Psion Omega (Psion series Book 5) (14 page)

Al snorted, then belched. “Oh, yeah, I do remember
that.”

“You helped me get myself together.”

“So now you’re gonna do that for me?”

Sammy shook his head. “No, bro, I’m just here to eat
some pizza with you. I made it myself.”

Al cleared three empty bottles of liquor off the
coffee table to make room for the food. The longer they ate, the more the signs
of Al’s drunken state wore off. It sometimes surprised Sammy that there was
such a difference in their age. Al was almost twenty-one, but looked older. His
face was getting puffy, his skin pale with a grayish tint, and the faintest of
crow’s feet were creeping in at the corners of his eyes.

“I have a name for you to consider,” Sammy said.

Al raised an eyebrow. “For my daughter?”

Sammy nodded. “Mallory.”

Al snorted into his pizza. “I thought you were going
to say
Samantha
.”

“Mallory is a portmanteau. A cross between Al and Marie.”

“That’s actually kind of clever. What does it mean?”

“I think it’s a type of duck.”

Al wagged a finger. “Mallard.” Then he grinned. “Not
often that I know something you don’t.”

Sammy asked his com to look up the name Mallory. “On
second thought, that’s not such a good idea. It means ‘misfortune or bad
luck.’”

Al rolled his eyes. “Surprise, surprise. That’s my
relationship with Marie to a T.”

“Are things really that bad?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it, Sammy.”

“You gotta talk to somebody. You know I won’t judge
you. I like Marie. I like you. I have no horse in this race.”

“Bet you’d like to see me off your couch, though,
right?”

Sammy laughed because it was true. “I think you’re
fine until Brickert comes home. But I was wondering if you could give me some
advice. What would you do differently if you could go back?”

Al stared at the wall blankly, his pizza hanging
limply in his hand. “Marie, she—you know how you—I mean …” Al shook
his head. “I don’t know what I’d do different. Maybe nothing … I don’t know,
Sammy.” This statement made him laugh joylessly. “There’s your answer, man. I
don’t know. I don’t know anything. I’m just a stupid waste of flesh. I mean,
what am I good for?”

“That’s not true, Al. You’re my friend. I look up to
you.”

“Please don’t. Please don’t be anything like me.”

Sammy frowned. “You gave me faith, Al. I didn’t
believe in anything until I met you. I don’t know what I believe in, but I
think there’s something out there … or someone. When all this is over, I want
to pursue that belief and see where it leads me.”

“Me? I feel dead inside. Alone. Rotten. Lost. I
don’t know where all this started, but I wish I could go back to where I didn’t
feel like the whole world is on a roller coaster to hell and I’m sitting in the
front car.”

They ate in silence after that. When the pizza was
gone, Al leaned back into the couch and patted his stomach with heavy eyelids.
“That hit the spot,” he said, yawning widely. “Thanks, Marie.”

Sammy raised an eyebrow, but Al was already dozing.
“You’re welcome.” He stared at Al for a long time, wondering what on earth was
going on in his friend’s mind.
What
switch flipped? Why can Jeffie and I fix things, but not him and Marie?

Once Al began to snore, Sammy left, taking the pizza
box with him, the pieces of crust rattling around as he walked. The evening was
quickly turning to night, but Sammy wasn’t tired. He considered grabbing his
friends for a visit to the infirmary, but his com rang. For the second time his
holo-screen said
UNKNOWN CALLER
. That wasn’t
normal. The only people who knew his number were part of the resistance.

“Hello?” he answered. “Hello? Who is this?”

The line went dead. The scenario reminded Sammy too
much of the time the fox had called him at Psion Beta headquarters on the night
of his graduation. He told his com to patch him to the operator.

“Operator,” was the response.

“Hey, this is Samuel Berhane. I’ve gotten a couple
of strange calls from an unknown number, I was wondering—” Another call
beeped in, again from
UNKNOWN CALLER
. “Yeah, wait,
they’re calling me again. Should I answer it?”

“Uh, I don’t know. Let me check with one of our
techs.” The operator put Sammy on hold for two minutes. During that time, the
connection from the unknown caller ended. “Sammy, I’ve got Harv, the lead
communications officer, on the other line.”

“Put him through.”

“Hi Sammy, Harv here,” a man with a soft, high voice
said. “I’m running diagnostics on your call and I can’t trace the source, okay?
So that shouldn’t happen in our closed system. I would advise you not to answer
the call.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Ignore the calls. I’ll monitor your line in case it
comes through again. See what I can come up with. So it could be someone has
mistakenly linked into our network, but that’s highly
highly
unlikely.”

“Any chance it’s CAG?”

“Maybe. I’ll alert Thomas and Lara, and keep you
updated.”

Sammy went to his room, wishing that Jeffie wasn’t
on the late shift. He could have found Kawai, but she was likely with Li.
Hanging out with them would be about as much fun as watching Brickert and
Natalia make out. Those two managed to make kissing look like two dogs trying
to lick each other’s faces off. When he walked in the door, his com rang again.

UNKNOWN CALLER

Sammy ignored it and found his holo-tablet. Khani
had sent several reports for him to read in preparation for meetings later that
week. Glancing at his clock and seeing that it was not as late as he’d hoped,
Sammy sighed and opened the files. He hadn’t been working for thirty minutes
when the com rang again.

UNKNOWN CALLER

 
“Who are
you?” Sammy asked the words on the screen.

It didn’t ring again for another hour. Sammy had
fallen asleep on his bed reading a report on amphibious codes in complex
systems. He hadn’t even stayed awake long enough to learn how a code could be
amphibious. The ring of the com woke him with a start.

UNKNOWN CALLER

Without thinking, he answered it. “Hello,” he
mumbled.

“Sammy …” The voice made Sammy sit straight up. A
jolt of adrenaline flooded his body. The lisp in the
S
of Sammy was unmistakable.

“Trapper.”

Tuesday, July 1, 2087

THEY LEFT UNDER the cover of night, hours after sundown, the cruiser
protected by stealth technology. Sammy yawned. Jeffie’s gaze remained fixed on
the window. “The leadership committee didn’t seem happy about letting you go.
Why’s that?”

“Lots of reasons,” Sammy answered from his seat in
the pilot chair. He smiled smugly as he remembered the looks of resigned
disappointment on the faces of most members of the committee when he told them
he had spoken to Trapper on his com. After lecturing him for over an hour about
how dangerous such an action had been, a majority had agreed that he had no
choice but to go to the Hive.

“I can’t believe we’re bringing Trapper … Diego …
whoever,” Jeffie said. “I can’t believe we’re bringing him back. He’s creepy.
Beyond creepy. He’s likely to go off at any minute.”

“That’s why I made Trapper agree to so many
conditions.”

Jeffie stared past Sammy ponderously. “But why now?”

“He’s afraid.”

“Of what?”

“I have no idea.”

For a while the only sounds were the droning of the
engines and the rain spattering the windows as they flew over the tropics of
Central America. Each drop reminded Sammy of gunshots. Such a long time passed
without speaking that Sammy wondered if Jeffie had fallen asleep.

Then suddenly she asked, “You think we could go back
to being normal again? Like ever?”

Though Sammy thought he knew what she meant, he
still asked, “Normal? What’s normal?”

“No more battle. No more violence. The high that
comes from the adrenaline. All of that stuff gone and not missed.”

“I don’t know.”

Jeffie adjusted her co-pilot’s chair so it was a few
centimeters closer to him. A smile grew on her lips and her eyes danced
playfully. “Let me put it this way, Mr. Berhane: could you see yourself as a
banker or a sales analyst or a plumber someday?”

“A plumber?”

Jeffie giggled and shrugged. “Well, could you?”

Sammy thought about it, yawning again.

When their eyes met again, Jeffie shook her head and
smiled. “Didn’t think so. We’re in this business for life. It’s crazy. I’m
crazy. First I was eager for battle when I got to Beta headquarters. Then I got
a taste of it in Orlando, and it terrified me. Then the Hive happened, and
something in me flipped again. Now I feel so invincible. And that feeling
terrifies me. I mean, I want kids. I want marriage.” Sammy pretended not to
notice how her gaze flickered back in his direction when she said this. “I want
to be a part of something incredible and special. And yet I want to be normal
too.”

“I still don’t know what you mean when you say a
normal life.”

“You know …” Jeffie waved her hand around
abstractly. “Normal. Your family was normal. So was my family before …”

“Your mom directs movies. Your brothers are pro
athletes. That’s not normal.”

“Normaler than what we’d have if we ever get—”

“Normaler isn’t a word.”

Jeffie stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes.

“Think about it, though, Jeffie. Who do we know
that’s normal? Who do we know that’s had a marriage work? Byron’s wife died. Al
and Marie are on the rocks. Your parents—”

“Are fine, thank you very much.”

“They see each other how often? About a week out of
each month?”

“… ish …” Jeffie replied reluctantly. “What are you
saying? Marriage is a waste of time?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m saying nothing.” A crack of
lightning on the distant horizon drew Sammy’s attention.

“I love you,” Jeffie said quietly.

Sammy winced. “Last time you said that, you
apologized after.”

“Well, I retract my apology.” Jeffie grabbed Sammy’s
hand and squeezed it so tight she almost hurt him. “I’m not sorry for loving
you. Should I be?”

In a brief break in the clouds, Sammy saw the moon,
small but bright in the sky. He yearned to be far away from Jeffie right now,
away and alone. “No. I don’t think you should be. But when you say it I feel
stupid.”

“Why?”

A loud beep from the console interrupted him. “
WARNING. YOU ARE ENTERING A NO-FLY ZONE.
THIS IS FORBIDDEN AIRSPACE. LETHAL FORCE WILL BE USED IF YOU DO NOT REDIRECT
YOUR CRAFT IMMEDIATELY. WARNING.
”

They let go of each other’s hands so they could get
to work. Sammy punched the communications controls to contact Trapper. “Do not
open fire. Friendly aircraft incoming. Carrying a cargo of
emeralds
for delivery. Do not damage the goods.”

The warning voice cut off, and Diego’s voice came in
over the radio. “Sammy, is that you?” The lack of a lisp told Sammy this was
not Trapper speaking. “You thought I was going to set out a welcome mat for
you?” Harsh laughter filled Sammy’s ears. “My systems are locked onto you, kid.
Prepare yourself for the boom!”

As soon as Diego’s voice cut away, the cruiser’s
alarms blared. Big red letters flashed from the holo-screen:

INCOMING MISSILES.

Sammy jammed the coms button. He addressed Diego as
Trapper even though he knew it was Diego currently speaking to him. “Trapper,
abort the attack! This is a friendly aircraft. Abort the missiles!”

“For someone as smart as yourself, I think you may
need a dictionary to define the word friendly. Sadly, you have only seconds to
look it up.”

“Trapper, you invited me here! Don’t shoot me down!”

“Invited? Not I. I have no intention of leaving my
home. The fact that you survived our last visit is an anomaly that I mean to
correct.”

Sammy looked at Jeffie in a way that told her to get
ready to jump ship. He pushed the button again and said, “Trapper … if you can
hear me, please respond. We’re going to land this ship, we’re walking inside
that building, and we’re going to help you. Now call off those missiles!”

Diego laughed again, obviously savoring his power.
“Who is Trapper?”

Outside the cockpit windshield, the missiles were
visible, flares of bright orange light and white plumes of smoke streaked
toward their target. The projectiles shot straight into the air, then turned
until their noses were pointed at the cruiser.

“This isn’t a game.
Call them off, Trapper!
”

No answer came. Sammy didn’t waste time readying the
hatch for an emergency bailout. Both Jeffie and Sammy shrugged out of their
safety harnesses. The missiles shot toward them, closing in fast. “Trapper,
don’t do this!” Sammy warned. “If you let those missiles hit me, I’m going to
find you and kick your—”

The missiles suddenly dropped from the sky and
plummeted into the rainforest where they crashed ignominiously into the jungle
without so much as a puff of dust. “My apologies, Sammy,” a voice with a
discernible lisp stated. “Set down on the lawns behind the Hive. Visitors are
becoming a common occurrence these days.”

In under half an hour, Trapper welcomed Sammy and
Jeffie into the upper level of his facility. “Sorry about that,” he said as
they entered. “Diego still isn’t happy with the arrangement we made. I think
the missiles were his way of giving you the finger.”

“You ready to go?” Sammy asked. “We’re on a tight
schedule.”

“Almost,” Trapper answered. “Come in. I need to …
tidy up.” He returned to his computers as he spoke. “And when I say tidy up, I
mean download all our code and delete everything I’ve done so the fox thinks
I’ve been kidnapped, not defected.”

Sammy held up a hand. “Before we take you anywhere,
Jeffie and I need to know how far we can trust you. How often is Diego taking
control?”

“You just tried to roast us,” Jeffie added.

“Why do you think I’ve agreed to be searched,
cuffed, and bound on the ride home?” Trapper told them. “Everything I know,
everything I hear and see, I share with him. He gets loose, no telling what he’ll
do. But I’ve grown stronger, and he’s grown weaker lately. I’ll be more help
than hindrance. Fortunately, I’m going to give you something that will help
even if our agreement doesn’t work out.”

Jeffie and Sammy exchanged a skeptical glance.

“Fair enough,” Sammy said.
Worst case scenario, we put a bullet in him.
He immediately
regretted the thought. “Crazy thing is, for the last several days, I’ve been
arguing with our leaders for permission to see you. Then you call me up out of
the blue and confirm all my suspicions about the kill code.”

“Had you decided to fly here before we spoke over
the com, Diego would have killed you. No question.”

“Why would he kill me yesterday but not today?”

“We’ve developed a very tenuous but working
relationship.”

“Let’s get going.”

Trapper slid his chair around to his computer
console. “Not quite ready, Sammy. Penetrating the resistance’s communications
network was not easy and left lots of traceable activity on my end. And if I
were to get caught doing what I’m doing right now … I can’t even imagine the
sort of things the Aegis would do to me. Or the Queen.”

“How much time do you need?” Jeffie asked.

“Less than thirty minutes.”

Sammy cursed silently. This mission was supposed to
be a rip and run, grab Trapper and leave. Resigned to waiting, he sat down on
the floor and patted on the seat of the free chair for Jeffie to sit.

“Why is Diego willing to let you turn?” Jeffie
asked. “Seems he’d be enraged.”

“Oh, he wrestled with the decision for days,”
Trapper explained. “But in the end he knew he had no choice.”

“Why?”

A dark look fell over Trapper’s face. For a moment
he snarled, vicious and feral, then it was gone. “Something’s changed.
Something big has happened.” His empty socket quivered and with trembling
fingers, he pointed to a small black device across the room.

Sammy knelt down to examine it. “What is it?”

“She put it here,” Trapper spat.

Sammy didn’t need to ask who
she
was. “What does it do?”

“She came a few weeks ago. Planted that box to spy
on me. Thought I wouldn’t notice. But the Hive has been my home for so long … I
knew it moments after she placed it. I neutered the device. It only tells her
what I want it to.”

“So what exactly is holding us up?” Sammy asked.
“You said ‘tidying up.’”

“Making sure no one who comes here digging around
has any idea what I’ve been up to,” Trapper said, tapping his wrist as though
he wore a watch. “And I just need a few more minutes.”

“Does this have anything to do with the kill code?”
Jeffie asked.

Trapper’s eye narrowed on her. “Everything to do
with it. Diego is not happy that you know about it, Sammy.”

“Our computer techs found traces of it in the data
dump we stole from you seven months ago.”

Trapper paled. “Diego’s furious right now. He
doesn’t like knowing he made a mistake.”

Trapper’s expression transformed into one of rage.
“I didn’t make a mistake!” he said, snarling in a harsh tone. His body tensed
and jerked as though he was about to spring. Jeffie and Sammy both scooted
back, but Trapper quickly regained his composure.

“You all right?” Sammy asked warily.

Trapper cleared his throat and nodded. “There is no
greater secret in the fox’s organization than the kill code. Only two people
know about it.”

“Psssh. Right. I’m sure plenty of Thirteens and
Aegis know what happens when they get on the wrong side of the fox. I’ve seen
Thirteens blow up like they had a bomb sitting in their guts. How can the other
Thirteens not know about it?”

“They know what the solution does to a degree, yes.
But they don’t know how it works. To most of them the fox is like Santa Claus
or the Easter Bunny. He is a shadow.”

Sammy’s face twitched as he remembered the shadow
from his nightmares, the shadow of himself that could talk and touch and taunt
him.

“The fox is a recluse. Very few people ever meet him
or know him. Even fewer connect him to his former identity of Diego Newblood.
You have no idea how the Thirteen organization works, what goes on in those
cells. It has all been carefully constructed by the fox to operate how he needs
it to. The Thirteens think they are the embodiment of disorder and anarchy, but
in actuality the fox keeps them reigned in using complex behavior psychology.

“Every Thirteen, Hybrid, and Aegis in the employ of
N Corporation drinks the
solution
. To
them it’s a rite of passage that they know can track them, but nothing more. By
drinking it they swear allegiance to the Thirteen Brotherhood. The kill switch
is a two piece code. What you found in your data theft was the second piece.
The first piece identifies a specific target. The second piece terminates him
or her. The target can be anyone who has had the solution.