"Not the church," Sin realized. "Joshua. He's fucking looking for you, Riss."
"Why her?" Caleb demanded just as they reached the Market District.
Sin simply smiled at him, but the look was definitely a threat. "Because she's the one who woke up after a wipe."
"Oh shit," Caleb breathed.
Sin just grunted and kept walking. "Which is why I'm getting her out. If you try to stop me, I will kill you, Caleb. You know that, right?"
"Pharmacon just lost Stabiltrol production," the man snapped. "Maybe it hasn't hit you yet, but that means no more Stabiltrol. It'll take months before that shit's being produced again."
"Why do you care?" Sin demanded. "You're cured."
"My three-year-old son isn't," Caleb shot back. "Seems my heart defect is genetic, and he got it. Right about now, you're my best shot. The one priest who seems to be untouchable, right? That's why Pharmacon told me to find you. We wanted to know why the Legion's doing this, and you're the only priest they trust to give us an honest answer. Now this?"
"Joshua is making a move for power, and I'm being pushed out of it because of my enhancements," Sin told him as they finally reached their destination. "I'm about to be replaced as Imperator any day now. I can't save your ass, and right now, I need to be focused on my fucking angel. Not your shit."
"Which is why you need my help," Caleb said. "Think of this as my penance."
"Sure." Sin turned for the closest connection booth, visible across the open Market District. "Make this fast, Riss. We needto move before the police shut off traffic. We need to be on the other side of town, likenow."
"Yes, Legate," she agreed, and both men moved to flank her, their guns at the ready.
Chapter Forty-Three
Apay-per-minute connection booth stood against the edge of a building. Sin guided Rissa to it, pulling out the same GoPay card he'd shown her earlier. Swiping it gave her access. She grabbed the extendable cable, pulled it under her hood—ignoring the disgruntled noise from Sin—and hit the web.
The two men moved to flank her. Both stood facing away, their backs toward her and their eyes scanning the area around them. Caleb seemed more tense than Sin, but Rissa didn't care. Like this, she knew she could focus on what she was doing. They'd warn her before anything happened.
That meant she had no reason to dawdle, and each minute would cost the priest more money. It seemed as if Caleb had already seen enough to make hiding from him pointless, and Sin hadn'tyetkilled the man as a threat. Plus, if she was never going to return to OutLink, then her employers couldn't punish her for acting outside of her programming.
And yet, it was still hard to relax around the new man. Sin said he knew Caleb, but they clearly were not friends. The only experience Rissa had with this guy was when he'd chased her onto the train. She did not trust him, but Sin was right. This couldn't wait.
So she grabbed the edge of the booth and opened her mind to the full extent of the connection. It wasn't even close to what she could handle. In a few seconds Rissa had accessed the GoPay servers, bypassed their security, altered the contact information for the card, adjusted the security, and added a tiny virus thatwas set to deploy in two days. Next, she moved to OutLink's financial department, delving into the records for their accounts. That led her to the proper bank. It didn't take long for the money to be moved from one place to another. She disconnected with almost fifty thousand credits accessible to the card immediately.
"Didn't work?" Sin asked.
Rissa huffed out a laugh. "Seriously? That's twice." She turned, heading toward the train station, but Sin caught her arm and pulled her back behind him.
"What are you talking about?" he demanded, gesturing for Caleb to watch her other side.
Together, the three of them moved. They didn't slink or try to hide. They simply walked, and quickly. Rissa knew this pace would have her breathing hard soon, but she didn't care. The empty streets around them made a panic want to rise inside her. Everyone else was gone, and that would make picking them off even easier, but she'd heard Sin's question.
"I'm saying that twice now, I've processed information and you've assumed it was a failure," she explained.
"So, it worked?" he asked.
She grabbed his arm, letting his longer legs help to propel her along. "Of course it worked. I'm anIngénue!"
He pointed behind them, towards the booth. "You were connected for forty-two seconds, Riss. Not even a minute. How could you do all that?"
She couldn't help but smile behind her veil. "Well, if you don't mind your 'friend' knowing: I maxed out the connection speeds. Didn't even reach a third of my capacity. I can design an interstellar ship in an hour, complete with blueprints. I can prove the existence of previously unknown atomic particles in three. How long do you think a financial transfer should take?"
"Fuck," Sin muttered with a relieved smile on his face. "God, you're amazing. Sometimes you seem so normal, I forget you're a walking genius."
"Yeah?" Caleb said, moving his gun before him even if it was still down. "Well, I hate to break up this little celebration, but we've got movement on the cross street."
"Shit," Sin breathed, quickly turning serious. "Riss, how long until the train?"
