“I don’t have a tracking chip in me anymore. It’s amazing how that can boost a person’s confidence.” Peri frowned. “Please. I have to get Silas back before they fill his head with lies.”
Eyes averted, Howard tapped the swabs on the counter and returned them to the container, brow furrowed as he pushed the jar to the wall. He looked different in his white lab coat, but his hands were the same. He wasn’t a large man, but he had a big presence. “I don’t know what you think I can do,” he finally said.
“You don’t care that he’s being held?” Peri said, aghast. “Lied to? Manipulated?”
“Of course I do, but he knew the risk. We all want to see Opti shut down. But I don’t care if you fall with it. And neither does Silas.”
Peri sucked her teeth. Lame, it was lame and cowardly. “Listen to me, little man,” she said, and Howard started in affront. “Who do you think keeps terrorists out of U.S. airspace, gets the guns to oil-friendly rebels, and cleans the crap off your favorite politician? Too many people want Opti, depend on it to keep downtown America buying technology they don’t need, and that the alliance is trying to shut it down is starting to piss me off! They will shred the files, fire the secretary, and open it back up again calling it something else with the public thinking we are the Green Berets or SEAL Team Six B or some other special ops group. But I’ll be damned if I let Bill be in charge of it. I’m not corrupt, and the Opti I worked for isn’t either.”
“Yeah?” Howard had his arms over his chest, clearly not liking the little man comment.
“I don’t need to explain myself to you,” she said. Coming here was a mistake. “Are you going to help me rescue Silas or not?”
He leaned back against the counter, thinking. “What do you want?”
It wasn’t an agreement, just a question. “Funding.” He snorted, and she warmed. “Equipment to free Silas, and a ride to Detroit for the talisman I made of the night where this all started. Silas can help me re-create the memory tied to it, and with that, the truth comes out.”
“Your talismans,” he said flatly, beads clinking as he shook his head. “They’re nothing but paperweights with your past anchor dead.”
Peri’s chest clenched, but she used the grief, mutating it to anger. “Silas defragmented one of my memories. One he’d never seen. If he did that once, he can do it again. The talisman will help.” Howard’s lips parted in disbelief, and she made a fist in frustration. “Are you going to help me or not?”
There was a knock on the door, and Peri held his eyes. “Doctor?” the vet tech called, and Howard grimaced.
“Don’t open the door!” he said sourly. “I’ve got her cornered.” He leaned over the table, his brow furrowed. “Anchors can’t defragment memories they haven’t witnessed.”
“Opti does it all the time with new drafters. It isn’t impossible, just really hard and time-consuming.” But it hadn’t been either of those things when Silas had done it. “Something happened in the Global Genetics office. Going there and looking at the chalk outline won’t help. I need Silas and my talisman. I need to remember.”
Clearly unhappy, Howard took his out-of-date smartphone from a pocket and checked the screen. “I never agreed with Silas’s plan to use you to gain information.”
“Thank you.”
The phone went dark and he stuffed it away. “That wasn’t a compliment. I thought it was a stupid idea that would hurt him more. I only supported it because he needed to face his grief, not hide from it.” Seeming to have decided something, Howard pushed the jar of swabs from the counter. Peri jumped, startled even though she’d been expecting the harsh noise. “Anne is such a snoop,” he muttered.
Frustrated, Peri splayed her hands on the exam table. “I need a vehicle that won’t be called in as stolen, a few thousand dollars. Maybe a good throwing knife.”
“A few thousand dollars?” Howard echoed, his eyes wide.
“And a toothbrush. I’d kill for a toothbrush.”
Squinting, he rubbed his forehead as if in pain. “Get your squirrel,” he said as he turned to a drawer and pulled out a spool of gauze.
“You’ll help?” she asked as he wrapped his hand.
“I don’t know yet. Keep your mouth shut and come with me.” He opened the door, looking taller on the threshold.
Peri grabbed the box, tucking it under her arm as she paced after him. But she nearly ran into him when he stopped short, a flustered Anne before him. “Get room three cleaned up,” he said, his words clipped. “Cancel my appointments. I’m going to Emergency.”
The woman’s eyes were large. “Are you okay?”
“Just a nip,” he said as he bodily moved her out of his way. “But I want it taken care of now.” Turning, he glared at Peri. “Let’s go. And keep that box closed, will you?”
Head down and box tucked tighter under her arm, she followed him.
“Squirrels!” Howard shouted as he grabbed his coat from the rack behind the desk. “Sure, I’ll take a look. Susan, take a memo. No more squirrels!”