Called Read online

  Joel headed straight over to Molly and sat down on her other side, although there was a mocha table between them. “You doing ok?” he asked. She had barely lifted her eyes to greet him.

  She nodded. “What happened? Did they sign for it?”

  Joel nodded. “Yup. Genuinely surprised. Doesn’t look like anyone at this end had anything to do with it. At least the folks I saw.”

  Molly acknowledged the information with a “hmm.”

  Joel looked at her. “So, you get your package delivered ok?” he asked.

  She nodded again. “Waiting for him to come out of surgery.”

  Just then a tall, athletic-looking Estarian came striding in; the boy’s father, who had ridden in the convoy with Joel. Instead of looking confused, he seemed happy and positively relieved.

  Joel stood up as he approached. The man held out his hand to shake Joel’s. Molly forced herself to make eye contact, and even managed a slight smile.

  “I can’t thank you enough,” the father told them both. He held out his hand to Molly too. She stood and took his hand. “They say that he’s going to be ok. He’s out of surgery and coming around already. It’s…it’s incredible!”

  Molly smiled, and although she was exhausted, her heart felt full for a moment. Contented.

  “Thank you both,” he said again. “I’m just heading in to see him. Would you like to come?”

  Joel made the right noises and gestured for him to lead the way. The father looked around briefly to orient himself and led them through another set of doors to a corridor and then into the observation room. He went straight into the hospital room itself to join the boy and his mother.

  Molly and Joel stayed in the observation room where she had seen the priests earlier. When the others filed in behind them, Joel moved over to make space. He wanted their team to see what they’d accomplished.

  Just as the father arrived, the boy’s eyes flickered open and he looked up to see his parents. The father grinned in a way Joel wouldn’t have thought his face could contort. A tear fell from the mother’s eye as she clasped her hands to her chest, then put them around the little boy’s face, looking at him in complete relief and adoration.

  The father, beside himself with emotion, caught the boy’s eye and then pointed vigorously at the window. He realized that the one-way filter was on and stepped over to adjust the control. The window became two-way, and the father said some words to him, perhaps explaining that these were the people who had saved his life.

  The little boy, still groggy and disoriented, looked over at the window and smiled.

  His eyes met Molly’s.

  Molly caught her breath, overcome with emotion as they connected. He looked so vulnerable, but there was a light inside of him.

  Then, for a moment, the boy looked familiar. Like she’d seen him before. Or that she knew him. Her mind raced, trying to connect where and who, but she came up blank. She didn’t know any children. That wasn’t her world. But strangely, she felt something she couldn’t place.

  Almost subconsciously, she became aware of that her right hand had raised to shoulder height, and she waved her fingers. The boy lifted the hand nearest the window and waved back as best he could.

  Joel, standing on the other side of the observation area, noticed each of the team taking a moment to appreciate that the boy was alive, and their part in it. Paige wiped a tear from her eye.

  But it was Molly’s connection with the boy that had him curious. He noticed the wave, and the little boy waving back at her. He smiled to himself.

  It was good for her to connect. Today was a win, in more ways than one.

  Two Thousand Feet Up, Somewhere above Spire

  Having just deposited Crash in the parking lot and pointed him in the direction of the cafeteria where Molly was getting her fix, the Pod containing Sean Royale lifted back into the sky.

  Sean held on tightly to the grip bars in the Pod and quickly scanned around him for the seatbelt. Joel wasn’t here. He could use it with impunity if he wanted to.

  “Ok, Oz,” he started. “Easy on the gees.”

  Over the Pod’s comm, Oz replied, “Yes, Sean.”

  Something was up.

  Oz was being too…nice. Sean settled back into the seat as the Pod evened out.

  “Ok,” he said, suspiciously. “Now are you going to tell me exactly what is going on?”

  The audio crackled a little. “Yes, Sean. Now I will tell you.”

  Sean raised his eyes to the sky in frustration with this young AI. Give him two-hundred-year-old ADAM who had been whipped into shape by the Queen Bitch herself any day.

  Sean waited.

  Oz started explaining. “ADAM has asked us to collect one Maya Johnstone.”

  “Maya Johnstone?” Sean repeated. “She was on our watch list.”

  Oz seemed to have mastered the nuances of a sarcastic tone. “So I’m told,” he replied. “Apparently our activities tripped one of her alarms on the police scanner today, and since she’d already hacked Molly’s ship—”

  Sean’s eyes widened spontaneously.

  Oz continued. “—and is fast gathering a dangerous amount of intel on our operation, ADAM advised that we pick her up and bring her in for a conversation.” He paused. “The General agreed.”

  Sean was suspicious again. “What kind of conversation?” he asked, carefully.

  It almost sounded like Oz chuckled. “Ah,” he qualified. “not the kind that you’d normally have. More the ‘make-friends-and-possibly-recruit’ kind that Joel has.”

  Sean nodded, impressed with where this was going. “Ok, great. So where is she, and how much does she know about us?”

  “She’s about two thousand feet directly below us, and, well, she knows who you are.”

  Sean almost screamed. “Whaaaaaat?” he asked, abandoning his cool, collected, EE-Marine demeanor.

  Oz sounded satisfied. “Yes. I predicted you might have just such have a reaction.” He made the chuckling sound again. “The reality is, she’s good. Even ADAM was impressed, given she is…organic. And he hasn’t been impressed since, well, Molly.”

  Sean resisted the urge to ask whether ADAM thought Maya or Molly was smarter. He knew chicks hated being compared.

  “So how much does she know?” he asked.

  Oz seemed to have settled down, and had returned to his normal tone. “Only that you don’t show up on any databases, and that your name is Sean Royale.”

  Sean nodded his head and shifted in his seat, knowing what was coming next. “Ah. Well, I can live with that,” he conceded.

  Oz added one more detail. “She also suspects you’re…enhanced.”

  “Huh?” He paused, processing the implications. “Well there goes that surprise. I could have used it for leverage.” He looked out into the atmosphere, which at this height was red-hued from the light of Sark refracting off dust and water particles. “Have you told Molly and Joel?”

  Oz confirmed. “They’re both aware.”

  Sean took a deep breath. “Anything else?” he asked.

  “No, that’s it,” Oz told him. “Ready?”

  Sean smirked. “Born ready.” His hands tightened on the grip bars he had been holding as the Pod rapidly descended to ground level.

  Sean nearly lost his stomach. In the back of his mind he wondered if Oz was experimenting with how much he could mess with people before they pushed back. The sarcasm was probably just the beginning of it.

  The Pod came to a stop, then opened.

  Oz gave his final instruction. “I’ll collect you here when you’re ready. Try not to scare the girl. ADAM says she carries Ogg repellent.”

  Sean shook his head in amazement—partly that he was now taking orders from Oz as well as ADAM and partly because he’d just been informed what kind of journalist he was picking up.

  Girls that stay out of trouble don’t find it necessary to carry Ogg repellent. Generally.

  “I’ll watch my step,” Sean said gruffly, as
he hopped heavily out of the Pod. A second later the Pod disappeared, and Sean headed over to the front door of Maya’s building.

  He hit the heads-up display. “Maya Johnstone please.”

  The display brought up her name.

  — Maya Johnstone—

  The audio connected. “Hello?” Sean said politely. “Maya Johnstone? This is Sean Royale.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Johnstone Residence, Spire

  Sean knocked, announcing his arrival at her apartment door.

  Maya went to the closed door. “Why are you here?” she demanded.

  Sean couldn’t help himself. “You’ve been a bad girl.” He kept his face straight, but he was amused.

  Maya peered into the door holo, trying to decide whether or not to let the man she’d been trying to track for the last several weeks into her apartment. “Not as bad as you’ve been,” she retorted coldly.

  Sean resisted the urge to shake his head, and kept it semiprofessional. He spotted the holo camera trained on the spot where he stood. “You’re the one who has been tracking me,” he answered, keeping his voice low. He looked up and down the corridor, checking for eavesdroppers.

  Maya thought for a moment, her hand on the doorknob. “Is that why you’re here?” she asked, her mind racing. “To silence me?”

  Sean kept his voice as neutral as he could. “No, actually. Turns out the boss wants a word with you.”

  Ok, epic fail on the professional thing, he told himself.

  Her hand was still on the knob. “Who’s your boss?” she demanded.

  Always collecting intel, he observed. Sean shook his head once before catching himself.

  “You’ll see,” he answered out loud.

  Maya hmmphed. “Good thing I already know you’re the good guys,” she retorted.

  Sean just couldn’t leave it alone. “How do you know that?” he needled. And why are you still breaking my balls out here? he added to himself.

  Maya smiled behind the closed, locked door, resting her forehead on it. “Like you said, I’ve been a Very. Bad. Girl.”

  Sean sighed quietly to himself. Women!

  He used his diplomatic voice. “Does that mean you’re going to come with me?”

  Maya smirked a little, now openly enjoying the banter. “Depends,” she told him, her tone now more flirtatious than ‘fuck you.’ “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

  Sean had picked up a thing or two about negotiation. “If I do, will you come?”

  “Yes,” she responded directly.

  He believed her. Apart from anything else, she was curious as all fuck. He smiled to himself, still aware of the camera trained on him. “Remember that ship you hacked into?”

  “Yes,” she confirmed simply.

  “Remember the asteroid location you pulled off it?” he asked.

  “I do.”

  “There’s your answer,” he told her.

  There was a slight pause.

  “I’ll get my coat,” she answered.

  Sean shook his head. The door opened and he heard footsteps heading off across the room. Taking it as an invitation to enter, he stepped inside to see an Estarian woman disappear into the bedroom. A minute later she came out again, lipstick and atmosuit on.

  Maya smiled at him. “Ok, let’s go.”

  Sean, keeping his expression blank, turned and headed back out into the corridor.

  Maya followed him out of her apartment, locking the door behind her. “I feel like Alice, being invited down the rabbit hole,” she confided, her voice more like a young girl’s than the self-assured journalist he had just been negotiating with.

  Sean grinned. “Wait until you meet the Queen of Hearts!”

  The two headed down the stairs to the outside.

  The Toroid Desert Club, Outskirts of Spire

  Jessica was excited to finally have the opportunity to present her ideas to the group. Between implementing the plan to thwart Molly and her team and dealing with other business, the retreat was turning out to be quite…tedious.

  But now she got her chance to play with something she had been mulling over for a little while. “Do you know how the healthcare system is set up at the moment?”

  There were a few nods from the attendees.

  Jessica glanced around the table, now in presentation mode. “Well, I’ve been thinking. With this latest change in the Health Care Act, we’ve got ourselves a real opportunity.”

  Garet cocked his head a little. “How do you mean?” he asked, clearly trying to encourage her enthusiasm.

  Jessica took a sip of water and put the glass back down. “Well,” she continued, looking at the glass as she chose her words, “right now we’re on the brink of having—what? sixty percent?—of the population receiving their health services through the healthcare companies. And this includes all treatments: hospital stays, drugs and so on. Now, the one we care about is drugs. It’s scalable with very little overhead.”

  Both Mac and Andus nodded casually as she spoke.

  Jessica looked back at Garet. “All we need to do is tie this health system into the economy and we have an entire population that is economically…enslaved. To us. And with no regulation on pricing of treatment, they have to pay through the healthcare companies if they want treatment.”

  Andus seemed nonplussed by her comments.

  Mac needed to turn his head to look at her, as they were sitting next to each other again. He rested his elbow on the table and kept his index finger across his mouth as he absorbed her logic.

  Garet shook his head, his arms extended on the table, hands parallel to each other but bouncing gently on the desk as he spoke. “But that means that the healthcare companies will make all the profit.”

  Jessica smiled and glanced at her mentor, who now had a hint of a smug smile at the corners of his lips. “Guess who really owns the healthcare companies?” she posited. She looked at Garet with a glint in her eye.

  Garet stared at her for a moment, then turned and looked at Andus. “No shit? Seriously?” he asked, trying to understand the specifics. “Since when?”

  Jessica glanced back at Andus. He waved his hand, permitting her to share. Jessica was giddy with excitement, but tried to remain nonchalant. “Well,” she began slowly, “Andus has been accruing them for ancestors-know-how-long…” Her voice trailed off a little, and then her smile spread across her whole face. “But I just bought my first one today. Anonymously, of course.”

  Garet looked fleetingly concerned, but quickly remembered himself and his agenda. He gave his best fake smile. “Why, Jessica,” he exclaimed, “that’s just fantastic. Congratulations!”

  Jessica beamed at him. “Thank you, Garet.”

  “Yes, congratulations, Jessica,” agreed Mac, slightly less enthused.

  She glanced sideways in his direction and acknowledged him politely.

  Garet had a thought. “Hey, you know what might be an option, longer term?”

  Andus leaned forward. “Go on…”

  Garet stood up halfway and reached for the water jug in the middle of the large table. He poured himself some water, then sat back down again. “Well, we all know what a huge effect nutrition has on the health of a population. I mean, why else do we keep suppressing that research?” He glanced around the room, hands open, waiting for agreement.

  Andus shifted in his chair to better look at Garet.

  Garet, taking their silence as agreement, continued, “Well, like I said, this might be a long shot, but what if we were to erm…adapt the food industry to provide food that actually made people sick. Or sicker. You know, with sugars, and artificial “nutrients” and such.

  Jessica looked intrigued. “Well, we have already developed a lot of those kinds of substances, but we never thought we could get them into the food industry.”

  Garet pursed his lips thoughtfully. He paused before answering, “Even if it made food production cheaper and more profitable?”

  There was a l
ong silence in the board room.

  Then suddenly Andus slapped his hand down hard on the table, pushed back his chair a little, and started laughing. “Hahhahahaa! That’s a good one Garet!”

  He was positively tickled. His shoulders jumped up and down as he guffawed, and the others suddenly seemed to come to the same conclusion about the idea.

  Jessica roared with laughter. “That’s great. Using the food industry to make people sicker!”

  Garet joined in, feeling ridiculous for suggesting something so unrealistic.

  Even Mac was beside himself with mirth. Eventually he wiped a tear from his face and tried to catch his breath. “Garet, I had my doubts about you, but I like a man with a sense of humor. You’re all right in my book.”

  Andus shook his head. “It’s a nice idea,” he agreed, looking sympathetically at Garet. “It would, however, never work.”

  The group were still trying to compose themselves when there was a knock at the door.

  “Enter!” called Andus above the hubbub and chuckles, taking out his handkerchief and drying his eyes from all the laughter.

  The Ogg known as Erik came in, waddling purposefully across the room. He passed Mac and Jessica on their side of the board room table and headed straight toward Andus. He whispered something in his ear.

  A few somethings.

  The room fell silent, trying to overhear what was going on and waiting with anticipation for the content of the message.

  Andus nodded as the Ogg talked, then promptly dismissed him.

  Erik waddled back toward the door. He started to close it behind him, then hesitated and took his hand off the knob.

  He looked at the doorknob again, then turned it and stepped outside, leaving the door open. A moment later he changed his mind, grabbing the knob and pulling the door closed.

  The group watched the door shut.

  Jessica was about to speak again when the doorknob turned and the door opened a crack. Noisily. The group heard a decisive grunt from the other side of the door, then footsteps waddling away down the corridor.

  Jessica shook her head. Garet caught her eye and smiled.

  Andus looked like he was about to speak. “Our operation,” he told them, “has failed.”