Blood Ties, page 24
“Psychology books?” he asked.
A smile tugged at the side of her mouth. When she turned to him, she attempted to meet his continuous raised eyebrow with one of her own, but only succeeded in a deadpan stare due to the anesthetics. “How do you think I got over my fucked up childhood?”
Actually, she hadn’t gotten over it. Not completely. The nightmares had still been there, as well as the paranoia, but seven years on this side of the gate had taken the venom out of their fangs.
He regarded her for a few more moments, then a smile twitched his lips. “I think your sister underestimated you.”
“She send you?”
“Sort of. I would have come anyway.”
She nodded. From what she remembered, he’d gone back to the lab site after she’d woken up, offering the Nemina’s med bay for the soldiers they were still pulling out of the pocket dimension—Karin’s healing faculties had prioritized the med staff over pilots, so they had more boats and medics than they could fly, and the Nemina’s facilities, though old, were better than nothing. In the brief time they’d had before he’d gone off, he’d made some joke about how he’d try not to crash the ship without her.
Nomiki had stayed behind to lead the Fallon rescue teams back through the maze to pick up the survivors.
They should be all right. Unless some had died to the injuries Nomiki had inflicted. Time didn’t run that much more slowly in that place, did it?
Her stomach hardened as she remembered the sight of the door and the slowness in which it had closed. She swallowed. “Did they get everyone out of that place?”
“Everyone they know,” Marc said. “They’re still scouting out the rest of it. Got some mapping drones.” He paused. “They also recovered both Ares and your clone. Last I heard, they were working on the tanks inside. They’re not the same as the stasis tanks we normally use here.”
Of course. It’d be too simple if they were. “I suppose it’s too early for any word on who those people are?”
“Cookie’s helping run a few of the feed pictures through missing persons, but it’ll take a couple of days for the furthest servers to get back to him. Especially with Alliance blocking us.”
“And Sasha?” she asked. “Any word on her?”
She suspected not. Even with the weight of the Fallon military behind them, Sasha had gotten away—again. Too focused on Soo-jin to give a damn about the rest of the fight, she hadn’t even noticed when Sasha’s ship had taken off and vanished into thin air. When someone had told her, she hadn’t believed it until they’d produced the footage from the Arjuna Viper they’d sent to keep her down.
One minute, the ship was there, engines roaring, front tilted into take-off. The next? Gone.
Closer inspection revealed a large distortion around its edges, similar to what she’d seen when Sasha had been deflecting blaster shots. Which led her to believe that the good doctor had slid herself into a different dimension for her getaway.
“No,” Marc said, confirming her suspicions. “No word.”
She closed her eyes. Had her bandages allowed it, she would have leaned her head back. “Fantastic.”
“Hey, hey, it’s going to be all right.” Clothing rustled as Marc turned to her. After a slight hesitation, his hand reached across the back of her neck to her undamaged shoulder and pressed down in comfort. “Things will get better.”
“Right now, I’m the only one capable of healing the Lost. She has over half the system in her control. Even if all the attacks stop tonight, I will be dead before I can heal even a quarter of that. Pardon me if I’m a little pessimistic.” She twisted her lip. “Sol, why couldn’t she have just kept the whole revenge thing in her pants? I just wanted to have a quiet, drama-free life.”
“Life is never drama-free,” Marc said.
“Yeah, but it’s generally not so world-ending.”
“I don’t know. Some of those auction runners cook up regular shitstorms. Soo-jin’s got some good stories.”
A smile tugged at her face, and she turned her attention back to the glass and the metal pod beyond it. A light along its edge gave a slow, soft pulse, counter to any pattern visible on the screens behind it. Marc’s hand stayed on her shoulder. She found herself relaxing as its warmth seeped further into her skin.
One of these days, when all the shit cleared from their plates and nobody had come close to death for a little while, she was going to have to pin him down to a solo dinner or something and get to the bottom of whatever had been developing between them.
But not now. They had work to do.
As if on cue, Marc’s netlink buzzed. The hand left her shoulder to pull it out.
“Hello?”
Nomiki’s voice flowed out, compressed and tinny over the connection. “Is Karin with you?”
“Yep.”
“Good. Got some news.”
Karin straightened. “You found Sasha?”
Nomiki paused. “No. Something else. Remember that ball Soo was working on? The one that tried to electrocute you?”
“Yeah?”
“Cookie managed to backtrack its transponder signal. They’re a local pharmaceutical, and Brindon’s already got three squads mobilizing to raid the shit out of their facility.” Nomiki paused, and Karin could practically hear the grin in her next words. “Wanna come watch?”
Karin’s jaw slackened. She lifted her gaze to Marc, whose eyebrows had raised into his forehead again.
“Are you serious?” she asked. “Like—this is really happening?”
“I am, and it is,” Nomiki replied. “Are you in or not?”
Behind her bandage, the rest of her mouth pulled into a lopsided smile.
“Oh, abso-fucking-lutely.”
Chapter 25
Their dropship, a simple transport they’d shared with several others from the military’s research and development and information technology departments—scientists and technicians, by the looks of their civilian dress, atypical equipment packs, and the lanyards that hung from their pockets or necks—had left them just inside the gate of an office estate on the outskirts of Shin Okayama, about a half-hour’s flight from the base in Nova Kolkata.
The building had a new, expensive look to it. Straight, dove-gray corners rose on each of its square design—the building was so small, she could see its back corner—to meet a flared, luminous overhang of tinted glass six floors up. A matching tinted glass sculpture rounded the edge of its approach path, its undulating curve reminiscent of either sound waves or a mountain range. She wasn’t sure which. Light danced up from the spotlights of the water feature at its feet, giving a beautiful contrast to the blue-tinged night around them.
Glass, actually, was the main feature of the building. As she looked up at it, she felt her eyebrows rising as she realized that she could see right into every single floor.
They weren’t expecting an invasion, were they?
Not that a glass building couldn’t repel a force. That was her Earth logic talking. Here, with the abundance of drones and shield generators, some of which were even fitted on mundane clothing stores, a glass façade did not mean indefensible. Seirlin had dropped some serious drones on them. No reason this place couldn’t.
Well, no reason before Brindon’s teams had broken in and taken over the place. Now, the sheer number of soldiers she saw crawling through the building ensured their safety. And, by the incoming roar from her right, more were on their way.
She smiled, then turned to her sister, who had fallen into step by her side. “So, just who the fuck are these people, and why are they sending magic electric drones after my ass?”
“Ajin Pharmaceuticals. A new company, relatively speaking, but formed of people with connections to others. They do body mods, like the place we found Takahashi at. As to the latter…” Her sister trailed off, a wicked smile creeping onto her face. “I intend to ask them.”
Karin watched her for a moment. Marc had stayed behind to keep an eye on Soo-jin. As they passed the sculpture, the water feature bounced light up from their sides, making Nomiki’s dark eyes glitter and dance. “You’re having fun.”
“Aren’t you?” Nomiki’s smile widened as she made a gesture to the building. “Brindon just thrashed the place and left us with the icing to eat.”
A twinge in her shoulder—the good one, this time—signaled she’d veered off course. She hadn’t realized she had stumbled—probably more of the anesthetics at work—but she corrected herself back to stay in the middle of the path.
“That’s a… remarkable analogy,” she commented.
“But not wrong.” Nomiki flashed her smile again, looking less a normal happy than something venturing into Cheshire territory. Then she stepped forward, taking the lead, and nodded toward the door. “Come on. Let’s intimidate some assholes.”
Inside, Ajin Pharmaceuticals differed from Seirlin Genomics only in style and budget. Gleaming, asymmetrical swathes of tile separated areas in the mostly open concept building, accenting the rich, wooden features in the walls with a mix of streaked black, flecked white, and something similar to the outside’s dove gray. A lobby and reception opened up on her right, separated by only a meter of slat-paneled wood that matched the walls and front desk, with black fabric arm chairs and couches positioned around glass coffee and accent tables with matching black frames. Like Seirlin, the outdoor water feature extended to just outside the windows, providing the room a pleasant view of a dark-bottomed pond and the several large, richly-patterned koi inside it.
Five soldiers stood in the room, keeping guard over eight people in white lab coats and a woman in a skirt and blouse who Karin assumed usually sat behind the reception desk.
The captives glanced up as they walked in. Karin felt their stares linger on her as they passed, probably more due to her bandages than the recognizability of her face at this point.
“Do they know who we are?” she asked Nomiki as they went farther in, passing a small appointment room with thin-slatted blinds and more windows than she’d be comfortable taking an exam in. She jostled against Nomiki as she mistook her step, nearly bumping into one of the guard soldiers, as well, but righted herself enough to get into the elevator.
“They say ‘no,’ and I’m inclined to believe them,” Nomiki said. “I saw the looks on their faces when the first squad found them. I mean—some of them had a kind of resigned look, but it felt more a ‘Gods damnit, I knew management was running a drug scheme’ feel than a ‘Sol’s motherfucker, our secret attack drone and dodgy experimentation has been discovered by the thrice-fucked military’ feel, you know? And the rest just looked surprised. As if we’d pulled the lid on their innocent scientist shell and dragged them out to be poked. Which we, you know, kind of did.”
“You have a way with discerning faces,” Karin commented after a moment.
“It’s a talent.” Nomiki pushed a button on the elevator panel and nodded to the floor. “We’re going up to chat with the bosses.” Once again, a wide smile appeared on her lips. “We lucked out. They’re both here.”
Karin steadied herself against the wall as they began to move. The brushed aluminum siding reflected her face in two blobs of white, displaying the mix of bandages that covered half her face and a part of her hair. A wooden accent ran through the middle, matching the wood from the first floor. She ran her good hand over its smooth surface.
A ding sounded. The doors opened with a quiet rumble, revealing what she assumed to be the boss’ office.
The view on all sides showed the nighttime lights of the Shin Okayama suburb. With Lokabrenna in closer orbit, the clouds above had a slight blue tint even at night, which made the night seem even deeper than normal. Lush vegetation and well-maintained boulevards shaped the streets beyond Ajin’s wrought-iron and sandstone fencing. From here, she could see all the way to the skyscrapers at the city center, underlighting the clouds with a thick, soft light. Closer, the beige carpet cut brightly against the dark window, making her feel like she’d just walked in on a platform rather than a room. A small sitting area—four chairs and a coffee table, all in light brown—lay to her left, looking out on the front of the building, and a second reception desk met them before the hallway split to either side to funnel around an office that she could only describe as a glass box that took up the center of the floor plan.
An eyebrow twitched beneath her bandage. If these guys had been looking for privacy, a glass box office was not the way to go about it.
It was richly furnished, at least. And it had the same kind of thin, slatted blinds as the appointment room downstairs. And, though the massive desk that sat at the head of the box matched the glass on the sides, the chair thankfully did not. They’d opted for something more ergonomic.
Nomiki led her back around, walking to the rear of the elevator to reveal a mirrored design on the opposite half of the wing. Same office, same furniture, similar view. So, the two bosses shared a level. She wondered which bore the brunt of the elevator traffic.
Through the glass, she caught her first sight of the men who’d ordered a half dozen metal spheres to chase her around sitting on the office’s beige couch with their backs to their approach and four soldiers standing guard over them in the room. Although they shared a similar Asian ancestry, the two couldn't have been more different. The one on the right sat at an uneasy angle, with a harried, dusty kind of hairstyle that looked a little overgrown, and a short, wiry frame that, though he sat still, just about radiated his unease. One of his knees was bouncing up and down at an anxious pace.
The other, by contrast, sat taller and older. Serene, with his arms presumably crossed over his chest—coming up from behind, she couldn’t see their fronts yet, but could guess by the angle—he looked either like a man in charge of weekend yoga retreats or someone who was waiting for his lawyer to arrive.
As she drew closer, she put her money on the latter.
“You recognize either of them yet?” she asked Nomiki.
“Nope. You?”
“Nada. Maybe they’re unconnected to Seirlin.”
“Maybe. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to have fun with them,” Nomiki said. “Brindon’s given me a bit of leeway with this one, considering.”
“She’s generous, isn’t she?”
“Most times, yes.” She cleared her throat. “One of them—the taller one, I think—is supposed to be Dr. Eric Lin. Neurologist of some sort, so maybe he’s the brains of the company, har har.” Nomiki flashed a grin at her cringe. “The other should be Dr. Shinji Tasuhada. Cybernetic specialist with a surgical degree.”
“Huh. You sure this isn’t a division of Seirlin?”
“Pretty sure. Cookie didn’t find anything about them, anyway.”
“He found the rest of the information?”
“Yep. Now, come on.” Nomiki tugged on her good hand, pulling her around the corner of the room and toward the door on the other side. “Let’s get you in for a checkup.”
A slight floral smell tinted the air as they let themselves in, not so much an overpowering perfume as the smell of healthy leaves which Karin tracked to a potted tree in the corner. The desk was empty except for two tablets and a holoscreen base, all of which lay dormant. The remnants of a take-out meal sat in a bag on the floor next to one leg of the table.
The two men balked as soon as they entered, one paling visibly and looking like he just about wet himself—Tasuhada, the shorter one.
“Oh, shit,” he said, squirming. “That’s her, isn’t it? The killer bi—”
The tall man beside elbowed him sharply.
“The killer bitch?” Nomiki finished for him, amusement languid in her tone. “Yes, that’s me.” She turned to Karin, looking like a cat who’d just caught a mouse. “Say, they do know us.”
“Oh, gods, please don’t kill me. You—” he turned to the guards, who’d retreated to the side of the room. “Don’t let her kill me. Please. You’ve got to—”
“They work for me,” Nomiki said.
A small lie, and one that, judging by the twitch of eyebrows on the nearest soldier’s face, didn’t go unnoticed, but none of the soldiers challenged it, and as she watched in the background, letting her sister take center stage, she caught a couple quickly-hidden smiles.
They’re enjoying this, then.
Good.
“So,” Nomiki continued, sauntering forward. “You going to tell me why you sent a bunch of electrified metal floaty assassins after my sister, or do I get to be creative?”
Tasuhada cringed. “They weren't assassins!”
Beside him, Lin threw him a sharp, annoyed look. “Stop talking.”
Huh. Nomiki may have been right in that he carried the brains of the company.
Her sister eyed him. “You know, we've entered Emergency Bill C-587 territory now. If you're waiting for a lawyer, you might be out of luck.” She turned back to Tasuhada. “Tell me more about these not-assassins? I understand they killed at least two people. A pretty impressive record for a few not-assassins.”
“They were just supposed to stun. I didn't mean—” He cut himself off with a swear. “The operators amped up their voltage more than they were supposed to. And went too far. I never told them to track her into a station.”
“Right, because tracking me through a shopping mall is so much safer for the public,” Karin said.
“And what were you going to do once she'd been stunned?” Nomiki's eyebrows raised. “Do you know how dangerous it is to be an unconscious woman on the street?”
That… was a bit of a stretch. And Nomiki knew it.
But Tasuhada cringed anyway. “We just wanted to get to her before the others did.”
“How did you hear about her, anyway?” Nomiki frowned. “It can't have been from the Alliance feeds, since you clearly know about me, as well.”
Huh. She hadn't thought about that. As she inched forward, Lin glanced over at her, his eyes flowing over her form in a quiet, professional assessment. After a moment, he seemed to come to a decision. When Tasuhada went to speak again, he unfolded one hand from his lap and put it on Tasuhada's arm.
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