Nexus

36 COMPANY

Kade dreamed Sam's memories. He was fourteen, wrapped in a blanket by the man who'd jumped with him from a thirdfloor window, watching the hell he'd lived in for the last six years burn to the ground. He was a young teen, growing up in a strange new world. He'd known exactly what he wanted to be, from the moment his old life had ended. He wanted to be one of the ones to fight the bad guys, to save the little girls from the fires.

He was eighteen, at the academy for the newly created ERD, his mentor a man named Nakamura, the very same agent who'd carried him out of the burning wreck of the ranch; his instructors teaching him to fight, to think, to survive. He was twenty-one, the year he'd spent in a seemingly endless round of surgeries and gene therapies, turning him into a weapon against evil. He was twenty-three, alone on the shores of the Caspian, the lone survivor of a mission that had destroyed a bioterror lab, but at huge cost to his team… He was twenty-seven, assigned suddenly to infiltrate a Nexus ring in San Francisco… He was in Bangkok. He'd met a girl. An amazing, magical little girl…

Someone was shaking him. He brought his arm around to trap the hand, didn't actually know how, flailed ineffectually instead.

"Kade!" It was a whisper, a man's voice. He was Kade. That's right. Kade. Not Sam.

"Kade, wake up!" Loesan. That's who it was. "There's someone here to see you!"

Kade struggled to open his eyes. It was so early… They'd barely slept for an hour. Loesan's mind vibrated with excitement. Something big was happening. Someone important was here.

"Wha'?" Kade managed to mumble.

"Come on, get up," Loesan whispered. "You're going to like this!"

Kade blinked again, tried to wake himself up. Sam mumbled something against his arm. He looked over at her, her hair tousled, her face vulnerable and younger than he'd ever seen it before. He felt a wave of tenderness. It confused him. Time for that later.

He slowly extricated himself from her sleepy embrace, sat up, blinked some more. "OK, OK. I'm up."

Kade followed Loesan out of the tiny guest room, down the hall, into the living room. The very faintest hint of pre-dawn light showed through the windows. Two dim lamps were on inside. Most of the people from last night were sprawled out on couches or on the floor under blankets, asleep.

Shit, we snagged the best room, he thought. That was rude.

Old Niran sat cross-legged in front of the altar, meditating, feeling content and serene. Narong and Suk were awake. Suk radiated alarm and surprise. Narong was staring at someone, getting up on his feet, walking towards the person just out of Kade's sight.

Kade stepped further into the living room, turned his head to see what Narong was looking at. There were three huge Thai men in overcoats in the room. They screamed bodyguard. Between them was another Thai man, tall, ramrod straight in his posture, grey hair at his temples, a fancy ring on one hand, a confident smile on his lips. He stepped forward towards Kade, extended his hand in greeting.

"Hello. My name is Ted Prat-Nung. I hear I have a lot to learn from you."

Oh no. Oh god no.

Oh, fucking hell.

Sam smiled contentedly, still half asleep. This had been so nice… She'd dreamt she was Kade through the night, had been the geeky shy boy of his youth, had lived through his discovery of science, of psychedelics, experienced his intense, restless curiosity firsthand, had lived through his and Rangan's first experiences with Nexus, the late night talks and experiments that had led to the discovery that the Nexus core could be programmed… It had felt so sweet and safe. The constant love of family and friends, a life in a world where curiosity and wonder were the drivers, not pain or fear or justice. What a sweet, gentle life… The only pain that of the loss of his parents in a crash, so suddenly, so recently…

She reached out to touch him, to hold him, found only mattress. Hmmm. Where could he…?

Something was flashing at her. Her contacts. Another message. What was it?

It was flashing red.

COMBAT IMMINENT.

Sam was fully awake in an instant. There. Tactical displays. Agents converging on front and rear, tranq loads active, lethal loads as backup. A high-value target just meters from her. Ted fucking Prat-Nung. They were coming in. They'd be here in seconds.

Cold fear gripped her. No! The civilians here! Mai!

She flicked her sight, hit ABORT, ABORT, ABORT. Looked for the damn menu item, there, CIVILIANS AT RISK, CIVILIANS AT RISK, ABORT, ABORT, ABORT.

Someone overrode her. They were coming in. Fuck.

• • • •

Garret Nichols gripped the sides of his chair as the Boca Raton rocked in the swells. They were in high seas, slowly maneuvering to stay clear of a pair of Thai Kolkata class destroyers on patrol. Rough conditions were expected for the next few hours.

Nichols, Jane Kim, and Bruce Williams studied the newcomers on the screen in the cramped control room. The tiny omnidirectional camera in the apartment was crap in low light. Three of the figures were large, bulky, hired muscle of some kind. The fourth…

"Holy shit," Bruce Williams whispered. Image amplification techniques on his terminal had just pulled up a match. That fourth figure, at a fifty-four percent probability, was none other than Ted Prat-Nung.

Nichols stared at the screen for a split second, dumbfounded, then began yelling out orders.

"Code Red, Code Red. Teams A and B to containment positions. Team C to reserve. Places, people!"

"Roger that," Williams replied.

Nichols jammed on the key to page Becker, yelled out another question. "Status on the November asset."

"He's asleep, sir," Jane Kim replied.

"Get him up. Eyes on Target Four. Prep for target capture."

"Roger that."

Becker's face appeared in a window. "Status," he ordered.

"We may have Ted Prat-Nung in the room," Nichols replied. "Moving our assets into capture position."

Becker blinked in surprise.

"Odds now sixty-three percent," Williams said.

"November-1 is on his feet," Kim reported. "Moving into position."

"Lane just walked in the room," Williams said, tension in his voice. Tactical display showed his position. Cataranes was a few meters further away.

"Abort signal from Blackbird!" Williams called out. "Civilians in harm's way."

"Override that," Becker ordered. "We know there are civilians there. This is capture, not kill."

Nichols nodded. Williams stabbed a key at his console.

"November-1 is almost in position," Kim said.

"Fireteams A and B still a few seconds from ready," Williams said.

The speaker crackled: "My name is Ted Prat-Nung."

"That's it," Nichols said. "We've got him."

"November-1 is in position," Kim said.

Nichols glanced at the screen with Becker's face. Becker nodded.

"Fireteams hold at ready," Nichols commanded. "Jane – initiate capture with November-1."