Facing down death, Taylor thought groggily, really required a full night’s sleep. Which was why President Mason should have let the team leave at, say, nine o’clock in the morning. But no, at six a.m., Taylor and Sheridan arrived at Santa Fe’s western gate. Taylor had been up most of the night running simulations on her rank virus. It would work, she was sure about that, but it wouldn’t work as fast as she wanted.
Her program would give dozens of users different parts of the virus that would then be uploaded from the individuals to the main system. By themselves, the virus segments were harmless. The rank filters shouldn’t even detect them. After the virus segments uploaded into the system, they would compile and change the rank data. It would take hours though, maybe even a complete day for the virus to take effect. Which was too long.
The team would reach Traventon in two and a half days’ time. Taylor had until then to figure out a way to make the virus work faster.
Taylor and Sheridan headed over to the group that had formed in front of the city gates. Sheridan had insisted on seeing Taylor off, although Taylor imagined her sister would have done that back at their apartment—without dressing up—if Joseph hadn’t been leaving too.
In Traventon, the doors out of the domed city had been hard to spot. They blended in with the walls. Here the doors were decorated. A stone arch accented them, and the words Freedom Lives Here were engraved across the top. Even that sign had been vandalized. Underneath it someone had written, Unfortunately this place is so crowded, Freedom has to share an apartment with Duty, Disillusionment, and Disrepair.
A deluge of refugees had been finding their way to Santa Fe for the last several decades, which was something the original city planners hadn’t taken into account while designing the city. The buildings in the middle of the city—those built during the founding years—were architectural artwork. An array of cathedrals, temples, shrines, and mosques glimmered, jewel-like, around the city center. The early apartment buildings looked like castles with spires, turrets, and regal towers made from curving stone.
Apartment buildings constructed during the last two decades were tall, straight, and built close together. They ringed the city in layers like giant dominoes waiting for a good push. Refugee rows, they were called, and even those were getting crowded.
Jeth and Elise, the other wordsmith who’d left Traventon with them, had come to see Taylor and Joseph off. They both stood near the row of airbikes, admiring the machines. The airbikes did look cool. Sort of like long motorcycles with wings. The team would ride them for the first day until they got near other cities. City scanners picked up nonbiometric signatures, and the team didn’t want to risk being shot down. They would leave the airbikes at an outpost, spend the night there, and travel the second day by horseback. The team would stay the second night in a hidden, underground med clinic not far from Traventon and then walk the last three hours to the city the next morning.
Five days, Taylor told herself. Six if they had problems along the way. The mission wouldn’t take long.
Taylor looked around for Joseph but didn’t see him anywhere. One of the council leaders was checking packs, while two men in camouflage stood by. Taylor was also dressed in camouflage, complete with matching skin dye and hair dye. While the team traveled through the wilderness that separated cities, they needed to stay hidden from city patrols and the gangs of criminals, called vikers, who lived in the forests.
President Mason saw Taylor and waved for her and Sheridan to come over. Even though it was still early in the morning, he wore his business clothes, complete with black sash. Counselor Number One stood next to him, checking something on his comlink. Taylor didn’t see Counselor Number Two anywhere. The woman was probably out guilting other citizens into doing her bidding. Some people would feel a debt of gratitude toward the people who rescued them from Traventon, who took them in, who gave them clothes, food, and protection.
Honestly.
President Mason nodded at Taylor. “Are you ready?”
“Ready enough.”
While Counselor Number One tapped things on his comlink, he spared Taylor a glance. “I set up your salary payment. It will activate when you return.”
The phrase shouldn’t have bothered her, but it did. “I’m not doing this for the money,” she told him.
“Why are you doing this?” President Mason asked. It wasn’t a challenge. She could tell he wanted to know.
Taylor pointed to the words above the door. “Because freedom means paying off your debts. After this is over, we’re even.”
President Mason smiled tolerantly and didn’t comment on her reasoning. The two men who were dressed in camouflage walked over, packs slung on their backs. President Mason turned to them. “Let me introduce your security team. This is Ren and Lee.”
Taylor wasn’t surprised President Mason didn’t tell her their full names. One of the concessions he’d made to the council as he whittled down the contestants for the Olympic bodyguard competition was that the identities of the bodyguards would stay a secret. That way none of the sectors could claim favoritism.
Ren and Lee nodded and gave perfunctory smiles as their names were spoken. It was hard to tell much about their features under the camouflage. Each man was tall, seemed to be in his twenties, and had the physique of a Marine. Lee’s hair was cropped short with spiky ends that stuck up a bit. Ren’s shoulder-length hair was tied behind his neck. Both looked her over with dark-brown eyes.
“Ren and Lee,” President Mason went on, “are experts on travel and combat. They’ve spent the last week scouting the area and learning about Traventon from our operatives there. They can get you in and out of the Scicenter.”
Taylor nodded at the men. “I’m glad to have you watching my back.” As soon as she said the phrase, she realized they had no idea what she meant. Ren and Lee’s eyebrows both furrowed in puzzlement.
“That’s a saying from the twenty-first century,” Taylor explained. “It means I’m glad to have your help. You don’t really have to watch my back. Nothing exciting is happening there.”
She was babbling. This was not the best first impression, especially since the men had undoubtedly been told she was a genius. “I’m really tired,” she added.
Joseph and another man walked up to the group, both outfitted in camouflage. This was odd, because the council had decided to give her and Joseph only one bodyguard apiece. The council was afraid a group larger than four would make it harder for them to walk around unnoticed.
The new man was tall like most of the men here but had a leaner build than Ren and Lee. He looked older too, perhaps in his early thirties. He carried an extra-large pack on his shoulders, which shifted as he walked.
Ren gestured to the new man. “Who’s this?”
“This,” Joseph said, “is Xavier. He’s going with us.”
“What?” Lee cocked his head in disbelief. “You can’t add people to the team without council approval.”
President Mason held up his hand to stop the flow of protests. “The council approved Xavier’s addition. It became a necessity.”
“Why?” Ren asked. The suspicion in his voice verged on hostility.
President Mason glanced at Joseph, at a rare loss for words. No, that wasn’t it, Taylor realized. It wasn’t that President Mason didn’t know what to say; he was just waiting for Joseph to say it.
Joseph looked at Ren and Lee, not at Taylor or Sheridan. “I requested it.”
“Why?” Taylor asked. “What’s his specialty?”
Joseph glanced at Taylor, then quickly returned his attention to Ren and Lee. “I thought the team could use another person, and I wanted it to be Xavier.”
Taylor put her hands on her hips. “That’s BS.” Which, judging from everyone’s expressions, was another term that wasn’t used in the twenty-fifth century. She thought about saying the real words, but it wouldn’t make a difference. No one from this century would have any idea why she was suddenly talking about cattle poop.
“What’s the real reason?” Taylor asked.
“That is the real reason,” Joseph said firmly. “And it’s the only one you’re going to get.”
Taylor gaped at him in disbelief. “You thought we were shorthanded, so you decided to go out and interview militant combatants in your free time?”
She’d spoken too loudly. The other council members were all staring at her now. Some drifted farther away as though she might turn her anger on them. The rest regarded her with the sort of strained patience they usually had when dealing with her. She’s one of those temperamental geniuses. Humor her.
Ren stepped closer to Xavier, surveying him. “How can we trust this man when we know nothing about him?” Addressing Xavier, Ren asked, “What sector are you from?”
Xavier returned his gaze coldly. “That doesn’t matter.”
Ren let out a scoffing grunt. “You haven’t lived here long if you think that.”
See, Taylor wanted to say to the still-staring council members, I’m not the only one who has a problem with this. Even the untemperamental ungeniuses are ticked off.
Shaking his head, Lee walked over to President Mason. “This isn’t what we agreed on.”
President Mason calmly tucked his comlink into his belt. His casual stance said that he was used to dealing with quarreling children, and he expected them to play nicely regardless. “Plans always change,” he said. “They’re just changing earlier on in this mission than we expected. Your job remains the same: protect those under your care.” His gaze swept over Ren, Lee, and Xavier. “Do I have your promise on that?”
“Yes,” Xavier said.
A moment passed. Then Ren and Lee also gave a yes, although theirs sounded considerably more forced.
“Joseph,” Sheridan said quietly. She stood next to Taylor but was watching him, waiting for an explanation. “Why are you suddenly keeping secrets?”
Suddenly? Taylor doubted that. Joseph had kept secrets from them back when they were in Traventon, and apparently the move here hadn’t changed that habit.
Joseph looked at Sheridan, and the lines of tense defiance on his face softened. He walked over to her, took her hand, and led her away from the others.
Taylor watched them for a few seconds, then stormed over to join them. If Joseph was explaining things to Sheridan, he could explain them to her too. As she strode up behind Joseph, he said, “I can’t tell you some things right now.” He squeezed Sheridan’s hand. “You’ll just have to believe that I have a good reason.”
Sheridan’s face was upturned, trying to read more from his expression. “I believe you, but—”
“Why should we trust you,” Taylor interrupted, “when you don’t trust us enough to let us know why you’re bringing Xavier along? Trust begets trust.”
Joseph let out a breath of frustration. He didn’t turn to face Taylor. “Well, those are words we can carve somewhere. We’ll put them right next to your last quote about the subject: ‘I don’t trust anyone.’”
Taylor walked around Joseph so that he had to look at her. “Yeah, but I’m not the one who showed up here with an entourage.”
Sheridan stepped between them, her hands raised and pleading. “Don’t fight. Come on—you guys have to work together or this mission will fail before you even get to Traventon.”
“It won’t fail,” Joseph said. “Despite Taylor’s dramatics.”
Dramatics? Oh, she would show him dramatics. The next time she hacked into his computer, she would add an irremovable tagline that went out with all of his messages. It would read, Big sale today! Discount everything I say! With me, the truth is always half off!
“Maybe,” Taylor said slowly, “I should insist on bringing someone along too.” She waved a hand in Sheridan’s direction. “Maybe I’ll demand to take my sister with me.”
Sheridan brightened. “Really?”
“No,” Joseph said, keeping his gaze on Taylor. “You won’t put her in danger that way.” It was as much a command as a statement.
Sheridan cocked her head at Joseph. “Why do you think I can’t handle danger? I’m not a weakling, you know. I can face danger as well as either of you.”
Taylor inwardly groaned. She never should have gotten her sister started on that subject again. Taylor gave Joseph one last angry glare, turned on her heel, and stalked back toward the airbikes. She didn’t have any leverage to use against Joseph, and he knew it. Because the last thing Taylor wanted was to put Sheridan in danger.