Страница 83 из 86
He tries again and this time gets it right. Lev clicks on a video, and Co
“I don’t want to see it.” Co
“Yes, you do.”
And although the last thing Co
He can tell right away from the look on Risa’s face that she has a single-minded determination she didn’t have in the other interview he saw.
He watches in amazement as, in less than two minutes, she blasts Proactive Citizenry, the Juvies, and unwinding so completely there’s no doubt which side she’s on. The show’s anchorman is left scrambling to pick up the pieces.
“They were blackmailing her!” Co
“Proactive Citizenry has already released a statement denying it,” Lev tells him. “They claim she’s the one who used them.”
“Yeah, right. Let’s hope nobody’s stupid enough to believe them.”
“Some people are, some aren’t.”
Co
“Same here.”
“What’s with the hair?”
Lev shrugs. “It’s a look.”
They hear a car pulling up in the sales office parking lot. Time to go.
“So what do we do now? Lev asks. “I’m kind of AWOL from the Anti-Divisional Resistance. . . .”
“The ADR has become useless. If the best they can do is send AWOLs to a holding pen for the Juvies, then something’s not working. Someone needs to rethink things.”
“Why not you?” Lev suggests.
“Why not us?” Co
Lev considers it. “Well . . . you’re a martyr and I’m a patron saint—I can’t think of anyone better! So where do we start?”
It’s a big question. Where do you begin to change the world? Co
83 • Nelson
Even before he comes fully to his senses, he knows something has gone terribly, terribly wrong. He opens his eyes to scorching daylight. He’s lying in a ditch. His body aches. One side of his face feels as if it’s on fire.
He was tranq’d. Not just once, but repeatedly, and by his own damn gun! Enough sedatives to knock him out for maybe twelve hours. It’s a wonder he hasn’t been eaten alive by desert scavengers—but from the pain in his left leg, and bloody holes in his stolen uniform, clearly something tried. Nelson wonders how long he’s been in the sun. Long enough for half his face to be swollen and throbbing from a second-degree sunburn.
He had him! He had Co
And here is the result of kindness.
The two will already be far from here, covering their tracks. His laptop held the codes of Lev’s tracking nanites. Without his computer, they’re useless. Nelson will not give up. He will find them. Tracking has always been his specialty, and this setback? It’s nothing! It will only make him more determined, more ruthless in achieving his goal.
He climbs out of the ditch and marches, weak-legged, but strong-willed, like a zombie, toward Tucson. He will catch the Akron AWOL, deliver him to Divan, and be there to witness his unwinding—but the tithe will not meet such a merciful end. When Nelson finds Lev, he will visit upon the boy such wrath it will make the very ground tremble. Of this, Nelson can be sure. Just thinking about it fills him with enough joy and purpose to propel him down the long road to Tucson, and dark destinies beyond.
84 • Co
“Flagstaff doesn’t look much like south Arizona,” says Lev. “Looks more like Denver or something.”
“Denver doesn’t look like Denver,” Co
They’ve stopped at a diner on historic Route 66, and, bucking the paranoia that the past year has infused them with, they have di
Their car is a nondescript beige Honda that Co
The Rain Valley Diner boasts “the Best Burgers in the Southwest.” Co
With one hand he eats his burger, and with the other, he does some information gathering on Nelson’s laptop, which the parts pirate was kind enough to leave for them in his van.
“Find out anything new?” Lev asks.
“It looks like Risa disappeared after the broadcast last night, and Proactive Citizenry wants her head. Not unwound, just her head. Like on a stake.”
“Ew.”
“And Hayden’s being charged with everything they can charge him with.”
“At least they can’t unwind him.”
“But they can unwind everyone else who got caught.”
The thought of the captured Whollies brings Co
“Hey, you did everything you could—and besides, they’re not unwound yet,” Lev reminds him. “Maybe what we do now can still make a difference for them.”
Co
They sit in a long, uncomfortable silence, doing nothing but eating, because that’s easier than answering the question. No plans, no destination, no idea what direction to go from here other than “away.” Co
“I could take you to the Cavenaugh mansion,” Lev suggests. “You’d be safe there.”
“Safe would be nice for once, but that’s not happening. Besides, didn’t you bail from there?”
“Yeah, well, if I come back with the one and only Akron AWOL, I think they’ll forgive me.”
“Keep your voice down!” Co
“Maybe we oughta check out that ‘You-Tub’ place, get a Jacuzzi, and turn into a couple of spa potatoes. We deserve some downtime.”
He knows Lev is kidding, but there’s something about what he said that triggers a thought. It’s a small thought at first, but it grows quickly. An inkling becomes a hunch, becomes an idea, becomes a revelation, and Co
“What is it?” Lev asks.
“Janson Rheinschild!”
“But you already told me he was wiped out of digital existence, so what’s the point in looking?”
Co