Judgment (36 page)

“Charlie, I’m going to … ” But then she stopped, her mouth still open.
 

Although she was on an empty stretch of straight hall with no open doors, Charlie was gone.

Lila watched her fathers ready themselves, aware that she had two of them now more than ever. They’d both played that role; they both cared for her and her daughter; they’d both, in real time, loved her mother. Both had memories of Lila’s first steps, her first words, her childhood’s trials and tribulations. Right now, they were almost impossible to tell apart.
 

With the State of the City address scheduled within the hour, Meyer had shaved his beard in order to look as much like Kindred as possible. If they planned to shock Ember Flats, they’d do it all the way. He was the old Meyer again, like Kindred beside him. The face mattered. Even before Astral Day, Meyer Dempsey (movie magnate, change maker, reluctant philanthropist) had graced the cover of international magazines. He’d been a breed of famous that Mara Jabari had never been, as she’d quietly built her reputation — first with a prodigious rise through prestigious universities then with the da Vinci Initiate — proving herself to be a prodigy and authority worthy of notice. And that, Lila thought as she watched them prepare, gave her father some small measure of comfort. Sure, Jabari had been allowed to rule her city as a human, whereas Meyer had been abducted, held captive for two years, and slyly replaced — twice. But at least she’d never been in
GQ
.
 

“Hand me that tie, will you?”
 

Lila followed the man’s fingers, honestly unsure which one he was. Only when he shifted enough for her to see a recent shaving nick did she know; Meyer had cut himself while trying to clear beard detritus on his own, having refused the palace barber. That and the wedding ring were all that gave him away. Meyer still wore the band from his marriage to Piper, whereas Kindred (just as stubborn, just a wifeless) had re-donned Heather’s ring, pulled from some hock Lila could only imagine after she was gone.
 

She took the tie from the bedspread and handed it to him. It was blue. Kindred had grabbed the other tie on his own and was fashioning a full Windsor. Kindred’s was red. Lila found the colors fitting. The time Meyer spent starved, weak, and steeped in the thought collective had cooled his temperament, whereas Kindred’s personality was still piping hot.
 

“Thanks,” he said, taking it.

Lila sat back, watching them primp, saying nothing.
 

“It’ll be okay, you know,” said Kindred. Lila looked over, her equilibrium fighting to make sense of the room. If not for Kindred’s red tie, she’d have looked away from one thing to see the exact same thing somewhere else. Their suits, shoes, and haircuts were identical, all tailored for maximum shock value.
 

“I know.”
 

“I know you know. But I really mean it. I’m not just saying that to make you feel better.”
 

“Have you run the scenarios?” she asked.
 

“Of course we have,” Kindred replied. Lila had been kidding, but of course the answer wasn’t a joke.
 

“It was probably always inevitable that we’d eventually clash with the Mullah,” Meyer said — and when Lila looked into his eyes, she could finally tell the difference between them. The two men had identical genetics, yet Meyer had taken additional scars that showed when you looked deep. “We even thought it likely—”

“Almost for sure,” Kindred interrupted.
 

“That Mullah would be in the city. The great, ancient societies have always embedded themselves in positions of power. But this time we’ll give them what they want, and everything will be fine.”
 

“Fine,”
Lila repeated.
 

“You don’t believe us,” Kindred said.
 

“I’m just worried, Dad. It’s unreasonable if you actually expect me not to worry.”
 

“Trust us.”
 

“I do. It’s just that … ”
 

“What, Lila?”
 

“Well, you didn’t know they’d take Clara, did you?”
 

Kindred looked almost affronted, but Meyer sat on the bed beside her.

“No. We didn’t. But they shouldn’t have. We’re getting more data in Ember Flats than we’ve
ever
had. Kindred can sense the nearby mothership, which knows the citizens’ mood. Just walking around when we came in, I got a million little details. There’s Jabari, her staff, and simple common sense. Putting all that together, it seems ridiculous for them to have taken her. They want something from us, clearly, but showing their hand — exposing the entire Mullah operation inside the city — isn’t the solution. The only way they’d even
consider
taking Clara would have been if she’d walked right up and asked for it. At least that’s the way we figure it.”
 

Lila considered a rebuttal. When Meyer and Kindred combined minds, they were right a lot more often than not. But she could think of many times they’d erred, and this struck her as a mistake. Logical or not, the Mullah had snatched her little girl.
 

“It doesn’t even make sense. Charlie has always said the Mullah wanted to take the key away, not invite us to use it. Or
force
our hand.”
 

“I guess Charlie was wrong.”

Meyer watched Lila for a long moment. Then, seeming to decide she was as okay as she was going to get, he stood.
 

Lila recrossed her legs, running an idle finger along her knee, trying not to fret, failing miserably.
 

“What are you going to tell them? When you get up to speak?”
 

“The truth,” said Kindred.
 

“Don’t you think that the Astrals will stop the broadcast to the other cities if they have a problem with what you’re saying?”
 

“We’re sure they will. But Ember Flats will see and hear it.”
 

“Unless they shoot you.”
 

“Shooting us makes our case even stronger, don’t you think?”
 

Lila didn’t like the way Kindred had put that. It implied that if both Meyers were shot and killed, it was a fair trade for their message. And all this while Jabari, who’d insisted they do it, sat clear of harm.

“They won’t stop us, Lila,” said Meyer. “Only in 4 percent of scenarios do they stop us. We will have our say.”
 

“Then what?”
 

“Unrest.”
 

“That’s what Mara Jabari wants, you know.”
 

“It’s fine. It’s what we want, too. It draws attention from the Ark. We have guesses as to what might happen when Cameron opens it, but of that, we’re the least certain. Fewer variables is better. There’s usually a lot of pedestrian traffic around it. This will make sure there’s none — not once word gets around that not only is Meyer Dempsey alive as rumors have claimed but that there are now two of him. So Cameron can open it quietly.”
 

“And then?”
 

“The clock starts.”
 

“Cameron is afraid of what it will decide about us. The Ark, I mean.” She said it with eyebrows raised, waiting to see if either man would offer their calculations as to the Ark’s judgment. But neither spoke, either not hearing or knowing or wanting to say.

After a quiet, collar-straightening moment, she said, “Do you really just expect me to sit back here while all this happens? While you rile the city, Cameron opens that damned box, and my daughter stays missing?” Lila hadn’t realized she was angry, but now her cheeks were burning, and her eyes were starting to water. “Is that really what I’m supposed to do? Just sit on my ass and twiddle my thumbs.
Wait and see?”

Meyer and Kindred shared a glance.

“Not at all, Lila,” Meyer said.
 

“She doesn’t understand,” Kindred added.
 

“Lila … ” Meyer raised a hand as if preparing to make a very important, very precise point. “When we say what we must and the Ark opens, there’s an excellent chance that all hell will break loose. Perhaps literally. We can’t calculate what the archive will decide. We can only break the seal and see. To get Clara back and for a dozen other reasons, breaking that seal is something that needs to be done. But anything could happen, and we must be prepared.”

“Okay,” Lila said.
 

“You’re staying back for
only
one reason. Same as Piper, and everyone who’s not us or Cameron:
protection
.”

“If today is judgment day,” Lila said, “I don’t think the viceroy’s palace will protect anyone.”
 

“I’m not talking about the palace,” Meyer said. “It’s staying close to Jabari that matters.”

“I don’t care about her! I care about you!”
 

And Kindred said to Meyer, “She still doesn’t understand.”
 

There was a knock at the door. Kamal stuck his head inside and said, “It’s time.”

Cameron sat on the carved stone bench in the western palace garden, not more than fifty feet from the gate. Beyond the open gate the courtyard was ringed, at comfortable, open distances, by the other gray stone Ember Flats government buildings. Somewhere in the middle, obscured, was the Ark’s place of honor, bordered by fountains, its soundtrack the chirping of birds and the bubbling of running water. It was as if someone were pretending the thing was in Eden, as if it promised only blessings to those who greeted it.
 

Looking through the open gates (unguarded; the Titans had been called away and replaced by human guards, who’d already left on Jabari’s orders), Cameron felt his legs flexing and trying to make him rise. Only, he wouldn’t stand and dash toward the Ark to do his duty. He’d run out of the courtyard, out into the city — into the cannibal-strewn wastelands beyond if need be. Anything but face that cursed thing again. Anything to avoid its horror show and the wrath he felt certain it stood eager to unleash.
 

“Are you listening to me?”
 

Cameron’s attention snapped back to Charlie, looking at him like he was an irredeemable idiot. He was the opposite of drunk. Why Piper had thought he’d adopted a substance habit was beyond Cameron. He didn’t want to contradict her, but it seemed far more likely that she was lying for reasons unknown (or at least badly mistaken) than that Charlie had ever waxed philosophical with her. Yet she’d said he’d been strange and aloof, somehow disturbing when surprising her in the hall. When Cameron had asked him about it, Charlie said that he’d been sleeping at the time. He wasn’t sure whom to believe, but ultimately it didn’t matter.
 

“Pay attention, Cameron. Honestly. You’re just like your father.”
 

“Thanks.”
 

“It’s not a compliment.”
 

Yes, this was Charlie, all right: no drugs or booze required. Benjamin had been the closest thing Charlie had ever had to a
best friend
as far as Cameron knew, yet this was the plainspoken way he honored the man’s memory. Sure, Benjamin could be a pain in the ass; Cameron knew that better than anyone. But right now it felt like disrespecting the dead — and a jinx on the moment given what Cameron would be doing next.

“Jabari kept most of her da Vinci Initiate data. She seems to have been far better prepared than Meyer. Maybe that’s because her preparations were based on research while Dempsey’s were based on an acid trip. She—”
 

“Ayahuasca. Not acid.”
 

Charlie glared at Cameron, who suddenly felt like he should apologize. For everything throughout the history of time. Then he continued.

“She had a private plane on permanent standby. Right where she lived, down the road, not a state away. If she’d had to drive, Jabari wouldn’t have gone right the hell through Chicago like Meyer. The only thing that got him past doomsday was probably dumb luck and the fact that the Astrals seemed intent on making him one of the Nine. Regardless, she’d backed everything up remotely, in scads of locations and locally on an array of drives. The woman seems to do nothing that isn’t phenomenally thought out. Just one more reason I wish Benjamin had done more to poach her from Delacroix instead of admiring her work from afar.”