Page 88 of Anarchy Chained: Alpha Thomas

“It’s not my fault you fucked up his protocol. I’m not the one who shot him with some interference cocktail while I was under the influence of a supercomputer.”

“OK,” Linc says, walking around his desk to take a seat behind it. “We don’t have time for the blame game. Case fucked up. We get it.”

“I didn’t fuck up! Molly poisoned me with that goddamned lariat thing the Blue Boar gave her.”

“It wasn’t Molly’s fault,” Linc growls. “So shut up about that.”

“Who cares whose fault it is,” I say. Thomas was always the leader of this little operation. The rest of us were on board, but he’s the one holding it all together. And right now, his absence is painfully apparent. Because he’s got a way of handling things that I haven’t quite mastered.

I need to up my game.

“It doesn’t matter how we got here,” I say. “We’re here and we need to deal. So if we’re ready, let’s just press play, right? Get this show on the road.”

“And just how the fuck do you propose we do that without Thomas?” Lincoln says. “He’s got all the initiation codes.”

“I have access to that too,” I say. “We’re good, I swear.”

I look at Linc. His eyes are trained on mine. Narrowed down into little evil slits. I glance over at Case. He hasn’t quite perfected that look, but it’s close enough. They don’t believe me.

“We only have one chance,” Case says. “One chance to flip this fucking town upside down and set things right. We cannot risk doing it without Thomas.”

I smile and look at Lincoln. “Well, according to Linc here, I am Thomas. So what’s the difference?”

“The difference is,” Case continues, “that Thomas has his shit together and you don’t. That’s why he’s been in charge and you haven’t. You’re a loose fucking cannon, Sullivan. And what’s this I hear about bringing that new crew here? They are not on our side.”

“I didn’t send Sadie to fuck things up,” I say, staying calm. That cocktail of drugs Thomas was on really did keep him on track. And me. And as reluctant as I am to admit it, it was working pretty well. But now? Nothing seems to be working right. “And Thomas needed her to escape the asylum after the blast.”

“So why bring them here?” Lincoln asks. “You really want to unlink yourself from Sadie? Because I have to tell you, it was pretty clear that she wants nothing to do with that Uzi guy.”

“Wait,” Case says. “I missed this part. Bring me up to speed.”

I do, letting him in on all the parts that seem relevant, leaving out those that are not. Like… how much I want to fuck that girl right now. And that’s pretty much the only reason we’re here tonight. I end it with, “So they’re staying the night and we’re going to do the procedure tomorrow.”

“It is a real thing?” Case asks. “This unlinking bullshit?”

“How the fuck should I know?”

“It’s not,” Lincoln says. “I’d know about it. And for sure Sheila is not setting up anything of the sort down in the lab right now. She’s just stringing them along to buy us some time.”

“What we need to figure out,” I say, “is how to get Thomas out of whatever mental cell he’s locked in right now. Because even though being in charge is kinda fun, we can’t be sure we’re on track until things are back to normal. You can doubt me all you want, you guys. But I’m just as interested in revenge as the rest of you. I’m not about to throw away fifteen years of planning over this little hiccup in the chain of command.”

“You’re definitely not in charge anymore,” Linc says.

I laugh. “Like hell. I’m the one with all the initiation codes.”

“We need to get rid of these extra people and I have a feeling that Uzi guy isn’t going to go quietly. We can’t have this kind of distraction if we enact the plan. So how do you propose we get rid of them without a fight since your whole idea is based on bullshit?”

“I propose…” I cannot stop the smile. “That we just drug the fuck out of Uzi, Iziah, and Cyan, drop them off somewhere to sleep it all off, and bring Sadie in on the deal. She and I are a great team, man. I’m telling you, her illusionist skills are phenomenal. She’s highly trained.”

“She was sent to kill you, dumbass. So you know, you should probably sort that out before you bring her in on the most fucked-up plan this world has ever seen!” Lincoln yells that last part. There might be veins sticking out from his neck.

“OK,” I say. “I can see I haven’t explained things well.” So I start over, letting them in on my theory. “Prodigy still exists. Sadie and those other three came from another school. They escaped a couple years ago, but Iziah and Sadie got left behind or some shit. So whoever sent Sadie to kill me—can we just assume that was the Red Robber? I mean, it only makes sense that Prodigy was behind that computer takeover of Cathedral City last spring.”

“Why not?” Case says. “Does it matter what we call them? Red Robber, Prodigy, they’re just the enemy and that’s all that matters.”

“Right,” I say, pointing at him. “So the enemy sent Sadie to kill me, Thomas went apeshit crazy with his little mind blast and fucked up all their plans, because while it didn’t kill Sadie, it did wipe her programming. Meanwhile, Cyan and Uzi see this as the best opportunity to break Iziah out, then they go after Sadie to get her back too. They’re just a bunch of dumb kids trying to break free, just like we were fifteen years ago. But either way, their part in this is fortuitous, but coincidental. So who cares about the new crew. We should just drug them tomorrow. Take them out of the equation.”

“Even Sadie?” Lincoln asks, calmer now.