The Rise of Io (31 page)

Tao sat up. “Going somewhere?”

Io looked back. “Tao, I am going to the surface. There are some things near the dock I want to verify. I have an idea that may prove useful. Do not mind me. Your host is exhausted and needs rest.”

“You probably should not try to control Ella in here,” said Tao. “Your control of her body is poor and this would not be a good place to have her fall and break something.”

“No, I will be fine. I will be back soon.” Io reinforced her words by slipping on the floor and falling to her knees. She slid halfway back down the container. She tried to stand again. This time, Tao reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Do not break the girl's neck because of this foolishness, Io. Besides, the girl has made it clear she does not wish you to control her while she is unconscious.”

A guttural sound crawled up Io's throat. “Mind your own business, Tao. She is also my host and my responsibility. I will decide how best to manage her.”

Tao kept his grip on Io. “No, Io. No, you will not. Respect the girl's wishes and stay put.”

“Or else what?”

Tao pulled out a plastic tie from Cameron's satchel and held it up.

Io's eyes flared. “You would not dare.”

Tao smiled. “Let the girl rest. It will be a long day tomorrow for both of them.”

She lay down on the cold metal floor. “You are preventing me from doing sensitive and necessary work, Tao.”

Tao closed his eyes. “I am sure I am. Good night, Io.”

F
or most of
the next day, Cameron and Ella laid low in Metal Mountain. The military had moved in during the middle of the night and set up a blockade surrounding the entire slum. What started out as a lockdown of the slum and a house-to-house search had escalated into a full-blown internment. Guards now wandered the markets, checkpoints were set up at all the major entrances, and guards with dogs patrolled the perimeter fence. Penetra scanner squads walked the streets at all times of the day.

They had even brought in the navy.

Ella and Cameron lay on their stomachs in a slanted crate facing the water and watched as the large vessel floated past.

“That's a big boat with really pointy guns,” she said.

It is a ship. You might as well begin her operative training now, starting with proper terminology.

“They're ships, not boats,” Cameron said next to her. “That one is a frigate, I think.”

Another even larger ship passed. “Wow, that's an even bigger boat.”

“I think that one is a destroyer? I'm not caught up on my naval terms.”

Come on, Cameron. That one is the INS
Kalam
. That ship saw heavy action in the Gulf of Aden. Twice crippled during the war. Would have been scrapped if the captain was not the vice admiral's son.

Cameron relayed Tao's information.

“How does Tao know what boat it is and what it's done?” Ella asked.

It is a ship!

Cameron shrugged. “My Quasing enjoys reading after-action reports. He has the worst hobbies. What about Io? What does Io do for fun?”

“She enjoys framing me for treason.”

I assume she is joking. If so, her delivery is on the dry side.

The girl was struggling as a host, which wasn't unusual, but it had to be even more frustrating for someone like Ella, who had been on her own from such an early age. It was an easy transition for Cameron. He couldn't remember a day in his life when he didn't have Tao. In fact, he would probably freak out if Tao disappeared from his life.

It is good to feel loved.

“Hah, more like I've been institutionalized.”

Welcome to Tao Prison. The only escape is death.

“Speaking of dry delivery, that got morbid quick.”

Ella sucked in her breath as an even bigger ship with even more guns passed by. She turned to Cameron. “Are these all here for you? What did you do that makes them want to catch you so badly?” She paused. “You must have a big price on your head.”

You broke the millions last time I checked. Congratulations, I could not be more proud.

He grinned. “Massive. I'm a seven-figure fugitive. Want to catch me and share the loot? Seventy to thirty?”

She made a face. “Awful split. I'll hold out for better. Besides–” she took out a folded piece of paper, “–this one wants to pay me a hundred million for you.”

Cameron took the poster from her and grunted. “Old picture. I haven't looked that good in years. By the way, it's seven figures in Euros, not rupees.”

Her eyes widened. “Gods, why do the Genjix want you so badly, anyway?”

“Tao and the leader of the Genjix, Zoras, go way back. They have had a long and glorious history of killing each other's hosts.”

Cameron pulled her down as a smaller ship hugging the coastline passed by Metal Mountain. He checked the time and tapped the back of his wrist twice, and then the two of them retreated deeper and came out on the other side a few minutes later near ground level. They followed the waterline east until they reached civilization and then looped back south to walk the outer perimeter of the docks.

Ella had gone out by herself in the morning to the yarn market and purchased a secondhand oversized Hindu headscarf and some loose-fitting robes. Cameron's half-Asian eyes were a dead giveaway, but that wasn't anything a pair of sunglasses wouldn't fix. When forced to step out in public, he wore a pair of old Ray-Bans his father had given him, and Ella wore a pair of fake Chanels with one of the arms broken off and taped back on. Crate Town was multinational enough that few would give the odd couple a second look. Until the authorities started advertising the price on Cameron's head.

Dusk was settling over the slum, and most of the workers had left for the day. If the team planned to infiltrate the facility, now would be the right time. Their plans had not changed much even with all of Crate Town on lockdown. The way Cameron figured, it might even be easier, since the Genjix had to pay attention to a lot more real estate now. All they had to do was determine an insertion point, put a bullet in Surrett Kapoor and sneak out before any Genjix were the wiser.

And maybe take a look around that Bio Comm Array facility.

“If we have time.”

Your priorities are upside down, do you know that?

“Yes, and in this case, I don't care.”

Cameron and Ella climbed an eight-story container cluster half a block away from the site to get a better vantage point. Later on, if the opportunity presented itself, he was going to try a test run and break into the site to poke around.

As soon as they reached the roof and he scanned the grounds with binoculars, Cameron realized that something was very different. His luck had run out. The construction site was now crawling with military and police. Security had quadrupled overnight, and the place had transformed into a fortress.

“It looks a lot busier down there than normal,” Ella said.

“That's an understatement,” he muttered.

This is not good.

Cameron cursed. Was he too late? Had he blown his chance of nabbing Surrett? Ten more minutes of observation told him he probably had.

Check another location.

“Ella, can you take me further south to another safe spot?”

She nodded. They traveled six blocks south to where the old Dumas neighborhood bordered the original build site perimeter. If anything, security here was even denser. There were soldiers and checkpoints everywhere.

“Is that what I think it is?”

Air support. They have an attack helicopter.

Cameron radioed the rest of his team and received similar updates. He knew there was a possibility that the Genjix could have stepped up security because of his presence, but this was overkill. Perturbed, he decided to see if this was perhaps a temporary measure. He cut off the day's surveillance early and treated Ella, against her wishes, to some American food.

“This pizza is disgusting,” she spat. “American food is the worst.”

Cameron was inclined to agree. “This isn't good. I'm telling you, pizza is the best, but the folks here just don't know how to make it. Trust me, I'll take you back to the States one day and get you some deep dish or something. You'll love it.”

Ella did not look convinced. “I feel like you're trying to pull one over me. I don't trust any of you Prophus when it comes to food. Why don't we try some Indian food? Your treat.”

“Sure,” Cameron grinned.

She dragged him through a crowded back street, between buildings and down a narrow passageway that could either have been a sewer or a road. The few times they had to cross a main street, she kept them huddled with large groups until they could break away. They saw at least six manned checkpoints along the way, but Ella knew the slum well enough to get them around everything, and the frequency visualizer he carried allowed them to steer clear of the two checkpoints that had Penetra scanners.

They reached a place she called the Ayurveda Alley, where she proceeded to scare the crap out of him with some of the more exotic Indian street food. Cameron had to admit, he wasn't as adventurous as his father, Roen, when it came to food, but he had been raised to always give everything a try. The hilsa eggs were… all right. The frog legs were… all right. The chutney that looked like ants made him spit when he found out they were actually ants. The tilli made him actually throw up.

Fortunately, one dish, the paya, was delicious, and he made up for the other dishes by eating three helpings of it. The entire time he was sampling the foods, Ella wore an ear-to-ear grin. He was pretty sure he was a victim of a prank, but the paya was worth it.

He patted his lower abdomen. “If I get some health problems tonight,” he warned, as they left the alley, “you'll suffer as much as I will.”

She laughed. “Just remember, we don't have anything to wipe with.”

Cameron pulled a half-roll out of his pack and waved it in front of her. “A good operative never leaves home without it. That should be your first lesson in secret agent training.”

“What's the plan for tomorrow, boss?” she asked, as they headed back to Metal Mountain.

Cameron sighed. “I want to go over the patrol schedule one more time, and then make a decision. But if the site is as hot as it was today, we might not have a choice. We may need to start looking at our exit strategy.”

We need to discover what they are building here as well.

“I'm sure you'll figure something out,” she said.

Cameron patted Ella's shoulder. “I love your eternal optimism.”

“Optimism, my ass,” she said. “I don't want you guys to leave without nailing that jerk who shot Burglar Alarm.”

Her priorities are as off kilter as yours.

“I guess that's why we get along so well.”

Unfortunately, the security on the site was just as busy as the previous day, if not worse. Cameron, feeling as if he had missed his window of opportunity, cursed as he hit up six separate locations and reached the same conclusion at every one. The entire Bio Comm Array site was completely locked down.

He radioed Lam. “Call the rest of the team. Meeting at the bar. Twenty-two hundred tonight.”

“What's going on?” Ella asked.

Cameron looked west and sighed. “There's too much heat. We're aborting.”

C
ongee's gaze
followed Ella when she and Cameron walked into the Cage that night. She waved. He jutted his jaw out and squinted even harder. One of these days, he was going to forgive her. Not today.

He shook his finger, pointed upstairs, and then rapped the counter three times with his left fist. He turned away and was back to pouring drinks, her presence already forgotten.

As usual, Ella scanned the bar. It looked like all the regular patrons. It was probably suicide for police or military to be in here at this hour, especially after the ruckus they'd been causing in Crate Town. All three Fabs were conducting business in the corner. Little Fab acknowledged her with a nod, and she noticed Mogg holding court with a bunch of her crew in the opposite corner.

Ella grabbed Cameron by the wrist and led him through the crowd and upstairs to the second floor. They continued down a narrow hallway to the third set of doors on the left, which incidentally was the same room she had conned those Pakistani gangsters in. Something she hadn't gotten to capitalize on very much, by the way.

Are you still sore about that?

“Little Fab bragged to me about the final numbers. They made a killing. I got ripped off, thanks to you.”

You had more important things to do than be a drug dealer.

“It's the principle of the matter.”

She tried to enter the room, but it was locked. She banged her fist on the metal door. A sharp, high-pitched voice barked at her from the other side in a strange guttural language. Ella looked down both sides of the hallway. Did Congee send her to the wrong room? She banged on it again.

This time, the voice came back in Hindi. “Go away or I'll shoot your eye out, asshole!”

“Here, step aside.” Cameron put his mouth near the door. “I'm looking for a Red Ryder carbine action model air rifle.”

There was a sharp click, and the door swung open. Jax poked his head out and looked both ways. He ushered them in and closed the door behind them. He took a sniff and gagged. “Are you guys hiding in the sewers?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” said Cameron.

Ella smelled her shoulder. “What's wrong?”

“Never mind.”

Lam and Dana were sitting at a round table in the center of the room. A lone ceiling lamp served as their only source of light. Cameron put his ear to the wall and rapped it with his fist. “Is this place secure?” he asked.

“Not as secure as the bath house, but Wiry Madras won't let you and Ella back,” said Dana. “She's scared to death they'll catch you and shut her establishment down.”

“Don't blame her,” said Cameron. He took out the frequency visualizer and placed it on the table. “Can you please check the walls for any brown signatures, Ella?”

Ella nodded and took up position near the back wall.

He looked around. “Where's Nabin?”

“We split up to cover more ground,” said Dana. “He found something, and will catch up.”

“We got some good intel,” said Lam. She pulled up her tablet and showed him several files. They were a few clear stills of Surrett standing in front of the administration building, having a smoke on a second-floor balcony, lounging at a table in front of a container, and walking out of a small building on the shoreline. In all these pictures, he was alone and looked as if he hadn't slept in days.