Cynetic Wolf

Agtha arrived an hour after we did, calling as she got closer.

Despite knowing she was coming, we tensed as her wheels screeched around the corner and cleared the treeline. Hitting the brakes, she made eye contact and threw open the doors. “Get in. Now!” she added, when we didn’t move fast enough.

There were pressure cooker bags under her eyes like she hadn’t slept for days, and her hair—always perfect despite her spartan existence—was a tousled mess.

Lars smiled. “Agtha, it’s great to see you. It’s been too long.”

“We have to move!” she snapped. “You know how many back alleys and dirt roads I had to take to get here? Cops everywhere, tons of VTOLs searching the skies. You boys sure know how to make an entrance. How were the woods?”

“Kid picks things up fast,” Lars replied. “Turns out he’s got paralleosis, the super-cynetic speed reading thing.”

“Good, we’re going to need it,” she said, white-knuckling the wheel while Lars embarrassed me, bragging about what I’d been reading.

Once Lars relented, she said, “Council’s meeting tomorrow at noon. That’s when we should do it.”

“Can you sneak us in?” Lars asked.

“Can I beat you in a fight blindfolded, Lars?” Her eyes twinkled in the rearview. “It’s good to see you, you old fart.”

So, she was human after all.

“You’ve gotten old after all these years,” Lars said with a grin. “Wanted to make sure you still had it.”

Paer swore. “We got company. Get in the back, in the boxes. Now!”

In the trunk were two boxes labeled Hearts and Organs. The tops were open.

I hopped the divider and scrambled in. Lars fell over a second later, squeezing to fit his long body as the car slowed to a crawl.

“Pretty tight in here, Agtha. Could have used bigger boxes,” Lars remarked.

“Have you put on weight, Lars?” she whispered. “Quiet, twenty meters. Stopping now.”

An electric whirr. “Everything okay, officer?”

“What are you doing out here?” a gruff voice replied.

“I’m picking up a shipment from my brother-in-law,” Paer answered.

“A shipment of what?” the voice snapped.

“Deer,” Paer said. “Hunts whitetails and gets me to lug the kills back to the city. Lazy git. I get to keep some of the meat though, so it works out. But the bastard gave me organs this time.”

“Where’s he hunt?” the other officer asked. “He got a permit?”

“He alternates between parks west and north of the city, the ones he could get permits for.” She sighed. “South and east are reserved for elites, that’s where all the best game is, he says.”

“We’re going to need to inspect your vehicle, ma’am. Please step out and turn off the engine.”

Crap. Not good.

“Sure thing, officers. You fellas hunt?” Come on, Paer, let’s see some smooth talking.

“Nah,” said the first. “Wife’s against it for some reason.”

“Same here. Open your trunk.”

My breath caught. This was about to get ugly. I tried to position myself for a clean shot but it was too cramped. My muscles tensed. We’d be sitting ducks.

“You officers like organs: hearts, tongues, testicles, that kind of thing? That’s all Frankie gave me this time, cheap bastard! Imagine, my poor sister, living with that scum of a man! I’d be happy to give you boys a couple testes or tongues if I could get on my way. Got a work shift at 18:00 and can’t afford to be late again. Boss’ll kill me. You know how it is.”

Testes… she was laying it on thick.

“Look, lady, you seem okay. But we gotta check. Can’t risk our jobs either.”

Damn.

“No worries, gentlemen. Pinch your noses. Bags aren’t sealed,” she added.

“Wait a sec, wait a sec. Jeorg, look. Says here Hearts and Organs. If we open this, we got to report it. That’s a lot of paperwork. Our kids are at their grandparents’. I got things planned for the wife. Show her my organs, if you know what I mean. Let’s leave it.”

“I don’t know,” Jeorg said. “I need this job but...” he hesitated.

I held my breath. Everything was riding on this.

“You know what, fine, but you owe me, Tak. Anyone asks, this was your idea.”

“Yeah, yeah. It was my idea. Let’s get you to a bar somewhere and find you a nice piece too.”

“Sure you don’t want to smell, I mean see the organs?” Paer asked.

I almost laughed. Paer had never eaten organs a day in her chimpish life. But she did have a sense of humor…

“We’re good, lady. Get out of here. Drive safe. And this never happened!” he added.

“What never happened?” she asked.

They laughed, and we heard the crunch of boots. Phew. Paer hopped in, closed the door and started the engine. That was close.

“Stay down until I tell you otherwise,” Paer said, her dominant self again.

“The testicles bit was brilliant, Agtha, no man wants to—”

“Shut up, Lars!” she snapped. “There might be listening devices. We’ll talk later.”

We drove in silence another hour, pulling off the road twice as VTOLs raced by until the car skidded to a stop. “We’re here.”

A thunk as Paer opened the trunk. Ugh. We twisted out as my muscles and joints strained in protest. At last, my jellied feet touched solid ground. Wait. “Where are we?”

“An abandoned area of the industrial park a kilometer from base,” she replied.

Huh? I gave her a funny look.

“I wanted time to talk things over without people breathing down our necks,” she said. “There’s a tunnel that connects the two buildings, used to be owned by the same company. Leave at 22:00 tonight. It takes ten minutes to walk, and I’ll meet you on the other side. I’ll show you.”

She took us into the building’s semi-finished basement. In the far corner was an iron trapdoor, shiny circular handle protruding from the left side.

“It’s unlocked. Follow this, you can’t miss it.” She glanced at her band. “Shoot, I need to go. I’m sparring Ashlo at 15:30. I’ll disable the sensors in the tunnel for tonight. See you, 22:10, sharp. Don’t be late!” She turned and vanished.

We killed time discussing the plan for the thousandth time, it never hurt. Once we felt ready, talk turned to the impending war. Still nothing we could exploit. We needed something soon and were running out of time, but Lars said to, “Relax and put my head to it.”

It came down to the Board, it had to. But how to kill the alphas? I’d tried everything I could think of. “Any ideas?”

“Have you tried TOR4?” he asked.

“You’re right.” How’d I forget that? As I opened a profile on Gregori Schwarz, he swung his leg toward me and I spun him into a triangle choke.

“Schwarz keeps a low profile,” I said. “Studied advanced computer systems and architectures while serving with distinction in the DNS.” Impressive.

Lars tapped my arm, and I released him. “Operated in hot zones early in his career. After that, he disappeared until being elected to the Board twenty-five years ago. Oh, and he went emulate.”

“This is getting too easy for you, isn’t it?” Lars said in mock frustration, dusting himself off. “Turn off the enhancements and let’s practice striking.”

They were, and I said as much, so we stopped sparring.

“Last one’s Priya Patel,” I said. “Minister of Infrastructure, a cynetic. Built her fortune in city planning and transportation. Her old startup accounts for eighty percent of housing and transport in the major fifty cities.”

“Kids?”

Maybe on TOR4. How’d I not think of that?

“Nothing on Lin Zu, the consummate politician. Works a ton, no life. Although there are pictures of her flying a VTOL. Maybe a hobby.”

“And Jean Gileu’s married, has a husband. Don’t see any kids, and can’t find much on the husband. Wait, here’s something on the Security guy though, Calter. Oh, snap. He’s got a son.”

A picture materialized: Thorn. “That’s where I recognized him! It’s the eyes.”

“What eyes?” Lars asked. “What are you talking about?”

“Remember the DNS guys who arrested us, shipped Fitz and I to Caen? There was one guy, the leader, Thorn. There was something evil about him, inhuman. Hated-filled black eyes that sucked hope and happiness from your soul. When I saw Calter’s picture, it clicked. Calter has a son, Thorn.”

“That means…” Things were going a mile a minute. He must be dying for revenge.

“Think he’s in Kiag?” Lars asked, as if reading my mind.

“Actually, yeah.” Thorn could be our leverage over Calter. “So, we ambush the surprise attack, grab Thorn, and send a spoofed message to his dad for help. If we make it something embarrassing, Calter would come alone. He wouldn’t want others finding out. Then we grab him.” Was that the key to everything?

“And we can torture or simhack the information out of him if we have to,” Lars added. “We’ll have—”

“No!” I snapped, louder than intended. The pain I’d been through still haunted me. “No torture, not even VR. If we do, we’re as bad as them.” No… A calming breath. “I’ll get him to tell us, I’ve got a plan!”

“How the heck you going to do that?” Lars raised an eyebrow. “Without torturing him?”

I explained what I had in mind.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said at last. “We’ve got our plan.”

Time flew by and before we knew it, it was ten minutes to ten.

Lars opened the trapdoor. It was pitch black, and steep but I activated my infrareds. “Looks good from here. I’ll go first.”

Lars grimaced. “Be my guest, kid. I always hated tunnels and small spaces.”

We dropped in, feet clattering on concrete, and I led the way, Lars’ hands on my shoulders to avoid getting separated. Imagine how dark this was for him. I’d forgotten life before cybernetics and had no desire to go back.

Near the end of the tunnel, a muffled voice. “What are you doing, Agtha? It’s a bit late to be out and about, isn’t it?”

“Oh, Lilia, I didn’t see you. I needed a little fresh air, that’s all.”

“You’ve been off lately. Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine,” Paer said, a little too fast. “It’s been crazy the last few days is all.”

“I know what’s up, Agtha. Don’t think you can fool me.”

I froze. No…

How could Lilia know?