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Chapter 20
“So why do you think Anarchy, Inc. hasn’t issued a statement about the incident in New Jersey?” asks Matthew Ryan. “Ann?”
“It’s confusing,” Parada says. “They’ve never been shy about taking credit for their acts. It would stand to reason that maybe this wasn’t connected to their past attacks.”
“Or that they failed in their goals,” suggests Michelle Cross-Yarrow, “and don’t want to admit it.”
“But what would that be?” Ryan asks. “Destroying an old barn? According to property records, it was unoccupied — recently foreclosed on.”
I can see why Kate hated him. What an idiot.
“Which makes it a perfect place for illicit activity of some kind,” counters Parada. “Clearly something went down there and someone wanted to keep it a secret.”
“But who, what and why?” asks Cross-Yarrow. “For all we know, this was a government operation to take out Anarchy, Inc.”
Like the government wouldn’t take credit for that immediately. Moron.
“Well for now we don’t have much to go on,” says Ryan. “That’s our show for today. Thank you for tuning in to Kate Atwood Live. I’m Matthew Ryan filling in for Kate while she takes some time off. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
The show will be back with these dipshit hosts, but they won’t know anything new. They won’t be breaking any new developments. My people have seen to that.
And Kate won’t be returning to her time slot for the foreseeable future, if ever. Betting pools on the internet have guessed anywhere from next week to six months to never.
Did Kate overdose? Concerned public calls for her safe return, reads one trending article.
Atwood likely back in rehab, rumors suggest
Potential Atwood spotting in Vegas draws mockery
She’s going to be the next Elvis, isn’t she? Or maybe Jimmy Hoffa. Sure, they’ll put together the fact that Kate disappeared the same day as that explosion in New Jersey, but they won’t be able to explain what she was doing there, or why anyone wanted to kill her. She’ll be an unsolved mystery, the subject of conspiracy theories and a fascination for amateur sleuths. They’ll never get close to the truth, though, try as they might.
I turn off the TV and look out at New York. As much as I hate this place, it’s a lot nicer from a distance. None of the noise and smells and chaos. Still, the sooner I can leave here, the better. Once Anarchy, Inc. is finished.
Assuming they don’t finish me first.
My phone rings. It’s Nick.
“Yes?”
“We’ve analyzed the wreckage from the barn. Not much survived. High-heat incendiaries were used to burn nearly everything. We found Kate’s implants, but there was something strange.”
My phone dings from receipt of two photographs: the first depicts three metal cases, all partially melted. In the second, the cases are open, revealing the activated chips.
“What the fuck is this?”
Nick doesn’t answer right away.
“Tell me!”
“We think they’re meant to trick the implants,” he says. “An initial examination shows they have heating elements, they’re not electromagnetically shielded and they’re full of some kind of gelatin. They could have… allowed for the implants to be removed… without us knowing.”
Holy fuck.
Kate’s alive.
Probably.
Death has her. But what does he plan to do with her? Considering the effort he went to helping her escape, he must have known the truth about her connection to me. Otherwise why go to the trouble?
