by Simon Archer
“What?” Malthe asked, looking up from his watch. “Oh, yeah, they’re on their way to one of our properties down here as we speak. It’s safer that way.”
“Okay, good,” I said, eyeing him closely. “Anything new to share?” I glanced between Malthe and Avil next to him, knowing that we couldn’t reveal too much when she and her parents were still around.
“Not immediate,” he said, his eyes boring into mine, telling me that it was something he couldn’t share out loud right now. “We can deal with it tomorrow.” He faked a big yawn and made a show of stifling it for emphasis.
My watch buzzed, and I looked down at it. It was an encrypted message from Malthe. I decoded it and scanned it for any alarm bells. I was relieved to find it actually wasn’t anything immediate. Just interesting. The whole map had lit up with burner calls, apparently, just about. If these people were secret now, they wouldn’t be for long, broadcasting themselves to the whole damn city like that.
Not long after that, Henri, Paola, and Avil went to bed, waving lazy goodnights and looking like they’d just about rather be anywhere else than in this mess. Including in their tiny old shack that used to be about where we were sitting right then.
Once everyone out of the loop was upstairs, Malthe leaned forward on his knees and whispered across the coffee table to me.
“What do you think?” he asked excitedly. “About the map?”
“I think it’s to be expected, I guess,” I said. “I mean, we did fuck up their whole plan multiple times over. They have to regroup somehow.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Cindra asked, looking between us excitedly.
“Here, look,” Malthe said, holding out his E-pad donning the burner phone map on it for everyone to see. “They’ve made a ton of calls since Halit started talking. And it’s all the one guy, just like before. No concurrent calls or anything.”
“Weird,” Cindra said, peering over his shoulder at it from their place on the couch. “That’s pretty crazy, right?”
“Pretty crazy,” Malthe agreed. “But in keeping with the pattern. Whoever this guy is, he likes to be in control.”
“Well, we knew that already, didn’t we?” Clem scoffed. “The guy’s been controlling the whole city for years, after all. It takes a special kind of personality to want that, let alone get away with it.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I said quietly. They could have been talking about me, I supposed. I had to know everything that went on at TelCorp, and also had to have a say in all of it, too. But then again, maybe that made me better suited to toppling this organization than most people.
“So what do we do?” Lin asked, dropping her arms to her sides. “The government won’t help us.”
“But they won’t hurt us, either,” I reminded her, casting another glance over at the holovision. Halit was gone, replaced by more talking heads than I could count trying to dissect the whole thing. They were just as flabbergasted as the reporters.
“What if they try to get Halit?” Kinley asked, turning to me. “They’re not gonna take kindly to all this. We can be sure of that.”
“We certainly can,” I agreed, pursing my lips at the talking heads as they continued to parse what was going on in this crazy-ass city.
“I’ll send a car for him, too,” Malthe said, his finger hovering over his E-pad as he moved to make the order, but Cindra grabbed his wrist, stopping him.
“Won’t that signal that he’s on our side?” she asked. “That he’s been talking to us?”
“They already know that,” I said, shaking my head. “There’s no way they don’t. They don’t know the details, but they know we made the call. Even if somehow they can’t see it on the digital record, it’s not exactly hard for them to work that one out. Why else would he do a one-eighty so fast? It doesn’t make any sense, otherwise. Hell, laypeople can probably work that one out, even.” I pointed at the holovision and used the remote lying on the coffee table to turn the volume back up to prove my point. “See?”
“Well, he must have spoken to Nic Joch,” one of the talking heads, a pretty anchor with curly blonde hair down to her shoulders, said forcefully. “That’s the only explanation. TelCorp’s got something on him, mark my words.”
“But Prime Minister Halit was with Nic Joch just a few short days ago,” a man with silver-gray hair argued, practically interrupting her. “They planned this whole takeover of the government together. And we still don’t know what changed between then and now. Maybe it just… changed back.” The man clapped his fingers together in the air as if to indicate the whole thing had gone ‘poof.’
“Like I said, I still can’t make heads or tails of it,” the woman said, shaking her head again.
“At least they’re getting closer to the money now,” Kira reasoned. “That’s good, at least. People are talking more. They’re less afraid of… whoever these people are.”
“Or they’re just so surprised and confused it cancels the fear out,” Malthe said. “These calls aren’t going to the anchors. They’re going to the media CEOs. The people on the ground still don’t know enough about what’s going on.”
“So they’re shocked enough that they’re not afraid of their CEOs anymore,” Kira shrugged. “It still says something about the severity of the situation.”
“Yes, it does,” I agreed.
“So what’s next, boss?” Malthe asked, and everyone turned to me. “How do we get out of this mess?”
“Well,” I said, mulling this over since I hadn’t had time to think that far ahead yet. “We’re in a much better position than we were before. We need to get to the north side.”
27
“The north side?” Clem repeated incredulously. “We just got out of there, Joch, now you want us to go right back? That doesn’t make any sense. How do you figure?”
“Yes, it does, remember,” I urged him. “We don’t have any other choice. We know whoever’s making these calls is right under the financial district. So we need to get into the north side tunnels to get to him and end this thing. Which means we need to get into the north side.”
“But can’t we just get there from the south side tunnels?” Malthe asked, shrugging. “They’re all connected, right? So let’s just start there and work our way inward.”
“No fucking way,” Clem said, laughing nervously and shaking his head vigorously. “There’s no fucking way I’m going back there. No fucking way.”
“You don’t have to go into the tunnels, then,” I said, surprised at this reaction since Clem was usually the first to jump into danger. Well, the second, after me, that is.
“No, that’s not what I mean,” he said, to my relief. “I mean, I’m not going in through the south side. I’m stayin’ out of there for as long as possible. I’ll go in through a north side entrance, but not the south side. Not after what happened to us down there last night.”
“Oh, right, I’m with you on that, then,” I told him. “Even if we did manage to get back into the tunnels through the south side since the one we know about collapsed when we bombed it, we’d have to get in one of those train cars without getting ambushed again, and even then we’d be opening ourselves up to all kinds of trouble. They’d probably know we were coming.”
“Exactly,” Clem said, looking relieved. “That’s just what I was saying.”
“Kind of,” I laughed, reaching out and punching him in the shoulder playfully.
“So what do we do then?” Lin asked, giving Clem a pointed look. “You don’t want to go back to the north side, and you don’t want to go into the south side tunnels to get there. So what exactly do you suggest?” This wiped the relief right off Clem’s face, which was still bruised and purple from the brass knuckle beating he’d taken the night before.
“She’s right, we have to go with one of the options,” I told him, and he crossed his arms in protest and opened his mouth to respond, but I continued first. “We need to retake the north side. At least for a little
while.”
“Retake?” Clem repeated, absolutely aghast now. “You can’t be serious, Nic, this is crazy talk. We can’t just walk into another battle like that. We’ll lose even more people, and then where will we be?”
“They’ve lost just as many people as we have,” Kinley reasoned. “We might as well. And I’ll bet you anything our binders are better matched against theirs when the numbers are even.”
“You bet your ass we are,” Clem said, flashing a grin. I gave him an exasperated look.
“Make up your mind, dude,” I said, punching him in the arm again, a little harder this time. “Either you think this is a good idea, or you don’t. You can’t have it both ways.”
“Fine,” he said. “Just because I think our guys are better than theirs doesn’t mean I think this is even remotely a good idea.”
“Look, what other option do we have?” Kinley asked him.
“Uh, just going over there and going into the tunnels, maybe?” he suggested, in a tone that suggested that he thought this was obvious. “What else? Just engaging them in battle is stupid. What point is there, when our real enemy is somewhere else?”
“Just because our main enemy is somewhere else doesn’t mean the threat the conglomerate poses isn’t real,” I pointed out. “And they’re going to descend on us the second we get there. If they see us going to the tunnels, the first person to know will be the last person we actually want to know, which is whoever this guy making these calls is, or maybe his boss or whatever. We need to go down into the tunnels, but we need to do it without anyone noticing.”
“And how is attacking them going to make them not notice us?” Clem asked, shaking his head in confusion and disbelief. He really was thick-headed sometimes, though he was an excellent binder and right-hand man in most situations.
“Because,” I explained. “If we make it seem like what we’re trying to do is get TelCorp headquarters back, the attention will be there. And the rest of our own binders won’t be any the wiser, meaning neither will theirs. Our binders distract them with a good fight. Then the two of us go down into the tunnels when no one’s watching.” I waved my hand between Clem and me to indicate that I meant the two of us.
“No way,” Cindra cried, and it was the foxgirls’ turn to act indignant as she, Kira, and Kinley all protested at once. “There’s no fucking way we’re letting you guys go down there alone this time.”
“Absolutely not,” Kira added definitively.
“That’s right, we want in,” Kinley said, grinning slyly as if this was a not-so-friendly round of cards.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I cried, shaking my head. “There’s no way I’m letting you girls walk right into the enemy’s den…”
“Why not?” Cindra asked, somehow managing to put her hands on her hips just as fiercely sitting down on the couch as she did standing up. “We all know if anything happens to you, Nic, the three of us are all dead meat, anyway. And using our bond, we’re practically unbeatable! It would be the height of stupidity not to let us in on this one.”
“But… but… it’s too many people,” I sputtered, trying to find another excuse for keeping them out of the line of fire. But they didn’t even need to respond. I hung my head, knowing there was no answer. Kinley responded anyway.
“You’re stronger with us, you have to admit that,” she said. “We fought Elias Berg together. And that turned out pretty well.”
“Fine,” I relented, albeit reluctantly. “But the second I say anything, you do exactly as I tell you, you understand?” I looked at them each in turn.
“Do we really have much of a choice?” Cindra asked, arching an eyebrow.
I stared at her for a minute and then burst out laughing. Then we all burst out laughing, a bit deliriously.
“Thanks,” I said, clutching my stomach when we’d all but recovered. “I needed that tonight.”
“Me too,” Clem said. “So, we’re doing this tomorrow?”
“Bright and early,” I said. “One way or another, this ends tomorrow. I’m not going to sleep another night with this all unresolved.”
“Amen to that,” Kinley said.
Lin stood and smoothed out her slacks, yawning.
“I’m assuming we’re sleeping here again?” she asked, though it wasn’t really a question. We all looked at Malte.
“What’re you all lookin’ at me for?” he asked, pointing at himself in surprise.
“You are the only one of us who actually lives here,” Kira said, chuckling under her breath at him.
“Oh, right,” he said, blinking a couple of times. “I keep forgetting about that.”
“Of course you do,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Well, yeah, I mean, I guess you have to stay here, right?” he said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Well, it’s not like there’s anywhere else for us to go,” Kinley said, sardonic as usual.
“Okay, then,” Lin said, suppressing another yawn. “I’ll see you all in the morning.”
The rest of us followed her, and I let out a big yawn of my own. At least we had some time to get a good night’s sleep tonight. Last night hadn’t exactly helped matters as far as our ability to stay on top of everything was concerned.
I stumbled into the same room as the night before and pulled off all my clothes except my underwear, meaning to fall right into bed and fall asleep as soon as I hit the pillow. But right before I had a chance to crawl under my comfy silky sheets, there was a hard rap at my door. I groaned internally.
“What?” I asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice, but probably failing, not that I had the concentration at the time to have noticed if I had.
“Sorry,” a voice I recognized as belonging to Kinley called through the door. “I just… I had a question about something.” My face and mood softened. I couldn’t say no to any of the foxgirls. I knew them too well, felt what they felt too deeply. And I could tell that underneath that characteristic gruff and hardened exterior, Kinley was just as scared as the rest of us. More, even, because her own family was in danger.
“Oh, okay,” I said, trying to sound as bright and cheery as I could manage. “Come in.” I pulled the sheets up around me to cover myself up. As close as I was with Kinley, we hadn’t exactly taken our relationship to the next level yet, and I didn’t know if she was comfortable seeing me without most of my clothes on.
The door creaked open, and she poked her head inside.
“You can come in,” I repeated, waving for her to make her way all the way inside. She did so and shut the door softly behind her.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” she said. “I know we’re all tired.”
“It’s ‘kay,” I managed, covering up another yawn and slurring my words a bit.
“I was just wondering… I just wanted to double-check… there are drones on all the houses, right? My family’s safe and protected, I mean?”
“Yeah,” I said, giving her a warm smile. “We’ve got all kinds of shit on them. Don’t worry, no one’s getting down here tonight. Everyone’s safe and sound for now.”
“Oh good,” she said, visibly relaxing, her shoulders falling from their usually taught position. And that wasn’t the only thing that was taught, either. In my sleepiness, I allowed my gaze to linger on her perky breasts for a moment too long. She obviously noticed, but to my surprise, she smiled at me slyly.
“Like what you see?” she asked, raising her eyebrows at me.
“Oh,” I said, surprised. “I mean, um… yeah. Definitely.” I ran a hand through my hair nervously. For some reason, my stomach was doing backflips. Well, I knew what reason, but you catch my drift.
“Good,” she said. “I was hoping maybe… we could release some of that built-up tension. You know, from all the stress.” She crossed over to my bedside and trailed the tips of her fingers up my arm. The hair on my arms stood up at her touch.
“Absolutely,” I said, looking up at her and grinning. I was never too tire
d for this particular activity.
Suddenly, she was sidled up next to me in bed, her clothes in a pile on the floor. She reached down under the bedsheets and grabbed hold of my dick, hard. She moved her hands up and down me, quick and furious. I let out a long groan, my appendage stiffening immediately at her firm but gentle touch.
Then, she crawled down under the covers, so she was completely submerged under them, and I wasn’t able to see her anymore. I felt her lips press against the tip of my dick, and then I was completely inside her in quick order. She moved fast. Real fast.
I liked it.
I could see the shape of her head bob up and down on me under the sheets, and I groaned again, about to blow already from how fast she was going. I pressed my hand against the top of her head over the sheets, pushing her down closer to me, pushing myself further inside her.
She slowed down and pulled back a bit, and then sped up again, giving me time to collect myself again. Then, just as I was about to blow again, I gathered the energy and will to push the sheets down, revealing her tight little body, and flip her over on her back.
“Ready?” I asked, looking into her eyes.
“Always,” she said, winking at me and shooting me another sly grin. Damn, that was hot. Everything about her was hot. I hadn’t realized how long I’d been waiting for this, wanting it.
I pressed myself insider her, and she let out a quick, sharp gasp, digging her nails into the skin on my back. But I didn’t mind. The pain just added to the pleasure. I pushed myself deeper and deeper into her, developing a steady rhythm. She moved right along with me, gasping every time I thrust myself inside her again.
