Calamity (Reckoners, #3)(77)

We waited, and he closed his eyes and said a quiet prayer in French. Was it to God, or to those mythical Epics he believed would save us someday? He wrapped the chain of his pendant into his hand and held it close, but as usual I couldn’t get a good feel for his emotional state. Reverence? Pain? Worry?

Finally, he took a deep breath and put the necklace back on. “You have information, David. You feel it important to share. We will mourn Tia properly when the war is through. Speak. What happened in there?”

He and Mizzy looked at me expectantly, so I swallowed, then started talking. I’d already told them about Tavi, but now I explained what had happened when I’d been sucked into Firefight’s world. The things I’d seen. Steelheart.

I rambled a lot. In truth, I was tired. They probably were as well, but I couldn’t go to sleep. Not before unloading the burden of what I’d seen, what I’d discovered. I told them everything I could before eventually trailing off. Any more, and I’d have to talk about what I suspected regarding my own…development.

“He killed you?” Abraham said. “In their world, Steelheart killed you? Is that what they said?”

I nodded.

“Curious. That world is similar to our own, yet different in such important ways.”

“You didn’t ask him about me, did you?” Mizzy asked.

“No. Why? Should I have?”

She yawned. “I dunno. Maybe I’m, like, some kinda super-awesome ninja thing over there.”

“I’d say you were a super-awesome ninja thing today,” Abraham said. “You performed that mission well.”

She blushed, taking a drink of her cocoa.

“A world with no Calamity,” Abraham said. “But what does that—” His mobile started buzzing. He frowned, looking at it. “I do not know this number.” He turned it around toward me.

“Knighthawk,” I said. “Answer it.”

He did so, lifting it to his ear, then moved it away as Knighthawk started talking loudly. Abraham lowered the phone. “He is excited about something,” he said.

“Obviously,” Mizzy said. “Speaker that sucker.”

Abraham pressed the requisite buttons. Knighthawk’s face appeared on the mobile and his voice projected into the room.

“—can’t believe the balls on that woman. What happened to David’s mobile? Did he get it vaporized? I haven’t been able to track the thing for hours.”

I pulled mine out. It had survived the fight, barely—with a cracked screen and a ripped-off back, battery gone.

“It…has seen better days,” Abraham said.

“He really needs to be more careful,” Knighthawk said. “Those things aren’t free.”

“I know,” I said. “You made us pay for them.”

“Heh,” Knighthawk said. He was shockingly, even annoyingly, chipper. “I’ll send you a replacement on the house after this, kid.”

“This?” I asked.

“Regalia’s data,” he said. “It’s incredible. Haven’t you been reading it?”

“The data?” I said. “Knighthawk, that was on Tia’s…mobile. You copied it?”

“Of course I copied it,” he said. “You think I built a nationwide network of data links for fun? Well, it is fun. But that’s because I get to read people’s mail.”

“Send us a complete dump,” Abraham said.

Knighthawk fell silent.

“Knighthawk?” I said. “You’re not—”

“Hush,” he said. “I’m not ditching you. I just got another call.” He swore sharply. “One second.”

Silence. The three of us regarded one another, uncertain. If Knighthawk had grabbed that data, then perhaps the mission wasn’t a complete write-off.

He came back a few minutes later. “Well, hell,” he said. “That was Jonathan.”

“Prof?” I said.

“Yeah. Demanded that I track you. I don’t know how he figured out I can do that. I’ve always told him I can’t.”

“And?” Mizzy asked.

“I sent him to the other side of the city,” Knighthawk replied. “Nowhere near you guys. Which means that once he’s done with you, he’s basically guaranteed to come murder me. I should have turned you idiots away at my door.”

“Um…thank you?” Mizzy said.

“I’m sending you a copy of Regalia’s plans,” Knighthawk said. “Keep in mind that it references a few photos that aren’t in the folder. That’s not because I’m holding out on you; it’s because the mobile died before finishing the full download of the files. Tell Tia she did great though.”

“Tia got shot,” I said, subdued. “He killed her.”

The line fell silent again, though I heard Knighthawk breathe out after a short time. “Calamity,” he whispered. “I never thought he’d go that far. I mean, I knew he would…but Tia?”

“I don’t think he meant to,” I said. “He turned his goons loose on us, and she ended up dead.”

“Your transfer is working,” Abraham said, holding up his mobile. “Does this data explain what Prof is doing here?”