She rubbed her face. “What happened?”
Commander Ashford clasped his hands behind his back. “There is a video record of you participating in the murder of several military personnel. The last thing we have on our side is your request for backup while in pursuit of a suspect Captain Buckley sent you after.”
“Buckley?” Kate blinked. “I… don’t remember. Those soldiers tried to kill me. They tried to kill my father.”
Ashford moved closer to the barrier, a thin wisp of electricity teased at his hair. “Your name is Kate Solomon. You are a Tactical Officer with Division 0. That man is not, nor has he ever been, your father.”
Gelatinous energy swam around in her mind. Images twisted and flipped in her head.
A dark skinned man felt love for her. What’s his name?
A little girl with glowing blue eyes smiled at her. That’s my daughter! She looks like she’s ten! How can I have a daughter older than me?
A dark Hispanic woman with a shotgun came crawling out of a burned refrigerator. Why do I know her?
A slender, older man with killing eyes in a black suit with a white hat. Is he my father?
The same man burned to a charred skeleton.
Kate’s voice screamed in her head.
The feeling in her mind grew painful, and she collapsed in a fetal position.
“How is it going?” asked the female officer.
“I’ve never seen an implant this strong. I’m not sure I can remove it. I’m sorry, but I think I’ll need to wipe this one.”
“Oi, sir,” said another man. “A minnit?”
“What are you doing here, Pryce? You should be in medical for an evaluation.”
“Sorry, sir.” Aaron limped into view outside her cell. “I’d like to have a go at her.”
The female officer gasped.
“Oh, for cryin’.” Aaron gazed at the ceiling. “Telepathically.”
Ashford regarded him with a measured stare, rubbing his chin. “Your files don’t mention any particularly astounding rating in telepathy.”
“No offense, sir, but you’ve read Director Kovalev’s write up on the whole ‘Awakened’ thing?”
“I have.”
“Before you hit the reset button, let me give it a whack.”
“It’s more involved than that,” said Ashford. “There’s paperwork, hearings…”
Aaron smiled at Kate. “I’ve had a bit of practice undoin’ Archon’s cheesedickery. He only had a few minutes with her. Follow me in, eh? Worked it the same way with this Hughes bloke in London. His finesse, my oomph.”
“Dad?” Kate leapt to her feet. “Where’s my father?”
“I’m sorry, Kate,” said Aaron. “He’s not your father.”
Both men stared at her. Their presence shifted from looking at her to looking into her soul.
The three figures in the doorway blurred. Kate swooned to her knees and grabbed her head. Cold fingers stroked the top of her brain. Daddy… Help.
He’s not your father, said Aaron’s voice from inside her mind.
She fell onto the floor and sailed out over a glittering expanse of West City. Kate screamed. She’d leapt from the patrol craft, ready to kill herself before succumbing to mind control. The ground raced up beneath her, too fast for a simple fall. A beige square—the roof of Archon’s building—came at her. She braced for impact but wound up standing on it. Archon in front of her, Aaron to the left, frozen in time.
“Remember him?” Aaron pointed at David.
David.
“You thought of him as you jumped,” said Aaron.
That false memory is deep. Ashford’s voice boomed overhead.
Aaron looked at the clouds. “Aye. You’ve got the finesse. I’ve got the force. Can you find the interface between real and bullshit?”
Yes, said Ashford. I see it.
“I’m sorry Kate, but this might hurt.” Aaron smiled.
A splitting headache tore into her mind. She wrapped her arms around her head, screaming. The pain exploded outward in throbbing waves, as if her skull would burst. Dazed, she flopped flat on her chest, shuddering. Her meeting with the Japanese man, the demon priest appearing in the city, and chasing the Halcyon-Ormyr into the black zone replayed in her thoughts. The roof sped away into the distance, leaving her tumbling in a void. Lightning flashed overhead, concussive thunderclaps rocked her bones. Her body spun faster and faster. Gravity returned along with a sense of falling. Before she could scream, she crashed into a smooth, hard floor with an explosive boom that left her seeing nothing but white light.
“Kate?” asked Aaron.
She lifted her head and lowered her arms, staring past a curtain of disheveled hair at the three people in black.
“Should she be bleeding from the eyes?” asked the female officer. “That’s not normal.”
“What about this shite is normal?” Aaron leaned left and right, trying to make eye contact. He seemed out of breath. “Kate? Are you back?”
“Her emotional radiance no longer feels childlike,” said the woman. “Oh… she’s angry.”
“Motherfucker,” growled Kate. “I’m going to kill that bastard.” She sat back, pulled her hair out of her face, and stared at the red droplets on the floor.
“Shit, she’s spiking depression.” The female officer hit a button on the wall to disable the field and rushed in, putting an arm around her. “Kate. Don’t harm yourself. It’s not your fault.”
“I feel so violated.” Her voice came out as a weak croak. “He knew how desperate I was for a family… for a real life. He tried to invent it all. I can’t think of anything worse to do to someone.”
She looked up at Aaron. “He did that to Anna?”
“Aye.” He clenched his jaw. “At least somewhat.”
“Anna got me out of that C-Branch prison. I saw it in her eyes. She’s not like him.” She kept quiet for a moment. “How many… people did I kill?”
“They’re still piecing it together. Initial reconstruction puts the count at about six.” Ashford held up a datapad and poked at the screen. “I’ll need to re-verify your mental state.”
“She’s borderline suicidal, sir,” said the woman.
“I’m borderline going-to-melt-Archon-to-a-cinder,” grumbled Kate. “I’ll be okay… I-if David is. Where is he?”
“He’s close,” said Ashford. “We were worried about your reaction to seeing him in your previous state. As far as the dead soldiers are concerned, I am convinced you were under the influence of another psionic. Pending your psych review, we will be charging the individual known as Archon with their deaths.”
She let her hands flop in her lap. “Yeah, that makes me feel so much better. Can I see David, or am I still a prisoner?”
“Unfortunately,” said Ashford, “you’re still under detention until I complete my evaluation.”
“More mind reading? What are you waiting for? Let’s get it over with.” The oddity of her arms being two different colors made her pause. “Why is my left arm pink?”
Ashford and Aaron exchanged glances. Neither one seemed like they wanted to speak.
“Rail gun,” Aaron mumbled into his fist.
Kate peeled the smock away from her shoulder, about ready to faint at the sight of the discoloration spreading halfway over her right breast. “How the fuck am I still even alive… was all this uhh, missing? I should be dead. Wait. Am I dead? Is this some fucked up dream?”
“That makes two of us.” Aaron winked. “No, I’m afraid you’re alive.”
“Althea?” Kate’s throat constricted.
“Aye.”
Kate looked up at him. “How? Where?”
Aaron exhaled. “She just… uhh… fell out of the sky.”
Squeaking boots echoed in the hallway a few seconds before David jogged to a halt at the entrance to her ‘room.’ “My heart about stopped when she jumped out of the car.”
Kate knew he meant Althea, but his comment still hit her deep. She leapt
up and ran out of the cell, diving on him, crushed the air from his lungs with a fierce hug, and sobbed into his shoulder. The last thoughts she expected to have as a living person had been about him. He held on, sniffling as well. A few minutes later, after she got her emotion in check, she offered an apologetic smile at Commander Ashford.
“Sorry. I suppose I shouldn’t have run out of my cell.”
She hung her head and trudged back inside.
“How long, sir?” asked David.
Ashford stuck the datapad into his coat. “If she’s up for it, perhaps twenty minutes.”
Kate smoothed her hands on the front of the smock and took a deep breath. “I can handle it, sir.”
56
A World Reshaped
Mamoru
Flying out of West City offered Mamoru a taste of freedom. His consciousness permeated the inner workings of a sporty hovercar liberated from the roof parking of H. H. and M. Legal Services. Its owner was likely frothing at the mouth at the same moment Mamoru cruised at a hair under the speed of sound. The little black midlife-crisis-mobile had two seats, brown synthetic leather, and a profile like one might expect from a scale model of a military fighter aircraft.
For the first time in many days, he thought nothing of obligation, and only of the future.
He overflew Querq, as it had snuck up on him, and pulled into a hard, decelerating turn. His return course threaded the needle through a decaying skyscraper in the old city, sucking old desks and a few dog-sized rodents along in his wake.
A great dust cloud whirled into the air as he streaked down the largest street. Goats and children went tumbling away, screaming. The nimble car swerved to a neat stop in the center of town, settling onto wheels that folded out as Mamoru thought of putting his feet down. His senses seeped back into his body; no longer did he feel the wind upon the metal shell around him, or ‘see’ with the car’s sensors and cameras. The ride had not even been long enough to make his legs stiff.
People in denim, bearing rifles, advanced on him. He opened the door and stood, disregarding their subtle threat. One woman recognized him from his last visit and aimed at his head.
“You got some cojones coming back here, pendejo.”
A man next to her looked back and forth between them. “You know this man?”
Two Division 0 cops emerged from a pod building on the far end of the square.
“He’s the one who tried to kill Althea and used Shepherd to bash a hole in a wall,” said the same woman.
“Where is my sister?” asked Mamoru. “It is not my intention to harm anyone, but I will destroy any who stand in my way.”
“You gotta answer for what you did,” said an older man, wagging his rifle at the ground. “Get down, now. Won’t warn ya again.”
He found it pleasant they pointed modern weapons at him, modern weapons with electronic trigger mechanisms he could influence. Their rifles went dark, as did all the equipment on the belts of the Division 0 officers.
“Before you can take the knife from your belt, I will take your head. I ask a simple question and your hospitality is lacking.”
Dead triggers clicked.
“I will not ask again.”
The youngest of the Watch, a round-faced woman in her twenties, shrugged. “The woman what looked like you’s left. She been gone a couple days.”
“She left?” Mamoru raised an eyebrow at her. “How?”
“Uhh.” The guardswoman glanced at the older man as if asking for help. “She ain’t like no prisoner or nothin’. Even though you went nuts and all, you brought her in for medical help. She didn’t do nothin’ wrong. She uhh, just left.”
“S’right,” said the older man. “Here one day, gone the next. No one saw her go.”
Akuryō, where is my sister?
Mamoru stared at the Watch, waiting for an answer. No voice inside him responded. His eyes narrowed with the kind of anger only betrayal can cause. One thing had scared the spirit. Perhaps that thing could find Sadako.
“I must see the child with the glowing eyes.”
“What, so you can try again?” The old man lowered his useless rifle. “How stupid do you think we are?”
“I give you my word, I will not harm her.” Mamoru clenched his jaw for a moment. “She can help me.”
The girl is not here either. A man’s voice spoke in his mind.
Mamoru locked eyes with the only possible source, the male Division 0 officer.
I have no idea if you’re schizophrenic or somehow got legitimately possessed. These people will die before they let you near her after what you did. Besides, she isn’t here.
“Where is she?”
“West City,” said the old man. “Probably at headquarters.”
The Watch gasped and grumbled. A few yelled at him.
“This man is telling the truth,” said the officer. “He doesn’t want to hurt her. Even if he did, he could not harm her where she is now.”
“Damn right,” said a deep voice to the left. “She wouldn’t let him.”
A huge man came stomping out of a side street, headed right at him. Mamoru smiled, remembering their last meeting in fleeting glimpses.
Shepherd halted a few feet away, glaring. “Nothin’ for you here, pal.”
Mamoru drew a deep breath, held it, and let it seep out from his nose. Sadako was gone. The strange child was gone. This place had nothing for him. Wind in the hollows between buildings mocked him with a mournful howl.
He faced the large man, eye to gut, and looked up. “It seems you are correct. I do not expect you to understand, but I was not myself when we faced each other. You fought with honor, and have my respect.”
Mamoru bowed, keeping eye contact.
Shepherd loomed over him with barely-restrained hostility.
No one moved or said a word as he slipped back into the car. Fortunately, no one noticed the rifles coming back online as he pushed his consciousness into the vehicle and lifted off.
Miles of featureless desert offered no answers or consolation. Mamoru’s thoughts drifted in a haze of doubt and guilt. He had let the Akuryō overwhelm him. What was it about the child that had filled the dark spirit with such rage? Had he controlled himself, he would have been at her side when Sadako opened her eyes.
Searing pain raked across his chest, accompanied by the sound of grinding metal and a soft explosion. Lost in his thoughts, Mamoru had not noticed the old tower before flying into it. Some manner of antenna or lightning rod gashed open the undercarriage and smashed the right rear ion thruster. The back corner of the car dipped with the loss of lift.
Mamoru’s scream distorted out of the car’s sound system. The front wheels opened as his imaginary arms cradled the cut down his belly. He nosed down from drag, and the vehicle smacked into the ground, skidding into a spin. Mamoru detached himself from the machine to spare his hands and feet the sensation of scratching over a concrete tarmac covered in sand and rocks.
His consciousness focused in time with a loud whump as the car came to rest broadside against the wall of an old aircraft hangar. He sat motionless, rubbing a hand over his right pectoral. No wound existed in his flesh, but the pain from a metal whip-strike lingered for a few minutes.
Dust and smoke drifted away from the hood, revealing a wide, flat area covered with squares of concrete and collapsing buildings. The broken shell of an ancient airplane slumped into the earth a hundred or so meters away. Shapes and indentations in the windblown sand hinted at carts and the dead-manatee silhouettes of bombs.
Beeping from the dash announced an unfurling holo-pane. “Unable to obtain signal. Please note that crashing outside of your coverage area may invalidate your warranty. If you have crashed in error, please contact local emergency responders via personal communications devices.”
Mamoru squinted. Idiots.
Another panel popped up, displaying text.
“West City Underwriters Insurance Company thanks you for your business. Your vehicle’s
monitoring system has informed us of damage consistent with an ion vehicle accident. In accordance with your hovercar operator’s insurance agreement, this has resulted in an automatic risk increase of your monthly premium to Ͼ4669 from Ͼ2240. If you would like to submit a claim for damage to your vehicle, the estimated final premium would be Ͼ7400 monthly. Accepting responsibility for repairs outside of your policy will not impact your premium. Thank you for choosing West City Underwriters Insurance Company.”
Mamoru emitted a low growl from deep within. After a scowl of contempt at the console, he forced the door open and climbed out into a warm breeze. The second inexplicable crash in the Badlands was less eventful than the first, and this time he suspected he knew why.
“Show yourself,” said Mamoru, pacing around the car.
A twenty-foot tall slab of metal rattled in the wind a few meters behind the wrecked car. From a gap in the hangar’s doors, a presence beckoned to him. He grasped the metal and peered around the edge into a cavernous space, four stories tall and two hundred meters long, empty save for the sound of dripping water and a few aircraft parts. Grime-coated windows muted the sunlight to an off shade of pale yellow, puddles collected here and there. A six-foot tire lay flat to his left.
Mamoru’s hand slipped from the door as he ventured farther inside. The scent of rust and mildew hung in air cooler than outside, but thick and humid. He pulled his coat away from the handle of the katana. His footsteps echoed over themselves, the sound bouncing back and forth in the cavernous space.
“Mamoru,” said the voice of the old man.
He had expected the Akuryō to appear behind him, but still tensed when it happened. “You have released my thoughts.”
Hard boots tapped the floor, circling to his left. “Our agreement has been fulfilled.”
“Where is my sister? Our agreement was that she would live.”
Angel Descended (The Awakened Book 6) Page 49
