Passion Model Read online

  “My father is a cocky bastard,” Declan said by way of explanation. He gave Eddie a grudging grin. “He doesn’t expect opposition because he never gets it.”

  “Good for us.” I pointed to the closest neon sign, just one roof over from ours. “We can cross the roof and get into that hut there. And then…”

  “I’ll take it from there,” Eddie replied. “We’ll do the Whitney maneuver.”

  “The what?” Declan asked.

  Eddie shifted Kaelyn in his grasp. “About forty years ago, some Oldcity gangsters decided they were going to market unregistered intoxicants to the underground clubs. Without paying the registration fee to the Newcity governing body—”

  “Including my grandfather.” Declan nodded.

  “Yeah. Well, without paying the fee, the gangsters stood to make a hefty profit. The problem was how to get the goods in and out of the clubs.”

  “They used Pleasurebots as carriers,” Declan said, as though suddenly recalling. “Which is why so many of the regulatory inspection laws were passed.”

  “Exactly,” I said. “They mostly used the LUV models, because they had extra storage capacity, but they used a number of the PSSNs too.”

  “Whitney Camphill was the leader of the group,” Eddie continued. “Newcity Council knew it. But in order to arrest her, they had to catch her. They tracked her and a shipment to one of the huts, and waited until she came out.”

  “But she never came out,” Declan said.

  “She came out, all right,” I answered. “But she looked and acted like a Pleasurebot. The secbots were programmed to read her citizen profile in her scan when she passed, but because she looked like a bot, she slipped past them.”

  “The Whitney maneuver.” Declan nodded again.

  “Modified,” Eddie said. He turned to the sound of metal-tinged voices coming closer. “They’re here.”

  Kaelyn whimpered, and I took a minute to reach out and touch her fall of bright hair. “We’ll be out of here in a few minutes, K. Don’t worry.”

  She put on a brave face. “My Gemma won’t let the hunters get me.”

  “Not ever again,” I said.

  “We promise,” Declan added and squeezed my shoulder.

  Getting across the roof was easy, since the buildings weren’t separated by more than a couple of feet. Even Eddie, who had just the standard law enforcement enhancements, could make the jump. Kaelyn made a startled squawk when we sailed over the space, but in seconds we were over.

  “Your father really is an arrogant bastard,” I told Declan as we entered the Lovehut through a rooftop access door and made our way down the levels of exuberant and abundant sexual activity. “He doesn’t expect us to get away, does he?”

  “If he did, he’d have more guards chasing us.” Declan elbowed past a group of hopeful orgiasts waiting to get into a room. “I told you, he doesn’t expect opposition.”

  The lack of stronger pursuit unsettled me, but I tried to think of it positively. Adar’s arrogance could only benefit us.

  The four of us left the Lovehut at street level and hopped the pedtread without a backward glance. If Adar’s secbots had figured out our path, they were being remarkably discreet about following it. Or so I thought, until the pedtread slowed, then stopped with a slight jerk.

  System spoke with neutral calmness from the row of speakers set into the buildings across from us. “All Newcitizens prepare for random retscan in accordance with statue 1241624. Repeat. All Newcitizens prepare for retscan in accordance with statute 1241624.”

  “Census update,” Eddie muttered. “Clever.”

  As much as people didn’t like being stopped on their way to debauchery and decadence, the grumbling was minor. Taking census was a common, if annoying, part of regular life in Newcity. Without it, the marketers would’ve no idea just what brand of toothpaste to tempt you with, or what color thong you might prefer. People have grown so used to their personal preferences being recorded, I’m not really sure what we’d do if we had to actually remember them for ourselves.

  Behind us, the crowd on the pedtread had obediently, one by one, stepped up to the retscan units, blinked against the red beam, and returned to their spots.

  “Does he think we’re idiots?” I said aloud as we stepped off the pedtread. “That we’ll just step up to the retscan and let ourselves be found?”

  “Why not?” Declan asked. “They did.”

  He was right, of course, and not for the first time I wondered about giving so much power to one family. But then, I thought as I followed Declan, we hadn’t given the power to the Adar family. They’d just taken it.

  It appeared Howard Adar had more than just his secbots looking for us. From the line of hovercraft in the street came ten or a dozen blue-uniformed Ops. With a sinking heart, I recognized several from my unit.

  “RBRTA 12381965 and TMMY 19601238,” Eddie muttered. Kaelyn shifted in his arms, and he set her down.

  She clung to my legs, and I realized how terrified she must be. She hadn’t been outside since I’d bought her from the slave trader. Now, among the crush of people and fleeing for our lives, I was amazed she wasn’t sobbing. I gave her a quick squeeze to reassure her, but her shoulders still trembled. Her wings bunched the back of her light cloak, making her appear hunchbacked.

  It’s not the Recreational Intercourse Operatives’ job to take census, and I heard more than one surprised exclamation as the officers mounted the pedtread in search of us.

  One reason Eddie and I are such good partners is our ability to guess what the other is thinking. Without saying anything, we each moved to one side of Declan, and took his arm. That meant I had to let go of Kaelyn, but I could still feel her behind me.

  “Make way,” Eddie said to the crowd. “Prisoner escort coming through.”

  The crowd parted, more surprised murmurs following us as we pushed through the crowd away from the other officers.

  We headed for a stopped hovertaxi across the street. Behind us, the shouts started. Eddie and I picked up the pace.

  “Where to…ahh, it’s you!”

  I don’t believe much in coincidence, which means fate had planned for the driver of this taxi to be the same Nivian who’d helped me twice before.

  “Are you the only hovertaxi driver in Newcity?” I asked as we all slid into the back seat.

  He shot me a grin that made his scarred face handsome for a moment. “For you, pretty lady, I think so.”

  “We need to get to Oldcity,” Eddie said.

  The Nivian shook his head but started the craft. I clutched Declan’s hand as it rose into the air. Kaelyn whimpered on my lap, but then peeked out through the window in interest as we took off.

  “You got company,” the driver said nonchalantly as the first Op hovercraft rose behind us.

  “Outrun him,” Eddie said.

  “Man, you just made my day.”

  True to his word, the Nivian pulled the accelerator lever all the way. We shot forward, nearly rear-ended a slower moving craft in front of us, then bounced up another five feet to avoid the crash. My stomach lurched to my throat and my fingers made red impressions in Declan’s hand. I closed my eyes.

  “It’s all right, my Gemma,” Kaelyn whispered in my ear. I felt the soft touch of her cheek against mine. “We’ll be all right.”

  I had to take courage from this child, if I could not take it from myself. I forced my eyes open. “Holy God-of-choice!”

  The Nivian had popped the hovertaxi up another twenty feet, and now zoomed not just faster than the other traffic, but above it.

  “It’s illegal to hover more than ten feet above street level!” I cried, the words sounding foolish even as I yelled them.

  The Nivian laughed and shook his shaved head. “You want to get to Oldcity, you got six hovercraft full of bluesuits behind us, and you care if I’m breaking traffic laws?”

  “She doesn’t like to fly.” Eddie leaned across Declan to pat my shoulder. “She’ll be okay. Won�€