I Am Not Junco Omnibus: Books Four - Six (72 page)

I look to Annun. “You have questions, Annun? Last chance.”

“No, Captain. I’m good. I’m a point-and-shoot kinda guy. You tell me what you need, I’m there.”

I smile at him and put my hand on his shoulder. “You’re promoted, warrior. You are now 039-1. Congratulations.”

“What? But what about you? And Ashur?”

“Forget Ashur, and I’m retired. My job is not to lead, but to follow, and my orders come from Lucan. I know what I have ta do, but”—I look at each of them sternly—“I’m beggin’ ya, just make her do her job.”

They nod, our mood solemn now. “OK, my turn then.” I look at Gideon. “How soon can you get Junco out?”

“I expected her already, to be honest. Sera is in there, she’s in charge.”

“And the deals you have with Inanna? Will they prevent Junco from completing her mission?”

“No.” Gid shakes his head. “No, it’s not like that. Inanna might have her own reasons and her own ways of getting what she wants, but the part she plays will only help us.”

“In that case, I think we should go. You should evacuate your men from this tunnel. I’m not sure how those Punishments will escape, I’m not sure if this place will explode, or if they can somehow port, or what. I have no idea. I don’t even know what they are. They could be demons, they could be chemical weapons, they could be diseases to incapacitate the human populations. Hell, they could be carrying custom-designed vectors that will invade our DNA and fuck it all up again. Or maybe they’re all of those things. Lucan never shared the details. I was simply taught that the Seven Punishments were made to hurt Lucan. If Esta was here, we could make sense of them, but she’s not and she won’t be. She will come back when the Halo completes, which means the Punishments will be released before she can make it here. She’s unnecessary. It’s too bad none of us were on the same page before now. We’d all be clued in to what the others were doing. Life might’ve been easier.”

I wave my hand at Subjack, deferring to him to take charge. He waves us all towards the lift and we pile in to begin our ascent up the mountain shaft.

It’s a longer ride going up, about twice as long in fact, since we’re going half the speed. And this leaves far too much time to think. The silence is heavy and sad.

No one is going to win in the traditional sense. A sacrifice is required for all parties. Gain can only be obtained by risk and sacrifice. It’s an equation, a truth, a law of the universe just as much as any other physical law. Mass and energy is neither created nor destroyed, entropy is constant without input, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

This is something I came to terms with a long time ago, since I’ve been in on the final details for years now. But it’s all new for the rest of my company.

When we reach the top I let everyone exit before me and then I grab Annun’s hand. “Take John Hando home. He should be with his women.”

“No,” John says from the hallway. “I said goodbye and I meant it. I’m not done yet either. I have something to say about this, about Junco, and Inanna. I’ve worked with her too,” he says, looking at Gideon. “You and I never met, and I’m sure you wanted to kick my ass once you found out who I was and how we were connected, but I have a role to play and I’m going to see it through.”

“What role?” Gideon snarls. “You hired her, a child, to kill for your mafia?”

“Yer one to talk, Gideon. Junco was killin’ since she was six, she told us.”

Gideon’s face turns to rage and all that goodwill we just established down below melts away. He catches it, tucks it down, breathes in deeply, and then snarls back at me. “You just remember who gives her the order when we’re saving your father’s ass, Beast.”

“My father is Earth’s father, Gid. You better come to terms with that quick.”

“Then Inanna is Earth’s mother. She is the rightful Guardian, not Lucan.”

“Which brings me to my point,” Hand interrupts. “There is one more critical person involved. And Inanna came to me just after Junco left for Peaks and gave me an order. Honestly, I was just gonna blow her off. I’ve done my part. I’ve fulfilled my end of the deal. But I’m wondering now if this is critical.”

“What was the order?” I ask.

“Secure Iliana and bring her to Peak City.”

“What?” Gideon and I ask together. Annun and Subjack just look at each other.

Hand throws up his arms. “I’m not sure, guys, I’m just repeating what I was told. Bring Iliana to Peak City.”

“By when?” I ask.

“There’s no specific time,” he says, shrugging with his hands.

“Well, where the fuck is she?”

Hand looks over to Gideon. “She said ask Gid. He knows where she is.”

“Well, Inanna never told me this shit, so I’m not sure I should give that info out.”

“Why?” I ask. “Because Inanna morphed her up into Junco and yer embarrassed that yer the one with the clone, not me?”

He ignores my accusation. “She’s incapacitated right now. In a tank. We’d need to wake her up and honestly, I think I should get back to Junco’s Pillar and wait her out. I must be there when she is dumped out, else things might not go well. There’s no telling what her state of mind will be at that point.”

I turn to Hand. “How certain are you that this is necessary?”

He shrugs. “I’m just saying, she gave me this last order and I wouldn’t mention it if I thought it was irrelevant.”

“I’ll take him,” Annun says. “I’ll go with Hand. I have Archer gifts, I’m in charge now, I’ll take him. Gideon, where’s she at?”

We all turn to look at Gideon. Who looks at Subjack.

“Tell them, son. Keep your focus on Junco.”

“The Sagitta Building. Your Sagitta Building down in Dallas.”

“Oh, fuck!” Hand says. “Why? Why the fuck did she put her there?”

I grasp John’s shoulder in a sympathetic gesture. “Because that’s where all Inanna’s cloning projects are from, Hand.” I look at Gideon for the last part. “And Iliana is in a tank for a reason, isn’t she, Gideon?”

He narrows his eyes at me then looks over at John. “One hundred tenth floor. Hando Corporation access only.”

I turn to Annun. “Change your fate—”

“—And meet your destiny. See ya.” And then Annun and John Hando are gone.

Chapter Seventeen—TIER

I look over at Subjack and Gideon. “I need to see Caleb right now. I have a very important message from Lucan.”

They give me the required once-over, then give up the pretenses and begin walking.

I follow them through the darkness, dreading the deal I will have to make with Caleb. We wind through a maze of tunnels, passing soldiers and all manner of personnel who are bustling to and fro, and then end up at what appears to be an office.

Junco’s mother is visible through the glass and she either hears us approach or feels it. Because she turns and her eyes search until they rest on me. She smiles. I do not.

“What’s this?” I ask Subjack. Gideon sighs, but Junco’s father answers. “My wife would like a word, if that’s not too much trouble. She has the coordinates for Caleb. He sanctioned this visit—in fact, he insisted on it in exchange for his location. You can say no, of course. We’ll still give you Caleb’s location. Things are far too precarious to play games. But you’d be doing me a personal favor if you’d give her five minutes.”

“Why would Caleb care if I talked to Junco’s mother?”

“You can ask him yourself once you get the coordinates.”

I look over at Gideon and he shrugs. “I’m going to Pillar Seven. I’ll keep you posted.” And then he disappears.

I look back at Subjack and wave him forward.

He shakes his head. “No, she said it was private.” And then the big man turns and walks off.

I take a breath and ask my vision screen to shunt some glucose to my brain to stave off a headache, then palm the door mechanism to make it open.

Junco’s mother stands. “Thank you for coming… Mr.—”

“Tier,” I growl, frustrated with this arrangement. I’m not ever in the mood to talk to people about private matters, and I’m even less in the mood to discuss such things with the woman who abandoned Junco. “Speak, I’m wasting time here.”

“Thank you, Mr. Tier. I’m in debt to you for saving my daughter and taking care of her.”

“Is this a joke?”

She squints her eyes at me. “Joke?”

I scrub my hands down my face and shake my head. “I never saved yer daughter, woman. I’m the last man you should be thankin’.”

“Well…” She smooths down her tunic. It’s silver, like her hair. And sort of institutional. Like her style. “I’d just like to extend my services for… afterward.”

“After—what?”

“After we win, of course. Johann—” She hesitates. “That’s Junco’s father’s name.” Like I didn’t know that. “Johann and I are available when you need us. We’re here. Or—” She shrugs a little, but it’s not a shrug of indifference, it’s the kind that you give when searching for the correct word. “Or… wherever it is we end up. I’m not sure about that, but please.” She reaches out and touches my arm. And even though I’m wearing the black armor of an Aves Commander, I feel her touch like I’m naked.

I shiver and she pulls back.

“Please,” she repeats. “Come to us. Do not hesitate.”

“I have no idea what yer talking about. I need Caleb’s location.” I hold out my hand and she reaches into her pocket and places a white envelope in my palm.

“It’s in there. And you don’t understand yet, but you will. And we’re here. Just keep it in the back of your mind and when it’s time you’ll know what to do with it.”

I tear the envelope open and input the location into my vision screen. Then laugh. “It figures.”

Carolinia Coot smiles at me. Like she knows. Like she knows everything.

And that scares me a little.
She
scares me a little.

I port to the coordinates and exit in the Rural Republic. My vision screen scans the air and finds the radiation comparable to flying at high altitude. I turn and look at the house that should not be here.

Junco’s house. White foundation with walls made almost entirely of glass, a large wraparound front porch that on a farmhouse house would look warm and inviting, but on this example of modern architecture, it looks like a warning. Like a moat that divides the outside from the in. Like a threshold not to be passed.

I look up at the dome that spans the roof. I can smell chlorine from here.

The massive double doors open and Caleb stands in a beam of stray sunlight.

I roll my eyes like HOUSE might.
Can he be any more dramatic?

“Come in,” he says as he fans his arms out in greeting.

I watch my feet as I climb the porch steps. He turns his back and leads me into the living room and beckons me to sit on a long white couch. I take it all in. I’ve been inside Junco’s house before, but never as a guest.

“When did you build this?” I ask.

“Last year. The house is quite famous, actually. Built by a well-known artist last century and gifted to the Church, which means it was gifted to us.” He smiles at that, like it’s so clever.

And I guess it is. The fucking Church ruled this country for almost a hundred years, long before the Succession wars turned this area legitimate.

“It was good PR to rebuild it to its exact specifications before the bombings. Offsite security footage gave us the contents. It’s almost an exact replica. Subjack himself provided the engineering documentation, up to and including the AI system.”

I look up and around.

“It’s not working out, I disabled it. No personality, that thing. It really got on my nerves.”

I sit on the couch and stretch out my legs and let out a sigh. “Why did ya build it?”

“So Junco could see it. And maybe—” He holds his hands up, palms out, like he’s trying to placate me before he speaks. “Maybe she’d like to come back here someday. I’m not saying now, I’m just putting it out there.”

“Ya brought me here to brag about yer house?”

He smiles and folds his hands together, then steeples his forefingers under his chin so he can lean in and appear pensive. “It bothers me, Tier.”