B018YDIXDK EBOK Read online

  He had a plan, and even though his mind was not allowing him to recall what the plan was, Peter knew the man would stop at nothing to accomplish it, even before he fully understood it.

  Peter needed to know what that plan was, and he needed to get to Myers Asher before the System — or anyone else — found out he was still alive.

  Peter turned quickly around to face the woman lying on the bed. She jumped, startled by the wicked-looking tattoos covering his face. He knew how they danced and moved in the dim light, and he smiled, contorting them to even more drastic-looking shapes. She laughed, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him down to her.

  RAND

  SHE NODDED, AND THE DOOR slid open. Diane stepped out, not hesitating, and Rand felt a sense of pride at the woman’s blind courage and faith in her own confidence. He walked to the hatch and peered out.

  A man, taller than all of them, stood at the bottom of the walkway next to the Tracer. He had a cane in his right hand, though he didn’t look terribly old. The man was flanked by two smaller men, and all three were wearing similar clothing — black button-down shirts khaki slacks. It didn’t seem comfortable in this heat, but it was an obvious attempt at uniformity.

  “Diane Asher,” the man said in a heavy Southern accent. She nodded once, curtly. “I apologize for our need to reroute your craft in such an abrupt way, but we were out of options.”

  “Who are you?” She asked. “Are you in charge?”

  The tall man shook his head as he shifted the cane to his left hand. Rand noticed the man had a slight limp, and he winced when he put pressure on his right leg. “I am, in a small way. I was in charge of a lot, once. But not after I was deactivated.”

  Diane had reached the end of the walkway and she now stood level with the man. He was a whole head taller than her. Rand started down the walkway as the man introduced himself.

  “We don’t have an elected official right now,” he said. “But we’re working on it. Josiah Crane.” He extended his hand. “Before I was deactivated, I owned a large plumbing company in Montana, and had a brief stint as mayor.”

  He stepped back and turned to the expanse of temporary buildings and huts around them. The two men with Crane stepped back as well, allowing Diane to see the town.

  Rand reached the end of the walkway and introduced himself, shaking the three mens’ hands.

  “We’re getting more organized every day, and we’ve got no shortage of capable leadership. But we need your help.”

  She stared at him stoically, not letting her thoughts show on her face.

  Myers was the third person to step out of the Tracer, and he started walking down slowly, his legs shaking.

  “Actually, we need his help,” Crane said. “He’s one of us — a Relic, I mean.”

  “And what is it you need from him?” Diane asked.

  “Well,” the man replied, “first things first. You need to get some rest. We heard what happened out in Umutsuz. Surely you could use a night to rest.”

  Diane hesitated, but nodded. “We’d rather keep pushing forward, but we are exhausted. Explain what this place is, and why you need Myers.”

  The man held up both hands, a mock surrender. “Easy, easy. All in good time, ma’am. We’ll get you all cleaned up and rested — already have two huts waiting for you — and then we can talk all morning. I promise.”

  “Fine. But I need to at least know what you want with Myers.”

  “Simple. He’s the only one who can prevent the war.”

  RAVI

  PRESENT DAY

  SOMETHING’S DIFFERENT NOW, Ravi thought. He said it aloud, repeating the thought, hoping Merrick would know an answer. “Something’s different now,” he said.

  Merrick nodded, still walking next to him. “They’ve upped the ante,” he said.

  “They?”

  “They did, or we did,” Merrick said, clarifying, “but either way the stakes have been raised.”

  “What do they need Myers for?”

  “No idea, but he’s the reason we’re both still alive.”

  Merrick told Ravi about the scene back in the desert halfway between Umutsuz and Istanbul, and how they’d both assumed he was dead. They hadn’t had a way to bring Ravi with them, nor did they have a plan for what to do with him once they got there. Merrick seemed to feel guilty, and Ravi didn’t push the subject any more.

  He’d always been a loner, and he probably would’ve left both of them as well if the tables had been turned.

  “They’re trying to find Myers for some reason,” Ravi said. “Can he stop this?”

  “Stop it?” Merrick asked, turning a sidelong glance toward Ravi. “No, no one can. The System is far more advanced than anyone cares to admit, and it’s got a stranglehold on just about every major lever that makes this rock spin.”

  “But it’s a computer,” Ravi said. “And they — the Unders — they think Myers can stop it. If we can stop the Unders and get to Myers first, maybe —“

  “Maybe what, Ravi?” Merrick stopped completely and turned to face Ravi. “Maybe Myers knows some super-advanced computer programming language he hasn’t told us about and can write a virus that’ll kill it?”

  Ravi shrugged. “Not that, I mean, I’m a — I was a programmer — so I know there’s nothing like that that would work.” He paused, sighing. “I don’t know, I guess I just thought the President of the United States, of all people, would have a failsafe for something like this.”

  “And you think that’s why the Unders want him?”

  Ravi shrugged again. He didn’t know what he thought. He stopped, trying to twist his body into ignoring the pain of his wounds. He didn’t want to seem weak, but whatever they’d pumped him with had long ago worn off.

  Merrick stopped and grabbed something from the back pocket of his pants. He handed two small blue pills to Ravi.

  “Seriously? You want me to believe they’ve got Asclezipan out here?”

  Asclezipan was the ‘miracle drug’ of the current decade: an almost universal painkiller, and a mild sedative that worked at the cellular level, smoothing out the roughness of the healing process and providing the patient with a not-so-small kick of adrenaline and dopamine to carry them through and provide awareness, focus, and strength.

  Named after the Greek god of healing, Asclepius, Asclezipan was also the most expensive over-the-counter drug Current could buy, leading to a major moving-target blackmarket drug trade that the System was constantly trying to uncover and squash.

  “Believe it. They’ve got it, and they gave it to me to keep me awake and aware while they tortured me. They stuck enough of it in me to get me pretty high, but not nearly enough to kill me. I was able to spit out a few when they weren’t looking.”

  Ravi glanced down at the blue three-dimensional diamond-shaped pills, then popped two in his mouth. What do I have to lose? He nodded, offering a silent thank-you to Merrick.

  “Listen, Ravi. This is a game. You understand that, right? There are players on each side, and there are people pushing those players around. Grouse — he’s one of them. So is the System. So is Myers. As to why he’s a player, your guess is as good as mine.”

  “But — “

  “I know what you’re thinking. Kid, I spent years campaigning with the man, working with him, and I know him like no one else on Earth. He’s a planner, but he’s certainly not a schemer. He doesn’t have anything to hide. If he had some miraculous way of making the System into just a computer program again, I — of all people — would know about it.”

  “Well, maybe that’s not what they’re after. He’s a Relic, so…”

  “It’s more complicated than that. You know it, too. I wish it was black and white — we all do — but it’s not.”

  They came to the first of the set of rolling hills, and Ravi stepped out in front of Merrick. “I recognize this area. When I was first released, I woke up here. There are caves in these hills, but they’re going to be watched by Grouse’s men or some o
ther group.”

  “What’s the plan, then?” Merrick asked.

  “We navigate around them. This cluster of hills opens up to another valley on the other side, and then there are some low mountains past that. If we can get to the mountains, we’ll have a better chance of staying out of sight.”

  “And then?”

  “Look, man, I don’t have anywhere to go. Or any reason to be there, except that it’s not here. You can follow or not, but I’d much rather we go our separate ways now.”

  “How’s that been working out for you?” Merrick asked.

  Ravi sneered. “It was working out just fine until your friend Myers entered my life. Now look where we are.”

  Merrick held up his hands toward Ravi. “Woah, chill, okay? You know the area better than I do, so I thought just you might know of a faster way to the coast. I need to get to Myers, before they do.”

  “Fine. Keep going past the mountain range, and you’ll see it. We’re headed the right direction.”

  Merrick nodded and started walking.

  “But listen, Merrick. I’m not going with you. Got it?”

  “Got it.” He kept walking, and Ravi had no choice but to catch up. Until they reached the mountains, their destination was the same.

  RAVI

  TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT.

  RAVI WAS awake, and it was almost completely black around him. A low covering of clouds obscured the stars, and the sliver of moon that was out was nearly impossible to see. He’d long ago trained his body onto a biphasic sleep schedule, taking two longer periods of sleep time during the 24-hour day and more closely aligning himself with nature’s clock.

  He stood up, careful not to wake Merrick next to him. They’d decided to sleep out in the open, using the natural clearing’s bushy walls to shield them from anyone approaching. The clearing was on a natural rise, allowing them to have a clear line-of-sight and plenty of time to prepare in case they were ambushed. They each laid out a bed of leaves, and Merrick used one of his shoes as a makeshift pillow.

  Ravi walked slowly to the edge of their encampment. He looked out and over the hedge in front of him, down the side of the slope and onto the valley they’d just left behind. He walked around the edge of the circular clearing and looked the other direction. Another half-day’s walk, and they’d reach the valley on the other side of these hills.

  A day after that, and Ravi would be in the mountains, where no one could find him. He’d taught himself to hunt, and if he was lucky he might be able to find an empty cave he could use as shelter for a time. He didn’t want to get ahead of himself, as he had a job to do now.

  Ravi needed to get away from Merrick, and that wasn’t going to be easy to do. Merrick was a Hunter, and Ravi knew he had the latest gadgetry and tech. His terminal would have a light-spectrum analyzer, allowing the man to see not only where warm bodies were hiding but the remnant heat signatures they left behind, in some cases up to an hour later.

  Merrick was a fantastic tracker, as all hunters were, and he would be able to see if Ravi left stones overturned or branches broken.

  So he needed to move calmly, without touching anything or moving past objects that would alert Merrick to the route he’d chosen. He needed to stay quiet, creeping as silently as possible to get some distance between them. He decided to try and make it to the valley before stopping to rest again, which he thought should be relatively easy and uneventful, considering it was mostly downhill over hard-packed, rocky terrain.

  He made it in less than an hour, and there was no sign of Merrick behind him. He’d kept an ear turned toward the south, where their small rise and clearing was, and he hadn’t heard anything stirring or moving behind him. Satisfied, he stepped out and onto the open valley floor.

  This valley was far more lush than the previous one they’d been in. Ravi knew there was a river running through the center of it, winding its way northwest from somewhere farther east, heading toward the Sea of Marmara. He didn’t know the land as well as he’d led on, but he did recognize the mountain range at the other end of the valley. It was hardly tall enough for him to consider the range ‘real’ mountains, but the peaks were certainly higher than anything else nearby, and the steep drop on the other side of the short range fell sharply into the sea behind it.

  The valley in daylight was beautiful, a sprawling green expanse of savanna with trees, vegetation, and rock outcroppings sprouting upward from its floor. He took a moment to take in the breadth and size of the channel, even though the darkness made it nearly impossible to see farther than a hundred yards in any direction. As he did, he noticed something peculiar.

  The river valley he was staring at, as dark as it was, still didn’t seem normal. There was something…

  There’s something in the valley.

  He cursed to himself, crouching down and creeping forward a bit to try to get a better view. The valley sprawled out in front of him was filled with something. The moonlight cast a grayscale glow on everything, and he could see tiny gray blobs covering the valley’s floor.

  Tents.

  There’s another camp here, he thought. He immediately understood.

  The camp he’d been in was a detachment, a smaller group of soldiers and auxiliary support that had separated from the main force.

  The main force that was, suddenly, directly in front of him.

  There’s no way I’m getting around them.

  He knew he was lucky making it even this far. With the current tech capabilities of the Under forces he’d come across, he knew they’d be able to put even Merrick’s assortment of tools and gadgets to shame. Their long-range weaponry would be the counterpart to their long-range reconnaissance, and it was nothing short of a miracle that he hadn’t been spotted yet.

  He took a few long, slow breaths. Calm down. If he hadn’t been sighted yet, it meant he might still have some time. He spent the next few minutes trying to scope out the camp.

  The left and right of his vision couldn’t determine where the edges of the camp were, and it seemed as though the camp stretched from one end of the wide valley to the other.

  Not a good sign. There could easily be 10,000 or more troops here.

  The camp was laid out in an organized, hierarchical fashion. Semi-circles of gray tents blossomed outward in concentric circles, and he counted at least ten different sets of these miniature camps marking the total area. A huge central, complete circle of tents surrounded a cluster of larger tents, and he knew from experience that their Tracers and a few ground vehicles would be stored there.

  3 Tracers, at least.

  Nothing short of the largest group of Unders Ravi had ever seen in one place.

  What are they planning?

  Rather than spend precious seconds trying to figure out what they were planning, he decided he’d better come up with his own plan. He considered going back up the hill to wake Merrick, but he knew two bodies would only double their chances of being seen.

  Before he could make a decision he heard a noise to his right, and ducked down below a boulder. Poking his head up, he waited for the sound of heavy boots of an Under guard to smack against the dry ground. Or, if it was Merrick, he wouldn’t hear the man’s boots at all. Instead Ravi would hear nothing but a gentle change in the wind; a stirring that only plants and animals and those who spent their lives out here would ever notice.

  He waited. A full minute passed, then another. The wind stirred as normal, and any plants and animals nearby registered no response or warning of an approaching person.

  Ravi scrutinized the silence for a full five minutes, trying to decipher the noise he’d heard. It wasn’t from an animal — that much he was sure. But if it had been someone as large as a soldier or Merrick — graceful as the man might be — Ravi knew he’d be able to hear him continuing on, looking for him.

  So maybe he’s not looking for me, Ravi thought. Maybe he’s just getting some air.

  He argued with himself. Getting air? What was wrong with the encam
pment we had at the top of the hill? Wasn’t there enough air —

  He heard the noise again. A scuffling, crunching sound of something large scurrying away. Not large enough to be someone dangerous. Maybe it was an animal, after all. He stood up quickly, hoping to catch the intruder by surprise.

  He ran forward, jumping over the boulder he’d been hiding behind and aiming directly at the source of the noise. There was another boulder in front of him, smaller than his but still large enough to conceal a small mammal or reptile, or —

  Or a human.

  A girl, in fact. She was staring at Ravi, fear splashed across her darkened face. Her body was hidden behind a shrub, but her head was peering out from behind it. She’d apparently decided against a quick escape, probably fearing that Ravi would chase — and catch — her.

  “Wh — who are you?” she asked, her voice a low whimper.

  Ravi frowned, stepping cautiously forward a few paces. He made sure to leave enough distance between him and the girl, even though she hardly seemed dangerous.

  “I asked you who you are,” she said again, finding some confidence.

  “For someone trying to sneak away,” Ravi said, “you sound damn cocky.”

  “Who said I was trying to sneak away?”

  Ravi took a moment to assess the girl. Something about her seemed off, something he couldn’t quite place in the darkness of night. The whites of her eyes were stark against the dim moonlight, and they were wide, giving her the appearance of being scared.

  “Where are you going?” he asked. “Hell, where are you coming from?”

  She stepped out from behind the bush, and Ravi caught a glimpse of her face.

  It wasn’t darkened from the shadows. Her face was beaten and bruised, her eyes and lower lip swollen. Blood caked her cheek, from a cut running from her forehead down to her chin.

  “Who did this to you?” Ravi asked, rushing forward.

  She shrank back, and Ravi slowed his advance.

  “It’s okay,” he said, trying to keep his voice down. “I’m not — I’m not one of them.”