Chapter 21 #2
Soleil removed the glossy civilian percomp she wore as a mugger donation and handed it to Fish. “Carry this for me. I might break it, and it’ll have valuable information.”
Fish grinned as she took it. “Cert!” She pocketed it as she turned to her friends. “Split and jet. Rig for the downbelow.”
They sealed up their coats and headed for the door, where Josh was already letting others out.
Soleil made herself stay in the chair to give the adults an opportunity to ask questions, but none did. A few lingered for a moment in quiet conversations with each other, but the rest just pulled up their hoods and left.
The room was all but empty by the time Rustom dragged a bench closer and sat next to her. “Kids comin’?”
“Not that you or I know of until after we go transit.”
“Got it.” Rustom’s mouth twitched in amusement. “I need an hour to grab my kit. Where do you want me?”
Thank the gods of chaos that her friends were do-it-now Jumpers.
“Spaceport. I’ll ping you with the location and entry codes.
We’ll need to secure the airlock. Will your Base Supply contact sell us more toys tonight?
” They still had the gear acquired for Haseem’s rescue, but she’d like more options.
Rustom grinned. “If the price is right, they’d sell us a crate of fully-charged planetfall mech suits and railguns.”
Soleil grinned back. “I’ll send you a list and the auth keys to a fat payment account. Use your judgment on what to buy at what price. We don’t want them suspicious enough to want a piece of the action. Not looking for a fight, but will if we have to.”
“Sync that.” He rose from the bench and stood. His torso turned, but his legs didn’t move. He looked down at his feet. “Fecking hell.” His hands balled into fists.
Soleil stood and stepped to face him. “Rustom, look at me.”
He looked up, but his eyes were tight with frustration.
“Hands.” She held up fists of her own between them and opened them slowly, letting the tension go with a deep breath in and out.
He mimicked her, then took another slow breath on his own.
“Any red from your processor?” She doubted the implanted processor that controlled his cybernetic legs was throwing error messages, but it was easy to check.
“No, just the low battery warning like always.” Despair crept into his expression. “This is the feckin’ waster’s, wantin’ attention.”
The battery would take time, but this, she could help him with now. “Just like in class. Visualize turning your foot, then again. Then do it.”
He closed his eyes for a long moment, then looked down. His foot turned. He shifted his weight and sidestepped, then followed with the other foot. Concentration etched his face as he took several more smooth steps. “That’s done it.”
“Good. Staying hydrated usually helps me.” She tilted her head toward the door. “Get your kit, and we’ll see you soon.” Making a bigger fuss over him would have been insulting.
Rustom sketched a formal salute and strode away, pulling on his gloves.
She turned to Haseem, who’d been hovering to the side, watching the exchange. “Before you ask, Brenner is in, if he wants. He’s immune to telepaths, but he could have burned us a thousand times over if he was going to.”
Relief crossed his face as he nodded. “I was going to point that out if you didn’t. What about Arco?”
“Yes, but she might already have other plans.” In which case, they’d probably lose Brenner, too. “What about you?”
His expression sagged in distress. “I don’t know.”
Soleil stomped on the temptation to tell him how much she appreciated his friendship and compassion. His healer and medic skills would be valued wherever he went. He should be free to choose who he wanted to offer them to.
She grabbed her coat. “You don’t have to decide this minute. Josh is cleaning up here and going for supplies. You can ride with me on the airsled so you don’t have to walk back to the studio in this freakin’ weather.”
Soleil poured herself a cup of real coffee. The warmth would be welcome, and she needed the break from following her checklists and worrying about her students.
Haseem burst into the kitchen. “Brenner is gone! He’s not in any of the rooms upstairs. His clothes are gone, and his bag isn’t in your office.”
Soleil swore. The gods of chaos obviously had a malicious grudge against her. “I’ll check security. You go look for anything of his. Or anything weird.”
Haseem spun away and raced toward the stairs. “I’ll check the autodoc logs.”
She connected her gauntlet-style percomp to the building’s comp, then asked the custom AI Josh had crafted for her to play the morning’s recordings at triple time.
She kicked herself for not getting around to putting a camera eye in the autodoc room.
She kicked herself again for putting the cashflow chips from Arco in the bag.
The records showed nothing after everyone left the studio earlier that morning. Then, an hour ago, just as she’d been starting her speech to the students, Brenner walked into view of the office camera eye. He wore the clothes and boots Haseem had left near the autodoc for him.
The motion-triggered lights made him blink.
He cast an irritated look at the wallcomp, then noticed his bag in the corner.
When he bent to pick it up, he tilted sideways and only saved himself by sitting heavily in the nearby chair.
With a ferociously determined expression, he leaned over to drag the bag into his lap and open it.
The packet of cashflow chips on top seemed to confuse him. His expression gradually turned bleak as he pawed through the bag’s contents and found a percomp, a rain cloak, and more clothes.
Movements slowed. His shoulders sagged, and his head dropped nearly to his chest. After a long minute of stillness, he jerked awake.
Blinking again at the lights, then at the bag on his thighs, he shook his head like a wet dog.
He fingered the packet of cashflow chips, a grim look settling on his face.
With clumsy movements, he pulled out the cloak and shoved the cashflows to the bottom of the bag. It took him two tries to stand, but once he was on his feet, he slung the bag across his chest, then clumsily pulled the rain cloak on over everything.
As he turned, he made eye contact with the camera eye above the office door. Irritation curled his lip right before the recording abruptly ended.
Soleil tracked his path by the string of dead camera eyes leading to the alley-side door.
Considering he could have easily flatlined everything, she was grateful he’d left the rest of the security systems intact.
No telling what he was thinking or where he was headed.
And until the kids came back, she had no one who’d have an asteroid’s chance in a black hole of finding him.
She pinged Josh with the news, then dumped the coffee. Packing the studio’s training equipment in her flitter would warm her up.
In the meantime, the meddling gods of chaos better fucking well look after Brenner. They owed her.