Chapter 3 Taste of Whiskey

The next day, after getting my sister settled, I pushed open the command tent door again.

Inside, the lights were bright and the air was thick with smoke. More than a dozen people sat along both sides of a long table.

I stood in the doorway. No one noticed me right away.

Kane sat at the head of the table, lazily swirling a glass in his hand.

He was talking to the people beside him, breaking into laughter every so often.

My eyes dropped to the tabletop near his hand.

The communications device was gone.

In its place was a row of liquor bottles, lined up neatly. Dustproof seals still covered the glass, like they'd just been unpacked.

I stood there for three seconds.

Then I walked in.

Kane spotted me first. His expression didn't change. He only smiled faintly and lifted his glass in my direction.

"Bertrand. Give us a second. We were just talking about you."

"Where's the medicine?"

The laughter didn't stop right away. A few people only turned to look me over.

"Where's the medicine, Kane?"

Kane sighed and set his glass down like he was humoring a stubborn child.

"There was an accident during transport. The convoy got ambushed on Route 94. Total loss."

"You've seen this kind of thing before. It's the end of the world. Nobody can do anything about it."

"Then what's that."

My eyes locked onto the row of bottles.

"Oh, this?" Kane said. "Glenfiddich eighteen. Good stuff."

"That communicator got me a whole case from a camp up in northern Massachusetts. Tastes pretty damn good. Want to try some?"

I could hear the ringing in my ears.

The second-in-command stood up from the corner and crossed to me in two steps, grinning.

"Hey, X-17, quit glaring. Aren't you supposed to be some Aegis Project product? So why are you still begging us for scraps? Kind of pathetic, don't you think?"

He turned to the room and spread his hands, and the laughter broke out again.

"Guy really thinks he's some kind of superhero."

I started walking toward Kane.

A dozen bolts snapped back at once. Cold gun barrels aimed at my back, my temple, the side of my neck.

Kane didn't move.

He just sat there, calm as ever, lifting his glass again and watching me come closer step by step, that same smile never leaving his face.

"Is your sister still alive?"

I stopped.

At that exact moment, the second-in-command came at me from the side and swung the butt of his rifle straight at my temple.

I didn't dodge.

But the current ran through the gun.

He hit the floor.

He and the rifle dropped together, his whole body going limp. Foam bubbled at his mouth. He twitched twice, then stopped moving.

The room went dead silent.

Kane set down his glass.

He looked at his second-in-command crumpled in the corner, and for the first time, his face changed.

His eyes fixed on my hand—on the faint arcs of electricity still trembling around my fingers—and something lit up in them.

"Good," he said. "Now we can talk business."

"If your sister doesn't get surgery within three days, her heart will stop. I'm not trying to scare you. Marcus already told you that, didn't he?"

"In all of greater Boston, my team is the only one that can do this operation. My equipment is the only equipment that can do it."

"What do you want?"

"I want your cooperation..."

"You get on the operating table and let my research team draw spinal fluid once. After that, I'll arrange Sarah's surgery."

"Of course, there may be a little... added risk. As for the nerves around the spinal cord, I can't guarantee nothing will happen."

"What's the worst-case scenario?"

I knew exactly what he meant. Better to hear it clearly.

"Paralysis from the waist down."

Kane didn't deny it. He only shrugged and lifted his glass for another drink.

"Sometimes that's just how medicine works. Nothing you can do."

There were still more than a dozen guns trained on me.

I lowered my head and looked at my hands.

The arcs hadn't fully faded yet. Fine threads of blue-white current moved weakly between my knuckles.

I thought of the blood still not wiped clean from the corner of Sarah's mouth.

I thought of how she never talked about her own pain, how she was always the one comforting me, saying it was okay, that she could hold on a little longer.

She had never known what her brother actually did.

All she knew was that her brother was good at fixing machines.

I slowly closed my eyes.

Kane was waiting.

He had every right to wait, because in his hand he held the only bargaining chip I cared about.