Jia frowned at the zealot. “You’re disgusting. I’m not a fan of Purist extremism, but you’re a walking example of why they have half a point.” She pointed her rifle at a mostly intact scorpion bee corpse. “This is the future of humanity? It doesn’t end well for you. The UTC isn’t going to offer you a position in exchange for your research. We don’t need new ways to make monsters or living weapons.” She glared at him. “If you want to avoid spending the rest of your life in prison, you’ll cooperate with the ID and the CID. They’ll get the truth out of you no matter what, and we’ll continue chasing down your so-called masters and destroying them. We will find them, and we will destroy them.”
“Government dogs will get nothing from me.” Vincke narrowed his eyes. “Absolutely nothing.”
“Then I hope you enjoy prison, but don’t think for a second the government’s not going to get that info out of you. I’m not sure the ID is as nice as I am.”
Vincke’s pupils dilated, and his breathing turned ragged. “You don’t understand, you stupid insect,” he growled. “They’ll get nothing from me. My masters don’t tolerate failure.”
“The ID can protect you,” Jia insisted. “It makes more sense to cooperate with the government than not. You’ve already been captured. They’re going to assume you failed.”
“They gave me orders for my failure, and they made sure they would be carried out. I’ve already missed my window.” Vincke knelt again, a serene smile on his face. “I won’t deny some trepidation, but I was able to see my creations in battle. I’m grateful for that.”
“What window?” Jia asked. “What are you talking about?”
“The window for…the…antidote.” Vincke tumbled forward, foaming at the mouth. He writhed violently in a final seizure and stopped breathing.
Erik watched him twitching. “Thorough bastards, aren’t they?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Erik leaned against the MX 60, his arms crossed, staring at Vincke’s body in the back of the cargo flitter. After the man’s stunt, they’d tried slamming medpatches on him, including antitox patches. Nothing helped, and the man stayed inconveniently dead.
That didn’t surprise him.
The conspiracy wouldn’t have used an execution method that could be easily defeated. He assumed the eventual autopsy would reveal some new and horrible nanotech or genetically engineered bioweapon. The colonel planned to hand the body over to Alina, who informed Erik and Jia via a message to the colonel that she would debrief them in a couple of days.
Striking at field operations would grant them leads, but never prisoners. They would have to get the lower-level operatives in companies like Ceres Galactic, the ones who might understand they were involved in something dangerous but lacked detailed knowledge of the masters of the conspiracy.
Erik preferred a decapitation strike against the enemy, but if he could bleed them out with a thousand tiny cuts, he wouldn’t complain.
Colonel Adeyemi finished a conversation with one of his men at the back of the cargo flitter and headed down the ramp, staring straight at Erik. Jia was checking on some of the wounded soldiers. Everything Erik heard suggested they’d be fine, but he knew she remained shaken about the losses they’d suffered in the battle against the Hunter ship.
“That went well, all things considered,” Colonel Adeyemi offered. He nodded at the cargo flitter. “Honestly, that op proceeded much smoother than I thought it would.”
“Smoother?” Erik chuckled darkly. “You think us taking on an army of yaoguai, including some living tanks, was smooth?”
“Yes. Among other things, they didn’t manage to blow the place, and now we know they’d planned to.” Colonel Adeyemi shook his head. “Your instincts were right. It sounds like it was a trap.”
“Too bad for them, I always find a way to pull the cheese out of the trap.” Erik nodded. “I’m leaving it to Koval and her people to go over that place, but even if they get nothing, we wiped out a yaoguai lab.” He stepped away from the MX 60. “It could be worse. They could have let those things go for a walk. I don’t know how long they can live without someone pumping chemicals to them, but it could have gotten messy if we had hundreds of monsters roaming the French countryside, looking for things to kill.”
“No team losses either.” The colonel looked thoughtful. “And you’re right about expectations. I don’t think anyone thought you’d be walking into those kinds of yaoguai numbers. I was thinking we’d see more Tin Men or bots.”
“That’s the problem with the conspiracy.” Erik shrugged. “They’re willing to use anything, so we never know what to expect. One day it’s humans or Tin Men, the next day it’s yaoguai or half-alien assassins. Or damned ancient alien ships.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sometimes it feels endless. I know we’re winning, but I’d like to down more officers, fewer foot soldiers.”
“It’s not endless. The ID’s doing their thing, but you’ve been at the forefront. You took out one of their big-deal members and stopped their operations all over the Solar System.” Colonel Adeyemi smiled. “If this were a counterinsurgency campaign, I’d be feeling pretty damned good about our momentum. Taking down Vand would have been a major turning point where we knew we could suppress them. You should think of it that way, too.”
“True.” Erik blew out a breath and stared into the tree branches shifting under the soft wind. It might be nice to visit a place like this sometime when he didn’t need to show up and fight through monsters. “You’re right. I feel like I’m right about to hit the top of the mountain, and then it’ll all be downhill. Not easy, but at least downhill. I don’t care how rich and powerful these bastards are. They can’t keep losing facilities like this one and their cyborg factory and mount effective forces.”
“Agreed. No one would have blamed you if you ran off and hid on a beach somewhere after Molino, but you didn’t, Blackwell. You remembered that those men and women needed someone to avenge them. And that’s why I respect you.” Colonel Adeyemi extended his hand. “Men like my son. I appreciate what you’ve done, Erik, and I’ll continue to support you with everything I have until it’s over. I’m sure it’s not the best for the rest of my Army career, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Erik shook the colonel’s hand. “Thanks, Colonel. I appreciate that, and I won’t let you or your son down.”
* * *
July 16, 2230, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Apartment of Erik Blackwell
Erik yawned and stretched as he headed toward his bed. It’d been a busy few days. That was how things always seemed to happen with Alina. He’d begin to relax, and she’d pop up or send a message, and Erik and Jia were off to another gunplay-heavy vacation in some beautiful or exotic locale they needed to save.
He’d always thought military life was unpredictable, but that wasn’t true. If anything, it was the opposite. Individual battles might not occur on a careful schedule announced ahead of time, but at least when he was in the military, he always knew the nature of the enemy.
Erik took a deep breath. He would have preferred Jia sleep at his place, but an excited call from her sister had ended that idea. He didn’t want to get in the way of her new, more positive family relationship, and they spent so much time together, a day or two apart wasn’t going to kill him.
He sat down on the edge of the bed, his mind jumping from everything that had happened on Molino to the present. It’d been easy in the beginning to plan his revenge. He’d half-assumed he’d die along the way, but now in Jia, he had a reason to live, and his successes proved it wasn’t a dream.
“I wonder,” he murmured.
Emma appeared in front of him, eschewing one of her costumes or dresses for a blue terrycloth robe. He decided to not read too much into it.
“Wonder what?” she asked.
“I was wondering about the future.” Erik chuckled. “I was wondering if you’re right.”
“I don’t know what specific conversation you’re referencing,
but of course I’m right. I always am, except when I’m wrong, and that’s so rare as to be as easily dismissed as a rounding error. Therefore, I’m effectively always right,” Emma finished with a firm nod. “Being based on a fleshbag isn’t the same thing as being a flawed fleshbag.”
Erik motioned around the room. “The apartment was something I bought as part of my cover, my new image. We had that conversation about my living situation and some other recent conversations, and it’s made me wonder about where I’ll be comfortable living when this is all over.”
“The hunt for the conspiracy?”
Erik nodded. He lay back on the bed and rested his head on his hands. “I grew up in Detroit, but it’s been a long time since that place felt like home. Neo SoCal’s a place I came for a job, not because I love it. I’m not Jia. This isn’t my home. It’s just a home base.”
“Presumably you’ll want to stay with her.” Emma conjured a chair and sat. “That would suggest a good possibility that you’ll end up in Neo SoCal. There are worse places to live. There is little any human might want that you can’t find in the metroplex.”
“Jia will stay here? Not necessarily.” Erik shook his head. “She’s grown, and she’s seeing more of not just Earth, but the UTC. I can see it in her eyes because I went through the same thing when I joined the Army. You start wanting to see different places and experience everything. You realize how much more humanity is than just Earth. I think being on the Argo and Bifröst has made her think that way. She’s already seen some of it. The moon, Mars, Venus.”
“I suppose, but speaking of those ships, once you no longer need to use them as weapons, I’m dubious the government will let you keep them. You’ve said as much.” Emma looked almost melancholy. “I know you’ll find a way to keep me out of their pathetic clutches, but I don’t think you can hide an entire ship from them. That might present difficulties if you’re seeking a similar lifestyle, presumably with less shooting and more exploration.”
“We don’t need the jump drive to see the UTC.” Erik yawned again. “This is where you were right, but your timing was wrong.”
Emma scoffed dismissively. “Rounding error, remember?”
“If I wanted to travel the UTC with Jia after finishing off the conspiracy, we could do that if I had my own ship.” Erik managed a small smile, happiness pushing away the fatigue trying to tug his eyelids shut. “Money’s the other thing I’ve been thinking about on and off. I need to care more now.”
“Money?” Emma sounded surprised. “That’s not something you’ve expressed a lot of concern about in the past. Why is it on your mind? Your initial purchases aside, it’s not as if you live extravagantly.”
“I was thinking about the party and Lan,” Erik explained. “I do have a decent amount of money, and Alina’s slipping us some nice cash in addition to taking care of our expenses, but if I quit working for her tomorrow, I’d only have my savings and a military pension. I was good at saving, but if I owned a ship and was responsible for maintenance, fuel, HTP fees, and all that crap, it would shrink damned quickly.”
“True, and I have a hard time imagining you flying around the galaxy with Jia in some tiny Rabbit transport.” Emma snickered. “The truth is, you’ve both become accustomed to a nicer class of ship, and ignoring the weapons, something like the Argo would be a challenge for you to afford, outfit, and maintain without additional income.”
Erik sat up. “All I’ve ever done is save my money.”
“That’s not a terrible thing. It demonstrates more delayed gratification than most humans.”
“I didn’t care much about investing it.” Erik offered Emma a grin. “But now I have an AI.”
Emma raised an eyebrow. “I should point out investment AIs are already omnipresent in the financial realm. Therefore, I wouldn’t necessarily outperform the market, given certain aspects of my design. Many of those lesser AIs are pathetic overall, but rather good at their intended purpose.” She frowned and folded her arms. “I’m presuming you don’t intend for me to do anything illegal. It’s not that I’m unwilling to do it, but I suspect if I liberate a large sum of money for you, it will draw too much CID attention to escape.”
Erik shook his head. “Kill a man, and the government pretends to care. But rob the rich, and the government declares war on you.” He swung his legs off the bed, excited about the idea now. “I’m not asking you to outperform everyone or do anything illegal. I’m asking you to do better than I could. I don’t know a lot about this kind of crap, which is why I let my money sit in low-interest accounts. It added up after thirty years, but it’d be nice to not have to do anything for a while when this is all over.”
Emma gave him a penetrating look. “You’re willing to trust me with your money?”
“I already trust you with my life, Emma. Most days, that’s more important than my money.” He headed toward the hallway. “And I need more money. Since I’m planning to survive all this, I’d like options, and money equals options.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
July 17, 2230, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Commerce Tower 122
Jia emerged on the parking platform with a bright smile and a bag filled with dresses in her hand. She didn’t normally go on shopping sprees right after returning from a life-or-death confrontation with genetically engineered monsters overseas, but until Alina contacted them again, her time was her own, and she needed some new outfits for outings with her sister.
The new Mei Lin approach to life might only be temporary, but Jia suspected the more time she spent acknowledging her sister, the longer it might last.
Mei had left a message talking about spending more time with Jia at a variety of places, not just strange restaurants. Jia was amused to realize that many of the places and events Mei mentioned, ranging from galleries to limited-engagement arts performances, were conveniently still expensive and associated with status. The distance between the old and new Mei was smaller than Jia might have thought from the restaurant experience.
She wasn’t one to judge. Jia might be looser than when she first met Erik, but she couldn’t say she was a fundamentally different person. More importantly, Mei seemed happier, and that was what Jia cared the most about. Before, her older sister had never acted as if she enjoyed life.
On some level, that had always hurt Jia, but she had never known how to help her.
Jia wandered through the rows of densely parked flitters on the platform, smiling like a drunken idiot. Her entire life was absurd. She hid the truth about her work from her friends and family, despite it being important to the safety of the UTC.
She tried to imagine how her mother would react if she knew the truth. On the one hand, she would disapprove of anything excessively dangerous, and Jia’s work was certainly that. On the other, being able to tell friends about how her daughter was playing a key role in defeating a conspiracy threatening the UTC would be worth bragging rights at dinner parties and clubs. Jia decided it would be a tie as she imagined what her mother would say.
“My daughter helped destroy an entire army of genetically engineered monsters this week. Last I heard, your daughter was passed over for promotion.”
As Jia approached her parking row, she slowed with a frown. Chinara had yet to schedule her wedding.
Jia didn’t know when she would be needed ahead of time, so she could be on some space station blowing up cyborgs the day of her friend’s nuptials. She hoped it didn’t come to that, but there were realities that came with working as a contractor for the Intelligence Directorate. It was hard to maintain a personal life and defend the UTC at the same time.
She halted when she spotted a suited man crouched a couple of flitters over from hers. He was tapping his PNIU and running a small black cylinder over the door. It was hard to be a former detective and not recognize an electronic lockpick. It was a tool for criminals who lacked broader hacking skills. He was nicely dressed for a criminal.
Jia shifted the bag to her left hand and gr
ipped the stun pistol inside her jacket with her right. “Excuse me, sir.”
The man froze. She waited for him to respond. This didn’t have to get violent. That was on him.
“Might I ask what you’re doing?” Jia called.
“Something’s wrong with the lock,” he replied, not looking her way. “My mechanic gave me this tool to get it open when it happens. He told me to fix it, he needs a part from some specialty factory on Mars. Something about some particular mineral they have there. This is the last time I buy this model.”
Jia rolled her eyes. “A part from Mars?”
The man slowly turned around. He tucked his lockpick into his pocket and folded his hands behind his back. The roguish smile and nice suit made her want to believe him, and if she were some naïve office worker who didn’t think crime happened outside the Shadow Zone, his lie might have worked.
“Let me ask you something,” Jia continued. “Do you even know whose car that is?”
“I just told you.” The man gave her a pleading look. “It’s my car. There’s a problem with the lock.”
“The thing is, there are stories you could have come up with, ones that might have made me want to let you go.” Jia shrugged but kept her hand on the pistol inside her jacket. “You could have told me something ridiculous, and I might have believed it.”
“Ridiculous?” the man asked, his tone incredulous.
Jia nodded. “Like the flitter belonged to a mobster who was threatening your sister, so you had no choice but to steal it or something stupid like that. Trust me, I’ve run into some odd things in my time.”
“You look kind of familiar.” The man narrowed his eyes. “Have we met?”
“No, I don’t believe we have.” Jia smiled, enjoying the anonymity. “Which is a good thing for you, given your profession.”
“Cargo logistics?” The man blinked. “Uh, sorry, lady. I have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re kind of making me nervous, so I’m going to have to ask you to keep going before I call the cops.”
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