“Sometimes I wish I could run away.” Helena was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. Her legs dangled over the side. “But I can’t. There’s no where in the world I could go. I’m trapped here.”
“Yeah,” Winnie replied.
Winnie sat beside Helena with her legs tucked under herself as best as her body-hugging dress would allow. Her cheeks burned from the bottle of vodka Helena had stashed under her bed. She could only imagine how dizzy Helena must feel. She must have take two shots for every one of Winnie’s. At least the bottle was empty.
“She wouldn’t even care that I ran away,” Helena continued. “She’d just hunt me down like a jaguar escaped from her zoo. As soon as I was home, she’d go right back to ignoring me. Except she’s not even ignoring me. She goes out of her way to avoid me. The only times she pretends to care are when she has some politician over for dinner and she needs to act like a human being. I can’t talk to her then because I have to put on a good face for the guests. As soon as the politicians are gone, so is she.”
“Yeah.”
“And what the fuck was her problem about tonight? Almost there, then something suddenly comes up. The wars are over. My mom owns the world. What could possibly be so important that she needed to backtrack all the way home? It’s not like she’s any closer to Nigeria now. She probably just blew whatever it was out of proportion. She was probably relieved when it came up. It’s bullshit.”
“Yeah.” If Winnie weren’t as drunk, she might be a better listener.
Helena sniffed. “What time is it?”
Winnie visualized the bedside clock in her dorm. “It’s after one.”
“I guess that’s… what? Ten o’clock at the charity?”
“I think so, yeah.”
“What are they doing?”
Winnie visualized. “The music is still playing, but it looks like a lot of guests have gone.”
“How much did the charity make?”
This took Winnie some scouting. She found the raffle ledger in the organizer’s room. It was closed, but that didn’t stop her anymore.
“About fourteen million.”
“Seriously?” Helena sat up. “That’s pathetic. It probably cost that much just to host the stupid thing.”
“Do you think it would have made a difference if we had decided to come late?”
“Of course not. We would have only gotten there, like, half an hour ago, and nobody cares about the queen’s daughter. My mom probably did all this on purpose to make that abundantly clear.”
“Yeah…,” said Winnie. Victoria obviously hadn’t. Whatever had come up had clearly been important. If Winnie were allowed, she would check Victoria to no doubt find her involved with some frantic situation. “It must be tough being her daughter. I wish I could help.” After weighing the idea, Winnie placed her hand on Helena’s shoulder.
Helena leaned into her until Winnie found herself hugging Helena. Helena sniffled. She leaned to fetch the Vodka bottle. It’s emptiness was another woe for her.
“Do you want to go steal some more?” Winnie asked. Against her orders, she checked the route to the restaurant on floor fifty. “It looks like nobody would stop us. Whatever’s going on has all the guards busy.”
“No, I don’t want to go downstairs.” She said despondently, but then her head lifted. “Let’s go upstairs instead.”
“To your mom’s suite?”
“To her office. I happen to know she keeps some gin in her desk. It’s her favorite bottle.”
“Your mom drinks?”
“A lot. Let’s do this. You know, since she’s so busy.”
Helena got up with surprising energy.
Winnie had little choice but to follow.
“…Wow,” Bishop said. Victoria had forgotten he was still on the line, watching the same feed as her, but her sentiment was the same.
That was fascinating. She wished she could rewind the surveillance footage to watch again. That man had deflected every single flechette. And here she was thinking his power was some nonsense about card playing or statistically significant luck, but if his power was that blatant… Good heavens, the things he should be able to do.
The sentinel might have failed, but learning that might have made it worthwhile. Josephine would soon discover that the armory was locked away. And that’s not to say that the sentinel was for nothing. It wounded Josephine. The Nigerian family wasn’t bothering to treat her wounds, but rather hoisting her along. Her head rocked from side to side, and when they found the armory locked, Josephine hardly reacted. She was barely conscious.
“Admiral,” she said.
Admiral Medina got back on the line. “Yes, ma’am?”
“I think it’s time to get your marines ready. The woman who was shot is the one who can erase memories. If she passes out, I want your men there.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You’re apprehending them, not hurting them. For her, all they need to do is put a bag over her head. If she can’t see someone, she can’t affect their mind. And I want the medical bay to prepare for her, because I will not have her die.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
On screen, the fugitives talked with one another. The surveillance had no audio. The urge to project her mind to right where they were was tantalizing, but impossible so long as Naema was there. The group turned to leave when Josephine halfheartedly pointed toward a supply locker. They carried here there and put her down. The others searched inside. The camera couldn’t see, but they took something. Naema showed it to Josephine, and Josephine nodded. Was it a crate? A case? Victoria couldn’t tell. Whatever it was, Tan tucked it into his pack before she could get a good look at it. The group headed off once again.
“What was that, Admiral? What did they take?”
“We don’t know, ma’am, but that was an equipment hold. Cleaning supplies and such.”
“They’re not going to clean the deck, Admiral. As soon as they’re out of there, have somebody find out what’s missing.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Victoria watched on…
The way Naema and her mother finally settled on carrying Josephine was between them. While her mother held Josephine’s shoulders, Naema held her by her thighs so her bleeding calfs were elevated above Josephine’s head. It was awkward, but in order for their plan to work, they had to act now before the Lakirans realized what they were up to.
There were other soldiers’ about now, which made encountering another sentinel unlikely, yet Tan peeked about each corner as they went.
Unfortunately, soldiers kept interfering, most trying to help. They argued with Tan that they were going the wrong direction for the medical bay. It wouldn’t be a problem, except that Josephine was having a harder time staying focused enough to wipe their memories.
Their trek through the corridors was blending together for her. Her collar was wet with sweat. Her head ached more and more. Each minute she noted more symptoms. By now, she could hardly close her fists. Her breath was coming out in huffs, as though her lungs were going limp to push out the air, and she was certain she would vomit soon.
They arrived back at the door leading up the bridge spire. Naema and her mother set Josephine down and her mother tended to her wounds. Using torn strips from Josephine’s ruined uniform, she created gauze and applied pressure.
Tan glanced around for cameras, then set up the tool they’d taken next to the wall beside the door. It was an inner wall—likely steel or aluminum. Perhaps he’d ruin some drill bits, but oh well.
Tan got to work. The screech of tearing metal was deafening. Hopefully this would be quick.
Victoria’s mind had been visualizing the bridge, and the drilling was reverberating up from several floors below. She’d had to watch as the executive officer informed the Admiral, and the Admiral to finally put his earpiece back in before she could speak to him.
“They took a power drill, ma’am,” said Admiral Medina.
“Then send someone downstairs right now and get everyone away from that door.”
Even after her command, he hesitated, as though he hadn’t yet realized the intruders’ amazingly obvious plan. He finally issued the order, but not before wasting time to say, “Yes, ma’am.”
The Admiral sent down Lieutenant Harris, a soldier who’d happened to be in the bridge when the spire locked down. From the bridge floor, he had to descend past the Admiral’s bridge, the strike room, the air operations room, a VIP deck, and the first wardroom to finally reach the staging floor of the operations spire. With each passing floor, the reverberating screech of the power tool grew louder.
On the staging floor, two guards were posted by the door. He could hardly hear himself think with the noise.
He approached the men. “Orders from the Admiral,” he yelled. “You’re to come upstairs immediately.”
“What, sir?”
“Come upstairs.”
“We’re on post.”
“What? No. Admiral’s calling you off. He wants you out of this room.” He gestured for them to follow him.
They motioned that they couldn’t hear him. “Sorry, sir. We can’t leave,” the other said. “Captain wants us to guard this door. No one passes.”
“The admiral is calling you up. Hurry your asses.”
“The admiral?”
“What?”
“What about the admiral?”
To Lieutenant Harris’s profound relief. The drilling stopped.
“The admiral is ordering you out of this room. Now move, soldiers.”
This time, they nodded and followed.
“Wait a moment,” someone said. “Don’t leave just yet.”
Harris glanced around for the voice. It sounded like a woman who was out of breath.
“Come back here,” she said.
Harris hesitated, as did the other guards. They were just going somewhere, but now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure where. Like walking into a room to fetch something and forgetting what it was.
“Who’s speaking?” he asked.
“I am,” the voice said. He looked, but did not see the small hole next to the door. It was no thicker than a pencil. “I’m… Captain Janice, and I need you to open the door.”
“The spire main door?”
“That one, yes.”
It was indeed closed, as was the side door by the auxiliary ladderwell. He knew they were closed, sealed too. But for the life of him, he couldn’t remember why.