett told El Cerebro. “But if I get one whiff that you are exploiting us for your ends and not to help society, I will turn you in.”

  “Jaxon, we need to get ahold of that mirroring program you were talking about,” Eagle said, as if no tension existed in the room. “With what I have here, I can create what we need to block out incoming feed so we can track that blind spot you were talking about on the train. But I’ll need my regular glasses. I hope someone took them from the Special Forces. I have an extra pair at home, but they aren’t calibrated as well.”

  El Cerebro nodded at the guards near the door. “Give them their belongings. Then leave us. Oh, and, Derria? Let the doctor and his companion in when they arrive.”

  After the guard left, Reese drew out her notebook and showed the image she had drawn from Hammer’s mind to El Cerebro. A sketch of Captain Brogan. “Do your undergrounders know who you are?” she asked. Everyone was staring now, and even Eagle had dragged his attention from his new toy.

  “Only Derria and a few others,” El Cerebro said. “They didn’t know about Hammer before today, and Alex will come from another passage, so his identity will remain a secret for now. But not for long.” He removed the voice modulator, loosened the mask from around his neck, and slowly pulled it up and over his head. Then he removed the brown hair, revealing a darker color underneath.

  “Hi, Captain,” Reese said.

  Garrett did a noticeable double take while Jaxon and the others stared with varying amounts of horror and surprise.

  “Thank you for joining me,” Brogan said as he peeled off the shoulder pads from inside his shirt that had given his already broad shoulders more width. “I’m sorry I couldn’t just tell you at division. I had to be sure that you understood what was at stake and were willing to go against the CORE to fix what is wrong, even if that meant going against me.”