Page 14 of The Fall

“Callie?” Mike’s face lit up, grabbing a shot glass. He stopped abruptly when he saw Talia. “You.”

“Oh, come on, Mike.” Talia leaned on the counter. “You used to love me.”

“Fuck off.” Mike held out his middle finger. “What do you want, Talia?”

She deserved that, but not for the reason Mike thought. To her shame, after settling at the Lake, Talia had run off twice, convinced that she was failing motherhood. Callie had found her and brought her back both times. And then Lusa started losing control.

Sesi handled it better than Callie, but Talia recognised her daughter’s darkness. She knew it intimately – learned to fight it before. Learned to harness it. And so, they’d bonded. Talia’s failure had become her strength.

It was an educated guess, but those were Talia’s specialty. “Piston.” Talia downed the shot. “Know where he is?”

A curious look crossed his face. “You’re the second person who came asking for him today.”

Callie and Talia exchanged glances. She’d guessed correctly. Going after Piston was fucking stupid, but she knew Lusa and her misplaced sense of obligation well. “And?”

“She paid me.”

“No, she didn’t. She doesn’t have any scrip.”

Mike grinned bashfully. “I’m a sucker for a pretty face.”

“You’re a creep Mike. She’s fifteen.”

“I swear, I didn’t touch her” Mike took a step back, gripping his bar rag tighter. Sweat beaded at his temples.

“I know.” Talia still looked disgusted. “She would have killed you if you had.” She fished a scripchip out of her pocket. “Five thousand.” She lay it on the countertop with a snap. “Talk to her again and I’ll kill you.” Getting up from the stool, she pointed a finger. “I mean it.”

“On the north side of MB12” Mike looked around to make sure no-one was watching. “There’s a brick on the bottom, third from the left of the door. It can be hacked to trigger the door to unlatch.” Mike tucked the chip into his pocket. “Or so I’ve been told.”

“Now, listen.” Talia disconnected her PalmInter from the brick. “You should stay here.” Talia glanced over her shoulder, only to see that Callie had already opened the door.

“Cal, wait!” Talia yelled, but it was too late. Her muscles seized and she fell over.

“Fucking fuck.” Talia jacked into the wall and disabled the field.

Callie shook her head. “What was that?”

“A doorstopper. Lusa wouldn’t have triggered it without a strength amplifier patch. It’s an upgraded version of the repeater I came up with.” She brushed the dirt off of Callie’s shoulders. “They use AI gremlins to hack ports now. We’ve been experimenting with smaller, throwable versions.”

“What? Why does nobody tell me anything?” Callie flattened her hair.

Talia kissed the top of her forehead. “Because Alana only agreed to be the test subject for the repeater ‘nades if no-one else got to see her go down.”

Callie looked sheepish. “Oh. Yeah, I guess that would be embarrassing.”

“Yeah.” Talia pointed to the top of the stairwell. “Stay here. Ping me if someone comes.”

Callie shook her head. “Absolutely not.”

Talia knew it was useless to argue. “Then stay behind me and tell me if someone comes at us from the back.”

Callie tried to suppress a lewd smirk, but failed.

“Get your mind out of the gutter.” Talia pulled a knife from her belt.

“You like my mind in the gutter.”

Talia ignored her and quickly scanned for anything obvious. The stairs led down into the basement. Years worth of muddy boot prints had worn into the surfaces and a thick grime had collected in the corners.