I Am Not Junco Omnibus: Books Four - Six (54 page)

No one comes.

"Buzz it again." I order.

"No," he shoots back. "You ring once and then you wait."

I push his worthless ass out of the way and lay on the buzzer non-stop for a solid thirty seconds. Then punch it over and over for good measure.

I'm still punching when a crackle of voices can be heard in between my requests for attention.

I let up on the buzzer so they can talk.

"You are being tracked with plasma cannons, Beast. State your business."

"I need John Hando, right now." I try not to growl it, but HOUSE's breathing is getting more labored by the second. "I need John Hando!"

There's several seconds of silence and then another voice. "Who sent you?"

"Junco," comes out automatically. "Junco sent me and I need access to the Sagitta Building, immediately!"

I hear laughter on the other end and I'm about to blow when the voice comes back. "What's wrong with HOUSE?"

I guess we know who really holds Junco's secrets. "She's sick, she needs help and from what I've been told that help is located in the Sagitta Building. I know you have access, Junco told me. I know there's a dual AI in there, Junco told me. And I know that this HOUSE AI has been there at least once before, so I'm asking ya, if ya ever cared for the girl, please give me access."

The crappy piece of tech crackles one more time. "Step back across the street. I'll come out."

We wait for what seems like an endless string of long-drawn-out hours but when I check my vision screen it's only been a little over two and half minutes.

There's a rumble of a roll-up steel security door down the street and both Annun and I crane our necks to get a better look.

A fully stocked military vehicle pulls out, then slowly approaches us. Annun walks out towards the curb as it pulls up and six men jump out, all targeting him. He stands still as they search and I wonder for a moment if I should reevaluate my opinion of this impetuous asshole who reminds me way too much of Braun.

Hando comes to do the honors for me. He pats me down, but I have no weapons. I haven't needed weapons for more than ten years now. "Thank you," I say simply.

He doesn't respond, simply waves us to get in the truck. Only Hando and the driver comes with us, the rest of the men jog down the street and go back inside the compound the same way they came out.

Annun gets in and stretches out his legs like the Texican Mafia picks him up on a street corner every day of the fucking week and I reverse my almost higher opinion of him.

Hando lets me settle with HOUSE and then leans over and whispers in her ear. She stirs and tries to open her eyes.

"Ya know who she is, then?" I ask.

He leans back in his seat and nods. "I know. I was there the last time she got sick." His look, when he finds my eyes, is challenging. I'm not really sure what I expected the one Junco regrets getting away to be like, but it certainly wasn't this man sitting across from me right now. That he's a pureblood Texican is apparent by his long black hair, his brown skin, and the infamous eyes that look like deep, endless pits. But if I hadn't just visited the familial compound, I'd never peg him for mafia. He's got a pair of dark sunglasses riding high on his forehead looking like they very badly want to slip down his face, a pair of long tan shorts that have lots of pockets, a white t-shirt that states something very rude in Spanish, and sneakers that look like he stole them off a Utopian surfer.

"So ya met Inanna, then?" is all I can think of to say.

Hando nods. "Yes. I knew Inanna well. We worked together regularly."

Oh. Fuck. I'm gonna have ta kill this man.

Annun pipes up this time. "So you know she's the one who stole Junco for two years and tortured her?"

Hando's eyes flash as we take a corner with speed and we all sway with the centripetal force. "I said worked, not work, alien. If I had known Inanna had Junco, I'd have stepped in. But we've not heard from her since the last time she brought HOUSE down here." He looks over at me now. "Which was the week after Junco was called home by the clone and never came back."

"Until last week, ya mean? She came back then, right?"

He smiles and slides his sunglasses down his face until his eyes are covered. "Do not piss me off, Beast. Because I don't need you to fix Junco's HOUSE AI. I have access to the Duality and I know you'll hand her over if it comes to that. So be nice to me and I'll let you tag along and watch."

Chapter Eleven

I think I might hate John Hando just a little bit more than Gideon. At least Gideon is one of us.

Sorta.

At least he's not human. And he's not a criminal. And I'm really starting to wonder if the Hando clan runs weapons when we pull up to the massive median level of the Sagitta Building, because there's about two dozen plasma cannons lifting up from subterranean concrete bunkers, and they are all targeting our vehicle.

Since John fucking Hando doesn't seem concerned about it, I can only assume they are there to target Annun and me.

"I strongly suggest," Hando says casually as the vehicle comes to a stop, "not to make any sudden moves, not to touch anything, and not to interact too closely with the AI in there. You got it?"

Annun answers for both of us with a wave of his hand. "Chill out, asshole. We're here to save the fucking kid, OK?"

I think I might like Annun a little more than I did an hour ago, but I shoot him the compulsory dirty look to placate our host.

HOUSE coughs as we exit and I lean down to whisper in her ear. "We're here now, darlin'. Just hold on." I have no idea if this being I'm holding like a child can die or not, but I can only assume it would be very bad luck to have something so connected to Junco expire on my watch.

The driver pulls away and we stand and wait as a well-dressed holographic man exits the front door and makes his way down a series of platformed steps. Hando presses an open palm in our direction, signaling to stay back, and then he approaches the quick-moving digitized being.

The AI does not look happy and I recall Junco's words from a few days ago about how male AI's are unstable. I've never actually thought about it before to be honest. We never had male AI's in The Band, but I always figured that's because Lucan was partial to the female versions.

HOUSE coughs again and this time I swear I can feel shit rattling around inside her. Hando waves us forward and I step up to the waiting AI, who does not greet me at all, but reaches out and tries to remove HOUSE from my arms.

I pull her back as his cold hands rub up against mine. It sends shivers up my spine and I realize instantly that my girl is not anything like this AI in front of me. "No. Yer not taking her."

He turns on his heel and begins walking up the steps and John Hando is following, beckoning us to come along. But my feet are plastered to the cement as I stare at what the AI shows us from behind.

It's another face.

A face so deformed it's hardly recognizable as female. Her bottom lip is mutilated and droops to one side and one eye is entirely missing. There is no hair to speak of, only a thin strip that gives the appearance of a hairline, but only if you see it from the proper angle. She catches my reaction and smiles and then speaks as they climb the steps in a lively manner—her knees bending in all the wrong places for someone who appears to be facing forward. I shiver again. "Keep up, Beast," is what I think she says, but I might be wrong because the sounds that emerge from her lips are so slurred and distorted it could be any number of things.

Annun looks at me with his eyebrows raised. "OK, looks like we're joining the freak show. Ready?" he asks me casually, as if he's the one in charge here and I might bolt or piss my pants at any minute. You gotta hand it to Annun. He's either a clueless dumbfuck or the most ballsy, well-informed son-of-a-bitch that ever walked this planet.

Our feet climb the steps in unison and when the AI and Hando have created a substantial distance between us, Annun leans in and whispers, "I read that the male did that to her face. He's a fucking psycho."

"Where'd ya read that?"

He shrugs. "I checked the sphere on the way over. What did you think I was doing? Sightseeing in the Underbelly?"

Annun's team points are stacking up today. I might have to promote him if we live through next week.

The AI stops at the front door and his fingers morph before my eyes, becoming nothing but a stream of electricity, and then connect to a receptor on the side of the building. The doors slide apart, but only wide enough to admit one man-sized person at a time. Hando goes first, then Annun, and I'm about to talk through when the AI abruptly turns and the female bends down to take a closer look at HOUSE with her good eye. I stop and let her scan the child, not sure if this is part of the process of gaining admittance or not. The body turns again and the male is apologizing. "She can step out of line at times, just know that she means no harm in this gesture. If she wasn't genuinely accepting of your presence here, you'd have been obliterated already."

I nod as I pass. Isn't that nice?

I've lost all sense of which duality is friendly. I go with neither and the door slides shut behind me.

The first thing that registers is that all my vision screen capabilities are cut off. The constant buzz that's been strumming though my head for more than two decades is suddenly gone. I look over at Annun and can tell he's experiencing the same thing, but he remains calm and begins to check out the interior decor.

The AI walks past me quickly, his holographic shoes producing a curt clicking sound on the polished granite floors for effect, and we all fall in line as we approach a bank of elevators that reside against the side of the building. "We've locked the building down since the invasion but we will allow you to see our engineer to determine if the HOUSE AI can be helped."

The AI stands there, waiting for me to answer, so I nod out a "We really appreciate you doing this," and then realize that Ashur must have given the relocation order since they think we've invaded.

"Just one thing," the AI continues. "If you had approached this building without that child, you would be riding a galactic wind as trillions of particles. Our cannons are SEAR-capable. We would not hesitate. We do not like you or what you're doing to our planet."

Annun winks and shoots his thumb and finger at the AI, then spurts out a good-natured, "Gotcha," before turning back to gape at the interior of the lobby.

The elevator opens and we all enter together. The biometrics protocol repeats, but this time John Hando does the honors and completes the biological inquisition with a drop of blood for an impromptu DNA scan.

He passes and I figure that's a good sign. And then the doors close and we are ascending the Sagitta Arrow.

Chapter Twelve

We stop long before we get to the top. I look over at Hando, but he ignores me. We exit into a long, slender,
dark
, corridor. It looks like the power went out and there's nothing lighting up the interior except emergency floodlights. The AI leads the way, and that grotesque face of the female stares at HOUSE as John Hando falls in line, then me, and Annun takes up the rear rifleman position out of habit. I can hear his uneven boot steps as he walks, and this comes off as a watch-your-back strategy most rear soldiers get when the fireteam is on the move.