She was thinking it over, I was sure of it. “What have you got in mind? Since I assume you’re not calling me to let me know what you’re going to do just so I can write it up in a declaration of intent and frame it for you.”
“I don’t know what your penmanship looks like, but I would definitely be looking to outsource that work,” I said. I looked at my mom, who stared back at me with a look of annoyance that was all too familiar. I shrugged. Cracking wise was not something I was going to give up at this late stage in my life. “No, I’m calling you because I figured that as two people who have a common goal, i.e. kicking Century in the dangly parts, I figured we might be able to accomplish more together than individually.”
There was a long pause after that, and only her light breathing every few seconds convinced me that she hadn’t hung up out of hand. I wanted to give her time to think, but at the same time, I was wondering what was going on in her thought process. It felt like forever, but was probably only a few seconds before she came back with, “What did you have in mind? Specifically?”
“I’m planning to put a severe hurting on Century,” I said. “Soon. I could use a few more metas in my camp. Any chance you’d like to visit us here in Minnesota?”
She didn’t hesitate much this time around. “I was planning on heading south, but it’s just too damned hot in California. Going east sounds like a real good idea.” There was a hoarse amusement in the way she said it. “Strength in numbers, right?”
“Seems less intimidating when it’s not a hundred versus one, doesn’t it?” I asked.
There was a stark, humorless laugh. “Only marginally. Is this a number I can reach you on?”
“Yeah,” I said, and clutched the phone a little tighter. “It’s my direct line; it’ll find me, day or night, unless I’m in the middle of punching someone in the face at the time.”
“Then, from what I’ve heard about you, it’ll barely ever catch you at all?” Her voice was laced with irony.
“I’ve slowed down a lot lately,” I said. “Saving all my face punching for Sovereign and his crew, and they’ve yet to do much to present their chins for a solid hit.”
I heard her click her tongue. “True enough. We’ll be there in a few days, and maybe together we can find a way to change that up a little bit.” There was a clicking noise, and the line cut off. I set the phone gently back down in the cradle, running through everything I’d just heard. I looked around at my team, and found them staring back at me. Reed in particularly looked jaded about the whole exchange. “She came around pretty fast.”
“Not to sound cliché,” Reed said, “but anyone else think it was a little too fast? Especially considering she knows she’s killed government agents and that you’re working for said government.”
I chewed my lower lip. “Could be she’s just anxious because she feels the heat of Century’s breath coming down her neck. The enemy you know ...”
“Versus the one you don’t?” My mother spoke from behind me. “She might prefer the possibility of jail to the certainty of Century eventually killing her. It allows her to abdicate responsibility for keeping her group on the run.”
“Let’s not plan on her good graces,” I said, tapping my fingers on the desk. “J.J., any luck tracking her?”
“That’s a negatory,” J.J. said, shaking his head, still staring at his laptop screen. “I’ll dig a little deeper, but based on what I’m seeing here, I’m not even hopeful about giving you a location based on what tower she was using on the network. Which would be cheerfully vague, in any case, and several hours out of date by the time I ran it down.” He picked up his laptop and stood, heading toward the door. He paused next to Karthik, just as he was about to reach for the handle. “By the way, about that other thing I sent you ...” His voice trailed off. “I ... um ... sorry I couldn’t be more specific.”
I frowned. “What other thing?” I tried to remember if I’d gotten some email of consequence from him, but nothing was standing out.
“The tracking notice,” he said, looking at me blankly. “I sent it to Ariadne. I figured she would have forwarded it to you by now.” He pursed his lips, and looked very uncomfortable. “She probably hasn’t gotten to it yet. I just sent it an hour or so ago. Never mind.” He started to turn, but a look from me to Karthik caused a hand to be placed in front of the door, shutting it tight.