A Break in the Sunlight

25. Lockdown

"I don't care," Jaren said. "I just want this shit out of my head."

"I told you, there's nothing I can do." Biddle paced the worn vinyl floor of his living room with even steps. "I haven't got the code and even if I did, there's no one else that can carry the data."

"No one should carry them." Jaren replied, "They're like a death warrant." She leaned back against the scored paneling. "These guys weren't just Sona PWN, Biddle. They were CIP. They followed me across four sectors downtown, and they would've caught me, if they hadn't got the wrong trail."

"You can lay low here for a few days."

"No," she repeated, "you can get this shit out of my head."

"Jaren, I don't have the access code."

"Hack it."

Biddle shook his head, almost, but not quite smiling. "You don't break this code. It's got so many tripwires in it you'd be a vegetable before you got halfway through the static."

He pulled a pharmapatch out of his bathrobe pocket and licked it, staring at the orangy gel that bubbled up on the surface from the moisture. When he spoke, his voice was quieter. "Besides. Anything the CIP can do is nothing compared to what these people will do if we lose this data, Jaren. These are not friendly folks."

"Then what the hell are we doing working for them?"

"One could say I didn't really have a choice." He avoided her stare and crossed to the dim mirror by the door, smoothing the pharmapatch onto his neck slowly. When it had neatly covered the faint orange stain over his jugular he turned a pale gaze back to her. "You aren't the only one with goblins in your past, you know."

"Just lay low, Jaren," he continued. "You can stay here with me. If what you say is true about the drop point then the client will call in a few days and reschedule. Then we can make the exchange, get paid and be done with it." His colourless gaze met hers. "Please."

She slid slowly down the wall until knees met chin, and raised a hand to her forehead, massaging wearily. "As if I had a choice?" she murmured. This time Biddle did smile.

"It won't be so bad," he said. "I'll send Suz to keep you company. And at least you'll be safe here."

Jaren's reply was monosyllabic and incoherent.

"And you'd better stay Outside the Net, as well. Just in case they do get a DNA trace."

"I'm not on file."

"Everyone's on file who's been through customs, Jaren."

"I'm not," she answered. "I came in on a private freighter, and the samples the pilot provided were generics."

Biddle regarded her with a knitted brow, "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

Jaren just shrugged.

All rights reserved. Copyright Jae Darcy 2016.