Asunder (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 3) Page 12

  She shrugged.

  “That could be good. My current projects won’t allow that, but… I can try to make that happen soon?” It couldn’t hurt, after all. “Hey, did Brian get the candy going on? You…”

  “I went and came back with that already.” There was a glance around then. “Everyone is kind of freaked out. That thing with the other Neesa… Aunt Tiera asked me to beg you all not to go to war over it, if I can. She meant it as well. I mean, the whole thing where I’m supposed to kneel and pound my head on the floor, crying. I’ll do it, but I don’t think it’s the way here. The candy helped. I told them that you’re all so hard here that you barely even noticed almost dying like that. Indeed, I hinted that your only response was to think of the alternate Neesa and protecting her in the future.”

  It was more or less true. Oh, it was noticed, but they really did deal with things like that on a fairly regular basis. Besides, it wasn’t their planet that had almost died that day. Sure, they could have bought it, but so could billions of people. Innocent ones.

  “It really is about like that. How is everyone holding up there?”

  That got a slow inhalation, the book going very still over his head, new words not appearing on the parchment like paper.

  “It… We’re keeping it secret from the masses. Everyone almost died. Hearing that our enemies could do that at all would only make everyone afraid. They couldn’t do anything about it. None of us really can. I don’t know if I agree with that, but… Yeah. It’s hard. I can’t see another way that will work better, either.”

  She didn’t herself, so just ate for a bit.

  When she finished, she touched his arm, which got his attention pretty well.

  “I’ll be seeing you then? Tell Tor that I’ll be in touch. Soonish.” The thing there was that Will, on a deep level, honestly understood that she likely wouldn’t. Not until her own job was done.

  “I’ll do that. Oh, we should get together tonight? For sex? I think I can get Olga to join us, if you want?”

  She winked.

  “Sounds fun. Your room? Late? About four or so?” He didn’t sleep, and Olga did that lightly, so would be awake that time of day.

  Cin was normally sleeping then, but was pretending that it was doable for her.

  The guy got it all, but acted like he was taking her seriously.

  “Sounds great. Bring oil.”

  Then he left her alone.

  For four whole hours, she dozed, using her alarm to wake her up at midnight. That meant bumping around her room, packing up the things she’d need in a back pack that she’d used for hiking there on the base. They’d done that a few times, so she had it in her room, ready to go. She took her civilian gear along with her, which meant leaving most of it, since it didn’t really fit any longer. Taman had decided that she needed a slightly bigger chest for some reason, and the thing had been growing over the last month. Not fast, but it was enough that some of the guys were noticing it happen. So, all her new clothing fit, but was kind of showy that way.

  Hopefully it would stop soon, since she didn’t need to be vast that way. Not with her active lifestyle. A C-cup was great. A D-cup was fine, but more than that was going to get in the way, more often than not. Taman certainly hadn’t bothered to make that happen for herself or anything. A big part of what was going on had to do with how perky she was now. Solid, too. So, there was a bit of gravity defying action going on that way which wasn’t changing. It was starting to look totally fake, to be honest.

  She got into some jeans that were stretchy enough for fence hopping or running, and a pull over shirt with long sleeves, as well as her warm jacket. Her old one, that was blue, instead of the tan that had been issued to her. She carried her heavy bag in her right hand, regretting not having gotten any cash. She could have done that, but the fact was that it would seem too fishy and have Marcia coming down on her. After all, the lady got alerts if too much money started to leave any given account. Still, she could safely pull exactly four hundred and fifty-three dollars from the base machine, near the PX.

  One dollar more would be noted, which would make it harder for Turner to deny knowing about it ahead of time. It might happen that way if Kerry did it as well. Penny… That one was harder to know. The plain fact of the matter was that she’d never bothered to check that part out and didn’t really have time to do that at the moment.

  Interestingly, both women were there, waiting for her, about fifteen feet from each other. One of them didn’t know the other was standing there. Cooper wasn’t relaxed, so her clothing wasn’t showing. Even Kerry would have noticed that part.

  “Over the fence. Last one there has to do my laundry for the next three months.”

  She hopped over, with Kerry nearly matching her, floating over the thing. Flying by using her power. It was slow though. Penny had to climb like a real girl, after tossing her bag over. She had another that clanked, which she carried on her back.

  “Well, I guess I can do the wash. It’s not like I’m not going to be fondling your underwear anyway, you do know that both of you are being fingered later, right?” The words carried to her clearly enough, since they showed in the book really clearly.

  Cindy shrugged.

  “Yeah, we know, Penny. Just ask first? If I’m going to have a sore ass, I might as well know why.”

  That got a gasp to show in the print, and a strange look from Kerry.

  “Um, Penny is here?”

  “Yep. Doing my laundry as well. She agreed, as long as we both put out. She’s dealing with the fact that she’s bi pretty hard lately. It’s mainly sexual frustration on her part, but you know, she digs the chick flesh. She just can’t admit it to herself consciously yet.” That was pretty much just true.

  Penny sighed at her.

  “No fair. I should get to deal with my own orientation in peace.”

  She’d relaxed, so there was a uniform following them. One in all black, with no insignia. The cut was military, but seemed empty as it moved. Kerry jumped a bit.

  “Gah! Penny!” She acted more surprised than she really was, thinking it was polite, for some reason. “You scared me for a second. Are you… Coming with us?”

  Cindy nodded.

  “We have a meet. Don’t think about it for the next ten minutes?” That meant they were allowed to walk in silence, Kerry afraid that telepaths were after them. It was actually close enough to more or less work. Penny just did what she’d been told as well as she could manage. It wasn’t enough to fool anyone really, but that was why they had to leave.

  Long term, day after day, it would be too easy for them to be caught. The trick was really about Marcia not letting go so often that she allowed their secret mission to be too easily uncovered. Eventually it would be, but if they could get a week or two and move fast the whole time, they might get enough of the Mariah Group to make a difference.

  She had to find Turner’s book and bring it closer to herself, in order to follow it back to the woman in the dark. That took a bit of focus. Really, it was hard enough to do while walking that Cin felt surprised when they actually got to the right spot. Marcia was just dressed up like an IPB Operative, in tan camo, but had her hair pulled back into a short ponytail. It wasn’t a horrible look on her. She was still too thin, but no worse that way than Cindy was at present.

  “Hey boss. It’s the crew requested. Cooper, Yoder and Mableton, at your service.” She didn't know what the other woman wanted to tell the others, so just waited. She read about it, out of the air, but until the other woman spoke, her mind wasn’t really made up on the whole topic. That had been done on purpose, in case her mind was being read before that moment.

  “You have a mission. Cooper is on point for this, having the field experience. Kerry and Cindy are your back-up. This is off book. Way off book. As in, after it’s done, if you’re alive, never speak of it again. To anyone, for as long as you live. Understood? Mableton has your mission specs. I don’t know them all, but what she says on
the target is a go. You all understand that? We have… Telepaths, more or less.” She meant it all and looked at them, but Kerry wasn’t able to see that part of things. She got who was there, but that was all. Why things were being handled like they were just passed right by her.

  “So, no one is trying to kill me for being a bitch like I was? Betraying everyone?” The lady’s voice was small and weak sounding on the issue.

  Turner wasn’t kind about the whole thing either. She didn’t want a relapse, but being too kind might make it seem like a good idea at some point in the future if the woman wanted a fix. She was only twenty-seven after all. Young enough to still be dumb as a rock.

  Cindy made a face, because she was only twenty-six herself. Cooper was… When she checked it was a bit of a shock. She was only twenty. Nearly twenty-one, but not quite, yet. Still, getting after Marcia for being older than they were wasn’t going to help at the moment.

  Instead she said the words that Marcia wanted from her.

  “I have the mission now. We’ll be in touch when it’s successful. That, or not going to work at all. We’ll try for that first one, however. Until then you won’t hear from us.” She grinned then shrugged her shoulders a bit. “Oh, keep Tobin busy so he doesn’t hook up with some hottie while we’re gone?” She meant for Kerry, but the girl seemed a bit heartbroken to hear the name.

  If they were suddenly gone for too long, then he was going to leave her. She knew it.

  Worse, it was pretty much right. At least if he could find anyone. Tobin Peterson was a famous singer, but no one on the base cared about that part of things too much. He was one of them, but better looking now. There were at least fifteen women on the base that might make a play for him just because of that. He even had a decently large tool in his pants, which could make a few women pretty happy if they learned about it.

  Worse, at about twenty-one himself the man was filled with hormones, so waiting for a runaway girlfriend who hadn’t even said goodbye was a bit much to ask. Not that it could be helped at the moment. She wasn’t the one that had suggested the parameters of what they had to do.

  Turner saluted, which got Penny to try and do it back. That wasn’t an IPB thing, so it was meant to be cute. Not that Marcia noticed it. The woman was kind of invisible again. That was mainly due to worries about what was really up. Most of the time she had an Agent with her in the field, to hold her hand. That she was getting Cindy the psycho and Kerry the traitor meant something strange was going on. Really, she half expected to find out it was about a surprise birthday party or something they needed to shop for, given the build-up. Some kind of training mission.

  The assassin had brought real weapons and ammo anyway. Not enough for what they had to do, but they could get more. Probably by theft.

  “You have the command, Operative Mableton. Until you pass the mission briefing to Cooper. Then she’s in charge. Understood?” The boss figured that the women were going to butt heads over the whole thing. It probably wouldn’t be happening, though.

  No, they’d just have problems when Penny used her for sex without permission, and Cindy didn’t just forget about it later. Their powers just worked out nicely that way. Still, it was better than prison. After all, Penny probably wouldn’t get her pals to take turns after she was done.

  “Got it. We’re heading out. This way.”

  It was a bit obvious, but they kind of needed a car, which sort of meant stealing one in town. Then dropping them every few hours and getting a new one. That way the police would never have enough time to actually get their act together enough to locate them. Hopefully. That was her plan anyway. Cooper could countermand that.

  She just walked for a while, the others following her, trudging a bit, thanks to uncertainty. Finally, she nodded as she moved. She could have gone a lot faster, herself. Kerry might have as well for a while, making herself float along.

  The weak link was also their strength. Penny.

  “Our enemies call themselves Mariah The Divine Wind. They’re one of about fifteen or twenty different secret organizations which basically run the world. There are about, oh, five hundred of them that matter. Most of them are way ahead of us as far as tech goes. I mean all of us, not just us three. The rest of the world? They’ve been stealing the best secrets and using them for themselves for over a hundred and twenty years. Maybe a lot longer than that.” She turned to look at the others. “I know, conspiracy sounding BS, right?”

  Kerry actually nodded at the words, agreeing.

  “Pretty much. That’s real? Or is this an exercise?”

  “Real. We couldn’t do this on the base, since they have what amounts to telepathy satellites. It’s also why we have to leave, instead of working out of here. So they can’t locate us very easily that way. Still, as much as possible, keep your minds guarded. They can only get surface thoughts.”

  Cooper nodded then, her voice sounding real but distant. It was an effect of her powers.

  “I… What’s the situation then, cut off the head?”

  Cindy didn't stop walking along, since they needed to be in town before morning. Taking a car in the dark was safer than not, after all. Unlike Penny, she’d show up on camera. So would Kerry. It kind of told them who their thief was for the mission.

  “Sort of like that. We’re going to kill about half of them. More if we can. I won’t lie, a lot of them are going to be really well guarded. Politicians, actors, billionaires. So, you know, basically our sugar-daddy dating pool? Don’t worry Penny, there are some women in there too, for you to get your old lady groove on with. Or, well, they would be, except you get me, assassination.”

  The invisible lady grunted. It was considering more than anything else.

  “Okay. We can probably get that done. This is going to be big though, if they’re all that important. I get why I’m going, but… Why you two?”

  She grinned then, and winked over at Kerry, who was nodding like that was the right thing to ask.

  Cindy had an actual answer.

  “I can get us to the right places and find all the names, in case anything has been missed. I can’t afford to have my brain read however, so… I had to leave anyway. Kerry… You know that one, right?” The woman kind of had everything on the base nailed down, spying as a hobby like she did. It kind of fit her personality.

  The thing was that Kerry, who’d lived her own life, hadn’t totally worked it out yet.

  Cooper nodded.

  “Yeah. She’s what, a class seven?”

  “Something like that? At least a solid six, not the four that the IPB has been claiming for you, Kerry. More to the point, you can vanish and do all the time, Penny. Kerry is in the dog house, so might just run, being all wimpy like she is and of course, awesome old me was drafted against my will. I have a pardon now, so walking away is legal and no one can really do anything about it. Except that, of course, Marcia doesn’t want a killer like me let loose on the world. We almost got Sinclair as well, but let’s face it, she’d be a liability. I might be one, outside of getting us into place and finding the right data. At least I should be hard enough to kill.”

  That was about all she had, so she waited, in case the others wanted to freak, or cry about what they had to do. Penny just worked out that they needed transportation and funds. Her plan for that involved felonies, but ones that she knew for a fact that she could get away with. She just hated to do that in the city the base was near. They needed to get at least four towns away. Also, they needed to move during banking hours.

  Kerry just took a breath, if a mental one and nodded.

  “I can kill, if I have to. These people… They want us all dead. We sort of have to do it, don’t we?”

  That got Cindy to shrug.

  “Not really. We could let them win. I just have a bit of a stake in this IPB thing now, so you know, I’d like to see how it turns out. I haven’t even gotten with most of the cute guys yet.” She grinned, since it was meant to needle Penny a bit. Mainly to keep thei
r minds off of things.

  Just behind her, to the right, Kerry sighed. It was a bit morose.

  “Tobin is going to leave me. This could take months. Years, maybe.”

  Penny was a bit annoyed by the words, but didn’t comment. Not for the reason that Cindy would have thought, either. It wasn’t about being locked on to the mission yet, since it was going to take her a while to really get up to speed that way. About a day or two. No, it was all about the fact that she wanted Tobin for herself. She had since before he’d changed even, but had never sealed the deal with him. Not even after she could make herself felt.

  She’d been kind of dating Lancaster for a while, who was a hunk, but like Cindy, she kind of felt that it was fair enough for her to have all the men, if she wanted. Even if she was still really shy. She needed to get her first mode removed, but hadn’t managed it yet. After all, it was hard to ask about it.

  Kerry went on, being a bit self-centered. Nice enough, in a simmering anger kind of way. That had pulled way back, but she was good at hiding things like that, most of the time. Even more so now that her mode was partially gone. Not totally yet. It would get better for her over time.

  “That bitch Christian is going to steal him. She probably already has.” She sounded so much like a grumpy little kid that Penny laughed at her.

  Cindy just shook her head.

  “Okay. Big reveal time. Chris is his mother. As in biological mommy. They’re hiding it to protect his Aunt, Nikki. She’s Infected, but can pass. It was Tobin’s idea, since it would be harder to do if she had two Infected relatives in her immediate family. He even turned down millions of dollars to do it. Enough that… Well you know, it wasn’t without cost for him. So, no, Christian Poures isn’t going to sleep with him.”

  That got a snort, but it wasn’t one of disbelief.

  Penny however chimed in.

  “It’s true. I mean I’ve known about that for a while now. They talk pretty regularly, and Chris isn’t the best about noticing me all the time. Even if she could.” She shifted her heavy pack, but didn’t complain about the weight. Even if having Cindy carry it made more sense, given their relative abilities.