Free Windswept by Adam Rakunas Page B

need to move.”
    “Where?” said Jilly.
    “There,” I said, pointing to a sand dune just ahead.
    “What for?”
    “Better signal.”
    From the top of the dune, we had a clear view of Santee City, all its lights now blazing in the purple twilight. I took Banks by the shoulders and turned him toward the Emerald Masjid, the warning lights on its spires fading on and off. “Your pai working?” I said.
    Banks blinked, then nodded.
    “Good,” I said. “Dial nine-nine-nine, then tell whoever picks up that you’re a Breach, and your friends have left you behind. They’re on a WalWa bus heading up the beach, toward the big green tower.”
    “Why me?”
    “Authenticity,” I said. “Dial.”
    Banks shrugged, then relaxed. His eyes glazed over, then he repeated what I’d told him, giving me a puzzled look the whole time. “They just thanked me and said to wait here,” he said. “Who was that? The police?”
    “Nope,” I said. “Nine-nine-nine dials straight to the local WalWa HQ.”
    The blood rushed from Banks’s face. “I called WalWa?”
    “Yep,” I said. “They’ve probably got you tracked and pinpointed as we speak.”
    Banks opened his mouth, then grabbed me by the lapels of my deck jacket. “How could you do this to me?” he shrieked. “How could you turn me back in?”
    “Relax, Counselor,” I said, flipping his hands off me. “Just because they know where you are doesn’t mean they can get you. Besides, you’re with me.”
    Banks tensed again. “That hasn’t been working so well today.”
    “Hey, I got you this far, right?”
    Banks nodded.
    “Then I’m going to get you the rest of the way,” I said. “We just have to catch up with the bus and get your shipmates back.
    “You planning on calling some secret reinforcements?” said Banks, trailing behind.
    “In a manner of speaking,” I said.
    “I’m starting to learn not to trust your manners,” he said.
    It was a short hike to where Jilly had stashed her tuk-tuk behind a pile of rusted, rotting piping, right on the stinky side of the refinery. “Keep the lights and stereo off,” I said to Jilly as she cranked the engine. “And hang back a bit.”
    The only good thing about being on this beach was that the roads sucked for bigger, heavier vehicles. That meant we could make up plenty of ground that the bus couldn’t. Within a few minutes, the taillights came into view. “Stop here,” I said, and Jilly eased into the brakes.
    “Is this when the backup arrives?” asked Banks.
    “Soon,” I said, leaning out of the tuk-tuk and looking up at the evening sky. “OK,” I said to Jilly as I climbed out, “you’re going to go back to Brushhead straight for the Union Hall. Ask for Lanny, tell him I sent you, and that you need a provisional hack license.”
    “I’m not getting a license,” said Jilly.
    “Then you’re also not getting this,” I said, holding up the second half of the fifty-yuan note along with the two C-notes. “Nor this beautiful signing bonus.”
    Jilly’s eyes grew wide at the bills. “I have to take a test?”
    “You know how to stop, start, and steer,” I said, “that should be enough. Wait at the Hall. I’ll get word to you tomorrow. Go.”
    She nodded and turned the tuk-tuk around. Banks hopped out. “Oh, no,” I said.
    “If you’re going to rescue my friends, you’re going to need me,” he said.
    “What, so you can convince them to stay, like you did back at the beach?” I said.
    “I was outnumbered,” he said. “And scared.”
    “It’s about to get even more crowded and scary,” I said. A few bundles of lights appeared over the horizon, slowed, then started to get bigger. As Jilly zipped away, Banks stared at the sky, his mouth opening wider as the lights got stronger.
    “Right on time,” I said. “You may want to cover your ears.”
    Banks gave me a funny look, but he put his hands to his ears as a gentle whine from overhead grew bigger and louder. A dozen searchlights