The Operator

“You need to stop reading that thing,” Jack said sourly.

Peri used one of the pages that had fallen out as a bookmark and closed it. “That’s not what Silas thinks.”

Jack tilted his head and gave her an askance look. “I’m not Silas’s intuition, I’m yours. It’s going to bitch-slap you. You know there’s nothing in the past except things that are no longer real. The only real thing is right now. And right now, you’re screwed.”

“Thank you, Jack. That’s comforting to hear coming from you,” she said, sure they didn’t have any audio bugs down here with the 741 Hz going. At least with it being an old Opti cell, the antidrafting audio wasn’t so loud that it was annoying.

Jack smiled impishly and straightened his tie. “Just trying to help.”

Sitting up, she rubbed the ache from her neck. “Well, don’t.” Standing, she tossed her diary back onto the cot and stretched to keep her sore leg from stiffening. She was alone among the half-dozen cells, though she was sure there’d be a live guard in the detainment office. It was eight in the bloody morning, and she was so strung out that she was hallucinating.

I don’t think she’s coming, she thought as she extended her leg until the scab threatened to crack and bleed. She’d been captured by Harmony’s alluded promises and outright lies, going meekly into her cell like a kid promised candy. If she had for one moment thought that Harmony would let her rot down here . . . But no-o-o-o. She trusted her, and now she was going to have to break out of here on her own. Not impossible, but Opti had a tendency to fill in their security holes when she pointed them out, and WEFT would likely be the same.

Jack shifted his feet to make a sliding sound that didn’t really exist. “Maybe Steiner had her bugged and he heard the entire thing?” he suggested. “She might be in her own cell.”

“Maybe.” Taking her jacket, she stuffed her arms in the sleeves and zipped it up as if readying for a task. She couldn’t risk missing her chance at Allen and a vial of Evocane, not to mention avoiding having to explain to Steiner why she was in withdrawal. Sixteen hours. She could evade a building of guns, but it would have been easier with a second set of eyes and something more than her fists and a bad mood.

Fidgety, Peri looked past the thick plastic to the heat-sensitive keypad by the door. Anticipation curled up through her like smoke. Breathing out the adrenaline, she tried to quash her excitement, her muscles still uncertain from their recent ordeal. She couldn’t wait any longer.

Turning back to the cot, she ripped her pillow open, using a wad of the absorbent cotton to fill her ears and dilute the 741 Hz. More went into her mouth, and she chewed it to a stiff pulp.

Standing, she padded over in her spiffy keen prison slippers to one of the vent holes of her cell. The alarm pad glowed a dim green, and leaning against the plastic, she exhaled to steady herself as she spat a wad of warm cotton at the heat-sensitive door pad.

“Nice,” Jack said as it fell off the pad, leaving a red three glowing on the screen. “They should’ve replaced Opti’s old system, not recoded it,” he added, coming to stand beside her.

“You think?” My God, she was even hallucinating his scent, masculine with just the right amount of sweat. One by one, she methodically punched in the code to open Opti’s sub-diagnostics, then another to access the security systems and start a system check. In the upper corner, the glow from the security camera dimmed and went out. She smiled. Halfway home. The cell locks remained closed, of course, but with the system check running, she could go in through the diagnostics and do it manually—thanks to the fire codes.

Her smile widened when the door lock clicked open, a fleeting thought passing through her that Cavana would be proud of her. Tucking her diary into her jacket’s pocket, she pushed the door open soundlessly before going to the pad and making sure the system check couldn’t be shut down. She had ten minutes before anyone could access the higher functions in the cell block.

But her satisfaction vanished when the door to the central guard station beeped and hissed open. Peri spun, awkwardly jerking to a stop when she saw it was Harmony, her cornrows oiled and a new white bandage showing on her elbow. The woman stopped short, her lips parting in surprise as her eyes went to the empty cell, open door, then her. “How did you get out?” she exclaimed.

Relief spilled through her, surprising Peri at its depth. She hadn’t been betrayed. “You took too long,” she said, seeing a downed man behind Harmony in the guards’ office. “I thought Steiner had incarcerated you.”

“For beating you up? Not a chance.” Harmony grinned as she held the door open. In the guards’ office, an alarm began to buzz. “If anything, smacking you up got me points. You want anything from your cell?”

She looked back, seeing Jack beside the cot. Using her foot, she shut the door with a decisive kick. “No,” she said tightly.

“Oh, that hurts, babe,” Jack said, walking right through the barrier. “But I think I’m starting to like your new partner.”

Peri’s expression fell. “She’s not my new partner.”

Harmony eyed her, still standing in the threshold to keep the door open. “What’s that?”

“Nothing.” Anxious, Peri slipped past Harmony, almost tripping over the guard unconscious on the floor.

The light on the guard panel went out as Harmony let the door shut, and the faint alarm ceased. “Sorry about being late,” she said as she cut the card key from the guard’s belt. “Even with beating you up, Steiner was giving me grief. I got us a very clean three-minute window. It gets dicey after that. I managed to get you a knife, though. Here.”