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Jason spent most of his time for the next ten days strolling around the Government Plaza District in the hopes that his path would once again cross with Tinker's. At night, he would return to Casey's, gambling enough to keep from arousing further suspicion. He stopped asking questions, although he continued to ponder them himself. And he read the book, wondering what would be possible if the world wasn't stuck with the way it was.
On two or three occasions, he traveled to some of his old hangouts in the Shades where he'd gone in the past whenever he was in the midst of a Blitz, but he didn't indulge himself. Instead he sat with some of his underground buddies, those on the fringes of the legitimate culture and a few who had definitely stepped well beyond the line. He asked them, not about what was on the other side of the clouds, but what they knew about the people who lived in the Pipes.
At first, no one said much, but as Jason continued to hang around, spending his worth-credits liberally, their tongues began to loosen. He found out some interesting general bits of information, but nothing specifically about Seattle and her family. Either no one knew anything about her or they weren't talking.
He did find out that, almost twenty years ago, the Patriarchy had decided to crack down on the illegal citizens and had undertaken an extermination campaign, but had abandoned it six months later after losing almost as many security agents as illegal aliens captured or killed. The Pipes were simply too difficult a territory in which to find anyone. It was rumored that not even the CCC had any clear maps of the Pipes under the MED.
Meanwhile, Jason was getting antsy. He found himself desperate to explore what really was going on under the Dome but had no one he could trust. He considered talking with Emerald Eyes but decided against it. She might listen and probably wouldn't report him to the Patriarchy, but it had become clear at their last meeting, she was not interested in getting herself in trouble.
Jason soon found himself back in the routine of gambling with the accompanying cloud of boredom. It had been almost two weeks since he'd been called into Romanof's office. He'd spent the day strolling around the Plaza in hopes of finding Tinker but with no luck. He now sat in Casey's bar, having grown bored with rumbuc. Emerald Eyes sat across from him sipping on a drink, the two of them casually watching the late night vid-report but not really listening, while Jason fed ice chips to Mu-Monk.
Suddenly, a loud crack of static drew their attention to the vid-screen, which showed nothing but snow.
"There it goes again..." Emerald Eyes started to say but before she could finish, the picture flashed to a deep blue. Just as quickly, a message appeared on the screen:
WHAT IF WHAT IS AS IT IS WASN'T?
THE PATRIARCHY IS BLINDING YOU TO THE TRUTH.
The message stayed on the screen for close to a minute, then with a crackle, the screen went blank again, to be followed a few seconds later with the original picture. The three telecasters were still seated in their same positions, but it was obvious from the looks on their faces that they were aware of the disruption in the broadcast.
The camera moved to one of the newscasters who looked confused for a second before gathering his composure. "We apologize for the brief technical difficulties. Ah, now back to our reporting on the recent food shortages in the..."
"Did you see that?" Emerald Eyes asked, turning to Jason with an astonished look on her face.
Jason nodded but didn't say anything, his thoughts whirling. Seattle. Tinker. The CCC. It all made sense. Tinker had somehow snuck into the CCC and planted the message. But why? What difference could a minute-long cryptic message make?
"The message sounded like something you would say," Emerald Eyes said as she signaled the bartender for another drink.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jason asked, annoyed by Emerald Eyes' comment.
"Nothing really. Don't get mad. I just mean you've been saying weird stuff like that lately. You wouldn't have any idea where the message came from, would you?"
Jason shook his head, then stood up to leave.
"Where are you going?" Emerald Eyes asked. "It's early."
"I've got a busy day tomorrow. I need to get some sleep."
"A busy day? You? Doing what?" Emerald Eyes asked, smiling coyly.
"None of your business, Miss Green Eyes. You take care of yourself. I'll see you tomorrow." Jason turned and walked off, motioning to the bartender to add the drinks to his tab.
The next morning, Jason stood outside the CCC as a line of employees entered the building and another line exited with the change of shifts. Jason studied each person as they entered, looking for another familiar face. He wasn't disappointed.
He saw Cinder first as she strolled into the building, her face partially obscured by the hat she wore. A few feet behind her was Wompun, walking along with his head down. Were they actually working there or did they just use the confusion of the shift change to sneak in? It didn't matter. Sooner or later they would come out again, and Jason would be there to follow.
Jason walked across the street to a food-serve. He sat down in a corner booth near a window where he could see the main entrance to the CCC. The table asked for his order. Realizing he would not be allowed to sit there without ordering something every twenty minutes, he glanced down to the console displaying the menu. He ordered a cup of coffee and sat back. He hoped the two teenagers wouldn't be inside the entire shift. If so, he'd float away from all the coffee he'd have to order.
Luckily, it was only a couple of hours before Cinder and Wompun appeared coming out of the CCC across the street. As they left the building, they turned to the right and walked arm-in-arm. Jason stood up, paid his tab, and followed a half block behind them. As the two passed an alleyway, a third, shorter figure joined them—Tinker. Jason picked up his pace, closing the distance between him and the trio. As usual, the crowds were dense in the District, and it would be easy to lose them if he didn't stay close, despite the fact that staying too close increased the chance of being seen.
They wound their way through the District, seemingly without direction except that Jason noticed they kept progressing to lower levels at each opportunity. They're headed to the Pipes, Jason realized, where it would become more difficult to follow them without being detected as the crowd thinned out.
The four of them were on the same escalator dropping down to the next to last inhabited level when Tinker turned around, his eyes making contact with Jason's. The boy and man froze for a moment before Tinker yelled to his two comrades. The three of them started pushing their way through the crowd, with Jason following close behind.
At the bottom of the escalator, the three kids broke away, running in different directions. Jason followed Tinker. As before, Tinker ran through the crowd faster because he could weave between the people more quickly while Jason bulldozed his way through, knocking people aside, managing to keep Tinker in sight.
As the two of them ran, the crowd thinned as they approached the lower levels, which gave Jason the opportunity to catch up with Tinker. When he was about twenty yards away, he yelled to the boy. "Tinker, stop! I have your book."
Tinker leapt over a guardrail that marked construction taking place on the sewer system. He stopped a few feet from an open drainage area. Jason stopped just short of the railing. The two of them stared at each other. Jason stood leaning against the railing, trying to slow his breathing, afraid that if he made another move the boy would bolt down the hole.
"I have your book," Jason said between gasps. "I've read it, several times. I want to talk with Seattle. Will you take me to her?"
Tinker didn't answer, looking first at Jason then at the drainage pipe.
"I didn't report your family," Jason continued. "You can check. I never said a word to the authorities about you. I want to help."
Tinker still didn't say anything. After a moment, he took a tentative step towards Jason, but before he could take a second one, a loud voice shouted at him from the other end of the construction site.
"Hey kid! Get out of there. You want to fall and break your fool neck?" A stout worker dressed in coveralls waved his arms to get the boy's attention.
Tinker stepped back, glanced first at Jason then at the worker, took two more steps and disappeared down the hole.
Jason and the construction worker ran to the pipe at the same time.
"Damn fool kid. What does he think he's doing?" the worker said, looking down the hole. The two of them looked down the dark opening, but there was no sign of Tinker.
"Hey, did you know the kid?"
Jason stood there, staring down into the hole. He shook his head, noticing the hand holds that had been dug into the side of the drain. After a moment, he turned and glared at the worker. He took a step toward the man, then stopped. He turned and walked away.