Heavenfall: Genviants Book 1 (9 page)

David's breath hissed through his teeth as Dex drew the blade across David's skin. Blood bubbled along the incision, followed by a line of opaque fluid. Under her fingers, David's muscles spasmed and jerked. A fine sheen of sweat made it difficult for her to keep her fingers from slipping down into the cut.

"Hold it steady," Dex said. "We're almost there."

The fluid came to a head and oozed out of the wound. Little drops at first, then in thin strings. It puddled and spread like egg whites across the plate.

Dex never took his gaze off the flow. "Okay, that should be enough. David, raise your arm. Let the fluid settle before we cauterize the incision. You want something to bite down on when Jonah does it?"

"Your dick." David lifted his arm, causing her to stand on tiptoe to keep the wound closed.

"Glad to see you've still got a sense of humor."

"Not joking." A pained smile crossed his face. "Sorry, princess, but you gotta do the burn."

"What? Cauterize it? You are joking now, aren't you?"

"Afraid not. It'll take Dex and your brother to hold me down."

Jonah pulled the blade off the stove eye and wrapped the towel more securely around the handle. "He's right, sis." The knife didn't look any different. Somehow, she thought it should be a deep reddish-orange, like the coil.

"I can't."

Dex took hold of her shoulders and looked her in the eye. "You can do this. You're the only one who can do it. If we have to wait to call in somebody from the park, more fluid might leak out of the sac. If that happens, he'll lose the arm. Plus, there are other considerations—"

"Okay. I get it." She swallowed past the lump in her throat and took the knife from Jonah. David's arm looked out of focus through the tears in her eyes. Though she wanted the scene before her to remain vague, like some sort of dream, she blinked them away. Dex held down David's left side, and Jonah had the right.

"Now," Dex ordered. "Just a second is all it'll take."

Before she lost her nerve, she placed the blade into the wound and quickly pulled it out before the sizzle of burning flesh even reached her ears.

"Use the flat of the blade to close it," Dex instructed.

David jerked, his muscles twitched and tensed and strained against the hands holding him down. Eyes squeezed closed, a string of curses left his lips. Rivulets of sweat streamed over the contortions of his face.

Hands shaking, she dropped the knife and took a step back, tried to escape the sweet, acrid charcoal scent invading her nostrils and coating the back of her throat. She glanced at David, his breath no long came in staccato pants, but his chest still labored. And instead of holding him down, Jonah and Dex used their combined strength to hold him upright. The skin on the side of his arm puckered, shiny like plastic wrap fused to the flesh.

Never again.

"Get the Mercurochrome." He bent down and picked up the knife she'd dropped. In contrast to the other two men, Dex didn't sound strained or winded.

She grabbed the glass bottle off the counter, wondering just how freaky his hardware was, and handed it to Dex. He couldn't have been worried about being jumped. Judging by the way he handled David, he'd hold his own against three, maybe four, mech enhanced guys without any trouble.

"It's going to sting," she said to David.

A pained laugh left his lips. "The arm's numb. Ain't feeling nothing, now."

"Nerve damage from the cut and burn." Dex screwed the cap off the bottle and used the dropper to coat the damage. "It's probably not permanent." He put the cap back on the bottle. "Ready to do the other arm?"

"No." Mary took a step back. "Get one of the gang to come in and help. I can't do it again."

Dex shook his head. "Not worth the risk. If word gets out to the wrong person that we've drained David's arms, Hadrian's security forces may see an opportunity, follow David, and try to take you two out before you make it to the club."

"He's right," Jonah agreed. "You have to do it."

CHAPTER NINE

She needed air or she was going to puke.

Mary headed for the door. Away from the sight of David collapsed on the scarred linoleum. Away from Dex forcing fluids down David's throat. Away from the stench. Nothing to do now but wait until David's shakes passed and he was able to ride. The biomechs wouldn't lessen the pain, but the increased strength would allow him to push his body past it. Then what? Pray he makes it to the surgeon's and then lives out the wave?

Outside, she turned her face to the wind, closed her eyes, and let the air wash over her. This time of the morning it was still a little cool. The web totally screwed with the sun's rays, changed them in ways she couldn't fathom, but by midday, July's warmth would work its way through. Too bad she'd be sub-level at
Sensations
by then.

Jonah and Dex exited the building. "David is changing clothes," Jonah said. "He'll be ready to go in a few minutes."

Hands in her pockets, she turned to Jonah. "Hey, how about giving me a minute with Dex. I want to go over this whole Devil's Footprints deal with him. Plus, I need a set of leathers. Margo keeps my spare set, the jacket with the red stitching, in her footlocker."

"Sure thing. You got five." He bristled at her request, but went back into the building.

"He doesn't believe you want to talk about the ride," Dex said.

"He's right. If we manage to make it to
Brushy Mountain and get the codes from this prisoner, Hadrian becomes useless, right?"

"Not entirely. He won't have control of the web, but there are other technologies and projects he does control. As to how important they'll be after the wave hits? Who knows. Depends on the extent of the destruction."

"I don't care about after. Hadrian killed my parents, and who knows how many others have died on his orders. How many have blasted and not survived because he coerced the government into banning A? How many controllers have burned out? How many have died at the wall?"

She turned and watched the squids ride past them. "Are you sure he'll come after me?"

"Yes. If he doesn't get you at
Sensations
, he'll wait for you at the old prison. Don't kid yourself, the place will be heavily guarded, and Hadrian's men will try to shoot all of us in order to deliver you to Hadrian and the prisoner."

"Stupid on his part to go that way. What makes him think I'll cooperate?"

"Won't you? Jonah will be at a control comp. You may not care about me, or the others who will be with you, but you love your brother. Hadrian will use that against you. At least until he gets the codes and Jonah inputs them. Once the web is fully functional, he'll terminate both of you."

"Not if I kill him first."

He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. "Are you certain vengeance is what you want? His blood on your hands?"

"It's all I've got left."

Dex started to say something, but stopped and stepped to the other side of the sidewalk, next to the creek, "What's happening down there?"

She followed his gaze and saw everyone gathered around the barber shop, trying to see in the windows. "Don't know, but it can't be good."

A lone rider broke through the crowd and within seconds screeched to a halt next to Jonah's bike.

Ella left the bike running and vaulted off the seat. "Jonah, Stran's yelling for help out of the window." She pointed to the two-story building where Stran and Corene flopped. "
He says Corene is having a brain blast."

Jonah raced to his bike, started it up. As he turned the bike around, he called over his shoulder to Dex. "D
o your thing and meet me there."

She grabbed hold of Dex's arm. "What did he mean for you to do your thing?"

"Activating the nanites, and I've already sent the commands." He starting running and in a few seconds had caught up with the motorcycle. She'd never seen anyone, mech or not, run as fast.

Ella mounted the bike she'd rode down on and offered the bitch seat to Mary, but Mary turned down the ride. "No thanks. I'll walk." She couldn't do anything to help. Plus, she needed the extra few minutes to think. Dex had taken a risk showing up at the park today, in the Dragons' den, so to speak. But if what he'd told them was true, it was a risk worth taking. She still wasn't sure if she believed him. Didn't even have the entire plan. He managed to give them the big picture without divulging specifics.

Instinct led her to believe Dex, or maybe she needed to believe him. Hope, she discovered, made her desperate to believe they had a chance to make it through the wave alive.

Gang members crowded the door of the barber shop, and she tucked the drive into her bra as she pushed her way through. Didn't want to risk it falling out of her pocket.

At the bottom of the stairs, she heard Dex's voice above the din. "Stran, get the hell out of here! You're not helping."

Footsteps pounded above her, and she barely made it out of the way before Stran charged down the steps. Red. Everything red. His face red with rage. His clothes covered in blood. His eyes bloodshot and filled with tears.

He stopped two steps below her, as if he'd just registered her presence, and turned toward her. "Mary, they won't let me stay. I need to stay with her. Protect her." He looked at his hands and flinched. "Oh, God. What do I do? Please, Mary, tell me what to do." Sobs racked his body, and he grabbed the banister for support as he crumbled. His hands left dark, red smears of blood on the rail.

She crouched beside him. "Everything is going to be all right, Stran. Jonah and Dex will take care of her." She motioned to Michael. Thank goodness he and Ella hadn't left yet. "Mike's going to take you out of here. Get you cleaned up, okay?"

With Stran firmly in Michael's grip, she bolted up the remaining steps and through the door. The first sight of Corene, curled in the fetal position, knocked her back a step. Her friend looked dead.

They'd left her eyes open. Irises shrouded in blood. Blood pooled around Corene's head. The coppery stench of it mixed with the sharp odor of urine, wasn't a brain blast humiliating enough, and coated Mary's throat. She turned away, gagging.

"She's not dead." Dex's voice registered through the buzzing in Mary's head. "Not yet, but she's close."

"Same as you if you don't get the nanites doing their thing," Jonah said.

"Something is blocking the signal. The towers on Sharp's Ridge, maybe. I don't know." Dex brushed past Jonah. "I've got to get her out of here. Even if I get clear, the signal to the nanites might not reach her." He picked Corene up, cradled her against his chest, and headed toward the back of the building. "Jonah, get over to the surgeon's. I'll meet you there once the nanites are activated and Corene's out of danger. Mary, round up the riders and Ella and get to
Sensations
. The virus must be uploaded before one o'clock in order to have enough time to propagate through the system to the controllers."

"Wait!" Jonah caught up to Dex. "You expect us to just leave? Pretend like Corene's not dying?"

"That's exactly what I expect you to do," Dex answered through clenched teeth. "Or would you rather we all stay here, hold hands, and die together?" He walked to the door, kicked it open, and started down the hall. "Don't forget to give the doc's address to David," he yelled when he reached the back stairs. "I'll meet you there." He disappeared through the broken door.

Her brother, red-faced and shaking with rage, reared back and punched a hole through the wall. "Son of a bitch!" He jabbed a finger toward the door. "That cold-blooded, heartless son of a bitch."

It seemed as if he'd been nothing but angry as long as she could remember, but she'd never seen him so furious. So out of control. "Jonah." She whispered his name, laid her hand on his arm. "What happened five years ago?"

"He blasted, okay. And died." Tears pooled in his eyes, and he swiped the back of his hand across them. "He died in my arms. We didn't know much about blasting back then, but even if we had, we couldn't have helped him."

"Wait. What? He died?" No. Her brother was talking crazy. Dex hadn't died. Obviously.

"I couldn't' help him. He'd made me promise that when he blasted, I'd finish the job before he got...like Corene. But I couldn't." He didn't try to wipe the tears away now, and they trailed down his cheeks. "He was the closest thing I had to a brother. I couldn't let him die."

"Jonah, what did you do?"

"There was this clinic we used, you know, for the mech implants. Hadrian owned all the mech clinics back then, but there was this one doctor.
He'd do the mech work for the gangs after hours. He had a taste for heroine and girls. We fed his addiction, and he worked on us for free."

"Christ, Jonah. You let a drug addict work on your arms? And you pimped for him?" She didn't try to hide the disgust in her voice.

The tears dried up, and Jonah absently scratched his face. "It wasn't like that. The girls weren't underage. Come on, Mary, you know I'd never do anything like that, but there were lots of ladies willing to do the doc for free med treatment. We'd set up these parties. Invite the drug dealers, the women, the doc, and provide security. We did what we had to do to survive. I won't say I'm sorry for it. To you, or anybody else."

Maybe she shouldn't expect an apology, but it left her wondering what else her brother had done. Doesn't matter, she told herself, and tried to make herself believe it. "Doesn't matter," she repeated. "What about Dex?"

"I took Dex to the clinic. Went right through the front door with him in my arms. Demanded to see Doc Kistner. A nurse led us back to a room, but it wasn't Doc Kistner who came in." He let out a choked laugh. "It was one of Hadrian's boys, straight up. Strode in wearing his long, white coat. Damned thing was pristine. Not even a wrinkle. Stood at the end of the bed, hands in his pockets, nasty smile on his face, and told me how Doc Kistner had overdosed, and how Hadrian, in his generosity, had rehabilitated the good doc."

"Did you ever find out what really happened to him?"

"Hadrian's boy told us. All smug while I sat on the bed holding Dex. Said how he, Hadrian's boy, personally detoxed Doc Kistner and implanted the controller mech. No more cravings, illegal or otherwise, for doc Kistner."

"Is that how Dex became a controller?"

"Honestly, I don't know how it happened. Dex flatlined while the guy was talking. I lost it, sis. Grabbed the guy, threatened to break his neck if he didn't call for a crash cart. He did, and told the nurses to bring him some blood thinners. That's the first we'd learned about them helping a brain blast. He worked on Dex for about fifteen minutes. Seemed like forever. Jacking the blood thinners straight into Dex's carotid, doing the defib. I've never seen anything like it." He stopped and took a deep breath. "Dex pulled through, and I stayed with him for hours afterward. He came to, but he was still delirious and talking out of his head. Kept saying 'I see it' over and over."

"What did he mean? What did he see?"

"No idea. At the time, I thought he was brain damaged or some shit, and he'd end up in a church. Maybe he'd seen the white light and the great beyond. I don't know. I tried to calm him down, but the more I tried, the more agitated he got. And creepy. He'd look at me and scream, but his eyes weren't focused, and it wasn't me he saw. The nurses rushed in, pumped him with sedatives. Told me I shouldn't be there when he woke up, so I blew. Went back the next day and no Dex. Not at his house, either. Finally caught sight of him about a week later. He had the controller tech and was in the company of Hadrian's men. Never got an explanation. Never even got the chance to talk to him." Jonah looked down at his hands. "I didn't want to believe he'd joined up with Hadrian, not at first. Had to be a con. But we kept tabs on him. Heard how fast he'd moved up Hadrian's ranks, how he'd volunteered for the experimental mech, and I knew he'd betrayed us."

"Do you believe him this time? About the wave and us?" she asked.

"I believe he'd do anything to save his own ass, including turning you over to Hadrian." He let out a loud sigh. "But I'm not getting the bad vibes." Jonah moved away from the wall and walked toward the stairs. "It doesn't make sense, though. Him coming back now."

"Maybe it does." She stepped in front of him, blocked his path. "Did Dex go psychic?"

"No. The doc got to him before he blasted. Plus, he went controller right after he blasted. Controllers' minds can't handle the psychic shit. So, even if he had gone psychic, the controller mech would've fried the psychic circuits like it does the emotions."

"Has Dex ever stimmed?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"C'mon, think. He's been high profile, and you said you kept tabs on him. Try to remember. It might be important."

"No," he answered after a moment. "Dex never stimmed."

"Good. If it means what I think it means, I'm pretty sure we can trust him, but don't ask me why. It's only a feeling right now. I need to think it over some more, and if I'm wrong...well, I just hope I'm not. Things are going to get worse. A lot worse, and you'll be with Dex while I'm making my way to the prison. Promise me you'll remember that Dex never stimmed." She waited until her brother nodded his agreement and went down the steps, careful not to touch the railing where Corene's blood stained the wood.