“You’re a pig, Alistair,” Margot said, glaring at him.
“What, I’m supposed to forget the first time I met you?” Alistair asked, with what sounded to Mitsuru like forced good humor. He tossed her a small, wrapped package. “Gaul said to bring this. Sometimes I’m not at all sure that precognition is a sensible ability.”
“You try fighting wearing nothing and then tell me that,” Margot retorted, disappearing behind one of the whining HVAC units, presumably to change.
“Anything new?” Mitsuru asked hopefully, walking over to stand near Alistair, but not too near. Their unfortunate history was too public for her to be anything other than prudent.
“Not particularly,” Alistair said, bending down to tie a bootlace that had come undone. “I’ve been running this down for months now, and there’s no doubt — whatever is left of the Terrie Cartel moved here before the shit hit the fan. Now we get here and find the place overrun with Anathema…”
“What about the local cartel? Shin-Tsen, right? I haven’t seen any of them in any of the patrol groups…”
Alistair shook his head, looking grim.
“Nobody home, no answer to communications, no nothing,” Alistair said sourly. “The popular theory of the moment is that they’ve been killed by the Anathema, or joined up themselves. The Hegemony doesn’t seem to know anything about it.”
“Then, that’s what the Terrie Cartel did. They’ve turned traitor…” Mitsuru mused.
“Maybe,” Alistair said, glancing off the side of the building himself, then retreating swiftly back to a safer vantage. “We’ll find out soon enough.”
Chinwe’s eyes widened in shock.
“I think we may have a problem…” Chinwe said softly, his face creased with concern and effort, staring into his own faint shadow as if it held a secret only he could see.
Right about then, the bomb went off.
Alice gave them space to be sick. Mass apports weren’t easy on anyone, and this hadn’t been one of her prettier efforts. There had been little time to work with, and Alice wasn’t exactly feeling her best this evening. If Chinwe hadn’t been there to help, Alice doubted that she could have handled the crowd. She leaned against a conveniently placed chimney while she caught her breath, waiting until they had a chance to reorient themselves.
“Hey, boss,” Alice said, behind the smile that was her calling card. Even she could remember that. “Long time, no see. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything important?”
Alistair smiled thinly in return, his legs still shaking underneath him. Part of his mind was in shock, reeling from the concussive blast and the stink of cordite and burning plastic, but here, wherever here was, the air was fresh and cold.
“Alice Gallow,” Alistair said, yawning to pop his plugged ears. “I have rarely been happier to see anyone.”
“It’s good to see you again,” Mitsuru said shyly, offering Alice a small half-bow. She was still intimidated by her, even after being elevated to the Audits Department. Mitsuru had heard so many stories about Alice Gallow that she was still like a mythological figure to her, even after working with her. “I was worried.”
“Mitzi!” Alice yelled, grabbing the shorter woman and wrapping her in a bear hug. “Gaul told me — I knew you’d make it to the big leagues. How do you like the top of the food chain?”
“Catch up later,” Alistair commanded, wiping blood from his nose. “We don’t have time right now. Who else made it out?”
“I grabbed you and Mitzi. Chinwe got Margot. He can only do point to point apports, so they must be back in Central. We’re about a quarter-mile northeast from where we started,” Alice said, spinning around until she found what she was looking for, and then pointing to indicate a burning building a few blocks away. “The whole breach team is gone, not sure about the surveillance crews. The Anathema came out of the woodwork, and hit everybody simultaneously, right after they tried to blow you up.”
“How did you know?” Alistair asked, watching the orange glow emanating from the top of the building that he had been standing on a moment before. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“Gaul, natch,” Alice said, shrugging. She hadn’t had time to get kitted out before she left, so she was just wearing a tank top and worn blue jeans and shivered every time the wind blew in off the water. “He saw it coming a few minutes before it happened, and had me scrambling all over Shanghai to find everybody and pull them out in time. I found Rebecca’s team first, then Forrest and that Chinese girl, over by the river. I’d started to worry that I wasn’t going to find you, honestly.”
“Alright,” Alistair said, rubbing ash from his forehead. “Give me a minute to pull myself together, then…”
“No,” Alice said, shaking her head. “You give me a minute to catch my breath, boss, then we’re off to Central. Gaul wants everybody back for some major confab. He’s even inviting reps from the Hegemony and the Black Sun. This operation is concluded per Director’s orders.”
“But what about the rest of them?” Alistair demanded. “We had four teams in the field here, and you’ve only accounted for three of them…”
“Do a scan, Alistair, then see if you still feel like arguing,” Alice said, shrugging.
Alistair did that. It only took a moment, but when he opened his eyes again, they were horrified.
“Shocking, isn’t it?” Alice commiserated. “We didn’t even know the Anathema had enough personnel for an operation of this scale. This was probably a trap from the very start, rigged to pull in as many Auditors as they could lure out. The Anathema will already be dogging any of our survivors, hoping to draw the rest of us out of Central. They’re probably already on their way here now. It was a clumsy apport. There’s a trail, if they care to follow it.”
“How did everything go so wrong?” Alistair asked, looking out to the city lights in utter exhaustion. “How could this happen?”
Alice patted him on the back comfortingly.
“I don’t know, but if I were you, I’d start trying to come up with an answer, Mister Chief Auditor. Because Gaul asked me the same thing right before I came here, and he didn’t look too happy about it.”
8
“What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing.”
“You always look as if you’re thinking about something, but every time I ask, that’s what you say,” Eerie scolded, crouching down so her mad eyes were level with his own. Alex was currently confined in the uncomfortable grasp of an intricate Japanese exercise machine. “What is it that you keep inside that head?”
“Nothing. Seriously. So, I, uh, don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before. The gym, I mean.”
“Alex is a jerk,” Eerie proclaimed, folding her arms, more agitated than he could remember seeing her. She was talking fast and loud, and didn’t seem to realize it, her cheeks flushed with emotion. “I swim every morning, two hours before you wake up.”
“You know when I wake up?” Alex asked, alarmed.
Eerie nodded hesitantly, and then wandered off to a neighboring machine, while Alex took the opportunity to extract himself gratefully from his own. He grabbed his towel and dried off hurriedly; wishing Eerie could have picked a different, less public time to arrive. Sara excused herself from the machine nearby them, pausing to give him a pointed look, assuring him that Emily would soon find out about this.
“Of course. Are you busy?”
“I’m not sure how to answer,” Alex said, waving his arm in the direction of the gym behind him. “I was doing something, but it can wait if you need me…”