Psion Alpha (47 page)

“How are you doing,
Nikotai?” he whispered.

“Not so good. Bleeding
pretty bad. Tied my shirt around my legs, but it hasn’t helped much. How’s it
coming on your end?”

“Doing our best.”

Sammy’s mind turned
like a hamster on amphetamines stuck inside a wheel. He had to think of
something he could do to persuade Diego to reveal the last digits of the code.
But what? There were so many things, clues, and pieces around him, but he
couldn’t turn all the abstract hints into something concrete. All he could
think to do was keep talking.

“You know, Diego, I met
the fox back in September. It was the night the war broke out. Did you know
about that?”

Diego rubbed his split
lips. “I helped coordinate the sabotage on your base. The fox keeps me informed
on all of his plans.”

Sammy found the hint of
pride in this pronouncement rather curious. “Why you?” he asked. “Why does he
trust you of all people? Other than your impossible-to-overstate level of
ugliness, there’s nothing special about you. I’m still not convinced you’re even
a Thirteen.”

“He trusts me. That’s all
you need to know.”

“I don’t think he
does.” This statement came from Jeffie, whom both Sammy and Diego turned toward
in surprise. “He stuck you out here in the middle of nowhere, put an army of
Thirteens below you, nothing above you, and surrounds you with genetically-enhanced
jungle animals. You think that’s to keep people out? You know how long it took
us to find out where you were? Not very long. I think he’s put everything in
place to keep you in here.”

Diego shook his head.
“This isn’t going to work.”

Jeffie pressed on. “How
long has it been since you last saw him?”

“Yesterday. I spoke to
him yesterday.”

“On screen, sure. But
that was a hologram, wasn’t it? How long since you met with him face to face?”

“It’s none of your
business how long it’s been!” Diego snapped. His anger quickly quelled,
changing to laughter. “And if you think you can turn me against him, you’re
wrong. I would die before I gave up his secrets. I had the choice long ago, and
my decision has never waned. Who do you think helped him coordinate the attack
on the Wyoming prison? I did … from the inside, no less. Who do you think told
him about the Queen? Me. I have been the fox’s right hand for decades. Don’t
think for a moment that you can make me betray him.”

“All I’m saying, Diego,
is that if I lived here, I wouldn’t see this place as a position of honor. It
feels like a prison.”

Sammy was so proud of
Jeffie he wanted to kiss her.

“Not many people can do
what I do. It takes mental fortitude and emotional stability that few possess.
I am proud of that. This place is my life’s work.”

Without thinking twice,
Sammy aimed his gun at one of the many screens and fired. He hit the screen
almost dead center, leaving a hole the size of a baseball in the glass. Diego
faced him, his eye wide, his mouth hanging open in a silent scream. Sammy shot
two more times and the screen went black. He turned his gun to another screen.

“STOP!” Diego roared.

Sammy pulled the
trigger again. It took only two bullets to put out the second screen. Diego
gripped the arms of his chair in a half crouch above the seat, ready to spring.
His eye and socket twitched with a wild madness and the four sections of his
lips wobbled like crab legs.

“You can stop this,
Diego. Give me the information I want, and I won’t pull the trigger.”

Diego’s face told Sammy
he had no intention of giving up any information yet. As Sammy deliberately turned
the barrel of his gun to a third screen, Nikotai’s voice came over their coms.
“I’m bleeding badly here, Sammy. I’ve got the med kit on me. If I’m going to be
any use to you, I need to use the rest of the orange goo and the bandages. I
know it won’t solve the bleeding problem, but it’ll at least slow things down.”

Jeffie lowered her
voice so her com mic wouldn’t pick it up. To Diego, who knew nothing of
Nikotai’s presence, it would look like she and Sammy were conversing to each in
private. “What will you have if he uses the rest of the supplies?”

“We’ll figure something
out,” Sammy told her. “Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry?” Jeffie
repeated in a shrill voice. “Are you kidding me? Of course I’m going to worry!
We’re talking about your life here. You’re—you’re more valuable to the team
than he is.”

“Sammy, are you copying
me?” Nikotai asked.

Sammy looked into
Jeffie’s eyes as he responded. “Yes, I copy.”

Jeffie shook her head
at him.

“Go ahead and use it.
I’ll be fine.”

Jeffie closed her eyes
as a tear ran down each cheek. Her hand fidgeted around the canister that Diego
had tossed her. Sammy noticed Diego watching them with half-closed eyes and a creepy
smile. “Use it, girl. It’s the only way to save him.”

Jeffie pulled up the
leg of Sammy’s pants and saw the blood still trickling out of the wound and
down the cloth. She bit down hard on her lower lip and dipped her fingers into
his blood. The index finger of her other hand rested on the nozzle of the
spray, and Sammy wondered if he would have to blast her in order to stop her
from using it.

“It’s the only way,
girl.”

“No, it’s not,” Sammy
said.

“What if he’s right?”
Jeffie asked. “What if it will save your life?”

“Why would you spray me
with a can of something from
him
?” Sammy smacked his head. “Are you crazy?”

“No! I don’t want to
see you die!”

“That could kill me! It
might be poison gas—”

“It’s not poison,”
Diego drawled. “What would I need poison gas for? You don’t want her to know
the truth!”

“Shut up!” Jeffie’s gun
now pointed at Diego’s heart. “I don’t want to hear another word from you. Got
it?”

“Calm down,” Sammy told
her. “You don’t need to use the gun
or
the canister.”

“Look at your leg!” She
jerked the cloth even higher up his leg. “Don’t tell me not to worry about
you.”

Sammy did as he was
told, staring at the round bites still oozing blood. For an instant, nothing
seemed real: not the blood, the wound, the gun in his hand, the danger he,
Jeffie, Nikotai, and even Diego were in. He was loosely connected to life. And
he knew what that meant. He wanted to turn to Jeffie to warn her that he was on
the verge of being immersed in Commander Byron’s memories—that he was fine—but
it was too late. His brain had already flipped the switch. He had no control
over his body.

Please Jeffie
,
you gotta trust
me. Don’t use that spray. Don’t let Diego get to you.

* * * * *

“Sammy, what’s going
on?” Jeffie asked. She touched his face. His eyes were open, but in a glossy,
scary sort of way. “Sammy, speak to me!” She lightly slapped his cheek to wake
him. “Come on, Sammy!”

“Only the spray will
save him,” Diego said, drawing his chair closer to where she sat next to Sammy.
“How much time do you think you have left?”

Jeffie pointed her gun
back at Diego’s face. “Don’t move!”

“You’re not going to
shoot—”

BLAM!

The gun went off, her
aim altered so the bullet missed Diego’s head by centimeters. He jerked in his
chair so violently that it tipped over. He scrambled to get up and compose
himself, but Jeffie saw the anger and embarrassment suffused into his
expression, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. It put a smile on her face.

“You think you’re
clever, Newgie filth?” He spat at her, splashing her on the neck. Jeffie used
her free hand to wipe it off. “I’m giving the two of you a chance to rectify
your errors, despite Sammy’s arrogance at coming here, thinking he could sneak
into the Hive and leave undetected. You can see how unwise his decision was,
can’t you?”

“No.”

“He is dying!” Diego
gestured wildly at Sammy. “Are you blind?”

“He’s not dying. He’s—he’s
sleeping.” She grabbed Sammy’s wrist and began to count his pulse. His heart
beat faster than normal, especially for someone so relaxed. “He’s been doing
this off and on for weeks. It’s like his brain shuts off for a minute … without
any warning.”

Diego settled down and
stared at Sammy. “A memory transfer.”

Jeffie had no idea what
he was talking about.
One hundred five beats per minute. Dang you, Sammy.
You needed those bandages just as much as Nikotai!

“Whose memories?”

“I don’t know what you
mean.”

Using his feet as a
motor, Diego drew his chair slightly closer.

“I told you not to
move!”

“Stop playing games,
girl. You and I both know you won’t shoot me. How many opportunities have you
had to do it already? Whose memories does he have?”

Jeffie lowered her arm
a little. “I don’t know.”

“Byron?” His eye was
fixed now on Sammy’s head as if he could tunnel into Sammy’s thoughts with a
stare. “Walter Byron?”

“I don’t know. He’s
never said anything to me about them.”

“Did Walter Byron
survive the attack?” Diego whispered. “Is he alive?”

“I’m not going to
answer you!” Jeffie shouted.

Diego rubbed his head
with both of his hands. The rubbing grew more vigorous until Jeffie started to
feel scared. Then he attacked, launching himself with fingers outstretched
toward Sammy. He made that same horrible gargling sound she’d heard multiple
times, but now it was filled with rage and desperation. She blasted at him, but
he jerked his body to the side and landed on Sammy. Jeffie threw herself at
him, blasting again as she did so. He clawed at Sammy’s head as they skidded
away in a heap.

“Sammy, WAKE UP!” she
shouted as she tackled Diego a second time.

He wrapped his fingers
in her hair and pulled hard enough that she felt an agonizing rip. She gritted
her teeth and elbowed him in the face, then used her feet to blast them even
further away from Sammy.

“SAMMY!” she screamed
again.

Diego wasn’t done. He
jammed his left fist into Jeffie’s face at the same time she fired another
blast. No sooner did the blow crash into her, Diego flew off of her and slammed
into the wall, stunned. Jeffie’s right cheek ached and her vision blurred as
she crawled back to her gun and trained it on him.

“My gun is getting
tired of being pointed at you,” she said through a fat lip. Her cheek throbbed
painfully as it swelled. “And my trigger finger is about to have some serious
spasms.”

“Give him the gas and
walk away from here,” Diego hissed. “I want nothing to do with either of you.
Just spray it and leave before he wakes up.”

Jeffie backed away from
Diego until she stood next to the can. Keeping her eyes on her enemy, she
reached and picked it up. Then she crossed the room to where Diego lay, his eye
half-closed and pointed at her.

“How about if I spray
you with it?” she asked, holding the canister close to his face and watching
for his reaction. “Would you be okay with that?”

He wasn’t scared. “I’ll
say the word to lock this place down, then take a nice nap. And you,
unfortunately, will be no closer to the passcode than when you got here.”

Jeffie grunted in
frustration as she removed the canister from Diego’s face.
What do I do?
WHAT DO I DO?
She hated this. She hated everything. Why couldn’t things go
back to the way they were? No more people dying in jungles, no more missions,
no more Psions, Ultras, and Thirteens. Just school, sports, and life.
Why
did I choose this life?
Perhaps there was a way out of the mission.
Maybe
Diego is telling the truth
. She wanted to believe they could walk away from
this without any more deaths.
Please wake up, Sammy. Please.

But his eyes continued
to stare off at nothing, his breathing slow and peaceful even while his heart
raced in his chest and he continued to lose blood. She knelt down beside him
and put her hand on the top of his head.

“That’s it, girl,”
Diego said. “Finally, someone with sense in this place. Give him the spray, and
I’ll show you the way out. No one has to die.”

Jeffie wiped her eyes
as she looked at Diego. “Do you promise? Do you give me your word we will walk
away from this?”

“Jeffie, what’s going
on in there?” Nikotai asked. “You’re not about to do something crazy, are you?”

Diego nodded. “I give
you my word.”

Jeffie didn’t know what
to believe. Trusting a Thirteen seemed ludicrous, but she could kill Diego
anytime she wanted. He had no power over her. Diego watched her closely, his
twisted lips set in an awful grimace. Jeffie’s hand shook as she placed the
canister under Sammy’s nose and eased her finger back to the spray trigger.

“It’s the only way,”
Diego said, “if we all are to survive.”