Archon's Queen (48 page)

She concentrated, ignoring the tugging and whining. The third try worked. Faye gathered herself against the wall, shivering and sobbing. Anna held up the chains and made sure the girl saw them fry. Faye went to cling again, but Anna grabbed her about the wrist and took off at a run. The girl scrambled to stay upright, slipping and sliding on the floppy pant legs. Anna stopped at the corner, peering at the security station. Faye grabbed on from behind, crying into her back, trembling.

“Nathan, still with me?”

“Who’s Nathan?” Faye whispered, on tiptoe to peer over Anna’s shoulder.

“Yeppo, I’m still here.”

She patted the girl’s hand. “The trick I used to get past the sentries on the way in won’t work with a passenger. Got any suggestions?”

“Depends. Lethal or non?”

Anna furrowed her brow, thinking of what they did to Faye, but these two were just grunts doing their job. “Non-lethal if you can. She doesn’t need to see anything more.”

“Who’s Nat―”

Anna put a hand over Faye’s mouth and pointed at the earbud.

“Ten seconds,” said Nathan.

Whirring made them both look up as a circular aperture opened in the roof. An orb bot the size of a human head sank into the room and pivoted toward them. The girl made a pathetic squeak and Anna shoved her against the wall, raising a hand.

His voice vibrated through her skull. “Hang on, I’m the ball bot.”

“Little warning next time, I almost cooked it and Twee nearly bricked.”

Didn’t yell at me for calling her Twee. Oh, no.

Anna rubbed the girl’s back. “You’ll be safe, Faye. I promise. I’m sorry it took me so long to find you.”

The hovering robot zipped around the corner and went off down the hallway. Several seconds later, the sound of electrical arcing and gurgling followed. At the sound of bodies hitting the floor, Anna set off running with Faye in tow. Having shocked the sentries into unconsciousness, the orb spun about the octagonal room in a playful orbit.

Faye looked down at the twitching bodies. “Are they dead?”

“No, hon.”

Nathan cleared his throat in her ear. “You got a bit of a problem, luv.”

Anna made tight fists. “Feck, what now?”

“I think her suit has a chip in it somewhere, they’ve noticed one of the prisoners out of the cell. You got men on the move.”

Anna grabbed the lapel of the yellow prison jumpsuit; amber light glinted from of a network of metal threads.

“The whole bloody thing is an antenna…”

Faye stared up at her with terror in her eyes.

“You’ve got anything on under that?”

“The bastards stole my Dead Ballerinas shirt.” The girl went scarlet. “Just my smalls.”

“Shit. I’m not dragging her around here in her knickers.” She grasped Faye’s shoulders. “They’re gonna catch us if I don’t get rid of that transmitter. I don’t know how much power it’ll take. It might not be pleasant. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Faye shook her head. “I don’t wanna take it off. I trust you.”

“It might hurt.”

“Do it!” Faye rasped, trying to yell at a whisper. “They’re coming.”

Anna took two handfuls of the fabric, channeling electrical power at the smallest amount she could perceive. Faye’s hair shifted, rising to stand on end as the energy increased. Her toes whitened against the floor. She went stiff as a board and convulsed. Two sparks rode down her legs a second before a loud pop and smoke rose from the back of her neck where the suit caught fire. The stink of burning silicon and molten plastic made her choke.

“That’s got it,” said Orange. “Signal dropped.”

Frantic, Anna swatted at the flames while Faye collapsed into her whining, “Owowowowow.”

Anna hugged her. “Sorry.”

Faye fought back tears as she pointed. “Anna! Look ou―”

She turned as a soldier leapt from an opening door. He was on her before she could react, swinging her over and driving her chest into the floor. Stunned by the impact, Anna thrashed impotently as he grabbed a handful of hair and drove her face into the ground twice. She gasped for air; he gathered her arms behind her back and squatted on top of her with a knee between her shoulders.

A sudden fleshy
thwap
preceded a piteous squeal. The strength holding Anna’s arm down faded. He slid to the side, cradling his crotch while failing at his feeble effort to contain her.

“Five.” Faye folded her arms across her chest, backpedaling with a slight limp that favored her right foot, and shivering.

The soldier went for a stunner, glaring death at Faye. She backed into the wall, whimpering.

Anna took advantage of the distraction and jumped on him. He jammed the taser into her neck and squeezed. Blue sparks danced, crawling up and over Anna’s face.

Faye screamed, sobbing “No!” over and over. The child ventured a hesitant reach, but recoiled from the lights dancing about.

The stunner didn’t slow Anna down. She thrust her arm up, palming the man’s face. All the energy of the device, plus as much as her anger could draw from thin air, burned a handprint into his cheek. He fell in a heap.

Faye swallowed hard, glancing at the twitching body. “Is he dead?”

“No, hon.” Anna dragged herself to her feet and put an arm around Faye.

Boots echoed as a handful of soldiers approached from the right. Another opening in the ceiling released a stationary sentry gun, which pivoted in the direction of the security detail, firing a few shots before they came around.

Orange’s voice flooded Anna’s head again. “I got this… I’ll keep ‘em pinned down while you get on the lift.”

She ran her lungs aflame toward the elevator, which opened at their approach. Between tear-blurred eyes and floppy leggings, Faye relied on Anna to pull her along. Anna dragged her through the doors, diving to the side as two bullets bounced off the wall. Gunfire sent Faye into a shrieking ball on the floor, her screams echoing in the confined metal space even after the elevator closed.

Her face twisted with emotion, she squeezed Anna’s coat. “What now? We’re in an elevator. There’s gonna be a million guys waiting for us when it opens.”

Anna pulled her upright and held on. “I will get you out of here.”

Nathan chuckled. “I got it sorted. Got turrets here and there keeping them occupied. I created a phony tracking signal, so it looks like you’re on the other side of the facility. I’m also flooding their security cameras with awful movies.”

“Awful movies?” Anna shot a confused stare at her reflection in the silver door.

“Let’s just say you probably wouldn’t let that kid watch these.”

“What the bloody hell are you doing that for?”

The sounds of the turret gunfire grew faint as the elevator climbed.

“Increases the distraction effect. Some of the blokes might be more inclined to linger to watch a video of that sort rather than something goofy.”

Faye’s teeth chattered in time with her shivers. Anna wanted to take her mind off the situation at hand.

“That weasel of a neighbor of yours confessed. The filth took him away.”

“He what?” She looked up with blue lips. “Really?”

“A friend had a nice long chat with him and convinced him that what he did to you was wrong. He felt so bad, he confessed in front of the news with the Met watching. There’s nothing stopping you from going home.”

“Are Penny and the idiot okay?” Faye sniffled.

“Yeah, little bruised, but okay.”

Faye wiped her face. “Okay. I wanna go home.”

Anna smiled. “Were your parents always such weepy saps? Ugh, the way your dad blubbed, he couldn’t even speak.”

The girl’s attempt to laugh while crying produced a strange noise.

The elevator opened, letting in the sounds of roaring gunfire, shouting, and alarms. Anna rushed to the right. Twee followed, scrambling on too-long floppy pant legs that became traction-less socks. Sounds of war were at her heels, hounding them back the way she came, to the echoing garage.

Hopping in one of the transport vans was tempting, but she did not know how to drive anything with military-style controls. Besides, the vehicles were huge, slow, and obvious, facts that would make it simple for the CSB to locate them. Anna crept through the blue-indigo darkness, ignoring the hulking machines. She hoped a nationally broadcast return home would keep the girl safe from the CSB.

Anna slid against the wall next to the final door, with a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Faye, outside this door we have to run for about two hundred yards. I have a bike. Whatever happens to me, you keep running.”

“No.” Faye cried again. “I don’t want you to die.”

“If they kill me, they have no reason to hurt you anymore.”

Sniveling, she clamped on and shook her head. “Not gonna leave you.”

Anna nudged the door open far enough to peek. Orange must have killed the lights; outside, the air was so dark it felt solid.

“Perfect timing, Orange.”

She shoved the door open and slipped through.

“Eh? What?”

The door clanked closed behind her and beeped.

“With the outer lights,” whispered Anna.

“What outer lights?” He sounded worried. “Bugger all! Something’s happening to the connection.”

Anna’s heart stopped.

Brilliant light bathed the area, projected from four armored personnel carriers. A row of a dozen soldiers waited in the once-dark, rifles aimed. Faye’s arms encircled her from behind, squeezing tighter.

Anna held her hands up.

welve men stared at her. Twelve little red dots swarmed like bees at the center of her black coat. Eight rectangles of white light glared, searchlights mounted in pairs upon four armored six-wheeled vans. A cold breeze blew across the silence.

Anna squinted at them. She had endured the shame of being despised by her own father. She had been a faceless Cov kicked around by Old Bill. She’d let Plonk use her to score a fix, caring only for an easy way to flee her grey reality. She had abandoned her dignity, prancing naked in front of horny men while Blake treated her like a veritable slave. The thought of his doughy body sliding all over her filled her with such humiliation she no longer cared what happened to her. Out of all that, her only regret was how the innocent little girl clinging to her had suffered because of what she was.