“Yes you are.” She tried to open her water, but it wouldn’t budge. “You’re doing it now. Meeting me at the ballpark. Taking me to Mules. I love Mules. Reminding me of my favorite coffee. I’d be angry except I have the feeling that you’re doing it for you as much as me.”
“I am not!” he protested, but it sounded lame even to him.
“I’m willing to overlook it,” she said as she gave up on the water and handed it to him. “But I want to know if you’re doing it because you want to or because you have to?”
Discomfited, Silas cracked it for her. “What does your gut say?”
She took the bottle back, looking out over the field in silence. “Ask me tomorrow,” she finally said. Sighing, she took a sip of water and set it down. “Howard has good news, yes?”
Silas cringed. He couldn’t look at her, angry at himself, at Fran. Peri couldn’t have known what that chip was. But even he had to admit the likelihood that Opti was using her even now.
“Not good news,” Peri amended, her eyes empty of recrimination.
“Can’t you let me enjoy even half an inning?” he grumbled.
Peri picked her dog back up. “You have until I’m done with this bodacious hot dog. Mmmm, you don’t mess with the dog.”
Silas settled back but the mood was broken. For a moment, they were both silent as the art of the game stole over them, of science and muscle, of physics and psychology.
“I remember coming here with my dad,” Peri said, eyes on the field. “He taught me the game from the stands. The original park at the corner. My mom thought the park was filthy, and she didn’t like the new boxes either, so that was kind of the end of it after he died.”
Silas hunched, straightening when his jacket pulled. “Sorry to hear that.”
Lips twisted into a smile, she looked at him and adjusted his hat. “But I’m here now, with you, Mr. Tomorrow.”
Silas’s jaw clenched. Her smile was perfect, the sun making her skin glow and her eyes vivid. He wanted to bring it all back, every little thing. But there was nothing left. Allen had wiped it all away. And he had helped.
I should have told her that I loved her, he thought, breath shallow. Maybe then she would have had a choice. But he’d hidden his love, giving her no choice but the one that Allen offered. And who wouldn’t have chosen glory over an empty apartment? He was a fool, and all he could do now was try to give her the knowledge to save herself.
“You okay?” Peri asked, the sun glinting on the tips of her thick black hair.
“Fine,” he said tightly, eyeing the park’s drones. They were low-Q and harmless, but he didn’t like how easy it would be to slip a high-Q, facial-recognition one among them. “How is Jack doing? Is he here?”
Peri cast about as she wiped her fingers on a napkin. “No,” she said, sounding surprised. “And that makes you happy because …,” she prompted.
Silas shrugged, not liking that he was telegraphing his mood so loudly. “It just means you’re comfortable,” he said, hiding behind a sip of his drink. “And if you’re comfortable, it’s a good bet that no one is sitting in the stands watching us.”
Peri scanned the nearby stairs, but there were only fans to look at. “Seriously?”
He nodded. “Jack manifests when you think something is wrong. He’s not infallible, since he only knows what you suspect, but I trust your intuition more than, say, … Allen’s word.”
She chuckled at that. “Yeah, I don’t trust him either,” she said. “He knew my ass was LoJacked.”
Silas smirked, and she turned to him, head shaking. “Good God,” she said, not angry at all. “You’re happy I don’t trust Allen?”
He couldn’t help his laugh, and her smile turned real. “I can’t keep anything from you, can I? But you’re not done yet with your hot dog.”
“Yes. I am.” She shoved the last bit in her mouth. Chewing fast, she swallowed, washing it down with a gulp of water before turning to face him. Silas’s pulse quickened, but just then the inning ended and he looked past her to the suddenly moving people. The announcer’s voice was almost lost amid the thousand conversations starting all at once.
“Getting under the alliance blanket is going to be a little tricky,” Peri said in the new noise, glancing darkly at the man knocking into her on his way to the food court. “Opti found out I removed the tracker and made me ingest a new radiation marker.”
Silas’s head snapped around. “What!”
“It’s not that big a deal,” she said, almost amused as she leaned closer to be heard. “Don’t freak out, okay? I can muddle it when I want with a little barium syrup.”
“They knew you were gone and didn’t scrub you?” he asked, trying to wrap his head around this.
Peri’s expression twisted wryly. “No.”