The Operator

Allen pushed his glasses back up his nose. “I was injured,” he muttered, but it was obvious Steiner meant protection from the law.

“I promised Reed we wouldn’t leave Allen Swift behind,” Harmony said.

“Congratulations,” Steiner said dryly. “Your honor is intact. Your ID, please.”

“Sir?”

Peri winced at Harmony’s shocked alarm. Harmony had trusted her, and in return, Peri had flushed the woman’s career straight down WEFT’s toilet.

“Your badge?” Steiner repeated, reaching for the van’s wall as they wove through the slow turns of the technological park.

“But she didn’t run. We recovered Allen.” The light glinted on the holographic image as Harmony removed her badge from around her neck and handed it over. “And Jack. Peri is here. Right here!” she said, gesturing. “She could have run at any time, and she didn’t.”

“Which only means she hadn’t gotten what she wanted yet,” Steiner said, her ID in hand. “You took a flight risk out of custody. That woman is hooked on Evocane, and if we hadn’t gotten to you first, she would have left you dead in the arena and returned with her old partner to Bill Heddles. She used you, Beam.”

“You don’t know that,” Harmony whispered, and Steiner grimaced.

“That vial of Evocane we confiscated says otherwise.”

Peri stared at Steiner, the blood draining from her face. Across from her, Harmony choked back her next words, her sudden doubt cutting Peri to the quick. But what had sent Peri’s pulse racing was that Steiner knew. He was going to withhold the Evocane to prove his dominance, to force her to do what he wanted, when he wanted. Bill would never be this crass. He was an artist when it came to manipulation, so skilled that you didn’t even mind. Most of the time.

Peri looked at her hands, free for the moment, then Allen, his eyes suddenly bright, wide awake but clearly hurting from two days of beatings. Everything had changed. She couldn’t wait to see whether Silas could reproduce the Evocane. She wasn’t going to return to Opti, but she wasn’t going to dance to Steiner’s tune either. All she wanted was to be left alone, but the temptation of remembering her drafts had bitch-slapped her. Damn it, I’m hooked on Evocane, and everyone knows it. I have to get out of here.

“I disagree,” Harmony whispered, but it lacked conviction, hurting Peri more.

“With what?” Standing in the aisle, Steiner swayed with the motion of the van. “That she would return to Heddles? Or that she would leave you for dead?”

Determination pulled Harmony’s brow tight. “Both. With all due respect, sir. You’re full of shit.”

Lips quirked in amusement, Steiner turned to Peri. “Come see me when you feel the desire to talk about your loyalties, Ms. Reed. I’m guessing you’re going to need your next fix in about . . . twenty hours?”

“Son of a bitch,” Allen swore softly, and a wave of heat took her. She could escape, right now, but if she had to draft to do it, she’d likely wipe out hearing Steiner say he knew she was hooked. Peri’s palms grew moist. She had to wait, play along until the realization and the knowledge of what she had to do was deep enough in her past that she wouldn’t forget it. But they were close to WEFT’s gates. It was going to be tight.

Finding confidence in her silence, Steiner tapped Harmony’s ID against his long hand and tucked it away. “You let yourself be used, Agent Beam. You are officially done.”

“Are you firing me?” Harmony said, aghast.

“That depends how well I can spin this to my superiors.” Still standing, Steiner turned to look out the front window at the back gate a quarter mile ahead, his expression sharp in the white light that bathed the area. “As of now, you’re off task. Take a few weeks’ vacation.”

Allen leaned into her, his ice pack in his hand ready to throw. “Peri . . .” he whispered, knowing she had to go, knowing her dilemma of not wanting to draft herself into ignorance.

“Tell Harmony this was not my intention,” she whispered, her eyes on the feet of the guard across from her. Her breath came fast as she held her need to move.

Eluding the CIA was primary. She couldn’t allow herself to be taken. The hole she used to escape her cell would be plugged by now, and the CIA had only had a week of Evocane. LB had that much, and she could use that week to kill Bill, because whereas with a little effort she could evade the CIA for as long as she liked, Bill would be a problem. Bill would never give up on her. He had to die or she’d never be free.

Peri’s pulse quickened as they passed the last of the autonomous light-manufacturing plants. The road dead-ended just ahead; a new WEFT sign had been glued over the old Opti logo. Kill Bill? She didn’t know whether she could do it. It was more than their shared past. He was an anchor. If she made one mistake, he would force her to draft and artificially wipe her back where she’d do whatever he wanted and think it was her idea. But what if she could get someone else to do it?

“Peri,” Allen whispered. “You have to go. Now! Before you get behind the gate.”

A smile quirked her lips as she looked past Steiner to the back entrance, brightly lit to look like noon. True. But she got second chances, and she nodded, wanting to move but waiting.

Michael wasn’t that far from the neurotic, paranoid man Bill had pulled from the psych ward, mistrustful and easy to manipulate. If he thought Bill betrayed him, Michael would kill him before coming to find her, and then she’d only have to kill Michael. All she had to do was tell Michael the truth, that Bill never intended to accelerate him. And with Bill dead, she could vanish. As long as she remained unaccelerated, she could kick the Evocane. She’d only had two doses. How bad could it be?