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  “Then she’s a Hex,” the Countess stated definitively.

  “It would appear so,” Raven agreed, not entirely willing to concede the point.

  “And what about you?” the Countess asked. “Your brother told me on our first meeting that you were a hacker. Are you a Hex as well?”

  “If I was I would hardly admit it,” Raven pointed out.

  “I imagine not,” the Countess agreed. “And it would be bad for business if my clients lost faith in my discretion.” She waited for Raven’s nod of assent before continuing. “However, this development does entail that your backup is equally discreet. That means a higher fee and I can’t guarantee they’ll agree to this kind of work. Not all of my contacts would be sanguine about breaking into a CPS facility to rescue a Hex.”

  • • •

  Ali was lying on the hard hospital bed trying to think. Ever since she had parted from Luciel she had been trying to work out what to do and how Rachel’s death would affect the group. But her mind had been a confusion of impressions and ideas, and thinking was difficult in the abattoir-like laboratory. She felt almost able to see the mutilated children behind the walls in the rooms on her corridor, the other corridors on that floor, and all the others who had ever occupied the laboratory, no matter how briefly.

  On the small table lay the remains of the food tray that had been brought to her late that afternoon. Two uniformed operatives had wheeled trolleys down the hallway, ordering children out of their rooms to collect their trays. A scientist, following behind, had adjusted the intravenous feeding-tubes of those confined to their beds. Ali had accepted her tray obediently, but hadn’t been able to stomach more than a few mouthfuls of the tasteless substances that passed for food.

  With a sigh, Ali sat up. She was getting nowhere trying to work this out on her own. Cautiously, almost furtively she moved to the door of her room on silent bare feet. There was no one outside. She shut the door, wishing there was some way to cover the see-through opening, and returned to the bed. This time she lay on her stomach so no one looking in would be able to see her face. Then, hoping that this would work, she whispered:

  “Raven?”

  There was no answer. Ali felt like crying. Digging her nails hard into the palms of her hands, using the pain to block out her despair, she tried again. It was almost like praying, she thought hysterically, as she whispered Raven’s name into the silence of her room. Trying to contact someone who might not be listening.

  “Raven, can you hear me?” Ali was losing hope. “Raven, if you’re there, please answer me . . . please . . .”

  “I can hear you. What’s happening?” a cool voice answered and Ali felt almost numb with relief.

  “I need to talk to you,” she said quickly. “A lot’s happened.”

  “I’m here,” Raven told her, “and there’s nothing that requires my immediate attention elsewhere. So, why do you feel this sudden need for conversation?”

  “It’s horrible here,” Ali said, but strangely, the sound of Raven’s voice, unchanged and slightly sarcastic, was comforting. It reassured her that there was a world outside the laboratory and that she was still in contact with it.

  “What do you mean by ‘horrible’?” Raven asked slowly.

  “The scientists have been performing the most gruesome experiments on people,” Ali said. “There’s a boy who’s had all his nerves destroyed. He can only move by sending electrical impulses to the machinery they’ve strapped around his body, and Luciel gets injected with drugs all the time, to try to block the parts of his brain that make him a Hex, and. . .”

  “Cool it, Ali,” Raven said suddenly. “You sound hysterical. Get it together.”

  “Don’t tell me that,” Ali gasped. “You’re not the one who’s stuck here. How can I be calm? They could be coming to get me any time!”

  “They haven’t even processed your test results yet,” Raven said firmly.

  “How do you know that?” Ali demanded. “I thought you couldn’t even contact the computer system here.”

  “I still can’t,” Raven said. “But I listened in while you were examined this morning, and the scientists said that when your results had been processed a death certificate would be sent to your father. Well, he hasn’t been notified yet—I’ve checked his terminal—and even when he has been you have at least one more set of tests to go.” She waited for a while for Ali to regain control of herself. “Now, are you calm?” she asked.

  “I’m calm,” Ali replied, with a little irritation. “Now will you listen to me?”

  “I’m listening,” Raven said with exaggerated patience and Ali launched into an account of the day’s events.

  Raven listened in silence for a while—at least Ali presumed she was still listening—but when it came to the reference to memory experiments she interrupted, insisting that Ali recount the conversation in more detail. Unwillingly, Ali told her everything that Tom had said about the only survivors of the experiments. When she had finished there was a long silence.

  “Are you still there?” she asked, somewhat dubiously.

  “Yes, I’m still here,” Raven replied. “Shut up and let me think.”

  “OK, OK,” Ali told her and waited.

  “What were their names?” Raven said eventually.

  “The kids in the memory experiments?” Ali asked. “I told you that.”

  “Tell me again,” Raven insisted. “Their names.”

  “I think Tom said they were called Mikhail, Esther, and Revenge,” Ali said. “I can check with him, though.”

  “No, there’s no need,” Raven said. “But I want you to try and see them.”

  “It won’t do any good,” Ali protested. “Luciel agreed with Tom—they wouldn’t remember anything about Rachel.”

  “Ali, go and see them,” Raven ordered.

  “Why?” Ali objected.

  “Because I have a . . . a hunch,” Raven said, almost uncertainly. “Look, Ali, just do it, OK?”

  “What’s your hunch?” Ali asked, but Raven was obdurate.

  “I can’t tell you, not yet,” she insisted. “But see them as soon as you can. I’ll be listening in.”

  • • •

  Wraith and Kez were in the gigantic foyer of the Countess’s building, attempting to load the customized flitter that the Countess had provided them with. It was large enough to hold six people as well as the equipment they would need. But the loading was proving difficult as they were forced to work around Raven, who had already seated herself in the back of the vehicle and alternated between staring into space and suddenly turning to glare at them when they inadvertently interrupted her. Wraith was also trying to keep a look out for the backup the Countess had arranged for them. She had agreed to provide them with three of her own guards, although the price had been high, but had only said that they would be available shortly.

  Wraith was keen to get moving. He wanted to break into the laboratory as soon as possible, ending the anxiety he felt for Ali as well as Rachel. But Raven, despite her suggestion that they get into position, had refused to provide him with any progress reports on her connection with Ali. He loaded the last case of munitions into the back of the flitter, stacking it carefully so it wouldn’t come loose when they took off. Raven was drumming her fingers impatiently on another case, no longer locked into her transceiver link. When he had finished checking the gear, he crossed to sit opposite her.

  “How’s it going?” he asked.

  “It’s difficult to keep the link without access to the net,” she told him. “Where’s Kez?”

  “Just outside,” he replied. “Do you need him?”

  “Not yet.” Raven was frowning. “But he’ll have to pilot the flitter, unless one of the people you’ve hired can. If there’s an emergency I might not be able to and you certainly can’t.”

  Wraith ignored the aspersion.

  “What has Ali said?” he asked. “Has she found Rachel?”

  “Not yet.” Raven gave him an
odd look. “Don’t ask me anything more, Wraith. I’m trying to think.”

  Wraith gave up the attempt to get anything out of Raven and left the flitter. Kez was outside, looking almost ready to run. In front of him stood three men, all in blue and gold gang colors, looking at him rather contemptuously. As Wraith appeared, the tallest turned to look at him.

  “You’re Wraith?” he asked belligerently.

  “Yes,” Wraith said coolly, adopting a confident stance; he could sense that this was going to be difficult.

  “Melek,” the ganger told him, then gestured to his two companions. “They’re Finn and Jeeva.” Finn only jerked his head at Wraith, but Jeeva took his hand in a firm grip. Wraith took a moment to consider his new companions. They were dressed much as the Countess’s other guards, but gang motifs glared from their militaristic clothing and all three had braided hair dyed a dark blue and strung with metallic beads.

  “This should be a simple retrieval operation,” Wraith said, watching the gangers closely for any negative reaction. “But the place we’re going up against will probably have some heavy security.”

  “The Countess said you’re breaking into a government lab,” Melek said. “No matter what kind of weaponry you’re packing, four of us won’t be enough people for that kind of op. The security will be too heavy.” He paused for a moment before adding: “But I can bring some more people in . . .”

  “No.” Wraith cut him off and saw Melek’s immediate glare echoed by his companions. He couldn’t back down; the last thing he wanted was to have his operation taken over by gangers, but he didn’t want to antagonize the people he would have to work with either. While he was considering his next move, Kez provided a distraction.

  “What about me?” he demanded. “I’ll be there too.”

  “Keep out of this, kid,” Melek drawled dismissively, but Finn was more vocal.

  “Stick to what you know,” he sneered, looking Kez over deliberately. “You couldn’t use our kind of weaponry.” He grinned and Kez flushed angrily, his fists clenching.

  “Leave it, Kez,” Wraith warned, not wanting to get into a confrontation on this subject. In all honesty, he had his own doubts about Kez’s presence. He trusted the boy, but Kez had no experience at this kind of operation, and he couldn’t blame the gangers for considering him a liability.

  Unfortunately, Kez looked angry enough to press the issue and Wraith tried to change tack by switching back to the original discussion.

  “Bringing more people in would be a mistake,” he said swiftly. “I don’t plan to launch a full-scale attack on the place. It’d take an army to succeed that way. I want to make a low-level run, compromising the outer perimeter of security. Once we’re in we’ll hack into the security system to nullify any additional threat.”

  “You’re taking a risk,” Melek said dubiously. “It’d take an electric hacker to break into a strange system and screw with it before we’re burned by security.”

  “Raven can do it,” Wraith assured them, but Finn was already shaking his head.

  “No way we should run with this, till we’ve seen what he’s got, Mel,” he said brusquely. “I’m not getting flatlined because his hacker screwed up, and we couldn’t pull out in time.”

  “I’ll go with that,” the other ganger added and Melek turned to Wraith with a mocking smile.

  “You heard my brothers,” he challenged. “We want to see what your hacker’s got before we go with you.”

  “That wasn’t the deal,” Wraith objected.

  “It is now,” Melek told him, and waited.

  • • •

  The sound of raised voices distracted Raven; it was a niggling itch in the back of her head that disrupted her already fragile connection with Ali’s transceiver. Annoyed at the reminder that her abilities were not as far-ranging as she might wish, she abandoned the link and got to her feet, emerging from the flitter just in time to hear Melek declare the change in plans.

  She noticed with satisfaction that Kez blanched as she jumped down from the vehicle to join the group. She was in a sufficiently bad mood to welcome an argument and it seemed that one was in the cards. Ignoring the presence of the strangers she spoke directly to Wraith.

  “How long are we going to hang about here?” she demanded. “I want us to be in position by 1900 this evening. Let’s get going.”

  “We may have a problem here, Raven . . . ,” Wraith began slowly but was interrupted.

  “This is your hacker?” Melek demanded incredulously, turning to look Raven over carefully. Raven returned the look, stare for stare, and registered at the back of her mind that both Wraith and Kez took a step backward as the tension built. She was always ready for a confrontation. Wary of the fact that she had no reputation in England, she had prepared herself for this. The black-eyed stare that Ali had found so disconcerting was not an untried tactic, and it was one with a high success rate. Raven didn’t just look at the ganger, she looked through him. And as her gaze washed over him like ice-cold water she filled it with everything she had discovered about him over the network. The gangers were hardly inconspicuous and all three had criminal records of impressive length; another conviction would be enough to get any of them a long custody sentence. But Raven had pulled out more data than that. She knew about their drug habits, their squats, she even knew about their families, and she held that knowledge in her eyes as she looked at them. She heard Finn and Jeeva mirror Wraith and Kez’s retreat, stepping away from that stare. But she held Melek’s gaze, pressing for that extra advantage, waiting for the right psychological moment.

  Then it came, a brief flicker, and the ganger’s gaze left hers, unable to hold it any longer. Raven allowed herself a slight smile before she spoke.

  “I’m the hacker,” she agreed. “And you need have no doubts about my abilities.” She let the statement hang in the air, waiting for their response. Finn’s came first, a muttered aside to Jeeva:

  “Freakin’ skitzo . . .”

  But Melek was more controlled, knowing that he had to preserve his confidence or lose the respect of his subordinates.

  “You’re confident enough,” he shrugged. “But that don’t count for nothing when the Seccies are on your tail.”

  “I’m confident with reason,” Raven said coldly. Then, having displayed enough ice to alarm them, she allowed herself to relax. “And I’m good enough to wipe you from the Seccie records. . . .” She grinned at their widened eyes. “That’s the payoff,” she added. “As well as the creds, I’ll clean you off the system. Make you invisible.”

  She didn’t wait for Melek’s nod. Agreement was a foregone conclusion, the offer irresistible. As the gangers shook hands with Wraith to clinch the deal, she headed for the flitter’s controls. Kez seated himself beside her in the front.

  “You’re not scared of anything, are you?” he said in a low voice. Raven glanced at him as she powered up the craft. She could have told him how she felt about where they were heading, the reasons why she didn’t like to think about the laboratory where Ali was trapped. Her fingers flew over the computer unit that formed part of the control panel, her mind sinking into the technology as she renewed the link with Ali.

  “No, I’m not,” she lied.

  • • •

  Ali felt sick.

  Luciel had been unwilling to show her the three surviving victims of the memory experiments but she had insisted, impelled by Raven’s insistence that it was important for her to locate them. Now she believed that Luciel had been right and Raven wrong. These children would not be able to tell her anything about Rachel.

  Tom had joined them as well, although he was as morose as ever. Ali suspected he had agreed to accompany them simply because she provided a diversion. But she was relieved that he had chosen to come. The three survivors were housed on another floor of the facility and it was obvious that Luciel became increasingly nervous the further away from his room he was. The elevator had two panels. One with option settings for three floors
, the other covered with a metal plate with a keylock rather than a computer-coded locking device. Tom had noticed her looking and shrugged.

  “Access to the rest of the facility is restricted,” he told her. “And they don’t want to risk any of us getting computer access. That’s why they use outdated recording methods most of the time. You’ve probably noticed that they take down test results on paper.”

  Ali had nodded, thinking silently that the computer room—that Raven had claimed existed—was probably on one of those restricted floors. The floor the elevator took them to was almost identical to the one they had left. The only real difference was the nature of the test subjects. Almost all of them were confined to their beds, either because they were incapable of moving, or because they were held there by heavy restraints. Tom led them to the end of the first corridor and opened a door, walking with the minimum of movement and obviously self-conscious about the jerky machine-enhanced reactions of his body.

  Once inside, both Luciel and Ali had paused, frozen in place as they looked at the figure lying on the bed. Tom regarded them with a curious satisfaction at their reaction. He had been right when he spoke of Mikhail being covered in more machinery than him. The boy on the bed lay in the midst of a tangle of cables and medical equipment. He was naked, except for a pair of shorts, and Ali could see that the machinery extended further. Metal seemed to have been welded to his skin, giving him an inhuman appearance. And from the flesh that survived, stretched tight over the bones of the skeletal figure, came the unmistakable stench of corruption. The boy was literally rotting away. As she stared in fascinated horror, her eyes met Mikhail’s and she realized with shock that his expression was not vacant. Within that living corpse, he was still, against all reason, horribly aware.

  Her stomach heaved and she turned quickly, fumbling for the door and escaping into the corridor. Taking deep breaths she sank to the floor, half retching, half sobbing. As her body shook in paroxysms of fear she heard a quiet voice buzz in her ear.

  “What happened?”

  She couldn’t speak as she continued to gasp for breath and Raven’s voice took on an edge of what might have been alarm as she continued: