Betrothed Episode One (14 page)

I knew
that, and that’s the reason my gut was twisting and contorting as
if someone was wrapping it up in chains.

“
I heard about the terrorist attack on the ground there, you
okay?”

“
It wasn’t a terrorist attack,” I said in a quiet tone. So
much for not sharing my misgivings. The official report would show
it was a damn terrorist attack, and I would be wise to keep my
suspicions to myself.

Bethany
knew me though. She paused. “These are strange times.”

“
Yes they are.”

“
If you need anything, just let me know.”

“
Thank you, I will.”

With
that we signed off.

I jammed
my hands back into my pockets and tried to think. Try being the
operative word.

Lieutenant Mark Havelock was not in the Scorpion
Cluster.

So where
was he? And what did all of this have to do with the mysterious
Miranda?

One of
my security guards marched up to me. “Sir, we don’t have any clues
yet, but we have a lead.”

“
So do I,” I realized. “Relay any information to my wrist
device; I’m going back to central to question a
witness.”

It
wasn’t wise to put off questioning Miranda any longer.

She
could very well be the clue at the heart of this.

Anna Carter

I
couldn’t stop myself.

I
couldn’t stop myself from leaving. Though my rational mind screamed
at me not to, it accounted for nothing. The compulsion building
within me was too strong.

And I
could see it. This vision playing just behind my eyes showing me
how to escape the central security building.

I
followed it.

I
followed the vision as it showed me what to do.

First, I
went to the bathroom and pulled out a small sharp piece of metal
from one of the grooming kits.

Without
a moment’s hesitation, I jammed it into my neck, just below my
right ear.

I
squealed with pain, but muffled my mouth with a hand so my voice
didn’t carry.

I worked
the small shard of metal down and under the skin until it connected
with my implant. Then I flicked it out as if I was removing a tick
from my flesh.

It left
a gaping wound which quickly trickled with blood.

I
ignored it and instead watched my identity implant fall to the
floor.

I’d seen
an identity implant before, and I knew what they looked like. This
was different. Larger, sleeker, and with more nodes.

I wasn’t
allowed to stand there and stare at it for too long; the vision
told me to move.

My
visions were stronger now, sharper. They didn’t have the detail and
the all-encompassing reality of the one involving Hart, but they
were still strong enough that they left me knowing exactly what to
do.

I picked
up the identity chip and walked into the main section of my room. I
placed it onto the table, a few flecks of blood pooling underneath
it.

Ignoring
the wound in my neck, I walked over to the panel by my door. Still
holding the small sharp piece of metal, I stuck it into the side of
the panel, fidgeting it back and forth until I pulled the metal
casing off.

It
clattered to the floor.

Then I
focused, not on the panel, but my vision.

It was
diffuse, filtering in and out, but the more I concentrated on it,
the sharper it became.

As did
the pain building behind my left eye. It was like something was
gouging into my skull, second after second.

And
there was nothing I could do to stop it.

After
several minutes of tinkering, something happened.

The
panel flashed and a low hum filtered out from behind me.

I turned
in time to see the force field reinforced glass of my window
flicker off. As soon as the shield disappeared in a winding down
hum like an engine stopping, the glass wobbled.

I walked
over to it, picking up a chair on my way.

With
strength I barely knew I had, I slammed the chair into the
glass.

Somehow
through whatever I’d done with the panel, I’d weakened the glass,
and my blow was enough to shatter it.

It
tumbled around me, falling over my arms and feet, but not cutting
me.

The wind
came. It raced into the building, slamming against me, setting my
hair buffeting behind me like a wet sheet.

I made
no attempt to bring a hand up to protect my face.

Instead I leaned down and put
on
the
shoes
I had
been given on being ushered to this room.
Fortunately Fargo had been kind enough to
ensure I had
clothes
that fitted
.

I walked over to the now wide open window.

I placed my hand on the sill, then, before I knew what I was
doing, I clambered on to it.

My heart raced. It felt like it was trying to reach light
speed. Fear pulled and tugged through me like a gravity well or a
black hole sucking me into it.

And yet that didn’t stop me from standing up on that same
sill, the wind tearing into my clothes and sending them slapping
and flapping around my body.

Before I
could scream, I did something.

I
followed my vision, and in my vision, I jumped.

Before I
could lock a hand onto the sill, my legs jerked forward.

I jumped
out of the window.

I was so
far up I couldn’t see the streets below, the towers were just so
many sky bridges and metal ascending to the heavens.

Finally
a scream ripped from my mouth, but it was too late.

I was
already falling.

...

Captain Fargo

I stood
in her room and I stared.

I
couldn’t believe what I was looking at.

The
force fields protecting the glass had been turned off, and the
window had been smashed.

There was a bloody implant sitting on the table, the rest of
the items that had once been
stacked
neatly on
it
were
now a jumble on the floor.

Security
officers rushed around me, but I stood stock still.

I was
immobilized, not by fear, but my questions.

I
wouldn’t have the opportunity to be immobilized for
long.

“
Whoever hacked this panel,” a technician said beside the
door, “is a genius. I’ve never seen work like this.”

“
What do you mean there is no footage?” A security guard said
from the window as she talked to another technician. “Every side of
the building is always monitored.”

“
No footage. Whoever hacked that panel, turned it
off.”

“
How the hell is that possible?” The guard spluttered with
frustration.

The technician shrugged his shoulders, his shock obvious. “I
wish I knew, but I don’t. Those panels are meant to be separate
from the main systems.”

I stood
there and I listened to every conversation, and I looked at every
detail.

Eventually my gaze darted back to the bloody implant on the
table.

I was no
technician, but I knew enough to realize it was a tracker
implant.

While
everybody else concentrated on the wide open window and the hacked
panel, I grabbed a scanner from a passing technician and walked
over to the implant.

I didn’t
scan it. I wasn’t that stupid.

Tracker
implants, depending on their sophistication, could detect when they
were being scanned, and some of them could
self-destruct.

Instead I scanned the blood in the micro specs of flesh
surrounding it.

I needed
to confirm where they were from.

With 98%
accuracy, the scanner told me they were from a human female’s
neck.

It was a
fact I already knew.

This was
Miranda’s identity implant, except it wasn’t an identity implant.
It was a cleverly disguised tracker implant. One that would have
been relaying her position, despite the secure shielding and
jamming fields of this building.

“
Whoever kidnapped her …” one of the technicians shook his
head, “Christ, they must have some sophisticated tech. I’m not
registering any bio signs other than the woman’s.”

And I
doubted he would.

Because
if Miranda was kidnapped, why would the tracking implant have been
removed from her neck?

What was
going on here?

I turned
on my foot and walked towards the window. I looked up, then I look
down.

There
were lines of hover traffic flying in between the buildings, and my
eyes caught the various colored vessels as I tried to stare down to
the street below.

So much
for concentrating on the upcoming Illuminate wedding. I wouldn’t be
dropping this until I found out what was going on.

I turned
and started barking orders.

...

Anna Carter

I wasn’t
dead. I wasn’t dead.

I’d just
jumped out of a window more than 100 floors up, and I wasn’t
dead.

I didn’t
sail through the lines of hover traffic darting through the high
towers and platforms of the city. Instead I barely fell several
meters.

I landed
on the back of a large transport craft.

It
wasn’t moving fast; it was stuck in traffic.

The top
of the vessel was large enough and rounded enough that when I
struck it, I rolled down, part of the impact of my fall being
absorbed until I rolled onto a flat section of the hull and
stopped.

For
several seconds I lay there, as still as a dead woman, staring up
at the sky, mouth open but no breath capable of passing my frozen
white lips.

I’d just
jumped from a building.

I’d just
jumped from a building.

I wasn’t permitted to rest there for long.

More
visions kept assaulting me, the pain behind my left eye felt like a
knife stabbing into the socket.

I pulled
myself up, my limbs shaking, but my body still moving
forward.

I stood,
I stood on top of a freaking hovercraft as it moved in traffic
hundreds upon hundreds of meters off the ground.

I
started to see other vessels flying near, the drivers and
passengers pointing at me in surprise.

The wind
pounded into me. It was like standing in the sea as tidal wave
after tidal wave slammed into my body.

Somehow
I managed to hold myself steady.

Whoever
was driving the transport I’d landed on had clearly been contacted
by the other drivers, as slowly the vessel swung around and headed
for the nearest port.

There
were small stations dotted along the sky bridges and platforms that
ran around the towers, and transports and crafts could land there
to unload their goods and passengers.

My
vessel moved towards the nearest one, with me still standing on
top, my hair buffeting like crazy as the long slits of my tunic
played around my pants.

I must
have looked crazy. Or incredible. Or both.

This
human woman without armor or protection standing on top of a
transport vessel like she was riding a horse.

I had no
time to think of that.

The
vision kept playing in my mind.

As soon
as the vessel docked, I moved. With a run up, I jumped. Thankfully
not off the vessel and down the side of the building.

Instead,
there was a small lip of metal to my left jutting out from one of
the higher levels above me.

If I’d
been the ordinary Anna Carter who didn’t see things, I wouldn’t
have managed that jump. Fear would have locked me in
place.

I wasn’t
the ordinary Anna Carter anymore.

I wasn’t
in control of my body.

As my
mind focused on the vision playing over and over again, my limbs
followed and there was nothing I could do to stop them.

My hand
caught that lip of metal, and forcing my feet into the wall, I
clambered until I pulled myself up and over the railing.

It led
to a small platform with a ladder that reached up to one of the
levels above.

I took
it quickly, ascending the floor above long before I heard the
worried calls from the transport below.

They
would be looking for me on the roof of their vessel, but I was
already long gone.

I paused
just before I clambered off the ladder onto the next level of the
building; I was waiting.