The Unseen (16 page)

“Elections? What a joke! There hasn’t been an honest election in this country since the first one. It’s all money and lies. Winning an election just means that you were able to out-cheat, outspend, and out-promise your opponent.”

“So, what, you should be in charge then? Or are you going to be Rosewood’s pawn forever?”

“Rosewood? No, Rosewood is nothing but a means to an end. She’s a greedy politician who helps us fly under the radar here while she furthers our plans by her own ambition. She’s as guilty as the rest and will be removed when the time is right. We should be in charge. Think about it—why not put the smartest and brightest in charge? You can’t honestly tell me you think those fools running this country and this war can do a better job than we can.”

“A war you won’t let end. It might have been over by now if you’d stop
murdering
people!” Kari’s voice shook as she talked. She wasn’t sure if it was rage, fear, or just the incredible amount of disappointment that she felt that caused it to be weak.

“I’m not keeping them from peace. They flirted with a truce for election season, but there will never be any lasting peace with them in charge. We can end the suffering and the waste for good. We can build the utopia that this world needs.” Joseth’s voice grew louder as he ranted, each word more filled with passion than the last.
He really believes this. He believes every word. And why shouldn’t he?
Kari felt dirty for thinking it.
The current leadership has gotten us into a giant mess . . .

“And all the bodies that are piling up on the way? What’s utopian about that?” Kari asked.

Joseth frowned at that.
At least he doesn’t like the deaths that are happening. Or at least he acts like he doesn’t like them.

“No ruler can govern without dirty hands. Hard decisions must be made. But, trust me, I don’t make those decisions lightly. The sooner we can end all of this the better.”

“We?”

“Yes, you, me, the Unseen—all of us. Together we can change the world.”

“I’m not going to help you,” Kari said, her voice still quavering with every word.

“You already have.”

“I wouldn’t have paid your stupid rent if I knew what was going on.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, you weren’t that big of help. All you did was figure out a system for me while I was busy elsewhere.”

“So you weren’t even trying?”

“Of course not. But you’d rather let this war continue endlessly than help it come to a close?” Joseth said. “I don’t believe that.”

“No. Obviously I want this war to end.”

“Great! Then I can assure you that this is the fastest way to peace. If you help, you can save countless lives in the long run. Not helping would put their lives on your shoulders. Are you sure you want that?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then why don’t you take some time, rather than space, to clear your mind, and we’ll talk about this again soon. Needless to say, I consider this a highly private matter, so your discretion is expected. Unfortunately, that means I’ll have to enforce stricter filtering on whom you can contact and what means of communication are acceptable.” Joseth stood and walked away, with the cheetahs beside him, leaving Kari and Lars alone in the covered gazebo outside of Valhalla.

The walls aren’t white, and there’s no one in my head with me, but this is just as much of a prison as Henderson’s. A beautiful prison.

It had been over twenty-four hours since Kari learned that she had helped Joseth assassinate a senior vice president of the Middle States, and she hadn’t left her bed since, except for the occasional bathroom break
.
Several modified crawlers that carried around food dropped off some meals, but Kari had verbally chased them away, as she was in no mood to eat. She wasn’t in the mood to do anything.
Why does everyone want to force me to hack for them?

A notification alerted Kari to the fact that David was trying to call. Again. She didn’t answer it. She had sent him a few messages letting him know that she was safe and would call him when she got the chance, but she hadn’t felt up to it yet.
I can’t talk to David openly, knowing that Joseth’s on the other line listening in. He has to approve everything that comes through his proxy; he’s probably been listening in every time I talk to David, and I don’t want him dragging David into this
.

Just thinking about Joseth made her sick.
I looked up to him . . . the great Oedipus. I fawned over him like a stupid fangirl.
That thought made her stomach roll. She didn’t dare remind herself of the fact that they had kissed on several occasions.

If I can break out of a high-security prison, I can make it out of here.
Kari had expected Joseth to stop by and give her some orders or demand something from her, but so far she couldn’t tell that anything had changed besides her restricted communication. She had tested Joseth’s system that prevented her from reaching the outside world by trying to send information about some trivial hacks to the media, but that had failed. She didn’t try too hard because she didn’t want Joseth to send a cheetah in to kill her. There was no way Joseth was going to allow the world to learn about the Unseen.

But she still had full access to order food, go anywhere, or print anything. At least as far as she could tell—she hadn’t been brave enough to test all of those boundaries yet.
I haven’t been brave enough to see if I can even leave my room yet
. Kari stared at the door with contempt.
Time to start figuring out how to get out of here.

Kari approached the door cautiously and pulled it open, expecting to find some guards or someone on the outside, but her hallway was deserted. A door opened down the hallway and her neighbor, who was the only hacker younger than Kari whom she’d met at Valhalla, walked by. Sir Reginald Worthington III made eye contact with her briefly before awkwardly staring at the floor instead
.

Well, that’s no different.
Kari decided to follow Reginald down the stairs toward the great room.
The farther she made it from her room, the tenser she became. It felt like she was breaking the rules, and someone was going to show up any second to beat her over the head with a shock stick for leaving her room. But no one came.

Maybe I should just try making a run for it right now. Maybe it’d catch him off guard. But he has those cheetahs guarding the road; I’d never make it past them.
Kari stopped at the balcony overlooking the great room. A pair of hackers playing chess were the only people in sight. The usual drones and robotics buzzed around the room doing various tasks, such as cleaning the windows and replacing the printed sculptures with new ones. Satisfied with the fact that she could leave her room without getting smashed in the head, she decided to go clean herself up before testing any other boundaries.

“That’s going to be one fine foot massage, Misty my dear,” Motorcad said. SeptemberMist and Motorcad were standing by the entrance to her door, looking inside.

“You guys married or something?” Kari said. “First, you’re always together, and now I find out you give each other intimate massages.”

“He’s not my type,” SeptemberMist said, looking back around the doorway at Kari. “And this totally counts as her still being in her room Motorcad.”

“You wish,” Motorcad said. “Which also happened to be my response when she did ask me to marry her.”

“You’re so full of it,” SeptemberMist said, rolling her big brown eyes. Kari had never seriously thought of them as a couple before, but it could work. She was pretty enough for him, and he was only a few years younger than her. “Look, she hasn’t even changed her clothes since the other day. That totally counts.”

“Really?” Motorcad leaned in and sniffed her, which was all the confirmation he needed.

“Thanks,” Kari said. SeptemberMist shrugged in a way that said, “You would have done it too.”

“So, you ready to play?” Motorcad said. He was wearing more or less the same clothes as always, a tight-fitting t-shirt and some loose exercise shorts.

“Not today,” Kari said. She pushed passed them and into her room. Lars was curled up in a ball, sleeping on her bed.

“But you promised you would hang out with us today,” Motorcad said.

“I did?”

“No, you didn’t,” SeptemberMist said. “But we’d love it if you’d spend some time with us. At least with me, please, I beg you. I need someone with a brain to hang out with once in a while.”

“And she wonders why I turned down her marriage overtures . . .” Motorcad said.

“How about tomorrow?” Kari said
.
She appreciated how much Motorcad and SeptemberMist made an effort to hang out with her even when she wasn’t always cheerful.

“Isn’t that what you said yesterday?” Motorcad said.

“Leave her alone,” SeptemberMist said. “We’ll stop by tomorrow.”

“Are you sure?” Motorcad said.

“Yes.” Kari and SeptemberMist said it at the same time. SeptemberMist pulled Motorcad from the room, looking back long enough to express a look of concern. Kari didn’t know what to make of those two. Motorcad had told her not to trust anyone, but he certainly seemed to trust SeptemberMist
. Maybe he was just trying to gain an upper hand in the game by messing with me. Or maybe it was implied that she was exempt from that statement.
Trusting Motorcad when he said not to trust anyone created a paradox that hurt Kari’s mind to think about.

Despite her desire to go on a hunger strike, she regretfully started eating some of the barbecue chicken salad that was sitting on a table by her door.

I want to talk to Mom.
It had been a long time since she had wanted that. Her parents were happily living in London, where Kari had set them up with a new life after she had freed them from Henderson last year. The whole experience complicated their relationship a good deal. Her mom and dad had never fully recovered from everything she had hidden from them over the years, but they were on good terms.
But the last thing I want is to have Joseth get to know my parents.

At least they aren’t in this prison with me.
It wasn’t a very comforting thought, but it was something positive.
It’ll make my escape from here less complicated. I don’t have to worry about anyone but myself this time. It would be nice if they could move back to the States, and I could go back and live with them again. But they’ll never be able to come back while the war is going on. Maybe if Joseth could end the war and save lives, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
It was a confusing thought, and she pondered it until she fell back asleep.

“Freelancer? Kari?” Kari squinted as she was pulled from her sleep. Her room was bright despite the fact that the blinds were closed. SeptemberMist stood to the side of her bed and was gently shaking her.
I thought we were friends—why would you do this to me?

“Yeah,” Kari mumbled, still mostly asleep. Her sleep had been restless and unsatisfying, which made being awake even more frustrating.

“Hey, sorry to disturb you. I’ve just been worried about you and wanted to stop to see how you are doing.”
You thought talking was worth waking me up for
? Kari yawned and pushed herself up to a sitting position against the dark wooden headboard behind her.

“What’s up?” Kari said.

“It’s not what’s up with me, dear. It’s what’s up with you.”

“What do you mean?” Instinctively, Kari tried to sound like nothing was wrong.

“Oh, honey. Look, you still haven’t changed. You smell horrid, and you’ve been blowing us off every chance you get. I’m old enough to know when a friend is having a hard time.”

“Err . . .” Kari didn’t know what to say.

“Is it Joseth?”

“I guess you could say that.”
You could save it five times over for all different reasons.

“Things not going well between you two anymore?”

“Not really,” Kari said. On cue she received a notification that David was trying to call her again. She declined it.

“I’m sorry; that’s hard. But you have to pull yourself together. You can’t mope around and let yourself go. You’re too young for that.”

“You talk like you’re old enough to be my mom or something.” Kari regretted saying it, but it was too early for her to be more tactful.

“I feel old enough to be your mom.” Tara laughed, but Kari didn’t see any reason to join her. “So you need to get up, take a shower, print some new clothes, and come and spend some time with your friends. We’re here for you. We care about you.”

“Fine.”

“Really?” SeptemberMist said. “Well that was easier than I thought it would be.”

“What can I say? You’re a convincing person. And a good friend.” Tara leaned in and gave her an awkward hug.

“Use lots of soap in that shower,” SeptemberMist said as she stood up. She was almost out of the room before Kari stopped her.

“Have you ever tried to leave here? Like for a weekend or a vacation?” Kari said. SeptemberMist stopped and looked back at her with a knowing smile.

“Why would I ever want to leave?”

David answered her call in record time. His eyes were wide as he looked her over, making sure she was safe. Seeing his face made her happier inside. She wasn’t sure that Joseth would allow her to call David, but it was a pleasant surprise that the call connected.
Why did I ever waste time thinking about Joseth?

“Hello,” Kari said. “Happy to see me?”

“Of course I am! If you’re trying to play hard to get you can stop. It’s already worked.”

“Sorry, just haven’t had a great opportunity to talk.”

David rubbed his short blond hair and raised his eyebrows at that. “What does that mean?”

It means I can’t tell you what it means.
“It means that I’m in a good place and that I’m safe.”

“I feel like you’re not telling me everything.”

“I need you to trust me.”

“You’ve been saying that a lot lately . . .”

“Well, I’ll let you know when you can stop trusting me.”

“That’s not a very convincing argument.” David looked more and more concerned as the conversation developed.
Sometimes I underestimate him.