Only Human (Themis Files, #3)(66)

—What?

—I’m beaming us in. We might be able to stop it.

—Vincent, five minutes ago, you said you would bail if the Koreans attacked us. Now you want to attack the Koreans.

[Vincent, this is Katherine. We’re seeing all sorts of activity on the Korean side. What’s going on?]

—The Koreans are firing.

[They’re firing at you?]

No, at Lapetus.

[Good! It might just leave.]

No! It—Ah screw this! Katherine, I’m taking us there.

[What? No!]

The Chinese can’t cross that bridge with Lapetus around. There won’t even be a bridge if he overloads. Alex, get ready for the sword. And…Now!

[Are we attacking Lapetus?]

Alex, the sword is at its longest. Get rid of the tanks at our feet, then aim at the ones farthest from Lapetus. I don’t want Eva and whoever else is in there to think we’re firing at them.

[You’re not firing at them?]

We have to stop them from overloading, Katherine. The bridge, remember?

[Vincent, the Koreans just sent out MiGs. They’ll be there soon. Very soon. Did I mention I don’t like this at all?]

Alex? How are we doing?

—One. Last. Tank. It’s like swatting flies. I’m aiming now, you can fire. Fire! Again! Again! Just keep firing, I’ll tell you when to—Oh, we just made a big hole. I’ll tell you when to stop…Fire!

—This ain’t Star Wars, Alex. My finger’s on the button. It fires when it fires.

—OK, stop. STOP!

—There. I think we got them all. What about those MiGs?

[Vincent, they’re right on top of you!]

I see them.

—Give me the shield, Vincent.

—I—

—Vincent, the shield!

—It won’t turn on. I think we might have drained her. They’re firing. Turn our back to them.

—They’re firing from both sides!

—I don’t know, Alex. Just pick a si—AAARGH! AAAAAARGH!

…

Alex, are you all right?

[What’s going on, Vincent?]

Alex? ALEX!

[Vincent?]

I think Alex is unconscious.

[Fuck. Can you fight Lapetus without him?]

Fight La—You mean kick them? I can kick them. Oh, wait. I can’t even do that. Themis is out of power.

[Can you get out of there?]

What part of “out of power” was unclear? Out, power, or of?

[You know I can kill you at the press of a button, don’t you?]

Yeah, and leave Themis to the North Koreans. Then again, maybe the Chinese can get her for you. Do you think they’d give her back?

[I hate you right now, Vincent. I just want you to know that.]

Don’t worry, Katherine. Themis should have absorbed some energy from those missile hits. She’ll be back to her old self any minute.

[Is Lapetus out of power? I’m asking because “any minute” seems like a really long time if it decides to kill you.]

I guess we’ll find out. By the way, I don’t think I thanked you for telling me my daughter was alive and well.

[Did I forget? We’ve been so busy down here. You know how it is.]

I’m switching frequency now.

[No, don—]

Hi, Eva! Are you guys OK in there?

<We’re good, Dad. How about you?> Oh, that last missile hurt a bit, but we’re fine. Peachy.

<You didn’t come all the way here just for me, did you?> Well, seeing I had no idea you were still alive a minute ago, I’d say no. Sorry. I would have, though. If you’d called.

<Don’t go there, Vincent. You know why I left.> I’m sorry, Eva. I’m sorry for what happened to Ekim. If there was anything I could have done to— <There was something you could have done! You could have left him alone, not put a gun to his head. You could have left the both of us alone.> No, Eva, I couldn’t have. I’m sorry Ekim died, but if I had to do it all over, I’d make the same choice. I’d do it again.

<Fuck you, Vincent!> I had to get you out of there!

<WHY? Why? I was happy. Do you think I’m happy here?> They were gonna kill you, Eva!

<You don’t know that!> Oh, God, Eva. I do know that. There’s…so much you don’t know. They were going to arrest you for what happened in Eskyaks. They were going to kill you.





FILE NO. EE463—PERSONAL FILE FROM ESAT EKT


    Personal Log—Dr. Rose Franklin and Vincent Couture


   Location: Assigned residence, Etyakt region


—Where’s Eva, Vincent?

—I was going to ask you the same thing. I thought she might have gone to your place.

—Did she come home last night?

—She did. She went to bed early. We didn’t fight or anything.

—Something’s wrong, Vincent. Her picture is on every wall at the market.

—What? What picture? What did you see?

—I went to get some yat for breakfast. I was about halfway there, when I noticed everyone was staring at me, more than they normally do. When I got to the market, one woman spit in my face, another tapped me on the shoulder. People wanted to hold my hand. The old man who sells the yat gave me a handful of them and wouldn’t let me pay. He’s never done that. That’s when I saw her. On the large wall, where they show the esketots games. She’s in all the alleys that run behind the market. That picture, I don’t know where it’s from. She’s staring at the ground, the wind blowing her hair across her face. It’s…pretty.