‘Oh. Sorry. Do you know what it is?’
Lolo frowned for a moment, then shook hir head in mild exasperation. ‘My genes are dominant, Ollie. Our child is omnia, of course.’
‘Good. That’s good.’
A last kiss, and Lolo walked out of the cell, looking back urgently as the door swung shut again.
‘I love yo—’
Ollie took a breath. ‘I meant what I said,’ he said firmly. ‘Sie’s back on Akitha before we even discuss any terms.’
‘Tough guy, huh?’
‘I know my rights.’
‘Fair enough. Zero isn’t a hard number to remember.’
‘Sie’s a Utopial citizen.’
‘Which entitles hir to exactly shit.’
‘Fuck you!’
‘But as a gesture of goodwill, I agree. Lolo Maude will be permitted to return to Akitha.’
‘Oh. Right. Thank you.’
‘Ollie, it’s a one-way trip. Sie won’t be coming back. And you’re a known criminal with a record file bigger than a Sumiko interactive file. You like Sumiko, right?’
Oh, fuck. ‘Yeah.’ If they knew that, they knew everything. He sank back onto the cot. ‘What do you want?’
‘Same as you: Nikolaj.’
‘You said you know where she is. What do you need me for?’
‘Ah, this is where it gets complicated. We can’t let her know we know about her.’
‘So just take her out. Snipers. Drone shot. You were going to do that to me, and I’m nobody.’
‘Far from it, Ollie. You’re a very important somebody. Today, anyway.’
‘Fuck you again.’
‘It’s like this. Nikolaj works for the Olyix—’
‘Why?’ he blurted. ‘I don’t get that. I never did. Her and Jade both. They both betrayed us.’
‘So did you, Ollie. You tried to take down the Croydon power relay station. Without that – without the power it supplies to the London shield generators – we’d all be cocoons stored inside the Salvation of Life right now.’
‘We didn’t know, okay? We were stupid, yes, but the Legion didn’t betray nobody. We done it for the money. We thought we were working for a London major, that’s all. Not fucking aliens! But Nikolaj and Jade, they knew. And they still did it. They had to have some deal going with the Olyix, right?’
‘Is that what you think?’
‘There’s nothing else, no other reason. I’ve thought about this for two years. That’s why I was going for her.’
‘I understand that. Revenge is hardwired into all of us, right back there behind all our civilized behaviour. It’s primal. And when we lose everything else, that’s what we have left.’
‘No, you don’t get it. Nikolaj was going to be my leverage.’
Kohei gave him a curious look. ‘You wanted to make a deal with her?’
‘I was going to force her to deal, yeah. I didn’t have anything to lose. Then all this shit happened.’ He flapped his hands at the cell. ‘And Lolo – I mean . . . fuck!’
‘What deal?’
‘She knows the Olyix. The Olyix know how to reverse cocooning. They must do. They can give me Gran and Bik back.’
‘Ah.’ Kohei smiled.
Ollie didn’t like that smile. It wasn’t in any way sympathetic.
‘I get it now,’ Kohei said. ‘That was a smart move.’
‘Yeah? Then how come I’m here?’
‘Fate. And poor old Karno Larson. What did you do to him?’
‘Nothing! I swear. He just died. You can’t blame me for that.’
‘No. But we still have the raid against the Croydon station, and the house on Lichfield Road. Those charges are still pending.’
‘Yeah? So? What are you going to do? Lock me up? How long’s that going to last?’
‘About ten hours.’
‘Huh?’
‘The London shield will fail in maybe ten hours at the most, unless we stop Nikolaj’s sabotage operations. They’re chewing away at the generators, one bite at a time.’
‘But . . . if you know about that, stop them.’
‘There’s a bigger picture here, Ollie. Even I don’t get to see all of it.’
‘Wait. You’re going to let London fall? You can’t mean that.’
‘To stop London from falling, we need to eliminate Nikolaj first – and in a way that doesn’t cause any suspicion. That’s you, Ollie. A gang kid with a grudge hunting for vengeance – nothing suspicious about that. You’re not smart enough to be anything else.’
‘Shit. You want me to kill her?’
‘I’m not a politician, so I’m not going to use crap like “threat cancellation” or “conflict resolution”. Yes, we want her dead. But when you do it, she has to know it’s you, and you’re doing it out of revenge for the Legion.’
‘I don’t get it. If she’s dead, what does it matter if she’s suspicious – and anyway, suspicious about what?’
‘That we know about her. That we sent you. Okay? So just do what we ask. It doesn’t make any difference to you.’
‘It does. You’re asking me to kill someone. I’m not even sure I can.’
‘You killed Karno Larson.’
‘I didn’t! He . . . It wasn’t my fault!’
‘Sure. And what about Nikolaj?’
‘What about her?’
‘You’ve been trying to find her for two years. What were you planning on doing when you did catch up? Go out for a romantic meal, maybe a club after?’
‘Fuck you.’
‘Ollie, we’re running out of time here, okay? I need to know your answer.’
‘Tell me why she can’t know about you,’ he said stubbornly. It was all he had left now, making sense of the shitstorm that had become his life.
‘Think about it. She works for the Olyix, right? They’re in communication with her, so if she gets suspicious, then so will they. And we cannot allow that under any circumstances.’
‘But if she’s dead, she . . . Oh!’ Ollie wanted to curl up into a ball. Some zero-nark would be good, too. ‘If she’s suspicious I’m working for you and kills me – riiight. Fuck. You don’t trust me to do this.’
‘Actually, I do. The problem is, you’ll be walking into an exceptionally hostile environment. There are no certainties. So we have to plan accordingly.’
‘Yeah. I suppose.’
‘Let me add a sweetener,’ Kohei said.
‘What? You’re already sending Lolo home.’ He glanced up sharply. ‘You are, aren’t you?’
‘Yes, but I need you committed to this – and I mean truly committed. We have one shot, and it has got to work.’
The cell door swung open again, and Ollie stared at the woman who came in. She was wearing
