Pacific Storm by Linda Nagata

Author:Linda Nagata [Nagata, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Thriller, near future, Hawaii, hurricane, global warming, climate change, Waikiki, Chinese US relations, Pearl Harbor, Waikīkī
ISBN: 978-1-937197-32-2
Publisher: Mythic Island Press LLC
Published: 2020-10-08T04:00:00+00:00

chapter

14

With the gusting wind and Huko imminent, people were in a mood to help each other—no questions asked. Two farm trucks—both flatbed electrics, Chinese manufacture—had been brought in by volunteers to evacuate the animals not allowed to accompany their owners to the stadium. Cardboard carry boxes and battered airline crates secured the small dogs, the cats, and a family of rabbits. A few larger dogs were confined too, but there weren’t crates for all of them.

So after the driver agreed to squeeze three human passengers onto the flatbed for the short drive to the stadium, Ava found herself comforting a frightened pit bull while she huddled with Akasha and Matt at the hollow center of the flatbed’s stacked load. A nerve-grating cacophony of plaintive mewing, whining, and competitive barking surrounded them—and still it felt like a respite.

The truck started to roll, startling the pit bull. It raised its head from Ava’s lap. “It’s all right,” she murmured.

She waited until the truck pulled out onto Kamehameha Highway. Then she leaned in, eyeing Matt. With her voice hushed and the rush of wind to cover her words, she told him, “So talk. We kept you out of Sigrún’s hands. We got you out of the hospital. Now what? Tell me you’ve got a plan that’ll keep Denali from launching that missile.”

“Lyric’s working on it.” He met her gaze, his bruised face calm, assured. A modern portrait of belief.

“You know that? You’ve been talking to her?”

“No, but when she gets to a secure position, we’ll hear from her again.”

Ava considered this. Lyric had deep access into HADAFA, but she didn’t have superpowers. If this was all a set-up—if Ivan’s intel was right and Lyric really was a double agent working for the Chinese, legitimate officers should have already brought her down.

But if she was loyal? If she was the real thing, despite the fatal game she’d played with Robert Bell? Then the evidence she’d gathered on Sigrún should have triggered an emergency action.

That hadn’t happened—and Ava could parse that only by accepting what Matt had said, before they’d left the hospital room: Somewhere in the chain of command, is Sigrún.

“What if we don’t hear from Lyric again?” Akasha asked.

“It gets harder,” Matt said, his gaze still fixed on Ava, so intense it made her feel vulnerable.

She didn’t like feeling vulnerable. “You’re still thinking you can use me to get to Kaden. I think we’re past that.”

A slight shake of his head. “We don’t know that yet—”

He broke off with a distracted look, just as Ava’s earbud pulsed a sequence of emergency-alert tones. A male voice followed—not the standard voice she’d selected for her system, but something sterner: “Emergency Management System alert. Warning: The Ānuenue Taxi fleet will end service at 1 AM. All travel must be completed before that time. Hurricane Huko is an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm. Shelter only within hurricane-rated structures. Emergency shelters are available at—”

Ava tapped her earbud, ending the message. Her hand returned to the dog, stroking its head to bleed off tension.

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