Read Online Shadow Unit 15 by Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear - Free Book Online
Authors: Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear
Tags: a.!.Loaded
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frappucino cup in salute and thanks Dice for the strudel, headed to the upstairs.
Dice sets the metal detectors off, and lets Leon escort him in the room to do the usual search.
*
Daniel Brady would like to eat a strudel, but he doesn't want it churning around in his stomach while he meets with Jason Saito. Saito will insinuate, and probe, trying to scare him, and Saito's favorite weapon walked next to him, heading for the elevator.
Maybe he could dull that blade. "Donatta had her surgery today?" Brady asks.
"She sure did," Hafs says. "I've got a full plate of visits this afternoon. Donatta, Suze, and Dr. Allison. The doc wants to know how I changed my bugzapper, so I'm going to change one for her."
Hafs put her finger right on the sorest spot. Danny tries to answer like her tinkering doesn't worry him."Will your revision suit everyone?"
"That's what we're wondering. It would be nice if I could stop Donatta's nightmares—she has dreams about the caverns and the river. Along with the rest of it, but it's the river that really gets her."
"I've been in that river. Can't say I blame her for that." Hafidha's boots thud on the vinyl floor as they walk down the hallway to the elevator that waits in the center of all the patient wings. Brady holds a fire door open for her.
Hafida nods and walks through, pressing the down arrow for the elevator. "You can't stop all nightmares, though. It sounds like it would be nice, but I think we need fear." She shifts to stand on one foot, messing with the buckle on the ankle of her boot.
Brady sticks his arm out for Hafs to grab, just in case. "That's philosophical."
"No," Hafida says. she takes Brady's arm, though, and fixes whatever's wrong with the buckle. "That's Bugzapper build 1.21a. Not a good day."
Brady knows that he better not ask. "It was only a day, though."
"Ask Chaz about it sometime," Hafs says. "I'm not sure I'm ready to look back on it and laugh just yet."
"I've got a day from tenth grade like that."
"Subject change time, Brady. You know that side project Sol and I are working on?"
"Yes. You have news?"
She glances over her shoulder at the security guard and drops her voice. "Just an update. Apparently Matthew Sheehy was writing a piece about green burials, but asked for a little more time because he'd stumbled onto something involving one of the people who turned up as recently buried. Her name was Ashley Campbell."
*
You freeze. Don't look up don't look up
"—Her name was Ashley Campbell. And guess what."
You know that voice. You can't stop your chin from rising. You look across the counter of your security desk and at the speaker. It's the one who didn't come back. Hafidha. The one with the bright yarn and the sharp words. The one who could make computers dance to her will.
"Did she die in a car accident?"
You know him, too. He's one of the FBI team who finds the monsters and brings them here. He's chatting with Hafidha about Ash, about Ashley's death.
Why are they talking about me?
"On the highway where Matthew Sheehy died. Sounds like that thing we don't believe in, right? But wait, there's more."
"Ashley Campbell died because of a spontaneous airbag deployment?"
"No. She died because the driver in front of her had a sudden steering failure, panicked, and slammed on the brakes. Solomon Todd found the lawsuit and the insurance claim."
You wonder who they're talking about. Who was Matthew Sheehy? You pick up a clipboard and move out from behind the desk. You follow them to hear more.
"So you think it's connected. Ashley Campbell dies on that road, and then Matt smells a story and starts investigating—what?"
They know! Ash cries, and your insides clutch. The reporter. He's dead? But you keep walking. Guards and orderlies and nurses are invisible. Just doing their jobs.
"I don't know yet," Hafidha says. "His personal effects were returned to his family. There wasn't anything in his email or his cloud. I think he used paper. "
Dice sets the metal detectors off, and lets Leon escort him in the room to do the usual search.
*
Daniel Brady would like to eat a strudel, but he doesn't want it churning around in his stomach while he meets with Jason Saito. Saito will insinuate, and probe, trying to scare him, and Saito's favorite weapon walked next to him, heading for the elevator.
Maybe he could dull that blade. "Donatta had her surgery today?" Brady asks.
"She sure did," Hafs says. "I've got a full plate of visits this afternoon. Donatta, Suze, and Dr. Allison. The doc wants to know how I changed my bugzapper, so I'm going to change one for her."
Hafs put her finger right on the sorest spot. Danny tries to answer like her tinkering doesn't worry him."Will your revision suit everyone?"
"That's what we're wondering. It would be nice if I could stop Donatta's nightmares—she has dreams about the caverns and the river. Along with the rest of it, but it's the river that really gets her."
"I've been in that river. Can't say I blame her for that." Hafidha's boots thud on the vinyl floor as they walk down the hallway to the elevator that waits in the center of all the patient wings. Brady holds a fire door open for her.
Hafida nods and walks through, pressing the down arrow for the elevator. "You can't stop all nightmares, though. It sounds like it would be nice, but I think we need fear." She shifts to stand on one foot, messing with the buckle on the ankle of her boot.
Brady sticks his arm out for Hafs to grab, just in case. "That's philosophical."
"No," Hafida says. she takes Brady's arm, though, and fixes whatever's wrong with the buckle. "That's Bugzapper build 1.21a. Not a good day."
Brady knows that he better not ask. "It was only a day, though."
"Ask Chaz about it sometime," Hafs says. "I'm not sure I'm ready to look back on it and laugh just yet."
"I've got a day from tenth grade like that."
"Subject change time, Brady. You know that side project Sol and I are working on?"
"Yes. You have news?"
She glances over her shoulder at the security guard and drops her voice. "Just an update. Apparently Matthew Sheehy was writing a piece about green burials, but asked for a little more time because he'd stumbled onto something involving one of the people who turned up as recently buried. Her name was Ashley Campbell."
*
You freeze. Don't look up don't look up
"—Her name was Ashley Campbell. And guess what."
You know that voice. You can't stop your chin from rising. You look across the counter of your security desk and at the speaker. It's the one who didn't come back. Hafidha. The one with the bright yarn and the sharp words. The one who could make computers dance to her will.
"Did she die in a car accident?"
You know him, too. He's one of the FBI team who finds the monsters and brings them here. He's chatting with Hafidha about Ash, about Ashley's death.
Why are they talking about me?
"On the highway where Matthew Sheehy died. Sounds like that thing we don't believe in, right? But wait, there's more."
"Ashley Campbell died because of a spontaneous airbag deployment?"
"No. She died because the driver in front of her had a sudden steering failure, panicked, and slammed on the brakes. Solomon Todd found the lawsuit and the insurance claim."
You wonder who they're talking about. Who was Matthew Sheehy? You pick up a clipboard and move out from behind the desk. You follow them to hear more.
"So you think it's connected. Ashley Campbell dies on that road, and then Matt smells a story and starts investigating—what?"
They know! Ash cries, and your insides clutch. The reporter. He's dead? But you keep walking. Guards and orderlies and nurses are invisible. Just doing their jobs.
"I don't know yet," Hafidha says. "His personal effects were returned to his family. There wasn't anything in his email or his cloud. I think he used paper. "
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