Armageddon (3 page)

* * * *

One week later

Nigel glanced absently toward the tiny glass window in the door of the procedure room, stared at Lena without recognition for a moment and finally acknowledged her.

She mouthed ‘meet me for lunch?’ motioning with her hands in the direction of the sidewalk café where they sometimes met to share a meal.

Another blank stare greeted that, but finally he nodded, mouthed something back at her and held up ten fingers.

Twice.

Lena bit her lip but finally nodded. He was with a client. She’d just have to be patient.

16

Mentally reciting the mantra she’d been repeating to herself for a week now--‘act normal’--she headed back the way she’d just come. She would’ve liked to have waited for Nigel outside the procedure room, because she knew how absentminded he could get when he was working. He was always totally focused on his job and probably wouldn’t even think to stop and eat at all if not for the chime prompters.

She hoped he didn’t forget he’d promised to meet her for lunch, but she was afraid to stay because no matter how many times she repeated the mantra in her head she felt--
knew
she had a tenuous grip on calmness at best. If she stayed, she was going to embarrass her big brother in front of his co-workers at the very least.

At worst....

Well, she didn’t know how anything could possibly be worse than they were already.

Either she’d lost her mind, or Morris wasn’t Morris anymore.

That didn’t even make sense to her, but she could not convince herself, no matter how hard she tried, that the man currently staying in her spare bedroom was the same man that had cared for her and Nigel throughout their childhood. She also couldn’t convince herself that whatever it was that was wrong with him was something natural, the results of some sort of medical problem.

Either someone had been screwing with his mind very deliberately, or....

The other possibility was just plain unthinkable.
And
impossible.

He’d managed to deftly evade every attempt she’d made to get him near a clinic.

That was very like Morris who hated doctors and distrusted anyone in any kind of authority so that in itself wasn’t the part that bothered her. It was the way he went about it that bothered her. He didn’t argue. He evaded.

Morris
loved
to argue.

She felt as if she was in mourning for a loved one. Almost from the time she’d encountered the complete stranger that was wearing Morris’ face she’d felt as if a vice was tightening around her chest cutting off her air. She hardly knew where she was half the time, or what she was doing. The focus of her entire world seemed to have zeroed in on the deep and painful sense of loss she couldn’t shake and she was barely aware of anything beyond that narrow scope of pain.

When she left the Quasar Corp. building, she stepped off the walk and threaded her way through the clutter of commuters on the south bound people mover. A number of people glared at her for cutting across instead of taking the upper level mover that was heading west, but except for begging pardon and trying harder to avoid collisions, she ignored them.

She was concentrating hard on containing the emotions roiling inside of her, but impatience was eating at her tenuous hold.

When she finally reached the walk on the other side, she glanced around at the tables of the café. Spying one tucked into a reasonably private alcove created by a potted plant and a low stone wall, she headed for it. Movement caught her eye before she was halfway across the courtyard and she glanced instinctively toward it.

It was a woman and she was headed for the same table.

Gritting her teeth, Lena made a dash for the table and plopped down in one of the chairs.

“Hey! I was going to sit here!”

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Feeling abruptly territorial, Lena turned and glared at the woman. “So was I and I did. I was here first.”

“Because you ran,” the woman said sharply.

“And?” Lena growled challengingly. It was stupid and she knew it. There were several other tables available. It wasn’t as if she’d grabbed the only one.

And she knew the other woman had actually been closer than she was and had every reason to feel as if she’d had first dibs.

She didn’t care. As irrational as she knew it was, as dangerous as it was to argue publicly where they could easily attract the unwelcome attention of the home guard, she almost welcomed the opportunity to strike out at someone for all the pain and confusion that had been dogging her all week.

“What’s going on here?”

Both Lena and the stranger turned at the sound of Nigel’s voice. Lena discovered when she glanced at him that his gaze was on the woman. His expression was hard to decipher, but somehow she had the feeling that he wasn’t feeling the same sense of abuse as she was. There was something in his eyes as he looked the woman over that made her feel like squirming uncomfortably in her seat.

The woman, after staring at him for a long, long moment, dragged her gaze from his, glared at Lena and finally whirled on her heel and stalked away.

Instead of closing the distance between himself and the table where Lena sat, Nigel remained rooted to the spot, watching the woman until she’d threaded her way between the tables and finally disappeared down the side walk.

“What was that all about?” the two of them asked almost in unison when Nigel finally shook off his stupor and settled in the chair across from his sister.

“Do you know her?” Lena demanded, redirecting the question.

Nigel frowned, but his gaze was pensive as he studied his little sister. “I don’t think that comes under the heading of your business,” he finally growled.

“You do know her then? She’s a mongrel. Cauc for sure, maybe some indy or tino thrown in to muddy the gene pool.”

Nigel’s face darkened. “I didn’t realize you were such a snob.”

And a hypocrite. She’d been lusting over that cauc she’d seen in Morris’

apartment right up until Morris had turned her world upside down and put him from her mind. She sat back at the snub. She hadn’t come to pick a fight with Nigel, or nose into his business. She’d come … she wasn’t sure why she’d come. For reassurance maybe?

Nigel seemed to realize they’d gotten off to a bad start about the same time Lena did. “Sorry!” they both said, almost in unison again.

They’d done that most of their lives. She supposed it came from being so close. It was almost like telepathy the way their minds seemed almost to flow in sync.

“Something’s wrong,” Nigel said abruptly, sitting forward in his chair as if he’d just noticed the strain in Lena’s face.

The server bot appeared almost before he got the words out. Lena shook her head and glanced at the menu scrolling across the screen set in the bot’s chest. “I’ll have a salad--no cheese on that. A chicken breast. A glass of….” She felt the abrupt urge to get something to numb the pain a little but quashed the impulse. “Purified water,” she finished. The bot scanned her retina, recited her credit balance and swiveled toward Nigel.

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When Nigel had ordered and the bot rotated on its base and headed toward the kitch, he reached across the table and folded his large hand over hers. “What is it, baby girl?”

Lena’s chin wobbled in spite of all she could do at the pet name both Nigel and Morris had called her most of her life. Tears filled her eyes. Struggling to regain control, Lena looked away from the concern in her brother’s eyes. The world wavered and finally righted itself as she firmly tamped her wayward emotions.

The woman she’d vanquished, she saw, had returned and settled at a table on the opposite side of the café, but still within view of her and Nigel. She glanced casually in their direction as Lena watched.

Except it didn’t seem casual at all to Lena.

That certainty brought Lena’s feet firmly into reality. They were in public. And if she was even close to right about Morris, it was dangerous to behave as if anything at all was wrong.

She returned her attention to Nigel. “You’ll think I’m nuts.”

He uttered a humorless laugh at her attempt to lighten the mood. “There’s nothing new about that. What crazy theory have you come up with now on the origins of the races?”

Lena shook her head. “This isn’t about work. It’s about Morris.”

Several emotions flickered across Nigel’s face, alarm prominent among them.

“He’s still refusing to come live you?”

Lena shook her head. “That’s just it. He isn’t. He moved in with me without a whimper of protest when I went to see him a few days ago.”

Nigel removed his hand and sat back as the bot returned and set their food out on the table before them. When the server had departed again, Nigel placed his napkin in his lap and picked up his fork. He was frowning thoughtfully, though, and Lena could see he thought that Morris’ behavior was as strange as she did.

“Maybe he finally realized he was getting to the point where he really needed someone to look after him,” he said slowly.

Lena swallowed against a knot in her throat and went through the motions as Nigel had, pretending an interest in her meal she didn’t feel. “I was in a state of shock, though.” Resisting the urge to glance toward the vid she knew was trained to observe all of the diners, she tried to formulate something to say that would sound innocuous to those who listened but would get her anxieties across to Nigel. “He seems … happy. He spends all day wandering around East end sightseeing.”

Nigel’s brows rose, but she saw alarm flicker in his eyes again. He managed a shrug. “He hasn’t visited this side of Grand City in years. It’s changed a lot.”

Lena forced a smile. “Yes. When I get home in the evenings, he always gives me an account of the
improvements
he’s seen. It’s good to see him out and about instead of huddled in front of the vid, watching the news all day. And he’s so cheerful and upbeat about absolutely everything that it keeps my spirits high.” It was hard to keep the note of hysteria out of her voice when she made that announcement.

Nigel stiffened. For a moment his dark skin turned a sickly, pasty shade, and she knew he’d caught the alarm she felt.

“I’d thought about taking him to the clinic, but he always makes excuses and I finally realized he’s just a …
new
man. I guess he just missed the two of us and that was

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why he always seemed so dispirited when I went to see him before.”

She could see Nigel was struggling with the hints she’d passed to him. Focusing on her meal, she allowed him to sort it out in his mind. “I should stop by for a visit,”

Nigel said finally. “I haven’t been to see either one of you in weeks.”

Lena beamed at him. Relief flooded her, making her feel weak as the tension vanished. “That would be such fun! Tonight? I could stop by the market and pick up something special for dinner.”

Nigel glanced at his watch. “Sure. I have to work late. I’ve got five more clients to see today, but I’ll come as soon as I’m off and we can catch up.”

Lena couldn’t help but notice that she’d completely demolished Nigel’s appetite.

She could see he was struggling to maintain a pretense of interest in his food. Guilt flooded her when she realized her own appetite had exerted itself now that she’d shouldered her anxiety off onto him.

She wished she could’ve just explained everything plainly. Nigel might have been able to dismiss her qualms without growing so alarmed himself, but there was no discussing anything private in public if one wanted to keep it private.

She’d never found that particularly disturbing before. The gov had vids everywhere to monitor its citizens and prevent crime. It was for their own safety, and it was a comfort to know that, unlike the old days, crime was now almost non-existent and one could walk most anywhere, at any time of the day or night, without concern for their safety.

Not that anyone except the home guard was allowed on the streets after curfew.

She supposed she shouldn’t worry about being overheard now. It wasn’t as if there was anything criminal in anything she might have said.

Yet she had felt real fear about voicing her thoughts and concerns aloud.

Maybe the problem was her, not Morris? Maybe she was just growing paranoid?

20

Lena felt almost lighthearted as she looked over the displays in the market for something really special to prepare for dinner. After debating with herself for a good ten minutes, she finally decided to splurge and buy a real roast. The vegameat was almost as good, but she hadn’t had
real
meat in at least a month and she doubted Nigel had. Luck was with her. She managed to get the last one available. Ignoring the twinge of guilt that caused her, she collected the sides she had decided to nuke with it from the bin below the display, tucked it all into her tote and headed out of the market again.

When she reached the shuttle terminal, she discovered she’d dallied until she’d caught the homeward rush. The platform was packed almost shoulder to shoulder. After checking her time piece several times, she resolutely ignored the minutes ticking off. The shuttle would arrive when it arrived. There was nothing she could do about it unless she opted to walk and that would delay her even more.

Patience, she chastised herself. She would still have a good hour to prepare the meal before Nigel could possibly get to her place.

Trying to ignore her rising tension and the unpleasant situation of standing in such a closely packed formation that she could feel the body heat of the people around her, smell their combined breaths and the odors that clung to their skin, Lena tipped her head back and glanced toward the opening where the shuttle would appear when it arrived. As she did so, her gaze locked with that of a man who’d just stepped up on something to look out over the crowd.

It was the cauc, the one she’d seen in Morris’ place. Even as a heated wave of attraction washed over her, though, it filtered into her mind that he was wearing the uniform of a home guardsman. Pleasure was instantly replaced with alarm as he stepped down from whatever it was he’d been standing on and she could see the crowd ripple as he pushed his way through.

He was headed in her direction!

Full fledged fear sent a cold wave crashing over her.

Her panicked mind refused even to sort the conflicting information rushing through her mind. Acting purely on instinct, Lena began inching her way through the crowd in the opposite direction, trying to keep from looking as panic stricken as she felt and raising an alarm.

The shuttle arrived as she neared the edge of the crowd on the platform and before she could prevent it, she was swept with up in the wave of humanity that surged toward the opening doors and into a car. Unable to think clearly at all, Lena continued struggling against the tide. She’d almost reached the doors to get off again when they slammed shut, trapping her inside.

As the car shot from the platform, she caught a glimpse of the cauc--still standing on the platform, searching for her face among those who remained to wait for the next shuttle. Weak with relief, Lena glanced around at the car and finally found enough room on a seat to wedge her butt into.

21

As reaction set in, her rioting thoughts calmed somewhat and she wondered what had possessed her to react as if she was guilty of something. She hadn’t done anything.

Why had she felt so fearful the very moment she realized he was wearing the uniform of the home guard?

Because she was paranoid, she chided herself.

It was probably nothing more than that he’d recognized her and wanted to talk to her about Morris for some reason. Maybe he’d wondered what had happened to Morris?

He had been looking for someone, though. He’d stepped up on something to give him a better vantage to view the crowd.

That didn’t necessarily mean he’d been looking for her.

But if he’d been looking for someone else, why had he abandoned his search and headed toward her?

It occurred to her abruptly that she didn’t know he had even targeted her. He had
seemed
to be looking straight at her, but that didn’t mean he had been. She cast her mind back, trying to recall if she’d noticed anyone else who appeared to be attempting to evade him, but discovered that was useless. She’d been too mindless with panic to think at all, and certainly too frightened to notice anyone else.

As she emerged from the shuttle at her stop it finally dawned on her why she’d been afraid the moment she’d seen his uniform. Morris had claimed him as a neighbor and the only reason a home guardsman would’ve been living in old town was because he’d been planted there to ferret out rebels.

That thought instantly sent her into panic mode again and it was all she could do to pretend even a modicum of nonchalance as she headed out of the terminal and turned toward her apartment. As she focused on restraining the urge to run for all she was worth toward the only safe harbor that came to mind, she felt the watchful eye of the vids she passed beneath boring into her like lasers.

She’d already reached her apartment building and stepped into the lift tube before it dawned on her that her apartment was the last destination she should have in mind if she really thought they were after her. They could be waiting for her when she got there.

But what about Morris? And what about Nigel?

They could be blindsided if the home guard really was bent on arresting her for something.

There was no stopping the damned lift, though. She’d already punched in her level like a bot before her mind had even begun to make sense of her situation.

She wasn’t certain it was making sense even now. The sensation of being herded like prey had totally demolished her reasoning ability. She could do little more than allow her instincts to guide her--and her main instinct was to run for cover.

The corridor was empty when she reached her level. Goosebumps immediately erupted and chased up her spine.

Trying to ignore the alarm that sent through her, Lena’s hand tightened on her tote as she strode briskly down the corridor toward her door, her ears pricked for any sound that seemed out of place.

The apartment was empty. She knew that the moment she stepped inside and whirled to bolt the door behind her. “Morris?”

She wasn’t terribly reassured when she didn’t get a response. Striding through the apartment, she dropped the grocery tote on the counter in the kitch and then, after looking

22

around for something she could use to defend herself, searched the apartment with her wooden meat mallet. It wasn’t much of a weapon. The thing probably didn’t weigh more than a few ounces. At worst, swinging it as hard as she could probably wouldn’t cause more damage than a bad bruise, but she had nothing else that looked even vaguely threatening. On the rare occasions that she actually had real meat, she used the laser slicer. The closest thing she had to a knife was her butter knives and she would’ve had to saw somebody’s head off with one of them. The forks were probably more lethal.

She was somewhat relieved when she’d reassured herself that she really was alone in the apartment. If, as she’d thought, the home guard was after her for some reason, they would’ve been waiting for her--probably outside the building, certainly inside the apartment.

Those thoughts brought her little comfort though.

Ignoring the food she’d abandoned on the counter of her kitch, she began pacing the living area, trying to make sense of her fears. Was she over reacting? Was the only threat in her mind?

She blushed when it occurred to her to wonder if the guy had merely recognized her and decided to further their acquaintance.

That was just wishful thinking, she realized almost at once. They hadn’t even been introduced, for god’s sake! She seriously doubted he remembered that very brief meeting.

Besides, there was no doubt that he had been looking for someone. It wasn’t paranoid to assume it was her he’d been after all the time when he’d come straight toward her. He wouldn’t have simply abandoned an order to locate someone to flirt with her.

Why had he been alone, though? If he’d been sent to find her, or anyone, wouldn’t there have been at least
one
other guard with him?

Becoming weary from her pacing and her wrecked emotions, Lena finally paused near the window and glanced at her timepiece. “Shit! Brainless idiot!” she muttered as it abruptly dawned on her that she should have tried to head Nigel off. If there really was trouble and it wasn’t all in her mind, he would be heading into it right now when they should both be headed in the other direction.

He would’ve left work by now, she realized. She should’ve just waited at the terminal. Deciding that was probably her best bet--just in case--she glanced around, wondering if she should worry about taking anything with her.

She’d left the food out, she remembered abruptly. As tempted as she was to simply abandon it, she had a deep seated antipathy for wastefulness, especially with something so expensive and hard to get as real meat. Sighing, she rushed into the kitch, grabbed the tote, and tossed the entire bag inside the refrigeration unit without worrying about unpacking it and sorting it.

As she closed the door again, she heard the distinctive sound of the front door lock being deactivated. Torn between alarm that it might be the home guard and hope that it was Morris returning, she dashed into the hallway and skidded to a halt.

The woman who stepped through the door and closed it firmly behind her had a laser pistol leveled at her.

When she finally managed to drag her gaze from the muzzle of the pistol, a shockwave washed over her.

The woman staring back at her wasn’t just of the same general build, color,

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weight, and age as she was. It
was
her.