My head lolls as Julius runs, awkwardly, down the street. Heaving air, he lurches, readjusting me in his arms. He can’t carry me like this forever.
“Where are we?”
“Hush!”
There’s nowhere to go and he knows it. M runs this city, and there’s nowhere to hide.
A car pulls up beside us. Oscar calls out to us from the driver’s seat. “Oy! Need a ride?”
Without hesitation, Julius stops, drops my feet, and helps me into the backseat of the sedan.
“You looked a little funny, Ginger, running down the street carrying a dead girl. Well, you looked dead,” he adds over his shoulder as he peels out into traffic. “What’s up?”
Julius catches his breath, then, to my horror, pulls a pistol out of its holster and checks the magazine.
“Whoa now, brother. Do you even know how to use that? Am I going to get shot for picking you two up?” His short arms are draped against the steering wheel, his brown hair whipping around his face in the wind from the open window.
“Do you have a gun, Oscar?”
“’Course. What’s up?”
Julius looks at him for the first time. “I actually don’t know.” He turns, looking at me with wide eyes. “Can you talk yet?”
I nod, trying to swallow, but my throat is dry as paper. I hold up a finger.
“She just streamed with M. She saw into his head.”
“Oy!” Oscar swerves to avoid a large pothole, clearly not utilizing self-drive. Carelessly, he swivels his head around to look at me. “That ain’t good!”
“Watch the road!” Julius yells.
I slam into the door of the car as Oscar swerves again to avoid crashing into the car in front of us. We bounce over the curb, then slowly clunk back onto the street as the traffic moves.
“What did you see?” Julius asks from the front seat.
I cough, finding my voice. “M plans to sell out to China! He’s sending them the information I just gave him, information on thought sensors and how to stream.”
“The chain brain stuff?” Oscar asks, his voice cracking.
I nod. “So even if we could ever get this Center to stop streaming, other Centers around the world will pop up, the people inside no more than lab rats.”
Julius taps a fist on the car door. “I knew he was hiding something. I tried to peek into his files, but they had a decryption alarm, and I never got enough time to silence the alarm and have a look around.” He twists in his seat to face me. “I’m so sorry for doing that to you. Can you ever forgive me?” His lifted eyebrows stretch out the freckles under his eyes, push together the ones along his hairline. His face looks so sad without his normal smile.
“Julius, don’t ask me that right now.” I turn to look out the window, trying to push M out of my head.
“Think he’ll still help your buddy, Pru?” asks Oscar as we jerk to a stop at a crowded crosswalk. The people out there are oblivious to so many things. Their little helmet-homes are all they see, all they know. I bet they wouldn’t even care if I shouted at them that China wants to steal our technology and make their own chain brain set of scientists.
Julius snarls. “He has to. V paid her price.” He looks back at me, then at Oscar. “And if I did my job right, he won’t even know she saw into his mind, too.”
Oscar whistles. “He doesn’t know? Boy, if he finds out!”
Julius snaps, “He won’t. Unless someone in here tells him.” He stares at our driver.
“Right,” Oscar says. “Won’t say a word. You chain brainers still freak me out a little, but you’re all right. And if I tell M, you’re as good as gone. I don’t want that. I seen enough death the past few days. Does Ty know?”
Julius shakes his head. “Don’t think so. He went to sort out some things for tonight’s exchange. Oh, and, V, there’s more exchanging going on than we realized.”
Oscar punches the pedal as we hit the freeway headed back out of the city toward our apartments. “We get Pru. China gets some secrets. What exactly is he planning to give the Reds in exchange for Pru, anyone know?”
I start to answer, to explain that M will give the Reds a portion of the Blues’ territory, but Julius cuts me off with a look, eyes still full of apology as he cranes his neck at me.
“I did find that much out,” he says. “He wants to give them you, V.”
Part Three
Thirty
The car peels off the freeway, heading toward our apartments.
“We can’t let M know,” I say. “If he thinks we know anything, we’re done.”
Julius nods. “The plan was for us to wait at our apartments until time to meet the Reds. We just carry on as planned. We have to get Pru back.”
Oscar leans back, hands on his head as the car drives us toward our apartments.
Julius jumps, startling Oscar. “Wait, my tablet!” He slaps his palm against his forehead. “I left it up at my workstation.” He glances back at me. “If M suspects anything, he could check my tablet and—boom—we’d be caught! He’d see that the stream was two-way; he’d know we know!”
Oscar cracks a wide smile. “Need me to step on it?”
“That might be a good idea.”
Oscar disengages self-drive and grabs the gear shift. “Thought you’d never ask.”
The car lurches, then the engine rips the quiet street in two as it shrieks to life. We hit an intersection and the tires skate as all three of us are thrown to the right. Oscar straightens the wheel like he’s done this before, and we’re off, roaring back the direction we came.
“Think we’ll make it?” I shout over the wind and the racing engine.
Oscar isn’t listening; his entire focus is on the road ahead, weaving around self-driven cars and back up onto the elevated freeway. Drones begin blaring at us from overhead, lights flashing.
Julius looks out the window at the police drones. “I need you to get us to Streamline before M wakes up. Whatever it takes, get us there first.”
Oscar’s true talent appears as we streak through the streets, weaving in and out of traffic, onto the sidewalk, and straight through red lights. The car swerves and screams and roars. I’m gripping the door handle and the back of Julius’ chair with white knuckles. The windows have been rolled up now, and all of Oscar’s attention is focused on overcoming the next obstacle without slowing down. We’ll make it, surely.
Up ahead, a detour sign in bright orange points us away from the most direct route. Anticipating a sharp turn, I hunker down and grip more tightly, shutting my eyes.
But we don’t turn. A loud popping sound makes me open my eyes. We’ve blasted past the detour sign, clipping it on our way by, and are sailing down an empty street now, pushing the car’s max speed.
Then I see it: an incomplete overpass. As the city lifts its streets off the earth, many of the intersections are being redirected over the red lights. I’ve driven around the detour several times, never caring why it was there. A long slit indicates the gap in the pavement. A team of men and women are driving heavy equipment around, smoothing out the subpavement, maneuvering cranes. The scene rushes up to us—we’re going to crash!
“Hang on,” Oscar grunts.
The crew stares at us as we zip by, leaving them covered in dust. The madman is going to drive straight over it! I scream as the ground drops out from under us—we’re sailing—only a second—Slam! We hit the ground. Something grinds and scrapes as we proceed; Oscar appears unconcerned, his jaw clenched in concentration.
Sweat rolls down my chest. Julius is panting. Oscar, however, seems to be having the time of his life, but when his hands shift on the steering wheel, they leave disappearing sweat marks.
“You’re crazy.” Julius shakes his head.
“Knew we’d make it,” he chirps. “We’ll be there in five minutes, tops.”
The rest of the ride is fast, but thankfully less eventful. Soon I’m looking out the window at the familiar mall entrance.
When we fi
nally settle to a stop, Oscar lets out a small breath. Julius is already hopping out of the car. “Thanks,” he calls back to our driver.
Even though the sedative is wearing off, I cannot keep up with Julius as he races into the mall, down the employee stairwell to the backdoor of Streamline Impressions. I choose the elevator and only catch up to Julius at his workstation, where he sits, eyes laser focused on his tablet.
After a minute, he lifts up his hands. “I think we’re safe. I can’t find any evidence that anyone was rooting around in here.”
I let out a breath and lean against the wall. I’m exhausted. Rolling my head sideways, I remember what Julius said in the car and say, “M plans to give me in exchange for Pru?”
“Yes.”
I’m not even angry. I couldn’t be angrier at M than I already am after our stream. He cannot descend any lower at this point. “What will that solve? One gen-eng for another.”
Julius scratches his head. “V.” Silence for a moment. “I think he just wants to get rid of you.” His expression is apologetic, as if he’s sorry to even communicate M’s plan. “You stopped the fight. The Reds want a death and …” He shrugs. “Pru …” His next words pinch his face in pain. “I mean, there’s Ty. He’s M’s son and all.”
I rub the back of my head up and down on the cubicle wall. “I see your point.” No need to make him spell it out, for his sake. “This exchange is just a way to expunge M’s little problem.” I point at myself.
“We won’t let that happen.” Boldly, he reaches out a hand, rests it on my shoulder, squeezes hard. “We won’t, you hear me?”
Nodding but not believing—not knowing how we can stop M—I brush my friend’s hand away, still uncomfortable with such deliberate, personal touch.
“I told M he’d want a few hours of rest after the stream—which is true. Ty volunteered to drive him home afterwards, and it looks like that’s where they are now.” Julius sits back down at his desk. “Far as I can tell, he has no idea about the two-way stream.” He runs two hands down his face. “V, I’m sorry I did that to you.”
I don’t have the energy to argue right now, so I just swipe a hand through the air, letting it fall. “It worked, though, didn’t it? Now we know what M is really like.” I remember the streaming chairs, the fish-scaled man. “Hey, did you know he was running a streaming business?”
Julius scratches his head. “I’d figured it out.”
I stand up straight, mouth open. “And you didn’t tell me? How can you trust a man who suckers people into streaming addictions for a profit?”
Julius slumps down in his swivel chair as if trying to disappear. “I don’t trust him; that’s what I said.”
“Oh, right, then you link our brains so I can confirm he’s a creep.” I roll my shoulders across the cubicle wall so I’m facing the other direction. “Thanks. I’m going to find a place to nap off this sedative.” Sleep sometimes helps to reset my brain after a stream. I’ll need my brain firing at full capacity tonight.
“While you’re napping, I’ll work on a way to save your life.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Julius recommends the many streaming chairs in the front rooms. Scrunching my face up as I turn around to hurl insults at him, I stop. His face droops as a brain flash hits him. His knuckles turn white on the armrests, his chin sinks to his chest. Watching him, I know he, too, is just as broken as I am. I can’t really blame him for what he did, linking M’s brain to mine. At least now we have something we can use against him. Julius, as usual, used his brilliance for a purpose. Maybe one day I will too.
He recovers, sends me a smile, and I walk away without returning it, eager to sleep off this sedative.
Entering the employee lounge, I wonder if I’ll ever get the chance to work with genes again, to dive into a sea of nucleotides. Flopping onto the couch, I realize it doesn’t really matter what I do, because I’ll probably mess it up, like everything else.
Not five minutes later, my eyes already heavy and my breaths slowing, Julius pops his head in.
“Uh, hey. Looks like we won’t have time for that nap. M’s on the move. He’s coming here.”
Groggy and a little sick to my stomach, I get up and follow him back out to where Oscar, after a quick call from Julius, waits for us.
“Looks like we need a plan sooner rather than later,” Julius says, swiveling around to face me in the car. “Got anything?”
My mind is fuzzy and my body feels like lead, but I look at Julius as an idea hits me. One crazy idea. “Maybe,” I say. By the time we reach our apartments, I’ve managed to outline my one idea and Julius, his hair a mess from his hands running through it, stares back at me with wide eyes.
Too soon, the time arrives to meet the Reds who are holding Pru and march to my planned execution. My plan better work. It’s our only hope. And as usual, I can’t do it without help. Step one: obtain Ty’s loyalty. Without Ty, we can’t beat M. Step two: win my freedom. This one will involve the genius of my redheaded friend.
Julius, tablet in hand, crawls into Ty’s large, white SUV behind me. M has a plethora of vehicles. One for every occasion and need.
“M didn’t want to drive us?” I ask, curious why he hadn’t contacted us since the stream. Maybe he hasn’t discovered it was a two-way stream. If he had, he’d probably just come kill me himself.
Oscar yanks his pants up a few inches before he climbs in the front, swinging his chair around to face the back seats. “Oh, he trusts you three to show up for Pru.” He laughs, which annoys me because I find nothing funny about any of this. “He knows you won’t run. Not with your friend’s life on the line. And Tommy’ll be right behind us. Just in case.”
Good point. M plays off our decency, manipulating us even without thought sensors or streams.
Shifting gears, I ask, “Where are we—?”
In unison, Oscar and Ty answer, “Warehouse district.”
I glance at Julius.
“Lots of abandoned buildings. It’s the only place in town not completely covered up by cameras. It’s our best shot for this exchange.” Ty stops talking and starts concentrating on getting us out of the commercial district at top speed.
Julius flips open his tablet in his lap, taps a few things. “Might want to hurry,” he adds.
“What do you think I’m doing?” The engine whines even louder as we gain speed.
I cough to interject. “So, Ty,” I begin, looking over at Julius for encouragement. He nods.
“Yeah?” Ty asks, not missing the cue from Julius.
“I have some bad news.” It’s cliché and sounds utterly pointless when the words are out. I don’t know how else to approach this though.
Ty just lifts his brows, waiting.
I swallow. “You were in a death round.” He stares at me, silent. “It’s supposed to end in death.”
“Thanks for the obvious. Your point?” he says.
I have to spell it all out, more for my sake than his. But my teeth start chewing on my bottom lip, my fingernails dig into my palms—my old nervous ticks. “Since I stopped that from happening …” If what Julius told me is true, M plans to deliver me, like a pig for slaughter, to the Reds. “There will be certain … consequences.”
“I owe you my life, V.” His voice is grave, and his eyes suggest he knows where I’m headed with this.
“M wants to end this death round. To finish it. And he’s planning to use me as … to use my death as the end of the round.”
We need him to be on our side. We need him to feel his debt to me, but I’m hoping—if I’m not enough—he’ll choose Pru over his father. From what I’ve seen, his relationship with M isn’t a warm and loving one, but I can’t claim any knowledge of what love is or what parents and children normally act like.
Ty presses a hand on his mouth, tugs down. His expression is carefully guarded. I think he’s starting to see the predicament I’m about to put him in, the choice I’m about to pose.
It’
s now or never. I continue, throwing everything I’ve got into my next words. “When we streamed, I saw what he’s planning. He’s a spy. This whole time he’s been trying to hack the Center, for China. And he’s planning to give me up in exchange for Pru tonight. There’s no turf war he’s going to solve, no ‘extended boundaries’ for the Reds, even if that’s what he claims he’s giving them in exchange for Pru. He’s just going to hand me over so they can shoot me.”
No one speaks for a few moments, but the tension in the small space, like static, tugs each hair on my neck and arms. Ty stares at my knees, eyes vacant but brow furrowed.
I’ve got to sway him. “He’s got it all planned out. I didn’t hear every detail, but I know what I saw.” Now, the death knell. “He’s not the good guy, Ty. I’m sorry.”
Ty snorts.
Oscar hisses, “He’s a sell out, man!”
Ty’s turn. “You think someone can stop my father?” Anger and sadness squeeze his throat, making his words short and fast.
“We can,” I mutter. “We have to stop him,” I say, louder.
“I’m listening,” Oscar says a little too loudly from the front seat, then hunches down as he takes a glare from Ty. “What? If your dad’s selling to China, we have to stop him.” He tosses a thumb back at me. “And we can’t just let her die. She saved your life, brother!”
I wasn’t planning on this much help from Oscar. In my heart, I want to say a thousand thank yous. To think I didn’t like him at first.
Ty exhales loudly. After a dense minute, he whispers, “Fine.”
I turn to Julius, beaming, a little surprised we got Ty’s allegiance so quickly.
Julius looks at Ty. “Did you know? About your father, I mean.”
Ty stares out the window, the bruises on his recently pulverized face barely more than shadows. “No. But I suspected. He’s got too many secrets. I figured one day I’d hear something like this.” He avoids looking at us.
To Julius, I say, “We’ll need you to work your magic.”
The Veritas Project Page 24
