Скотт Вестерфельд - Specials

Shay let out a sigh. "This is going to be way too easy."

Tally didn't answer, keeping her eyes on Zane until he disappeared into the darkness.

"We better get moving," Shay said. Tally nodded. When the wardens came sniffing, they might think it was somewhat random to find a couple of Specials hanging around Zane's last known location.

The scales of her sneak suit shuddered through their little boot-up dance, and Tally pulled on her gloves, drawing the hood down over her face.

Within seconds, Tally and Shay were as perfectly black as the midnight sky above.

"Come on, Boss," she said. "Let's go find the Smoke."

Zane's escape went much easier than Tally had expected.

The rest of the Crims and their pretty allies must have been in on the trick—hundreds of them released their interface rings on toy balloons at the same time, filling the air with false signals. Another hundred or so uglies did the same. The wardens' channel was full of irritated chatter as they went around collecting rings and putting a halt to dozens of pranks. The authorities weren't in the mood for practical jokes after last night's attack.

Shay and Tally finally switched off the wardens' babble.

"Pretty icy so far," Shay said. "Your boyfriend should make a good Cutter."

Tally smiled, feeling relieved to have Zane's shakiness out of her sight. The excitement of the chase was beginning.

They followed the little group of Crims from a kilometer back, the eight figures so clear in infrared that Tally could tell Zane's glowing silhouette apart from the others'. She noticed that at least one of them always flew close to him, ready to lend a hand.

The runaways didn't speed up the river toward the Rusty Ruins, but made their unhurried way to the southern edge of the city. When they ran out of grid, they descended into the forest and hiked, carrying their hoverboards toward the same river that Tally and Shay had jumped into the night before.

"That's bubbly of them," Shay said. "Not taking the usual way out."

"Must be tough on Zane, though," Tally said. Hoverboards were heavy carrying without a grid beneath them.

"If you're going to worry about him this whole trip, Tally-wa, it's going to be extremely boring."

"Sorry, Boss."

"Relax, Tally. We won't let anything happen to your boy." Shay dropped into the pine trees. Tally stayed up high for another moment, watching the little group's slow progress. It would be an hour before they made the river and could use their boards again, but she was reluctant to lose sight of the runaways out here in the wild.

"A little early in the trip to burn your fans out, don't you think?" Shay's voice came from below, intimate in the skintenna network's feed.

Tally sighed softly, then let herself descend.

An hour later, they were sitting on the riverbank waiting for the Crims to catch up.

"Eleven," Shay said, tossing another rock. Spinning wildly, it skipped across the water as she counted aloud, finally sinking after the eleventh bounce.

"Hah! I win again!" Shay announced.

"No one else is playing, Shay-la."

"It's me against nature. Twelve." Shay threw again, the rock bouncing happily out into the middle of the river, dropping to the bottom after exactly twelve skips. "Victory is mine! Come on, you try."

"No thanks, Boss. Shouldn't we check on them again?"

Shay groaned. "They'll be here soon, Tally. They were almost at the river last time you checked, which was about five minutes ago."

"So why aren't they here yet?"

"Because they're resting, Tally. They're all tired after lugging their crappy boards through the forest." She smiled. "Or maybe they're cooking up a delicious feast of Spagbol."

Tally grimaced. She wished the two of them hadn't flown ahead. The whole point of this trick was to stay close to the runaways. "What if they went the other way? Rivers go two ways, you know?"

"Don't be so random, Tally-wa. Why would they head away from the ocean? Once you get past the mountains, there's nothing but desert for hundreds of kilometers. The Rusties called it Death Valley even before the weeds took over."

"But what if they arranged to meet the Smokies back there? We don't know how much contact the Crims have had with outsiders."

Shay sighed. "Fine. Go and check." She kicked at the dirt between her feet, trying to find another flat rock. "Just don't stay up too long. They might have infrared."

"Thanks, Boss." Tally stood, snapping for her board.

"Thirteen," Shay answered, and threw.

From up high, Tally could make out the runaways. As Shay had suspected, they were on the riverbank, unmoving, probably resting their feet. But as she tried to figure out which was Zane, Tally frowned.

Then she realized what was bothering her: There were nine glowing blobs of heat, not eight. Had they built a fire? Was some self-heating meal tricking her infrared?

She adjusted her vision to bring them into focus. The silhouettes sharpened until Tally was certain that all of them were human-size.

"Shay-la," she whispered. "They did meet someone."

"Already?" Shay answered from below. "Huh. I didn't think the Smokies would make it this easy."

"Unless it's another ambush," Tally said softly.

"Let them try. I'm coming up."

"Hang on, they're moving." The glowing forms were slipping out onto the river, headed toward her and Shay at hoverboard speed. But one remained behind, walking into the cover of the forest. "They're on their way here, Shay. Eight of them, anyway. Somebody's going the other direction."

"Okay, you follow that one. I'll stick with the Crims."

"But—"

"Don't argue with me, Tally. I won't lose your boyfriend. Just get moving, and don't let them see you."

"Okay, Boss." Tally dropped toward the river to let her hoverboard's fans cool. Zooming toward the approaching Crims, she booted her suit, pulling the hood over her face. Tally angled closer to the bank and its cover of overhanging plants, slowing almost to a halt.

Within a minute, the Crims shot past, unaware, and she recognized Zane's unsteady form among the others.

"Got them," Shay said a moment later. Her voice was already fading. "If we go off river, I'll leave a skintenna beacon for you."

"Okay, Boss." Tally leaned forward, heading toward the mysterious ninth figure.

"Be careful, Tally-wa. I don't want to lose two Cutters in the one week."

"No problem there," Tally said. She wanted to get back to following Zane, not get captured herself. "See you soon."

"Miss you already…," Shay said as her signal faded.

Tally's senses scanned the forests on either side of the river. The dark trees crowding the banks were full of infrared phantoms; small animals and nesting birds flashed past as random flickers of heat. But nothing human-size…

As Tally neared the spot where the Crims had met their mysterious friend, she slowed, crouching low on her board. She smiled, beginning to feel icy and excited. If this was another ambush, the Smokies were going to discover that they weren't the only ones who could turn invisible.

She glided to a halt on the muddy riverbank, stepping from her board and sending it into the sky to wait for her.

The spot where the Crims had stood was marked by a swarm of footprints. The smell of an unwashed human lingered in the air, someone who had been days or longer without a bath. That couldn't be one of the Crims, who'd smelled like recyclable clothes and nervousness.

Tally moved carefully into the trees, following the trail of scent.

Whoever she was following knew something about woodcraft. No broken branches marked a clumsy passage, and the undergrowth showed no telltale signs of footsteps. But the smell grew stronger as Tally moved ahead, enough to make her nose wrinkle. Running water or not, even Smokies didn't smell this bad.