Page 85 of Coldwire
It’ll only require five buildings. Five connecting points before we reach our destination. For a route that spans a significant length east to west in Threto, it’s really not bad. All I needed was a satellite map of Threto, and I calculated a smooth path that would bring us lower and lower to the ground, letting gravity pull at the zip line. The Three Towns National Data Center is located in the heart of the city, along the river that cuts a zigzag through Threto, unlike Upsie’s facility in its east. Though there are a healthy number of skyscrapers scattered between us and the river, there are also many shorter, steadier buildings. Those are the ones we’re targeting after our tall start. Unused and largely empty, with all the cameras concentrated on the ground level in case of squatters.
“Do we want the harnesses?” Blare asks, picking through Nik’s bag.
“Only the ropes,” Nik answers. “Makes it quicker. I trust everyone can maintain a good grip.”
Blare nods and pulls out a few sets of rope, made of the same material as the zip line. I stand aside, observing the scene. Nik goes to the edge of the rooftop and fixes one end of the zip line tight to the building. The line is unlike anything I’ve seen, clamping itself to the edge of the roof as soon as he activates a red lever to the side.
“It’s magnetic.”
A gust of wind carries Nik’s voice away, but I know it is directed toward me. I’ve drifted behind him, watching him secure the line.
“Good tech,” I remark.
“The best. No chance of a blunder.”
The hologram playing on the neighboring building darts around the north wall to look at us. A dancing woman, rendered in blue and yellow, wearing the face of some model who must have signed her resemblancerights away for life.HAVE YOU PURCHASED LIMB INSURANCE?reads the caption running around her waist.
It wouldn’t have been noticeable in the night otherwise, but the moving hologram lights up a piece of graffiti behind it, on the wall. I can’t imagine how someone climbed up the building exterior to do it, but the spray paint was certainly applied with a steady hand. A near-perfect circle, with four arrows pointing inward evenly around the circumference.
“Your work?” I say sarcastically, pointing to the graffiti.
Nik turns over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing.
“Believe it or not,” he replies once he’s spotted the source of my dig, “I don’t belong to every anarchist group in the world. I don’t belong to any, in fact.”
“Forgive me. I saw spray paint and made my assumptions.”
Nik doesn’t rise to my bait. He’s studying the symbol now, head tilted like he’s trying to identify it. I kick a pebble by my shoe.
“In all seriousness,” I say. “I’m sorry for attacking you.”
Nik looks over to me again. “Are you yanking my chain?”
I point at his hand. “I think you’re the one yanking a chain.”
“What—okay.” Finished with securing the zip line, Nik gets up, rising off one knee in a smooth motion. “You’re real funny.”
I wasn’t trying to be funny. In fact, I don’t think anyone has ever used the word “funny” to describe me.
“I’m just trying to apologize for, you know.” I point at his temple, where there’s the angry red scratch. “It’s your own fault, but I’m sorry.”
“That’s a terrible apology.”
“I’m sorry for attacking you to prove a point,” I conclude. “I’m not sorry that I was clearly right. Or that you keep steering away from what is pretty evident at this point in time, and it’s giving you a dark cloud of a mood.”
Behind us, Miz picks up the other end of the zip line with the drone and starts to fly it off the edge of the roof, toward the first destination pointI selected for her on the map. In the entire time she’s securing it, Nik only glowers at me, and I don’t offer any leeway. I glower back.
I can’t imagine myself befriending a team of anarchists either. But really I can’t imagine myself befriending anyone, given my gaping history with forming meaningful connections, so what do I know? Maybe we were the world’s most tight-knit unit of coworkers.
“All right!” Miz shouts. “I think we’re ready to go.”
“Great,” Nik says. He brushes by me, grabbing the bags he set down. He’s managed to shove the entire server box he stole in Upsie into one of his backpacks.
“I wanna go first,” Blare declares.
“Grab a rope, then,” Nik says. “Soldier, stay sharp.”
I catch the rope he throws my way, clasping it close to my chest. Nik pauses, his eyes steady on me. I don’t look away, mystified by whatever it is that my mind is scrambling to put together.
