“You brought a haan?” Shuang asked.
Vamp stood, staring, and moved closer. “Sam?”
He looked at me like I’d gone nuts for a minute. For a minute, he looked at me with the same accusing look Shuang did.
“Unbelievable,” I said. Vamp looked confused.
“I just don’t get—”
You don’t even recognize him, do you? I sent over the 3i.
He looked over at Nix, then back to me. He didn’t, and I could see him get uncomfortable.
He saved your life? I sent.
I saw it click, then, and Vamp’s eyes widened as he looked back to Nix.
“Nix?”
“Yes, Vamp.” His head bobbed on his neck a little. “I am glad to see you.”
Vamp approached him, and shook his hand.
“Nix, I am so sorry… I thought you were dead.”
“I understand.”
“Vamp, what the hell?” Shuang demanded.
“It’s okay, Shuang,” Vamp said. “You can trust him.”
She wrinkled her nose a little. “It’s a haan.”
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. I’m telling you, you can trust him.”
“But it’s a haan.”
“I owe him my life,” he said. He glanced over at me. “I owe him more than that.”
Shuang turned to me. “Why did you bring it?”
“Him.” I ignored her, and spoke to Vamp. “He’s in trouble. He needs our help.”
“Of course,” Vamp said. “Anything he needs. Anything you need, Nix.”
“Thank you.”
Vamp saw Shuang and me eyeing each other again, and moved to get between us.
“Sam, this is Shuang Po,” he said. “She’s the one who’s been helping with the grid intrusion.”
Shuang held out her hand, and I shook it. She had a firm grip, and her hand felt ice-cold.
“You run into any trouble?” Vamp asked, as I sat down next to him.
“No,” I said, resisting the urge to look back at Shuang.
“You want anything to drink?” he asked.
“Um… just a bottle of shine.”
“Just straight shine?” Shuang blurted. The way she said it made me a little self-conscious.
“Yeah.”
“It’s what she wants,” Vamp said. Shuang shook her head.
“Coming right up.”
She waved her hand over a section of the table and the lacquered wood surface disappeared to reveal a touch screen. She punched the order in, her nimble fingers dancing over the contacts, then flashed her cash card at it. The screen chirped, then faded and the wood surface returned as Vamp turned his attention back to me.
“You’re hurt,” he said, pointing to his forehead.
I touched the spot above my right temple and my fingertips came away bloody.
Shuang wrinkled her nose again.
“Yeah, you’re leaking, sister.”
“I’m fine,” I said. I grabbed a napkin from the table and dabbed the blood away.
Vamp, I sent over the 3i. Any idea why Chong was helping Gohan?
Vamp looked a little sheepish. No.
Do you think he’s been a gonzo all along, even back when you knew him before?
I doubt it. I think it happened later, and he just took advantage when I got back in touch with him.
Chong was going to help us take down the Xinzhongzi substation. Why does Gohan want us to succeed so bad?
I don’t know.
He just handed the haan the biggest piece of real estate they’ve ever gotten. Why would he do anything to threaten them?
Shuang had turned her eyes back to us, and I could see she’d started getting a little annoyed at our private conversation but I didn’t care.
Maybe he wants the haan to strike back at us, Vamp said.
That would only hurt the haan, though. Even they know that.
So what do you want to do?
Can the attack be stopped, if we had to?
Vamp shook his head. It’s out of control. This was just supposed to be the test run, remember? The station in Xinzhongzi should prevent a full blackout, though, until they can fix it. The defense screen and the force field should both stay up.
If Gohan doesn’t figure out a way to shut it down without implicating himself.
Both those things are out of our control, now, Sam. I’m sorry. You’re going to have to just keep your head down until this plays out. Shuang is off their radar, so you can stay with her for now. No one will look for you there.
I hated the idea of staying with Shuang, and I could see in his eyes that he felt bad even suggesting it but we didn’t have many options.
“Guys?” Shuang asked. I turned to say something, and Vamp stopped me.
“Sorry,” he said.
A light on the wall flashed, providing a distraction Vamp seemed grateful for. He slid open the booth’s door, and let a waitress in a supertight dress lean in. She put a tall, clear drink in front of Shuang that had a long, black wooden pick dropped into it, the submerged end speared through a large scalefly. She placed a small bottle of high-end shine on the table in front of me, along with a little shot glass.
Shuang sipped her drink and scooted a little closer to Vamp, turning toward him and smiling. “How many of these things did we go through, back in the day?”
Vamp smiled, but made sure he didn’t smile too much.
“A few,” he said. Shuang took the pick out of her drink and tapped the booze off of the candied scalefly. She turned to Nix and made a face.
“I still don’t think it should be here,” she said, crunching her teeth down on the fly.
“He,” I said.
“Whatever.” She flicked one lanyard back over her shoulder. “Word on the street is, people have been seeing some pretty strange shit since the power started to fail. It’s all over the wire. People are starting to get nervous, to not trust them. I never trusted them.”
“I know him better than I know you,” I said.
“I don’t know either of you,” she said, her voice cool.
Vamp leaned in to get a better look at my forehead. “Sam, you probably want to go deal with that.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
He reached for my face and I squirmed away.
“Hold still,” he said.
I thought Shuang might get jealous, but his concern for someone else seemed to have the opposite effect on her. When he turned back to look at her, she smiled up at him like she was warming herself at a fire.
“What?” he asked.
She leaned over and kissed him on the mouth. She let the kiss linger, too, and the longer it went the hotter my cheeks got. I looked away, keeping my eyes cast down on the table, not wanting to be as hurt as I was and definitely not wanting to show it. I hoped he’d stop her, but he didn’t.
“I’ll be back,” I said, and got up from the recessed booth. As soon as I did, Vamp flashed me a guilty look. He still had some of her gloss on his lips when he tried to break away, and held out his hand.
“Hold on,” he said. “I’ll—”
“I think I can deal by myself, thanks,” I said, opening the sliding door and shouldering through the people on the other side.
Vamp moved to follow me out of the booth, and I slammed the door shut between us.
Chapter Twenty
I marched away from the booth and through the crowd, heading toward the restroom. When I lost myself in the mob it was a relief, and I slowed my pace so I could weave through the ravers.