Chapter 44

Time: 8:11 AM

Ricardo pulled up from his hard run and stood panting as the stared down the locked corridor. He glanced at his watch and estimated he had run eighteen kilometers in fifty-five minutes. Not his personal best but not bad, especially when he considered he was running with a fairly heavy pistol. But he felt exhausted now, and the last kilometer before he stopped he had been reduced to jogging at half his former speed.

Water, he thought. He had done distance running before, but there had been water tables by the side of the road. He felt very thirsty now, tired and thirsty and hot from running in the dry air of the mall. And he still had a long and arid walk to get back home. Yes, it was definitely time to turn around.

Where had that woman gone? Was it someone from their Party? She was just too far away to tell. And why hadn’t he found her? He didn’t think any woman could have outrun him. Maybe she had a bike or something. Could there be a bike shop somewhere in the Mall? Maybe she slipped into a store and locked the door before he could see it. It was hard to guess which scenario was more likely. Fucking hell. A new six to seven kilometers on both sides of the Mall had been locked down. It must have happened in just a few hours. One bitch couldn’t have done that. It must have been a whole fucking army of bitches. Double fucking hell. And Uno’s group had been made to look like utter fools again. If there was one thing above all else that Ricardo detested, it was being shown he was on the short end of the stick when it came to brains.

Ricardo swore as he panted and thought about their situation. Uno was turning out to be a real problem. The man just wasn’t aggressive enough, and the other compadres were acting like a bunch of chumps with him in charge. Uno was a problem, and the problem needed a solution, a permanent solution. Their group needed to be playing more offense, not wasting time holding useless positions. Ricardo paused to consider. If he killed Uno, would the others follow him?

For some reason he could not clearly identify, Ricardo thought Diego might be the only person he’d have a problem with. All the others feared him, and without Uno around Ricardo thought the others would gather and fall in line. Chop the head off the chicken and become the new head, as simple as that. But when? Soon, Ricardo thought, within the next couple of days if possible. They were wasting precious time, beyond what their bank of time could afford, and the most maddening part of it was that nobody seemed to realize it.

Okay, when was settled. Next question, how? The matter called for a certain amount of delicacy. Ricardo smiled for the first time in days. Perhaps a certain amount of artistry as well, something that would really motivate the others to follow him. Hmmm...

Time: 8:12 AM

“Charles?” Jada’s voice asked over the Leophone.

“Hi, Jada,” he answered.

“You were absolutely right. Ricardo has just given up. He’s starting to walk back home.”

“Marvelous!” Charles then called out to everyone in front of him. “Our pursuit has given up. Five-minute break time!”

Fatima stopped immediately and dismounted and gave her team leader a grinning smile. She then took a long drink from her water bottle and started to stretch her arms and the sides of her hips. The short break was very welcome.

“What’s our position?” asked Charles.

Jada replied, “You are at spiral-mark 46.2 kilometers, 8.6 kilometers from the sky-bridge. Right now Ricardo is almost exactly six kilometers behind you and he’s hiking in the opposite direction.”

Charles nodded. “Then we’re home free. Any word on Mark?”

“No, not yet. Kiyoko has her hands full. I’m not going to disturb her, at least for another few minutes.”

“Jada, was there something else going on? You made a reference to something a while ago.”

“Yes, Amber! Let me fill you in.” Jada spent the next minute describing how Amber was hiding out in an Eckhart Pharmacy at spiral-mark 69,360 on the inside arc.

Charles immediately saw the opportunity for an additional rescue. “Jada, we have to go back. Once Ricardo enters Jacob’s, we can extract Amber.”

“Yes, thank you. So many successes; it’s overwhelming. Are you thinking of all four of you?”

“No, just me and Tom. Emily and Fatima should return to the sky-bridge. But we’ll need a side-car. Can you ask for a volunteer, someone’s who’s up for another sixty or seventy kilometers of biking?”

“Yes, of ... One moment, we have contact with Kiyoko. Jada out.”

Flashback one minute: Time: 8:13 AM

A welcome voice in the Black Mall lounge came from the elevator’s keyboard speakers. “Kiyoko?”

“Yo, Mark!” she answered.

What’s our time?”

Kiyoko could hear him panting slightly as he ran. “On my mark ... Now! Thirteen minutes and forty seconds.”

There was a moment’s delay, and then a shout. “Yahoo! We’re making our first turn now, one segment down, twenty-three to go, 2.3 kilometers. Expect us in twelve minutes, less.”

Kiyoko felt such a strong rush of adrenalin she almost felt like crying. “Not even close!”

“Yeah, lots of extra time...”

“Don’t bother to talk unless you have to. Just give me a heads up when I should open the door for you. Or if you want, I can call out the time on your turns.”

“Yeah, okay, great, that’ll help.” Mark tried to control his excitement as he ran. Frida was right in front of him, and Toshi as their slowest runner was in the lead. At thirteen minutes and eleven seconds in the countdown, they completed their second hundred-meter segment. At twelve minutes and forty-two seconds, they completed their third segment. Kiyoko bridged Mark’s line into the Hilton network and gave their home base the good news.

Mark and Frida shifted their positions slightly as they ran and formed a triangle with Toshi as the forward point. Mark quietly studied Toshi feet as she ran. They were all dressed in simple bathrobes, but had their good boots on. That was essential for their silent journey over the black cobblestones. Mark was carrying the Leophone and their one mushroom lock from Black Mall. Everything else, including their homemade Leophone charger, was still at the bee park.

Well, Mark thought, as least the torturous walk through the killer plants had given them a chance to rest from their run up the long stairs and the dash to the ivy chamber. Toshi looked like she had gotten back the nice kick in her heels as she ran. Mark called “time” as they completed their fourth segment, twelve minutes and twelve seconds. Yep, Toshi was setting a nice steady pace.

Two hundred days, Mark thought. Their time in their strange park with the bees was just over two hundred days of subjective time. Such a strange experience. But it was also a wonderful experience, one that had Mark running now with two dear wives. Jada! He pushed the thought away. Not now, he thought to himself, not now. “Time?” he asked over the Leophone. Eleven minutes and forty-three seconds. “You’re doing great, Toshi,” he called out.

Mark took a moment to glance outside as they ran, trying to remember where the solar cycle was in objective time. It hadn’t been a factor in their lives for so long. Perhaps an hour and twenty minutes until sunrise he thought. It was still quite dark outside. He didn’t bother to check whether there were clouds or stars above. Eleven minutes and thirteen seconds at the next turn. Way to go, Toshi...

Time: 8:20 AM

Uno was fit to be tied. He was standing and fuming silently by the locked kitchen door with his three compadres. Brandi and Kiyoko! They just had to capture them both. Kiyoko could describe the battle Santos’ party must have had at Rabbies Dram, and Brandi would know the fate of Chico’s expedition. Of course, the wayward bitches might need a little persuading before they decided to talk. But Ricardo could help there. Oh yes, indeed. The man had truly magical fingers when it came to persuading people to talk.