The Digital Plague (14 page)

He didn’t spot the beacon,
I thought.
Paris.
His buddy let out a long moan, but I couldn’t tell if it was because of the news or his aching nose.

Hense nodded once, brisk. “Captain Happling, collect Mr. Cates. Marko and Jameson, grab your field gear. You’re coming with me.”

Marko nodded again, still staring at me. Happling didn’t move. “Where we headed, boss?”

“The roof,” she said, rubbing her temples. “We are leaving.”

Suddenly the other Techie was back on his feet. “What? Colonel, you
cannot
remove him. This has to be kicked upstairs. This is a public health crisis, and if you won’t—”

Hense’s face clouded, her brows knitting together, and my belly tightened up just before she reached across herself, drew her shiny, chrome-plated Roon automatic, and shot him in the face.

None of us moved. She looked around at us. “I just saved that poor son of a bitch from a few hours of slow, painful dying,” she said as if reading off a grocery list. She waited and then nodded, replacing her gun in its holster. “Captain?”

Happling hadn’t moved. I knew I was dead, but I felt I owed Glee more than that. I could almost hear her:
Ooh, Avery’s a martyr.
I owed her the bastards that had done this to her, just the same as if they’d blown her brains out. I owed her revenge. I took a deep breath and tore my hands from my pockets. I whipped my right hand out and had it, his gun, in my hand. I ripped it from his grasp and it seemed to settle into my grip of its own will.

But the big man was
fast.
Before I could do more, he’d moved, whirling and sending a solid kick against my chair, aiming for my balls but hitting the seat instead. I went sailing backward, toppling over, smacking my head against the floor. I heard him in the air and brought my arm around just in time to smack the barrel of his gun against his belly as he landed on me.

We both froze, panting. His breath smelled like ashes.

“Okay,” I said, gasping. “Let’s negotiate.”

Day Six:
I Can’t Imagine
What it is You Do Like

“Shit, boss,” Happling said between clenched teeth. “Permission to kill this son of a bitch?”

“Step back, Captain,” Hense said immediately, not sounding particularly concerned.

Happling stayed put for a moment, his teeth bared, and then he straightened up and stepped back, cursing under his breath and thrusting his big hands into his pockets. I tried to keep both cops in sight. Hense was just standing there, the smallest thing in the room, arms still crossed as if she’d never dream of drawing her own weapon or raising a hand in anger.

In the sudden vacuum, Marko whispered, “You fucking shot him.”

Hense unspooled one arm to gesture in my direction, a sculpted eyebrow going up. “Mr. Cates, you have the floor.”

I didn’t have much on my side, so I knew I was going to have to start lying. “First off, I know you’re not going to kill me, so stop threatening me.”

Happling was staring down at the floor, face red and posture tense. I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed likely he was making fists in his pockets. I’d make fists in my pockets, too, if I’d been made to look stupid like that. “How about we just
imply
great physical pain, then?” he said to the floor.

“Second,” I said without waiting for more of a response, “you don’t have all the information. Why do you think I’ve got these special nanos inside me? Because I’m fucking
patient zero.
I’m where it all started six days ago. You’re going to carry me around like luggage, and you don’t even know where to go. You’ve got a name, but do you think a lone underground Techie did this? Do your math, Colonel. Starting with me, this has been spreading outward steadily, right? Takes anywhere from a few hours to a few days to tear some poor asshole to pieces, right? The whole city’s on the edge of a fucking breakdown. And after the city—what? You’re a professional, Colonel, you know crowd control. Do you think you’re going to be able to bottle this up? You’re not even going to be able to keep this
downtown
for long.”

She just stared at me, but something told me, some change in her aura or whatever signal she was beaming out from that cold lizard brain of hers, that I had her attention. “I know where we go,” I said. “I know where we can find Ty Kieth. And I know where to go from there, too. Think about it,” I finished. “You’ve got resources. I’ve got the information.”

If her Techie had had more than five minutes to work, if Terries had managed to croak out everything he’d learned, I’d have nothing—but they hadn’t. It was time to start playing the old familiar role of Avery Cates, the Gweat and Tewwible.

I took a chance and moved my eyes onto her, this slip of a woman, her dark skin looking like she would feel good, up close. “Colonel, we’re
partners.
”

Happling twitched his head and spat on the floor. “Nuts,” he muttered.

Hense held up a hand and Happling went quiet again. I didn’t look at the big man. He didn’t count. The secret to Big Red Happling was his boss.

She regarded me silently for a few moments. I didn’t like holding her gaze; she was one of those confident people who were absolutely certain that everything they did, they did for the right reasons. I was pretty sure Colonel Janet Hense never woke up sweating after a dream about all the people she’d killed, never had that nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach that ate at her resolve like acid, had never lain panting in a muddy puddle somewhere, terrified and ready and willing to sell whatever she had just to guarantee her survival. Me, I was used to all three, and her steady, unblinking gaze was like fucking fire on my skin.

Then she nodded curtly. “Captain,” she said slowly, still studying me. “Cut Mr. Cates loose. Let him keep the weapon.”

Happling shivered, as if her words had released him from some invisible bond. I wondered, briefly, if she was a psionic, too, though she was too old. As far as I knew, the SSF had only started testing for and taking away psionic-positives about twenty years ago. I expected them all to be about the age the terrible DPH trio had been, midtwenties, kids.

“Boss,” he said slowly, his voice low and steady, “that is a fucking bad idea. This guy is not just some informer, some asset. He’s Avery Cates. He’s a cop killer.”

Hense didn’t look at him, she was still looking at me, and I hadn’t moved an inch. I didn’t know why, but I was sure that if I moved too soon, everything was going to hell. So we kept staring at each other. “I’m not aware of any paperwork on Mr. Cates, Captain. As far as I am aware, his name does not appear in the database associated with any open investigations. He is,” she said with just the hint of a smile, “the very model of a good citizen.” She finally turned her head slightly to look at him. “And the SSF takes citizenship very seriously.”

The sound of ten knuckles cracking simultaneously came from Happling’s pockets. “Boss, you know as well as I do that Marin wiped his jacket, deleted him from the DB, years ago. Why? I don’t know. You don’t know. But since it was Marin, it fucking
sucked,
whatever it was. And this piece of shit has just been careful since then. This whole goddamn building is aching to put one in his ear. And you’re telling me to
cut him loose
and to
let him keep my weapon.
”

Happling was quivering with rage, his whole body shaking slightly. Marko took a step backward, and I didn’t blame him. I couldn’t see Happling’s face, but I’d seen big cops go fucking crazy before, and I knew it wasn’t fun to watch.

Hense was now staring at Happling. “That was an order, Captain,” she said evenly. “I don’t see you obeying it.”

He twitched. When he whirled to face me, I put the gun on him reflexively, the violence of his body language ringing all my alarms. He jerked his left arm out stiffly and the blade slid into his hand. He stormed over to me in four steps and I kept the gun on him, pointed at his face, until he was looming over me, face purple, the skin around his bulging eyes taut. When he moved, I almost pulled the trigger on him, it was so fast. But all he did was flash the blade down through the wires tying my ankles to the chair. Like my wrists, my ankles were cut deeply, blood soaking into my shoes.

He came up and pointed the blade at my nose. “Do something I don’t like, Cates, and I will gut you.”

“That’s not fair,” I said as he turned away. “I can’t imagine what it is you
do
like.” He hesitated for a moment and then resumed his spot on the floor, snapping the blade back into his sleeve. He shook himself and produced his pack of cheap cigarettes, shaking two out into one paw and crushing them without preamble.

“All right,” Hense said as I experimentally pulled myself into a squatting position, dropping the gun into my coat pocket. “Now that we’re all fast friends, let’s get a few things straight. I am in charge here. Mr. Marko, I am pulling you into my portfolio on a rolling basis. If you have a problem with that, file an IA report and go through channels. In the meantime, do what I say. Captain Happling, I expect no bullshit from you.”

“No, sir,” he said, sounding tired.

She turned to me as I slowly stood up, feeling shaky, my head pounding. “Mr. Cates, where are we going?”

I shook my head. “One thing at a time, Colonel,” I said. “Get us moving, and I’ll tell you where we’re headed when we’re airborne.”

“Mr. Cates, as you just pointed out, we’re not likely to kill you. You are, apparently, necessary for our survival.”

I put a grin on my face, trying to look as nonchalant and unconcerned as possible for someone who was bruised and covered in his own crusted blood and worried he might have a concussion. “I also don’t want to be carried around like luggage, Colonel.”

“And if I gave you my word?”

I made my smile wider with some effort. “I knew a guy once, a small-fry shylock out of the Bronx, sold info to a pair of System Pigs for a few years. They gave him their word he’d have some consideration because he was helping them out. Then one day they show up, take him out back of his own fucking flop, and put a bullet in his head. Walked away laughing about it.” I shrugged. “Fuck your word.”

Happling turned on me, face purple again. “You fucking call any cop a
pig
again, you piece of shit, and I’ll—”

“Gut me, I heard,” I said, heart pounding. “How about we fucking
stipulate
that and we can stop repeating ourselves?”

He stared at me for another moment, breathing roughly through his nose, and then turned away again.

“Let’s get moving,” Hense said.

Marko cleared his throat. He was pale and so unhappy it was coming off him in soft, yellow waves. “Colonel, I—”

“Mr. Marko, I doubt there is anything I care less about than what you think. Grab whatever gear you think might be useful. We may be headed places without reliable power or communications, so try to think of that. You’ve got two minutes. Happ,” she said, producing her gun in a clinical way and snapping it open to view the chamber. “I’m not going to have problems with you, am I?”

He shook his head. “No, sir,” he said calmly.

“Good,” she said, snapping the gun shut and reholstering it. “On our way up, we’ll need to hit an armory closet, so think about where the most convenient one is. Mr. Cates,” she said, turning to face me, “I will phrase all of my orders as requests and make a show of considering your opinions, and although you do not value it I give you my
word
you will be given fair warning when I decide your usefulness is at an end. Good enough?”

I shrugged. There wasn’t anything to say to that. I had no intention of being anywhere near her when she decided my fucking usefulness was at a fucking end. I needed her to get across the ocean, to get me out of New York. Past that, they were all on their own, as far as I was concerned. She wasn’t any better than me. At least I was going to get Glee’s revenge, my revenge—which, it turned out, was the fucking world’s revenge, too. The colonel was just keeping me near her to save her own life. I didn’t doubt she would cut off my limbs and carry me around on her back like a gimp for the rest of our miserable lives, if it came to that.

Marko had started stuffing things into a large black duffel, looking shaky and completely freaked out as he stepped around his dead partner. His eyes were small and dark in the midst of his hairy face. “Why are we in such a rush, Colonel?” he managed to croak out as he scooped a handful of red plastic things into the maw of the bag. “This is pretty fucking irregular.”

Hense nodded. “It’s been an irregular couple of days, Mr. Marko. We need to get out of the city before this situation explodes.”

Marko opened his unhappy mouth to reply just as a shrieking alarm split the air, honking urgently. It repeated three times and then a neutral, artificial voice boomed out of nowhere. I was getting sick and tired of shells making announcements.

“Attention, all SSF Personnel. By order of DIA Marin, Authorization Code One-Niner-Charlie-Alpha, this facility has been placed in lockdown. All personnel are ordered to remain where they are until further notice. All air traffic has been restricted and must be passed personally through DIA Marin’s office. Please contact your COs for further information. Attention …”

As the message repeated, its volume slowly decreased. Marko looked around from under his thick eyebrows. “Looks like it’s too late,” he said.