Firewall (Magic Born) (11 page)

How many laws was he breaking just telling her that? Some of the tension eased in her muscles. “The key word here being
authorized
.”

“I know, I thought the same thing. But then I had another thought.”

Tuyet crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m listening.”

“How many of our missions overseas were against foreign corporations? At least as many as against foreign governments. If foreign corporations are using witchcraft, there’s no way American companies aren’t. Think about it. The only people who can get past the DNA testing are ones rich enough to bribe a DMS doctor. The same ones rich enough to run companies. My research on the ordinance showed huge support from Jennings AgriCorp and some other big name companies in the region.”

“You did your own research? How did that go?”

He ignored the implied insult. “If a high-profile law they so heavily supported turns out to be a disaster, how’s that going to look for these companies? I’m not saying it’s definitely not the FBI or NSA, just that they aren’t the only ones who could be capable of this. Some of these same big companies that supported the law could have secret witches on the payroll, or even in the boardroom. If they’re working to keep those videos from getting out, either they’re being used or they’re trying to protect themselves. Any number of things could be going on.”

Sometimes it seemed like everything noxious in the universe sprouted from the confluence of money and power. But then she thought of Jason and all the good work he did and knew the problem was more complicated than that. Maybe it was fear and corruption that were the true culprits, and money and power just maximized the damage.

Right then another worry presented itself. “What are you going to do with the information you heard?”

Hayes stared at the floor for nearly a full minute before answering. “Nothing. You know that.” His blue eyes burned as he looked at her.

She knew that look. It was both a declaration and a warning sign. They couldn’t be alone when he looked at her like that. It was an intensity reserved for public moments as Mr. and Mrs. Jones, when the glamours and the cover stories gave her a place to hide. In this small space with just the two of them, there was nowhere to go.

So she pretended the only desire she felt was for a shower and sleep, and she took refuge in teasing humor. “I told you you’d never take me in.” She gave him a smile full of smug presumption.

He laughed. “You’re awfully confident I’ll ignore my orders for you no matter what.”

“I think you and I both know who’s really in charge here.”

“Yeah, and that would be me.”

Hayes closed the distance between them and took her face in his hands. Caressed his thumbs gently across her cheeks. She didn’t lean into him but she didn’t pull away either. He stalked her mouth with his, their lips so close his breath teased her skin and fanned an old spark, threatening to send it bursting into flame. Another hair’s breadth closer. She shivered. Another.

He curled one hand around her nape. With the fingers of the other, he traced the contours of her bone structure, barely skimming the surface of her skin. Her body vibrated with tension. Need. She wanted him to leave. She wanted him to stay. She wanted everything.

He smiled again and whispered, lips so close to hers that her mouth burned from the slight hint of contact. “You can even call me ‘sir’ if you want.”

Tuyet jerked her head away and slammed her hands into his chest. “Get out!”

He laughed his way to the door. “See you tomorrow, Snow.”

Chapter Twelve

The blue-white lines of data pathways glowed in the
darkness of cyberspace. Tuyet found the link to the online multiplayer version
of Silver Wheels and logged on. Few were gaming this early on a Sunday morning.
She wasn’t here to play so she didn’t care. Her log-in name and avatar sent an
alert to Silver Wheels himself. If he could meet, he’d arrive soon. If not he’d
send an instant message. In the meantime, Tuyet waited on the obstacle
track.

Dozens of motorcycles, many of them concept bikes that would
never be seen on the streets, had been meticulously recreated for both regular
game play and the speed and obstacle tracks. Tuyet chose a concept bike that
gleamed scarlet and chrome in the glossy black. It had been a while since she’d
been in the game, so she started out with a few turns around the speed track.
Satisfied her ability to handle the bike hadn’t slipped, she moved on to the
urban obstacle course. Designed using street maps from metropolises all over the
world, it was coded to randomize the layout so it wouldn’t be possible for a
player to simply memorize the route and beat the game that way. Silver Wheels
wanted players to earn it.

Tuyet had one advantage though. She knew every city because
she’d been in every one with her old Ranger team. Much like a game of Name That
Tune, she liked to play Name That City as she ran the course. Frankfurt, Hong
Kong, Tashkent, Nairobi, and a dozen others sped by as she pushed the bike to
top speed through curves and tunnels and traffic snarls. Somewhere in Rio she
picked up a tail. She gunned it into high gear and used a cheat code to slip
through an alley, coming out into Paris at night.

A beautifully rendered replica of the arch bridge Pont Neuf was
the game’s Paris centerpiece. She waited there, the bike’s engine idling. The
colors of her lotus avatar glowed against the ancient stone and the silvery
water below. A full moon above created a spotlight on her location. Tuyet
laughed. One of the many Easter eggs in this game created by a witch was that
every night was a full moon.

The unmistakable growl of a V10 Panther Ultrabike announced the
arrival of Silver Wheels. His mirrorball helmet avatar added another dimension
of color to the shimmering cyberspace night.

“Look at you all bright and shiny,” he said. “Hayseed must be
treating you right.”

“If you mean by annoying me to death, sure.”

The mirrorball helmet flashed through a bevy of colors. “Be
nice to my boy, Caron.”

Tuyet wondered if her own avatar could blush. “We’re not here
to talk about my love life.”

“Your love life?” Silver Wheels laughed. “Just the fact that
you’d mention Hayes and your love life in the same conversation makes me feel
all warm and fuzzy. I’m rooting for you two crazy kids. Rootin’ hard.”

She ignored the remark and got down to business, telling him
about Paula Martin, her videos, her trouble getting them viewed and the
competing theories of government or corporate censorship.

“What he told you about the government and domestic witchcraft
is true.” Silver Wheels sounded thoughtful. “I’ve had some suspicions about
corporate witchcraft but I’ve been too busy to look into it. Sounds like I need
to make the time.”

“I’m going to do my own research too. Starting with Jennings
AgriCorp and any other big corporation that supported the ordinance.”

“Start uploading some of those videos into the private forum.
I’ll see where else I can send them.” The helmet flared a bright ruby, then a
deep sapphire before returning to its customary diamond. He revved the V10’s
engine, the sound pure predatory speed.

“Halif,” she said. “Do you want me to tell him?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. No, I don’t. It’s enough that
he’s covering for one of us. I don’t want to ask him for more than he’s willing
to give.”

“Are you still afraid of your body winding up in a lab?”

When Halif finally found her and revealed his identity, he’d
talked about that fear. He’d been trancing deep when he was shot. The shock to
his system left him trapped in the target’s intranet until he returned to full
awareness. Eventually he figured out how to make the jump to cyberspace and when
he did, everything changed for him. For the first time in his life, he was
free.

“It’s not that,” he said. “I know he wouldn’t betray me.”

“Then what is it?”

His avatar returned to a shimmering deep sapphire. “You call me
Halif, and that’s okay. I don’t mind. But it’s not who I am anymore. I’m not
that same person.” A broken laugh slipped out. “I’m not sure if I’m even a
person at all anymore. I don’t know what I am.”

The game’s moonlight grew watery as she blinked away tears in
realspace. “You’re my friend. That’s all I need to know. I can’t imagine Hayes
feeling any different.”

“Tell you what. He finally makes a decision, then we’ll
see.”

“I don’t understand.”

“He loves you, Caron. He’s not going back to the Rangers. He
just doesn’t know it yet.” He sped away, leaving her feeling like he’d dropped a
bomb in her lap.

Tuyet didn’t know whether to believe him or not. Didn’t know
what she wanted to believe. The best thing for Hayes would be to convince Talbot
that she was in the wind, nowhere to be found. Then go back to his nice, quiet,
safe existence.

An existence that he probably hated and was bored to tears
with. She’d certainly feel that way stuck behind a desk. Even so, he had his
freedom. She wouldn’t ask him to be a fugitive with her.

It was the right thing to do; she was certain of it. She
checked the time—still another two hours before her meeting with Vadim and the
others. She pushed a burst of energy into the bike and returned to the course.
Virtual streets were a blur. Landmarks and monuments bled into the background.
Faster and faster she went, outrunning the past, the present and most of all,
the future.

* * *

Tuyet placed her coffee cup on the table and met Vadim’s
suspicious gaze. “I’ve seen her work. Paula’s very good, and an expert at hiding
the identity of her interview subjects.” Every cell in her body wanted to look
away. She fought the urge and maintained eye contact.

Vadim leaned forward. “How nice. That way instead of targeting
just one person in FreakTown, they can tear the whole place apart.”

“It’s possible it’s not the government that’s blocking the
content when she uploads.”

“What does that even mean? Who else would it be?”

“Hayes says—”

“Hayes! Are you out of your fucking mind, talking about stuff
like this with him? Go ahead and play footsy with him if you must but don’t tell
him all our fucking secrets!”

Nate said, “Who’s Hayes?”

“Maybe it’s the hot scruffy guy she took home with her the
other night.” Calla flashed her a teasing smile.

Tuyet seethed quietly for a moment, grateful to the others for
jumping into the conversation.

“There was a hot scruffy guy?” Lizzie sighed. “I never get to
do anything fun anymore.”

“Absolutely not,” Vadim said. “He doesn’t come anywhere near
this. In fact, you need to send him back where he came from. Now.”

“It’s under control,” Tuyet said. That was a great big lie, but
what Vadim didn’t know wouldn’t give him more to scream about.

“Under control?” He waved his hands in the air. “She says it’s
under control. Well then, in that case I won’t worry about a fucking government
agent military superspy whatever-the-fuck-you-people-are nosing around my
underground.”

Calla snickered, quickly cutting it off after a scathing look
from Vadim. Lizzie patted his hand. “Be mindful of your blood pressure, dear.”
This time Calla made no effort to stifle her laughter.

“Don’t make fun of me, you harridan.” He gestured at Tuyet
while looking at Lizzie. “Does this really sound like a good idea to you?”

Lizzie said, “I trust Tuyet implicitly.”

Calla cleared her throat. “Me too.” She gave Tuyet a thumbs-up
and mouthed
hot scruff
.

Vadim looked to Nate. “I’m looking to you to be the voice of
reason here. Don’t fail me.”

Nate shrugged. “She says it’s under control, it’s under
control.”

“Fucking hell.” For added measure, Vadim threw in a few Russian
curse words.

Tuyet stood and gathered her things. Staying too long would
give Vadim a chance to ask questions. Since she didn’t have answers, she didn’t
want that to happen. “I’ll be in touch.”

“You’ve really lost it this time,” Vadim said. “Totally lost
your fucking mind.”

Lizzie reached into her bag and brought out a small notebook
and pen. “How many times have you said the word
fuck
in this
meeting?”

Tuyet escaped before she could be drawn into more of Vadim’s
drama. She hurried through the tunnels, eager to be back aboveground. The
absurdly high temperatures of late summer broiled the stagnant air. Baked
concrete and asphalt radiated heat even through the soles of her shoes. Tuyet
stayed alert in the crowd out of habit rather than any true concern. The police
presence was moderate, but unless someone sought out their attention with stupid
behavior, the cops tended to mind their own business when out on routine patrol.
In these temperatures it was too much work to do more than look menacing in
their heavy black urban-tactical uniforms. Just in case, she had an app on her
phone tuned to scrambled police frequencies that would alert her in the event of
a raid near her location.

An early version of that app had already been in existence when
she joined the Rangers, but Halif perfected it during their years as part of
Ranger Team Six. It was nice to have that level of magic tech working for her
again, instead of being something she had to dodge. Thoughts of Halif led to
complicated questions with no easy answers. Turning away from the subject
entirely was preferable, but that wasn’t an option.

Hayes was making emotional decisions instead of thinking about
what was best for him, and for his career. As much as she wanted to scoff at
that career, she couldn’t. He’d wanted it too much and worked too hard to get
it. Tuyet had never had a choice about serving in the Rangers. Once a
magic-tech-capable witch was identified, life as they knew it was over. The
scouts had methods to take them out of zones in ways that would ensure no one
looked for them, usually a fake prison sentence or even death. A witch with the
capability became a Ranger, but that was actually a small number. Most worked in
the labs. Plenty couldn’t handle it and wound up in prison or dead for real.

That was how she was taken from Gehenna, half-dead and crazed
from a toxic mix of nightshade and other drugs. She didn’t so much volunteer for
the Rangers as choose not to die. Hayes had signed on the dotted line and loved
every minute of it. But then, he hadn’t felt like he was betraying his own
people by working for their oppressors. To him it was an adventure. To her it
was a stain she still hadn’t been able to scrub off her soul.

She kept trying though. As hard as she could.

Rather than head home, she took the subway to Midtown. She was
tired of Hayes showing up at her apartment, so she’d located his hotel. Let him
see how annoying it was to have someone drop in unannounced. An alley with no
CCTV cameras gave her a chance to slip on the glamoured bracelet.

One of the best tricks she’d learned in Ranger training was to
walk right into a place like she belonged there. Tuyet did just that at the
hotel, making her way to his room with no hesitation. As usual, the simple
subterfuge worked. No one stopped her to ask for ID or a room key.

Once she reached his door, she angled her body close to the
key-card scanner so nothing could be seen. An easy bit of trancehacking overrode
the scanner and the door opened with a little pop.

Hayes stood with his back to her at a glass door leading to a
balcony. Her breath caught at the sight of his hair—now short and dark. He was
wearing his bracelet. A thrill shot through her. “Mr. Jones.”

He turned around. In addition to the darker hair, he now had
green eyes instead of blue, a face that was a few degrees less handsome than his
own, and he wore glasses. Real glasses with clear, nonprescription lenses. Hayes
had had his vision corrected as soon as he could afford it after enlisting. The
lenses of the dark wire-rimmed glasses were for show. They gave him a nerdy
charm that she found almost as attractive as the real Hayes.

There was no magic that could dim the wattage of his dirty
sunlight smile. He flashed it now as he strode to the center of the room. “Mrs.
Jones.”

Tuyet had never really gotten the visceral impact of the phrase
“bang him like a screen door in a hurricane” until just that moment. She blinked
and an image burned behind her eyelids: the two of them, limbs tangled, clothes
in disarray, up against that door with golden light glinting off his blond
hair—his real hair, everything the real Hayes, her Dale—his blue eyes turned to
hard, bright lapis.

She blinked the image away before the fantasy had a chance to
get tactile. “We need to decide what to do about your colonel.”

“I can’t believe you kept the bracelet.”

Hearts didn’t really skip beats, did they? She’d have to look
it up. “You kept yours too.”

He pushed the glasses up. Parts of her fluttered, parts of her
clenched and some parts screamed in frustration. She said, “You said he’d want
proof that I’m not here anymore. Did you have anything in mind?”

“I was thinking about the filmmaker. She basically wants an
escort through the protest movement, right? So people will talk to her.”

“Uh, yeah. Why?”

“I’ve seen those protesters in action. Not the safest people to
be around.”

If he would at least take off the glasses, she might be able to
concentrate. “That’s why she wants me to be with her.” They hadn’t actually
talked about that, but it would be the best way to handle it.