Read Online SLAM by Tash McAdam - Free Book Online Page B

There’s a
door leading to another dark room, and some stairs that disappear
through a cut out in the low ceiling. More hiding spots. She grins
at Leaf, appreciative that he’s found a spot they can
use.
    He nods at her, like he’s agreeing that he’s
done a good job. “Nah, luv. They have to list it on the street
census if there’s to be a new business, or what-have-ya. Don’t turn
lights on at night or nothin’ stupid like that, though.”
    She shoots him a withering look that he merely
grins cheekily in response to, and then realizes that Abial’s
already setting up the datapad for long comms, checking in with the
base. Leaving her to it, Serena has a little poke around,
discovering that the door leads to a small kitchen with its own
exit – great if they have to leave in a hurry. Loping up the
stairs, she discovers a good-sized attic still packed with boxes.
It has windows at both ends that could also be used as emergency
exits if necessary. She pads back down, undoing the City hairstyle,
which is starting to itch behind her ears.
    “This is great, Leaf. Thanks. So, whaddya know
about all the new soldiers coming off the tube? Are they coming
from other Cities as well? Where’re they heading?” She wants to ask
who he is, how he knows Kion, and what he’s planning on helping
them with, but there are more pressing issues at hand. If someone’s
on the run right now, they don’t have a lot of time for chatting.
It’s enough that he’s here; she can quash her curiosity for
now.
    “My baby bro’s been stalking their captain for
me. They’ve been jumpin’ all over, settin’ up raids, flattenin’
anyone who gets in the way. But they ain’t found whatever they’re
lookin’ for yet. I tell ya, I ain’t never seen a hive so worked up.
And I nick stuff from them all the time, so I should
know!”
    You nick stuff from them? How do
you get away with that? She tilts her
head, and for the first time since leaving ARC base, spreads her
Talent out a little, trying to touch his mind. He grins at her,
seeming to know what she’s doing, and she sighs.
    “Total Blank, eh?” That explains it. She can’t
sense his thoughts even a little; he’s impenetrable, invisible to
her mental probes. If he weren’t Talented, she would be able to
read every last part of his current thoughts and feelings. If he
were deliberately shielding, she might only get a fleeting
impression, but she’d be able to sense at least an awareness of his
presence. But Leaf may as well not be standing in front of her at
all. To her power, it’s like he doesn’t exist. A gap where there
should be a person. Unreadable, unknowable.
    He smirks, slanted eyes crinkling up behind
his now disheveled fringe. “That’s why I’m useful!”
    He’s right; Blanks – those immune
to psionic interference – make great spies. Without physically
seeing them, there’s no way of knowing where they are or where
they’ve been. And because they’re impossible to actually track, the
Institute makes a point of searching for them, hunting them down by
getting Readers to scan and find ‘empty’ places – places where
there should be a
person’s thoughts and feelings. Blanks are noticeable as a bubble
in the miasma of emotions that is the slums. And as soon as a Blank
is found, they’re killed. A Blank could never be used, because they
can’t be read, so the Institute would never be able to trust them.
Serena would wager they’re immune to mind wipes as well, but she
has no idea if that is actually true.
    Leaf must be pretty damn good if he can steal
things from right under the Institute’s nose, as a Blank. But
hasn’t she just seen him take on two totally different personas so
well that she couldn’t even pinpoint all the things that had
changed? Body posture, facial tension, expressions, even the way he
looks around now is edgier, less refined. No wonder he’s a talented
thief. A Blank with great acting skills is pretty much perfect for
a criminal