Page 115 of The Sterling Acquisition
Her voice took on a desperate edge that Dante had never heard before. “The company’s stock took a three-point hit when the recall was announced, Dante. Three points! That’s over six billion in market capitalization gone in a single day because your implants went haywire!”
In the passenger seat, Orion was staring at him with something that might have been horrified fascination. His mouth shaped the wordbillionsilently, eyebrows raised.
“I’m sure it’s just an equipment failure,” Dante managed. “Once I’m back in controlled conditions, everything should normalize.”
“Of course it will!” Amalie’s cheer sounded strained. “That’s why it’s so important that you get to friendly territory as quickly as possible. I’m stationed in New St. Louis, so I will personally see to it that you get a priority welcome. We need to run a full diagnostic on your systems and make sure you haven’t suffered any lasting effects from whatever caused themalfunction. “
Whatever caused the malfunction.If only she knew that the malfunction was sitting next to him, looking like he was trying not to laugh at the sheer scope of corporate chaos Dante had inadvertently triggered.
“I’ll make reaching friendly territory my top priority,” Dante said, forcing his voice to remain steady and professional despite the absurdity of the situation.
“Excellent! And Dante?” There was a pause, during which he could hear her taking a deep breath, as if steadying herself. “Do try to stay in communication from now on. We worry when our best operatives go dark, especially in hostile territory. Regulators are set to head out and help you along if contact isn’t made in the next 48 hours.”
The line went dead.
“Several thousand implants,” Orion said. “Dante, what the hell did I do to you?”
“You,” Dante said, handing the phone back to Orion, “apparently broke me in ways that are costing Gensyn a fortune.”
“Is that bad?” Orion’s voice carried genuine concern, but there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Dante considered this as the van wheezed its way down the empty highway, carrying them toward uncertain territory and an impossible situation. Gensyn had their special ops regulators ready to find him if he went dark again, and SVI was pursuing them with unknown resources.
“Honestly?” Dante said. “I’m starting to think it might be the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Chapter forty-one
Safe House
Dante
Sixty-fivemilesfromthePrairie Null Collective, Dante pulled the wheezing van to a stop in front of their destination. According to Lilac’s map, the crude markings—a house, a pound sign, and what was either a smudged drawing of a prophylactic or a chicken leg—indicated they’d found what they were looking for.
“This is it,” Dante said, comparing the overgrown structure to the symbols on the map.
The house in front of them looked like nature had declared war on human habitation and was winning decisively. Ivy crawled up through cracked brick walls, threading through broken windows where the ghosts of curtains hung in tatters. Unlike the beautiful, purposeful integration of plant and architecture they’d seen at the collective, this house looked like it was being slowly devoured by the wilderness.
“Are we abandoning the van here?” Orion asked, already shouldering his pack and checking the weapons Lilac had provided. The speedwith which he’d adapted to carrying firearms was either impressive or concerning—Dante hadn’t decided which.
“That’s the plan,” Dante said, pulling their remaining supplies from the van. “We’ll be walking back to the rendezvous point with Lilac from here once we’re done. It’ll be a bitch to walk, but it’s easier to hide two people than a whole van.”
He glanced at his watch, calculating. Forty-seven hours to execute a plan with so many critical failure points that it bordered on suicidal. Stopping for any extended period of time would reduce their timeline to dangerous levels, but after their hasty departure and the stress of Amalie’s call, they needed a pause to prepare.
The front door hung askew on rusted hinges, and the exterior walls looked like they might collapse if someone sneezed too aggressively.
The interior was a single room that bore no resemblance to the structural disaster outside. Everything was clean, well-maintained, and surprisingly comfortable. A small kitchenette occupied one corner, complete with a hot plate and French press that looked like they’d been recently used. A terrifying green couch dominated the center of the room, sagging dramatically in the middle as if a very large person—or possibly a small bear—had made it their permanent residence and crushed the support beams.
“Running water,” Orion called from the bathroom door, testing the faucet. “And it’s clean.”
Dante located the source of electricity—a generator connected to solar panels on the back of the house, humming with enough power to keep the lights on. Whoever had set this place up knew what they were doing. The security system was equally impressive—motion sensors disguised as wildlife cameras and what appeared to be a primitive but effective perimeter alarm.
“Dante,” Orion’s asked, a note of wonder in his voice that made him look up from his inspection of the electrical setup. “What is this?”
Orion was standing in front of an ancient television set, something so old that Dante had never seen one function. It was small, boxy, and had a little slot in the front designed for some kind of disc-based media that predated modern streaming systems by decades.
“It’s a DVD player,” Dante said, moving closer to examine the antique. “Old tech from before everything went digital and corporate-controlled. People used to buy physical copies of entertainment content.”
Orion was pressing buttons with the fascination of someone discovering fire. “How does it work?”
