Oh, please.“I had to get Lew out.And draw them off.”
Still not mollified.Not even close.“You’re not a superhero; you’re human, albeit with some very special talents.You’re acting suicidal, and that’s bad for the team.Clear?”
“Crystal.”Rowan had to suppress a sigh.More irritation rose, fighting with the incredible eye-watering pain for control of her stomach.I did what I had to, General.You wouldn’t have hesitated either, in my place.“What’s the plan?”
“We’re going to lay low until they’ve passed us by.Boomer’s already gone, taking Lewis up to Calgary.You and Cath will head to Vegas; Yoshi, Zeke and I will peel off and start causing trouble northwest.I’ve got a mind to make a run on a Sig installation.”The old man’s eyes glittered behind his glasses.
“With only two support staff?Now who’s suicidal?”Rowan’s jaw set.Her legs ached.Had she pulled something, to top off the rest of the physical misery?“Don’t do it, Henderson.Go back with Brew and Boomer.”
“If you’re going to Vegas, I want Sigma chasing their own tails.We’re not going totake outan installation, just make a run and cause some confusion.”His jaw set, and Rowan felt a faint whisper of alarm.It wasn’t like him to be feckless.“And if Del’s in town, he’d approve.I shouldn’t be sending you to Vegas at all.He’s going to be upset.”
Do you, or do you not, understand that we need cash if we’re going to get Headquarters running smoothly?And do you, or do you not, understand that IfeltJustin, Iknowhe’s here?
She gathered the last scraps of her patience, tried to keep her voice even.“He’s here, Daniel.Please… don’t do this.”
“Um… guys?”Yoshi broke in.He didn’t sound happy, and Rowan’s nape prickled.
She moved to swing her legs off the cot; her shoulder ran with acid fire.She almost wished she didn’t heal so quickly.The compressed pain made it goddamn difficult to think clearly.“What?”Rowan’s gaze locked with Henderson’s.
“I don’t like this,” Yoshi repeated.“I’ve found their channel and cracked it.Their chatter says they’re setting up scans and checks, and there’s something about a tracker.”
“Any names?”Henderson’s shoulders hunched as if warding off a blow.
“Just one.Carson.Mean anything to you?”Yoshi blinked, his fingers still tapping the keys.He’d fitted a commlink in one ear and was monitoring Sigma’s use of a channel.“He’s due to arrive about twelve hours from now.”
“Oh,Christ.”Henderson closed his eyes briefly.Rowan’s stomach turned over, settled uneasily.“We’ve got to get everyone out of here.Now.”
“Who’s Carson?”Rowan tried to stand up.Her knees shook, and the cot threatened to tip until Henderson put out a hand and steadied it.Then he looked up at her from his easy crouch.
“Pray to God you never meet him, Miss Price.Yoshi, get everyone in here.Now.”
“You got it, boss.”Yoshi tapped at his keyboard and then spoke into a small handheld comm.“Everyone, the General wants to see you.We’re blowing this taco stand.”
CHAPTER6
Sigma hadtheir central command in a partially-constructed building downtown, which was their first mistake.Their second, Delgado noted as he was brought into the fishbowl, was that they weren’t changing chatter channels every few minutes.Yoshi.Dammit, man, be listening.Get a lock on them.Please.
He could remember the thin, quiet Japanese man and the General’s steely eyes.He could remember Cath’s punk haircuts and Zeke’s blunt fingers.He could even imagine Brew’s wide white smile and soft, crisp accent.
But he couldn’t rememberher, no matter how hard he tried.The wall he’dpushedhimself to erect stood firm.Frustration tasted bitter and familiar, hopelessness acrid like tar.
One of Andrews’s two bullyboys pushed Del forward.“Go on.”
The man was grinning.He’d been one of the ones administering the initial beatings to soften Del up.Thickset and broken-nosed, he looked a little like Zeke, but he had none of Ezekiel’s careful movements or self-deprecating humor.For a moment Del considered striking out with fist and mind, killing the man with a quick upward strike to the nasal promontory, simultaneously ripping his mind free of its moorings.
The thought sent a warm, gratifying feeling through him, almost like the oozing fire of Zed.
But his veins were creeping with the slow, painful needling of his addiction, so he walked slowly across the unfinished flooring, stepping over thick cables running to the computers.This would be an employee lunchroom when completed.One end of the room had a half-finished wall through which late afternoon light bounced.When done, this place would have no light at all save fluorescents.
You couldn’t expect people to eat under buzzing tubes every day.It would drive even deadheads mad.
Two horseshoe-shaped banks of monitors, hard drives, and keyboards hosted the nerve center of Sigma’s local operations.Andrews’s team was in one horseshoe, murmuring back and forth.Papers were signed and the chain of command machinery went on.The other horseshoe held shaven-headed commtechs with handlers and psychometric or precognitive Talents, monitoring and searching for any disturbing trace in cyberspace or the city’s grid, any sign of the vanished Society members.
Andrews leaned over a commtech, watching as the shaven-headed kid spider-tapped at two separate keyboards at once, his jaw slack and the monitors bathing his face in spectral green glow.A thin thread of drool wandered down the kid’s chin.His handler, a tall chestnut-haired woman, stood with her arms crossed, scowling at Andrews.
“Get a lock on them,” Andrews snarled.“Do it now.If they haven’t gone past the checkscans theyhaveto be in the city.”
Not necessarily.You’re an idiot, Andrews.This isn’t like you.He must be frantic to catch them.This Price girl was making him look bad.
