Hush (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 1) (32 page)

Then, she was
also
the
IPB's assassin. That was a bit of an interesting thing to find out, but the
woman didn't draw down on her instantly, just nodding, as if hearing that one
of the new people was a psycho killer was pretty close to normal in her life.

"Try not to kill him? He's a
friend of mine." That was all she said, with no threats involved at all
about it.

"Will do. It's hard though.
I mean,
really
." Then she paused, and looked around. "Is there
someplace I can work? A computer? I can take notes that way. It doesn't have to
be online." Since that wasn't going to be allowed, as if it would stop her
from getting any information.

Penny nodded, and waved behind
her, off to the right.

"The first door there. Do
you need anything else? Food or anything?"

She shook her head, and then
faked being polite. The other girl was doing it too, being pretty much as big
of a psycho as Cin was herself. It wasn't even her first mode or anything. The
woman was just a nutbar with nearly no sense of empathy. From the words that
spilled over the page above her, one that looked like a regular book and read a
bit like a spy novel, Penny Cooper was a creeper too. The kind that raped men
and didn't think it should count, since they wanted it. Even if they couldn't
know about it, or didn't want it at all.

It was kind of a big thing,
though her powers had made everyone except Proxy and possibly Mindreader,
forget about it. That wasn't going to be true of course, since Trivia would
know, and now Cin.

Hush.

She
wanted
to glare at
Turner over that one, but to
her
mind a good code name was a lot more
random than what they used at the IPB and should have had nothing to do with
anyone in particular. Calling an ex-librarian that was practically like giving
away the store to the old CIA hand. It had been picked by Proxy though, and
Marcia really couldn't afford to alienate anyone just about then. Not even the
psycho-killer that had come to, apparently, uncover all the spies and traitors.

Even if Turner really kind of
thought that killing her might still be the best plan. There was a real chance
that she might take down Lancaster after all, now that she'd fixated on him.
Oh, it wasn't
likely
, and Marcia knew that with a belief that bordered
on religious faith. Darryl was just tough, and wary enough that sneaking up on
him wasn't going to happen very easily. Especially after she warned him away
from the new woman. Then, Cindy had herself, too, which was a good sign. It at
least made it seem like she was really trying not to do the wrong thing. That
was probably all about manipulating them, which to Turner was a great plan.

Hush though, much like Trivia,
knew
everything
. Thankfully that didn't translate to having skills on a
physical level, but just knowing when a person was about to go to the head, or
when they were day dreaming instead of paying close attention could be enough
to take down even the best. The other woman knew that Darryl was skilled and
powerful too, so she wouldn't let herself make any mistakes that way.

Penny led her to the little
office space, which wasn't all that small really, just empty. It had a desk and
a computer in it, but it required codes to use. That got her to blink, and then
clear her throat.

"I'll... Just use Director
Turner's codes?" That anyone had thought being locked out would stop her
for even a few seconds was funny, but Penny
hadn't
made that particular
mistake. She just didn't care how the work got done.

"Whatever works for you. Let
me know if you need anything. Coffee or tea. That kind of thing." Then the
woman left her there, as if she were trusted or something.

That nearly would have worked,
except that Turner kept coming by to stand in the doorway, at irregular
intervals, meant to keep her off balance. That way escaping would be harder for
her to manage. Finally, after two hours, she raised her right hand when the
woman came, her youthful face smooth and unlined. Creamy, too. The woman had
makeup on, but only the barest hint, which was kind of annoying. No one should
get that kind of special perk from their power. Even Bridget had some freckles
on her nose.

"I have a report on the main
agents involved. Only three of them so far. From there I managed to find out
who else was involved. It isn't as big as I thought on this end. A few more
people here at the base. Phoebe? Sinclair? They're
trying
to get Rigsby
in with them. I guess that makes sense. He's probably the only person here that
could take down Bridget, going head to head." It had taken a lot of
research to get at all of that, and the boss lady actually looked like she was
trying to cry. Nothing happened, tear wise, but the effort was there.

More, it was real.

"The kids? Damn-it! I
suppose the military is all over this too? People in congress? Do you have
names?"

On that part she really didn't.

"Nope. They've all been
pretty careful, to be honest. It's clear that beyond the agents there
are
people involved, but no one actually knows who they are. Blind drops, and...
Uh, fake voices?" She'd just seen the term for it, but the actual name for
the technique wasn't coming to her. Turner didn't help her out either.

"Firewalls. That makes
sense. Otherwise we might do exactly what we are right now. You have a written
report on all of this? I'll look at it tonight. For now... Well, report back
here in the morning. You're with Bridget tonight. She was supposed to be
babysitting you, but I'm going to have to change your orders on that.
She
needs to be watched right now. Don't tell her about any of these names. Keep
them to yourself for now, because she might just try to take people out before
we have what we need from them. This is so fucked up. Things like this always
are. Worse, you know that they're
all
going to end up having good
reasons for it, in the end. They thought that they were doing the right thing
for the country or whatever bullshit line they ate to get involved like
this." It was pretty certain that even if they were trying to keep them
all alive for the time being Marcia didn't really think that would last too
long.

After all, one of them could
teleport. Short of a lobotomy they weren't holding Sinclair anywhere she didn't
want to be for more than a few minutes. Phoebe was easier, but she was also
their healer.

Cindy nodded, getting the whole
thing, including what Turner wasn't saying. She didn't really trust the info
found and wanted to run it past Christian Pours that night, in case it was all
just a bunch of disinformation designed to mess with them for capturing her.

It wasn't, but telling the woman
that wouldn't help anyone at all.

"Got it, then. Do you want
me to meet with Pours, or just have her check this at a distance?"
Proximity didn't really make a big difference to the woman, as far as
everything Cin had heard and read so far. Except that she'd be happier if
people weren't in her face.

Really, her best communications
level was e-mail, which Marcia's text provided for her almost instantly.

Nodding, she waved at the
computer again.

"I can send the report? I
think I can do that anyway. This system is kind of dated." She wasn't
trying to be mean, but it really
was
. Even the library had been updated
to something newer.

Marcia ruffled her own hair a bit
and then shook her head.

"It's needed for the
encryption protocols. Send it to her. Then get a watch on Chambers. If she's
planning anything, let me know, ASAP. Got that? Also, do a check on Rigs and
make sure he's clean. If not... Well, then this is fubar, isn't it? He's over
in the mess hall." That made sense, given her one bit of contact with him.
He'd been cooking then, so it might be his job. The
non-super-hero-team-by-himself one.

Standing, she stretched, and
looked at the woman.

"I'm not working against you
on this stuff, or trying to trick you. If I do that, Brian will kill me. I
can't escape either. He can find me anywhere I could go. That..." It was
all true, nearly, and the woman smiled, almost like she meant it.

She didn't. There was simply no
way that Marcia Turner could trust her. Several people that she thought were
among her best friends had betrayed them all that day, and it wasn't even over
yet. The fact that her first mode was suspicion just meant that everyone was on
her watch list now. Not that the new person she didn't know at all wasn't right
up near the top that way.

Still, she was smart enough to
lie about it, or at least try to.

"I know. Don't worry, I only
use the thumb screws twice a week." She gave a tired smile then, which
looked a bit evil, and went on. "True, I may have to change that policy
now. I... I wish I could say that I didn't believe this could happen, but I knew.
I've always known. Anyway, get to that stuff, and try to stay in lock down
otherwise. I can't take any more problems right now."

That was clear, so Cin got
herself out of the admin building. There was no particular security on the
doors, to prevent her from removing documents, even though Marcia sort of
wanted to do that. They weren't a secret branch of anything however, so they
didn't really classify much. What they did, Cindy worked out with a bit of
focused reading of her new boss, was just kept locked in the back room of
Turner's office. There was a cool secret panel, a safe, and everything.

Not that she needed to break in
there, though it wouldn't be hard to do really. If she wanted the secret
knowledge, she could just pull it from the Director's head. At any time, day or
night.

She needed, she guessed, to find
Bridget first. That wasn't hard, since the girl was off stuffing her face,
making sure she had energy, in case a bigger fight broke out later. Lauren was
a traitor, but also well loved on Team Two. She didn't
think
she was,
but Bridget wasn't certain that she wasn't going to be fighting a lot of them
later that night. As soon as they realized that she'd tried to murder their big
armored buddy.

Brian was sitting at the long
white table with her, along with a moving teddy bear. That one got her to stop
and just stare for a bit. The thing was perfect, and didn't even look creepy
really, but also didn't have a stuffed quality to it. More than anything he,
and from the clothing and lack of a bow on his head it
was
a boy, looked
to be computer generated. It was a really great job though, and didn't look
phony. Just like a stuffed bear had been rendered as something real for a top
movie.

That was Rigsby, she understood,
reading the text above him. He really looked like that too. It wasn't an energy
projection to hide his real appearance or anything. Currently someone had
dressed him up in a cute little white cook's outfit. It was freaking adorable.
Inside, reading the words, she got a good sense of him however, even as she
walked across the room toward the table. He was filled with a rage that by all
rights should have ended the world, given his powers.

He really wanted to kill the two
people with him, and when he looked up to see her, he wanted the same fate for
Cindy. The only thing stopping him from trying was a being that he'd dreamed
up, in the first hours after he woke up looking like a muscular child's toy.

Rigs just called it Endgame. It
only had one purpose, which was to remove him from the world if he ever lost it,
and started to go for anyone. He wanted to lunge for the people there, and kill
them all, but if his resolve not to do that ever failed, he'd cease to be,
instantly. In a large burst of light, that wouldn't harm anyone else.

The being stood there, behind
him, invisible and unknown, all the time. She saw it, as an illustration. A
really
good
one. Like from a high end comic book.

Brian saw her and waved, seeming
tired, and like he was faking the will to go on at the moment. Bridget was a
bit upset, with almost everyone, because they weren't backing her up. It left
her feeling like she was on her own, even though she had that great argument
about not being able to keep Lauren a prisoner.

The teddy bear man stared at her,
and let his mouth curl up into a small grin.

"Hey. You must be the new
person. I figured that out, based on not knowing who you are. June mentioned
you to me. T'ket too. Any friend of my imaginary pals, and all that." He
gestured to the bench across from him, next to Brian.

Inside he really did want her
dead, but it wasn't all that gruesome as to what he had planned. Just the end
of her being, due to his rage. That was all. Not like her, who kind of wanted
to torture people first, and play in their blood. Possibly masturbating at the
same time. She'd never done that, but the idea wasn't too far off of what she
would have done with unlimited time and no risk of being caught. Even the
thought of it was a turn on.

So Rigs was clearly a better
person than she was that way.

Cindy slid into place. Then she
checked to make sure he wasn't working against them, which she did while
looking at Bridget the whole time. After all, the kid wasn't planning to pull
her
arms off or anything. Brian let his leg touch hers, which she realized was on
accident. She did it back on purpose, because there was no real reason for them
to not be friends.