Page 7 of Anarchy Missing

That makes me laugh.

We’re no such thing. Not even close. We are here for ourselves. For revenge. For restitution. Reparations, if you will. We will take, and take, and take… until—

My phone rings in my suit coat. I pull it out, check the number, and then tab accept as I wait at a red light. “Yeah,” I say.

“We got a lead,” Thomas says.

“Already?” I ask. “Shit, that was quick.”

“Sheila found a fingerprint in the code.”

“What’d it say?”

“We’ll talk tonight. Don’t put any feelers out just yet. We should lie low until we can come up with a plan. Everything goes as planned, Case. Understand?”

“Fine with me.”

“We need full distribution by spring.”

“We’re on track,” I say, annoyed that he feels the need to school me. “I know what I’m doing.”

“You’re acting weird. Sheila wants to see you for a check-up. Today.”

“I don’t need a check-up.”

“I think you do, brother.” Normally Thomas is as detached as they come. Indifferent, and cold. Colder than the technology he makes. Colder than the space those satellites of his live in. But right now, he sounds… concerned. “Something’s going on with you, I can tell. It would be a lot easier if you just told us what it was, but if you’re gonna keep secrets, we’ll drag it out of you.”

He pauses. Waiting to see if I have a response.

But I don’t. What would I say? The city is talking to me? My body is heating up like fire and it only dissipates if I cut myself and let the heat out with my own blood?

Nope. Not even close to being there yet.

“I’m fine,” I finally say, filling the silence. Meaning it. I always feel fine during the day. It’s the night that gets to me. “Really. And I’ll go for the check-up. I don’t mind.”

They won’t find anything. I get monthly exams from Linc and Sheila’s army of robot minions down in the cave. Each time I go I wait for them to find something. Tell me what’s happening. And each time they pronounce me clean. One hundred percent fine.

“But I have meetings today. A shitload of meetings that take priority. So I’ll drop by later this afternoon.”

Thomas is still in his pause. Then he sighs. “Look, Case…” he says. “If something’s wrong—”

“Nothing’s wrong,” I say. “I’d tell you.” Which is a lie. And I don’t even know why I lie, because I feel the words to be true. I’ve always liked Thomas. Maybe even more than Lincoln, though Linc and I are more like brothers. Thomas and I are more like friends.

“OK,” Thomas says. “OK. I’ll let them know to expect you for dinner. And Case?” he says, pausing for a second. “I’ll be there too.”

He ends the call before I can say anything about that last comment.

It means he’s worried about me. Which is kinda touching if I think about it. Thomas doesn’t worry about people other than himself most of the time.

My light turns green and I drive the rest of the way to ToyBox thinking about everything that’s happened since he came to town. How much things have changed. Lincoln and his new… enhancements. I guess that’s the only way to describe what we did to him after the Blue Boar shot him in the chest.

We changed him. He was the one who directed the change. Years and years of planning and preparation went into what we did to him that night. But still, he’s not really… human anymore, is he?

And then what they did to me the night we took Blue Corp down. A little injection of that jellyfish goop Lincoln created. That’s all it was. Just a little injection to promote healing.

I heal, all right. I heal so well that every time I take the knife to my skin, make the cuts that give me relief from the burning heat inside my body, it closes up within seconds.

But there is something inside me. The red light, like the light that seeps out through the vents in Lincoln’s hands. The red light of… what?