The Burn Zone (24 page)

“
Watch it, ass!
”
I called after him.

“
What?
”
Kang asked.

“
Not you. Sorry.
”

“
Look, you
’
re not going to like what I have to tell you,
”
he said.

“
He
’
s not dead,
”
I said.
“
He
—
”

“
I know,
”
Kang said quickly.

“
Because he—
”

“
He
’
s not dead, Sam. They still need him. He
’
s alive, at least for now.
”

I realized then that, in spite of what I
’
d been saying, there was part of me that was pretty sure I
’
d lost him. Relief welled up, and I blurted out a sharp laugh.

“
Oh, thank God,
”
I whispered, putting one hand over my mouth.

“
Sam, it
’
s still not good.
”
Kang said soberly.
“
They beat him bad, and word is he still hasn
’
t come to. Even if he does wake up, he
’
s facing a treason charge. There
’
s a good chance he could be executed.
”

“
He
’
s not a traitor.
”
Someone on the walkway glanced over at me.
“
Just... tell me, is there any chance he
’
ll be okay? How bad is it?
”

“
Bad, but he
’
s alive. That
’
s a start. I
’
m going to see what I can do, okay?
”

“
Thank you,
”
I said. I let the relief bubble up a little more, and a smile broke over my face.
“
Mr. Kang, thank you, thank you so much
…
”

“
Don
’
t thank me,
”
he said.
“
Just drop this now. You
’
re already in it up to your neck.
”

“
That
’
s why I can
’
t drop it.
”

“
Sam, you have to. I
’
m going to see about getting this bullshit cannibalism bounty shut down, so in the meantime just lie low. Let me look into this, and don
’
t get any more involved than you already are.
”

“
I can
’
t just—
”

“
What would really help is if I could give them the boy and the woman he brought over. If I had them, it would go a long way.
”

I opened my mouth to tell Kang about the lead from the eyebot logs, but I couldn
’
t really share that with him without getting Vamp in serious trouble and it didn
’
t really give anything to go on yet anyway. I knew from Dragan
’
s wet drive recording that Innuya was dead and Alexei was in Hangfei, but I couldn
’
t tell him that without explaining how I knew.

“
If anyone finds this message, it is critical that you deliver it to Military Governor Jianguo Hwong immediately. Do not hand it over to security, only to him.
”

Kang paused on the other end of the line.
“
Do you know something, Sam?
”

“
No.
”

“
Are you sure?
”

“
I
’
m sure,
”
I said.
“
Believe me, I
’
ll tell you if I do.
”

He paused again, but let it go.
“
When you land somewhere, don
’
t tell anyone else where you are. Call me and I
’
ll come meet you.
”

I nodded.
“
Fine.
Okay.
”

“
Promise me.
”

“
I promise.
”

He hung up, and I put the phone away.

Dragan was alive. It sounded like things were far from over, but he was still alive and so there was still hope. If I could just—

I staggered as another sharp pain dug deep into my gut. A man plowed into me and I had to grab the rail to keep from bowling us both over.

“
Hey!
”
someone barked from back behind me.

“
Move it,
”
the man said, pushing past me as I tried to stand upright again and another sharp pain bent me back over. I held on to the moving rail with one hand as I felt a drop of sweat roll down my face. Another body
pushed past me, and then another as my legs threatened to give out underneath me.

Something was wrong. Something was really wrong. Up ahead I saw a spot to jump off the walkway, and when it came I took it. I shoved my way out of the crowd, leaving behind a wake of angry curses.

“
Watch it, bitch!
”
someone spat after me, but I barely heard him. I scanned the rows of tunnel shops and kiosks across the slow-moving current of people ahead until I spotted a sign for a public restroom. Forcing myself to stand up straight, I made a beeline for it.

At the entrance I veered left toward the women
’
s room. I pushed open the door and blundered down the narrow row of toilet stalls along the left-hand wall and sinks with
steri
-gel dispensers along the right. A few women stood in front of the mirrors primping, and their eyes followed me as I made for the closest open stall door. Once inside I pushed it shut and latched it, plopping down on top of the toilet with my pants still up.

“
You
’
re okay,
”
I told myself, sweat trickling down my face and neck.
“
You
’
re okay....
”

I was starting to wonder if maybe it wasn
’
t the double cross I
’
d taken from Eng. Was it laced with something maybe? Or maybe the scalefly ration was bad, or—

“
The delivery system for this weapon is the haan scalefly.
...
”

I
’
d been bitten by one of the scalefiies that had been hovering around the haan soldier in Eng
’
s hotel room. Could I be sick? It sounded like the weapon hadn
’
t been released yet, but something happened back there. The
vision I
’
d had happened right after it
bit
me
…
The pain
stopped, leaving behind a phantom ache that lasted several seconds before my brain registered the relief. My stomach unclenched, and the sick feeling went away. The sweat cooled and began to dry on my face, and I used a fistful of toilet paper to dab it dry.

“
What
’
s wrong with me?
”
I whispered, my voice reverberating louder than I intended in the cramped room.

“
Are you okay?
”
one of the women at the sinks asked.

“
I
’
m fine,
”
I said.
“
Thanks.
”

Through the crack I could see her, a woman in a business suit with neat, sculpted hair and pretty, angular features. Her eyes watched back from the mirror, trying to make me out through the narrow gap of the stall door.

I leaned back and noticed a chat notification flashing in the 3i
’
s tray. I locked on to the icon and flicked my eyes upward, popping the window out in front of me.

Kmo
-mo
ecm
b
?

I didn
’
t recognize the weird characters, and figured some foreign spam had tricked the junk filter. I was just about to delete and block it when I spotted the contact name.

Alexei Drugov.

“
Shit,
”
I whispered. His icon had turned pink, the little heart beating. The little shit was alive.

Пожалуϋcma
,
omвemьme
мнe
.

Alexei, I can
’
t understand you. Where are you?

A
pause, then:

Я
вac
нe
noнuмaю
.
Βьι
мoжeme
нanucamь
,
noэmomy
я
mosy
noняmь
?

Alexei, hang on. Let me get a translator.

The icon went gray.

“
Damn it.
”

I found a translator link and piped the conversation through to see what he
’
d said.

Is someone there?

Please, answer me.

I don
’
t understand you. Can you write so I can understand?

Wherever Dragan had ditched him, he was still there, then. His mother was dead, but he was somewhere in Hangfei. Where?

I pulled up the message details, and checked the location.

Out of Range.

“
Screw you, out of range,
”
I whispered. How could he be out of range? Everything pointed to him being somewhere right in the city. It didn
’
t make sense.

“
Sam?
”
a voice asked. I jumped a little as the screen flickered on the stall door a few inches from my face.

“
Huh?
”

“
That
’
s some nice ink work,
”
the A.I. said.

Crunchy, driving music began to pipe through the speaker at a low volume as a stylized logo appeared in front of me.

“
Oh, come on....
”

“
No, really.
It
’
s nice work.
”

I held out my right arm and made a muscle, flashing the bond bands there: Dragan, then Vamp.
“
Thanks.
”

“
Are the wrist ticks for each successful surrogate imprint?
”

Not many people knew what those were for. The bot was pretty good, but I wasn
’
t in the mood.

“
Are you okay?
”
it asked when I didn
’
t answer.