Archon's Queen (59 page)

She gave him a look as though he’d asked her to shoot her own dog. “Are you sure?”

James pulled her head to his chest. “Of course. Would I ever deceive you?”

Anna smiled and closed her eyes, snuggling tight, feeling as safe, loved, and protected as she ever had.

nna paused against an angled beam of white-painted plastisteel, square and as thick as her body. From where it bolted to the ground, it trailed into an upward spiral before joining the side of the Timmons-Orben corporate headquarters at the fortieth floor. Hundreds more formed a ring around the base of the building, a crisscross of metal in the shape of an inverted hyperbolic cone. Transparent panels set into the grid let sunlight in to an immense round courtyard.

The tower rose through the center of the lattice, a great white needle stabbing at the sky. Hundreds of people flowed to and from the entrance, around several one-quarter scale models of spacecraft, hovercars, and full scale mock ups of ion engines. Anna felt out of place wearing the loose black pants and combat boots she had ordered an hour earlier. Checking the buttons of her snug grey top from right shoulder to left hip, she tugged at the sleeves and grumbled.

I don’t fit in. All these people are wearing twenty thousand credits of designer crap. I feel like a terrorist.

Lauren’s voice laughed in the back of her mind.
Well it’s not like we’re here for tea and biccies. It won’t matter in the courtyard. Like I said, they’re all too busy.

Her plain silver mesh belt held one small box at her left hip, a container of imitation white leather the size of a bar of soap. She squeezed it, hoping like hell she would not need the six stimpaks inside.

I should have gone with the white thigh-highs.
Anna sighed, and Lauren chuckled.
The military boots are what makes me stand out.

Anna shuddered at the oddity of
feeling
Aurora roll her eyes.

The bloody things you wanted had two-inch heels. You’d fall on your ass if things went wonky.

Two security officers walked into the periphery of her vision. Head to toe in black jumpsuits, armor, and headgear, they tromped around the perimeter with rifles clutched to their chest aimed down to the left. Their approach spurred her into motion before they could get close enough to scan her. Anna stepped out from behind the giant metal ribbon and went into the crowd, walking as if she belonged.

How can you stand it?
Lauren’s question almost made her jump.

Gathering herself with a breath, Anna shot an annoyed look in a random direction.
Stand what?

Being this short.

Color came to her cheeks.
I am not that short! You’re a bloody amazon.

I’m only five eleven, hon. You’re tiny.

Anna got redder.
Five eleven
is
a bloody amazon. Knock it off. You’ll give me away.

Okay, okay. I’m just not used to seeing the world at tit level.

Anna’s left hand reached up and checked the boob on that side.

Little petite, but they’ve got a good round shape.

She grabbed her left wrist with her right hand, forcing it down to her side.
Stop groping me! Err… Stop making me grope me! You’re so unprofessional.

But, I’m not a professional, dear. That’s all you. I’m a freak.

Tuning out Aurora’s laughter, Anna focused on navigating. Her eyes darted to pairs of security men monitoring the crowd. Far too many people flooded the place to mask her presence from everyone, but all she had to do was avoid notice by the guards. Anna mingled her thoughts with theirs, forcing minds to disregard her.

Lauren, can you take over walking? Hard to focus; slows me to a crawl.

Numbness came over her lower body as her legs vanished from her consciousness. Feeling as though she floated on a cloud, Anna maintained concentration on the patrollers while Aurora kept her at a brisk walk. Into the shadow of the building they went, under the gleaming archway of white plastisteel and glass. She maintained telepathic invisibility aimed at anyone in a security uniform as the room slid past.

They stopped between a pair of nine-foot tall ferns against a gloss black wall.

Care to hit the call button or shall I?
Lauren chuckled inside her head.

Anna reached for the elevator control while keeping the security team oblivious. Doors squeaked apart revealing a mirrored cylinder. Energy filled the air and faint green lines traced a grid through the reflective wall. Having no firearms, blades, or cybernetics, Anna was unconcerned with the scan.

Not having an ID card, however, she pressed her fingertips into the console. Flickering amber threads stretched through the darkness; her mind mapped the electricity in the wires around them.

That’s bloody keen. So pretty…
Lauren’s mental voice faded to an awestruck whisper.

Anna glowered at the pattern in the control box, hoping to find a circuit path to bypass the security system.
This is so damn complicated… I should have gone to school for electrical engineering or something.

Lauren’s influence made her head turn to stare at five large amber slabs surrounding the elevator cab.
Bugger the controls. Can you just tweak the magnets? Go for the 53
rd
floor.

She looked around at the insane mess of amber wiring and circuits.
I don’t think I could figure that out, besides it’ll set off an alarm for a malfunction.

Wait here.

Anna shivered as icy fog rolled out of her body and vanished through the door. A couple of minutes passed in agonizing slowness. Without warning, the elevator got underway; the sudden motion caused her to yelp, stumble, and cling to the handrail. Frigid air crawled up her legs from the floor, and Aurora’s presence forced itself into her thoughts again.

Nice fellow at the guard station decided to send us to the correct floor. No, he’s not hurt.

Moments later, she stepped out into a blue-carpeted hallway.

Duck into the ladies’ loo.

Had Aurora not kept refilling her tea that night, she would not have been awake in the outhouse when the ambush started. Wondering what the clairvoyant was up to, Anna complied without protest. She whistled at the gold-plated sinks with reticulated crystal faucets, feeling ever so much more underdressed for being in an executive washroom. Behind her in the mirror, one pair of legs indicated an occupant in the brown-marble patterned stalls.

Be right back.

Anna clenched her jaw at the momentary sensation of cold air sliding down her legs. Aurora exited her, leaving her clinging to the sink to avoid falling. She felt woozy for a moment until her body adjusted to being in control of itself once more. A female voice gasped and the stall opened to reveal a mocha-skinned security guard wearing Aurora’s haughty smile.

The officer walked up to her, head tilted to the side, and nodded. “Yep, you are short.”

Anna squinted with folded arms. “What’s the point of this? You want to fake arrest me?”

“Hate to disappoint you, luv, but you don’t get to wear handcuffs today. Though, I suppose I could save them for later if you want. One sec.”

Anna blushed and turned away, unable to come up with a good comeback. The officer took off her utility belt and laid it on the sink, followed by her armored vest, which she tossed to Anna.

“Put that on, don’t quibble.” Aurora walked the guard to the back end of the bathroom and sat on the floor. “Hurry up, we don’t have much time. Knock this one out.”

She wriggled into the vest before putting a hand on the guard’s shoulder and jolting her unconscious.

“Damn that hurts.” Aurora’s disembodied voice floated over her from behind. “I figure this one will start making noise in about ten minutes. Go out to the end of the hall and take the first right. You want the corner office. I’ll follow.”

“How do you know all this?” Anna started for the door.

“While you’ve been making kissy-poo with James for the past four days, I’ve been a ghost in this place. Grab the damn gun so you look like a guard.”

Anna ducked through the automatic door and jogged to the end of the corridor before turning right. The firearm in her hands felt like carrying fear in solid form. One bad fright and she could detonate all the ammunition in the magazine. Electronic triggers worked with small sparks instead of a percussive pin; in her hands, it was as good as a bomb. The chime of another elevator opening coincided with her rounding out of sight. Comm chatter in the stolen helmet reported on the abandoned elevator and an unrecognized white-haired woman who had gone into the bathroom. Hearing them coordinate movement made her step up to a run, and she burst through the door of a fancy office.

A startled executive assistant looked up at her, before a single thin spark of lightning between the eyes knocked him senseless. The intense crack shook the windows and filled the air with the taste of ozone. She zapped him without breaking stride, continuing through an interior door to a large corner office. The floor-to-ceiling windows offered a breathtaking view of a cityscape that could have been a mural. White and silver buildings caught the powder blue glow of the sky, while hovercars and advert bots danced like fake snow in a shaken globe. Behind a monolith of black marble serving as a desk, a middle-aged Hispanic man with grey hair looked over a bank of holo-terminals with stunned indignation.

“Who the hell are you? How dare you barge into my―”

A dozen crackling arcs connected her fingers to his desk, destroying every piece of electronica before he could trigger an alarm. He cringed away from the shower of silver dust exploding into the air, reaching for a handgun under his jacket.

It never quite aimed at Anna, as he wobbled in a drunken sprawl and fell over the desk of annihilated components. After a moment, he straightened up, grinned, and tucked the pistol back under his arm before walking out from behind the desk.

“Come on then, luv.”

Anna grinned at the English accent. Several more security officers swarmed past them. She kept her head down, acting like a security guard on escort duty. They greeted the older man in turn as they passed, apologizing for the disruption. Aurora did not speak, offering only nods and grunts. Past a handful of offices and a conference room, the possessed man swiped his badge over the wall and opened a concealed elevator among the imitation marble tiles. This one maintained the faux opulence with gold and black panels and a holographic plant in the back corner.