Chapter 7
CHAPTER
SEVEN
ARC
Three moons rose before we saw any movement in the town below us.
Riann hadn’t complained verbally about the hike to the top of the ridge that surrounds the community, but he had not enjoyed it.
Even now, he can’t stop thinking about the sticks and stones beneath him and whether or not his shirt will survive the dirt being ground into it.
He’ll survive. That’s all he should care about.
Kissu had disappeared for a while, but he came back, hunkering down in the underbrush beside me. I do my best to ignore him while I track the first sign of life in the seemingly deserted town through my scope.
West. Kissu pats one paw on the ground. Two and truck.
Tracking to them, I relay it to Kilo. “There are two Sian and a truck coming out of the water reclamation facility.”
“I see them.”
Kilo has his drone high enough that they shouldn’t notice him, and I need him recording for as long as he can.
Riann shifts uncomfortably, pulling out the scope I gave him.
“Catch anything before the doors closed?” I ask. “I mean, aside from the fact that there are about forty vehicles in there?”
Exhaling, Riann says, “There should be water tanks and machinery. There isn’t any.”
School.
I swing my scope toward the school and immediately remove my finger from the trigger. “There are more children here than your report says.”
I count at least forty. There are a dozen women with them.
“Where?”
“The school. But it doesn’t look like they’re getting ready for lessons.”
“No, it does not.” He takes the display from where it sits beside Kilo and switches to infrared. “Forty-six children, fifteen women and two men in the school. No read outs for the reclamation facility.”
And the initial pass of the drone from a few hours ago had shown no heat signatures…
“I’d bet the facility and whatever they have underground are made of Lasap.” Riann curses and then asks, “Do you have the capabilities to see through both the ground and that?”
“You know we don’t,” I tell him before Kilo can voice the snarky reply in his mind.
“You could recall one of the inter-system patrol ships,” Kilo says, still watching what his drone shows him. “I think we’d get along with those guys. After all, we’re just different brands of frea—wait a minute.”
“What is it?” I pull the scope back up and look at the reclamation facility as the vehicles inside begin a processional exit.
“They’re flying the coop, as Andrea would say.”
Riann curses. “Follow them for as long as you can.”
“Tougher said than done. They’re scattering.”
We watch as half of them drive to the school, picking up various groupings of children and mothers like it’s a normal pick-up time.
They rejoin the others, but dozens of vehicles leave, their numbers splitting in half at the exit to the community.
Kilo takes the drone higher, trying to keep them in view, but they split again when they reach the continental crossroads.
“How did they mobilize that quickly?” Kilo asks, still fully in his head set.
It’s not hard to guess.
“They knew we were coming… not exactly when, or they’d have already left.” Riann stares at the line of lights. “If we’d shown up without poking around first…”
“They might have stayed underground and we never would have found them.”
Riann scoots down the hillside a little so he can sit up without being seen and makes a call. “Yeah, I need a satellite retasked.” He pauses. “I know it’s late. But that’s why you work nights.”
Their conversation devolves into bickering, and I take the screen Riann discarded.
Kilo has picked one of the small groups to follow… one heading toward Ilidi City.
“If I zoom in, it’s not going to make you crash is it?”
“No, dual cameras. You can’t alter what I see.”
“Good.” I focus on the car’s identification numbers. They’re designed to be visible in the dark and I capture the screen sending the information to Riann as he hangs up.
“What can you tell us about that?” I ask, knowing there’s every possibility he won’t be able to share whatever he finds.
“That doesn’t help us. According to this, that car doesn’t exist.”
“Clearly, it does,” Kilo says, pulling back the drone. The car is officially out of range. “You really need to figure out your system glitches.”
“I’ll get my guy to track it through the satellite systems and we can follow it.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I shimmy backward down the hill until I can stand, and I slap the dust off the front of me, looking at Riann. “We’ll get you fitted for one of these so you don’t have to ruin your clothes next time.”
“Hopefully, there won’t be a next time.”
When we get back to where I parked the car, Kissu stamps the dirt from his paws and jumps into the front seat.
“Don’t try to argue with him,” Kilo says, pushing Riann to the back. “Zurgles always get their way.”
True.
I yank out the panel under the command console and after a quick fishing expedition, I pull out a chunk of wires and the hard plastic plug on the end. All it takes is a twist and a tug, and that plug snaps off.
What doing?
“You like fast cars…”
With the speed limiter removed, the car will ignore the speed commands sent to it by posted signs. And with Riann in the car, I’ll be able to get away with ignoring them too.
Ten minutes later, Kilo has fallen asleep across Riann in the back and Riann’s face is pressed against the window, his breathing shallow.
Neither of them are dreaming.
Kissu sits with his front paws on the dashboard, watching the road in front of us, pumming loudly.
If he sticks around, I’ll get a car with a window he can put his head out of to feel the speed he loves so much.
“How old are you?” I ask, quietly.
Don’t know.
“How long were you with your first Sisan?”
First? Kisa? Forty-two years? He pulls his paws back and hunches, no more purring. Then, the monsters.
“Your first Sisan was a woman?”
He doesn’t think yes, but I feel it. Favorite. Took name. Loved.
“I’m sorry she was taken from you.”
Matan thirty? Thirty-five?
Thirty… That would make him at least seventy-two years old and I know that’s not right.
Then, Sisans prove they can be monsters too.
I don’t need to ask to know that. “How long were you alone?”
There? Two years? Seven? No Sisan to track time. Seasons too subtle.
I’ll see if I can’t find Matan in the public records. However old Kissu is… he’s older than my parents would be.
“I hope you like snow,” I tell him. “Our seasons don’t change much either.”
Like snow.
“There are four of us,” I tell him, “So I hope you like them too.”
We see.
“Has he told you the secrets of the universe yet?” Kilo asks, yawning.
“No. Has Bowie?”
“He’s tried.” Kilo laughs and then mutters something under his breath. “We should get together with Breaker and Mr. Jones and have a playdate.”
Kissu makes a low and rumbling noise.
“I don’t think he wants to make new friends right now.”
Kilo chuckles and then sits bolt upright. “Saints above, how fast are you going?”
“Too fast,” Riann says, muttering, almost as if he’s still asleep.
“I want to catch up. Can’t do that if we’re obeying the limits.”
Kilo glances nervously at the readout in front of me. “Just don’t get us killed.”
“I’ll try not to.”
SHOCK
The door chimes almost as soon as I get back, and I thank the saints that Risk and Chrys are down in the workout room.
Hazard is nosy for the fun of it and even though I know he’ll know sooner than most of the brotherhood, I am very happy to let Hannah be the one to tell him about our houseguest.
His lover won’t have to field the questions I would.
“What a rare occasion,” I say sarcastically when I open the door.
He chuckles as he comes in and then he scowls. “Why in the saints’ names is it so hot in here?”
“We’re trying something new.” And it’s not hot, it’s a normal temperature.
Eyes narrowed, Hazard walks further into the room.
He won’t go into the back hall, or downstairs, so I let him survey the space.
“This is new,” he says, patting the metal supports of Chrys’ cat tree.
“I think Risk wants to get a zurgle.”
“And you’re making sure you can keep the place warm enough for them?”
I don’t answer him.
“Where is Risk?”
“Downstairs, working out.”
Hazard nods.
“Are you actually here in the middle of the night to ask the same question Breaker and Fault have?”
“Maybe? What question did they ask?” He smiles at me like he thinks he’s going to get away with something.
“Arc went to check out Calisan with one of the CSS guys.”
“I thought Kilo was doing that?”
“No one told us we needed to cover his part of the Zone.”
“Interesting…” He looks around again. “It’s been a few days since I’ve seen Arc on his normal route. Longer than he’s been in Calisan, I’d guess.”
“Did you happen to notice the wreckage and rubble out there?”
Hazard and I can go back and forth like this forever. The only reason we stopped the last time he wanted answers I wasn’t willing to give him was a cavrinskh incursion.
After we dealt with that, both of us had to go into the med units and we just never came back to it.
“How’s Hannah?” I ask, to divert him.
“Thriving, as always.” He smiles, but it’s sad.
“You should be with her tonight.” I don’t tell him the parts of their future I’ve seen. I can’t. Thinking about it makes my eyes prickle and my guts twist.
“I will be.” He looks around the room again. “I just swung by to see what was going on.”
Standing, he goes to our refrigerator and pulls the door open. “But it looks like I’m leaving with more questions than I came with.”
“I’m sure you’ll get your answers soon enough.”
When he closes the door, he has a can of coffee in his hand. None of the brotherhood drink it save for him, and he doesn’t visit, so there’s no reason we’d have it.
He looks from it to me with a knowing slant to his lips. “I had better.”
As soon as he’s gone, I pull up the schedule on the screen. Arc has an appointment at Margot’s in two days. We can avoid Hazard for two days. Once Hannah knows, Hazard will know too.