I nodded and swallowed.
He held out his hand, and here it was: that weird half-handshake, half-hug that men engaged in when they both felt emotion, knew they felt emotion, and knew neither one wanted to acknowledge it. “Don’t get yourself killed, okay? It would be bad for business,” he explained. “And say hi to Curly Sue for me. Maybe someday I’ll get to meet her properly.”
I smiled, despite myself. “Like I’d ever let her near you.”
Max grinned. “See you on the other side, kid.”
I threw off the headset. Closed my eyes, blinking away the desert grit, clearly the one and only reason why they suddenly felt misty. Then I leaped—gracefully enough, I liked to think, stumbling only once as I landed in the dust of the wash. As I did, I could have sworn Max shouted something else, but if so, it was lost in the chaos.
So I kept moving, out of the swirling storm made by the dragonfly wings. The ones that would have been, could have been, my ride to freedom—not like there was any point dwelling onthat. And I made it all the way across the dry river and toward the lights of the industrial park below before pausing to turn back. But the copter was already gone.
Now an hour had passed, and I was still in the lab, jumping at every noise loud enough to cut through the rhythmic hum of machines and my own pounding heart.
The lights overhead flickered like fireflies in a jar, casting eerie shadows on the walls. I paced back and forth, my mind racing as I scrutinized the molecules, examining and manipulating them from every possible angle, and the clearer it became—I was fucked.
Theoretically, the solution I’d put on the screenshouldwork. The basic hypothesis, based on what I’d read in thoselab reports I wasn’t supposed to see, was that the formula Resi had found, when injected, would depolymerize the chip and magnetize the components with the help of nanotechnology. At that point, it could then be drawn safely out of the body, intact, physically degraded but theoretically still transmitting, by the use of a neodymium magnet. That was the idea, anyway. The problem was, that only got you halfway. You couldn’t examine or experiment on intact chips without first pinpointing exactly where they were in the body. And you couldn’t dothat—or at least Resi couldn’t—without lopping off limbs and, uh, killing people.
Which—as arrogant as it sounded—must mean the formula was wrong, not me. It was missing a part, I realized. The one that could actually attract the polymer and somehow locate the chip, and prove my solution correct.
My weary mind bushwhacked back through the intricate web of chemical knowledge the old professor had long ago cracked my head open to pour inside.
I recalled the lamplit nights hunched over the desk in the professor’s cluttered study, and couldn’t help, for a second, but wonder what old Jurgen himself would think if his former slave were to actually pull this off. The pompous, pie-eyed old bastard wouldn’t give a shit whether my discovery helped slaves. But he surewouldgive a shit that it wasright.
Yeah, I stood by my loathing for my old master and always would, but we’d hadthatin common. That longing for that rare, curt nod of approval. The professor from his abusive stepfather, me from the abusive professor. The one that in a million years I would never admit to wanting—wouldn’t admit to wanting it from Max, either. Or evenKeith, bizarre as that seemed.
But that, I supposed, was the sad lot of all fatherless boys.
I was starting to overheat. I should have turned on the A/C, but there was no time now. Any second, Resi was going to figureout I was here. Fuck, what was I thinking, standing here lost in memories like some sentimental idiot? This kind of research tookyears, normally. And here I was, trying to do it in one night, on zero sleep, and in fear that any second some thug could burst in, grab me from behind, and slit my throat with piano wire.
Well. No less pressure than on a typical day with the professor, then.
A noise behind me came like a whip cracking against metal. I scrabbled for the gun like a paranoid madman, my slick palms fumbling with the safety.
But when I saw who had entered, I dropped the weapon and turned my back, fingertips digging violently into the metal countertop.
The petite girl in the doorway looked taller and older, somehow, in a black tank and jeans, boots clacking on the tile. Ebony hair pulled back slickly. Meticulously. Like the cold, calculating creature she was.
Lemaya said nothing. Maybe she’d just come to watch me fail.
“I—”
“Let me guess,” I cut her off, the anger in my voice rising over the hum of lab equipment. “You’re sorry.”
“Yes,” she said. “But I know there’s no excuse for what I did.”
Actually, there kind of was. Not that it helped.
“I know,” she offered. “Go fuck myself.”
“Please do.”
“Deserved. Anyway, you’ll never have to see me again, if that’s any consolation. I’m leaving. Forever. Right now.”
“Where?” I turned my head slightly, unwilling to reveal any curiosity.
“As far away from here as I can get.”
“But—”
