This Alien Shore (63 page)

Again the faint smile. “Thank you.” He glanced to the door of the bedroom, still closed. “I hope your friend wasn't too frustrated with the waiting.”

“She'll be okay.”

The dark eyes met his, fixed them in a powerful gaze. “When this is done, I'll give you the deactivation codes for Lucifer. You can spread them across the outernet as easily as I can ... and I think you will enjoy it more.”

Deactivation... ? He'd have the codes? He,
Phoenix,
was going to shut down Lucifer? That was the stuff that legends were made of, in his turf. More than payment enough for keeping his mouth shut about other things.

Which was exactly what it was, of course. Payment in kind. This guy knew him inside and out.

He went to the bedroom door to get Jamisia. He hoped she wasn't too upset with being shut out of things, but then, he'd warned her that might happen. Would she have understood any of what they'd talked about, if she had listened? He'd have to think of something to tell her about the meeting, because he knew she'd ask about it and he couldn't brush her off with total lies ... not anymore... but that wasn't the real problem. There was something far worse than that coming, and he didn't know how he was going to deal with it.

What the hell was he going to tell Nuke?

“Jamie?”

Startled, she lost hold of the image. It took her a minute to remember where she was, and who the face belonged to that was staring at her with such obvious concern.

“Are you okay?”

“Sure.” She managed a smile. “Just fell asleep while waiting for you, is all.”

Except she hadn't really been asleep, not in the usual sense of the word. She had been awake, just... elsewhere.

Dazed, she let Phoenix help her up. The dream had come as if in response to her summons. Could she do that again? Was there perhaps another dreamscape from her tutor waiting in the wings of her brain, struggling to get through? Damn, she had been so close to learning something. With a sigh she let Phoenix lead her through the motions of departure, and nodded a polite farewell to the strange and somewhat disturbing man they had come to visit. Phoenix was obviously elated about their meeting, which was good; it would keep him from noticing her own distraction on the way home.

I
t was late when they finally got back to Phoenix's apartment, and both of them were tired. Jamie had been having internal conversations all the way home, and frustrating ones at that. Most of the Others didn't seem to know much more than she did, although a few were conspicuously silent. Was it possible that one of them knew what was going on, and just wasn't telling her? If so, she would be pretty angry about it if she ever found out. What was that like, to be furious with someone who was in your own head? The Others did it all the time with each other, but she had never been a part of it.

The dream itself both frightened and elated her. If she could bring on such images and explore them at will, that was great. But if they were going to start showing up of their own accord in her waking life, that was going to be a real problem. It was hard enough to navigate through life already with a dozen different identities sharing her head; if she now had to fight her way through dream-images to perceive reality, the whole thing might finally prove to be more than she could handle.

Finally they were in the narrow corridor leading to Phoenix's apartment, and she desperately hoped that Katlyn wouldn't feel the need to cement their relationship further when they got inside, because she was dead tired. She waited while Phoenix opened the door and then smiled wanly while he ushered her inside. Maybe they could go to sleep soon, and more useful dreams would come.

She walked into the cluttered space, past piles of chips and wires and bits and pieces of electronic equipment she had so carefully cleaned around what seemed like an eternity ago.

No,
a voice warned.
That's wrong.

Startled, she asked,
Raven?

She looked at it closely, and at the pile of electronic clutter in its center. It was hard to dredge up the memory of what it had looked like before, but not impossible; she had studied his mess long and hard when she was cleaning, trying to determine what parts of it did and didn't matter to him. And yes, hadn't there been a pile of chips round about there, and a couple by the forward edge of the table....

She said nothing, but reached out for Phoenix. He was close enough that she got his arm. She warned him with a glance to keep quiet and then nodded toward the table. Would he notice? Apparently so, for she saw him stiffen immediately, suddenly wary. He looked about at other things in the room and she could see from his expression that some of them were wrong also. Someone had been here, gone through his things, and maybe even taken a few bits and pieces. Which meant they wanted something he had. Or something she had.

Which meant they might come back, if they hadn't found it yet.

The bedroom door was closed. She didn't remember closing it.

She felt her heart skip a beat in sudden fear. She glanced at Phoenix, toward the door, and back at him. He was managing somehow not to look perturbed, but it was clear to her that it was just a mask for her benefit; the color was all gone from his face, and he gripped her arm and squeezed it tightly as a warning of his own.

He smiled then, a forced expression, and said, “You know? We forgot to get food. I don't have anything in the apartment. You want to go pick something up? There's a decent food court a few corridors over. We could bring it back and eat here.”

“Sounds good,” she managed.

They moved quickly toward the door. Maybe too quickly. Or maybe whoever was waiting in the apartment didn't have enough patience to wait for them to come back.

The bedroom door hissed open.

Something small came flying toward her, and it grazed her upper arm as she jerked away. ALERT! her wellseeker warned in bright red letters. FOREIGN SUBSTANCE IN EPIDERMAL LAYER. There wasn't any time to respond to it. Phoenix pulled her back out the door with enough force to jerk her off her feet. Someone was coming at them, but the door hissed shut too quickly for her to see who or what it was. Then Phoenix stared at the door for a few seconds, his brow furrowed as if in concentration; she guessed that he was accessing the locking mechanism and jamming it somehow.

“That'll hold for a few seconds,” he muttered at last. Even as he grabbed her arm to pull her away from the door, she could hear some kind of weapon or tool being used inside, presumably to break it open.

They ran. Down one corridor and then another, taking turns that seemed random. Once, in the distance, Jamisia heard someone cursing, and guessed that their pursuers had finally broken out. Hopefully Phoenix's trick with the lock had bought them enough time to help them.

“This way!” Phoenix whispered sharply, and he grabbed her arm and pulled her to the left with a force that almost knocked her off her feet. Couldn't he see that she was none too steady right now? Whatever had been shot into her arm was seeping into her head now, and she could scarcely think. Were those hurried footsteps ahead of them to match the ones behind? Of course, she thought. You didn't set up an ambush like that without closing off the avenues of escape. Which meant that there was no way out. They would have all the corridors covered.

Visions came back to her of another flight three years ago, and the substance of Shido Habitat vibrating beneath her feet as explosions rocked the corporate center. She stumbled and Phoenix had to help her back to her feet. She could barely feel his hand on her arm. The sounds of pursuit were getting closer. Oh God, this was it—

And then he faced the wall and was still again, just for a second. And a hidden maintenance panel slid open. “Inside!” he commanded, but she didn't need to be told. She fell through the narrow hatchway, hitting the floor hard on the other side. He moved in after her and ordered the door shut once more. Then they both held their breath while the muffled sound of footsteps on the other side came from the way they had come and continued without pause beyond the door.

“That won't hold them long,” she managed to whisper. Words tasted strange, and her tongue was oddly swollen.

“Isn't meant to. But every little bit helps.”

He waited for her to get to her feet and she tried, she really tried, but her body would no longer respond to her orders like it should. Finally he pulled her up and draped her arm over his shoulder—far from a comfortable fit, as he was much taller than she was—and with a hand around her waist he tried to help her forward. She stumbled but managed to make some progress. Not fast enough. The drug they'd hit her with was taking effect fast and hard, and she didn't know how much longer she could fight it.

How long would it be before their pursuers realized that the quarry had escaped them, and figured out where they'd gone?

Phoenix froze then, and she could see that his concentration was elsewhere. Just for a moment, and then he was back to her. “Nuke is going to try to close down the access systems so they can't come in this way. If he pulls that off, we might be okay.” He looked down at her. “You all right?”