Jude laced his hands together behind his head and leaned against a tree. “Let me guess—you’ll help me find the download specs if I help you find the dirt on dear old Dad.”
“Where did you get the flash drive?”
“Aikida,” Jude said. It was rare for him to give up information so lightly, without demanding something—even if it was just abject supplication—in return. “They’ve been keeping tabs on the BioMax crew for quite a while.”
“Is there more?”
He shook his head. “You’ve got everything I’ve got.”
“Then how did you know about my father?”
“I’m a good guesser. I take it I was right?”
I didn’t answer.
“Sure you don’t want to take some time and think about it?” he asked. “Wait until you calm down?”
His emphasis tipped me off. “You talked to Riley.”
“He wanted me to promise that I wouldn’t drag you into my—how did he phrase it?—‘insane delusions.’ Which is a little redundant, if you ask me, but I assume you’ll agree that language has never really been his strong suit.”
He’s only trying to help, I told myself. He loves me. But this wasn’t the way to do it.
“What did you tell him?”
Jude shrugged. “What he wanted to hear. That I understood. That I would never pressure you into anything. That I’ll stay away until you’re feeling more like yourself—and if you come to me, I’ll walk away.”
“You lied?”
“I lied.”
My surprise must have shown on my face. Jude had always made one thing clear: His bond with Riley was inviolate.
“I don’t see why he should get to make decisions for you when he’s doing such a crap job of running his own life,” he added.
“He is not.”
“Oh, so you approve of his sweet little houseguest?”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“Right, because you’re not brain-dead.”
It was a relief to know I wasn’t the only one who saw Sari as a threat, but I wasn’t about to let him think this meant we’d forged some kind of alliance, the two of us against Riley. There was no line between us; there was no triangle. There was me-and-Riley, and then, outside of that, irrelevant to that, there was Jude. “Riley trusts her.”
“Riley has a blind spot when it comes to pretty girls,” Jude said. “Maybe you’ve noticed.”
That fell under the category of Not Going to Dignify with a Response.
“What?” he said.
I smiled sweetly. “Trying to remember how I ever found you tolerable.”
He shrugged. “Crisis makes for strange bedfellows.”
“Never. In a million years—”
“It’s an expression!” He held up his arms in surrender. “So much for the education of society’s future elite.”
“I know it’s an expression,” I snapped. “I’m just beginning to reevaluate whether I even want to be your metaphorical bedfellow.”
“Your choice,” Jude said. “Unlike some people, I get that.”
“So do I.” Zo’s voice floated from beyond the bushes. She stepped into the clearing. “Or don’t I get a vote?”
“What are you doing here?” As if I even had to ask. It was a shame that all spying these days was done by machines, because back in the dark old days of international intelligence agencies and invisible agents slipping through the shadows, Zo would have been a world champion.
“I heard you talking to Riley,” Zo admitted.
“That tends to happen when you’re hiding under a bench.”
“Behind a tree,” she corrected me. “The point is, I heard you.”
“And then you followed me.”
“It’s a good plan,” she said. “I knew you were lying about not going through with it.”
“I guess little sister knows you better than Prince Charming,” Jude said. He held out a hand to Zo, then raised hers to his lips with elaborate chivalry. “So this is the famous Kahn Junior. Enchanté.”
“And this is the famous Jude. Huh. I thought you’d be taller.” She extricated her hand, which flew immediately to her tangle of hair and tucked the unruly strands behind her left ear. I groaned. This was Zo’s version of blushing. She probably didn’t even notice she was doing it. But—I could see it in his eyes—Jude did.
“And I thought you were a Brotherhood head case,” he said. “So I guess our reputations precede us.”
She ignored him. “You’re taking me with you,” she told me.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“When you take him down,” she said. “Him and the whole corp. I’m going with you.”
“She’s spunky,” Jude said. “You sure she’s related to you?”
“Is he always this big an asshole?” Zo asked.
“Definitely related,” Jude said.
This time we both ignored him.
“So?” she prompted me. “Do we have to fight, or do you want to save the energy and give in now?”
“Why would we let you in on anything?” Jude asked, replacing his charm offensive with a real one.
“Oh, you two are a we now?”
When he didn’t crack a smile, much less fire back, Zo realized he wasn’t joking. “What’s his problem?”
“You,” Jude said.
“Yeah, I’m an ‘org.’” She made finger quotes around the word. “Deal.”
“You’re an org who went along with Savona’s crap,” Jude said. “Who decided we were subhuman, and treated your sister like dogshit you scraped off the bottom of your shoe.”
Zo squared her shoulders. “I did what I did. I didn’t know—”
“That it could have been you?” Jude finished for her. “Changes things, doesn’t it?”
“I didn’t know what it would mean to join the Brotherhood,” Zo said firmly. “And I didn’t know… Lia. My father’s mistakes have nothing to do with that. Neither do you.”
“She’s right,” I said. They looked equally surprised. “We could use her help.”
Jude rolled his eyes. “She’s twelve.” “She’s seventeen,” Zo said. “And she’s in.”
Jude sighed. “Fine. She’s in.” He smirked at her. “But you owe me one.”
She scowled back—Zo’s version of batting her eyelashes. “So collect. I dare you.” The scowl morphed into a brilliant, triumphant smile when it was clear he was out of ammunition. “In that case, can we get out of here and go plan this thing somewhere civilized?” she added. “I realize you two don’t care, but it’s about zero degrees out here and I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
I let her tromp through the mud ahead of us, which gave me a chance to dig my nails into Jude’s arm and, quietly but firmly, make one thing clear. “My sister is off-limits.”
“She’s an org,” he said, as if that settled the issue.
“Like that would stop you.”
“Jealous?”
“Screw you.”
“Then we don’t have a problem.”
“Jude…” I let it hang there, my tone the best threat I could muster.
“She’s a big girl,” he said. “Seems like she can protect herself. In fact she seems a lot like you.”
“She’s nothing like me.”
“Really? Huh.” Jude put on his thoughtful look. “Funny, because she definitely reminds me of someone.”
I knew what he was thinking, because I’d been thinking it too, ever since the day I met him.
You, I thought, but I would never say it out loud, especially not to him. She reminds you of you.
Waiting was interminable. As was playing along, playing the roles that had been written for me: Riley’s dutiful girlfriend, keeping her simmering rage under control; BioMax’s willing stooge, putting aside her personal feelings for the sake of a greater cause. This was key, Jude assured me, when I balked at showing my face the next morning for a weekly meeting with Kiri, Ben, and my father. I had to find out what he’d told them, and if they knew that I knew; I had to pretend I was past it, over it, somehow beyond it, or risk losing all access. It seemed like a wasted effort—if they knew, then it was over. Ben might be dense, but surely even he wouldn’t believe that I’d forgive the corp for what they’d done, no matter how many “proud to be a mech” soliloquies I may have delivered at their beck and call. But when I arrived for the meeting, Kiri hadn’t yet arrived, and Ben seemed neither surprised to see me nor overly solicitous. There was only one small, irrelevant matter to be dispensed with—“Your father says an important matter’s come up that he has to deal with, and he’ll have to step away from our project for a bit; he said you’d understand”—before we got down to business. I did understand. As far as my father was concerned, this was a family issue, and we would deal with it—or hide it—as a family. My father loved his boundaries, his neat little compartments. This time he’d left all of them vulnerable.