Salvation полностью

“Fuck you!” he shouted. “I hope Connexion fucking drowns you in melting ice. I want the last thing you see to be green plants conquering every fucking useless rock in your worthless hell. I hope the water rots your corpse and turns you into fertilizer to help more plants. That’s the only way dumbass shits like you will ever help any ecology.”

“I think he means it.”

“I think you’re right.”

Callum glared up at them. “You’re fucking morons! A hundred and twenty-seven people don’t just disappear. That’s…That’s…crazy. You’re being fucked up the arse by your own cracked conspiracy theories.”

“You’re quite right, Callum Hepburn. People don’t just disappear. It is madness.” Akkar produced the picture of Savi, and thrust it into Callum’s face. “So where is she?”

“I…I…” Callum knew guilt would be lighting him up like a solar flare. “She’s not—”

“Not what?”

“Not one of you.” He knew he was blowing it, and he didn’t care. They knew Savi, and she’d vanished along with their fellow maniacs. Callum couldn’t imagine a worse possible lead, but at least it was real. He was one step closer to her.

“Who is she?” Akkar asked in a deadly whisper.

“She’s my fucking wife, you piece of shit! And if you’ve touched one hair on her head, I will fucking kill you!”

Akkar snatched the taser baton from Dimon and jabbed it into Callum’s chest. The pain was abysmal. Callum writhed helplessly, unable to think, transformed to nothing but a lump of screeching agonized flesh.

Dimon pulled Akkar’s hand, moving the baton away. “This is not you, my friend. We need him talking, not screaming.”

Akkar nodded reluctantly, but beneath his anger he was giving Callum a puzzled look. “Speak to me. Your wife?”

Callum coughed pitifully, his body still shaking. “Yes, she’s my wife. What do you think I’m doing coming here to shit-city central asking where she is? I want her back.”

Akkar and Dimon exchanged a glance again, which Callum guessed was bad.

“What’s her name?”

“Savi Hepburn.” He knew he shouldn’t tell them, but it was just a name. And appearing to help, to cooperate, might kick something loose. Where she was…

“A Connexion undercover agent,” Akkar said in quiet fury. “She led us into a trap. Your bitch did this to us!”

Callum glared at him. “Yeah, so? She outsmarted you. It couldn’t have been difficult. Where did you see her last?”

Akkar glared at him. “She betrayed us. I should make her watch while I cut your throat in front of her.”

“You’ve got to find her first. When did you see her last? Come on! When?”

“I ask the questions, company boy.”

“Yes, you do. So try asking this. How do you—you who’s hiding in a crappy prefab cesspit in Kintore—how do you get into Connexion to find your precious people? How do you recruit someone on the inside? Someone they’ll never suspect? Someone who’s a lot more desperate than you are to find out what the fuck happened? Got any ideas on that, pal, huh? Got a name, maybe?”

Akkar gave an incredulous snort. “You want to work with us?”

“I would sooner chew my fucking leg off. But what choice have either of us got?”

“No way,” Dimon growled.

“Really? Go on, then,” Callum challenged recklessly. “Explain your alternative. Savi is with Security. She was watching you, recording you, gathering every detail of your pathetic little eco-cause lives. Connexion Security knows it all. A multi-trillion-dollar company with a security division budget bigger than the sodding CIA. The only thing—only thing—that they don’t know about is your current location. But you can’t get out of Kintore now, can you? Not through a portal, and drones or satellites will spot any vehicle driving away. You’re in a jail just as secure as your missing comrades. Nicer food, maybe, and invisible walls. But this is where you’ll stay for the rest of your life. Which, with drone surveillance and G5Turings searching the internet, probably isn’t going to be more than another week. So go on, tell me your super smart master plan to bust out and save everyone, wherever they are. Got an address on that, have you?”

“How can Osha be missing as well?” Akkar asked.

“Who?”

“Your wife; that was the name we knew her by. If she’s Connexion Security, why is she missing?”

“I don’t know. I can’t even get the bastards to admit she was working for them.” He jerked his wrists against the cuffs. “Unlock me. Come on. We need to work out what to do next.”

“A hundred and twenty-seven people vanished, Callum. Including one of their own, if we believe you. The only thing we’re going to find now is their grave.”

“No,” Callum shouted. He tugged hard, as if that alone would break the handcuffs. “She’s alive. I know you’re paranoid enough to believe Connexion can murder that many people; it’s all part of your sad little echo chamber conspiracy bollocks. But they don’t. And I’ve met Ainsley. He’s a ruthlessly clever businessman, sure, but he’s not fucking Hitler.”

“There won’t be a grave to uncover,” Dimon said. “Haumea station gets rid of all Connexion’s problems, all the evidence.”