Because it was all my fault.
I glanced at the time. Fifteen to ten, which gave me just over two hours before Kilgore pushed the Haven to the point of no return. Didn't give me much time, but I always was at my best when I didn't have any other choice.
I made a call to Natasha. Her face appeared on the heads-up display, slightly unfocused as though in motion. "What is it, Mick? I'm in the middle of something."
"Yeah, I see that. Are you Downtown? Don't tell me your boy Finn is still going through with this rally. Didn't everyone just see the message from Kilgore?"
"Yeah, we saw it. Matt says he won't let a terrorist force his hand. The rally is a lightning rod now, and everyone's converging to Haven Square. People are confused, angry, and grieving. They want answers, Mick. They want to know what's going on."
"Tell him to cancel, Natasha. The place is gonna go to hell. The synoids will turn on everyone — that's the plan. Get everyone outta there, pronto."
She shook her head. "I can't go to my captain with no proof of anything. How do you know any of this, anyway?"
"How do I know anything? I just know. Look, I'll go to Flask myself. Just stay away from that rally, okay? Promise me that, at least."
"I gotta go, Mick."
"Natasha? Did you hear what I said? Natasha?" I slammed a fist against the blank screen. "Dammit!"
Lord Troll buzzed back over. "Got a solid lock on his position, Mick."
"Good. Keep me posted. And do a full-city scan, looking for any rogue remote devices used to override synoid programming."
"You're not gonna head over there now? What the bloody hell did you have me doing this for?"
"Because I need to know he's not following me. If I go to him, it'll be another trap. Besides, I'm not exactly looking to get my ass kicked again. Keep an eye on him, LT. Set up a perimeter with drones to make sure you can follow him at all times. I need to know if he's on to me. And run that scan like I said. I don't know how Kilgore's gonna do it, but he's planning on taking over the synoids in the Haven. You need to find out how."
"Why me? What are you gonna be doing?"
"Taking care of business, LT. Kilgore wants me to find Faraday, so that's what I'm gonna do. But first, I gotta get some backup."
"Yeah? You going to your pals on the police force, that it?"
"Nope. Something better."
"What's better than coppers?"
I grinned. "Wildcats."
Chapter 10: Where the Heart Is
I took a look around. "Well, this wasn't what I expected."
The office of Councilwoman Vicky Deme was a shabby chic, modest-sized space brimming with oiled wood furniture and a wild assortment of exotic plants. A small white Bolognese pooch sat at a safe distance, watching me with wary eyes. The Councilwoman herself sat behind her medium-sized desk with a coy smile on her lips. Probably because I knew her by another name: Selene. And she was usually accompanied by a grizzled wolf, not a pint-sized doggy. With her frosted blond hair pinned up and horn-rimmed specs on, she didn't look anything like the notorious head of the Gutter Girls organization. But like everything in New Haven, looks were deceiving.
She shut down an array of holographic screens with a wave of her hand. "Hello, Mick. You don't have the look of a man coming to take me up on my offer."
"Surprised to find you in the Uppers, Selene. Thought you were the type to lurk in underground lairs and all."
"Melding with the common people has its advantages. I need to keep my fingers on the pulse of the city, and legislation is one way to accomplish that. Beats all the spying and shutterbugging. Too easy to get burned out when you're staring at screens all the time."
"Yeah, I wouldn't know."
She leaned back in her cushioned chair, pressing her perfectly manicured fingertips together. "I'm busy overseeing the departure of my agents and estates, Mick. You seem to be busy smashing your face into concrete walls. What can I help you with?"
"Protection."
She threw back her head and laughed. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Afraid not, sweetheart. I'm about out of options, and I'll need some serious soldiers at my back where I'm going."
"Why, Mick? I warned you what was coming. The Titanic hit the iceberg. It's time to board the first lifeboats available, not get into fights over the luggage. Kilgore is in control now, haven't you noticed? He's slaughtered more people than you can imagine and is harder to kill than a virus. So why would I send any of my girls to die on a fool's errand? To you they're just soldiers, but to me they're family. I don't waste family, Mick. Like you said earlier — you wouldn't know."
"That hurts my feelings, but I'll allow it. And if you knew where I was going, you'd probably risk it all to make sure I get in and out in one piece."
"Is that right? Where exactly are you going, Mick? You claim you don't have the god code, so what else can possibly be more valuable?"
"Howzabout the main man himself? I'm talking Dr. Glen Faraday: international man of misery."
Selene blinked. "You know where Dr. Faraday is?"
"You don't seem shocked to know he's still alive."
"Of course he's still alive. The whole prison act was an obvious fake. He'd never be caught so easily. The Faraday you encountered had to be a carbon copy."
"Carbon copy?"
"A synoid imprinted with Faraday's features and personality. Not easy to do, but Faraday's work with synoids rivals Maximillian Enterprises in complexity. The real Faraday was someone I worked with. Someone I thought I knew — until he pulled a disappearing act within the walls of this Haven. And you're saying somehow you know how to find him?"
"I got the keys to the kingdom, Selene. The question is: are you gonna be with me when I find out what's behind the door?"
Taking off the spectacles, she stood and walked toward the door. "You got your detail, Mick. Two squads should be enough to keep the heat off. And one more thing — I stay with you. Right by your side, every step of the way."
I tilted by Bogart so that it shadowed my eyes. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
It didn't take long for Selene to drop her Councilwoman persona and emerge as I knew her, just reinforced with combat armor over her tactical fatigues, and armed with an assortment of killing weapons. She sat shotgun in the floater as it glided between towering buildings and dipped around skywalks. Other floaters followed — two sleek, gunmetal airships carrying Selene's handpicked Wildcat soldiers. Rain fell in sheets, glimmering like shattered ice in the light of blazing neon billboards.
I glanced at her. "So, you knew about me the entire time?"
"That you were an HSSC assassin sent to kill Dr. Faraday? Of course I knew. Nothing goes on in this Haven that I don't know about."
Her self-assured tone of voice made me downright uncomfortable considering what I learned about Hunter's activities over the previous year. I cleared my throat, unable to ask what she knew about that. I figured if she knew the entire truth, she would have already killed me.
"And you never thought to tell me?"
She gave me a cool glance. "Tell you what? You wanted this, Mike. You were just a shell of a human, dead inside. You wanted to escape the clutches of your masters but didn't have the willpower or ingenuity. Faraday solved that by giving you a new life. I told him it was a mistake. That was the start of the rift between us, you know."
"Really?"
"Yes. I wanted to kill you. I told Faraday that what he attempted was too dangerous, too risky to our operation. But he insisted, compelled by ego and convinced that he could turn you into a useful ally. I suppose he imagined you as a protector, someone he could use to his advantage. That all fell apart the moment you awoke and tried to kill him, of course."