Marko’s hands were shaking as the autohypo smoothly sucked blood from my arm. When it dinged softly, he yanked it out awkwardly and almost stumbled backward. He whirled around and disappeared into the maze of crap. His partner pulled himself onto a workbench and sat with his head in his arms, dripping blood onto the white floor and snuffling pathetically.

“Aw, c’mon,” Happling said cheerfully. “Are you kidding me? You ain’t hurt. Come here, I’ll straighten that out for you with my thumbs, good as new.”

The kid lifted his head to stare in horror at the big cop, which inspired a guffaw from the red-haired giant. I lifted my eyes from his gun just as he glanced down at me.

“Can you believe this kid?” he said, and then looked back at the Techie. “You know who this is, kid? This is Avery fucking Cates, cop killer. In other words, he’s the one man in this room who needs to be worried about me. But look at ’im! The old bastard is free and easy. So why are you afraid of me?”

The Techie just stared. I let my eyes fall back on Happling’s gun.

“Hell, it was her who snapped your nose, buddy, not me.”

“That’s enough, Captain.”

I dropped my eyes quickly, studying the floor and the tiny pattern of blood droplets I’d produced there. After a moment, Happling said, “Yes, boss,” in a tight, subdued voice.

I considered. Hense was keeping me off the grid because she didn’t want to take the chance that what she’d been told was true, that she’d die quickly-and horribly-once I was out of sight, and the first thing her superiors would do if my name got put in the System was bundle me off somewhere. I could tell she was the sort of coldhearted bitch who would never lose a moment’s sleep over putting one in my head, but she needed me, in a strange way.

Still, a feeling of freedom was singing inside me-I had nothing, nothing to lose. At the end of this little adventure, I was dead. There wasn’t a fucking scenario that didn’t end with me dead. I’d been here before. It was a good place. It clarified things.

The four of us sat in a tense silence for a while, Happling and Hense standing perfectly still, the other Techie from time to time moaning and snuffling back blood through what was left of his nose. When Marko returned, I saw him first and watched him make his way slowly back into the tiny clearing amid the mess.

“Mr. Marko?” Hense asked.

He nodded, staring at me, the expression on his face hard to pin down. It resembled the look of some of the hungry dogs that prowled the old stadium, hoping to snag a scrap or a slow-mover from some of the camps inside. I had the feeling Marko would gladly have slit my belly open and peered inside, just to satisfy his curiosity.

“You’ve got it right. I’ve never seen Tech like this. Ty Kieth-you know the name? Fuck, he’s a legend. Totally unreliable, of course, but fuck, the man’s gifted.” He leaned toward me as if a strong wind were pushing him from behind. “I’ve never seen anything this elegant.”

“Mr. Marko,” Hense snapped. “You can confirm Dr. Terries’ statements?”

He nodded again, slowly. “We’re fucking dead, all right. The moment he’s not in the room with us.” A smile, wide and rapturous, spread across his face, his teeth shocking in the midst of the dark beard. “This is amazing work.” He glanced at her. “I didn’t have time for a thorough look. There’s a lot going on there. But the basics are right.”

He didn’t spot the beacon, I thought. Paris. His buddy let out a long moan, but I couldn’t tell if it was because of the news or his aching nose.

Hense nodded once, brisk. “Captain Happling, collect Mr. Cates. Marko and Jameson, grab your field gear. You’re coming with me.”

Marko nodded again, still staring at me. Happling didn’t move. “Where we headed, boss?”

“The roof,” she said, rubbing her temples. “We are leaving.”

Suddenly the other Techie was back on his feet. “What? Colonel, you cannot remove him. This has to be kicked upstairs. This is a public health crisis, and if you won’t-”

Hense’s face clouded, her brows knitting together, and my belly tightened up just before she reached across herself, drew her shiny, chrome-plated Roon automatic, and shot him in the face.

None of us moved. She looked around at us. “I just saved that poor son of a bitch from a few hours of slow, painful dying,” she said as if reading off a grocery list. She waited and then nodded, replacing her gun in its holster. “Captain?”

Happling hadn’t moved. I knew I was dead, but I felt I owed Glee more than that. I could almost hear her: Ooh, Avery’s a martyr. I owed her the bastards that had done this to her, just the same as if they’d blown her brains out. I owed her revenge. I took a deep breath and tore my hands from my pockets. I whipped my right hand out and had it, his gun, in my hand. I ripped it from his grasp and it seemed to settle into my grip of its own will.

But the big man was fast. Before I could do more, he’d moved, whirling and sending a solid kick against my chair, aiming for my balls but hitting the seat instead. I went sailing backward, toppling over, smacking my head against the floor. I heard him in the air and brought my arm around just in time to smack the barrel of his gun against his belly as he landed on me.

We both froze, panting. His breath smelled like ashes.

“Okay,” I said, gasping. “Let’s negotiate.”

XIV

Day Six: I Can’t Imagine What it is You Do Like

“Shit, boss,” Happling said between clenched teeth. “Permission to kill this son of a bitch?”

“Step back, Captain,” Hense said immediately, not sounding particularly concerned.

Happling stayed put for a moment, his teeth bared, and then he straightened up and stepped back, cursing under his breath and thrusting his big hands into his pockets. I tried to keep both cops in sight. Hense was just standing there, the smallest thing in the room, arms still crossed as if she’d never dream of drawing her own weapon or raising a hand in anger.

In the sudden vacuum, Marko whispered, “You fucking shot him.”

Hense unspooled one arm to gesture in my direction, a sculpted eyebrow going up. “Mr. Cates, you have the floor.”

I didn’t have much on my side, so I knew I was going to have to start lying. “First off, I know you’re not going to kill me, so stop threatening me.”

Happling was staring down at the floor, face red and posture tense. I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed likely he was making fists in his pockets. I’d make fists in my pockets, too, if I’d been made to look stupid like that. “How about we just imply great physical pain, then?” he said to the floor.

“Second,” I said without waiting for more of a response, “you don’t have all the information. Why do you think I’ve got these special nanos inside me? Because I’m fucking patient zero. I’m where it all started six days ago. You’re going to carry me around like luggage, and you don’t even know where to go. You’ve got a name, but do you think a lone underground Techie did this? Do your math, Colonel. Starting with me, this has been spreading outward steadily, right? Takes anywhere from a few hours to a few days to tear some poor asshole to pieces, right? The whole city’s on the edge of a fucking breakdown. And after the city-what? You’re a professional, Colonel, you know crowd control. Do you think you’re going to be able to bottle this up? You’re not even going to be able to keep this downtown for long.”

She just stared at me, but something told me, some change in her aura or whatever signal she was beaming out from that cold lizard brain of hers, that I had her attention. “I know where we go,” I said. “I know where we can find Ty Kieth. And I know where to go from there, too. Think about it,” I finished. “You’ve got resources. I’ve got the information.”