“I’m damned for ever having known you.”
“But let’s try to make the most of it, anyway,” he says. “Some kind of process, right? But what? What was it that the Rain were made of? Sinclair knows it all, and everyone else is in the dark. But somewhere in you—”
“No one besides Sinclair? Not even the Throne? Or you?”
“I know only fragments.”
“What did you use to bind me to Spencer?”
“Death.”
“What?”
“We killed you. When we got back to Earth.”
“That was a risk.”
“The Throne said you’d have to be executed anyway unless we could find a way to harness you. And the Praetorian med-teams know what they’re doing: simultaneously flat-lined you and Spencer and then shocked you back while your minds were wired together on the zone. Sinclair had already given me the sequence and Harrison was the one who gave the order but I’ve no idea how he—”
“And why not Lynx?”
“Too risky. It had been done to him once already, right? And Spencer’s mind had been dosed with ayahuasca, which made him particularly receptive. But the real question isn’t what was done to him a few days ago or what was done to me and Lynx and Sarmax more than two decades back; the real question is what was done to you and the rest of the Rain when you were in the fucking incubator. The first team was jury-rigged and the second was created wholesale. And only Sinclair knows that formula—”
“And Harrison—”
“—thinks he does, but his files are rigged with false data.”
“You really think you’ve beaten the Praetorians?”
“You’re the one who’s done that. It’s what you were designed for. Though finding out how much of you goes beyond anybody’s planning is what I’m setting in motion tonight.”
“I’ll tell you what I know,” she says, and she can’t help but say the words. She can’t help but tell him everything she can and then some. She has no idea what he already knows. She has no idea how she knows what she does. It doesn’t matter. Her mind twists and turns and it’s all she can do to hang on …
“I was to be the key node in the Autumn Rain mass-mind.”
“Go on.”
“The one that the second generation became. The one that Marlowe and I were shorn from.”
“The one you detected traces of at the Europa Platform.”
“And that I killed every last member of.”
“You sure about that?”
She stares at him. “What do you mean?”
“You sure you got them all?”
“Are you saying that—”
“You know exactly what I’m saying.”
“Don’t—fucking do this—”
But he’s already pulling more levers somewhere deep within the canyons of her skull. Everything blurs around her—
“For the love of Christ, stop fucking with my—”
And suddenly her vision’s burning white.
Let’s get this show on the road,” says Lynx. He emerges from an open hatch in one of the mainframes, wires trailing from it to multiple places in his skull. He looks at Szilard.
“Kill him,” he tells Linehan—but Linehan’s already opening up on Szilard, even as his target dives away, starts rolling across the floor. But he’s got no chance against a suit of armor. Linehan turns, catches up with Szilard in a single stride. Laughs.
And stops. For a moment he’s balanced on one foot. And then he topples over. His armor hits the floor with a crash. Szilard’s on his feet, leaping Linehan’s toppled suit, running straight at Lynx. Who’s fumbling for his pistols, raising them, opening up as Szilard hurls himself to one side once more and darts behind the mainframe to which Lynx is attached. Just as the back of the armor that’s sprawled on the floor opens and a very pissed off Linehan climbs out.
“What the hell’s your problem?” he screams at Lynx.
“What the fuck’s yours?”
“My armor just got hacked, and you didn’t stop it!”
“I never even saw it! For fuck’s sake, this is a live situation! He’s behind this console! He’s fucking with it and I’m losing control!”
“Give me that,” snarls Linehan, snatching one of the pistols from Lynx’s grasp. He turns toward the consoles, starts firing, advancing on the place where Szilard vanished.
“Does he have a way out of this room?” he yells.
“Back there? There’s nothing.”
“You hear that?” shrieks Linehan. “Szilard! This is it! You’re dead!”
“Don’t just tell me about it,” screams Szilard, “come over here and fucking do it !”
With an unearthly cry, Linehan starts forward.
You lose, Leo.”
“What?”
“I just lost the Manilishi.”
“She’s—”
“Not calling the shots anymore. And neither’s Carson.”
“Where the fuck did they go?”
“How the fuck should I know? I’m my own man now.”
And he is. The waters of his life roar around him and he lets himself get caught in the rush. His mind’s still ablaze with static, but now it’s all insight that he’s gathering into himself. He focuses on Sarmax, wonders whether he should pull the trigger.
“One last chance,” says Sarmax.
“You’re one to talk.”
“I’m serious. Join us.”
“What?”
“Fuck man, we’re inside the Eurasian superweapon. No reason you can’t have it once I’m ruling bigger empires.”
“You’d put one through me as soon as you saw an opening. I’m not one of your fucking trinity.”
“I hate both those fucks, Spencer. Don’t—”
One of the doors slides open. A suitless Russian soldier enters the room. His eyes go wide with astonishment.
“It’s not what it looks like,” says Spencer.
“Drop your weapon,” says the soldier—and tries to signal backup. But Spencer’s hacking the signal. The soldier’s backing up through the door, but Spencer gets his mind around the door, slides it shut with full force, smashing the soldier against the doorway, crushing his rib cage—but not before the man’s gotten off a shot. Spencer leaps aside as the projectile sears past him—even as Sarmax whirls to face him. Their guns are right up against each other’s visors.
“Shoot and you’ll lose your zone coverage,” says Spencer. “Shoot and you’d better believe I’ll get a shot off,” says Sarmax.
“I’m your only hope to crack the handler’s files.”
“I’ve done more runs against the East than anyone alive.”
“So? You still need me more than I need you—”
“To do what?” yells Sarmax. “To do fucking what? Are you going to try to take down this place or are you going to take this all the fucking way? Don’t you get it? The secret of the Rain is out there and whoever finds it can build more of them. And you really think you can get to the next level of this fucking game when you’re flying solo?”