“No, you don’t.” Thorne reached into a pocket and withdrew a badge. “This is an ongoing operation, officer. You need to leave before you blow our cover.”
Kaiden eased into the driver’s seat. The windows were still in opaque mode, so no one could see in, but he could see out.
“With all due respect, Agent, this vehicle showed up on my scanner. I have to take a look.”
Kaiden raised a hand to the ignition switch but didn’t press it yet. He looked back to Titus and Zelda.
“Buckle up,” he whispered.
“Of course we came up on your scanner,” Thorne said, getting angry now. “What use would a stakeout be without surveillance equipment?”
“Agent, I need you to step out of the vehic—” The voice cut off as Thorne threw a punch. Even from up at the front of the van, Kaiden heard the officer’s nose break.
“Stun him!” Thorne shouted, then swung the door wide open and ducked for cover.
Titus hesitated, blinded by the sudden bright light, maybe, or unsure what to do. The police officer was bent over, hand to his bleeding nose. He looked up, saw the three of them inside, then went for his gun.
Titus flicked Thorne’s pistol into non-lethal and pulled the trigger. There was an electric pop and a knockout round caught the officer in the chest. Electricity ripped through him, then he collapsed to the pavement with a thud.
“Now can we leave?” Thorne asked, pulling the door shut and turning back toward them. “Before—”
There was a second electric pop as Titus fired another knockout round, this one into Thorne’s chest. She spasmed, then collapsed to the floor.
“Move over, Kai,” Titus said, tucking the pistol into his belt. “I’ll drive.”
Chapter Two
“All right, this is officially bad news,” Titus said, easing the van to a stop, then flinching and nearly kicking it back into motion as another wave of police cruisers zipped by just overhead. They were everywhere around the city, moving in numbers as if a manhunt was on. But was it a manhunt for them, or for Thorne? Kaiden wasn’t sure anymore. He didn’t trust her, not by a long shot, but now he was wondering what had happened with her. What had changed that she’d go so far as assaulting a police officer to help them escape?
“Is this hidden enough?” Zelda asked. Titus had landed them somewhere in the suburbs, in the parking lot of a busy mall.
“Hiding in plain sight,” Titus said. “It worked last time.”
“Until Thorne found us.”
“I don’t know where else to go. King Street won’t take us, we can’t go home, and if we park in an alley or something that’ll be even more suspicious. Here, at least, we blend in.”
“As long as we keep the headsets offline,” Kaiden said, nodding to the pile of them on the back seat. After Thorne had gone down and Titus had started driving, he and Zelda had switched the headsets off, disconnected from the internet, and essentially ensured the entire van went dark. They’d also cut seat belts from the back seats and tied up Thorne. She was still unconscious from the knockout round, but she would wake up eventually, and it was a safe bet she wasn’t going to be happy when she did.
“So, what’s our next move?” Kaiden asked. “As if we weren’t wanted enough, we shot a police officer and kidnapped an agent. Though, she might be a fugitive now too? I honestly don’t know what to believe right now.”
“She did try to send that cop away,” Titus said, thinking aloud. “But it could still be a trick. Even if it isn’t, that doesn’t make up for everything else she’s done. She had Bernstein’s database in the first place.”
“Bernstein’s database!” Zelda exclaimed suddenly. “It still has that video file Bernstein left. Maybe it can help us.”
Right! In all the chaos Kaiden had forgotten about it.
“Video file?” Titus asked.
“‘You’re probably wondering why I made you do all that,’” Zelda said, reading the name of the file as she accessed the database via her handheld console. “It looks like a video message Bernstein left for us. Or, well, for whoever managed to open the database. I need to play it. Was just about to before she showed up.” She frowned at Thorne.
“Do it,” Titus said, leaning in close.
“Wait, are we sure she’s fully unconscious?” Kaiden asked, looking at Thorne. “I don’t trust her. Anyone know how long that knockout round is supposed to last?”
“I can hit her again,” Titus suggested, reaching for the pistol.
“Is that safe?”
“Do we care?”
“Don’t," Zelda said, holding a hand out to stop Titus. “She’s unconscious.” And with that, she pressed play on the video file.
Her handheld console flashed to life, then spewed a rain of brightly-colored pixels into the air. They swirled and spun like so many motes of glowing dust, then, all at once, resolved themselves into the shape of a man.
Bernstein.
He stood there, a fully realized projection, if not looking a bit odd considering he’d materialized in the back of a dingy old van.
He looks like he always did. Just like the last time I saw him. Before... before the Party killed him.
What remained of his thin white hair had been brushed back, but rose in a poofy, rebellious mess as always. His blue eyes were bright and seemed to shine with that look he’d get when on the verge of solving some new puzzle. Even his clothing looked real; a faded old polo tucked into khaki shorts, and a case on his belt holding pens and the assorted tools he’d never been caught without.
For a moment, Kaiden wanted to reach out and touch him as if he were there in the flesh. But that’d be ridiculous. They hadn’t been as close as that. It was just the terrible thought of how the man had spent his last moments that made Kaiden want to reach out, as if he could perhaps still save the eccentric old man. But this wasn’t Bernstein; just a recording of him. Just a
