Julian Kalli's Arc

Chapter 3 of 4

Two days before Thursday, Julian met Venie behind the shed at dusk. She held a flat black tablet against her chest. The screen showed a map of the city, with red dots blinking where the police listening posts stood. "Stole it off a patrol car last night," she said. "They left the window cracked." Julian stared at the dots. They covered almost every block. Almost. "There." Venie tapped a gap in the grid, a dead spot near the edge of town. A tall cell tower stood inside the gap, marked with a faded service tag. "One of their drones went down near it last month. Bird strike. They haven't fixed the post that covered it." Julian zoomed the map with his cyborg fingers. The dead zone was a circle maybe four blocks wide. The tower sat at its center, ringed by empty warehouses. "If I climb that," he said, "and bounce the signal off the antenna array, the posts won't trace it. They'll think it came from the tower itself." Venie's face changed. She set the tablet down. "My grandma found the locked piano open this morning. I forgot to wipe the dust off the lid." She looked at her shoes. "She's watching me now. Asking where I go. Thursday she'll keep me home if I don't give her a reason to trust me by then." Julian's chest tightened. Without Venie at the shed, the recruits would arrive to find a stranger. Half of them would bolt. "Then we send the signal tonight," Julian said. "Not Thursday morning. Tonight. So your recruits know the time and place before she locks you in." Venie nodded once. They waited until full dark. Julian wired his pocket transmitter to a length of copper from the shed. He climbed the tower's service ladder one rung at a time, guitar bumping his back, cyborg arm pulling him up faster than the human one. At the top he clipped the copper to the antenna mount and crouched against the lattice. He keyed the signal. Three short pulses, one long. The pattern any music-lover would know. He sent it twice, then unclipped and climbed down. Halfway to the ground a hum cut the air. An aerial drone slid past the warehouses, lights sweeping. Julian froze against the metal. The drone circled the tower once, scanned, and moved on. It logged the tower as the source, not the boy on its side. He dropped the last six feet and ran. Back at the shed Venie was waiting. "Two of mine messaged the post," she said. Her voice was tight. "They got it. They'll be there Thursday at eight." Then she swallowed. "My grandma's taking my shoes tonight. If I'm not there, you run it without me." Julian gripped the strap of his guitar. The signal was sent. The recruits were coming. And he might be the only one to meet them.