Ramez Naam - Crux

“Really not good time!” Feng said.

And then Kade was in.

It took forty-five minutes to turn Miranda Shepherd. At the end of that time, the woman was theirs.

The modified version of Nexus lodged in her brain, waiting to come online at the right signal from the phone, to turn her into a living weapon against her husband and Daniel Chandler. The memory script was deeply embedded, ready for Miranda’s own imagination to embellish it, to create a false recollection of a hair appointment as real as any other.

When they were done, Ava left with Miranda Shepherd to return the woman to her car. The Nigerian went with her, in the backup vehicle. Breece and Hiroshi started the process of tearing down their gear and sanitizing the garage, leaving absolutely no trace of what had happened here.

Kade took stock of the mind he’d infiltrated. He’d give away nothing this time until he knew what was going on.

He was in a building of some sort. A warehouse or a garage. There were rolls of a fine metallic mesh, like a window screen, lying at his feet. He had tools in his gloved hands.

Kade turned, scanned his surroundings. Across the room there was another man, using similar tools to take down another panel. He was whistling as he worked.

Kade reached out for that other man’s mind, to take him as well, hold them both, until he could find out where they were and call the authorities.

But there was no mind there, no Nexus for him to hack into.

Kade could feel his pulse picking up, his breathing coming heavy.

Act normal, Kade told himself. Find out what’s going on.

He clamped down on this mind, told it to pull down another panel, started to sift through its recent memories.

Images, thoughts, words. They came thick and fast. He absorbed them at faster than real-time, straining the link between their minds, the Nexus in each of them.

PLF. Assassination attempt. Team of four. Miranda Shepherd. Daniel Chandler. Explosives. Thousands at risk.

Jesus .

This wasn’t the boss. The code had come from the other man, Breece , who had passed it on from the PLF’s leaders. This one, Hiroshi, had taken that code, fixed bugs, added features, improved on it.

I have to go deeper, Kade realized. I have to get to the bottom .

There was Nexus here. In Hiroshi’s kit. Syringes of Nexus. Yes.

Kade steered Hiroshi’s body to the kit still out by his terminal. He placed the body between Breece and the gear. Then he reached into the bag, opened the insulated case inside, and pulled out a syringe already loaded with silvery Nexus.

He turned. Breece was still happily taking down mesh panels. Faraday cage panels . He understood now.

It didn’t matter. They’d opened their cage and let him in. And now they were his.

Kade pulled the cap off the loaded syringe, held it behind Hiroshi’s body, then walked casually up to Breece’s turned back, the sense of power rising in him.

Yes, he was going to stop these bastards.

He was going to stop them once and for all.

Breece stepped up onto the stool to reach the connectors at the top of the next panel. Carl Orff was running through his head, the epic chants and drums of “O Fortuna”.

Snap. Snap. Snap . The panel was halfway off when something alerted him.

He half turned and out of the corner of his eye Hiroshi was there, something glinting in his hand, swinging towards him.

Breece blocked reflexively, threw up his hand to ward away the blow. Something sharp penetrated his forearm. He jerked away, spinning, and the needle of the syringe broke off, still embedded in his arm. Silvery liquid Nexus spurted from the broken syringe Hiroshi still held.

“What the fuck?” Breece yelled.

Then Hiroshi was on him, punching clumsily at his head with a wild roundhouse.

Had Zara bought him?

Breece stepped inside the swing of the blow, turned, grabbed, and spun, throwing Hiroshi over his hip and into the ground.

His friend scrambled clumsily to get up, nothing like the deadly grace of the real Hiroshi.

Then Breece understood. This wasn’t Hiroshi any more. This was someone else.

Breece let the hacker come at him with his friend’s body again. This time he stepped to the outside, trapped the arm, twisted it around behind his friend, pushed him against the wall, locking him there, the arm levered up near to breaking. With his other hand he pulled his gun, held it to his friend’s temple.

Would pain work? Would threats?

“Who are you?” Breece demanded.

Fuck.

Kade swore as Breece disabled him.

He had no choice now. He dropped control of the body entirely, shifted all of his attention to rummaging through Hiroshi’s mind. Names. Places. Passwords. Who were these people? When was the attempt going to happen? Where? How?

“Breece,” Hiroshi said softly.

“Hiroshi?”

“He’s reading my mind, man.”

“Fight him, Hiroshi. You can beat him.”

His friend shook his head slightly, his temple brushing the muzzle of Breece’s gun.

“Too strong,” Hiroshi half-spoke, half-groaned. “Pull the trigger.”

“Fuck that,” Breece replied.

Kade heard Hiroshi speak. He had to move faster, find out everything the man knew.

“I know more than you think,” Hiroshi said. “I know who you are , Breece.”

Breece caught his breath.

“He’s gonna get it out of me,” Hiroshi said. He sounded urgent now, frantic for Breece to end his life.

“No,” Breece whispered. “No, no.” He looked around. The Faraday cage shielding. If he could get it around Hiroshi… If he could bend it, somehow. There would have to be no gaps. It couldn’t just be a cylinder. He had to close the ends, or make it a sphere or a cube.

“The Nigerian!” Hiroshi half yelled. “I know his name, Breece!”

Breece closed his eyes, tried to concentrate, tried to find a way out of this that wasn’t putting a bullet into the brain of his friend, his friend who’d saved his life more than once.

“Ava!” Hiroshi was screaming now. “I know who Ava is, Breece! It’s her or me! You have to kill…”

Breece pulled the trigger. The boom echoed like a cannon in the small space. The muzzle flash singed his face, so close to Hiroshi’s. Blood splattered on his cheek, his brow, the lids of his closed eyes. Hiroshi went silent.

White noise.

[CONNECTION LOST]

Kade jolted in shock and frustration. Damn it!

Breece stepped back, let go of his grip, opened his eyes. The body of his friend slumped slowly to the ground, his head sliding down the garage wall as it fell, leaving a trail of blood and expelled brain behind it.

The gun fell from Breece’s limp fingers. He barely noticed. He stared numbly down at the body of his dead friend. And then Breece collapsed to his knees, brought his bloodstained hands up to cover his singed and splattered face.

One of the smartest men he’d ever known. One of the bravest. A man who’d fought to give others freedom. To give them the right to become more than human.

A man who’d died to protect his team. His family.

Hiroshi should have lived forever. He should have become immortal and posthuman. He’d earned it. He’d deserved it far more than most. He would have used his intelligence and courage to make the world a better place.

Breece dropped his hands to his sides, opened his eyes, forced himself to look at what he’d done to his friend, his brother. “I’m going to find you,” Breece said to the thing that had invaded Hiroshi’s mind. “I’m going to make you suffer. I’m going to make you wish for death.”

43

CAPTURE

Saturday October 27th

Feng’s world slowed as the vehicles appeared in the rear view display in the corner of his armored windshield. Black SUVs. Two of them. Men leaned out, soldiers in sleek black combat armor. They had automatic weapons in their hands. Feng’s combat senses painted g-force curves on the road ahead of him, projected paths he could take. The guns behind them opened fire, aiming low at the metal honeycomb tires. They couldn’t be popped, but enough gunfire could eat away at them. Stray shots pinged off the armored back.