The Persistence of Memories - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (62 page)

“We'll be down in about ten minutes.”

“Got it.” She disconnected and put the comm
away. “Let's wrap this up, Kryss.”

Minutes later, the unmarked white van slid
into a loading zone at the edge of the park and Saone and Kryssyna
jumped in. Among the carefully stacked piles of hardware were two
other members of Vigil. The youngest member, Colin, was in the
drivers' seat wearing a light gray ARU Transportation Department
uniform a size too small for him. Matthew was in the passenger
seat, eyes hidden behind black shades and heavily distracted by the
vidmat he was fiddling with.

Jenn sat across from Saone. She was busy with
a penlight in her mouth, casually flipping through a hardcopy
manual, working her jaw every few pages. There was something not
quite right with her eyes; she was reading the manual with deep
concentration, but her eyes weren’t quite focusing on the text.
After a moment she realized she was recording the manual with her
eyecam, the information most likely being saved on a cloud
somewhere in this van. Jenn noticed Saone watching her, lifted her
chin, and smiled warmly at Saone and Kryssyna before going back to
her work.

Next to Jenn sat a lanky man a few years
older than everyone else here, leaning back and staring at nothing
in particular. Saone had not met this man yet, but figured that
this was Garry, the psicurity detail Matthew had hired once ARU
released him. He was a large man, maybe a Meraladian, definitely a
trained cho-nyhndah. He had an aura about him that made Saone
shiver when she briefly scanned him. She couldn’t quite place
it…surely not nuhm’ndah? Garry registered the scan, arched a quick
eyebrow at her, and returned to his visual sweep of the vehicles
behind them.

What have we gotten into?
Saone
thought to herself.

To her surprise, Garry answered.
Plenty,
he said from within. She shivered again, this time
staring coldly at him. He responded with another arch of the
eyebrow and an amused smile.
We cover each other
, he said
within.
You and emha Piramados are safe.

“...quite,” she mumbled.

Jenn snorted a laugh without looking up from
her manual. “It seems our new recruits are a bit nervous,” she
said. “Matt?”

“Yeah,” he said with equal amusement. “So
I've noticed.” He twisted in his seat and faced the two of them,
dropping his shades and looking at them over the rims. “It'll pass,
trust me. We don't have time to put you through any training — a
lot of it is unscripted anyway. I can say that what we're about to
do within the next few days will make or break the two of you. It's
going to be bigger than what I had to pull with Governor Rieflin
last month, that's for sure. Think you'll be up for it?”

What else could she say? Here she was, stuck
in the back of a van with the most feared and respected jackers in
the Sprawl, heading to their main base. Their enigmatic leader was
looking at her with eyes that trusted her a hell of a lot more than
she would give herself credit for.

“I...yeah,” she said with none of the
optimism she hoped to feel. Matthew craned his neck and glanced at
Kryssyna. She bit her lip and hung her head low, but registered his
unspoken query. “Sure,” she said weakly.

Matthew returned their uncertainty and fear
with a wide smile. “Good,” he said. “You're going to enjoy working
with us.”

Unexpectedly, Colin swore. “Aah…pashyo! Not
what we needed. Matt, we have a problem.”

Matthew's smile wilted fast. “What?”

“We have a tail. Two Sentinel vehicles and
possibly a Special Forces unmarked, about three vehicles behind
us.” He reached over to the console mounted under the dashboard and
tapped a few buttons. “I don't think the Spec is involved, but
those Sentinels are worrying me.”

Matthew frowned, swiveled the console his way
and glanced at the small screen. “Take a side street, see what
happens.”

“On it, sir,” he said, and pulled into the
left lane. “Hang on, kids,” he called out, and took the last minute
turn onto a residential street. The van lurched, many of the
tied-down pieces of hardware threatening to spill out of
compartments. Saone braced herself against one of the boxes and
held on.

“Oh,
very
stealthy,” Jenn said. “They
didn't see you try to kill us at all.”

“You sensed them back there?” Matthew asked.
“I didn't sense anything.”

“I recognize the transports,” Colin said.
“Sentinel cars have been making a lot of stops at the ARU.
Chiappara and Deckers especially. That looks like Deckers' car back
there, the second one with the dent on the left quarter panel.
And...” he glanced in the side mirror as he sped down the street.
He growled and shook his head. “...they're on us. Damn!”

“They're not just Sentinel,” Kryssyna
said.

Jenn, who had been craning her neck to peer
out the back windows, turned and faced her. “You can sense them
back there?”

“One's Mendaihu,” she said, nodding. “The
other car is Shenaihu. They're working together.”

“You've got to be kidding me,” Colin said,
looking into the rearview mirror again. “Deckers and Chiappara?
They're not —”

“Chiappara is cho-nyhndah,” Garry said, the
only calm voice in the van. “Deckers. It's too weak, but I think
he's Mendaihu. I believe they're giving us backup.”

Colin swore again. “Could someone
please
tell me these things beforehand?” He pulled slowly up
to the approaching stoplight, signaling a right. This side street
would drop them onto Baird, which they could take east to the I-91
Freeway. This time he took the turns more carefully until they came
to the onramp of the freeway. They had stopped at a light about
fifty yards from the onramp, when he took one last glance behind
them.

“Chiappara's right behind us, Deckers two
cars back. Both signaling.”

“Don't be so damn paranoid,” Jenn said, her
concentration now back to the manual. “You want me to go out there
and talk to them?”

“Lay off,” Matthew interjected before anyone
else piped in. “Time is short. We've got just under four hours, and
we've got to get all of the stuff in this van up and running before
then. I don't have time for this.”

“Sorry, sir,” Jenn said, a hint of sarcasm in
her voice.

He glared at her and opened his mouth to say
something, only to close it a moment later. He turned back forward
without a word, resting his hand on the window and tapping his
fingers furiously against the glass. Saone sensed the thin lines
being crossed here, fascinated and worried at the same time. How
could a such a brilliant group like Vigil have such poor member
interaction?

“Ever been to the island?” Jenn asked. She
had directed the question to both of them. “I mean, aside from
visiting the Nulltech Museum.”

“My dad lives there,” Saone said in a thin
voice. “When he leaves the office.”

“Ah, yes.” Garry turned slowly and looked at
her with that creepy smile of his, his eyes scanning her but never
actually focusing on any part of her body, just like a kiralla but
without any of the tact. His eyes met hers briefly and randomly.
“The Dahné,” he said. “A piece of work, that man. I'm guessing you
and he aren't on speaking terms.”

“In a word, yes,” Saone said coldly.

“No big loss,” he said.

“He's my father,” she grumbled.

“He disowned you,” he said.

He's still my father,
she hissed from
within.

All the more reason to let him go,
he
responded in kind.

“
Sa’im mehra
, you two,” Matthew warned
from the front.

Garry took a deep raspy breath that sounded
like too many years of smoking and very little fresh air, and
snorted it out his nostrils. He flashed a smile again, this one
reflecting a half-assed attempt at apology. “Nyhnd'aladh, emha
Lehanna,” he said. “I was out of line.”

“My apologies for being reacting so rudely,”
she countered.

“There now,” Colin chuckled. “Everybody's
happy.”

“Shut up,” Matthew said. “Drive.”

“Yes sir,” he snorted with a laugh. “I-91
south, next right.”

Saone held herself tight as they crossed the
bridge towards Sachers Island, hoping against hope that none of her
family members, most of all her father, would sense they were in
the area. She felt claustrophobic, caught between the tyranny of
her father and the chaos of her newfound cohorts, feeling hatred
from one side and distrust from the other. Her only safe harbor
here was Kryssyna, who had an arm around her, holding her close to
her chest. Kryss whispered soothing Anjshé words into her ear,
calming her the best she could.

So why wasn't she feeling anything? Why
wasn't she sensing the anger from her own kin? Any spiritsenser
could reach out and touch any other soul in the world, limited only
by their strength. So why wasn't her father or her sisters
directing volatile energy her way?

It wasn't until they reached the Nulltech
Museum on Chilton Boulevard that she figured it out: the backup
they'd had since Ormand Street had grown. The two Sentinel cars
behind them had become four, and three more had taken lead. As
Colin took the wide residential street to Lorenson Peak, one last
car, this time a black limousine, pulled in front of the van and
the Sentinel cars and led the way.

“This is too damn weird,” Colin said, all of
his wiseass comments lost at the moment.

“That's Kell in front,” Matthew said. “Has to
be. He must have put the Sentinels up to this.”

“Councillors still have clout around here?”
Jenn said. “So why is it that Kell is never around when we need
him?”

“Official word is that he's still up on Tigua
Station,” he said. “Truth? Even I don't know where he is half the
time.”

“Wait...” Saone said, eyes wide. “That's
Councillor James up there?”

“Close friend of my father’s,” he said. “He's
been a part of my family since I was born. Keeps an eye on the
house when we're in the city.”

“He's been
there
all this time?” Jenn
said in disbelief. “How many times have I been over there over the
past six months? I never sensed him once.”

Matthew nodded. “He has his own reasons for
being secretive. He does a lot of spiritwork there, and you know
how well that goes over in the media when you’re a politician.”

Colin rolled his eyes and flashed a vicious
smirk. “And here we are, two hundred years with Meraladians, and it
still rankles. We accept it, but only when we want to.”

“That’s hilarious, coming from an ARU agent,”
Jenn sniffed.

“Just being realistic, my dear.”

“Anyway,” Matthew continued, ignoring them.
“This is one of the reasons you’re here, Saone. Your father is
EdenTree’s CEO and also a major shareholder in the other two major
industries in Bridgetown: DuaLife and Khema-Jamison-Shimura.
Conflict of interest? Sure, but through various loopholes, he's
managed a very nice portfolio.”

“Yes,” Saone said. “And I do know that's he's
talked to Councillor James a few times in public meetings...but
what do my father’s finances have to do with anything?”

“Well...” he said, faltering. “How do I put
this gracefully...”

“Just say it, Matthew,” she said warily.
“Don’t ever censor yourself for my sake.”

He nodded and continued, but the tone of his
voice had changed. He sounded…worried? No. Saddened. “The Shenaihu
nuhm'ndah that are sympathetic to the Dahné's cause are being
funded
directly
through your father's accounts. He's
financing the whole damn thing for them.”

She’d expected that bit of news, but it still
stung. “I know he was offering financial support, but…all of
it?”

“Every single cent.” Matthew said, and tapped
the vidmat in his hand. “I have the documentation.”

“But that means…” She stuttered to a halt.
She felt Kryssyna’s hand tight in hers, but she barely sensed the
energy between them. Her father — all of this was his doing!
Goddess curse you!
she said from within, squeezing her eyes
closed and turning away in disgust.
Goddess curse you, Natianos
Lehanna!
She caught her breath, determined not to cry. Not now,
not when she needed to be at her strongest. “Damn you, father,” she
whispered to herself.

The van remained silent until she let her
anger pass. This wasn’t the entirety of it, though. There was more.
There was the other side to consider. “I must ask,” she said aloud,
voice on the verge of catching. “How does Councillor James fit in,
then?”

“He's financing the Mendaihu,” he said
plainly, and left it at that.

Financing a spiritual war. It all sounded
so…
disgusting
. How could her father do such a thing? How
could
anyone
do such a thing? How could anyone put a price
on someone’s soul? The geographical wars that were waged on this
planet, the revolutions and the uprisings? They were politically
charged, nearly always bloody, and expensive beyond anyone's
stretch of the imagination. That was one of the reasons why the
people of Earth no longer waged revolutions on a global scale as
they once had. Spiritual wars were something different...equally as
bloody but at a fraction of the cost, as the morbid phrase went.
Most of the damage caused by psychic energy.

It made Saone sick to her stomach to even
think about this, yet she could not turn away. Spiritual wars were
rarely, if ever, waged because of the psychological damage
inflicted on both sides. A man could be in perfect shape
physically, yet mentally brain dead from an energy blast pushed
into his skull from close range. He could even live a normal life
afterwards, like any other human on this planet...and yet his soul
would be irreparably damaged. He would no longer
feel
what
it was to love, to care...or to hate, or even to acknowledge that
his life may be blessed with all the fruits of man. His soul would
not know, because it would be dislodged, a permanent displacement
from his own life.