Coded the connection sag.., p.29
CODED (The Connection Saga Book 1), page 29
Through my teary eyes, Zane fires a smaller version of the hand cannon at the drone. Instead of a pulse wave or bullet, it’s a streak of red flashing when it hits it. Iris vibrates like the time Amity was affected, sending an unwanted chill through my body. At the center of my being, I sense something is severely wrong.
“Ms…Young…” Amity says through interference.
Iris frantically glows on my wrist with warning signals.
“Virus…detected…”
The same thing from my extraction. A virus feeds through my systems. But when I rebooted Amity, I was prepared.
Expect nothing, prepare for anything.
The anti-virus triggers and makes the virus vanish.
“I see you’ve learned your lesson,” Zane says with a smirk.
I ignore him as relief starts to settle, but it’s instantly stripped away. A static surge shoots through the drone, and it moves away from me to hover above Zane’s shoulder.
“Now what are you going to do?” he asks with a devilish grin.
“Amity,” I say, “disengage.”
“Ms. Young, all functions have been restored by the anti-virus. However, there is no longer a connection to the drone.”
“That doesn’t make sense. It’s connected to you and Iris. How could—”
My voice trails as a thought reveals itself. It’s not mine. My mind quickly plays back to the moment Zane gave it to me.
I heard about your altercation at the estate and what you lost. Another gift from us.
He destroyed my drone, a gift from my parents, and tried to use his own to infect my systems again.
I struggle and get to my feet. The burning in my arm strengthens alongside my inner turmoil over losing my drone.
The alarms continue to blare with a menacing shriek as the red lights flicker.
“Don’t worry,” Zane says, “I won’t use it against you.”
He toggles a device from his pocket and connects it to the drone.
“Seek and destroy,” he says. “Find and kill Claire Hart.”
52
The drone soars beneath the surface of Black Web, disappearing through the burning crevasse created by the EA’s pulse rifle. Now, no longer in my control, it targets Claire, my aunt—the woman who saved my life and showed me a new one.
An electric current rips through my veins, making my mind go blank with rage, and everything in front of me becomes a target.
“Ms. Young,” Amity says.
I ignore the call, already on my way to Zane. His smile lingers from taking control of the drone, but not for long. From my peripheral vision, another ball of flame travels toward me. It spirals, with orange at its center and reddish-yellow waves flowing around it like a chaotic dance.
Ignoring the ache in my arm, I roll as the flame travels above me and crashes into one of the pillars. An explosion of black pollutes the air as Black Web trembles beneath my feet. Lifting to a crouch, several feet away from Zane, I throw my staff. The silver reverberates as it tracks toward him.
He dodges and it collides with the main door, releasing a sharp clang. The energy from the staff forms a crater in the door as Zane’s gaze returns to me. His jaw parts and eyes bulge. As he tries to regain his composure, my fist crashes into his jaw, sending his head sideways. He storms backward, hand to his mouth, blood dripping from the corners of his lips.
“Bitch!” he screams, charging me.
He throws a punch, and I sway. Using his momentum from the missed punch I push, forcing him off balance. Behind me, Eliza and Trace engage in hand to hand combat. With each strike the clone throws, an ember releases. Eliza flows through each, using speed and form to avoid them. It gives my mind freedom from the fire distraction.
Rumbling throughout the building continues. This building may not be made to withstand internal destruction.
With no time to ponder, I unsheathe a dagger hidden along my belt line. Remembering my failed accuracy of throwing my staff, I rush Zane. I slash once, testing his agility. I can tell he’s used to ranged combat. I pursue him, quick jabs targeting his chest, forcing backward movement. In the dark orbs of his eyes, terror forms as my dagger slices his forearm.
A clean strip of blood seeps through his sleeve, and I use the advantage to continue swinging the dagger in different motions. I flip the dagger to my opposite hand in a fluid motion, making his pupils dilate. I’m better. Faster and smarter. With my empty fist, his head rolls sideways. He stumbles, and I go for the kill, aiming the dagger toward his throat.
He somehow gets enough balance to stop me. We both hold the blade in place as we struggle for leverage. He gains enough strength to strike my ribcage with a blow from his knee. I stagger back, wincing at the pain. A punch lands to the side of my head, momentarily altering my vision. The taste of metal builds at the back of my mouth, making me queasy. In my moment of weakness, he recognizes it and continues striking.
Wild punches, landing against my body and face. I find myself falling to the ground from the onslaught. His boot slams into the exact spot his knee found my midsection. A snapping sound in my ribs shakes the entirety of my body. Blood spills from my mouth as I roll to the ground from the impact.
I reach for my dagger, now inches away as Zane’s boot comes down on my hand. A crunch in my wrist forces the screams I’ve been holding to escape. He kicks me onto my back and kneels, eyes glaring when he smiles.
“You’re lucky they want you alive,” he taunts. “Otherwise, you’d be dead.”
Slowly, with my free hand, I reach for another dagger.
“My mission is not you. It’s to kill Claire and annihilate this facility.”
I find a hilt and secure it in my hand, holding it tight.
“Your friends however…”
He looks away, toward Eliza. His brow furrows and takes over his face like a shadow, giving me an opportunity.
With all my strength, fueled by rage, I plunge the serrated blade into his boot. He bellows, screaming wildly as blood spits and spews from his foot. I push harder, forcing the blade to pierce the ground. Trapping him in place.
Alarms continue to sound like a haunting echo, increasing the ache in my head. I rise slowly, the severe pain at my side and jagged breath confirming broken ribs. I tower over Zane, peering into the black pools of his eyes. The eyes I want to drain of life.
“You fucking—”
My fist makes blood shoot out of his mouth. It causes me just as much pain from the movement. The agony in my ribs escalates and I find it harder to breathe. I ignore it and pick up my loose dagger. The weight is heavier from the fatigue I’ve endured during his assault on my body. I place the pointed tip at his neck. The tension in his throat makes me press harder, pricking the skin. Drawing blood.
“Recall…” I struggle through my breath. “The drone…”
He spits at my feet, and I immediately drive the blade into his shoulder. A scream, louder than the alarms surrounding us, rips through the air from the back of his throat. As he fights and screams to be released, I head toward the main door. I know he won’t recall the drone, which means Claire will die. But part of me believes that if he bleeds out, it’ll give him incentive to do so. If he doesn’t get medical treatment, he will also die. I retrieve my staff as his bellow continues. The familiar vibration rattles in my hand, new stored energy replacing what was lost earlier.
When I turn to walk back, I get a glimpse of the aftermath between Eliza and Trace’s clone. She lies face down, the clone doing the same a few feet away from her. Scorch marks litter the space as I scan. The silver which once shed light is now tainted with black ash. Seeing Eliza on the ground forms a pit in my stomach; I hope she isn’t dead. I want to help her, but my focus returns to Zane, and as the flame of anger flickers inside me, it prevents me from checking on her.
Stepping in front of him, I raise his chin with the edge of my staff. He flinches, half passed out from the blood loss. The weakness in his eyes reflects the damage of the two daggers as blood continues to spill out of him.
“I won’t…ask again,” I say.
“Fuck…you…”
I was wrong. He may be too far gone with the Enlightenment to care about living. I draw my staff back, the tungsten igniting the energy inside. And as I prepare to swing with all my might, the central elevator halts my forward movement.
“Wait!” Claire yells.
My eyes find hers, and I hold my breath when she says:
“We need him alive.”
53
Claire walks over to me and places a hand on my shoulder, instantly cooling the heat under my skin.
“It’s okay,” she says. “We need him to find where the Enlightenment resides.”
Beyond her, Eliza stirs.
Claire releases me, and I limp to her aid. Seeing Claire means the drone is having a hard time finding her. Given the size of Black Web, it makes sense. I fall to my knees next to Eliza and caress her body. The welted burns along her arms and legs make me wish it were me who’d fought the clone. Her eyes blink open softly, and I smile at the simple fact she is alive. She tries to sit up, wincing with every movement.
“Shhh. You’re okay,” I whisper, moving my hand through her ash-filled hair.
Trace’s clone lies across from us and I can’t tell if it’s dead or not. Hopefully the former. Seeing Trace without it being him stabs a knife in me I desperately want to go away.
Claire kneels and looks Zane in the eyes. His head swivels sideways toward me with a blood-stained grin. My mind races to find an answer to the sinister gesture as Eliza rises to a seated position, also staring at me.
“What’s wrong?” she asks softly.
I don’t answer as Claire’s gaze also finds me.
“You should have killed me, new girl,” Zane announces.
He quickly flicks the device he used to control the drone.
“No,” I whisper.
I move as fast as I can, but my ribs hold me back, slowing my movement. A familiar buzzing sound reaches my ears.
Oh no.
My heart stammers and my breathing stalls.
“What’s going on?” Claire asks, standing straight.
Through the crevasse it vanished through, the drone hovers behind Claire.
“Amity!” I shout. “Shut it down!”
“There’s no control of the drone, Ms. Young.”
I panic and frantically check my suit for another EMP, but I find nothing to help. Claire doesn’t see the drone as she looks me in the eyes. The whirling of the gun attached to the drone ignites, and bullets pierce her back. Blood stains the front of her white-collared shirt, red spilling from her mouth as she falls to her knees. She lingers for a moment before hitting the ground with a thud.
Then, the drone aims at me. As the guns charge, a snap of wind shoots past me, and the drone shatters. It rains down in pieces, and I turn to see Eliza. An orb returns to her hand as Claire coughs.
Adrenaline evaporates my pain, and I sprint to her side.
“No, no, no,” I say. “Please…stay with me…”
Tears rush out of me as I sob. Claire wheezes. Blood streams down her face, staining the pure pale. I lift her head and gently rest it on my thigh. Visions of my mother flash in place of her. My chest grows tight. It’s as if I’m witnessing the death of them both.
Another broken promise.
Memories play in my mind. From the first meeting at the diner, the video she shared of me as a child, her gift—Iris—the love and care she displayed from the very beginning. It all makes me suffocate under the longing in my heart for family.
She takes my hand, and my gut wrenches at the faintness of her heartbeat.
“Cy…bourne…” She coughs. “You…have to…find it.” Her hand grips mine harder. “Thank…you.” More blood, thicker and darker spurts out as she shakes.
“For staying alive…until I could find you… Your parents…would be proud… I’m proud.”
Eliza falls next to me, and Claire looks at her with a smile. “Take…care…of…Rae…” A final breath escapes when she tries to finish, and her hand slips out of mine. The blank stare in her mossy-colored eyes releases the sobs I’ve been choking back.
From behind me, Zane stirs. He grips the hilt of the dagger I buried in his boot and yanks with all his might. The dagger flies free as he screams. Eliza tries to rise, but a bullet from his hand cannon pierces her and she falls.
Blood and bile rise within me, splattering across the floor as my body convulses from internal pain.
“Ms. Young,” Amity says, “your vitals are failing.”
My broken ribs must be the cause. With my adrenaline gone, the pain in my core erupts. Sharp, burning aches cause me to fold.
Then the main door of Black Web opens, stopping Zane’s movement toward me.
“Why are you here?” Zane says, “I thought—”
My eyes blur.
Fixing my gaze, the silver-haired figure holds Ezra by his collar with an iron grip. They toss him to the floor as the doors shut behind them.
Zane turns back to me and aims the hand cannon as the convulsions continue. My mind goes in and out of blackness as I quiver beneath the pain in my gut. The memories of my parents flood inside me with everyone I ever cared for.
Zane’s weapon fires, and my eyes close.
I reopen them, and his face grows pale as he looks to his chest. A blade extends through it, blood dripping off the tip.
It retracts, and he falls dead beside me.
Through my fading gaze, I find silver eyes peering down at me. The internal throbbing intensifies, and I lose consciousness.
“Ms. Young.” Amity’s voice breaks the fog.
My coherence comes back but quickly dips, and through my hazy vision, the person is gone, and my mother appears.
“Ariadne,” a voice says.
I lie on the cold marble floor. Eliza is unconscious next to me, beside Zane’s and Claire’s bodies.
Everything else around me is blurred, as if I’ve been drugged. My movements are slow and groggy.
“Aria.” My nickname travels through the haze.
The voice becomes clearer. Delicate and smooth, a voice I could never forget.
“Mom?” I ask.
Footsteps echo and through the short distance my vision can travel, my mother stands.
“Mom?” I repeat shakily.
“Hi sweetheart,” she says.
Her dark wavy hair frames her slender face. Her eyes slant from the smile stretched across it.
“What’s happening?” I ask. “Where am I?”
“Ms. Young,” Amity says. “Ms. Young.”
My mother tilts her head and kneels to lift my chin.
“Remember,” she says, “everything is connected.”
Iris glows, taking away my attention, and sends an electric shock through my veins. I scream as my body vibrates and the shock returns. I fall limp to the ground, unaware of what’s happening.
“Ms. Young,” Amity calls again.
I try to respond but can’t.
Iris charges again, and I shut my eyes, tensing to endure the incoming shock.
I jolt awake with a deep inhale, causing me to choke. The pains from my ribs ignite but are dulled. Metal lingers on my tongue as I cough, spewing blood.
“Breathe, Ms. Young,” Amity says. “Breathe.”
My vision comes into focus, and I find I’m inside a pod. My heart thuds from not knowing where I am.
“What’s happening?” I ask.
“You’re going to the recovery ward, Ms. Young.”
“Why?”
“An emergency embedded in my system was triggered to keep you alive, the same one that activated when you were in captivity. Combined with the emergency update that Zoe applied to Iris, you’re stable. You’re being taken to see her now.”
The beats of my heart subside at the knowledge I haven’t been captured, but the pain from fractured ribs returns with greater force, blocking my thinking. I shake from the sharpness erupting through my nerves.
Through the pain, my mother flashes in my head. I saw her. Or did I? It’s hard to tell if I was dreaming, hallucinating, or if it really happened. Maybe the agony I’m in triggered my deepest wants.
“Amity, I saw her,” I say.
“I know, Ms. Young.”
So I’m not crazy.
“Dexter created a kickback, or essentially, a way for you to return from death.”
“I died…” I can’t bring myself to believe it.
“Almost, Ms. Young. But you may have seen Adalina during the small window when your brain signal was failing. She indeed was there, but only mentally. The voice you heard was mine. Your distress caused you to see your mother.”
“She—you said everything is connected,” I struggle to say.
“Yes, a coded message from Adalina.”
“What does it mean?”
“Do you remember the data chip from the pen Adalina left with Claire?”
“Yes.”
“The data transfer in your home also implanted my purpose for you, Ms. Young. Did you ever consider why I’m called Amity?”
“I never had a reason to ask.”
“In its plainest form, it means peace, friendship, and understanding. However, your parents’ creation means A Mind Interconnected Through the Years. I was originally a prototype, created to connect them to others in different Areas and sectors. A beacon that channeled hidden connections. It’s how they remained under the radar for so long. Working against the Enlightenment.”
“Everything is connected,” I whisper.
“Precisely.”
Amity has been the connection from the beginning. Originally serving as a communication outlet, it now serves me with the same power to guide me in my quest to avenge my parents.
My pod continues as the revelations play in my head. All white above glares through the glass encasing. Water splashes and creates a mist, letting me know we have entered Zoe’s lab.
“But Amity, why tell me this now?”
“I suppose the connection I have with you only allowed me access to this once it was activated. This information was inside me, but inaccessible and unknown. Yet another encryption left behind by Adalina. However, this wasn’t something for you to decrypt. It was all a cause and effect. The data chip giving my system the update, and the moment of you almost dying, gave the equation to unlock what she wanted to say.”
