Continuance (41 page)

Gunfire erupted
as agents poured out of the central elevator, shouting at their quarry, at each
other. Bullets pinged off metal and concrete as Alex scrambled inside. More
bullets pelted the glass walls of the lift car, unable to leave a chip or
crack.

“See?” Alex
said. “Told you it was bulletproof.”

The door closed,
and the car lurched downward. Slowly. Metal screeched in protest as they inched
down the building, sparks raining down around them.

“What’s wrong?”
Jason yelled.

“The brakes are
engaged.” Alex scrambled over to a panel near the door, flinching as another
bullet bounced off the outside, not far from his head. “They must have engaged
them from out there. I’ll try to override it.” His hands darted over the keypad
inside the panel.

The spiders had
moved closer, just outside now, as one of them worked at the access panel Alex
had used a moment ago. Jason smelled smoke as the motor strained to move the
car, and they descended as if resting on quicksand. The muffled shouts outside
became clearer as the door jerked open a few inches.

“Not good!” Alex
shouted.

A silvery
canister flew through the opening. Jason felt the sharp awareness of his mind crystallize,
seeing
its trajectory as it arced through the air like an instant
replay. His body reacted, and he snatched the canister from the air, flinging
it back out the door in one lightning-quick motion.

The car rocked
to one side as the canister exploded with a deafening boom. Jason picked
himself up from the floor in time to see the landing disappear above. The
grenade had shattered the braking mechanism on one side of the car. They
smashed through the cut-out section of aeroglass beneath, accelerating with the
shrill grind of metal.

The car passed
in front of vectoring room, picking up speed, and Jason saw a lone figure in
black kneeling over Shane’s body. The man straightened, metal glinting as he picked
something up from the floor and walked over to the open edge. Showers of sparks
obscured the details of his face, but his stance was oddly calm – patient – as
he brought a hand to his throat, absently rubbing. He vanished in the distance
above.

2089

At 10:47 P.M.,
the lobby of the Novella building felt more like a dimly lit cathedral than a
modern science facility. Most of the lights were off, leaving only a handful to
shine down on the titanium sphere hanging from the ceiling, giving it the
appearance of a metallic planet suspended in the false dawn of half a dozen
tiny suns. The rest fell in a long arc along the length of the floor, each disc
of illuminated granite separated by an equal amount of flowing semi-shadows.

Jason and Chaela’s
footsteps echoed off the floor as they hurried along that arc to its end, where
the last disc of light fell on the security desk by the lab elevators. When
Jason had asked agent Grieves to come with them, he’d shaken his head, claiming
he had another stop to make. He’d driven off with the air of a man going into
single combat, leaving him and Chaela to warn Dr. Fairchild alone.

Not Dr.
Fairchild
,
he told himself.
Amanda.

The pair of
guards in white shirts looked unfamiliar, but Jason knew the clean cut one in
the dark uniform. Mitchell Vance eyed the pair of them curiously as they
approached. He glanced at a photoscreen behind the desk. “A little late, even
for lab rats, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Jason
tried to sound sheepish. “We’re just here to see Dr. Fairchild.”

Jason felt a
stab of panic as Vance shook his head. “Sorry guys. Updated clearance sheet
came through this afternoon. You’re not on it. I’m afraid your clearance has
been revoked.”

No.
Jason tried to
look confused. “There must be some mix up. Dr. Fairchild would never have taken
us off.”

“Fairchild didn’t
take you off.” Vance’s face took on a hard cast. “It was those DIA shits. Someone
must have shoved a huge stick up their collective ass. Honestly, I’d love to
shake hands with whoever did it. They deserve it the way they go around acting
like they own the place.” He gave Jason a sympathetic frown. “But I still can’t
let you down there.”

“Buzz Dr.
Fairchild then.” Chaela said. “She’ll okay us for a temporary pass.”

Vance shook his
head again even before she finished. “She wasn’t allowed down either until
about an hour ago. I guess she raised hell with the dean and got approval. But
for personal access only – no clearance to authorize visitors.” He tapped a
control behind the desk. “I’ll just let her know you’re here. Maybe she can
come up and meet you.”

He tapped a
control, and they heard a digital ring. Jason looked around, trying not to seem
suspicious as he checked the lobby for any sign of spiders. They waited through
a dozen rings before Vance gave up. “She’s not picking up. I can try her again
in a few minutes. You’re welcome to wait.”

Jason exchanged
a worried glance with Chaela. They needed to warn the professor now. He looked
past Vance at the waiting elevators, ready to rush past, and then he
remembered.

“Wait.” he said,
digging inside a pocket of his jacket. “What about visitor passes that have
already been issued?” He jerked a card out and slapped it on the desk, revealing
the lab pass Stuart had pilfered for Ivory.

Vance smiled. “Nothing
on the new list cancels out older passes, just keeps new ones from being
issued.” A pair of chirps sounded as the SLIDe scanned both of them. “It’s not
supposed to be good for two, but the spiders can choke on it. Have a good
time.”

They found Amanda
in her office, the disk-shaped photoscreen she kept to one side of her desk
scrolling through 3D snapshots while she worked at the larger one in front of
her. Stacks of 3D blocks with random ID numbers showed on one side, the stack
dwindling as she dragged them to the other. She paused, mid-swipe as they
entered, her eyes sharp as knives.

“You shouldn’t
be here.” The look she gave Jason told him that last was meant for him
especially. Now that he was looking for it, Jason found what he should have
seen before – traces of the younger Mandy hidden in that regal, intelligent
face.
It really is her.

She finished
dragging the block over to a green-colored zone on the other side. The area
turned blue, and a progress wheel popped up, one tiny slice slowly growing
larger as the routine progressed. Jason recognized the blocks. They were Arkive
data. But the routine she was using didn’t look like a scan – more like a copy.

“I know,” Jason
said. “Neither should you.” He should say more. He needed to make her
understand quickly, so they could get her out of here. But chasing down words felt
like fishing with bare hands. How did he start? Best to just get her out and
explain later.

“We need to get
out of here. Spiders are coming, and they know you’re Chrysalis. We came to
warn you.”

Amanda jerked
her head at Chaela. “Jason, some things are better kept from other pairs of
ears, no matter how much you may like or trust the person wearing them.
Besides, I can’t leave yet.” A determined look crept over the professor’s face.
“I have something to finish that won’t wait.”

Of course.
He pointed at
the Arkive blocks she was handling. “You’re copying Arkive data out to the
cloud. You’ve bypassed the local network.”

She nodded. “The
blocks we’d already set aside, but hadn’t had a chance to process. This will be
my last chance before we lose access completely.” She sighed, shaking her head
in frustration. “She’s got to be in here somewhere.”

He didn’t have
to ask her who “she” was.
She has her own Michelle to find,
he
remembered thinking once. At the time he’d had no idea how right he was.

 “She is, Mandy,”
Chaela said, voice quavering. “Right here.”

Amanda’s hand
froze over the photoscreen. She looked behind and around Chaela as if expecting
someone else to appear from thin air. As realization dawned, her gaze flickered
to the smaller photoscreen on the side of her desk, then locked on Chaela, as
though staring hard enough might reveal some hint of her mother’s face. Jason looked
at the smaller photoscreen, a brown-haired girl in her twenties holding a
toddler in a lace dress. It was a picture of Michelle holding Amanda – Mandy.

Slowly, Amanda reached
into her collar and drew out an object suspended on a fine gold chain. She
never took her eyes from Chaela. Michelle’s butterfly pendant – the one he’d
given her so long ago – dangled from the end, a solitary wing catching the
light.

Chaela said
nothing, simply nodded.

Jason had always
thought of Dr. Fairchild as youthful for a woman her age. He realized how right
he was as she sprang from her chair, cannoning into Michelle in a full-armed
embrace.

An old
conversation with Alex echoed in Jason’s mind.

…“Who came up
with the idea, anyway?”

Alex shrugged.
“The butterfly? I think it was one of the Chrysalis originals – a founder…”

It’s hers
, he realized
.
The Chrysalis butterfly. The butterfly pendant.
They’re the same.

“It worked,” Amanda
breathed, eyes squeezed shut against the tears already flowing. “It worked. All
this for you, and it worked.”

“It did,” Chaela
murmured in her ear as she stroked her silvery hair. She glanced at Jason and
smiled. “And I’ve got so much to tell you.”

Jason had never
seen her so content, but made himself interrupt. “It’ll have to wait. We need
to go.” He took them both gently by the arm.

“I need a second,”
Amanda scrubbed a hand across her eyes and rushed behind her desk. She touched
a few controls, then powered the photoscreens down. “Okay.” she gave Chaela a
wondering smile. “We can go.”

But Chaela stood
there, staring past Amanda. “We’re too late.” Her voice sounded little more
than a whisper, and she shook her head as if in denial. Jason followed her gaze
to the feed on the virtual window. Dark cars sat parked next to the entry
stairs, with men pouring out every door. The emergency lights of standard patrol
units intermingled among them, and in the center of it all, Jason spotted a
shorter man moving purposefully up the stairs. He took a bite of something as
he gestured toward the corners of the building, men flowing instantly as he
pointed.
Neal
.

“Move!” Jason grabbed
the other two by the arms and headed them toward the door. “Run! The stairs!”

They scrambled down
the hall, Jason and Chaela flanking Amanda. She was nimble for her age, but no
match for twenty-year-old legs, so they moved in a kind of awkward, loping run.
The pace felt agonizingly slow, and Jason scanned ahead and behind for any sign
of the agents he knew were only moments away. He felt his heart sink lower, and
beat faster with every step.

Too slow!
We’re not going
to make it out.

Finally, he slammed
his hand down on the latch to the stairwell door, shoving it open hard enough
to bounce. He darted ahead, halfway up the first flight when noises from above
confirmed his fears – the echo of boots on stairs, distant shouts descending
closer. “Other way,” Jason called to Chaela and Amanda. “Back the way we came.”

Before heading
back down, he found the SLIDe above the door – a shiny black hemisphere the
size of a baseball. Using the stair rail for leverage, he vaulted over, smashing
the SLIDe with a kick before landing by the door in a litter of plastic
fragments. He rolled to his feet, making sure the door was locked, then pulled
it closed as he followed the others into the hall. Unless the spiders had a physical
key, they’d have a hard time getting through.

Chaela put an
arm around Amanda as they shuffled along. She didn’t seem afraid, only
determined. “We need another way out.”

Amanda pointed
ahead. “The imaging chamber,” she panted. “There’s a subfloor. The ventilation
ducts. They’re big enough for a person.”

Jason nodded,
remembering the maze of tanks and conduit beneath the IC. Spiders would comb
through the place eventually, but it was as good a hiding place as any down
here, and they were out of options. “Let’s go.”

Even Amanda
picked up speed as the fled down the hall toward the chamber. Jason spared a
glance at the elevator doors ahead, expecting agents to flood out. While he
watched, the floor readout flashed from
G
to
S1
. Almost as bad. “They’re
coming down! Hurry!”

Not enough time.
Still not enough.
Jason pulled his AP from his pocket, shoving it into Chaela’s hand. “Help Amanda
get down there.” He pushed her on ahead, stopping just past the elevators. Chaela
stopped, looking from Jason to the elevator, then back again. Emotion flooded
her face, and she rushed forward, crushing him in a hug as her lips found his.

Then she was
gone, hurrying after Amanda. As she activated the outer doors to the IC, Jason
called out. “Key in
MONARCH
once you’re in!” The doors slid closed.
Did
she hear me?
Would she be close enough even if she had?