DIRE : SEED (The Dire Saga Book 2) (22 page)

“Reasonably so. They spent all their time in Los Angeles going from location to location, just hovering there for about half a minute each. Combined with a few other things I’ve noticed over the years, I’m pretty sure that what they were doing was letting Schrodinger look through the possible futures where they got out of their jet, and searched for the base.”

“Lazy,” I muttered. “But their laziness is our gain. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Now, as to your price...”

“Yes. Who is Dire? Who was Dire?” That was my price, for helping her with this scheme. She knew something of my true past, and I wanted that information.

She sighed. “I wish I could tell you.”

“What? You don’t know after all?”

“At the time we made the bargain I thought I did. But some in-depth investigation revealed that to be incorrect. I’m sorry, you covered your tracks well. Too well.”

I folded my arms, shifted the phone to my other ear. “That was not the bargain.”

Some of my irritation must have gotten through to Arachne. A faint nervous tinge crept into her digitized voice. “All I can tell you is that we thought you were one of us. An agent recruited from academia, Doctor Dinah Aeris.”

“Who recruited her, then?”

“Well, it turns out that no one did. The records were forged, the recruiter tagged as your mentor has no memory of you. Basically you faked your way into our organization, grabbed a lot of gear, and ran. That’s what got you on our radar in the first place, the medical chair that you stole had a tracker in it.”

The medical chair that I’d woken up in, so long ago. The one my past self had used to alter her brain, wipe her own memory. She’d created me from her, more or less.

“Well, that’s something,” I said. “But not enough.”

“I know. Which is why I’d like to amend the bargain.”

I sighed. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’ll owe you a favor. Nothing impossible or beyond my resources, mind.”

“Your resources are pretty damn impressive.”

“I know.” Smug little AI. Still, now that we weren’t trying to kill each other, she was likeable enough. And useful.

“All right, we’ll give that a shot,” I said. I considered asking about Professor Vector or Morgenstern Inc, but decided against it. I could probably dig up those answers myself, given time. Oooh, I could ask about Minna... no, wait. I had to talk to Susan Donner, first, see if I could get the answer that way.

I yawned. I was tired, too. Not thinking clearly. “Dire will give her question due consideration. Anything else?”

“Just a warning. Tomorrow Force will probably be back in town in a matter of days.”

I grimaced. We had to wrap this thing with the flowers up quickly, or that would be a problem. Tomorrow Force wanted me behind bars. It was personal, between us. “Thank you,” I replied. “Have a good night.”

Vorpal showed up a little later, and the sleeping bags she brought with her were comfy enough, but I lay awake anyway, staring into the shadows.

CHAPTER 13: A SCOURGE TO THE MIGHTY AND WICKED

“—the Senator, who won his office on the conservative ticket with a campaign that included staunch family values, transparency in all dealings, and a refusal to compromise the party line will sorely be missed by his party. Although the unknown assailant has not yet been identified, the Color Guard are confident that the computer failures of the Y2K blackout will not slow down their analysis of the evidence and identification of the assassins—
”

--Excerpt from a DNN broadcast from January of 2000.

Morning found me working at the computer. It had occurred to me, during the night, that a lot could go wrong with the run on Morgenstern Inc. That noted, I had one outstanding problem I felt obligated to resolve, before I risked my life.

Minna.

She’d been missing for far too long, and if I died with this unsettled I was pretty sure that it was going to bother me, if there was indeed such a thing as an afterlife. Before I’d been blind on this matter, but my recent discussion with Sparky had turned up a lead, in the form of Susan Donner.

And thanks to some fast hacking, after a mere couple of hours I’d turned up a good amount of information. Not only did I have her address, I also had her phone number.

I wondered if I could settle this simply. I was in little shape for anything complex. But hell, it was worth a shot. I pulled out my phone and called her. She picked up on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Susan Donner?”

“Who is this, please?” Was it her? I’d never actually heard her speak.

“This is Doctor Dire.”

She gasped. “I... oh. Okay.”

Well, she hadn’t hung up. That was a good sign.

“Dire’s trying to find Minna. You remember, the woman who rescued you?”

“How... how could I forget?” She whispered. That was a good question. From what I’d learned since I’d left the camp, signs seemed to indicate that she’d been subjected to rape before Minna got her out there. All media I’d read seemed to indicate that left a mark on those so victimized.

“Yes. Minna has been missing since the last battle against the Black Bloods. She left camp, and disappeared. Anya is missing too. Do you know where either of them are?”

“I had her. For a little while. Anya, I mean.” Hope rose within me. I shifted the phone in my hand, leaned forward, elbows on my knees.

“Yes? Wait, had? What happened?”

“I... they... they said I... they threatened me.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know!” Her voice rose, unsteady. “They came and they had suits, and they said a child should be with her mother. Threatened me with jail... for...”

“Susan. Please, take a deep breath.” I’d seen some therapy shows, during my studies of the media known as daytime talk shows. Perhaps some techniques might be effective?

I continued. “Now remember that Dire is a scary, scary person who can thoroughly beat the hell out of anyone that threatens you.”

She giggled, with more than one note of hysteria in there. “Well. I can’t argue with that.”

“Are your shoes on?” I asked.

“What?”

“Taking your shoes off is fundamental to relaxing,” I continued. “Take them off, if they’re not off already. Now breathe in rhythm, until you feel at peace.”

“I... are you really Doctor Dire? This is getting weird.”

“Is it?” I couldn’t see why. But she did sound less hysterical, so the relaxation techniques must have worked. “Look, Dire could show up personally, but that wouldn’t end too well given today’s earlier scuffles. Last thing we want is a SWAT team at your door.”

“Well, yeah.”

“So now that you’re relaxed, cast your memory back and tell Dire everything you can about the men in suits.”

“There’s not much to say. After the government came in and shut down the camp, almost everyone there got resettled into different shelters. The ones who had homes went back home. I got my apartment back and since Minna never returned, I took Anya with me. We were there for a few weeks, but... then one day there was a knock at the door.”

She fell silent.

“The men in suits?” I prompted.

“Two of them. They... I don’t think they were MRB, or FEMA. They had earpieces, and sunglasses. They came in, told me that I could be charged with human trafficking, for taking Anya. I told them I didn’t take her, I was taking care of her until her mother came back! But they didn’t care. I told them I’d even started up the paperwork to adopt her, just in case, but they... they told me that was how they’d found me, and that they could have a warrant on me inside of an hour, with six witnesses saying I’d used her for... for child porn back in the camps.”

“Jesus.” I commented. People seemed to say that a lot, when horrible subjects arose.

“I told them that was all ridiculous, and they said that I had a choice. I give her to them and they take her to her real mother, or I go to jail and they take her anyway. I... I’m sorry.”

I let out a breath. So there was another player involved. Was it those Vory people that Minna had been running from? Possible. Though from what I’d researched about them, I doubted they’d have been so polite.

“Is there anything else you can think of? Anything at all?”

“Well...” she swallowed. “I did write down their license plate number, just in case. I had an idea to give it to the police. But no one would do anything when I tried to call them about it.”

“Wait. A missing child case, and no one would listen to you? An outright abduction, and no one cared?” Heat built up along my scalp.

“I... they said that they’d put out alerts, but since I wasn’t a legal guardian, and Anya wasn’t in the system, it wasn’t worth trying.”

Beep!

I jerked upright, startled. My fingers had clenched around the phone so tightly that I’d hit a number on the keypad.

“What was that?” Susan sounded panicked.

“Relax, slight accident, that’s all. Can you give Dire the license plate number?”

She did so. I trusted it to memory, and stood, pacing as I thought. This was a solid lead, the best I’d gotten in this sorry muddle so far.

“Thank you, Susan, you’ve been a great help.”

“There’s one more thing. Maybe.”

“Oh?”

“On the way out to their car, once Anya stopped trying to fight them, I heard one of them mutter something like... maybe the kid will settle the bitch down.”

I took a long breath. “Really.” My voice was tight, and the pain was back, as my anger built.

“Maybe you should take your shoes off. You sound like you need to relax.” She laughed, but her giggle was nervous again.

“Perhaps.” I stopped, and did so. Oddly enough, it didn’t help. “In any case, thank you. Dire will see what she can do with this.”

“No. Thank you! The Black Bloods, they were monsters. I know. No matter what everyone says about you, I know you’re good. You saved us. You’re a hero, even if they keep lying about you.”

The anger faded. “Er. Thank you.”

“You find Minna and Anya and you save them, okay? Please.”

I nodded. I wanted to point out the fact that nothing was certain, or that it might not be possible, or that they might both be dead, but for some reason, every time I tried to say one of those things, tears started at the corners of my eyes, and my throat closed up. Was I sick? Troublesome.

“She will,” I husked out, finally. I managed that, at least.

“Thank you. God bless.” And she hung up.

I sat back down into the swivel chair next to the computer, and stared into the distance until my eyes could see without tears again.

I didn’t have time for this, not really. But I couldn’t let it alone. Minna had been lost for far too long, and Anya with her.

What good was I, if I couldn’t help my friends when they needed it the most?

I settled in for a few more hours of hacking, with only vague ideas of how to start... wait. Wait a minute. I didn’t have to personally attend to this, now did I? I knew a very good hacker, and she owed me a favor. I could call in Arachne's favor, to sort this out in short order.

I hesitated.

It wasn't
just
a favor. It was a serious favor from an artificial intelligence. A computing mind with connections to secret databases and obscure contacts worldwide. A favor from her could get me blackmail on Morgenstern Inc, or an analysis of the flowers, or help with Timetripper. It could set me up with the money I needed, or a fully-stocked secret villain lair in the active volcano of my choice.

And I wanted to use it to find a friend? A friend who I could probably track down, given time and effort?

I chewed my lip.

After far too long, I closed my eyes. I could always get more money, and any secret lairs she could get me wouldn't be secret to
her
. Morgenstern Inc. was slippery and well-armored, and who's to say she'd have better luck than I would? I'd be a fool to hand the flowers over to a member of WEB, especially if they were as problematic as I feared. And Timetripper... well, he was pretty stupid, by all the evidence so far. If I couldn't handle him without Arachne's help, then I deserved to lose to him.

But there was only one Minna, and only one Anya. I didn't want to lose them if there was even the slightest chance to rescue them from whatever bad situation they'd come to.

I sighed, and bid farewell to easy money.

Arachne picked up on the first ring, naturally. “Hello Dire.”

“Arachne. Going to need your help with something—” I laid out the situation, holding no details back. Another person might have hesitated, but Minna was months gone, and the situation was, well, dire.

“Hm, interesting! They threatened her with jail? That definitely rules out most of the syndicates. The Vory wouldn’t have done that and the Mafia wouldn’t have bothered. They might have actually been with the government in some capacity. Your friend might still be alive.”

“That’s the hope.”

“All right, I’ll take what you’ve given me and look into it. Depending on what I find, that’ll pay off the favor I owe you. Acceptable?”

“You have a deal.”

Three minutes later, I’d barely gone back to my work studying Morgenstern, when the phone rang again. Arachne’s number.

“What do you have?”  I leaned forward.

“I’m sorry.” She said. “I found Anya, but... you’re not going to like this.”

She spoke, and I didn’t. At the end of it, I hung up without a word, shuddering as tears rolled down my eyes. It took some doing, but I found paper and pen, wrote a short note and left it next to Martin’s slumbering form before I climbed back into my armor and headed out to the van.

Two minutes later I was roaring down the road, heading west. West to New York, to kill a man as painfully as I could.

His name was Senator Mark Malone, and he was the son of a business mogul. His name was Senator Mark Malone, and he was a staunch member of his party. Never wavered or compromised where the public could see him. His name was Mark Malone, and he’d ridden into office on a platform of ‘family values’ and ‘making America great’ again. His name was Mark Malone, and he was a rapist. Not a pedophile, thank god for small favors, but a rapist.

He’d been one of the rich bastards who’d dealt with the Vory. He’d bought women for private parties, used them up, and let the Vory ‘take care of them’ once the women no longer appealed. But something about Minna had drawn his eye. Something about Minna stuck with him. And when she’d fled, he’d worried about that. Worried initially that she might reveal his secret... worry that eventually turned to obsession. He stopped showing up at the ‘parties’. He’d hired private detectives of loose morals to go looking for her. He’d gotten his thoroughly bribed, thoroughly corrupt security detail in on the act.

And a scant few nights before Y2K, they found her. But what had been a simple-planned snatch and grab operation went south once Y2K happened, and the city went dark. They held back for a few days, watched and waited, and readied to grab her, but another obstacle to their plans arose.

Me.

They didn’t have the resources to deal with a battle-armored supergenius. So they watched and they waited, and when I lead our forces to war, they saw that Minna had been left behind.

They took her, then. They brought her back to her abhorrent admirer, back to her rapist.

All this and more, Arachne told me.

I crashed through the roof of his mansion like a meteorite, straight into the bedroom at the wee hours of the morning. He thrashed in his bed, aged arms rippling with slack muscles as he flailed, reaching for his phone.

I vaporized it, along with the tips of his right hand’s fingers.

He screamed then, and I grabbed him by his arm, jerked him upright as chunks of the roof and the ceiling rained down among us.

“WHERE IS ANYA?”

He screamed louder, and blood sprayed and pumped from the partially-cauterized wounds. I squeezed, and bones ground in his arm. “WHERE IS ANYA?”