'How much of this is us?'
Eve shook her head. 'Not a lot. I'm putting in some extra background feed, a big broad wash, nothing focused like we did in Vegas. Is that right?'
Charley nodded. 'I don't want this pushed too hard until we have a real target. We could have done something with Tokyo, I guess, but that could have jeopardized what we have later.'
Eve looked at her. This was not some game. She wanted to get this right. Everything else seemed unimportant. 'You think we could break Sundog, Charley?'
'I know we could. The power in the storm is unimaginable. If we use it too quickly, or at the wrong time, it could blow everything. And if the cycle comes up really high, that may not be at the peak. We could be wasting what we have then. Why turn it on New York if there's enough heat there already?'
Eve glanced down the corridor. 'You still want me to go last?' she said, no emotion in her voice. (Eve had no emotions, Charley thought; this life, for her, was just a passing stream of events.)
'Joe's last. You go before him.'
'That means I have to make my own way out there, alone,' Eve said, the long dark hair flicking in front of her eyes.
'No. None of us is alone. You can't even think that.'
'No.' Eve's face was blank. Charley watched her reactions and glanced at Katayama. There was no room for changes at this stage.
'I don't know what I'll do,' Eve said.
'You'll find out, Eve. Don't worry.'
'I know..'
'Eve,' Joe said, that same thin smile on his face, 'this is the only way.'
'Think of what they would do if they found us here together,' Charley added.
'And what they'd do to us,' Katayama said. 'In the end, we get to be heroes. In the beginning — '
'They crucified Jesus,' Charley said, and immediately regretted the analogy. This was a superficial one. They deserved better than that and it seemed to scare the girl.
'I guess we'd be in big trouble. But watching everybody go — it's as if the fewer of us there are here, the weaker the whole thing feels. I start to ask questions.'
Charley touched her arm, felt the warm young skin. 'No. We're all one in this. You'll come to feel that, Eve.'
'I guess so.' She looked so young. Pale complexion, tired eyes.
'I'm taking a rest now,' Charley said, and signalled for Katayama to push the chair. 'You keep at it. You come and wake me if you need to talk.'
'Sure.'
Katayama pushed the wheelchair into the bedroom, lifted her body carefully out onto the bed. She winced, almost felt like screaming. The pain was beginning to work its way into new parts of her body, creeping slowly with each minute, running like a gentle, sluggish fire. She pointed out the needle and the morphine on the bedside cabinet and said, 'Watch her, Joe. We can't change things now.'
'She's scared, Charley. She's just human.'
'Exactly.' Her face was screwed up with the pain. Then she closed her eyes and tried to dream the sky into her head.
CHAPTER 51
Calculation
After they finished talking to the people in Vegas, something went out of the atmosphere of the room. Bevan, much to Lieberman's surprise and near-admiration, had come over, looked Mo in the eye, and said, 'Hey. What's done is done. The big guy's right. Let's just focus on the job.'
And then the rest of them left the room, leaving Lieberman and Mo to fill it with some vast, empty silence. She broke it. 'Michael..'
'No,' he said, putting a finger to her lips. 'You don't need to say anything. Really.'
'I do.' She was dog-tired but there was still some sense of serenity about her. Talking about her pained, fractured past had lanced some wound.
'Maybe. But not now. We'll have plenty of time when this is over, Mo. If you like. And that's your choice.'
She came close to him, kissed him gently on the cheek. Then Annie was through the door, watching them silently, not knowing what to make of this.
'You look bright and sparky,' he said. 'Unlike the rest of us. You got some sleep?'
'Yes. Mom?'
Mo was over, stroking her hair. 'What's wrong, Annie?'
The girl blinked, big wide eyes that said, Scared, scared, scared. Mo held her to her waist, eyes closed, face screwed up in agony again, and Lieberman thought: This is one pretty picture Charley has given the world.
'Hey,' he said, striding over, some bustle in him he didn't even begin to recognize. 'Will you two snap out of this, please?'
His arms were around both of them, feeling this warmth there, feeling the comfort of their physical presence. Annie stared up at him, wide-eyed, looking for something.
He reached down, held her chin. 'This will be okay, kid. Trust me. We can see this through. All three of us.'
'I heard Irwin talking.' Her voice was soft and damaged. 'They know.'
Mo groaned.
'Know what?' he asked. 'That you two got a bum deal from life? Met some weird people along the way? So what, Annie? You didn't do anything. You just found some odd company. Big deal. One day, you two can come to San Francisco with me. If you like. You want weird people? I can show you ones you wouldn't believe.'
'Michael…' Mo said.
'It's an invitation. That's all. Think about it at your leisure.'
Annie stared at him. 'They won't take me away?'
Lieberman bent down, gazed into her pale, serious face. 'No. Why? And anyway, they wouldn't dare. We'll see this through. The three of us. And when we get out on the other side, I don't know what happens. But it gets better. For all of us. That's a promise.'
'A promise,' Mo repeated, her head buried deep in his shoulder, so deep he couldn't begin to see her face. Michael Lieberman closed his eyes and wondered at this moment, its intimate closeness, the power of emotion that lived like an electric charge between them. Family, he thought. This, he guessed, summed it up. Sharing the pain, the ecstasy together. He really didn't need to wonder why Mo took to the Children when the floor disappeared from underneath them. Open arms didn't demand questions.
'So,' he said, breaking the hot, laboured silence. 'Do we get to go outside now? Take a breath of fresh air? There's drinks on the terrace, from the sound of it.'
They unclasped themselves from each other and walked out into the scorching day. The rest were seated on the veranda, underneath the shade of a gigantic palm, jugs of fresh orange juice on the table. Annie ran ahead and sat on the edge of the pond, watching the golden shapes of the fish come up to the surface now and then, throwing pebbles into the grey-green viscous water, following the circles they made. He and Mo pulled up chairs and helped themselves to the drinks. He felt edgy. Everyone just wanted to do nothing but wait, he thought, and wouldn't Charley be so happy with that.
'Tell me about this satellite again, Irwin,' he asked. 'What did you do to my original design? What did you add?'
He watched the surface of the old stone fish pond, Annie perched on the edge. Feeling helpless. Feeling exhausted and grateful for the shade of the palm that cut the power out of the gleaming day.
'I thought we'd been through this, Michael,' Schulz replied, a distinct, sharp note of annoyance in his voice. 'We're all a little tired here.'
'Let's wait and see, you mean?'
'Look, we've done what we can. When they get that system back on-line, we're all ready to go. Till then, let's just relax, huh? There's no point in running round and round in circles over nothing. We may need all the energy we've got later.'
'Yeah. No point.'
They didn't even think the cycle reports were that important any more. Everything had come to focus around this place outside Vegas, walking in there, guns blazing, stealing back what someone else had stolen from them.