Ryan saw the world at a slant; his eyes open, his head hanging at an awkward tilt because the drug in the dermal patch on his neck prevented him from lifting it. The fiery afterimage of the helicopter crash glowed in his mind as he watched Axler and the others crouch in the cover of the jungle's undergrowth. Security forces from the clinic were scrambling across the open area and beginning to penetrate the thick greenery.
"Jane, how are you going to get us out?" Axler yelled, even though she was speaking through her internal communications. "They've hemmed us in. We can't get to the T-bird."
Just then Ryan heard the roar of an autocannon and the scream of jet engines as a Thunderbird blew into the space in front of them and mowed down the security forces. The Thunderbird was a huge vehicle, easily twice as large as the helo that had crashed a few minutes earlier. But the T-bird was an LAV, a low-altitude vehicle designed to move below radar. Meant for extended use in hostile territory, it was painted in camouflage greens and blacks and shaped like a bullet that had been flattened lengthwise. It floated on the thrust of six jets that pivoted independently.
And as it flew past, the trees brushing its belly, the autocannon blew the trees to splinters as it tried to close off the sec forces. The noise deafened Ryan, the destruction phenomenal. "Axler," came a voice. Ryan barely heard it through McFaren's audio headphones. "Axler, do you copy?"
"Dhin, is that you?" Axler said. "Where the frag have you been? Thought you'd bought the proverbial vatfarm when the helo went down."
The T-bird banked around for a final sweep of the security forces, which had scattered before its onslaught. "I switched to Plan B as scheduled. I was in the T-bird, rigging the helo by remote control," Dhin said. "But the explosion caused massive feedback in my vehicle control rig, and I lost communications for a minute."
"All right, cut the chat," Axler said, then she turned to Grind and McFaren. "You two ready?"
"Been ready for five minutes now," McFaren said. The human looked pale, barely able to stand as he concentrated on his magic. "I've never seen so much juju tossed about like it was nothing. Luckily, only two of the really powerful mages seem to care about us."
Grind just nodded, then lifted his arms as the T-bird descended, mowing down any remaining trees with its weapons. It took only fifteen or twenty seconds before it settled on a precarious mound of chunky pulp. Grind's metal arms were cold against Ryan's skin as the dwarf carried him up to the sliding side door and into the vehicle.
Then the door slammed shut, and Ryan was thrown against the corrugated metal floor as the T-bird lurched into the air. Grind's metal arms lifted him into a chair that faced away from the near wall, and the dwarf used his third arm to pull the safety harness over Ryan's shoulders, buckling him in as the vehicle accelerated away from the fight. Or at least Ryan assumed that was what it was doing as it swerved and dodged.
"Grind, get to the cupola and man the assault cannon," Axler yelled. "We're not in the clear yet."
But the black dwarf was already climbing into the rear compartment, strapping himself in and plugging his hands into the control panel. "On it, chica," he said.
That brought a quick glare from Axler.
The central chamber of the T-bird was snug, with four chairs along the walls facing in toward cargo tie-downs. Only McFaren sat in the chamber with Ryan. The mage was limp, his body held in the chair only by the straps of his safety harness. Axler was in the back with Grind. Ryan could see Axler's left side through the open compartment door as she sat at her console, and Grind's boots were visible on the
stem of the cupola's high chair. Dhin was in the cockpit that Ryan assumed was through the small door on his right.
"Incoming missile," came a synthesized voice over the speakers. "Ares Macrotechnology model CH45ET200A, Cheetah. Radar guidance with heat-seeking backup."
"We've been painted." Axler's voice.
"Activating stealth mode in two seconds," Dhin said through the speakers.
"Flare balloon ready," said Axler.
"Mark," said Dhin.
"Flare away. Jamming chaff away."
"Stealth mode engaged. We are running cool."
Ryan felt the T-bird slow, and it immediately grew warmer inside the compartment. Then an explosion broke his ears and rocked the T-bird around him. The straps dug into his shoulders as the vehicle shook, but it was all over in a few seconds and everything seemed to be intact.
"Yes!" cried Grind. "Dodged that fragger."
"Nice flying, Dhin," Axler said.
"They seem to be letting us go," Dhin said. "For the moment anyway."
The speakers filled with a new voice, one Ryan thought he recognized, "We won't give them the time to send aircraft. Fly straight to the Canal Zone. I should have new identification for you within the hour."
"Copy that, Jane-in-the-box."
"How's the cargo?"
Axler looked up from her console and glanced through the open compartment door to survey Ryan. "Alive, but he's been through some major drek, Jane. He's not himself. I had to dose him and carry him out."
There was a pause. Then, "I was afraid of that," Jane said. "I'll get a doc ready to scan him when you get in."
"Copy, we'll keep him safe."
The T-bird ran steady and smooth now. And after a few minutes of silence, Axler and Grind returned to sit in the central compartment with Ryan and McFaren. McFaren sat up, said, "We're being followed in the astral. I sent some spirits to slow them down, but it might be a problem." And without waiting for a response, he fell asleep.
Axler took the chair next to Ryan and pulled the derm
patch from Ryan's neck. "You should be able to move in a few minutes," she said. Then she removed some handcuffs from a black nylon bag on the wall, and she anchored his wrists and ankles to the chair.
Grind watched her, a pained expression on his ruggedly wrinkled face. "Is that really wise-"
A look from Axler stopped him. "Why didn't you want to come with us?" she asked.
Ryan found that he could move his mouth. "You know me?" he said.
Axler's hard shell softened slightly. "Yes," she said.
"How?"
"We've pulled some runs together. You don't remember?"
Ryan avoided answering that question. He didn't want to reveal any more than he had to. "What were you rescuing me from?" he asked.
"That information has not been made completely available to me," Axler said. "Jane only feeds us what we need to know. Better for us, better for her, I guess." Axler gave a little laugh and a smile settled into the hard lines on her face. "All I do know is that you were working undercover inside Aztechnology. I always thought you were a crazy fragger.
"A while back," Axler continued, "we extracted a research scientist from Fuchi and transferred him to the Azzies. The name of the target was T.W. Saint John-a genetic expert or some such drek. It was you, though we didn't know it at the time. We transported the body in a fake cryogenic chamber.
"Didn't learn that it was you until Jane filled us in yesterday, just before this run. I've pieced it together like this… Somehow you infiltrated Fuchi under the Saint John identity, probably replacing the real researcher. Then Jane hired us to get you out of Fuchi and into Aztechnology, and got the Azzies to pay handsomely for the whole run. She probably knew they already wanted Saint John, and chose that identity, merely tweaking the photos and records to make your cover believable. Jane can do some pretty fragging amazing things in the Matrix.
"Your cover must've been blown somehow, and the Azzies brought you down here to the delta clinic."
"How long ago was this transfer from Fuchi?"
"No more than three months."
"And you knew me before that?" "Yup. We go way back." Grind gave a harsh laugh at that. "What?"
"I can't believe you don't remember the night we…" Axler gave him a knowing smile.
"Really?" Ryan found her physically attractive, but she seemed too frosty to let anyone inside.
Axler shook her head. "No, just a stupid joke," she said. "But I'm not drekking you about going way back. We've known each other for over five years, which is a long, long time in this biz.
'The first time I met you," Axler went on, "you pulled me out of drek up to my Nikons. I was only nineteen. I'd been running for Jane two years already, and I thought I was invincible. But I let my emotions cloud my judgment, stopping to help a young kid.
"I wasn't going to stop at first, but he kept yelling for help. Screaming that he was dying. He was a fragging bystander, an innocent who'd caught a stray round, probably one of mine. The opposition was dead and backup was several minutes away. I had plenty of time to slap a patch on him."
Ryan watched Axler's fists tighten and her teeth clench together. "Or so I thought. The boy was an illusion designed to delay me while their security mage targeted my heart with his laser sight. A fragging Mossberg CMDT shotgun. Would have blown a fist-sized hole in my chest at that range. Except that you'd come with me. You saw the illusion for what it was and nailed the mage with a narco-dart. Saved my hoop."
Axler sighed. "It's funny, before the run I'd argued with Jane about letting you come along. I told her you'd be a liability. That I didn't need your help. McFaren and Dhin and I could handle it. Grind joined the team later.
"I didn't want to trust you, but now I know why you came. You came to evaluate and teach, working for whoever Jane works for. I don't know how or why, but after that run Jane started giving us higher-paying jobs. More dangerous, more intricate. And much more lucrative.
"Sometimes you would come along, and when you did, we all learned. You had combat skills we'd never seen before; you knew about infiltration and undercover work. You're
one of the best physical adepts I've ever worked with. You told us you followed the Silent Way, using magic for stealth and spying, disguise and behind-the-scenes operations. I must say it was a pleasure anytime you joined our team."
Ryan had been concentrating on Axler's story. It felt true, but he didn't remember it. the feeling was right, but the details were lost in his mind. So where are my physical adept abilities now that my memory is gone? he wondered. And who do I work for? Jane? And what about Thomas Roxborough? Where does he fit in?
What did they do to me at that clinic?
"I think we can trust him," said McFaren coming out of his "sleep." "He seems more confused than insincere." He winked at Ryan. "I've been watching your aura," he said. Then he turned to Axler. "Also, we've lost the mages who were following. Temporarily at least."
"Good," she said.
McFaren nodded, then his head fell against his chest again, though his breathing was different than before so that Ryan thought he might actually be sleeping this time.
"When can I speak with Jane-in-the-box?" Ryan asked.
Axler unlocked Ryan's cuffs. "Soon," she said. "She'll be sending a plane to our base. You're one of the only people I know of who has ever actually met Jane in person."
As if on cue, Jane's voice came over the speakers. "Got the codes," she said. "New identities everyone. Scan and commit to memory. You have approximately twelve minutes."
"Twelve minutes to what?" Ryan asked, directing his question to no one in particular.
"Border crossing," Axler said. "Out of Aztlan and into the Panama Canal Zone."
"Are they going to let us out?"
Axler smiled. "Doubtful," she said. "But Jane has a plan, I'm sure. Don't you, Jane?"
"Always," came the voice from the speakers. "And this one is particularly clever… but it's also tricky and complicated. Pay close attention."