The Silent Army (12 page)

Parts.

You went down there to get her, I think.

Did she make me forget?

We’ll talk about it later
.

It’s a yes or no question, Wachalowski.

It’s not that simple. We’ll talk about it later, but for now, don’t say anything about it to anyone else.

What?

I mean it. You’ll attract the wrong kind of attention. Don’t talk about it.

What wrong kind of attention? What the hell is going on?

Look, what happened two years ago . . . it didn’t end then. The bombings, the attacks—they’re going to get worse. Powerful people are involved in this, and I don’t want you getting caught up in it.

And this thing you can’t get into, it involves revivors and Second Chance?

I have to go. Forget I said it.
I turned to leave but she grabbed my coat.

I want in. Let me in. You can trust me.

I know.

Then trust me. I’ll sniff around.

I should have stopped her, but I didn’t. The truth was, though, that I needed all the help I could get, and even at the FBI, I wasn’t sure who I could count on.

I have to go.

She nodded, but I already didn’t like the look in her eye. I had a second opportunity to stop her, and I didn’t. Instead I waved good-bye and began to make my way back through the crowd.

Zoe Ott—Pleasantview Apartments, Apartment #713

I sat on my couch, waiting for the police to come knocking on my door. They were going to blame me for what happened at the hospital; I knew they were. Someone shot that woman, and as far as they knew, I was the only one there. I wasn’t, but they weren’t going to believe me. No one else saw the other guy or revivor or whatever it was. No one else saw it. They thought I did it. The cops were probably looking for me already.

I should have just stayed there. I didn’t have a gun; I couldn’t have done it. Now they’d think I just threw it away or hid it or something. Going right home was stupid; it was the first place they’d look. They were probably on their way over already and there I was, just waiting for it to happen.

If they did come, I’d send them away. I’d have to. I could just make them think I didn’t have anything to do with it, which I didn’t. It wouldn’t even be a lie. I’d tell them the truth. A revivor did it. It didn’t matter if they believed me. I’d make them believe me.

I wanted a drink. I couldn’t calm down, and I just really, really wanted a drink. The pills helped, but right then I didn’t care. My heart was still beating too fast and I tried to breathe slower, but I couldn’t.

I closed my eyes and squeezed my fists against them. My hands were shaking, and I was sweating. I wanted to scream. Maybe the drinking was killing me before, but I must have been happier than this. I never had to feel like I did almost every day now. . . .

“They took the ship,” a voice said. I opened my eyes, and my apartment was gone. I was sitting on a metal floor, painted white. The room I was in was small, and it was dark except for an emergency light mounted on one wall.

There was a man sitting a few feet away. He had long, dirty hair and the start of a beard. His face was pale and his lips were chapped and peeling. His eyes were half shut. He looked like he could barely move.

“Who are you?” I asked him. Behind him, I could see more people huddled against the wall. They all looked like him, or worse.

“They took the ship,” he said again. His voice was hoarse. I watched as he lifted a glass jar off the floor and it shook in his hand, like he could barely lift it. Dark yellow liquid sloshed inside, and I realized it was urine. He put the jar to his chapped lips and drank.

I put my hand over my mouth, horrified. His eyes looked apologetic and ashamed.

“We can’t go out there,” he whispered, “We won’t make it. This way is better.”

Someone knocked on the door, and I jumped. When I turned, I was back in my apartment. The strange room was gone. The man with the urine was gone. The knock came again.

It was the police. They were here to get me. My heart started thumping as I got up off the couch and stood in the middle of the room, not moving.

“It’s not the cops,” a woman’s voice said from the other side. “Come on, open up!”

I headed over and opened the door. It was that woman, the one from the subway the other night. She had on the same wool hat and the same red poncho. Under one arm she had a big, flat cardboard box that was tied with a bow.

“Oh,” I said. “It’s you.”

“Penny,” she said.

“Sorry, I thought . . . I can’t get into it. I just ...”

“The cops won’t come here,” she said. “Don’t worry. It’s taken care of.”

“Taken care of?”

“They thought about it and realized they made a mistake. Besides, the Feds stepped in and took over.”

“But they’ll—”

“They’ll be looking for the revivor, like they should be. You’re off the hook. Forget about it.”

The whole thing was weird, but I had to admit, it was a huge weight off my chest.

“You going to let me in?” she asked.

“Um, sure.”

I moved out of her way and she walked in, looking around my place. She didn’t look like she thought much of what she saw, but she didn’t say anything.

“How do you know where I live?” I asked. She shrugged.

“I know a lot about you.”

“Have you been following me?”

“A little.”

She said it like it wasn’t a big deal. Who was she? She stared up at me with her blue eyes that kind of reminded me of Nico’s, and I felt a little dizzy for a second.

The phone rang, and my heart jumped. Maybe it was him.

“Never mind that,” the woman said. “He’ll leave a message. I want to talk to you first.”

I got that dizzy feeling again. The phone rang a few more times; then the machine picked up.

“Zoe? It’s Nico. I’ve been trying to re—”

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Ai sent me,” she said.

“Who?”

“Ai. I work for her.”

“. . . straightened it out with them. Just stay put for now. Call me as soon as you get . . .”

She talked to me like we knew each other, like we were old friends. She was like some robot friend in a box that got mailed to my doorstep. It was weird, but I didn’t feel funny about letting her in. Something told me I could trust her.

“No offense ...”

“Penny.”

“No offense, Penny, but what do you want?”

“Ai wants to meet with you, and your friend Nico too.”

“Who’s Ai?” She pronounced it like the letter I.

“You’ll recognize her when you see her,” she said. “You’ve seen her before, sort of. She’s seen you too.”

“Who is she?”

“The most important person you’ll ever meet,” she said.

“Why does she want to meet with me?”

“You’re important too.”

“Yeah, right.”

There was another knock at the door, and I saw I’d left it just hanging open, which I never did. Karen was standing there in the doorway, looking from Penny to me.

“Oh, sorry,” she said. “Am I interrupting?”

“No,” I said. I started fumbling for how I was going to introduce the weird girl who’d just showed up and who I didn’t even know, but she introduced herself.

“I’m Penny,” she said, holding out her hand with a smile. Karen smiled back and shook it.

“Karen.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Karen.”

“You too.”

She looked at both of us for a second.

“Are you two related?”

“No,” I said. “No, no. She’s . . . from work.”

“Oh, you work at the FBI?” Karen asked.

“No.”

I saw Karen’s smile kind of go down a notch, and she looked confused.

“Actually, I’m with the Lesbian Recruitment Corps,” Penny said. “We’re—”

“Okay, that’s it,” I said, cutting her off. I went to usher Karen out so I could get rid of the weirdo, but before I could, Penny’s eyes changed. Her pupils opened all the way, and Karen’s face relaxed. The confused look that was starting to get mad went away, and she looked totally at ease.

“It doesn’t matter what we say,” Penny said to me over her shoulder. She thought it was funny.

“I’m a new friend of Zoe’s,” she said to Karen. “I don’t work at the FBI, but she met me through work. That’s all you need to know. I’ll be a very good influence on her, and I’m no threat at all to your friendship.”

“Oh,” Karen said.

“I’m pretty too. And funny.”

“Come on,” I said. “Stop it.”

“Well, those things are true,” she said, but I thought that might be debatable.

“Let her go.”

It wasn’t like I’d never done it to her myself, but I wasn’t comfortable watching someone else do it to her. Penny didn’t argue; she just nodded.

“Forget everything else we said after we met,” she told Karen. “It’s not important.”

“Okay.”

Her eyes went back to normal, and Karen snapped out of it.

“Give us a second,” I said to Penny. I led Karen back to the front door.

“Sorry,” I said. “She won’t be long.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “I just wanted to tell you I was sorry about before. You’re right about Ted. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry I canceled our lunch date.”

She looked over my shoulder, then back at me.

“She’s really pretty. She’s funny too,” she said. I nodded weakly.

“You’re not mad?”

“About what?”

“I don’t know.”

“Because of her?” she said, smiling. “No. We should all go do something together.”

I tried to think of an excuse of why we shouldn’t do that, but nothing came into my head.

“Dancing,” Karen said.

“I don’t know about dancing, Karen.”

“Too much? Well, something. I’ll get out of your hair for now.”

She lowered her voice and leaned closer.

“Tell me all about her later.”

“I will. So you’re not mad? About her or Ted or anything?”

She hugged me. Karen liked to hug, and I wouldn’t admit it, but I kind of liked being hugged by her too.

“Yes, I was mad. Friends get mad at each other sometimes,” she said in my ear. “I love you.”

She pulled away and waved, then slipped out. I stared at the door. I don’t know what made her say that last part. I don’t think anyone had said that to me since I was little.

“Sorry about that,” Penny said. She actually looked kind of apologetic.

“Just . . . tell me what you want.”

“I would like to officially invite you and your friend Nico to meet with Ai at Suehiro 9,” she said.

“What’s that?”

“A restaurant.”

“Why a restaurant?”

“I don’t know. It’s public. It’s exclusive. They have good security. Plus I think she wants to impress you.”

“Is it fancy?”

“Totally.”

A fancy restaurant didn’t sound like anyplace I wanted to go. I didn’t have anything to wear to a place like that.

“Don’t worry about what to wear,” she said, like she read my mind. “She gave me this to give to you.”

She handed me the cardboard box with the bow on it.

“Go on. Open it.”

I pulled off the bow and took the top off the box. There was some thin paper underneath, and under that was a black dress. There were high-heel shoes in there too. They looked expensive. They looked really expensive.

“It’ll fit,” she said.

“She’s giving this to me?”

“Don’t worry so much,” Penny said. “It’s not a big deal. Come on, she’s footing the bill. If you don’t go, then I don’t get to go.”

“That woman,” I said, still looking at the dress, “the one I was with at the hospital. She was with you guys, wasn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“You know I was with her when she died?”

“Yes. Don’t worry about her. It wasn’t your job to protect her. She knew what she was getting into.”

“Why does your friend want to meet with me and Nico?”

“I don’t know,” she said, “I just know it’s important. She’ll explain everything.”

“I don’t know if Nico will go or not.”

“Don’t worry about him,” she said, waving her hand. “He was easy. He’ll go.”

“I don’t know if he’ll want to go with me.”

“I’m telling you; he’s on the hook.”

“Why didn’t she just come herself?”

“That’s what she’s got me for,” she said. “Besides, I think she thought you and me would hit it off, maybe become friends.”

“Friends?”

“Yeah, friends,” she said, holding out her hands. “You don’t want to keep all your eggs in one basket. Do you have something against friends?”

“No—”

“Okay, then.”

She opened the door and turned to face me in the doorway before she left. She gave me a weird look, and I felt my heart rate slow down a little.

“It’s tonight,” she said, handing me a card. “Call Nico, and tell him to pick you up. See you there.”

She left. I closed the door behind her. After a few seconds, I locked it.

I should go see Karen.

In spite of how strange the visit was, that was the thing I couldn’t stop thinking as soon as she left. The way Karen’s face looked when she pushed her like that, and the way her whole attitude just changed completely afterward. It didn’t seem right somehow.

But you do it all the time, don’t you?

Not all the time.

But you do it.

Maybe. I guessed I did. Not as much as before, but I had to admit I did sometimes still, and not just to her. Was that what it was like? If anyone else watched me the way I had just watched them, would they think it was just as wrong?

“Karen’s my friend,” I said out loud. She was my friend because she wanted to be, not because I made her. Not even I could make someone be my friend. You could make people do a lot of things, but you couldn’t make them like you.

In the end I decided not to go down. It seemed weird to show up again right after that. She was happy when she left. I figured I’d leave it at that.

Instead I took the dress the rest of the way out of the package. It looked like it cost a mint. I held it up in front of myself and went into the bathroom to see.