Decision Made Read online

  She supposed it was better than taking the SATs, though. They’d been able to do some very cool stuff there, and she was prouder of much of it—saving the animals and defeating Gwyna—than she was of most of the things she had done in the “real” world.

  “What are you thinking about?” Jamie asked curiously. “You’re frowning.”

  “Do you ever feel like—” She broke off, unsure of her words. “Like it’ll be a disappointment to go back to the real world because we won’t make a difference there in the same way that—”

  “Yes,” he said emphatically.

  “Oh.” Normally, having someone empathize made her feel better. Today, it didn’t. “Okay, then.”

  She wasn’t keen to keep thinking about this and it was a relief when they came close enough to see the town in more detail.

  Everything was subtly different than what she had expected. After their first encounter in the town that was more a huddle of falling-down buildings than anything else, she had expected the rest of this world to be similar—dull, gray-brown, and lifeless.

  This settlement was hardly an example of magical architecture, but the buildings had been constructed with care. The roofs were curved, some with patterns in the roof tiles and most with exposed woodwork and carvings along the corner posts. Color came from the flowers and trees that surrounded almost every house. She could already smell the vegetable gardens’ unmistakable and slightly spicy tang. The low buzz of honeybees was softly rhythmic.

  Merely the sight of it relaxed her.

  Their appearance on the road, however, caused some alarm. The twins were too far away to see the faces of the villagers, but it was clear that they were freezing in their tracks when they saw the white horses—and then running to alert the other villagers.

  “Hopefully they don’t shoot on sight,” Jamie muttered.

  “We’re two people instead of six, walking the horses instead of riding them, and we’re not elves.” Taigan hoped she sounded more certain than she felt. “They’ll know we’re not a threat.”

  By the time they reached the edge of the village, few people were about. One—a middle-aged woman who was frankly stunning—watched them coolly from her doorway where she leaned against the frame with her arms folded. She smiled at the girl and disappeared inside her house without a word, seemingly content in the fact that the twins were not elven raiders.

  “I wonder who she was,” she murmured to Jamie.

  “Hmm?” He looked in the direction she indicated. “Oh. I missed it. I was busy looking there.” He pointed to where a large group of people emerged from a big building.

  “Crap,” she said.

  “No one has shot us yet,” he pointed out.

  “True.”

  They walked through the quiet streets, watched by people from their windows and doors, and attempted some smiles but didn’t receive many in return. Now that they were closer to the crowd of people, they could see that one of them in the front wore slightly nicer clothes than the others.

  “Hello,” he said to the twins when they came close. He did not say anything else.

  Taigan held one arm out and rolled her sleeve up to show the bruises from the fight. “A few hours ago, we encountered elven riders on the road. They told us they were collecting money that was owed to their king and tried to hurt us. We killed one of them—I think—and escaped with two of the horses.”

  There were few other reasons why two battered-looking humans would be there with some of the horses, and it seemed the villagers didn’t disbelieve them.

  Brother and sister looked at each other and he nodded to her.

  “We also found—in the saddlebags—some things they had stolen,” she told who she assumed was probably the mayor. “There were four other horses, so…it’s probably not everything. But if anyone had something stolen, they can describe it to me and I can look for it.”

  The villagers looked very surprised at this.

  “I take it you met them,” Jamie said.

  “We did.” The man sighed. “They held some of our children hostage to force us to give them our jewelry and coins. They let the children go, but we weren’t happy to see the horses return.”

  “If you’ve killed even one of them and stolen what they took, you’re welcome at the inn.” The speaker was a tall, large-boned woman with a hint of green to her skin. She didn’t look elven but she didn’t look entirely human either. “I can stable the horses and give you a room.” She narrowed her eyes at them. “Rooms?”

  “Yes, please,” they said at once.

  “Come along, then.” She held an arm out to usher them toward the big building and gave the others a quelling look. “All of you can wait until they’ve had food and rest and the doctor’s taken a look at them. Then we’ll get your belongings back.”

  She wouldn’t take any thanks as they followed her into the inn. Instead, she handed the horses off to two hostlers and brought them up to two small but comfortable rooms that overlooked the town square. Ewers of water and cloths were provided for them to wash with but they both declined the doctor, and she promised that a meal would be waiting downstairs whenever they were ready.

  When they arrived, however, it wasn’t merely lunch on the table. Instead, the mayor was there as well. He gave them a nod as they sat.

  “I hope you don’t take offense,” he told them, “but when two warriors appear out of nowhere with stolen horses after apparently defeating quite a dangerous foe, I think it is my business to learn a little more. After what these villagers have gone through, I want to keep them safe.”

  “That’s fair,” Taigan said. She looked at the table, where bread, cheese, and sausage were laid out, along with pickled vegetables and fruit. “What do you want to know about us?”

  “Where were you coming from?” The man took a sip of his beer as he waited for them to answer.

  “A little village.” She frowned. “I honestly…I don’t think we ever knew the name. It’s very small. The innkeeper’s wife is a good healer, although she doesn’t speak much of the language.”

  “Ah.” The mayor looked surprised now and a little wary. “And how are they, then?”

  “There were some—beasts.” She looked at her brother, who nodded for her to keep going. Quickly, she explained and tried not to leave anything out, only for the man to stare at the two of them with his jaw hanging open.

  “That was the two of you?”

  “Three, really—well, four. Us, another man, and an old woman who lived nearby.”

  He said nothing in response to this for a long time. He sipped his beer. “Gwyna…grew up here,” he said finally. “In Frogbend. We knew she was no good, but no one thought she’d ever become so powerful. We had word from the other town that some adventurers had killed her, but we didn’t know who they were—merely three adventurers, two who might be siblings and a third.”

  “Ben…had to go.” Taigan shrugged. “He did most of it. He pretended to be an apprentice and freed a half-elven slave who helped her—well, was forced to help. She didn’t want to.”

  “I see.” It was impossible to tell if he believed them.

  The siblings exchanged a glance and continued to eat. If they were thrown out for some reason, they wanted to have a full stomach, at least. Besides, the food was incredible. The bread was soft and crusty, the cheese sharp, and the sausage spicy and fragrant with garlic.

  “I wonder if you’d be willing to do something for me,” the mayor said at last. “It’s dangerous, I’ll be honest—or it likely is.”

  “What is it?” Jamie frowned, his tone wary.

  “My son.” The man hunched his shoulders and all the breath pushed out of him as if he’d been punched in the stomach. His face looked gray now. “He’s gone. He ran away to the Rylkor Mountains. We had thought he was traveling with a friend, and by the time we learned he’d gone somewhere else…well, it’s too late for us to go after him and we wouldn’t be safe on the roads. Not like you two.” He looked
hopefully at them.

  “I don’t think…” Taigan bit her lip. “We defeated Gwyna, yes, but that was with four of us. We almost died when the elves attacked.”

  “But you didn’t,” the mayor said urgently. “You escaped and you walked here.”

  She frowned as she considered that. It was true, she decided but remained silent.

  “What’s in the Rylkor Mountains?” Jamie asked. “Why did he go there? Or why do you think that’s where he is?”

  “It is. He wants…there’s a key.” The mayor looked at his mug of beer and so did not see their surprised expressions. “It’s an old story. Every grandmother has her own version, but at the top of the highest mountain, there’s supposed to be a key that will give you passage away from this world.”

  “Ah,” Taigan said, in what she hoped was a neutral tone.

  “None of us ever paid it much thought until a few months ago. There was a tournament in Insea—the city, you know—and the winner was awarded a key exactly like this one, apparently. He and his companion opened a door and disappeared.”

  Jamie frowned.

  “It’s probably not even real,” the mayor said and sounded frustrated. “But Esak latched onto it and wouldn’t stop talking about it. He’s not an adventurer at heart, he’s only…he’s always been sad. He’s never felt like he belonged and never wanted to be the mayor after me, or a healer, or a farmer, or anything. We found his letter a few days after he left. It told us that he would miss us but that he had to do this.” The man sounded broken. “He thinks he’s a disappointment to us, but he’s not. We love him so much. We need—please, you need to find him. You need to bring him home.”

  Taigan felt tears in her eyes and blinked them back. How often had she wanted to run away? Not from her parents but from the world where she never knew what might happen?

  “I…” Her voice trailed off. “I think I speak for both of us. We want to help you.”

  “We merely don’t know if we’re the right people,” Jamie finished.

  “There isn’t anyone else,” the man said. “I planned to send for someone from Heffog but the elves took everything. I can’t pay anyone, and no one would do it for free. I don’t know why you would, but you’re here.”

  She didn’t need to look at her brother to know what he was thinking. “We’ll help. Of course we’ll help.”

  Very deliberately, she didn’t mention that they might help by using the key instead of Esak.

  “Thank you.” The mayor looked like he might cry. “My wife will be so grateful. You have no idea what this means to us.”

  Taigan smiled slightly.

  “We might, actually,” Jamie said. “We’ve gone through considerable danger to find people we loved before. We know how it feels to be helpless.”

  She looked at him. For most of her life, she had thought she was the problem that needed to be fixed and she was the weight on her family. All along, though, it seemed like they had instead seen her as one of their allies against the real problem, which was the sickness. She didn’t think she could speak past the lump in her throat. She only smiled, nodded, and grasped her brother’s hand.

  Chapter Five

  It was 9:42AM when Gary Brooks reached Diatek’s headquarters. He liked to be early.

  After a few moments spent gazing at the edifice of glass and concrete, he strode inside. He carried a leather-bound folio and its contents would be meaningless to most people. All of it was public information, hardly privileged at all.

  But Gary Brooks wasn’t most people and neither were his employers.

  Nor, he reminded himself, was Anna Price.

  At the desk, he flashed his badge and received his first frustration of the day.

  “Thank you, Mr. Brooks.” The security guard was perfectly pleasant, although he seemed to take pleasure in the fact that he’d read Gary’s name when he clearly hadn’t been meant to. “Who are you here to see today?”

  “Anna Price,” he said curtly. His badge showed Top Secret clearance, and Diatek was a military contractor. He should be allowed into any part of this facility he wanted to see.

  The security guard, still with an infuriatingly pleasant smile on his face, flipped through several pieces of paper in a binder, then pulled another binder closer and checked that one. “I’m afraid I don’t have you on the schedule, sir. When was your appointment?”

  “I didn’t have one,” he said. “It’s an emergency.”

  “Certainly, sir,” the guard responded equably. Brooks began to relax but the man added, “I will call directly to Ms. Price’s office. Please, take a seat. Someone will be with you very shortly.”

  He did not leave. Instead he leaned on the counter and watched as the security guard called, explained the situation without a hint of insolence, and appeared to speak to Price. When he hung up, he smiled at Gary and handed him a badge. “This is for you, sir. Please proceed to the elevators on the far left and choose level E. You’ll need to swipe your badge for that. Ms. Price is looking forward to seeing you.”

  Gary said nothing as he stalked away. On the one hand, everything was resolved. He had an all-access badge and no escort and Price had rearranged her schedule to speak to him at the drop of a hat.

  But his element of surprise was ruined. He couldn’t walk into her office completely unexpected. Not only that, he didn’t like being questioned. More than a little disgruntled, he stood utterly still in the elevator as it climbed and stepped out at a brisk walk before the doors were all the way open.

  Price was speaking to her secretary when he arrived. She turned to look at him and smiled, and Gary had the sense that she remembered meeting him before—even though he had been a junior aide and no one special.

  “Mr. Brooks,” she said and she held out a hand to shake. “It’s good to see you again, although I am sorry to hear there’s an emergency. Kelly, please direct all urgent calls to Mr. Gower.”

  The secretary nodded, and the CEO showed her visitor into her office.

  Coffee and refreshments were set out, but she wasted no time offering them. She merely gestured to a chair, sat herself, and turned her full attention to him.

  “How can I help, Mr. Brooks?”

  He found himself paradoxically annoyed. It wasn’t an emergency and he had expected her to know that. He was bulldozing his way into her office because he could and because it showed who was in charge, and she was ruining the play by taking him at face value.

  Brooks took a moment to lean back in his chair and compose himself. She could wait. In fact, the longer she waited, the greater his advantage.

  “As you know,” he said finally, “there are several top-secret projects that stand open to any of our defense contractors. These are pre-cleared for eminent domain by the United States government.”

  She nodded seriously and he had to suppress another wave of annoyance.

  Hiding his irritation, he opened his folio, withdrew several of the pieces of paper, and presented them to her in order. “Over the past month, Diatek has established several holding companies and used them to file multiple patents.”

  She looked at the documents, then at him. When he said nothing, she smiled. “Go on, Mr. Brooks.”

  “Would you care to explain this?” he asked her. His blood pressure began to climb steadily.

  “Could you be more specific?” She still managed to project attentiveness and solemn interest without looking stressed at all.

  “Why were these filed?” Gary asked finally.

  The woman looked confused for a moment. “Different products and research are subject to different laws, and the sharing of information between some related enterprises is strictly forbidden. I have always thought it was most secure for these groups to operate under completely different companies and in different locations. Although the ‘firewall’ techniques of completely walled-off offices might be legally sufficient, I do not find it secure enough for my tastes.”

  He waited but nothing more was forthcoming.
“Good,” he said finally. “That’s good.”

  She smiled.

  His purpose returned with a burst of clarity. “And what do these companies do?”

  Price took a moment to organize the pieces of paper in front of her. “As you can see, Empirian will research regeneration techniques. While IFT has already had good results with limb regeneration, we believe we can find distinct ways to do so.” She set several pieces of paper aside and looked up. “If you want me to pause at any point to take notes, let me know.”

  Gary responded with a single shake of his head. She was mocking him. He was fairly certain of it but he couldn’t be sure.

  “Now, I don’t see Koratek here, but they will look at rerouting neural pathways as a boost for quick learning. And Hollin…” She pulled out the other pieces of paper. “They will delve deeper into machine-learning and other proto-AI technologies.” She smiled at him. “Everyone hopes to be the first.”

  “Yes.” Now they were getting to the crux of it, and Gary had no idea what to do with the fact that Price had brought it up first. “Have there been any developments?”

  “I hope so.” She gave him a conspiratorial smile. “I’ve made it a practice to not contact a new division for updates within the first month. To be serious, though, I think with something like this, we need to be patient. I fully expect development of AI to be something that takes a tremendous leap forward at some unexpected moment, and I simply don’t know when that will be. All we can do is put ourselves in the right place by hiring the best in the industry.”

  He waited, determined to let her be the first to speak this time.

  She was hiding something. He knew she was hiding something. Price had been strange for years, always with her interest in consciousness and brain rehabilitation, but the Department of Defense didn’t mind. That kind of research was vital.

  Something was different this time, though. These filings, these new companies all launched at one time and—apparently—with no expectation of quick results raised a flag in his mind. One, he could see, but two? Three? And this after they had recently acquired PIVOT. It was an interesting project and high profile, but there was no way it was profitable.