Faraa frowned and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Kieran. We cannot assume any risks right now. There is too much at stake.”
My hands clenched, and I forced them to relax. Sometimes, the hardest thing about trusting my superiors was believing that they knew what was best for me. Avoiding contact with my wife was better than a quick call that alerted someone who wanted to harm us. Berkeley would understand, I knew, but my inability to do anything frustrated the living shit out of me. “So what do I do in the mean time?”
General Faraa brightened a little. “We plan ahead.”
“The reaction squadron concept is intriguing to the Styrahi Council. We are wondering if it would be possible to merge Styrahi and human forces under a single command to defend the Outer Rim,” Thirenalla said. “The Greys could strike at Earth or Styrah tomorrow, two years from now, or never. We believe they are targeting Carantan and possibly Earth, but we simply do not know. The increased colonial presence on the Rim has brought crime and piracy. A reaction squadron there could help keep the peace and serve as the first line of defense should the Greys return.”
I had to admit she was correct in her assessment. “That’s pretty much in line with the concept. Get in and out quickly, set the stage for the correct dedicated forces, and move to the next challenge.”
General Faraa leaned back in her chair. “For what it’s worth, Kieran, I would like to know how you came up with the idea.”
“Boredom.” I chuckled at the memories of downtime in a tiny private room with an air-conditioner that never seemed to run. I’d been completely powerless to stop anything that happened at home. I sighed. “Boredom and being tired of seeing redundancy between services. Everyone tried to do everything, I guess. I thought it was wasteful. Giving armies the ground, navies the sea, and air forces the atmosphere and space seemed the most logical thing to do. I believed it was possible to form a truly joint effort that minimized resources but maximized capability. Take a dedicated section of aircraft from both the navy and air force and combine them with a consolidated, self-actualizing force with its own maintenance, mortars, and supply trains—like an armored cavalry squadron—and deploy them together with additional support and lift capabilities. On paper, it worked.”
“It worked on Mars,” Faraa said. “Granted, there could be some improvements made, but the concept appeared to work very well. You were wise to attempt it.”
I blushed. “Thank you, General.”
“There is much work to do, Kieran. I hope you will consider this as we look toward the future.”
I blinked. “I have one?” Since integration, I’d been sure that Crawley’s path for me was predetermined. He wanted me trained up and squared away to deploy and lead forces again in the hopes that I would remember what his ancestor thought was so great about me.
“A choice? Yes,” Thirenalla said. “We’ve been working this program for almost fifty years. The last thing we want is for those who will defend us to think they have no choice.”
Berkeley would have said the same thing. Just thinking her name caused fresh hurt to blossom. I wanted more than ever to hear her voice or at least look at a picture from Lily. But my protocol remained silent, and all I had was my own memories. Of course, that had been the rub all along. My memories were the keys to everything. The choices I’d made put me smack in the middle of something much larger than myself. “Most of that is a matter of trust.”
“And trust is difficult with another species when your own kind wants you dead,” Thirenalla said. “I understand that better than you can imagine, Kieran. My husband is human, but we live in the Rim because of the danger your council presents and the covert threats they’ve made to us. The Terran Council banned my husband from Earth and cut him off from his family.”
I glanced from her to Faraa. “Isn’t there something you can do?”
“We trust in General Crawley’s plans, Kieran. If they fail, we will execute our own, but they will not be as potentially successful at neutralizing the threat. The Greys are too many and too focused. Styrah, like Earth, is a perfect target. They will come for us both eventually.”
“What should I do?”
Faraa smiled. “You have twelve more days in our care. It’s time you learn about us, Kieran. From our language and customs to how we train and fight.”
“That’s a lot to learn in twelve days,” I said. Learning about the Styrahi was like being trapped in a library with a host of Barbie dolls—not that I would complain about such a thing. Everything I knew about them made me want to know more. How could something so beautiful be so damned deadly? I supposed it was time to find out personally. If anything, it would take my mind off of the situation at home, a situation I could not change but that I knew wasn’t right.
“I think you’ll find it’s plenty of time, and it should serve you very well.”
Sunlight filtered through the windows and warmed Chastity’s face for several minutes before she stirred. Breakfast sat on the over-bed table. Quiche, toast, and coffee all bombarded her with scents rich enough to make her stomach gurgle in anticipation. She flexed her fingers and half smiled in satisfaction at her returning strength. The coffee was strong and bitter, much better than the shit she could afford in Memphis. She was not prepared to go home. Aside from being weak, her only lingering symptom of rapid disconnection was her impaired speech. Much of that impairment was an act, as was the unnatural head tilt and occasional drooling.
Appearances were important, though. If she wanted to figure out what was going on, she’d need to be hooked up to the medical center’s network. Besides, the food was good. Another three months would be easy to arrange, and then she could figure out just how much Chairman Neige and her staff would pay for silence. All things had a price, after all.
Without a media screen in her room, Chastity found ways to entertain herself through her ever-widening connection to the building’s network. She could watch security cameras, play with elevator controls, randomly open doors, and do other little pranks that caused unsuspecting staff to jump in fright. Clandestine conversations in the break room were easy to overhear, and she’d already uncovered at least one illicit affair between married doctors that everyone but the administrator seemed to know about. Of course, if the administrator could keep his nose out of the cocaine bowl in his desk, it would be considered a miracle.
The quiche was a rich combination of eggs, cheese, garlic, and vegetables, and it was free and hot—the two best things a meal could be. They’d overcooked the toast again, but the sweet orange marmalade made up for the charring. She sat up carefully, listening for the door latches to fire so she could quickly assume her charade. There was nothing but silence. It would be at least a half hour before the orderly and guard would return to collect her tray. They were her only visitors. No one had bothered to question her for days, and Chastity feared they would discover she was out of information and therefore usefulness. Her data from Mally suggested self-awareness in the protocol, but they’d suspected that. Chastity was almost out of ideas. If that happened, they’d have her back in her private hovel in hours. Or worse.
Unless she could find a way out. Nearly all of the medical staff had issues with their neural pathways that allowed Chastity easy undetected entry. When she searched for the same pathway on Chairman Neige, Chastity found a much higher level of encryption than necessary. That Neige watched her staff was a certainty, so Chastity pulled back from the chairman herself and tapped vehicles, home-entry systems, and the medical center’s main entrance for information and any advantage she could gather. If the woman returned, it would be time to make a deal.
But even that was an uncertain proposition. The guard would not hesitate to shoot her, as he’d done with the pretty nurse. Patience was the key. There would be time for a discussion, but not yet. Since escape did not seem to be an option, Chastity could not resist thinking about it. The armed guard made it mo
ot. Until he was gone, there was no point even discussing it.
Settling in to eat, she found one of the nurses outside, listening to the radio while connected to the feed. The music distracted Chastity from the troubling thoughts brewing in her mind while she ate. Solving where she would go and what she could get from the council would take time. Not knowing how much time she had was the problem.
A search program for unfamiliar people triggered an alert on camera-zone zero, the main entrance. A woman with short dark hair in a dark trench coat and sunglasses marched toward the revolving door and into the lobby.
Probably a councilman’s mistress, Chastity mused around a bite of quiche. One of the horny old bastards probably had a disease. The woman’s face was stern and sour. She regarded the camera for a long second and then looked back to the security queue and its handlers. The woman appeared to be Asian, with short dark hair and a frown on her face.
On the rails of Chastity’s bed were ancient speakers for a media screen. Without the technology in her room, they were pointless. When they clicked on, Chastity stopped eating.
“Get up. There are clothes that should fit you in the third drawer of the dresser by the window.”
What? She worked her tongue and tried to slur a reply. “Caaannntt—”
“Stop it, Chastity. You need to be dressed and ready to move in three minutes. I’ve seen your scans, charts, and everything else. I know what’s in your drawers, okay? You’re healed enough to move, and if you don’t want that guard outside your door to walk in there and pump six rounds into your head, you’ll get the fuck out of bed right now.”
You wanted a change, girl. Chastity blinked and threw back the sheet. Problem solved.
Shrugging out of the backless hospital gown, she stepped over to the small dresser. In the top drawer, she found soft briefs and a sports bra on top of jeans and a black blouse.
Alarms brayed in the corridor.
“Get ready.”
The first of the door latches fired open as she tugged the jeans into place. No shoes.
Latch two and three fired in rapid succession. The fourth latch would be followed by the card-access-panel chime, and the guard would be inside within three seconds. If they wanted her dead, his gun would be on her within six seconds.
<
“Oh, shit.”
<
Three quick shots rang out in the hallway. She knew the sound far too well. The access panel chimed, and Chastity froze with her arms halfway into the blouse.
The dark-haired woman stepped into the room and leveled the pistol at her. “Are you ready?”
The woman didn’t mean clothes. A connection window appeared, and Chastity’s neurals opened it. She gaped and felt her entire neural set come online in ways she’d never imagined. Pathways opened that she’d only theorized about. The woman was much more than she seemed.
“Mally.” Shock became anger. “You bitch!”
The woman smirked. “You can call me Ayumi, and you’re coming with me.”
Chastity glanced back at her hospital bed. There really wasn’t a choice. “They’re planning to kill me?”
“Especially now that I’m here for you. You’ve become a threat to them. So are you coming or not?”
“To do what?”
Ayumi smiled behind her sunglasses. “You’ll have to see for yourself.”
Returning to Memphis, she knew, was not part of the equation. She stepped around the bed and followed Ayumi into the hallway. Two more guards appeared, and they fell down just as quickly. Chastity hadn’t seen Ayumi raise the gun—it was just suddenly there and firing.
“Can you run?”
Chastity shrugged. “Dunno.”
“Move.” They sprinted down the hallway, turned right, and then left through an employees-only entrance into the avenue behind the hospital complex. The muscles in her legs burned from the effort, and her breathing came in great heaving gasps, but she kept up. An autocar waited with its doors open.
“They’ll find us,” Chastity huffed.
Ayumi was already stepping into the car, sliding across the seat, and exiting the other side. Mally. She’s Mally. The woman moved smoothly, faster than a human could move and still be smooth and determined in every facet. She floated and glided through the streets, avoiding cameras effortlessly, and slowly accelerated.
“Wait! What are you doing? How in the hell are you in another body? That’s not possible.”
“You’re one to talk about what’s possible. Now, come on.” Beyond the autocar, they crossed through a plaza and made their way down the Quai des Grands Augustins. The area was framed by old gray stone buildings, and Chastity felt as if they were going back in time as they passed vendors and quaint cafés.
“Where are we going?” Chastity asked as they walked quickly in the long shadows of evening.
Ayumi removed her sunglasses. “To even things out. There are a lot more things happening than you are aware of, Chastity.”
Chastity grabbed at Ayumi’s coat and tugged the taller woman to a stop. “You tried to kill me, and now you’re here to save me? What the fuck is going on?”
Ayumi frowned but did not move. “If you don’t come with me right now, you’ll be dead within an hour. You managed to hack your own brain somehow and recover enough to be really useful for something a lot bigger than you or me.”
“What could be bigger than a protocol taking over a body?”
Ayumi smiled. “Recovering from a brain injury, maybe. You have skills, Chastity. Necessary skills.”
Chastity blinked. “Why not let them kill me after they got what they wanted?”
“You have promise. That’s something to be said in this day and age.”
“Where is Kieran?”
“Mars. He might be dead. We don’t know. The council found out about him and everyone involved in the effort to revive him. They’ve taken almost everyone out.” Ayumi glanced at her. “Almost.”
Chastity nodded. “What’s the plan for me?”
They turned onto the Rue Séguier, and Chastity recognized the bridge known as Pont Neuf in the distance.
Ayumi glanced over their shoulders toward the medical complex. “Keeping you alive is my first priority.”
“And the second?”
Sirens rang through the air behind them. From the council compound, a dozen autocars shot into the sky with security escorts clearing a path through the Parisian traffic. A flying autocar with several more escorts than the others flashed across the sky and followed the Seine to the east.
“Watch.”
A connection window opened to Chastity, and she watched in awe. Ayumi targeted the approaching car and identified it as Chairman Neige’s private conveyance in the time it took Chastity to recognize the woman. A flurry of commands accelerated the vehicle and drove it toward the iconic bridge while securing the doors and escape hatches and disabling all emergency transponders. Onboard video showed Neige dropping a glass of clear liquid and stabbing the emergency-response buttons.
Ayumi connected to the car. “You should have known better, Madame Chairman.”
Neige screamed incoherently as her neural network failed and disconnected from Terran Council servers. She collapsed to the floor of the car.
Chastity knew precisely what it felt like, but there was no pity in her thoughts. “That’s for Kieran.”
Ayumi nodded. “And for us.”
At well over two hundred fifty kilometers per hour and still accelerating, the diplomatic autocar slammed into the central span of Pont Neuf and exploded. Debris showered the upper level of the bridge and a host of pedestria
ns as the wreckage hit the glassy surface of the Seine and sank quickly, extinguishing the flames. Ayumi waited for two minutes as emergency vehicles descended on the area. Chastity tapped what local feeds she could. Emergency services arrived and filled her head with reports. There were no other civilian casualties, only minor injuries.
“That’s that,” Ayumi said. “Follow me.”
An automatic delivery vehicle for pastries and confections sat against the curb two blocks away. As they approached, the side door slid open, and they climbed inside.
A smiling young man greeted them. “Not my usual passengers.”
Chastity studied the young man for a moment. He was cute, in a very European way, and his bright-blue eyes were full of mirth.
Ayumi spoke first. “General Crawley sends his regards, Max.”
Max nodded and let out a long, slow breath. “I am glad to know he is alive.”
Ayumi nodded. “He said to tell you, when the time comes, to look him up. There are new opportunities emerging every day.”
Max directed the delivery van onto the high-speed expressway toward Orly. “When the time comes, I will. Until then, I also have a mission to complete.”
Ayumi nodded as if she knew, but Chastity had questions. A lot of questions. She turned to Ayumi and noticed the sad look in her eyes. “What happens next?”
“We go home.”
“I’m not going back to Memphis.” Chastity put her arms across her chest. “You can’t make me.”
“You’re not going back to Memphis,” Ayumi said. “We need your services.”
Oh, really? She knew her curiosity showed on her face, but she didn’t care. “You try to use me, then disconnect me, and expect me to want to work with you? Why would I want to do that?”
Ayumi regarded her with eyes like laser beams. The intensity took Chastity’s breath away. “Because I know that you are a much better programmer than you are a prostitute. I know who you were and why you chose the path you walked in Memphis. Watching you in the hospital, I know you’re better than all of that. We have something that will match your potential. Maybe give you a new life if that’s what you want.”
Vendetta Protocol Page 31
