The Fox Inheritance (10 page)

Dr. Gatsbro stands at the end of the alley, flanked by Hari on one side and two goons I don't recognize on the other. A large bandage covers one side of his forehead. I turn to tell Kara to run, but behind us are two more goons, Miesha, and a long black limo blocking the other end of the alley.

"That's right, Locke. There's nowhere to go, except back to the estate. Did you really think I would just let you leave? You're far too valuable for me to let you go."

"We're not going with you," Kara says.

Dr. Gatsbro laughs. "Of course you are." He steps closer. "And you don't want to make this difficult, trust me. Remember, this is my world, not yours." The pupils of his eyes are enraged pinpoints, while the corners of his mouth turn up in a smile. "I knew it was just a matter of time before you turned on your iScroll. Once we locked onto the signal, we didn't let go. We knew you would head to Boston, but you told us precisely where to find you. Thank you."

I look at my palm, at the iScroll, thin as a tattoo and just as hard to remove. It was my fault. I led him to us.

I drop my hand to my side. "You heard her. We're not going with you."

Dr. Gatsbro raises his eyebrows like he is mildly amused and then nods. In almost the same instant, heavy hands are on my shoulders, pushing and slamming me up against the brick wall. My head explodes with pain and the edge of a brick slices into my lip. My arms are pinned behind my back, and I am swung around. Something else slams into my stomach. I double over but am jerked back upright, my arms still wrenched behind my back. I can't breathe, can't see, but I hear yelling. Miesha and Kara screaming. I try to get my bearings, then feel another blow across my jaw. My legs dangle somewhere beneath me, and I try to straighten them so I can stand, but I can't seem to find level ground. I hear taunts--
not very bright, slow to catch on.
Anger overtakes the pain, and I find the strength in my legs to stand. I breathe in sharply, forcing air into my lungs. I look up and see Dr. Gatsbro standing directly in front of me. Miesha stands a few feet behind him, wringing her hands and shaking her head. Kara is held in the grip of a goon just behind them both, his hand clasped over her mouth and a red welt forming across the side of her face. I jerk against the arms holding me so I can get to her, but the arms squeeze tighter.

"We can do this all day, Locke," Gatsbro says. "I can always repair any significant damage back at the labs. But we don't want it to come to that, do we?"

I glare at Gatsbro. "That's all we are, isn't it? Merchandise. Floor models. That's why you changed me. Made me taller. Changed my eyes. Made my--"

"Come now, Locke. I don't see you complaining about all of the changes." He motions with his hand at my body. "Some were probably an improvement, don't you think?" His knee thrusts forward. Pain shoots like lightning to my lungs, eyes, back, and legs all at once and I collapse.

"I think we're done here. Go ahead and load him in the car. The girl too."

"Dr. Gatsbro, he's going to need medical attention."

"What do you think I am, Miesha? Besides, it's just superficial. My men are well trained."

"But, Dr. Gats--"

"Shut up, Miesha! Get in the car! I only brought you along to tend to the girl."

They drag me down the alley. I don't struggle. I'll only have one chance, and I wait for it. I hang limp in the arms that hold me, using that time to gather whatever strength I have, trying to block out the pain, keeping my eyelids nearly closed but carefully watching the ground below me.
Focus
. Fire rages through me, but I remain limp. It takes every bit of my will.
Get ready, Kara
. I watch the bottom of a car door swing open and the feet below me maneuver to throw us in.
Get ready
. I see the legs of the goon who holds Kara. I spring forward with all my strength, breaking free of the grip on my arms, and smash the door into his pelvis. I hear the crack of bone and his scream.

"Run, Kara!"

They are already grabbing at my arms again, but before they can stop me, I swing my leg out and catch another one in the back, sending him flying into a wall. Percel's lessons paid off after all. They tackle me to the ground, but not before I see Kara running down the alley, the remaining two goons in pursuit. If she can make it to the crowds, she'll have a chance. Another blow finds my ribs, and I hear the crack of my own bones, or whatever it is I have now, and then a boot finds my stomach.

Dr. Gatsbro is shouting orders. "Go! Help them! Get her! She can't get away!" The goons throw me in the car and slam the door. I writhe on the floor. I feel 100 percent human--150 percent. Too human. Every bloody inch of me. But even through all the pain, I smile, at least somewhere inside. She got away.

Run, Kara. Find Dot. Run....

I hear the click of the door locks and a voice.

"Hold on." The car lurches forward. I hear the crashing of fenders or trash cans. Metal.

"I'm a dead woman."

I look up at the driver. It is Miesha.

Chapter 24

Dr. Gatsbro tries to follow, banging on the windows. "Open this! Open up now! I'm warning you--"

Miesha accelerates.

"Dead. So dead." She swerves around a corner. I try to drag myself up to the seat but fall back to the floor when the car bumps over something. A curb I hope, and not a person.

"Dead."

I drag myself up again, gasping as each stabbing pain takes my breath away. I lean against the door for support and try to see what's going on. "What are you doing, Miesha?"

"Saving your skinny ass."

"It's not so--" I freeze my breaths as pain grips my chest. I taste something warm and salty in my mouth. Blood. "Skinny."

"Quiet!" she says. "I can barely drive this thing, much less listen to you!"

"Kilby and State," I gasp. "Go. There. Cab waiting. That's where--" I draw in a shallow breath. All I want to do is shut up and pass out, but I can't. At least not yet. "That's where Kara will go."

I hear the scrape of metal as the car hits bottom on a dip and feel the jolt in my ribs. It shoots through my body like lightning. "Slow down!" I yell, not just for the sake of my ribs--if she keeps driving like a maniac, we're sure to be stopped, or to crash. The car slows.

"Kilby and State. Kilby and State. Where the hell..."

I lay my head back and close my eyes. "A block from Faneuil Hall. South."

She doesn't respond. She just keeps mumbling words that spell our doom.

I try to time my breaths, forcing them in slowly and letting them out the same way.
Focus, Locke. Run, Kara. We're coming
. "Hurry," I tell Miesha.

"You just told me to slow down! You want to drive?" The car swerves around a corner.

I open my eyes. "Are we being followed?"

"Not yet."

I try to turn around to look out the back window, but a blinding stab in my side stops me. Gatsbro's goons knew what they were doing, all right. They didn't care how much damage there was, and it feels like plenty.

"There! I think I see it," Miesha says. "A Star Cab is parked up ahead on the right."

I pull myself up and see Dot's cab. "Yes, that's it. You're brilliant, Miesha."

"That won't do me much good when I'm dead."

"Pull behind. We'll ditch this car. Gatsbro probably already has the police coming for it."

"Not a chance. Not with what he's mixed up in. It'll be him personally."

She slows and parks behind Dot.

"Do you see Kara?" I ask.

"No, only a Bot."

"Kara should have beat us here. It was a straighter shot through the alleys."

"Maybe she got lost."

Not Kara.

Miesha opens her door. "Come on, we've got to get out of here. Now." She gets out and opens my door. I have no choice. I brace myself for shock waves. I hold out my arm, and she helps me out. The world vibrates around me. Black. White. Violent flashes of yellow. I grab the door for support, and Miesha swings my arm over her shoulder. "Just a few steps. You can do it." I hear the doubt in her voice.

I can do it. For Kara
. I have to. It will only be a matter of minutes or maybe even seconds before Gatsbro and his men show up. I draw in a breath and hold it. The doors to the cab automatically swing open. Dot has seen me and is ready. I stumble, and Miesha, like a solid wall, catches me. I force two long strides and fall into the cab, sprawling out on the back seat. My head pounds, and more salty blood swirls in my mouth. I hear the excited exchange between Miesha and Dot, feel my legs being folded in so the door can be shut, and then I hear more doors shutting.

"Let's go!"

I swallow the blood. "No!" I say. "We have to wait for Kara." The car begins to move. "Stop! Didn't you hear me?" I force myself to sit up. "We can't leave her!"

Dot looks at me through the mirror. "She's not coming. I saw her run past. She looked at me and kept going."

What?
It makes no sense. I told her to find Dot.

"Why would she do that?"

"She was headed toward the Transgrid Train Depot. She may have thought it would provide better escape. It's a more direct route out of the city."

"And there are plenty of crowds to get lost in," Miesha adds.

I grab the back of Dot's seat, feeling myself slipping, the blood in my mouth swirling, my ribs tearing into whatever insides Gatsbro has pieced together for me. "How would she know about a train depot?"

Dot turns in her seat to look at me directly. "I told her this morning. When you got out of the car to look for your house, she asked about quick ways out of the city."

Why would she want to know another way out when we have Dot's cab? A
quick
way. Was she just thinking ahead? Planning for an alternate route in an emergency? Kara is always thinking ahead, plus they were right behind her. She had to keep running. She would never leave me unless she had to.

"You have incurred damage, Customer Locke."

I nod. Yes. Damage. My grip on the seat weakens and then I notice my hand. The iScroll. It's still sending signals to Gatsbro. "Give me something sharp. Anything. Hurry." I fall back against my seat. Miesha reaches over and hands a knife to me--a Swiss Army knife. I can't believe they still make them or that Miesha has one. I hold out my other hand, palm up. "Will cutting through it stop the signal?"

Miesha's face wrinkles. "No, you can't--"

"Several cuts will disable the device," Dot answers.

I stab my flesh and draw the blade across before I can think about it. I do it three more times. Lines of red beads run together to form a small glistening pool. My temples pound. I have no strength left. The damage is finally overtaking me. The knife falls from my hand, and I close my eyes. I hear Miesha and Dot's chatter, feel something tugging at my hand, but it all melts into a black roar. I try to move my lips.

The train station.

Find her.

But my voice is sucked into the roar.

Chapter 25

A tunnel. Long. Dark. Inviting.

And Jenna is there.

Her smile is slow. Understanding. She's been waiting. She holds her hand out, and I take it; we walk. For miles and miles we walk in the dark.

"Where's Kara?" she asks.

"Shhh," I tell her. "Sleeping."

Jenna knows I'm lying, but she understands. She knows I need this quiet moment with her.

I pause now and then just to look at her. She is so beautiful. More than beautiful. Innocent.
Calm
. My mother would like her.

"What shall we talk about today?" she asks.

"The sky. Describe the sky for me, Jenna."

"It's blue, Locke. You remember that, don't you? The color of my eyes. Look into my eyes, and you will see the sky."

I look and I see an ocean, a field of irises, and warm raindrops. I see a paint box of cerulean, aquamarine, and cobalt. I see robin eggs, breezes, and freedom. I see a wide open sky, the sky I had forgotten.

"I love you, Jenna. I've always loved you."

"I know," she says.

I reach out to touch her face, and a scream shatters the quiet.

I look back over my shoulder. "I have to go."

She nods, and our fingers unlace so slowly that I am certain some part of me has been left behind on her fingertips.

Chapter 26

I'm coming. Coming.

"Locke. Wake up. Talk to me."

Kara. You came back. I knew you would. I knew.

I startle awake and see Miesha kneeling over me. My shirt is gone, and tight bandages circle my chest. High above us are metal beams and a curving metallic ceiling. I am lying on the floor inside some sort of huge warehouse.

"Where are we?"

"Just outside of Boston, but we have to--"

"No! The train station. We have to find Kara." I try to get up, but pain rips through my chest and I fall back down. The warehouse spins. "We have to find her."

"Locke, she's not there."

I close my eyes trying to shake the dizziness. "She has to be there. Neither of us had money. She couldn't buy a ticket."

"The trains are free. As long as you have ID, you can get on and go anywhere. And she had ID."

Free?
I ease my eyes open again. "She got away."

"I'm 99 percent certain. We passed Hari and two of Gatsbro's security force searching the streets near the station. They obviously didn't have her. She must have made it onto a train." Miesha stands. "We'll talk about this more once we're back in the cab. Dot went to get some food for us Eaters and Breathers, as she put it." Miesha rolls her eyes. "We need to get farther away. Gatsbro can practically smell us here we're so close. Turn on your side. I'll help you up."

I follow her instructions. "Whose handiwork is this?" I say, touching the bandage around my middle.

"Your friend Dot has a lot of interesting connections. Someone came who claimed he was a doctor. The price was right, and he didn't ask any questions."