Ramez Naam - Nexus

Thanom!

Su-Yong!

Sam heard the yell from Feng. Shu's moan ceased. The mental fog in Sam's head cleared.

Feng got the car back under control. No one spoke. Shu continued to sob. Her sorrow filled the air.

Stupid, stupid, Thanom. I told you it would end this way. I told you…

Sam did what she could for Kade, in silence.

Eventually Shu's sobbing slowed, then ceased. She lifted up her face. Tears streaked it.

I'm sorry,she sent. Thanom was very important to me. I'm…She shook her head. I'm only alive today because of him.

It came in a flash. A fire. Burning heat. Pain and fear. Her head shaved bare. A robotic surgeon looming above her, alien and insectoid, moving closer with whirring blades. Her unborn child huge in her womb. Blood everywhere. Two faces above her, pale with fright. The feel of Prat-Nung's hand around hers. Images and memories that Sam didn't understand.

Anger began to replace the sorrow emanating from Shu. Cold, hard anger. Anger of epic proportions. Hatred of frightening intensity. Wrath. Destruction. Murderers. Savages. She would crush them all…

"Ananda," Kade croaked. Ananda.

Shu seemed to notice them then. Bit by bit she reeled her anger in. They heard her take a deep breath. She nodded. "Ananda."

"And you?" Shu asked Sam. "Do you plan to go with Kade?"

Sam took a deep breath. She still hadn't made sense of the events of this night. She'd gone mad at Mai's death, at the rage and terror of the minds she'd been linked to. She'd killed at least two ERD contractors, been complicit in the deaths of others…

Could I turn myself in? Sam wondered. Go to the embassy? Claim temporary insanity?

No. The ERD was many things. Forgiving was not one of them. She'd signed her own death warrant already. Her life expectancy could now be measured in hours or days.

She needed to think and regroup. She needed to keep moving, keep ahead of the pursuers who would be coming after her. Her options were few. And she'd promised Wats that she'd keep Kade safe.

"I'll go," she said. "I'll go with Kade, if he'll have me."

Kade looked at her. He had the mask over his mouth and nose again. His eyes met hers. She had a flash of the connection they'd had just hours ago, the way she'd opened herself to him. A sense of compassion. Trust. Understanding. He nodded slowly, pulled the mask away.

"Yes," he said. "You saved my life. Again. Yes."

Shu nodded, face and mind still hard, pulled a phone from her pocket, dialed, held it to her ear. Sam faintly heard the voice on the other side answer.

" Sawadi , Ananda."

They spoke in a language Sam didn't know, Indic maybe, flowing and sonorous. And then Shu put the phone down.

"It's done," she said. "We'll meet his monks in an hour." Her voice was cold and distant. Anger still leaked out of her mind. Violence. The apes had killed Thanom. There would be a reckoning.

Kade napped as Feng drove. He woke at the rendezvous point with the two young monks Ananda had sent. It was a cavernous garage, deep in the belly of the airport. Shu claimed the surveillance cameras were under her control. No one voiced a disagreement.

The shaven-headed young men passed them piles of cloth. Monk's robes. Orange for Kade, white for Sam.

Shu spoke from the front seat. She still felt distant, cold. PratNung's death had affected her.

"Ananda's monks will take you someplace, hide you," she said. "The Americans have already put out a request for your arrest, both of you, on drug charges.

"You need to keep moving. Ananda knows that. He's working on finding a next step for you."

She turned back and held something out to Kade. A slate.

"What's this?" Kade asked, reaching for it. Shu kept her grip on the device.

"We stopped, and Feng bought them. He paid cash. They're not associated with you in any way. Do not access any of your old accounts or data on this, or they'll be able to trace you. Don't try to contact anyone you know, or me. You can use it to keep up on news generally, but not more than that. You understand?"

Kade nodded. "Yeah. I want to stay alive."

Shu nodded, released her grip. "Good."

"Can you do something for me?" Kade asked. He felt cold. Dazed.

"What?"

"Rangan, Ilya, the ERD will come after them now, if they haven't already. Can you contact them? Tell them to get out if they can?"

Shu hesitated a moment.

"They'll be bugged," Sam said. "You'll have to be careful to not tip the listeners off."

Shu nodded. "I'll do what I can."

"Thank you," Kade said. The words were empty. He felt numb.

"Kade…" Shu began. She paused. "Kade, it's likely to go poorly for the people the ERD was blackmailing you with. If it does, remember who did this to you, and to them."

Her eyes held his. Her mind radiated cold anger, a desire to break the human organizations that worked so hard to keep them – all the posthumans – under their thumbs.

It'll be your fault, Sam had told him. All on you.

He caught Sam out of the corner of his eye, saw her look down. She emanated guilt, confusion, resignation. She opened the door on her side, hobbled out, closed the door behind her.

"Blame the humans," Shu continued. "Blame their hatred of anything and anyone that might transcend them."

Rage. Not just anger. A flash of Yang Wei, her mentor, trapped in a wrecked car, burning to death in utter agony, the CIA to blame. A flash of Ted Prat-Nung being cut down as he tried to save Chariya, echoed back from his own memories.

Hatred.

He could feel his own anger rising. The ERD had killed so many. They should be punished, broken, shattered into pieces so small that…

"Keep moving," Shu told him. "Stay safe. We'll see each other again."

She touched his arm, held his eyes with her own.

"One day, we will make them pay," Shu said. "All of them."

Even through the serenity package, he felt it. The anger soothed him. The cold rage. It took his grief away. It took the pain away.

Kade nodded again, locked eyes with her. One day they'd make their enemies pay. He opened the door to get out. One of the monks was there in a flash. He took Kade's arm over his shoulder, helped him hop on one foot towards the other car. Sam was waiting at the front of the car, her eyes darting to and fro, scanning for threats.

She expects them to find us, Kade thought to himself. And she would know.

Feng hugged Kade. "No more getting beat up!" he told him with a grin.

Kade nodded numbly.

The Confucian Fist turned to Sam, held his arms open as if to embrace her. Sam frowned. Feng dropped his arms and the grin, offered her one hand to shake. She took it.

"Someday we fight together for real," he said, giving her a respectful nod.

The young monks put them in the back of a cramped, beatup four-seater Tata.

"Where are we going?" Kade asked.

The two monks exchanged words in Thai. The one in the passenger seat turned.

"Mountains," he said, gesturing towards the sky. Then more Thai.

"He says they're taking us to a monastery," Sam said. "A very special monastery."

They drove out of the airport garage, into the early morning light. The clouds had broken apart. The sun was rising in the east, an orange ball of fire illuminating a wet landscape. They drove north, and towards the peaks that loomed over the Thai plains below.

41

REPERCUSSIONS

Becker swore softly to himself. Morning was breaking over Thailand. His emergency request for aerial recon in the pre-dawn dark three hours ago had been denied. The National Security Advisor had called a meeting to discuss events in Thailand for Sunday morning in DC. That was more than thirty-six hours in the future. They couldn't wait that long.