Right Through Me (The Obsidian Files #1)(94)

“Should have known better than to dive right after combat, dude,” Sisko said absently. “You taught me that yourself. Did you fry your analog?”

Noah waved that away. “Never mind. What are you up to?”

“Researching your brother, among other things,” Sisko said. “Interesting guy. Got a lot going on.”

“Yeah? Illegal?”

“Some of it must be. He specializes in deepnet data mining, like I told you the other day. Auctions off targeted data. Makes flaming crap-tons of money. And plenty of enemies.”

Noah went still. “What kind of money?”

Sisko kept staring into the screen. “Half a billion, at least. I’ve been poking around in his stuff . He’s got some sweet algorithms. I was checking out a few just now, when you came down. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was a modified.”

“Huh,” Noah muttered. “Weird, for a kid who would never do his math homework or pick up his dirty socks. What kind of enemies?”

“The kind you wouldn’t want to have,” Sisko said. “There’s a price on his head. He stays on the move. It’s hard to pin down his location.”

Noah padded into the kitchen to get a beer, and then went to stretch out on a couch. He was a couple yards away from Sisko, but he could still read all the data on the screen without appearing to look.

“Data auctions, huh?” he said. “With that kind of money socked away, he must do it just to keep score.”

Sisko shot him a thoughtful glance. “You’ve got that much money,” he observed. “More, even. Are you just keeping score?”

Noah opened his beer and took a swallow. Light from the unshielded computer screen was making his eyes water, which made the combat program sputter and scroll in his inner vision, in jarring fits and starts. He rubbed his eyes, squinting. Didn’t want to put on the lenses, or the shield specs. He was so sick of them.

“That’s different,” he muttered. “I’m creating stuff that improves the quality of people’s lives. He’s just exploiting greed and vice for profit.”

Sisko’s narrow gaze met his. “Wow. Pissed at him much?”

Noah took a swallow of beer. “Why would I be? Haven’t seen him in years.”

“You’re not usually so quick to judge. Cut him some slack.”

“Doesn’t matter if I do or don’t,” Noah said. “He doesn’t give a shit.”

“Ah.” Sisko’s tone was thoughtful. “So it’s like that. After all this time.”

“What of it? Don’t preach. It’s been a long day, and I’m not in the mood.”

“I don’t make adjustments for your moods,” Sisko informed him. “I just spent hours replaying that footage of Mark’s attack on Luke. About a thousand times.”

“Insights?”

“That thing he stuck onto Luke’s head,” Sisko said. “It reminded us of something. Zade noticed it first. We were going to mention it to you. Then things got crazy.”

Sisko’s hesitance was bugging him. “So? Let’s have it.”

“It looks like a miniature brain scan and brain monitor design,” Sisko said. “There’s something similar in the line of Batello products that are currently in development.”

That startled him. “Simone,” he said.

“Yeah,” Sisko agreed. “It looks like one of Simone’s designs.”

The implications of that were sweeping and ugly. Noah pondered them briefly, and then shoved them into a box in his mind. For later.

“One thing at a time,” he said finally. “This has to wait.”

Sisko nodded slowly. The laptop on his thighs was the only source of light in the room, which made it easier to scan his sig. It was usually a mellow, uniform pulsing alternation of purples and blues. Today it was bigger, darker, with more extreme contrasts, and it was shot through with agitated spikes like solar flares.

“What’s up with you?” Noah asked. “You OK?”

“No,” Sisko said. “I’m just trying to distract myself from the thought of what’s going to happen to Luke once Mark realizes that we have his shiny toy.”

“Caro isn’t his toy,” Noah said. “I have to take him down before he finds out.”

“See? That’s what I’m talking about. We, Noah. We have to take him down.”

Noah clenched his fists. “Are you going to get up in my face?”

“Someone has to,” Sisko said. “You’re being a goddamn dictator.”

Anger flared, ramping up his combat program. A kill plan for Sisko suddenly flickered on his inner screen. He ignored it.

Sisko heaved a weary sigh. “But hey. You saved our asses on rebellion day, and afterwards. We all know it. We’ll never forget it. Still and all, you can’t carry us anymore.”

“We saved each other at Midlands,” Noah said. “We all did our part. I couldn’t have done it without every single one of you guys.”

Sisko rolled his eyes. “Maybe in the battle itself. But after? We were wrecked. They would have scooped us all back up and tossed us right back into the shredder if not for you.”

Noah scowled. “So what’s your point?”