“What about Derek or Jan?” he asked. “Send them.”
“I told them to shut down. They’re on their way out of the country.”
“Oh shit.” Josiah turned back to see Alex still gazing at him. “Elsie… we can’t help. Call her back, tell her to take him to a hospital. At least she can save his life, even if we can’t get him out.”
Josiah suddenly felt Alex’s hand on his, prying the holopad out of his grasp.
“Elsie – it’s Alex. Ignore Joe. Of course we’ll help. Where are they?”
Josiah watched in a haze as Alex calmly took down all the details and ended the call.
“Alex… no. You can’t give up your one chance at freedom for this.”
“Of course I can.” Alex smiled wanly. “Solange wouldn’t judge me for giving up on justice for her, but she’d smack me around the head for giving up on that poor bastard bleeding to death out there. Even if she wouldn’t, I couldn’t live with myself if I did.” He dropped his rucksack. “Come on, Joe. Let’s rescue someone tonight – even if it’s not me.”
They left their rucksacks in the hallway and ran to the garage. Josiah grabbed a medical kit on his way – he’d insisted all Kathleen Line operatives had first aid training after Peter’s death, not that it would have saved Peter. Josiah had already possessed the basics, having been in the army, but nothing could have saved Peter, given the nature of his injury.
“Which vehicle?” Alex asked.
Josiah grimaced. “I never use my Inquisitus AV on Kathleen Line business, so it’ll have to be the Jag. Usually, I change vehicles in a garage nearby – I’ve got a few ducks stashed in various locations all over the country – but we don’t have time for that tonight. At least these indies are close by – there are no lost zones to cross.”
After Peter’s death, Josiah had only ever driven the Jag around the block every so often to ensure she was in working order. Slamming her into reverse, he shot her out of the garage at high speed, trying not to think about the last time he’d taken her on a rescue mission. The events of that night crowded into his mind all the same. He glanced at Alex.
“You’re thinking about it, too, aren’t you?”
“Yeah – it’s impossible not to. You holding up okay?” Alex asked shakily.
“I’ll be fine. God, I hate this fucking car, though.”
Alex grinned. “I love her!”
“Jesus – what is it with me and men who love these stupid old cars?”
Alex filled him in on their rescue mission as he drove. “The woman is called Jenna, although Elsie said that’s almost certainly not her real name. Apparently, escaped indies rarely give their real names.” Alex shot him a wry grin. “She hasn’t seen her brother in a while, but she speaks to him every month. Tonight, she got a frantic call from him – he was being bullied and got into a fight with his supervisor. He’d decided to run away, but the supervisor got wind of it and confronted him – with a knife. Hendrik – that’s her brother’s name, or so she said – managed to get away, but he’s in bad shape. She had to get a bus to where he was holed up, terrified he’d die before she arrived. That’s the address we’re going to.”
“I hope it’s legit,” Josiah said suddenly. “We normally ask them to meet us at one of our rendezvous points, areas we know well, so we can scope them out first. We could be walking into a trap.”
“You’re just jumpy because of Tyler lying in wait for us,” Alex pointed out. “There’s no way he could have set this up so fast, and he definitely didn’t know who Elsie was – you were right when you said that was a fishing expedition.”
“I hope so,” Josiah said grimly. “We do occasionally get emergency calls, but not ones this urgent.”
“I’m excited.” Alex grinned at him. “I get to be on the rescuing team this time. Next best thing to being rescued.”
“Maybe, if we get this wrapped up fast, we can still leave,” Josiah said, glancing in the mirror. It was nearly 1a.m., and nobody was around.
“Maybe,” Alex said, but they both knew that was unlikely.
The Jag felt clunky and strange compared to the ease of his AV, but they still made good time on the quiet streets, arriving in a dark residential street less than fifteen minutes later.
“That’s it,” Alex said, pointing at a bus shelter halfway down the road. Josiah pulled over next to it. Alex reached for the car door handle, but Josiah stopped him.
“Wait. Let’s watch a moment first.” Peering through the drizzle outside, he could just about make out a huddle of what looked like blankets in the back corner of the shelter. Then the blankets moved, alerted by the car lights, and he saw a pale face, streaked with red. “Stay here,” he ordered Alex. “If there’s any trouble, take the Jag and get the hell out of here.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.” Alex rolled his eyes.
Opening his car door, Josiah walked swiftly over to the bus shelter. There were no lights except those from his car. He squinted through the dark and could just about make out two people.
Drawing closer, he saw a man lying on the floor, and a woman with one arm around him, trying to keep him warm. Her other arm was shielding her eyes, where she was being blinded by the car headlights.
