Chapter Twenty-Three

“A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have.” Abraham Lincoln

He didn’t seem surprised by the accusation, and that pissed her off even more. She’d trusted him, and he’d taken advantage of her while she was vulnerable.

He’d drugged her.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

Like he cared. “As if I’ve been drugged.”

His lips twitched. Yeah, she was just so funny. She glared.

“You have to admit, sweetheart, fair’s fair. I was only returning the favor.”

She’d been about to step into the room, go punch him on the nose or something. Now she stopped abruptly. Shock stabbing her in the gut. “You knew?”

“Of course I knew.”

“Why didn’t you say something? Do something? Lock me up or take me in for questioning?”

He scrubbed his hand through his hair, something she’d noticed he did when he was thinking. He’d known she had drugged him. All this time. She’d thought she was so clever. Why hadn’t he reported her? Were his reasons somehow tied to Stella’s death? Could she have triggered something? Some investigation? It didn’t make sense. “Why?” she asked again.

“Truthfully. I don’t know.” He stood up, stretched. “Christ, I need coffee. You want coffee?”

“I don’t know. Will it be safe to drink?”

“For either of us,” he muttered and wandered into the kitchen. She still stood in the bedroom doorway, her head spinning.

Finally, she forced herself to go after him. “So, an easier question. Why did you drug me last night?”

He switched on the coffee machine and turned to face her. “I wanted to search your apartment. I needed to know what you were involved with.”

She sank down onto one of the stools around the island in the center of the kitchen. “Why do you think I’m involved in something?”

He turned and leaned against the counter behind him, folded his arms across his chest, then cast her a look that clearly said Are you crazy? “You pretended to be someone else in order to meet me, then you brought me back here and drugged me. Why wouldn’t I think you’re involved in something?”

She chewed on her lower lip. “Did you find anything last night?” She didn’t think there was anything to find. All the same, her guilty conscience worried at her mind.

“Fuck all,” he growled.

“I apologize for all that wasted effort.”

He poured coffee into two mugs and placed one in front of her, then got the milk from the fridge and put it on the table. He was making himself at home.

Suddenly she needed to ask him something. “Do you think Stella’s death was an accident?”

“No.” He cast her a look over the rim of his mug. “I also know that you lied about not having seen Stella for a while. You saw her the day she died.”

“How do you know that?”

“I was following you.”

“Of course you were.” Her brain still felt fuzzy, and she needed it to function. For some reason, he hadn’t turned her in, and she had no clue why. She felt like a great weight was pressing down on her. So much responsibility and no clue what to do next. How to save the world.

It didn’t seem real.

Maybe it wasn’t real.

She had an almost overwhelming need to open up, to share what she was going through. For some reason, she trusted Gideon.

But was he to be trusted?

“Why are you talking to me like this? You’re Secret Service. Why didn’t you report me?”

He didn’t answer at first. Just got up and poured himself another coffee, then sat down again. She studied his face. For the first time, she noticed how tired he looked, saw the shadows under his eyes.

“Truthfully, I don’t know.” He exhaled, then seemed to come to a decision. “I came back thinking I could reclaim my old life. Go back to who I was before everything went to crap. But there’s no going back. I’m a different person than I was ten years ago. I was an idealistic idiot. I believed changes were needed, but that I could make them within the constraints of the system. I was a Party man through and through.”

“And now?” she prompted when he went silent.

“Now I feel like I’m standing at a crossroads. I have to decide what sort of person I want to be. I can close my eyes and pretend I’m still a Party man, or I can do it with my eyes wide open. Decide whether I believe that the end justifies the means. That the things that happen behind the scenes are worth it. Crime is almost non-existent. All around me, I see ordinary people going about their lives. No fear of violence, no poverty, everyone has access to a good education, good medical.” He was silent for a minute, and she waited while he came to terms with his thoughts. “But none of that matters,” he said. “Because I’m angry. Angry at Stella’s death, whatever the reason for it. If they’d had a true case against her, I might have accepted it. If she’d been arrested, brought to trial. But she wasn’t, and we may never know why she was killed. I realize that I’ve been angry for ten years. Furious. Raging. My father killed himself. Or did he? Something else I’ll never know.”

“Maybe you should join the rebels.” She half meant it as a joke, but he seemed to consider the question.

“Maybe. You know, back when they brought in Martial Law, they said it would only be for a short while. A year at the most. So many years ago. And the restrictions got harsher. Now it’s almost impossible for an ordinary person to go out of state. You live where you’re born, and no doubt you die there. There are people who never get to see the ocean. Or the mountains. Why?”

“I always dreamed of going into space,” she said.

“I don’t think they issue passes for that.”

“No.” Suddenly she felt close to tears. Like giving up on a dream.

“They built the Wall to keep others out. Now it’s more to keep us in.”

She’d never thought of it like that. but he was right.

“We’re prisoners in our own country,” he continued. “All the decisions are made by the president’s inner circle now. Just a small number, deciding the fate of America. The final decisions are always Harry’s, and I’ve come to suspect that Harry is not a moral man. I’m not even sure he’s entirely sane anymore. So I guess that’s why I didn’t report you.” He drained his mug and sat back. “Or maybe I just want to sleep with you.”

It was so much to take in. She’d felt alone for so long that it was hard to trust someone else. What if she did, and he helped her? She’d drag him down as well. But the truth of the matter was, she couldn’t do it alone, and if she tried and failed, there was a good chance he was dead anyway. They were all dead.

“So,” he said. “Are you going to tell me why you lied about Stella? Why you drugged me? Then we can see if there’s a way out of this.”

She took a deep breath. “I lied about Stella because she told me to. She was scared that day. She wouldn’t tell me why, just said that I should pretend we’d had a falling out. That if anyone asked, we hadn’t spoken in a while.”

“But that was after you drugged me.”

She raked her hands through her hair. “I drugged you so I could get a retinal scan.”

“And you needed a retinal scan because…?”

“I needed to get into the Secret Service files.”

“Why? Are you working with the rebels?”

“No.” She pushed herself up. “I think maybe it might be easier if I show you, because there’s no way you’ll believe me otherwise.” He probably wouldn’t believe her anyway. Maybe she could find some way to prove she wasn’t crazy. That Auspex’s predictions were accurate. “Give me a minute to get dressed and we’ll go to my office. I’ll tell you everything.”

When she came out of the bedroom ten minutes later, he’d tidied himself up; pulled his jacket on over his rumpled shirt, straightened his tie.

As she led him out of the apartment, the door opposite opened, and her neighbor appeared. Paula Chen, looking colorful as ever in her crimson jacket and purple leggings, was a student with a rich family and a love of causes. Her Chinese father had moved to the States thirty years ago, before the lockdown on immigration. She was an active member of the Democracy for America group and sometimes managed to drag Kate along to meetings. It was something she believed in and was at no way odds with the Party. As Gideon had said, Martial Law had only ever been meant to be temporary. Now it was time for the people to show that they were ready to take back their place in the decision-making process.

“Kate.” She grinned. “And a gorgeous guy.”

“This is Gideon. He’s a friend.”

Paula moved closer, gave her a quick hug, and stepped back. “Sorry about your sister.”

“Thank you.”

“Hey, are you coming to the rally? It’s on K Street. We need all the people we can get.”

“Maybe I’ll pop over if I can get out of work.”

“Good.” She pulled a sticker out of her pocket and slapped it onto Kate’s black jacket. “We’ll expect you. Bring Gideon.” She headed out of the building.

“Bring back Democracy,” Gideon murmured, staring at her chest as he read the sticker.

“They have a valid point.”

“Maybe.” But he reached across and pulled the sticker off, crumpled it up, and shoved it in his pocket.

They didn’t talk on the drive, so she just stared out of the window. The sun was shining again. There were no checkpoints, and she could almost fool herself that her world wasn’t about to end.

Gideon showed his ID and security let him through. She led him down the stairs and into her office, then waved him to a spare chair and powered up the systems.

Then she sat down opposite him. He might need a little background for any of this to make sense. Where to start? In the end, he decided for her.

“Why this job?” he asked. “I would have thought it a little…boring.”

“A couple of reasons. My old college professor works here, and he offered me the job when I graduated.” While she was aware that the next bit might get Oliver into trouble, she had to trust Gideon. “He knew I wanted the chance to continue my research, and anything associated with artificial intelligence had been banned. The servers here are the only ones that aren’t monitored. And I have access to most of the systems. Even the Secret Service calls are run through here, though everything is in code, so I can’t actually tell what they’re about. Well, I couldn’t until recently.”

At that moment, Auspex came online. The middle screen lit up.

Good morning, Kate. Welcome back and condolences on the death of your sister.

Kate frowned. That was new; Auspex had never offered personal interaction like that before. He was growing, learning.

Gideon was staring at the screen. “What is this?”

“Auspex. My predictive engine.”

“What does it do?”

That was promising. At least he hadn’t called security and had her tossed into jail. But she hadn’t told him the most incriminating part yet. “Auspex has access to all the systems within the United States.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Including the Secret Service?”

“Yes. Thanks to your retinal scan,” Kate said. “He uses that information to predict what’s going to happen in the future.”

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. There. Her illegal activities were out. All that was left to do was see what Gideon did with this information. And whether he could help her stop the nuclear threat before it was realized.