Cardinal, (Citizen Saga, Book 2) Read online

  He jerked in his seat, at being singled out right in the thick of all the tension, I should think.

  "Um, a laptop, vid-screen, cellphone, your transponder, and our earpieces," he succinctly replied.

  "Why the laptop?"

  "I can use it to hack into street-cams and the like."

  Of course, he would have used it to see what was happening at The Quay, when he came close enough to scramble the drones' communications with the transponder, as well as offering back-up to us at the same time.

  "Is it off-grid?"

  "At the moment."

  I nodded. The silence continued. Indecision warring with inaction, making me feel impotent.

  Damn Harjeet for this. We were pitted against enough, confronting enough, we didn't need this complication as well.

  "It's a losing battle, isn't it?" I said into the quiet.

  Trent shifted in his seat and leaned over the back of it, arms folded beneath his chin as he stared at me.

  "It was always a losing battle, Lena. Nothing has changed."

  "We're not even an army anymore," I pointed out.

  "But we can rebuild," he argued softly.

  I shook my head.

  "And now it's not just the Overseers we're warring with," I murmured. "But Shiloh as well."

  "All the more reason not to give up."

  I looked out of the window at the homes set back from the road, soft illumination spilling out between a crack in one of the blinds. Movement behind it indicating life. A family. Maybe children who played in this park. Hiding inside their walls because curfew had started. Closing their curtains and pretending the city outside was not on lock-down, shut off from the rest of the world.

  I wondered if they had Shiloh units, or if this was like Park Road and they broke their street-cams every time the Cardinals replaced them. If they replica dosed, like Augustine and Zhang Yong and Zhang Jun. If they had a zebra painted on their walls and the words, One Wánměi written beneath them.

  I wondered if they thought it hopeless or believed that someone could right the wrongs, could fix the rot that existed beneath our beautiful Wánměi.

  I wasn't sure of anything anymore. But I did know that I craved to see more. Know more. Touch it, taste it, smell it. Was the rest of the world wrapped up in mustard seeds, chillies, cinnamon and cloves? Or did the scents wafting out of their open windows at night smell differently?

  I looked back at Trent, who had remained hanging over the back of his seat, waiting patiently.

  I'd give him the choice.

  "I made a bargain with Harjeet," I said softly. Nobody moved. "In exchange I had to keep you out of it. If I tell you now, the risk is great. If I don't, you'll feel as good as me by tomorrow."

  Silence.

  Then Si, almost in awe, whispered, "An antidote."

  I flicked my eyes up to his, but didn't confirm nor deny it. Then returned my gaze to Trent's. This would be his call.

  "You won't feel the need to test?" he queried. I shook my head. "Ever?" I shrugged my shoulders, relishing the non-Elite movement.

  "There's no question, then," Alan remarked. "Get the antidote."

  Trent's turn to shake his head.

  "That was the prize," he whispered, eyes locked on mine. "What was the payment?"

  "If I tell you, he'll know."

  "How?"

  I raised my eyebrows at him. "This is Harjeet Kandiyar we're talking about."

  Trent smiled. The first smile he'd effected for quite some time. Then he sobered.

  "Lena," he said softly, "there are many more men out there like the D'awan. We kowtow to him, another will step up. Then another and another and another. All the while we've sold ourselves short. We've taken the easy road because it seemed safer. But it's not. It carries consequences that will affect us for the rest of our lives."

  He reached up and ran a hand over his whiskered jaw, staring off into the distance.

  "I can say with all honesty that I don't feel like testing right now, but I know that will change. If I don't test when I'm desperate to, what will happen? How long will the paranoia last?" He shrugged. Somehow I thought he effected the move better than me. "But I'm one man," he added, returning his gaze to me. "Whatever you're handing over for that antidote could affect millions. Who's to say?"

  "His support could be withdrawn," I pointed out. "The consequences you mentioned could be far reaching. We have nowhere to go."

  "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Trent argued. "Besides, Harjeet manipulating you in any way, shape or form cannot, and will not, be allowed."

  Alan cleared his throat, Si snorted.

  Trent just offered them a glare.

  "But I'm just one woman," I pointed out, throwing his words back at him.

  "No," he whispered. Alan let his face fall into his open palm, making a loud smacking sound. Si sniggered. Trent turned and whacked them both over the head simultaneously.

  "No," he repeated, when he'd spun back to look at me, after the amusement had finally abated. "You're not. Not to me." I sucked in a sharp breath of air. "And not to this city," he added.

  And there you had it. The revolution came first.

  But I couldn't argue with him. Even I was aware of what my role was turning out to be.

  I reached into my handbag and fished out the flash-drive from its hidden spot inside the make-up case. Then just looked at it as it sat innocuously in the palm of my hand.

  "Oh, fuck," Alan breathed from the front of the vehicle.

  "Really?" Si offered. "Another fucking flash-drive?"

  "Are you sure, Trent?" Alan asked. "We have no idea what will happen if Si accesses that thing and also no idea what will happen if you don't receive the antidote. That's a hell of a lot of don't knows."

  "And yet," Trent said steadily, "we will keep going. We won't back down. We won't stop or be cowered or be wiped out from the face of this earth. We will rise up, no matter what. Again and again if need be. Because," he said softly, looking at each man in turn, "we believe."

  Alan slowly nodded his head, his face grim.

  "We believe," he offered quietly.

  "One Wánměi," Trent added.

  "One Wánměi," Si said, reaching out and taking the flash-drive, a loud sigh escaping his lips as he did it. "I can copy it, not open it, and hope that won't set off any traps."

  "Do it, and be prepared to run," Trent agreed.

  He moved his attention back to me as Si pulled his laptop out and started working on it, and Alan gripped his laser gun and fired it up to make sure it was ready to use if need be.

  "When you go to see him, you won't be alone," Trent said, holding my arched gaze with a determined one of his own.

  "I can wear a bug," I offered.

  "No need, his rooms are covered."

  "Oh," I said, not sure how to take that. "You've seen all of our meetings?"

  Trent smiled. "No, but I intend to from now on."

  Ah. "My mini cams and mics," I guessed.

  "Yes. You offered them up willingly to the cause." That wasn't what I was meaning.

  "And you snuck them in when I wasn't looking." Too busy being seduced by him in my room.

  "It seemed prudent."

  "And now? Why tell me?"

  "Because you opened up."

  It was that easy? I shook my head, my arms crossed over my chest.

  He smiled. It was infuriatingly sexy.

  "Lena, I've told you already, we would make a good team."

  "If only we trusted each other."

  "I'm trusting you now," he said softly. "I'm trusting that you're not setting me and my team up."

  I scoffed. As if I'd do that. And besides, he was getting what he wanted, of course he'd "trust" me now.

  "And I trusted you at the SkyPark," he added.

  "The SkyPark? With the helicopter?" My stomach knotted with a mixture of grief and guilt.

  Trent shook his head. "Before then. When I watched you eat high tea for four hou
rs."

  He was there? I hadn't even seen him. I closed my eyes in frustration and, admittedly, a little shame.

  "When you approached the wife to a liberal Overseer," he went on and my eyes opened. "When you stole her keycard and proceeded to their suite."

  "You couldn't have trusted me, otherwise you wouldn't have been there in the first place," I pointed out.

  "Partners back each other up," he countered.

  "We're not partners."

  "We could be."

  We stared at each other, mutinously and silently.

  "Got it!" Si declared. "And no glaring alarm bells."

  "What's inside?" Trent asked, not looking away from me.

  "I won't even attempt to open it until I run a few more tests back at the base," Si admitted. "Fool me once," he said and let the words trail off.

  The silence was heavier after that, with all of the remembered fallen.

  "It's a war," Trent said eventually. "Every fight counts. And sometimes you have to take a hit to win the final battle."

  "You're not indispensable," I whispered, aware of the shocked looks on both Alan and Si's faces. I couldn't spare any regret at my words.

  Something had shifted, changed inside me. A lot of things had changed inside me. But something had grown, because of this man. Something I'd thought, as an Elite, I'd never experience. Not the Elite I'd been forced to be.

  Secretive. Alone. Two sides to me.

  Model in every way it counted. Reckless in every way I needed to still be able to breathe.

  "Don't worry about me, Zebra," Trent quipped, moving to exit the van. "I have no intention of letting Harjeet out of this."

  I followed him outside, the others emerging and scanning the environment. Si searching for street-cams. Alan searching for drones.

  "Over the roof?" the latter asked.

  "Great," Si muttered, securing his satchel over his body, and hugging it to his lean frame. He poked his hair up under his cap, making sure no tendrils fell out. Alan watched on in amusement, as Trent came along side me, shoulder to shoulder. Purposely rubbing up against my arm.

  "After you," he offered. "Show us how it's done."

  I snorted, then took off at a trot, climbing the side of a building in near silence and crouching down on the roof, waiting for them to catch up. It had been so easy. A part of me unfurling and spreading its wings.

  "OK," Si hissed, as he crawled over the ledge and landed on his back panting. "He said 'show us' not show off!" I smiled into the dark. And then set out to "show them" how it was done.

  Within minutes Harjeet's Park Road was visible, ten more and we'd made it undetected onto his roof. We all paused before making our presence known, aware as soon as we entered the building we'd be seen. And not long after that I'd be called before Harjeet.

  "You guys go ahead," Trent said quietly to the men. "He might overlook you if he still thinks Lena's not back."

  Both of them nodded their heads and silently moved away. We waited until they were out of sight and then turned to look at each other at exactly the same moment.

  We were almost nose to nose, crouched down in the shadow of an air-con unit, the noise of the fan inside drowning out our suddenly rapid breaths. Trent reached up and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear, trailing his fingers down my neck afterwards.

  I almost leaned into him.

  "You're not alone anymore, Lena," he said so softly it was hard to hear over the whir at our sides.

  "I know," I said equally as quietly back.

  "We do this together," he pushed. Always pushing.

  I nodded. Harjeet would find a way to dispose of Trent and have me to himself, if he desired it. The man was, after all, a snake. But that didn't mean we couldn't make it harder for him.

  And I liked the idea of standing up to the D'awan. It was a poor substitute to standing up to the Overseers, but after a day like we'd had, I'd take it.

  "Let's do this," I said, shifting to move off. Trent's hand came down and clasped my wrist, halting my movement, his lips hot against my ear when he spoke.

  "Spend the night with me," he whispered, sending tendrils of heat to places other than the side of my neck.

  I glanced at him, his eyes seemed like big luminous orbs in the dark of night.

  "You might need restraining if you feel the need to test," I agreed.

  He smiled, it was full of humour now.

  "Lena, Lena, Lena," he said, shaking his head in mock disbelief. "Are you telling me you're into bondage?"

  "Are you telling me you'd let me tie you up?" I threw back. Enjoying the light hearted relief before reality came storming back, in the form of an extravagantly made p'ta r'aru.

  "Zebra, I'd let you..."

  His words were cut off as blindingly bright white light swept across the rooftop surface. I blinked back spots and shielded my face, noticing Trent doing the same with his arms.

  The door leading into Harjeet's building slammed closed with a decisive bang, and it took several seconds for my eyes to adjust back.

  Standing, in an immaculately presented p'ta r'aru, was Harjeet. Looking down on our still crouched forms regally.

  "Are we having this discussion out here in the open, Citizen Masters? Or shall we do it in my chambers where your team can overhear?"

  Trent made a growling sound at the back of his throat, his fists clenched, his face set hard.

  And then he was up from the rooftop and closing the distance between himself and the D'awan. Only to fall, a limp form, to the ground before he even reached his side. I'd almost missed it, but the glint of something in the ambient light had caught my eye. A projectile just under Trent's arm.

  Isha climbed up from where she'd been hiding, a dart gun in her hand. I watched her walk across the roof's surface to Harjeet, who patted her paternally on the shoulder before she stood at his back. Two sets of amber and brown eyes slowly lifted to mine.

  I held their gaze for several seconds and then stood up from my stunned crouch.

  Harjeet was far more dangerous than even I'd expected.

  And he'd definitely had a plan in place to dispose of Trent so he could have me to himself.

  I clenched my fists. Seeing things suddenly so much clearer.

  Trent wasn't the one I should distrust.

  Wang Chao wasn't the one I should fear.

  Harjeet Kandiyar was the enemy, and in that moment, not a single other person in Wánměi compared.

  Chapter 34

  There's No Need To Keep Fighting Now

  Lena

  "That was uncalled for," I said, in what appeared a reasonable tone. I was nowhere near feeling reasonable right then.

  "I beg to differ," Harjeet smoothly replied. "He charged me."

  I glanced down at Trent's still form, noting his chest rise and fall steadily, his face in relaxed repose. The need to touch him was so acute, I had to dig my fingernails into the palms of my hands to still the urge. Or to stop me attacking the snake.

  "What now?" I said, returning my gaze to Harjeet.

  "Now we talk. Come," he ordered, turning his back to me and heading toward the door.

  "We can't just leave him here!" I shouted after him, a part of me recklessly hoping a drone would hear and come and investigate. The need to fight something was ruling all cognitive thought.

  I couldn't fight Harjeet, not with my fists, not when Trent needed an antidote and we had nowhere else to go. It didn't leave many options available. And the frustration that thought provoked was more destructive than my anger.

  "Isha will see to him," Harjeet offered, holding the door open and patiently waiting for me to move.

  I looked at Isha, who was sneering at Trent's body as though it was a bug. I may not have been able to say or do what I wanted to Harjeet, but I could push the boundaries with his sycophantic little girl. I walked toward her, stopping when she finally deemed me worthy of her attention and looked up.

  "If he has one more mark on him," I said slowly,
evenly, lethally. "One bruise or scrape or bump. I will kill you."

  "Such vulgarity," Harjeet chastised. "Is it really necessary, Honourable?"

  I didn't look at him, but kept my steely gaze on Isha.

  "Do we have an understanding?" I said in D'maru.

  Her sneer deepened and she started, "If you think..."

  "Enough!" Harjeet interjected. "Go get Alan, he'll take care of his leader as per Selena's instructions."

  It was the best I could hope for; getting Isha away from Trent's vulnerable form, and getting him the assistance he required. I wanted to insist we wait for Alan to arrive, not wanting to leave Trent unattended for a second. But one look at Harjeet and I knew his patience had run out. And it wasn't so much the sanctuary I was concerned about anymore. Homeless or not, we couldn't stay here any longer. I knew that now. But Trent's opiate poisoning was of real concern.

  For the time being, Harjeet held all the cards.

  "Good enough for you, Honourable Carstairs?" he asked, pleasantly.

  I offered my most condescending Elite smile.

  "As much as I have come to expect from you, Citizen."

  "Excellent," he said, dismissively. Not impressed with my performance at all. "Now I believe tea is in order."

  Tea. I wasn't sure I could stomach another cup of tea today. But after ensuring Isha had left on her task, and having no other option available for stalling, I followed behind the D'awan staring daggers into his back.

  The second the door closed behind us on the stairs I felt panicked. Not for what was to come, but for what - who - I had left out in the open.

  "Partners back each other up."

  I closed my eyes and breathed slowly through my nose, sending my apology silently out on the air. Praying Alan would find him quickly and ensure no further harm came to him. Hoping with all my heart the drug was not permanent.

  Purposely pushing all thoughts of Trent aside, lest I get bitten by a snake in my distraction, I followed the D'awan further inside.

  Harjeet's private quarters were just as opulent and extravagant as I remembered. Lush fabrics in vibrant colours and luxuriant textures. The smell of incense wafting on the air making the enclosed space comforting and welcoming, despite the reason why I was here.