Outside In (11 page)

Lamont filled a needle and approached. I flinched away instinctively.

She stopped. “It’s lidocaine. If you’d rather not—”

“Go ahead. Numb my earlobe please. I’ve had enough pain.”

“Little pinch and I’m done.”

Compared to the slap, falling to the floor, being doused with an acidic chemical and Riley breaking up with me, the pinch barely registered.

As she prepped the sutures, I tried to focus on something besides myself. “What about Logan’s vision? Isn’t he under your care?”

“I can’t do anything more for him. It’s just a matter of time.”

“Will he regain his sight?”

“His progress is promising, but I can’t guarantee it.”

“Do you know where he is?”

“No.” Lamont looped two stitches to close the tear in my lobe.

By this time, I could have fallen asleep on the exam table. Lamont trailed behind me as I headed toward my room. I stopped at the threshold. She hovered, rubbing her hands together. I had spent enough time with her to recognize her anxiety.

“No mothering. Remember?”

Although she didn’t look happy about it, she nodded.

“I just need to sleep for about a hundred hours. If anyone comes looking for me, can you tell them I’m not here?” I asked.

“Even Riley?”

My hands shook. Doubtful he would be looking for me. “Yes.”

“Okay, I’ll keep everyone out.”

“Thanks.” I collapsed onto the bed, crawling under the covers and muffling my sobs. Eventually, I would seek out Anne-Jade and tell her everything about the riot.

Too bad she found me first.

Startled from a deep sleep, I stared at Anne-Jade through puffy eyes. Confusion clouded my mind and her words failed to make sense. I rubbed my face in an effort to focus. My cheek throbbed.

“…hear me?” she asked. Grabbing my arm, she yanked me from the bed. “Do you even know how much trouble you’re in?”

I swayed on my feet, but straightened real quick when I spotted her two lieutenants standing behind her. “I—”

“No excuses, Trella. I have orders from the Committee to arrest you.”

Wide awake now, I said, “But—”

“You had your chance to explain down in waste handling, but you chose to run away.”

“I—”

“Running is an act of a guilty person. I had no choice. Yuri, secure her.” Anne-Jade stepped back to let Yuri closer.

With nowhere to go, I could only appreciate the speed in which Yuri slapped a handcuff onto my left wrist, spun me around and snapped the other cuff onto my right. With my arms pinned behind my back, my sore shoulder ached.

“Anne-Jade, the cuffs aren’t necessary,” I said.

“I disagree. Let’s go.”

She gripped my arm, propelling me forward as if I would resist. With a lieutenant in front of us and one following, they marched me from my room. Lamont hovered in the sitting area. Hour three shone on the clock.

“You could have at least waited to call Anne-Jade until I got more sleep,” I grumped at Lamont.

“Give us some credit, Trell,” Anne-Jade said. “No one called us. You weren’t that hard to find.”

True. If I had known she’d arrest me, I’d have slept in the ducts. She’d been to our storeroom and the small control room where we had hidden Domotor. That was back when I could trust her. I needed to find a new hiding place. The image of the bubble monster sitting on top of the Expanse filled my mind. No one would find me there.

Our little parade entered the lift and went up to level four. When the door swished open, a horrible possibility struck me. I resisted Anne-Jade’s pull.

“What?” she asked.

“You’re not taking me to the brig, are you?” I couldn’t keep the panic from my voice. The thought of being there with Karla and Vinco, even in separate cells, caused me to sweat.

“It’s up to you. The Committee has a number of questions for you. If you refuse to cooperate, they’ll send you to the brig to think over your decision.”

We bypassed Anne-Jade’s office and walked down the main corridor to Quad G4. Inside didn’t seem so big until I was handcuffed and stared at by every single person we passed in that hallway. The time it took us to reach the conference room off the main Control Room felt like hours.

My relief to be out of the public’s eye disappeared in a heartbeat when I faced the nineteen Committee members. They sat around the long oval conference table. Domotor’s wheelchair faced the front of the curved end. Scanning the faces, I did a quick calculation. Five members gave me encouraging nods, twelve people wore a variety of unhappy expressions from pissed off to mildly annoyed, one wouldn’t meet my gaze— Riley’s father—and one kept his face blank—Jacy.

Anne-Jade pushed me into the empty chair at the end opposite Domotor. I perched on the edge since my hands were still cuffed. She stood behind me as if I might try to escape or harm someone. I would have laughed, but I couldn’t miss the heavy tension that filled the room. The lines of strain, dark circles and signs of fatigue were the common denominator from all eighteen members. Jacy wasn’t giving anything away, and that scared me more than anything else.

Domotor took the lead. It was a good sign as he had been one of the encouraging nodders. The mics sat on top of the bag on the table. Computers were another new feature on the table. Each member had a small monitor in front of them.

Domotor started asking me questions about the riot.

I was honest to a point. Admitting I planted the mics, I got a little creative with why. “I hoped to overhear the saboteurs.” Which was the truth.

“Why didn’t you and Logan tell us about them?” Domotor asked.

I noted the lack of Anne-Jade’s and Riley’s names. They were both aware of the sabotage and failed to inform the Committee. Funny, I had been the one to argue to tell the Committee. “The evidence was circumstantial. We didn’t want to accuse anyone without proof.” Also true.

“Where did you plant these mics?” he asked.

“The air shafts about Sectors E1 and F1.” I pointed my chin at the mics. “I planned to do more, but was…interrupted.”

“She means caught,” Anne-Jade said. “The scrubs in Sector F1 heard her in the air shaft.”

“I haven’t climbed through the ducts in weeks. I’m a little rusty,” I said in my defense.

A few Committee members smiled at my play on words. I wouldn’t go as far to say I was winning them over, but it was better than nothing.

Anne-Jade wanted to know who pulled me from the air shaft and incited the riot.

“I started the riot. It all happened so fast, I didn’t get a good look at him.” Just because I protected the bastard who slapped me, didn’t mean I would forget him. Oh no. I owed him a visit. I just didn’t need the scrubs to think I was an informer as well as a traitor.

The questions then turned to the bomb in waste handling. Those I answered with complete honesty. Jacy relaxed back in his chair. His gaze contemplative. Probably wondering why I hadn’t told them about his request to plant his mics over sensitive areas. Right now they assumed Logan provided the mics. I’d like to say I had a grand scheme in mind, but at this point, I operated on pure instinct.

When all the questions had been answered, Anne-Jade escorted me out to the main Control Room so the Committee could discuss…I wasn’t exactly sure what.

We waited near the door. “Thanks for not mentioning me,” she said in a quiet voice. “I owe you one.”

“Great. Take off these damn cuffs,” I said.

“Not until the Committee gives me permission. Sorry.”

I stared at her. “Come on, it’s me. You
can’t
be happy with how they’re running our world.”

“Do you really think I like being called the Mop Cops?” She balled her hands into fists. “I worked so hard to
not
be the Pop Cops and look what happened. Bombs, computer failure and someone tries to kill my brother. It’s a mess and I wouldn’t even know how to fix it at this point.” Anne-Jade punched the wall. The Control Room workers glanced at us as the loud bang vibrated. “It’s our fault, you know.” She rubbed her knuckles absently. “The Force of Sheep gave them the power. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

It did. I mulled over what had happened. Why did the Committee fail? Then I remembered where they sat at the conference table. All the uppers sat along the left side, then Domotor, Jacy and the rest of the scrubs on the right side. Jacy had known the problem all along and so did I, but I’d hoped it would work itself out. That the uppers and scrubs would play nice together and forget all the Pop Cop propaganda.

But they remained divided. And all the current problems just drove them further apart, which didn’t make sense. With saboteurs threatening all our lives, we should be banding together, not sitting on opposite sides.

“Trell, you have that look. What are you planning?”

“Maybe we should take the power back and start again,” I said, thinking a new smaller Committee could have people like Hank who viewed our world as a whole and not two groups.

“Too late.”

“Why?”

“Because someone else beat you to it.”

“ARE YOU SAYING THE COMMITTEE NO LONGER HAS
the power to make decisions?” I asked Anne-Jade.

“Yep. They’re just following orders. And so am I.” A look of self-disgust creased her face.

Even though I feared the answer, I asked, “Who is issuing these orders?”

“The Controllers. They have hijacked the computer network, shutting down access to all but a few people. If the Committee doesn’t do as they say, they’ll erase the programs for running vital systems.”

“But that would hurt them as well.”

“They’re in the network, Trell. They don’t need air or water. Just electricity.”

“Anne-Jade, you know better. Logan said they were an operating system. Nothing more.”

“Well, Logan is blind and the Committee has him locked away somewhere. So as far as I’m concerned, I obey their orders.” She rubbed her face.

A sudden surge of outrage consumed me. “I can find Logan for you.”

“Not from the brig.”

Surprised, I gaped at her. “I answered all their questions.”

“And the Controllers will tell them what to do with you.”

“I haven’t been involved with the Committee in weeks. Why would the Controllers consider me a threat?”

“You planted those mics. You helped diffuse a bomb. Those aren’t the actions of someone who is uninvolved. And the last thing they want is for
you
to be involved.”

My head spun with all the information from Anne-Jade. It seemed like an elaborate joke and I expected Anne-Jade to laugh at me for falling for it. But her shoulders dropped and worry filled her eyes.

“Don’t let the Committee know I told you all this,” she said.

“I won’t.”

We were summoned back into the conference room. I noticed the vampire box on the table right away.

I endured a lecture about planting the mics on my own and how I should have come to the Committee right away. No surprise.

“Since you no longer wished to be a consultant to the Committee,” Domotor said, “we insist on your cooperation to stay out of our affairs, and to keep out of the air shafts, the Gap and the Expanse. Failure to comply will result in your incarceration in the brig.”

Big surprise. How did they plan to enforce… The vampire box. A cold wave of dread swelled in my chest as I remembered those tracers Anne-Jade had invented. She must have told the Committee about them.

Domotor met my gaze. His gray eyes held an impotent anger. “You’re also confined to level three and are hereby designated as Doctor Lamont’s intern.”

Another shock. While I enjoyed helping patients, being forced to was another matter.

“Do you agree to all these conditions?” Domotor asked.

“What happens if I say no?”

“The brig.”

I thought so. No choice. I agreed.

Anne-Jade removed the handcuffs and shoved my right arm into the vampire box. The pricks in my forearm just below my wrist stung more than usual. I wiped the blood on my shirt.

“A tracer has been implanted into your arm,” Domotor said. “If you stray from level three for any reason, we will be informed. Should you be tempted to remove the tracer, we will also be alerted. The device monitors temperature.”

Damn. He had read my mind. With access to the medical supplies, removing the device would have been easy. However, body temperature was approximately thirty-seven degrees centigrade while Inside’s ambient temperature was kept at twenty-two degrees centigrade.

The meeting ended and the Committee members either milled about or filed out. Returning to my seat, I had to wait for Anne-Jade to escort me to level three. She discussed the lockdown with Takia. No one spoke to me. Jacy remained in his seat, studying me. I ignored him. Let him wonder.

After most of the others had left, Jacob Ashon approached me. By the uncomfortable stiff-armed way he stood, combined with his queasy expression, I knew this wouldn’t be pleasant.

“Trella, I…uh. I’m sorry things didn’t work out with Riley.” He cleared his throat, then his words rushed out. “It’s best if you make a clean break and forget about him.” True. And that’s when the full realization of no longer being with Riley stabbed me deep into my heart. Unable to utter a sound, I reached behind my neck and unfastened the clasp. Hooking it back together, I handed the pendant to Jacob.

“I didn’t mean…you don’t need…”

“Give it to him…please.”

Jacob’s fingers closed around it. The edges of my vision blurred as black and white spots danced in front of my eyes. I closed them and inhaled deep, calming breaths, concentrating on that simple act only.

When I opened my eyes, Jacob was gone along with Jacy. Anne-Jade tapped my shoulder, gesturing me to follow her. I did.

The trip back to the infirmary occurred without incident. Lamont spotted me, but she continued to wrap bandages around a patient’s hand.

“Do you want to inform the Doctor about your assignment or should I?” Anne-Jade asked.

“Feel free.” I kept walking.

“Where are you going?”

Annoyance spiked. “To my room. Do I need to file a request with the Committee first?”

“In triplicate.”

I turned and made a rude gesture. She laughed. I couldn’t help but grin. It lasted a microsecond. All memory of it was erased when I entered my room.

Sheepy was gone.

Sitting on the edge of my bed, I stared at the cuts from the vampire box. I ran my finger along the skin, but couldn’t feel the tracer buried inside. If I hadn’t been there, I would never have believed if someone told me that helping diffuse a bomb would send Riley and Sheepy away.

I lay in bed, curled under the sheet. Action was required. Plans needed to be made. A tracer to trick. I couldn’t let the Controllers or the Committee ruin what I had worked so hard for. What Cogon had died for. I hadn’t wanted the responsibility. No. If I was being honest, I had been…or rather was still terrified of the responsibility. And despite what Anne-Jade had said, it wasn’t too late.

But for now, I needed to grieve for the loss of the world I had imagined with the Committee in charge. For the loss of Riley. And Sheepy.

Lamont woke me. “An ISF officer is here to check on you.”

“Why?” I blinked. Her presence had triggered the daylights.

“You haven’t moved in eighteen hours.”

An impressive amount of sulking time.

Standing behind Lamont, an ISF officer nodded to me. “Just making sure you’re okay,” he said.

“Yeah right. You’re more worried I’ve found a way to fool the tracer,” I said.

He dropped the pretense. “AJ warned us not to underestimate you.”

“AJ?”

“Anne-Jade.”

“Cute. Yet you still waited eighteen hours.”

“The Doctor’s word was sufficient until she also became alarmed as well.”

“Guess I was tired.” I stretched my stiff muscles—the downside of being inactive for so long. However, my shoulder no longer ached, the swelling in my cheek had gone down and scabs covered the two cuts—the upside.

“You should shower and eat. When you’re done, I need help with a couple patients,” Lamont said. She shooed the ISF officer out as she left.

Ah, the glamorous life of an intern. I pushed the covers back and padded through the sitting area to the kitchen. Rebel that I was, I ate first then showered. Sad and pathetic.

The water cleared my mind. I considered how to bypass the tracer as I helped Lamont with routine tasks. Rolling clean bandages, I figured I needed to find a way to keep it at a constant thirty-seven degrees and to move it around, but only on level three.

Inserting it into another person would work. The next time Lamont has surgery, I could slip it in. Except as soon as the patient left this level, the ISF would pounce on the poor unsuspecting person. Avoiding the brig was imperative.

I could use the newborn warmer, parking it in my room when I wanted to explore. But if it didn’t eventually move, the ISF would be suspicious. Absently, I reached to play with my pendant only to encounter smooth skin. The jolt of pain reminded me of when Vinco’s knife had found a sensitive spot.

I wrenched my thoughts back to my current problem. The warmer could work if I moved it around the infirmary, wheeled it to the cafeteria and other areas on level three. Searching the patient area, exam room and surgery, I couldn’t find it.

“Looking for something?” Lamont asked when I exited the surgery.

“The newborn warmer.”

She gave me a rueful smile. “Confiscated by the ISF.”

Damn. “What if we need it?”

“They’ll bring it back only when I have a newborn. We do have a few pregnant patients, but they’re not due for weeks.”

So much for that idea. Again I grabbed for the pendant without thinking.

Lamont noticed the gesture. “Did you lose your necklace in the riot?”

“No. I lost it diffusing the bomb.”

“Bomb?” Her voice squeaked. “The one found in the waste handling plant? You were there? But I thought the riot…”

“I had a busy week.”

She stared at me for a few seconds. “I can only imagine.” She gestured to my neck. “Is Riley upset that you lost it? Is that why he hasn’t come around?”

Normally, I would have snapped at her, telling her to mind her own business. But I couldn’t produce the energy. Instead I had a moment of weakness and told her about the choice I had made when disarming the bomb.

She drummed her fingers on the exam table. “I think I would have done the same thing. This Bubba Boom is an expert in explosives after all.”

“Yeah, but it was a wiring problem. That’s Riley’s area of expertise.” I rubbed the spot where the tracer had been inserted. “Riley thinks I have a death wish. He may be right.” I stared at the floor. “Ever since Cogon floated away…I keep thinking it should have been me. He wouldn’t have been afraid to guide us through all these changes. He would have united the uppers and lowers by now. Sabotage and riots would never have happened if Cog was here.”

“And what would killing yourself accomplish?” Lamont asked. When I didn’t answer, she continued. “It won’t bring him back. Cogon is gone. And from a purely medical point of view, you don’t have a death wish. If you did, you wouldn’t have fought for every single breath in those first critical hours after the fire. Your skin wouldn’t have healed as fast as it did.”

Even though I hated to admit it, she had a point. And damn it. I felt a little better. Looking up, I was going to thank her, but she had her doctor’s purse on her lips as if reviewing a diagnosis in her mind.

“Who also has Cogon’s way with people?” she asked.

“Hank from maintenance. Emek’s people love him. And Riley. He’s been able to work with both uppers and scrubs.”

“Then you need—”

I waved my arm. “I can’t do anything. Remember? I’m stuck here.”

“Let’s pretend you don’t have the tracer. What would you do first?”

“I’d find Logan, rescue him and set him up at a computer terminal to bypass the Controllers.”

“What if he can’t see?”

“Then I’d find someone who knows enough about computers to sit next to him and be his eyes.”

“Riley?”

“No. He’s good, but not Logan good.” I considered.

“Your father was Logan good.” Pride filled her voice.

I waited for the pain and anger to flair inside me, but only sadness touched. However, his name reminded me of another. “Domotor would be perfect.”

“Would he agree to help?”

I remembered his anger. He couldn’t be content taking orders from the Controllers. “Yes.”

“Then it’s an excellent plan. Let’s get started.” Lamont headed for the surgery, pushing through the double doors.

Curious, I followed her. “But—”

She handed me two syringes. “I think a local anesthetic should be enough. Grab the lidocaine and alcohol wipes.” Then she collected a few other supplies—sutures, scalpel and long curved tweezers.

Understanding hit me hard; I grabbed the operating table to steady myself. “You realize the risk you’re taking?”

“There’s no risk to me. You’re the one who will be in danger of being thrown into the brig. And you’ll still need to work here so you’re visible to others. Otherwise, they’ll get suspicious.”

“You’ll have to stay on level three.”

She shrugged it off. “I’m always here anyway.”

The final concern was mine alone. Could I trust her? No. But she offered the only possible solution. If I wanted to make Cogon…and Riley proud of me, I couldn’t give up.

With the two of us working together, it didn’t take long to remove the tracer from my arm and implant it in Lamont’s. The device had only been exposed to the ambient air for a second.

Just to be sure, I stayed and worked in the infirmary for the next six hours. Then we went to the cafeteria in Quad G3 with the intent to eat and then stock up on food for our kitchen.

Riley’s brother Blake worked behind the counter, serving soup. His resemblance to Riley sent a flash of pain across my heart.

I wondered what he was doing up here. “New job?” I asked him, trying to sound casual.

“Same job, new location.” He shrugged then tilted his head to the people sitting at the tables. “Change of scenery. Change is good. Right?”

“Uh…yeah.” I wondered what he was implying. Was he glad Riley and I were no longer together? Hard to tell. I didn’t know Blake that well.

After our excursion to the cafeteria I took a brief nap, then changed into my skin-tight uniform. As long as Lamont stayed in our suite or in the infirmary the ISF shouldn’t suspect anything.

I climbed into the air duct, grinning.

The Queen of the Pipes has returned.

There weren’t many hiding places in Inside. I doubted the Committee knew the locations, but I didn’t want to leave anything to chance so I ruled them out right away. They had probably taken him to an empty apartment. Since I had been confined to level three, I suspected he would be on level four. The Travas filled Sector D4, so that meant I had to search Sectors E4 and F4. Doable in the time I had.

I tried not to think about apartment number three-six-nine-five in Sector E4 as I carefully traveled through the air shafts and peered into rooms. At least there weren’t any air filters to bypass.