Future Threat

28

Nothing.

Maybe he’s found Ken and is talking to him, Adam says. I’m sure he’ll get back to us soon.

Yeah, probably. I’ll head over to the cemetery to make sure he’s okay. Just in case.

Stay safe.

You too.

Zahra looks up and down the street, squinting against the glare of the setting sun. “I don’t think they’ve followed us. Is your car nearby?”

“It’s coming. Care to tell me why you broke into a Russian mafia hideout and almost got both of us killed?”

“Point one, I didn’t ask you to follow me in there. Point two, I had it handled until you showed up and ruined everything. Point three, it’s none of your business.”

“Oh, it’s definitely my business since I was sent to track you down and bring you back to the present. The only question is if you go willingly or not.”

She rolls her eyes. “I got what I needed from him. I’m ready to go back.”

“What did you get?” I press a hand against my aching side. It’s quickly covered in blood, and I’m hit with a wave of dizziness. My shirt is a tattered rag where the guy sliced at me, and the side of my pants is drenched in red. Now that the adrenaline and shock are wearing off, the pain is hitting me full force.

Zahra eyes me up and down. “You’re bleeding all over the place.”

“I wonder whose fault that is.”

“Come on.”

She heads into the store and I limp after her, clutching my side. This Aid-Mart is a lot like the one I visited in the other timeline. It’s one of those big stores that sells everything from cosmetics to dog food to cleaning products. I follow Zahra while she heads down an aisle and grabs something off the shelf. People eye the blood on my clothes, but no one says anything to us. She continues back to the front, where she picks up some candy bars and bottles of water. Then she walks out of the store without stopping at a register or anything. In fact, I don’t see any registers at all in the place.

“Did you just steal that?” I ask, while my car swerves over us, hovering like an eager dog waiting for a treat.

“Hardly. The store automatically charges you through your imbed when you walk out, if you’re carrying something,” she says while we get in the car. The door closes behind us, and we strap ourselves into the seats. I order the car to head toward the cemetery where Ken’s body is buried, and it lifts off the ground.

Only once we’re in the air do her words sink in. “You have an imbed?”

“Obviously. How else would I hack into that guy’s head?”

I have so many questions I don’t even know where to start. I can’t fathom why she would get an imbed for only a few hours in the future. All I can get out is, “Why?”

“Why did I hack into him? Or why do I have an imbed?”

“Both.”

She gives a casual shrug. “Flexis are too limiting. Only an imbed would let me access his memories.” She tosses me one of the things she got from the store. It looks like a pen, and seeing it brings back memories of another life. Another future, where Trent stole a laser pen like this in the other timeline and later used it on Adam when he was injured. I squeeze my eyes shut, fighting back the memories.

“You use it on your cut,” she says like she’s explaining to a toddler.

“I know,” I snap, but then I add, “Thanks.” It’s more sincere than sarcastic, since she was smart enough to buy this from the store for me. I pull up my shirt, which is ripped and hanging off me, and use the pen’s laser along my side. It instantly seals up the skin with a slight bit of pressure and numbs the pain. The bleeding stops, and I wipe my side with the edge of my shirt, since it’s already soaked with blood, along with my pants.

“How did you learn how to hack imbeds anyway?” I ask.

“When we arrived in the future, Aether showed me how so that I could hack into the security system at Pharmateka for our mission. My future self gave me even more tips once I contacted her.” She gives a casual shrug. “It really wasn’t that hard to learn. The hardware’s changed over the years, and security has gotten a bit harder to c***k, but the basic principles are still the same.”

I’ll have to take her word on that, since computers have always been a mystery to me. I still can’t believe she’d get one in her head though. “What happens to your imbed when you get back to the present?”

“Imbeds dissolve inside your bloodstream after two years. That’s how the tech companies keep people shelling out money all the time.”

Two years? I can’t help but shudder at the idea. “That’s a long time to have it inside you doing God knows what.”

She c***s her head and studies me. “Oh, I get it. You’re one of those people who think technology is evil.”

“I don’t think it’s evil. I’m just not a fan of having it in my head. Or my body.”

She leans back and crosses her arms. “Good luck with that in thirty years.” Why is this girl so obnoxious? I saved her life, and all she’s done is give me grief. I huff and sit back, staring out the window so I don’t have to look at her any longer.