531

Obuo performed beautifully as she ran down the tunnel, calling for help.

As they got closer to the main complex, storage rooms and empty experimentation rooms dotted the path. It gave them access to hiding spaces and dark corners that the deeper tunnel hadn’t.

As two men left their post by the door to see what the trouble was, Obuo ran into a doorway and hid behind Chan Yi. DaQi knocked the men unconscious, then dragged them into a storage room and stole their uniforms. Obuo found a lab coat in the storage room and pulled it over her clothes.

DaQi scowled as he pulled on a uniform. “I had to wear one of these for two years. I hate uniforms.” The fact that he’d had to report to Jackson for those two years made it worse.

He’d had the last laugh though. Jackson might have delighted in all the shit he’d made DaQi do that he thought he’d never remember, but after seven years he was still just a second-rate agent with DaQi’s bullet between the eyes.

Chan Yi smiled at him. “You look good in one though.”

“You’re welcome for that,” Obuo said to Chan Yi as they stood just on the other side of the door.

“I should be the one thanking you. Yi looks even better out of uniform,” DaQi teased.

Chan Yi glared at him but Obuo let out a stunned laugh. A second later, she let out a deep breath. “You really believe this is going to work?”

“Keep your head down and just walk,” DaQi told her. “No matter what happens with us, just get to the door, and keep going. With any luck though, no one will bother us.”

“I don’t trust luck,” Obuo said.

Chan Yi smiled at her. “Then it’s a good thing you’ve been patching me up all these years.”

She gave Yi a small smile at that, then nodded to DaQi. He could see how fast her heart was beating, but her hand was steady as she brought her hair forward to hide her face a little.

Chan Yi opened the door and walked out first, ignoring everyone and everything around them. Obuo was right behind him and DaQi followed, doing his best to gauge interest in them.

Yi had been a part of this environment for years and he still fit in without drawing a second glance. Even if Obuo had been thrown to the Piles, she never lost the rigid demeanor of the Skylines and it made her blend with the crowd of people that moved from department to department in the bottom lobby of the office. They made it to the elevator banks without question.

Once they reached the main lobby, Wu DaQi got a little more worried. There were more guards at the doors and more people to recognize them. People rarely stopped someone who looked like they knew where they were going though. He had to trust that they looked average enough to get past. Thankfully the uniform came with a cap that helped cover their faces if they looked down a little.

They were passing the last security post when someone stepped forward.

“Excuse me, you can’t take her out of here,” the man said as he moved between Yi and the door.

They had come up with a number of things to do if this happened, but none that would get them out peacefully. Before either he or Yi could say anything though, Obuo moved over and pushed her hair out of her face.

“Get back to your post,” she demanded. “I have spent the last seven years working undercover to find the company’s missing property and I will not be left behind with some sniveling second-rate agent in the basement while they are interrogating them. If you want the approval go call Sandus.”

She waited for him as he stared at her with his mouth hanging slightly open.

“I said go! I have places to be and if you have to make your call then so be it. But I’ll be waiting for my car while you waste my time. Go!” she pushed him back toward his post and nodded to Yi.

DaQi barely kept the smile off his face. Obuo had always been rather formidable and he was grateful she was with them. Either way, the man went back and picked up the phone while they reached the door. A company car was waiting. He had no idea who it was for, but DaQi slipped into the passenger seat and pulled out his gun. “Just get us out of here and you’ll be fine.”

The driver did as he was told and they drove off in the chaos of news reporters and protesters demanding more company transparency, better personal protection, and an end to martial law.

They were only two blocks out when they ditched the driver and left him to walk back to Mariner. They were another three when they got rid of the car and made it back to their motorcycles.

###

The breeze of the docks felt like freedom to Chan Yi as he looked out across the waters of his new home. After their retreat by boat from Dock City with Obuo, he and DaQi had seen her safely away and turned their attention to their next move.

They had left Dock City behind, but the Piles were a part of Chan Yi’s blood and he’d never settle anywhere well while it still burned. The riots had ended, but martial law remained, resulting in rebellion. There was no peace in the Piles or the Builds. Even the Skylines were hard hit. Mariner locked the city down, inside and out. No one could get in without their permission and no one left. The government tried to step in, but after a violent altercation, blockades were put up around Dock City to make sure Mariner didn’t try to annex neighboring cities.

It wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

“Stop thinking so hard,” Wu DaQi said as he set a tray of steaming clam chowder in front of him.

“Good timing,” Yi said as he grabbed a spoon and took a bite. Perfectly seasoned. He might not need to eat like a human, but he did enjoy the vice of good food. And DaQi seemed to enjoy feeding him.

“Did you see him?” DaQi asked. He had a plate of fish and chips in front of him and he began to eat as well.

Chan Yi wasn’t the only one that liked human vices.

“He just sat down at the bar.”

“You really think he’ll help?”

A boat blew its horn and Chan Yi used that as an excuse to look over his shoulder at the guy. “I don’t know. I’m not sure he can, but we have to start somewhere. Ocean City is the playground of the elite. The wealthy and powerful play global games here. If there is any place we can figure out what Sandus is doing and how far it goes, it’s here.”

They ate quickly and Chan Yi did his best to get into the good graces of the restaurant owner. DaQi seemed to have better luck, but so long as they got a new contact out of it, Chan Yi was okay with that.

He saw the man at the bar open a port to pay for his tab and DaQi stood up. Chan Yi stopped him before he could walk away just yet. DaQi frowned at him, but Chan Yi smiled as he kissed him softly. “For good luck.”

It was a new job, a new mission, but for the first time in seven years, Chan Yi had a partner again. He thought back to the empty desk that had burnt in the Builds and the emptier bed he’d left behind.

His life had become more dangerous and the circumstances were much greater, but he wasn’t alone now. It wasn’t just one man against the world. Now he had Two.

DaQi seemed to follow his thoughts because he leaned in to whisper in Chan Yi’s ear. “You were always so much more than they realized,” he said. “We’ll make them see that. I was never just 532.” He kissed Yi one more time before he stumbled off, staggering like a drunk to the bar.

And you were always so much more than 531.