Synthetica (30 page)

Eighteen

Anais opened her eyes, disorientated.

It took her a moment to remember where she was. She was in her own
bed, in her own room, the covers wrapped tightly around her. The
morning light was shining through the slats in her blinds. She felt
well rested, as though she had needed a good night's sleep, but she
also had a growing sense of unease...something had happened
yesterday. Something that made her stomach contract with guilt and
alarm. She blinked sleepily and checked her RetCom for the time. It
was already after ten. She sat bolt upright, as everything came
crashing back.

It had been Dalla's funeral. They had broken into Civitas with the
help of Clay Winterbourne. Skye had caught them. They'd found the
SLP program files. She'd found a dead body in a supply closet.

For a second, Anais seriously thought she was going to throw up.
The body had been bad enough – being the second one she'd seen up
close in the space of a week – but there was also the matter of
the SLPs. The malicious code hidden in the program. Today, thousands
of those SLPs were going on sale; tens of thousands of people were
at risk from being becoming murderers or being murdered.

She started to untangle herself from the covers but stopped,
wondering why she was still fully dressed in her funeral outfit.
Then it came back to her; she'd paced her room for hours, until the
sky had begun to turn pink. She'd managed to get a message to
Xander, telling him about the body in the supply room, and that she
had got home okay. She didn't know where Clay had gone. She'd had a
feeling her parents might have had something to say if they found
out she was harbouring a fugitive in their flat. Xander had told her
that him and Skye were attempting to find out the extent of the
damage that had been caused by whoever had hacked into Civitas'
server, but it was hard - whoever had designed the malicious code
had also managed not to leave a single trace behind.

She'd finally collapsed on her bed in the early hours of the
morning, too tired to bother undressing. She didn't know whether it
was the effects of a lack of sleep, grief or anxiety, but she felt
as though her head was full of cotton wool. Whichever way she looked
at it, she didn't know how to stop the SLPs from going on sale. The
knot that had formed in her stomach the previous night clenched
again, making her feel queasy.

There was nothing else they could do but hope they could somehow
prevent them from being sold at the parade. Judging from Xander's
messages, Skye was still determined to try and keep the whole story
under wraps from the public, but in all honesty, Anais couldn't see
how they could do that. If thousands of lives were at risk, she
would much rather tell the whole city to be on their guard, than
stand by and watch as thousands more died. Skye didn't seem to
understand this moral reasoning.

The
message icon was blinking in her vision, informing her she had 20
new messages. With a slight pang, she realised she'd half expected
them to be from Dalla, but they weren't. Dalla's name would never
flash up in her vision again. She quickly pushed the thought out of
her mind before it could overwhelm her.
Just
a bit longer
,
she told herself firmly,
we're
nearly there. It's nearly over.

She began to read the messages as she opened her bedroom door and
went into the bathroom. Many of them were from her parents, asking
where she was, was she okay, had she seen the news? But there were
also a few from ID numbers she didn't recognise.

Meet at Civitas building ASAP.
Skye.

Anais rolled her eyes. She replied to Skye, telling her she'd be
there as soon as possible.

The other unrecognised ID number turned out to be from Officer
Hughes. Anais almost walked into the doorframe in shock.

Anais. You missed our appointment.
We need to talk. It's urgent. Can you come to the station as soon as
possible this morning? Officer Alice Hughes.

Anais swore loudly.

She'd completely forgotten about meeting Officer Hughes after
Dalla's funeral. She vaguely remembered receiving a message while
she'd been at Clay's house, but she'd deleted it. A cold trickle ran
down her spine as she reread Hughes' message. This was to do with
last night, she knew it. Nox had no doubt been jumping to
conclusions again. It wouldn't surprise her if he'd issued a warrant
for her arrest.

It
wasn't until she got out of the shower that one of her parent's
messages finally made it's way to her brain:
Have
you seen the news?

She
ran to her bedroom and threw on some clean clothes. She practically
sprinted down the hall and turned on the HV set, praying that there
hadn't been any more murders.

There hadn't. Instead, something far stranger had happened. Anais
sank down onto the sofa, keeping her eyes on the hologram in front
of her.

The hologram was a close-up of the Civitas building, just above the
main entrance. Someone had embellished the existing Civitas logo.
The giant silver 'C' had been painted red, only, the person had used
the paint to join up the sides in the 'C', to create a circle. There
were two dots in the makeshift circle, with a curved jagged line
underneath them. Two diagonal slashes overlapped underneath. With a
jolt, Anais realised it was a mockery of a skull and crossbones.
Just as she wondering who would do such a thing, she became aware of
the newsreader's voice speaking and she belatedly tuned in to the
actual story.

“
...vandalism
is believed to have taken place late last night, though at the
moment, the police have no clues as to who may have committed the
crime. With crowds already gathering for Civitas' parade, due to be
held this afternoon, the police are asking the public not to get too
close to the building so they can continue their investigation.”

The hologram showed a picture at odds with the advice the police
were giving. Large crowds had already congregated outside Civitas'
HQ and were pointing up at the eerie sign, jostling each other for a
closer look.

But that wasn't all. As she stared at the logo, Anais couldn't help
thinking she'd seen it somewhere before. She stared at the hologram.
There was something remarkably familiar about that symbol. It
hovered on the edge of her memory, but try as she might, she
couldn't place it. And then it all snapped into place.

She'd seen that symbol before. The strange man she'd accidentally
bumped into at the market had had that logo sewn onto his black
jacket, only, she'd been so freaked out by his attitude, she hadn't
looked at it too closely. And the man that they'd chased from
Denzel's shop...now that she thought about, he'd been wearing the
exact same black jacket. She'd just been too full of grief and
adrenaline at the time to realise it.

“
Oh,”
Anais gasped, as the truth dawned on her. It was the same man. Her
head swam with the implications of this thought. The man in Denzel's
shop...he'd killed Denzel with an SLP. He knew how they worked. And
now he was vandalising the Civitas building. With a sickening jolt,
Anais realised that if he'd been at the building last night then he
was also the one responsible for the security guard's death. She'd
met the murderer before and she'd just never known it. This was the
man who was responsible for all those deaths. For Dalla's death. And
if he had his way, he'd be responsible for thousands more today.

Without bothering to turn off the HV set, Anais flew to the front
door. She had to get to the parade and tell Xander, Clay and Skye
what she knew.

“
Anais!
Anais, is that you?”

Anais stopped short as her mum's voice called out. She turned to
see Mrs Finch emerging from the bedroom.

“
Thank
goodness,” Mrs Finch gasped. She ran and scooped Anais up in her
arms, taking her daughter by surprise.

“
I
was so worried about you, after yesterday,” her mum said into
Anais' hair. “You didn't answer our messages after the funeral.
Then I heard the news about those poor souls being murdered and I
thought – I thought something might have happened to you too.”

The knot in Anais' stomach tightened.

“
I'm
so sorry mum,” she said, hugging her mum fiercely back. “I
wasn't thinking straight.”

Mrs Finch pulled back and examined her daughter's face critically.

“
Where
were you?”

“
I
was with Xander.” It was true, but Anais still found herself
avoiding Mrs Finch's gaze.

“
Anais?
What happened?”

Anais forced herself to look back into her mother's eyes. She could
see all of her mother's worry reflected in there, and as much as she
wanted to blurt everything out, she couldn't do it. She couldn't
burden her parents with something as momentous as this. She'd
managed to get mixed up in this mess, she'd have to get herself out
of it. She wouldn't risk their lives for this, not after what had
happened to Dalla.

“
Nothing,”
she said, though her voice cracked. “Mum, promise me something.
Stay away from the parade today.”

“
Why?
Anais, what's wrong?” Mrs Finch's voice was sharp with worry.
Anais grabbed her mum's hands and squeezed them.

“
Promise
me,” she begged. “Don't go.”

“
Well,
I was planning on looking in after my shift...though goodness knows
if I'll get time now, with all this extra work they've been piling
on. But Anais, surely you're not going? Don't you have to work
double shifts, to make up for yesterday?”

Anais' mouth dropped open. Now that her mum mentioned it, she had a
vague recollection of Mr Mullins threatening her with extra shifts.
But that paled in comparison to what might happen at the parade.
She'd rather risk his wrath than be responsible for the deaths of
thousands of people. Anais shook her head.

“
There
are some things that are more important than work, mum. I'm not
going in today.”

Mrs Finch looked as though she was about to have a heart attack.

“
Anais...surely
you're not going to miss work for some silly parade? You haven't
even been there a week. You'll be fired!”

“
I
don't care!” Anais found herself shouting. “I don't care about
the factory! I don't care what they'll say! Don't you get it? There
are some things in life that are more important than some stupid
job.”

Unwanted tears blurred her vision. She tried to wipe them away, but
more came to take their place. Tentatively, Mrs Finch reached out
and took her daughter's hand.

“
Anais,
sweetheart, I didn't mean to upset you. I know you're still hurting
over Dalla's death, but sweetie, we've got to try and carry on. I
know you're not best pleased at working in the factory, but -”

“
Mum,
this isn't about the factory,” Anais said thickly. She wiped her
eyes. “This is about something else. I would go to work if I
could, but...I can't. I just can't. There's something I need to take
care of first. Please trust me – I wouldn't be doing this if I
didn't have to.”

“
Doing
what? Anais, you're scaring me,” Mrs Finch said. With an effort,
Anais met her mum's worried gaze.

“
Mum,
listen to me, you won't be safe at the parade. Stay at work and
don't leave until after the parade is over. Tell dad too. I love
you,” she reached up and planted a kiss on her mother's soft
cheek. “I'll see you tonight.”

She turned to go, but Mrs Finch grabbed her arm.

“
Anais!
You can't say things like that! What is it? What's wrong? What's
happening?”

“
I
can't tell you, I don't know,” Anais lied, pulling free of her
mum's grip. “I'll tell you tonight, I promise. Just – just stay
away from the parade today.”

And
with that, she wrenched the front door open and ran. She could hear
her mum's frantic shouts behind her, but she ignored them. She ran
down the street and round the corner, only stopping when she was
sure she'd put enough distance between herself and the flat that her
mother wouldn't try and follow her. Her heart ached at the thought
of deceiving her parents, but she had no other choice, not if she
wanted to keep them safe.
I'm
so sorry mum
,
she thought as blinked away her tears,
forgive
me
.

*

She caught the first vacant auto-cab she could see.

The cabs passing her were filled with families and couples, taking
the day off from work or school to enjoy the parade and the party
afterwards. She finally managed to stop a dark green cab, and she
got in.

“
Civitas,”
she said breathlessly, and the cab glided away.