"I have to take this," she says to Luther. Her clean-shaven head reminds me of the first time I met Daiyna. "It's one of my law enforcers—a member of the Twenty."
He nods. "Be careful. I would assume you're being monitored."
Her expression says of course she is. "If the Chancellor didn't order her security personnel to sequester them, then it appears we have another player on the scene. Someone used your attack on Hawthorne Tower for their own purpose, capitalizing on the disturbance. For some reason, they want the Twenty in one place."
Any idea who's collecting them? I ask the Julia-spirit I'm carrying around.
This is my first time here, Milton. I don't have much to go on.
Right. So she's no help. And the Jackson-spirit is busy tormenting Chancellor Hawthorne at the moment, appearing to her as her murdered husband. But maybe he'll learn something in the process that will point us in the right direction.
Mara steps away from us, down the hall. "What are you doing in Dome 2, Enforcer Chen?" she demands, speaking to the air in front of her.
I nudge Bishop. "Proud papa?"
He catches himself watching her and nods. Then he faces his son. "I know it's a lot all at once."
"I'm not sure what I saw in there," Emmanuel murmurs, referring to the Chancellor's behavior.
"Yeah, life these days can be pretty bizarre," I offer. "But you'll get used to it. Eventually."
He turns his vacant stare in my direction.
"Three of them are in Dome 2," Mara half-turns from her call. "The security clones haven't caught them yet."
Luther nods. "We'll have our man tail them. No reason to mount a rescue operation until we know where they are being taken."
"Why not pick up these three now and the other seventeen later?" I suggest, ever helpful. What's the saying? Better to have a hydropack in the hand than a wellspring of imaginary water. Something like that.
Luther clasps my shoulder. "I wish it were that simple. But we have a better chance of locating all of them if we follow these three. We must find out where they're being taken and who is behind their capture. Then we will take action"
Mara joins us as she signs off. "Carry on, Enforcer Chen. And be quick about it. You don't have much time." She taps her temple, restoring her focus on her present surroundings. "Your man is in place?"
"On it." Bishop activates the handheld device he received from Captain Mutegi and contacts Drasko, telling him to move into position outside the Dome 2 maglev tunnel. There he'll watch and follow at a safe distance but not intervene. Because, like Luther said, the goal is to find all twenty.
That's right, I'm a team player. But I've been feeling antsy for a while now. I haven't been able to use my speed or flight skills out in the open since we boarded the Argonaus all those years ago. Grounded for too long, I've got a bad case of the jitters.
Stealing Hawthorne's snuff box was the most fun I've had in recent memory.
Want to take a tour of the Domes? I ask the Julia-spirit.
You understand what martial law means, right?
I shrug it off. Nobody will catch me. I'll be a blip on their radar. Nothing more.
Somehow I don't think you've run this past Luther, she says.
I glance at him, deep in conversation with the Bishop trio. Grizzled father, shell-shocked son, commanding daughter. She inherited all of her dad's military demeanor, but she also has a calm center. When she looks at her brother, there's a warmth that radiates toward him. In their parents' absence, she's been father and mother to him.
Luther's got plenty to keep him busy, I reply. So how about it? You point me in the direction of the nearest dust addicts, and we'll introduce them to their permanent special abilities. I pause, realizing I've assumed something. You can do that, right? Use your ethereal dust-locator to find every citizen with particulate matter in their lungs?
Julia hesitates. Yes.
That's why you hitched a ride, right? To show these people the truth—that they're more than just zombies going to their government-assigned jobs every day and plugging into virtual reality in their little cubes every night. You have superhuman gifts for them, available for the taking!
But Milton, you're forgetting something very important. As long as their augments are functional—
That's why we'll ignore the law-abiding citizens for now, and only seek out the dust addicts right in the middle of their snorting sessions. Their augments will be offline, and you'll show them how their fleeting abilities can be lifelong gifts. My pulse pounds at the thought of it. We can make a real difference here. Set off a chain reaction that will flip this authoritarian regime upside down!
Her response is slow in coming. Have you considered how many people you'll have to kiss?
About that. You're sure there isn't another way?
The air here is purified and sterile. The ground is a synthetic material. There is no way for us to move outside of bodies with dust in their lungs.
The Argonaus has a whole lot of dirt on board, and it's being unloaded onto the Dome 10 docks at this very moment. If we could get a ton of the stuff and dump it into the air recyclers—
"Dome 10." Bishop's voice interrupts, holding up the communication device in his hand. "That's where they're headed. Drasko is keeping his distance. He's got a tracker on a surveillance drone in their vehicle."
Luther nods. "Then we'll meet at the rendezvous point. Samson and Shechara should be on their way." He faces Mara. "I know it's asking a lot."
"Not at all." She tilts her head toward the cube with Hawthorne inside. So far, the Chancellor hasn't attempted to leave. The door's unlocked. "What about her?"
"Let her deal with her demons."
Nobody has a problem with that.
"This way." Mara leads us to the stairwell and then up to the roof where
