by Beth Ryan
Audry grabbed the bottle of whiskey from my hands and put it back on the shelf. She was right, of course, getting drunk wouldn’t help our situation and wouldn’t bring me any peace either. That wasn’t the craving I needed to satisfy.
“Oh my god, are you kidding me?” She asked, and I was only partially paying attention to her sarcasm, but I made a disgruntled sound and blinked up at her when she punched me in the arm.
“What?”
“Just a client my ass. I could have been describing either of them, but she didn't even cross your mind. Face the facts, Nate. He's more than just a client to you."
I glared at her, rubbing my shoulder and leaning over to grab the lighter and cigarette packet from where my coat hung on the back of my empty chair. I’d always been gentle with Audry, but she’d never returned the favor for me. She grinned and I rolled my eyes. Hunching my shoulders, I jerked my head towards the front door, lifting the cigarette pack into view.
"I need a smoke." I said, and walked out before she could protest. Four flights of stairs and a half dozen attempts with a faulty lighter later and I felt all the tension wash out of me.
The burn of smoke filled my lungs. I blew out a steady stream and watched it rise between the buildings. The distinct sound of the city was a balm for my soul. With all the time I’d spent in the Kingsland Mansion, I understood now just how loud a silence could be. It made my skin itch just to think about it.
I’d missed the distant screams and the scent of urine in the air.
“Those things are part of the problem, you know. Unhealthy.”
The sultry tones of Ivonne’s voice were incongruous on the cramped streets of New York City. I pivoted toward her in surprise. The lack of low heeled flats was what had allowed her to sneak up on me. I glanced down at her feet. They were bare now, skin connecting with the filthy sidewalk.
“That’s unhealthy,” I replied, nodding to her bare feet. I took a purposeful drag of smoke into my lungs and blew it in her general direction. She scrunched up her nose in response. I snorted at the face she’d made.
“I don’t understand the appeal,” she told me, eyeing the glowing tip.
I didn’t bother explaining it to her. The societal gap between us was too wide to traverse. Instead, we fell silent, though the city around us did not. I could hear a slammed car door in the distance and someone shouting. There was a man screaming obscenities several streets over, distant but audible. It was like a symphony to my ears.
Rather than speak, I waved the cigarette in her general direction. It was the closest thing to a truce she would ever get out of me. She seemed to understand that, too. She took the death stick from me and gave it a long stare before she pressed it to her lips. With an experimental frown, she sucked in a breath. The resulting coughing fit brought a smile to my face.
She glowered as I attempted to suppress my laughter. I had no sympathy for her plight. The Lemniscate had so much handed to them at the cost of the rest of us. She deserved to feel a little of the burn that had filled our lungs since birth.
She passed the cigarette back to me, still hacking. I took another long drag to show her how it was done and sighed my relief into the air.
I was halfway through bringing the cigarette back to my lips when Ivy held out her hand. I stared at her outstretched fingers with a raised eyebrow. She gave me a wan smile and wiggled them. I shrugged before passing the smoke back to her. It wasn’t my responsibility to decide what she did to herself, after all. She could become an addict if she liked. There was no one who might stop her now.
“They forced me to choose between you.” She said, managing much better with her second drag than she had with her first.
“Hm?” I asked, taking the cigarette back. The tip glowed a soothing orange as I took another drag. Sharing the cigarette meant it was already half gone, but I didn’t mind.
“Before I came to find you, my father asked me who I was going to choose to marry.” She explained. I handed the cigarette back to her without needing prompting this time. There was a red stain around the entire thing. Lipstick, I realized. She held the cigarette and stared up at the sky rather than look at me as she continued. “I chose you. I’d hoped it would be enough to protect you in case anything went wrong.”
“Do you really think there’s something better out there?” I asked, staring up at the hazy sky as well. There were no stars here, only the smog and desperation that hung in the air.
“I know there is,” she answered. Her voice was quiet, yet firm.
I took the cigarette back from her and flicked it before taking another drag. I watched the smoke drift up into the dark sky and wondered how an entire nation could hide that much pollution. It seemed impossible that the rest of the world hadn’t noticed. How had we all been fooled so easily?
Ivy sighed and I looked over at her.
“Do you really think you can get us to Paris?” she asked me.
“I know I can,” I told her.
She raised an unimpressed eyebrow at my confidence. I didn’t take the words back. I meant them. She looked away, and the moonlight glinted off her glossy hair.
I passed her the cigarette again.
A shot of satisfaction filled me as I watched a privileged woman befouled by such a low-class habit. I knew I should be grateful that she was willing to give up everything. She’d been born with the keys to the kingdom and all the power of a nation behind her, yet she stood barefoot beside me and inhaled the same smoke I did.
It seemed poetic, somehow.
“I feel so wrong here,” she admitted. I watched her tilt her head up toward the grey sky, only to clench her eyes against the sight of it. “I thought, maybe—”
She didn’t finish the mournful sentence, but she didn’t have to. Ivonne King was outrage wrapped in tranquility, a constant contradiction of easy smiles and hard choices. She was a woman born to a fortune she knew did not belong to her, but one that she had become accustomed to nonetheless.
I may not have shared her dysphoria, but I could understand it.
“We should go back in,” I decided. She shivered as if to prove my point.
I put out the butt against the wall and let it drop to join the innumerable others that littered the street. I shifted to offer her my elbow with the intent to guide her as best I could through the cleanest path to the door. That’s when I caught the expression she wore, a mixture of rage and surprise directed to a spot over my right shoulder. I spun around, my hand flying to the only weapon I had.
Standing a few steps behind me was Joshua King. He didn’t have any weapon, but that didn’t mean much to me. He towered over both of us as he took another step closer. I drew the scalpel up to eye level in my defense, stopping him in his tracks.
“I’m here to warn you!” Joshua cried out, raising his hands in surrender.
“How did you find us?” Ivy asked from behind me.
He didn’t answer that, but he didn’t have to. The trading chip GPS was accurate to the street level. If we’d been inside, he might have had a harder time figuring out what apartment we were in, but finding us on the street was no trouble at all.
“They’ve initiated the X protocol,” he said instead.
The intake of air behind me was the single most frightening sound I’d ever heard from Ivy King. She had a silent strength about her, but whatever the X protocol was scared her more than she could hide.
A shot of adrenaline coursed through me, and I struggled to keep the knife steady.
"They wouldn't."
Ivy's protests were token. I could hear it in her voice. She didn't believe the words she said, but she was desperate to deny whatever her brother was telling her. She stepped past me and my knife. I glanced at her with an inquisitive brow.
"You know they would." Joshua's defensive pose dropped the moment Ivy stepped from behind me. He looked ready to drag his sister away, but he pinned her with an imploring look instead. "Please, Ivy. I only have a seven-minute head start."
/>
She whirled around to stare at me then, and she looked surprised to see my knife was still pointed at her brother.
"We need to go," she told me, batting the weapon out of her face. "All of us need to go right now."
"The files—" I began, but she pursed her lips and shook her head.
"We've got five minutes at most before this whole place is razed to the ground." There was a manic glint in her eye. We were so close to having the profiles ready, but whatever the X protocol was, it spooked her enough to cause her to abandon her objective. "There’s no time, Nate. We have to go now!"
The waver in her voice, more than anything else, had me convinced. I wasn’t going to waste any more time distrusting her when all she’d done was try to help. Without another word, I spun on my heel and raced up the stairs.
26
"Coop!" I roared before I was halfway up the first flight. "Audry!"
I didn't wonder for a moment why the man I'd met two days ago had come to mind before my oldest friend. Even if I wasn't ready to admit it to myself, I knew why.
The panic in my voice must have registered with them, as they were both down the three flights in a matter of moments, Cooper swinging the gun around as though the threat of it alone might save me. I urged them to keep going without explanation. Whether it was due to my wild eyes or the knife in my hand, they did as they were told.
Once we were back on the street, I found Ivy and Joshua standing close together beside the motorcycle he must have arrived on. Though their words were quiet, their expressions belied disagreement. An argument, then. One that ended in relieved sighs the moment we appeared.
"We need a car," I decided, directing my words to Audry.
She flashed me a vicious grin and whirled around to the curb. Using her elbow, she smashed in the window of the nearest vehicle, a van. The shatter of glass rained down on the pavement below. The lights of the city glimmered off the shards like so many treasures hidden in the grime and filth.
We piled in, Joshua lifting his sister over the field of glass before leaping into the passenger seat. By the time the rest of us were settled in, Audry had the beast running. Then we were on the move.
Joshua gave frantic orders and directions that she obeyed without comment. She was the real gem, I decided. Unflappable in the face of danger and new strangers alike. I'd have to buy her something nice once all of this was over.
I felt a hand grasp mine. I glanced down at the pale fingers and followed the line of the arm up to Cooper's concerned expression. There was true worry in the crease of his brow. I yearned to reach up and smooth it out. I busied my free hand with taking the gun from his white-knuckled grip and settled for a less-than-reassuring smile.
"What's going on?" he whispered.
The sound of an explosion overtook my answer. It rattled the windows and illuminated the street. I wondered if the heat I felt was imagined, or if we really hadn’t gotten that far out of the blast zone. Either way, Ivy had been right about razing the place to the ground.
"Shit!" Audry shouted, but if she swerved from her course, it was imperceptible. Only her eyes strayed from the road to glare at the Lemnis sitting in the passenger seat beside her. "Was that you? Do you realize how much equipment I just lost? Do you—"
Three more explosions cut off whatever accusations she'd planned to snarl at him. For his part, Joshua King looked far more surprised than I thought he had any right to. He was staring at Audry as though he'd never seen another human being before in his life.
"The Lemniscate have a motto." With sharp words, Ivy cut across the tension that had arisen. "Ad Mortem, Sine Circa."
“That’s what everyone was shouting when—” I stopped when Ivy flinched beside me. It was still an open wound for her, and only a few hours old at that. I tried a different route. “I noticed those words etched into the backs of the statues by the stairs.”
"The literal translation is 'To Death, Without Regard'," Joshua added, though his words were distant and sidetracked. He was still staring at Audry. I recognized the look he wore now. I narrowed my eyes at him. He remained oblivious to my displeasure. The only comfort I had was that Audry wouldn't accept less than pure devotion, and even then, she wouldn't stand for an ounce of disrespect. My best friend could take care of herself. I'd witnessed that truth several times over throughout our lives.
"It isn't just a motto, though. It's a creed," Ivy continued, fingers twisting together in her lap. "A promise to keep the secret. It means there is no situation where sharing the truth about the Lemniscate is acceptable."
"It means..." Joshua finally looked away from Audry and back to his sister. There was something in his eyes that made my heart twist a little.
I'd never had a sibling, but I had Audry and I knew I would never want to give her the look that Josh was giving Ivy. It was simultaneously destroyed and filled with regret.
"It means that our father would rather order our deaths than allow us to reveal the truth."
"Parent of the year, eh?" Audry joked. No one answered, and she had the sense to look ashamed.
I felt a tight squeeze on my hand and glanced over at Cooper. His smile didn't quite reach his eyes. I opened my mouth to say something reassuring, or maybe something inappropriate. Audry broke the moment again by turning around in the driver's seat to look at me. My mouth snapped shut and I ignored the bemused expression she sent my way.
Agitated, I tapped the butt of the gun against my knee.
"What's the plan, boss?" she asked.
Joshua emitted a distressed sound and grabbed the steering wheel. The car hadn't drifted at all. He glared at the blonde woman as though she'd been about to crash into a building and kill us all.
"Cool it, pretty boy," she snapped, peeling his hands off the wheel.
Joshua let out an indignant grunt and opened his mouth. He looked like he was ready to start an argument we didn’t have time for. I cleared my throat.
"That equipment really was expensive, and rare," I said. "I know Audry can create a functioning profile with just any old screen and board, but transferring to your chips is a whole other battle."
"Money isn't a problem." Joshua gave an imperious wave of his hand. Audry ducked under it. From my seat, I could see a fraction of her scowl. If I'd been a betting man, I'd have wagered that Audry was ready to kill the pompous ass. I hoped she'd get her chance, once we left the country.
"It is, actually," I pointed out to the rich idiot. "All purchases are tracked. All information is gathered, sorted, and accessible to the profilers. If you so much as buy a stick of gum, they'll know that you're alive, not to mention your exact location. Everything we’re saying right now is going straight to the profilers. You should know all of this."
"What do we do, then?" Ivy asked. Her voice was a bit lost, but the hope wasn't gone.
I had to give it to her. She was the strongest woman I'd ever encountered.
I tried not to let Audry see the ashamed expression that crossed my face as I realized I'd counted her as less fierce than some Lemniscate woman. However, Audry had lived that way her whole life, forced to survive. Ivy had chosen this path. The quiet strength she showed was a part of her nature. I almost hated myself for respecting her so damn much.
"If we'd had time to grab what was compiled, we might have stood a chance," I told Ivy. I couldn't look her in the eye as I spoke. As screwed as we were, I still didn't want to crush that spark of determination that drove her. Try as I might, though, I couldn't see a path that ended well for her. For any of us. "As it is, we don't have the resources or the time to—yes?"
I turned to Cooper, who had been using his free hand to tug at my sleeve as I spoke. He finally stopped as the whole of my attention diverted to him, and dug something out of his coat pocket. My coat pocket, I realized, taking in the beige cloth draped around him. He held the item up to eye level.
The connection cable in his hand was nothing to speak of. Black, identical ends, not very long at all. It was more t
han I could ever have asked for, though.
"Will this help?" he asked as I gaped at him. "Grabbed your coat on the way out. This is what you used to change my - well I thought it might be important anyway."
A surge of pride raged through me. I stared in awe at the man I had only met a day ago. I was floored at the short time we'd known each other. I almost couldn't recall what it felt like to not know Cooper Hall. I didn't want to.
We stared at each other for a charged moment, and I saw the flicker of hesitation. Uncertainty. His eyes shifted away from me, and in that moment, I remembered myself. Cooper Hall, the man who felt so familiar and important, was a client.
I pressed my lips together and pried my hand away from his.
“Audry, any public access computer will do," I announced, examining the gun with a concentration that wasn't required. I pointed it through the clear windshield between our driver and her navigator, and grinned as I focused the sights on the empty road ahead. "We have a government to topple."
27
We were at the closest public library within minutes. I let Audry take over controls first, admiring the speed with which she fabricated codes to hack into the chip system. Once the profiles were up again, some two hours later, it was my time to shine.
I scrolled through several of her hacks. She had blocked their ability to bring the GPS system any closer than “In New York,” and there were tracers on chats and audio for the profilers searching the area. Every spoken work logged in our profiles had been wiped from the moment of the explosion onward and a specific hack into the Kingsland Mansion cameras was focused on Robert Eisley. The access to the FTC databases was something we could have made use of several years before, but only the information that Joshua provided to Audry had given us the opportunity now.
