The other thugs remained nearby, groaning in pain as they recovered from the beating. They each retreated in turn as they got back to their feet, nearly stumbling over one another as the train slowed for its next stop. When the doors opened, the group of thugs and all the homeless in the car hurried off. Their quick escape sent a clear signal to the waiting riders to divert to the next car in front or behind them, leaving the trio entirely alone.

  “Idiots,” Garrett said as the doors slid closed again.

  “You can’t really blame them,” Jessica countered. “They saw three people in nice coats with big packs stuffed to the max. High risk, high reward.”

  Garrett looked down at the knife scuff on the sleeve of his jacket. “Yeah, I suppose. But they’re still idiots.”

  Cassidy ignored him. “You sound like you have experience as a gang member,” Cassidy said, looking directly at Jessica as the train got underway again.

  She smiled slightly. “I need to finish my story, don’t I?” she replied.

  “I think we’ve got time.”

  She nodded and started in where she’d left off on their way down into the subway. “After I woke up in the alley, I resolved myself not to wind up like so many of the other people I saw out on the streets. Opportunity can be hard to come by but it’s even harder if you don’t make every effort. And that’s still not a guarantee of success. Anyway, I started asking around, mostly down here in the subway, looking for a place to fall in. It was dangerous. More than one asshole tried to grab me, either for themselves or to sell. Dorne didn’t just throw me out with a blanket. She left me a knife too.” She paused, leaning over to pull it out of her boot. It was a simple design, but it looked extra sharp. “I was scared to use it the first time, but after I cut a few wayward hands, I got more comfortable with it. The bad people I ran into, they were bigger and stronger, but they didn’t want to deal with a girl who fought back as hard as I did. Once you left them needing a trip to the hospital for stitches, they tended to ease off. I got a reputation that eventually drew interest from the Red Devils.”

  “The all-female gang?” Cassidy asked, pulling the identifier from Hall’s memory.

  “Yeah. They sent a group into the subway to look for me and enlisted me from there. One of my first assignments was to help rob people in subway cars, not that they ever had much to take. I graduated from there to the street, then to burglary. Breaking and entering, mostly.”

  “And you didn’t remember the Hell Motel at all during that time?”

  “No. Not until Ben found me.” She looked at Garrett and smiled. “By my fourth year with the Devils, I was looking for a new challenge. I started getting into networks and systems, looking for ways to improve our standard of living. The girls all worked hard, but we were still squatting in old construction, moving from place to place before it got torn down. I had a decent life from eleven to seventeen. I fell in love a few times, lived relatively comfortably compared to most dumped kids and managed not to get arrested.” She laughed at that. “But I never wanted to spend my life in a gang. It was a means to an end, not the end. When I was old enough, I bolted from the Devils and signed up for the Marine Corps.”

  “Which is where you two met again?”

  “Not right away. Ben’s six years younger than me. I had already completed my first tour by then. I moved into network security, assigned to the Dome.”

  “I had been looking for Jessica for a long time,” Garrett said. “After the Motel, I went into the foster system. I spent a year bouncing around until a nice couple took me in because I reminded them of their son, Mason, who had been killed in a shootout between a gang and the police. They were good to me, and I would tell them all the time about my big sister and that I wanted to find her so we could all live together. I don’t think they ever tried to help me look, but they didn’t stop me from searching either, which wasn’t easy when all I had was a first name. I was sixteen by the time I found Jessie by flipping through a yearbook of graduates online. I never forgot her face. Not one detail. It took me another year to find out where she was stationed. The Dome. If you were a Marine, then I’m sure you know, nobody just walks into the Dome.”

  “Not as a civilian,” Cassidy said. “That’s why you enlisted?”

  Garrett nodded. “Maybe that seems extreme. But I was always interested in joining up anyway, and it gave me a reason that pushed me over the edge. Once I got in, I was determined to be the best Marine I could be. Unless you’re a techie like Jess, that’s the only way to earn your way to the Dome.”

  “Which you did.”

  “A few years ago,” Garrett said. “You can imagine the look on her face when I caught up to her in the mess, sat down and explained who I was.”

  “You can’t imagine it,” Jessica said, her grin broadening into a huge smile. “As soon as he mentioned his name and meeting me when we were kids, I remembered everything. It triggered the memories bigtime, to the point that I needed to go to Medical because I thought I was having a nervous breakdown.”

  “I didn’t mean for that to happen,” Garrett said. “I didn’t know she wasn’t herself at the time. Not until we talked about it later. That’s when I recalled how Hall had called her Cassidy.”

  “Which is when I remembered you,” Jessica said, looking at him. “And I knew right then you were the person I always thought about. The one I drew strength from. I also remembered the Unity Mobile Interface. How it had come and gone. If the memory had been natural, if I had remembered it on my own, in bits and pieces, it wouldn’t have come back to me with such clarity. It was like watching a holovid.”

  “We spent that night together,” Garrett said. “Nothing sexual. Just holding one another. I’d been looking for her for so long and to have that truth come out...”

  “It was cathartic,” Jessica said. “And terrifying. A beautiful nightmare that dug its claws into my soul and wouldn’t let go. The next day when I went in for my shift, I couldn’t stop thinking about what it all meant. The Initiative, Dorne, you, Benjamin, Hall, the UMI, Josias. A puzzle I needed to put together.”

  “How did you assemble it all?” Cassidy asked.

  “I used the Dome’s network to run classified queries on the members of the gang. Maybe not surprisingly, not one of them existed. I remembered some of the other kids from the Motel, so I looked them up too. Again, they were gone. Erased. Even Benjamin had no history. According to his records as Mason Garrett, he had been adopted as an infant.”

  “You didn’t know about that?” Cassidy asked Garrett.

  “No,” he replied. “I didn’t have access to those files.”

  “No loose ends,” Cassidy said. “What did you do next?”

  “I stole the UMI, erased my existence from UnityNet, and convinced Mason to come with me,” Jessica said.

  “It didn’t take much convincing,” Garrett said.

  “Your file said you went to Mars after you flunked out of the Dome,” Cassidy countered.

  “It did?” Garrett replied.

  “Somebody fed you false information,” Jessica said. “Somebody who maybe wanted you to do a little more digging.” She smiled. “Like Hall.”

  “Or Dorne,” Cassidy added. “The intel was a dangling carrot, and I’m the ass of the story.”

  Garrett laughed. “I like that analogy.”

  “After the Dome, we started looking for arms dealers,” Jessica continued. “Groups like Josias’ gang. That’s how we got turned onto the resistance. That’s where we met Marcos and Leiana.” She shook her head. “I still don’t understand why she betrayed us like that. Nothing they have to offer is worth being a slave for it.”

  “What if you’re wrong?” Cassidy asked. “Have you ever considered what might be behind Unity? What if you’re only seeing what you want to see? Believing what you need to believe to make sense of what happened to you?”

  “If we’re wrong, we’ll surrender to you,” Jessica said. “You can bring us in. I’m sure the Initiative will forgive your methods when you finish the job according to spec.”

  “We’ll give you Leonidas too,” Garrett said. “If we’re wrong, it won’t matter anyway.”

  The train began to slow, approaching their stop. Cassidy considered silently for a few seconds. “I can’t survive like this, you know. Two to three months. That’s as long as a Shade can survive as an imprint. By helping you, I’m signing my own death warrant.”

  “I know,” Jessica said. “If we’re right about Unity, you might wind up thankful for that.”

  The train came to a stop. The doors slid open. They stepped out of the car and onto the platform.

  “And you want to climb Bizrathi Praan’s Golden Spire?” Cassidy asked.

  “That’s right,” Garrett replied. “What do you think?”

  Cassidy looked them both in the eye in turn. “I think we’re going to need more help.”

  Chapter 40

  “We think we need more help too,” Jessica said. “That’s why Mason was trying to get close to the Silver Dragons.”

  ”You thought they’d help you get into Bizrathi Praan’s Spire?” Cassidy asked, not sure they’d be that cooperative.

  “Yes,” Garrett said. “I thought I could convince them it would be worth their while. We were prepared to offer them the type of weaponry only the UDF has access to.”

  They moved away from the platform as the train began to pull away behind them, screeching and rumbling along the old tracks. The downtown station didn’t look any different from the one uptown, with similar occupants and plenty of garbage and graffiti. Cassidy remained more aware of the larger groups of people this time, paying attention to the way the squatters watched the trio as they crossed to the stairs and began to climb.

  “What kind of weaponry?” Cassidy asked. “That’s what the UDF wants you for, isn’t it? Selling guns. But the rifle in your pack is standard issue. Nothing special.”

  “Yeah. Jess helped me break into the Dome’s armory before we left. To be honest, the stuff they had us training with there is kind of frightening. Heavy ordnance. Rounds that can down a roto with one shot. It’s like Unity thinks the colonists settling new worlds are going to run into armored elephants or something when they reach their destinations.”

  “Are they just being proactive or does the group in charge of the expeditions know something they aren’t telling the public?” Cassidy wondered out loud.

  “I never found anything that would lend itself to pre-conceived preparation,” Jessica said. “But you have to wonder. If we’re right about Unity, then what’s the real goal of the colonization program?”

  “What do you mean?” Cassidy asked.

  “Well, we’re assuming Unity is being manipulated by a powerful actor or actors. If we take into account that the Marines assigned to the colonization program are some of the best in the system and that the weapons being developed for the program are more powerful and more advanced than what’s provided here on Earth, is it possible the colonization program isn’t intended to settle new worlds at all?”

  “What are you suggesting? An alien war?” Cassidy replied. “I think that’s a bridge too far.”

  “I think we don’t know what we don’t know, that’s all.”

  “It’s not hard to imagine the UDF using new technology across the board for the program, and that includes new kinds of guns. Maybe those weapons will trickle down into regular usage once they’ve been proven out. As for selecting from the best performing Marines, sending them to explore potentially dangerous new worlds is a much better option than having them nearby running endless training scenarios. We don’t have interplanetary wars.”

  “Exactly. So what is the military even for?” Jessica asked. “Answer, to quickly put down any potential rebellion.”

  “Or to provide employment for a couple million people,” Cassidy countered, motioning to a few homeless hanging out on the stairs. “Or would you prefer them to end up like this instead? Would you rather have stayed with the Devils?”

  Jessica’s face reddened. “I see your point. Maybe I am going a little overboard.”

  They reached the top of the steps and made their way through the station without incident. Cassidy slowed down to scan for police or UDF agents as he neared the top of the steps leading back to the surface. He wanted to make sure they weren’t watching the subway entrance.

  “We’re clear,” he said, failing to find anything out of the ordinary. “Let’s go.”

  They exited the subway, joining the throng moving through the downtown area. The rain had eased off somewhat, reduced to a light drizzle that felt almost refreshing compared to the steady patter. The smell of street food wafted across the crowds, reminding Cassidy how hungry he was. Maybe once they reached Jazz’s he could get something to eat.

  The second burst of stim Cassidy had taken was beginning to wear off, leaving his knees aching by the time they walked the first couple of blocks. He eyed the center of the street where traffic flowed a little more smoothly, spotting a powered rickshaw large enough to carry all three of them.

  “Garrett,” he said. “Can you grab that rickshaw?”

  Garrett spotted the ride. “Copy,” he said, speeding up and pushing his way through the other pedestrians. Any of the people who might have considered reacting to his use of force put their heads back down as soon as they saw his intimidating size.

  “You had the ability to transfer me,” Cassidy said softly so he wouldn’t be overheard. “You should have put me in someone with better knees.”

  “I picked up our unit from a scrap dealer,” Jessica replied. “Bits and pieces of older models tossed out by the Initiative that I patched back together. We’re lucky the transfer was a success at all.”

  Cassidy shivered at the thought. He hadn’t realized how close he had come to ceasing to exist. “I wouldn’t think the UDF would just throw out something like that.”

  “Why not? Most people would have no idea what it is, or what to do with it.”

  “Why do you?”

  “Part of my understanding came from Unity through the mobile interface. Dorne provided the rest.”

  “If you know about the transfer process, then you know it’s temporary.”

  “I do. Don’t worry, Cass. We’ll figure something out. I won’t just let you fade away.”

  Cassidy offered a nod. He didn’t believe her, but that was okay.

  They caught up to Garrett, who had stopped the rickshaw for them. The trio piled into the back, and the driver turned the throttle to send the electric vehicle forward again. The ride was jerky and not much quicker than walking as the driver had to keep slowing for traffic, but at least it spared Cassidy from needing another boost of the stim cocktail to keep going. He could already sense the temptation to take another hit building, even while he sat pain-free.

  None of them spoke during the ride. The contents of their conversations were too sensitive to bring up in earshot of the rickshaw driver, and for the moment Cassidy had no interest in making small talk. It was still so surreal for him to be confronted by two figures from his shadowed past, especially by a former repo. This whole mission had gone beyond surreal to test the borders of his understanding of reality. So much of what Jessica claimed sounded outrageous, and yet he had experienced it first hand with the archon, and he still couldn’t discount both Hall and Dorne’s trust in her. Maybe her theory regarding Unity was wrong, but he had a gut feeling that he would find something inside the Golden Tower.

  If they made it that far.

  He settled back in the seat, eyes continuing to scan ahead in search of both law enforcement and the black-coated UDF agents he expected would be scouring the city for them by now. A few minutes had passed when Jessica’s head settled on his shoulder. He glanced over at her. Sleeping, her mouth slightly parted, breathing softly and steadily.

  Guardian angel. He wasn’t interested in that job. His days were numbered and Shades didn’t have friends. Regardless, he couldn’t help feeling a connection. He had been imprinted to her and felt her thoughts through the siphon. He had used her body to kill, and he knew that in a recess of her mind she might not be able to access or admit to, she had enjoyed it.

  They were so similar, and so different. Looking at her now, he was jealous. She still had her beliefs to cling to while his purpose had crumbled around him. If she was right and all of his efforts to help people was bullshit, what would he do with whatever came next?

  If she was wrong and all he had left was the knowledge that his body was gone and the option to either extend his contract or remain frozen indefinitely, what would his continued existence even mean?

  In the end, did he want her to be right or wrong? He was screwed either way.

  At least being right might be a little more interesting.

  Chapter 41

  Jazz’s clerk looked up from the register as Cassidy, Jessica and Garrett entered. She was finishing up a sale, so Cassidy steered them along the perimeter of the pharmacy to loiter in the corner until she had finished.

  She disappeared into the back as soon as the customer had walked out, and Cassidy crossed to the counter, leaving his companions behind.

  “Brando, what the hell are you doing?” Jazz asked as he appeared in the doorway. His eyes touched on Cassidy for a moment before flicking over to Jessica and Garrett. “What is he doing here? And who’s the girl?” He looked back at Cassidy and lowered his voice. “Word on the street is that the Silver Dragons are very interested in getting their hands on Garrett, along with a guy who closely matches your description and a woman who closely matches hers.”

  “That’s why I’m here,” Cassidy replied. “We need to disappear for a little while. I thought you could help.”

  “Damn it, Brando. You’ve done a lot for me over the years. You’re like my brother from another mother. But this? I don’t know. This is a big-ass pill to try to swallow.”

  “Nobody spotted us on our way in. Nobody will know we’re here.”