Cipher (10 page)

Oliver joined us, taking the tablet from Dex. “Don’t be such a pessimist.”

“It’s not pessimism. It’s realism.” I so wasn’t getting into a philosophical debate with these two. Oliver was too happy and hopeful, and Dex…well, Dex saw the world in a different way than anyone else I’d ever known. He had a sick sense of humor in situations not normally funny, and never took anything very seriously. In our situation, that wasn’t normal. “Anyway. He was definitely withholding info. I’m guessing he’s running multiple teams on this, each with different targets. But it’s interesting that I got her file in particular.”

“Agreed.” Dex sighed. “How do you want to play it?”

“Same thing we were planning before. Now that we’re off arena duty we’re supposed to focus on hunting Reds, and even stay on after the Trials leave the area, but we’ve got to make up bullshit progress reports.” I paused. The guys weren’t going to like what I said next. “And if someone’s cover is getting blown, it’ll be mine. Once I find Emma, I won’t be able to keep up a double life anyway.”

“The higher-ups are going to be watching us because of our relationship with you,” Dex said. “Might be safe to assume all of our covers are going to get blown.” He crossed his arms. “Well, I was starting to get tired of this covert stuff anyhow. It was really cutting into my gaming schedule.”

I rolled my eyes. Getting found out was going to be an adjustment to all of us. If it happened. “I’m going to change into civie clothes, and I suggest you both do the same. Then we’ll hit up this Marx’s. See if we can figure out if Emma is Cipher. The details don’t line up, but there’s something…” Or maybe I was being hopeful. “If not, Cipher might be one of the other Reds on our list—Steph Keane is a possibility. Or could be Devan Coda. None are a direct match, but Cipher’s Raven alone is worth investigating. So, we check her out, and if she’s not Emma, then you guys take care of her and I’ll move on. Cool?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Oliver grunted his agreement.

“Good.” I would’ve taken their opinions into consideration, but it was nice to have them back me up. “Let’s get this show on the road. No time for fuck-ups, douchebags.”

“Us? Fuck-up?” Dex held his hand over his heart. “I’m insulted, asshole.”

Oliver punched my shoulder. “We know what’s at stake here. But don’t let this get too personal.”

He was right, but I didn’t see any way around it. This mission to find Emma was personal. Extremely fucking personal.

Chapter Seven

CIPHER

Waiting for a new processor wasn’t working for me. I’d never been a patient person and I was itching to get into the files I’d salvaged from the Seligo. My portacom wasn’t exactly secure, but it was better than nothing. Still, I couldn’t use it from the Griz. I couldn’t risk any traces coming back to me.

I messaged Mona telling her I was going back to the city and I’d meet her at Marx’s at seven.

You better be there, bitch
, she replied.

Don’t freak. I’ll be there,
I answered.

I threw on a pair of black leggings, white tank, and super-thin gray hoodie. I rolled up the sleeves to show my Morse code tattoo, and pulled on a pair of combat boots. I liked to be comfortable, in case I needed to run, but I still needed to look halfway decent. I put on a minimal amount of makeup and pulled my blue hair in a high ponytail. Mona would still say I should’ve dressed nicer, but I didn’t care. It wasn’t like I was trying to impress Knight. Okay, maybe I wanted to, but that would’ve gone against my plan to stay away from him. So I was purposefully dressing low key. I grabbed my little backpack with my portacomp and a few essentials and headed out.

The park was teeming with activity. By this time, the night owls were up again, but it wasn’t late enough that the earlier risers were back in bed. The desert sand kicked up around my feet as I moved between trailers and RVs. Transpos went by the gate every five minutes. Any bus would take me straight into the Void proper. There were plenty of rooftops to work from, especially in this area. The rooftops were filled with homeless people, and I could blend easily and get a clear link to any number of secure satellites. I just had to pick a building to work from.

The transpo bus was nearly empty when I got on. The patterned material covering the metal seats was faded and dirt turned the lighter colors to a dingy gray-brown. It smelled like garbage and sweat. When I’d first started taking these buses, I’d tried not to touch anything, but now I was mostly desensitized to the filth. It was part of the joy of living in the Voids. Even though I had the Griz, I’d never drive her into the city. She was too hard to maneuver in the crowded streets.

After an hour and what felt like a million stops, I hopped out at a random spot. I wasn’t exactly sure where I was, but that was the point. Logging into my account when someone might be looking was dumb, and doing so in a totally random spot marginally negated that stupidity.

I walked five blocks until I found a rundown building. It was shorter than most. Only five stories. The windows were boarded, but a few boards had been pulled off. Squatters didn’t care if a building was condemned or not, only that it had a roof and walls. Sometimes even those were nonessential.

Loiterers ambled around outside the building, but didn’t pay me any attention. No one was stupid enough to get in each other’s business out here. It was more of a place to either disappear or lose yourself. To forget. I stepped over three sleeping forms—at least I hoped they were sleeping—to get to the chained double doors. Pulling open the heavy metal took a little doing, especially with all the rust, but I managed without pulling a muscle. The smell inside was horrible. Piss, shit, vomit, and alcohol mixed with rot and mildew. The lights were busted out—not that they would’ve worked if they hadn’t been busted. Glass and trash covered the floor. The sole of my shoe crackled when I picked my foot up.

Nasty, but desperation led people to all kinds of crazy things. I knew that better than most.

Shoving my shirt over my nose helped me not gag, and I started to carefully climb the stairs, testing each step before placing my full weight on the wooden planks. I didn’t want to die at the bottom of a stairwell.

A few people were camped out on the roof. They passed around a glass pipe and I knew that on the off chance they noticed me, they’d never remember. All they cared about was getting high.

I spotted an empty space off to the side away from the druggies that was as good a place to work as any. I pulled my two-inch by one-inch portacomp out of my backpack. Pressing two buttons, I opened it, expanding the device into a ball. The two projection points lit up, one casting the lines of a keyboard along the rooftop and the other forming my screens—one big, two smaller.

I cracked my knuckles before entering my access code and looked up the position of my usual link. The satellite had a special secure login that I’d designed myself. I had a handful of satellites that I rotated between.

Once I was in, it didn’t take long to pull the information from my cloud. As I scanned through the files, it was obvious that not everything I’d been trying to copy had made it. And most of the Shadow Ravens stuff was missing.

Hacking in again—for a third time—seemed like a damned stupid idea, but I didn’t have many options. I needed to know more about the Shadow Ravens. Could I really trust a Helix guy with raven tattoos? Were they really willing to help an unstable Red, or was this some front to trap people?

I navigated to the Black Helix files and looked up Sergeant H. Marquez a.k.a. Knight. If I was meeting up with him tonight, I needed to know how deep in this guy was, and how much I could trust him.

Even I could admit that his background was pretty impressive. He’d managed to get through the Trials at thirteen. Fast and strong were a given, but that wasn’t the impressive part. Knight was smart. His tests were off the charts, and the combination of skills that had earned him a dual helix made him a really big deal. He served as a ground ops tech, along with two of his classmates—Dex, who had a Blue and Black, and Oliver, who had a Green and Black.

But Knight didn’t have a single disciplinary mark on his files. He’d never done anything bad. Nothing to warrant investigation. Pretty impressive for a double agent—especially with how paranoid the Seligo were. They assumed everyone was an enemy. The guy must lie incredibly well—I couldn’t let myself forget that.

I clicked on some video clips of his missions. They were a little more violent than I could stand, so I skipped over to the candid images of him in various assignments. The intensity on his face was scary when he worked. It didn’t match with the teasing guy I’d met, and the two-faced thing really freaked me out.

As I moved through the file, a pic of him half-dressed filled my little screen and I groaned. He was too much. I left it up…to desensitize myself to his hotness.

Also, because those abs were too good not to look at.

The Shadow Ravens file was frustratingly incomplete. Everything was suspected locations and suspected agents, but nothing was backed up with facts. Apparently the Ravens were kicking the Seligo’s asses on the spying front, but that didn’t help me any.

I moved on to Jack’s folder. The most recent file detailed his mission to hunt down Reds. It was from two days ago. I scanned a recent memo to Dr. Nagi and my blood ran cold.

Power fluctuations reported in the Nevada Void approx twenty-one minutes ago. Sent unit to investigate. Type of fluctuation leads to Devan Coda, not Emma Jean Boyd.

Orders are to capture or kill.

Nine Reds are still unaccounted for. Four have been neutralized.

Update to follow.

-Parson

I hadn’t been in the Nevada Voids in a while. I wondered who this Devan chick was. Could I get a warning to her? Or had she already been caught?

Reading through the file and knowing that Jack was actively trying to find Reds pissed me off. I’d always hoped I was the only one he was after… Was his vendetta because of me or because he hated all Reds? Or both?

Either way this had to be stopped.

I fiddled with my lip ring as I thought, running my teeth gently against it. Helping myself was hard enough. How could I begin to help other Reds? Was there a serum we could use? Something that took away or toned down the side effects of being a Red so we could blend in? I’d have to look into that if I could get into the Citadel’s mainframe again.

I needed those processors. I had to find a way to control my powers before they got me caught.

There was no avoiding another visit to Marx’s. I’d have to trust Knight, at least for this little thing. Then, we could part ways and I’d never have to see him again.

A prick of pain hit me at the thought of never seeing him again. It was so dumb. I didn’t know him. Not even a little. We’d had a few conversations online. Nothing major. Sure, I respected him and his work, so it was only natural that I felt some sort of connection once I saw how hot he was, but I couldn’t let that attraction get the better of me. Controlling my emotions was essential. I couldn’t afford to feel anything for this guy. Not in any real way.

I shut down my portacomp and stashed it in my backpack. I wanted to get to Marx’s before Knight did. Positioning myself with the upper hand would help me keep control of the situation.

Any control I could get and keep around him would be a feat.

***

Marx’s was mostly empty except for the gamers at the tables and on the jumbo screen. The crowd that gathered to watch was thick at lunch and in the evenings. It was only half past six. In a couple hours, it’d be packed. I usually avoided going up on the jumbo, but with it being so empty, it was okay. The bigger screen made for better gaming.

My avatar—a girl in a hooded robe with a staff—loaded and I started to play against whoever was around. The control panel was a little high for playing at length, but I rolled out my shoulders, trying to relax into it. My fingers flew across the board, sending commands to my avatar as it moved through the 3D world. I lost myself in the fantasy forest, filled with fairies, gnomes, and wizards, casting spell after spell and melting the baddies in giant balls of flame.

Halfway through the game, the three people I was playing against bailed out.

“Fucking Cipher,” the last one muttered as he climbed down the stage.

I almost felt sorry for him. “What? Can’t keep up?”

“Not with you,” he said. “It’s no fun getting slaughtered.”

I sighed. Maybe I shouldn’t have been taking my aggression out on the players, but killing a ton of slogs and a few wicked combo spells had done wonders for my mood. “Come back up. We’ll switch modes and play together.”

“You mean it?” The guy’s voice cracked. He was way too young to be in this bar, but who was I to say anything? He was probably only a few years younger than me.

“Yep.” I hit a few buttons and reloaded the game. A few more clicks and we were playing against online players instead of each other.

“I want back in next round,” another guy said as he jumped back on stage.

Soon, all seven spots were taken. We strategized on our headsets and I took charge of the group as we hit different dungeons. Time melted away as one scene flowed into another. We fought in a rainforest, abandoned ruins, and a temple city. Before we switched to the alien planet landscape, I heard the voice—the one that made me shiver—behind me.

“I want in. Lowest scorer is out. And we switch to team battle.”

“Who the hell is this guy? You can’t come in here and take over. We’re playing with
Cipher
.”

I looked at the boards. “DickBallz is out. And seriously, get a new handle. That sounds like a nine-year-old made it up. It’s embarrassing.”

“That’s because I made it up when I was nine. If I change it now, I lose my standing,” the guy two stations over from me said. His face was bright red and he was sporting more than his fair share of pimples. Poor guy.

“Change the name. I’ll get you re-upped,” I said.

“Seriously?” His eyes were wide.