Cheers and curses erupt from the crowd around me, spiking my adrenaline until I’m screaming back, “Now, is everyone ready?”
KrisBo, perched on the jeep’s back bumper, raises a fist and pumps it into the air. Behind her, hundreds of other exiled Hu-Bots, all hopped up on J.J.’s Empathy cocktail and high-intensity workout plan, raise their fists, too.
I can feel the hard knocking of my heart inside my rib cage. It all begins now.
I look down at Mikky. “Now be a good girl and follow orders,” I tell her, and she responds with a grim smile. Then I turn and yell, “Move out!”
I drop back down into my seat and gun the engine of the jeep. Immediately, the whole army surges forward—the humans in beat-up old vans and on motorcycles, the faster Hu-Bots on foot. Fueled by rage, euphoria, and vengeance, the mob thunders down the mountain road as one huge, roiling mass, their weapons raised and their screams bloodcurdling.
The sleeping Hu-Bots of the Central Capital have no idea about the shit storm that’s coming.
Thanks to a predawn raid of the weapons wing of the Hu-Bot Museum of Human History, we’re armed with AKs and bowie knives, grenades and pistols. Zee Twelve somehow got his hands on a crossbow so big, he can barely lift it.
And our biggest weapons? The element of surprise and the power of our desperation.
Our orders from J.J. are simple: (a) decommission or reprogram as many Hu-Bots as possible; (b) don’t get killed; and (c) get the hell out of there by 1:00 a.m. at the absolute latest, no matter what.
Because at 1:00 a.m.—if all goes according to plan—the skies will light up with our missiles.
We reach the city center in minutes and fan out. With a mask pulled over his face and three knives strapped to his belt, Zee Twelve leads his brigade to the communications hub. Dubs’s dad, wasted as usual, follows them, gripping a broken beer bottle to use as a shiv. Said he was afraid he’d shoot his own foot off if we gave him a gun.
Mikky, KrisBo, and I race for a nearby apartment tower. Our particular mission: to radically increase the size of our rebel army.
Leave the killing to the Reserve thugs, J.J. told me the last time I saw him. Use that brain of yours, and stay safe. Then he’d smiled—like he actually cared about my chances of survival.
The three of us have a straightforward plan. KrisBo and Mikky will fire stun darts into the unsuspecting Hu-Bot residents, and then I’ll reprogram them, reconfiguring their synthetic synapses and giving them access to a new moral code. When they wake up—assuming I’ve done my job right—they’ll be on our side. Isaiah, Sergeant Macy, and a Hu-Bot acolyte are doing the same thing in other buildings.
Because, for all their superhuman strength, the Hu-Bots have an essential weakness: with the right skills, you can hack them just like a computer.
“Are you done yet?” Mikky whispers urgently, leaning over an unconscious Hu-Bot.
It’s a straightforward plan, yes, but it’s time consuming. I don’t have all my usual lab equipment, so I’m doing things manually, with my crappy old Q-comp. The Hu-Bot moans in her dart-induced sleep. KrisBo’s getting jumpy.
“Hurry!” she cries.
Code flashes on the tiny screen as the new beliefs get delivered: Humans are not the enemy. The premier is the enemy. Rise up and turn yourself against him.
When I finally disconnect, Mikky nods briskly at me. “That took almost three minutes,” she says. “Next time make it one.”
I give her the finger affectionately as I bend over another sleeping form. We’ve got an hour, max. If I can get my speed up, between Isaiah, Macy, and me, we might make 150 new recruits—not bad. In fact, I’m starting to feel pretty good about our chances.
But then the building’s alarm system goes off.
“What the hell?” Mikky cries.
The siren’s so loud, it’s like there’s an ambulance careening around inside my skull. I cringe, resisting the urge to cover my ears, trying to make the final adjustments to this Hu-Bot’s synaptic chain.
Charging footsteps above us knock plaster from the ceiling. I taste the dusty grit in my mouth. The Hu-Bot stirs. Not even a stun gun can compete with the pandemonium.
“Hush, little skin job, don’t say a word,” I murmur through clenched teeth.
I’m almost done—
“Are they coming for us?” KrisBo yells.
Mikky dashes to the window. “They’re all running outside!” she calls.
I make the last tweak to the Hu-Bot, and then I fling my hands in the air. “What are we supposed to do now?” I ask Mikky. I can’t keep the bitterness and disappointment from my voice. “We can’t freaking reprogram them when they’re running away!”
Mikky shakes her head in dismay. “We have to move on. There’s another apartment tower a quarter of a mile from here. Let’s go!”
We race out a side door, hoping we aren’t seen. The Hu-Bots may still be in their pajamas, but they could snap my spine in two in an instant. Luckily, they’re too focused on evacuation rules to pay any attention to us.
KrisBo and I run a full block before I realize Mikky’s not with us. I turn around, calling her name, and I see her just standing there.
“Come on, Mikky!” I shout, racing back toward her.
But she’s frozen, staring at something. And tears are streaming down her face.
CHAPTER 78
MIKKY NO LONGER sees the flames; she doesn’t notice the terrified, fleeing Hu-Bots. Her focus is entirely on a small figure limping toward her in the darkness.
The fragile silhouette is familiar in a way that sets all her warning systems ablaze. Her heart pounds in her ears. Could it be… her sister? KatBo? But it can’t be her sister, because it has only one arm. Because it’s dragging a leg like its kneecap’s been shattered.
Mikky sways backward in shock. But then the figure raises its one arm to her, and a broken voice calls out her name. Mikky’s pounding heart feels like it’s stopped entirely. “Kat?” she cries. “What happened?”
Mikky rushes forward, pulling her little sister tight against her body, shielding her from the chaos all around them. Her greatest desire is to keep Kat from being hurt, though it’s far too late for that.
“Who did this to you?” Mikky demands.
Kat looks up at her with wide, fearful eyes. “The commander took me from NyBo. He said that I was bad and full of glitches. But I’m not bad, am I?” She looks down at her missing arm, at the tangle of frayed wires sticking out from the stump, an expression of heartbreaking confusion on her face.
“Oh, Kitty Kat,” Mikky says, barely keeping the sobs out of her voice, “we’re going to make it better.” She starts to lead Kat to the transport vans.
But Kat won’t budge. “I heard them talking,” she says rapidly. “They have a prisoner. A really important one. ‘This is a deathblow to the human animals.’ That’s what the old one said. Then he laughed.” She shivers, pitifully wrapping her one remaining arm around her shoulder.
“Who is the prisoner, Kat?” Mikky asks. But before the words are even out of her mouth, she realizes she knows the answer: the Hu-Bots have captured J.J.
The thought sends a violent shudder down her spine. Without their leader, what will the humans do? Six, as brave as she is, doesn’t know how to command an army. And Mikky knows the human troops don’t trust her enough yet.
Without J.J., the humans will give up. They’ll run for the safety of the hills—where the Hu-Bots will hunt them down like animals, until every last human is gone.
Kat staggers, nearly falling, but Mikky keeps her upright. “I did good, didn’t I? Because I told you about the prisoner?” Kat’s wounded eyes meet hers. “Why did they hurt me, Mikky? Is it because of you?” Her voice is small and scared. Mikky feels like she’s breaking in two.
“I don’t know, sweetie,” Mikky whispers, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “But everything is going to be okay. We can fix you, I promise. We’ll make you even better than you were before.”
&nbs
p; “Like you?” Kat asks, her voice full of hope now. “Elite?”
Elite: the word makes bile rise in Mikky’s throat. It doesn’t mean what she once thought it meant. “Even better than me,” she promises. “I have to go now, honey. Our vans are right up the street. They’ll take you back to the compound for repair.”
Of course, J.J.’s the only one who can rebuild Kat—which is another reason Mikky must rescue him. She looks up to the Elite Tower penthouse. He’s in there, she knows. Any minute now, they’re going to kill him, if he isn’t dead already.
Mikky takes one last minute to kneel on the ground in front of her sister. She folds Kat into her arms and tenderly kisses the top of her head. “Now go find KrisBo at the vans. She’ll protect you.”
As KatBo limps away, too dazed to even question why her brother is now a “she,” Mikky thinks, I wish someone could protect me.
But no one can—she’s on her own.
She starts sprinting to the tower. Her frenzied wrath drives her faster and faster, until her legs are a blur.
MosesKhan is going to pay.
CHAPTER 79
BUT HOW IS she going to get in?
The Hu-Bots have fortified the Elite Tower’s defenses with alarming speed. Razor wire rings the entire perimeter, and behind it, the courtyard crawls with Bot soldiers. Spotlights scrape the ground, illuminating cases of ammo, flares, grenades—more than enough weapons to kill every last human on the planet.
And that is, of course, their end game.
Mikky crouches behind a van, holding her breath, calculating. She spots the sniper Bots, poised on the tower’s balconies, scanning the night through their scopes. There’s no way through the barricade.
Not at ground level, anyway.
Slowly and without a sound, Mikky creeps toward the side of the building. Bot soldiers stand shoulder to shoulder, their backs to the tower, their weapons—twenty-pound rifles capable of turning flesh into hamburger—cocked and ready.
Then, two stories above them, she sees an empty balcony. There.
The moment the spotlight sweeps past her, Mikky springs out from her hiding place. She sprints toward the barrier and the line of Bots behind it. As she sees their guns lift, she vaults into the air. Rocketing over the heads of the shocked Bots, she makes the twenty-foot leap to the balcony. She feels a flare of hot, white pain as a bullet grazes her calf.
She lands on the railing, teeters, and then pushes off, crashing through a window and into a deserted office. A warning strobe light begins to flash—a silent alarm, alerting the Bots to her whereabouts. Heart pounding in her ears, Mikky scuttles toward the hallway.
When she reaches the elevator, she pries open the heavy doors. She peers up and down into the darkness of the shaft and then wraps her fingers around one of the thick steel cables.
Synthesized adrenaline is surging through her, and she doesn’t feel the wound in her leg anymore.
Mikky grabs the cable with both hands. Her feet wind around it, too, supporting part of her weight. Hand over hand, she begins to climb. The cable digs into her skin as she ascends, but she ignores it. The shaft is pitch-black, but she knows where to go: Up.
Up.
Up.
She can hear distant shouts—she knows that they’re searching for her. But they won’t think to look for her here.
Her arms shake with effort. The wound sends flaring pain signals to her neuromatrix.
At least I don’t bleed, like a human, she thinks grimly.
Mikky lets out a yelp as she suddenly slides a few inches down the cable. Her bioskin is shredding into slippery ribbons from the relentless friction. She grits her teeth, sucks in a breath, and digs deep for her remaining strength. Steadily and painfully, she hauls herself up for the rest of the hellish ascent. All the way up to MosesKhan’s penthouse office.
By the time Mikky reaches the top floor, the manufactured muscles in her biceps scream in agony. She launches herself toward the wall of the elevator shaft, landing on the two-inch ledge in front of the elevator doors, and then pries them open from the inside. She falls onto the carpet, gasping for breath.
She’s still for only a moment. Then she starts to get up, steeling herself for the fight to come.
Suddenly something jabs her between the shoulder blades. She knows without looking that it’s the muzzle of a gun.
“Let’s go,” says a cold voice.
Mikky spins over, knocking the gun away as she springs to her feet. Three Elite Hu-Bot guards are right behind her—and two have their guns pointed right at her heart. She reaches for her own gun, tucked inside her belt.
“Don’t fight,” warns the tallest one, cocking his weapon audibly. “You’ve got no chance of winning.”
Mikky’s not so sure about that. But then the weaponless one raises his hand, palm up and out, in a gesture of peace.
“Think how sad your sister would be if we had to kill you right now,” this Hu-Bot says. “You see, we sent her to find you. And she did!” He smiles thinly. “Not bad for a little one-armed traitor.”
Fear and dread curdle in Mikky’s stomach. This was never a rescue mission—it was a trap.
CHAPTER 80
SHOVED FORWARD INTO a large room by a squadron of faceless Bot-cops, Mikky stumbles, nearly knocking into MosesKhan himself. Her former commander stands with his muscular arms crossed, a look of smug satisfaction on his face.
“You should have stayed dead, ex-detective MikkyBo,” he says, his lips curling in a snarl. “It would have been far more pleasant for you.”
Anger courses through her like fire. She’d trusted this Hu-Bot, and he’d turned out to be a monster. “I had to come back so I could kill you,” she says.
Khan gives a short bark of a laugh. “You thought you could come here and fight me?” he asks. “You thought I wouldn’t be expecting you? I am a warrior. I commanded armies before you were a glimmer in your father’s artificial eye.”
“Why didn’t you meet me yourself, then, Commander?” she challenges. “Why send your goons?”
MosesKhan stiffens; he’s unused to defiance. “Those goons are better soldiers, better Hu-Bots, than you will ever be.”
“If being an automaton is the highest form of Hu-Bot achievement,” she retorts, “then you’re probably right.”
MosesKhan takes a threatening step toward her, but Mikky doesn’t flinch. She lifts her chin and looks him straight in the eye. “Where’s J.J.?”
MosesKhan’s eyes travel up and down her body before he answers. “I don’t know,” he finally says.
Mikky’s breath catches in her throat. He’s telling the truth, she’s sure of it. If Khan doesn’t have J.J., does that mean he’s safe? Was Kat lying about the prisoner?
“We’ll find him, of course,” MosesKhan adds. “With your help.”
“The only help you’ll get from me is a bullet to your brain,” Mikky snaps. A Bot-cop reaches out and cuffs her on the side of the head; stars explode before her eyes.
“Your silly heroics are rather pointless, my dear,” says a voice.
Mikky turns to see a short, balding Hu-Bot dressed all in black. His pale, fleshy face is intimately familiar to her: she pledged allegiance to his portrait every day at the Academy.
The premier is standing only six feet away from her.
He radiates power. Exudes menace. He has small, cruel eyes and small, gray teeth. “Despite your best efforts, it is time to exterminate the human animals, once and for all,” he says coldly.
Without even thinking, Mikky yanks a gun from the nearest Bot. As she swings the muzzle toward the premier’s chest, her finger finding the trigger, two Bot-cops slam into her and knock her to the ground. She rolls sideways and scrambles to her feet, reaching for the gun in her boot. But two more Bot-cops grab her arms and restrain her.
A third holds a lethal Electroshock 900 two millimeters from her skull.
The premier gazes at her calmly. “Was that some kind of assassination attempt?” he asks. ?
??That was pitiful. I see you would like to be exterminated, too.”
“She deserves it,” MosesKhan says, his face twisted with rage.
But the premier shakes his head. “No, what we will do to you, Mikky, is rather a bit more useful. And, as far as you’re concerned, worse.” He looks thoughtfully at her for a moment, and then he smiles. “But first, I thought you might like to say hello to another of our visitors.”
A door opens, and into the room falls—
“NyBo!” Mikky shouts.
Her father looks up at her from the floor, his bruised eyes dull with pain. His hands are bound behind his back. There are deep gashes on his forehead and cheeks, frayed wires poking out, burn marks on his neck. He’s been tortured.
He whispers, “Run…!”
CHAPTER 81
MOSESKHAN FEELS THE anger and desperation radiating off MikkyBo’s flawless skin. He inhales the delicious scent of her fear, relishing it. “Why do you look so surprised, MikkyBo?” he asks. “Didn’t your sister beg you to come save your traitorous father?”
Mikky looks as if she’s blinking back tears.
How disgusting, Khan thinks.
“She didn’t know who the prisoner was,” Mikky whispers.
“Perhaps I shouldn’t have tortured her so much,” MosesKhan says ruefully. “It might have adversely affected her memory.” Then he smiles cruelly. “But you came, didn’t you? That’s what matters. And now you will lead us to the rebels.”
Mikky’s eyes flash blue fire. “Let my father go,” she demands.
The commander ignores her. “You really did surprise me, MikkyBo,” he goes on. “I didn’t expect betrayal from one as promising as you.”
Her cheeks flush then, and she looks exquisitely beautiful. What a waste of engineering, he thinks.
He reaches into a drawer in his desk, pulls out a gleaming golden collar, and holds it up before her. “Remember this?” MosesKhan asks. “You were so proud to earn your Elite status. And look at you now, your neck as naked and vulnerable as a human’s.”