Chapter 25
MANUEL’S LAB IS COLD AND quiet as I wait for him to return.
I spent the first few minutes idly browsing the various machines and fridges down here, trying to ignore the lack of cleanliness of the vast majority of them.
He has an on-net terminal that I use briefly, though I only scan through for any more news about Sanctum. Still listed as an accident.
After a while I sit in the only seat that looks like it won’t give me a disease, and take the nostrum that Verity gave me out of my pocket.
I hold the bottle up to the fluorescents. Shake it, watching the black tendrils drift through the clear liquid. Verity wouldn’t have spiked it; she was pissed about Sanctum, but that’s not her.
I stare at that vial for a long time. Just thinking.
Then I put it away again, and get to work.
I’m almost-napping back in the chair by the time the door to the lab bangs open and Manuel, as much as the portly man can, saunters down the stairs.
“Ready to go.” He holds up a metal tube, which he then inserts briskly into a slot in the machine I’m about to get into. “Clothes off. In you get.”
I strip off. “As expensive as you thought?”
“More.” He raises an eyebrow at me cheerfully; whatever the price, he knows he’s going to make it back tenfold. “You sure you don’t want to wait a couple of days? The bots will have barely left your system.”
“Oh, I am aware.” I shrug off my last shreds as he winces in sympathy. “Fire it up.”
The DNA wash is, unsurprisingly, just as painful as last time. My revs deal with it fine. Manuel watches me with wide eyes as I emerge and dress as if nothing is wrong.
“How long until you think you can access the tokens?” he asks eventually, wisely deciding not to say anything.
“Depends.” I finish buttoning my jeans.
“On?”
“On how they found us in Sanctum.”
“Who?” He’s got his back to me, busy at the table.
“The Keres. They knew we went to Sanctum. But they didn’t follow us there. They couldn’t have accessed Sanctum’s systems. And those Slabs were clean. At least, they were when we left here.” I flip my Plasma from one hand to another smoothly. Idly.
“You’re running from the Keres? Damn, Azure.” He chuckles. Still doesn’t turn. “But that answers your question. They have a controlling interest in an AI. How do they ever find people?”
“Usually, because someone tells them where to look.”
He whirls, the Gauss in his hand, and fires at my chest.
There’s a hollow click, a look of pure consternation on his pudgy face, and then the weapon explodes.
“Manuel,” I tut over his shocked screams, walking over and taking his arm gently. He howls but my revs refuse to let him pull away as I cover the bloodied mass with the stitch spray. The hand’s mangled, a couple of fingers blown clean off, but Manuel has the tokens to fix it.
“You… messed with… my gun?” he gasps.
“You had it taped under the desk,” I say reprovingly. “And you left me in here for three hours. And I’m an assassin.”
“I’m sorry, Azure.” He hisses it through gritted teeth, but it sounds genuine.
“It wasn’t about the tokens. They sent a back channel Runner, asking about any unusual jobs in the past couple of days.
You know how it works. You don’t lie to them.
If they’d somehow traced those Slabs back here, and I hadn’t said something, I’d be a dead man. ”
I sigh. “And now, Manuel? What about now?”
He looks up at me. I get the distinct impression he’s pissed his pants. “Please, Azure.”
I roll my eyes. Manuel’s always been greedy; it’s the reason he can be trusted, the reason I knew it would be him walking back through that door and not the Keres.
Maybe I’m making this decision because I like that kind of predictability.
Or maybe I’m just in a better mood now I know what actually happened last night, and have a solid plan moving forward.
“I’m leaving. Code me in for permanent access to this place, then lock up and don’t come back.
Unless you’re a complete idiot, you have the tokens to get a place outside the city.
Do that.” Even a back-channel Runner is less deniability than the Keres are usually comfortable with, which means they won’t be risking a second visit anytime soon.
Jasa’s body can stay here. I might need it later.
And some of this equipment. “If I ever find you’ve been talking to the Keres about me again, I will track you down.
” I pick up his index finger from the floor and thread it behind his right ear, like a flower.
He’s a combination of in shock, horrified, and strangely hurt. Looks about to protest but then just continues to cradle his hand. “Okay.”
“Okay.” I pat him on the shoulder. Disappointed, and irritated, and unsurprised by any of it. “Goodbye, Manuel.”
I leave.