"Sorry to keep you waiting, I needed to make sure I got them all." Marcos stood at the door with a sniper rifle slung nonchalantly over his back.

"Dad? How–"

"Save the questions for later kiddo. We gotta move it. Who's the lady friend?" Marcos reached in with a knife and sliced through Julian's restraints.

"He's no friend, just another scumbag that used me. Let me go and I'm gone. I never saw any of this." Nadeja had scooted backward in the van, staying out of knife reach.

Marcos smiled reassuringly. "No one's keeping you here hunny. I'll cut you loose and you can be on your way."

"Dad, wait. What'll happen if Blackmountain finds her?"

Marcos gave his son a guarded look. "I said no questions."

"They'll kill her won't they?" Julian pressed.

"You never could take an order. Yes, when they find her, she's dead." Nadeja gasped. "And now she gets to spend her last free hours in terror. C'mon, we have to move or we'll be in the same boat."

"I'm not abandoning her, she's only here because of me. Nadeja comes with us." Julian stared defiantly.

"Son, we do not have time for games."

Julian crossed his arms.

"Fine, Nade– whatever your name is, give me your wrists so we can get the fuck out of here."

Julian nodded encouragingly and she extended her hands to Marcos. He severed her zip tie and helped her out of the van.

"I came here on a motorcycle," Marcos gestured to the bike parked in front of the van. "I wasn't planning on two passengers. Hope you kids are comfortable together, it's going to be tight.

"Julian, you get the helmet. Your face is the one they're looking for right now. Now, let's go before someone notices all the dead bodies."

Marcos straddled the bike. Julian hopped on behind him, holding Marcos's torso and putting his feet on the pegs. Nadeja hesitated, then looked down at the corpses around her feet. She climbed on reluctantly, hugging Julian and dangling her feet off the back.

Marcos hit the throttle and Nadeja nearly lost her grip. She wrapped her ankles around Julian's legs with an oddly intense pressure. Julian hadn't known it was possible to exude anger through one's feet.

The bike rocketed down busy streets, weaving through traffic with suicidal recklessness. Marcos ran a red and would have been smashed by a driverless delivery van if not for its inhuman reflexes.

They left a wake of vehicles stopped at odd angles from emergency breaking. Julian spied a white castle on a hill that quickly receded into the distance. So much for sight-seeing.

Traffic was heavy as they drove back into the countryside. Mostly automated, but with a few die-hard manual lorries still clinging to life. Marcos slowed behind one of them, dropping into position behind it.

When the road went through a short tunnel the back of the van opened and a ramp slid down. Marcos revved the bike up and in, and the door closed behind them.

"Well kids, looks like we're safe for now." Marcos took off his helmet and dismounted. He watched as Julian and Nadeja made their own clumsy way down, appraising.

"Son, you look like shit. Those pants don't even fit you."

"It's not a fashion choice. I stole my clothes from a dead man."

Marcos nodded as if that explained things. Nadeja edged away from Julian.

"Either of you got any electronics?" Marcos asked.

Nadeja shook her head.

Julian pulled the phone from his duffel. "Just this relic, it's powered down though."

"Good, keep it that way."

"How did you find me anyhow?" Julian asked. "I haven't seen you in a decade and then you show up today in a hail of bullets."

"No, 'thanks for saving my life' for your old man?"

Julian just glared.

"Fine. Your mother sent me."

"She's alive!" Julian exclaimed. "I knew Antoine was full of shit."

"Hold up, who's Antoine?" Marcos's eyes narrowed.

"Some Blackmountain nut-job." Julian shivered. "These are his clothes."

"Tall fucker, watery eyes? Liked old sayings?"

"What, friend of yours?" It was Julian's turn to look suspicious.

"Not exactly. Worked a couple jobs with him. Crazy sumbitch, but a dead-eye with a rifle. Saved my life more than once. How'd he eat it?"

"I shot him in the chest."

Marcos shrugged. "That's the business. Didn't know you had it in you."

Julian looked down. "I don't think I do," he murmured.

"It's a mean world son, sometimes you gotta be mean to survive. We all do things we're not proud of." Julian didn't look convinced. Marcos changed the subject.

"What's your story girl? You look too healthy to be one of the tent people."

"Why don't you tell me what the hell is going on first?" Nadeja bristled. "I met your son two hours ago. Since then I've been lied to, threatened and kidnapped, then threatened and kidnapped again."

"Woah, easy there. Wasn't my idea to bring you along. You want off you just say so, I'll be happy to see you on your way.

"No? Alright then. We're headed to a safe house in Vienna. Cost a fortune I might add. After that, we'll see. Probably need to lay low for a while. Julian and I have some big players after us. You stumbled in to something hot."

"What'd you do, steal drugs?" Nadeja asked.

"Worse." Marcos answered. "Data."

Nadeja frowned. "What, like corporate secrets or something? You steal the recipe for Coke?"

"Something like that, yeah. And now the owner wants me dead, and he kidnapped my son to use as bait."

Nadeja looked at Julian and her posture softened. "So you were just caught in the middle?"

Julian smiled weakly and nodded.

* * *

The truck stopped, then began beeping as it turned and backed up.

"Think we're here. Hold on a sec while I make sure the coast is clear." Marcos moved to the back of the truck with a pistol in his hand, taking cover behind the motorbike.

The rear-door lowered slowly, revealing the end of an empty alley with a single nondescript door. Marcos holstered his gun.

"We're good, everybody out."

"What about the bike?" Julian asked.

"Leave it, it was just a loaner."

Marcos walked to the end of the alley and held a keycard up to a discolored brick. The door sprang open, revealing the inside of an elevator. Marcos waved Julian and Nadeja inside. The door snapped shut as the truck pulled away.

"What floor do you want?" Asked Julian.

"Just wait," Marcos replied.

Pale fog filled the compartment. Julian jumped. Nadeja punched the 'door open' button, to no effect.

"Relax you two. It's just verifying our identity."

A synthetic voice filled the small room. "Additional person detected. Marcos, please validate change with passcode."

"Gondola. Vile. Woven. Commute."

"Passcode accepted. Welcome Marcos."

The elevator began moving down.

"What happens if you give the wrong passcode?" Julian asked.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing, the elevator just won't move. Unless I give the panic code. Then you both die by fast-acting neurotoxin."

"What, like poison darts or something?" Julian asked.

"Nope, it was in that fog. Don't worry though, the poison is inert unless activated. It'll break down harmlessly in about an hour."

Julian and Nadeja exchanged nervous smiles.

The doors slid open on a swank entryway. "Here's our floor."

Marcos walked over to a display panel and frowned. "Nadeja, I'm going to need that phone."

"What are you talking about, I don't–"

"Hun, you can try that somewhere else. This readout tells me everything that sent a signal in that elevator. Can't say I understand why anyone needs networked birth control."

Nadeja blushed. "I like to track my health."

"The phone Nadeja. I need it now." She grudgingly pulled out a MicroSlate from inside her bra. It was this year's tech, and expensive. Marcos raised an eyebrow and held out a wire-lined box. She dropped in the phone and he snapped it shut.

"Our continued survival relies on keeping a low profile. If anyone associates that phone with us, we're in trouble. Julian and I are both on some bad lists. And you Nadeja, are probably on them now too. Let's see if we made the news."

Marcos led them to a sitting area. "Show me the headlines," he commanded. The wall in front of them filled with a grid of news tiles, sized by importance. One filled 90% of the screen.

"Wow. That's a big one." Julian gaped.

The audio track began to play, accompanied by scenes of devastation. "Another round of meteor strikes impacted the world today in an act of unrivaled terrorism. Aden Lynch, CEO of Space Core, is claiming credit for the atrocities. We go now live to an announcement by Lynch."

The three of them sat in silence for Lynch's proclamation. After it was done the feed cut back to some talking heads discussing the ramifications. One corner of the video was taken up by headshots of Robert and Alice and an encrypted tip line.

"What do we do?" Julian asked.

"Can't say this changes anything," said Marcos. "I guess if Austria doesn't submit we may want to get out of Vienna. I always figured the world was headed this way, I just wanted to be in Fiji before it all went sideways."

"What about Mom you asshole? She needs help."

"Son, your mom has been on a crusade to save the world since the day I met her, and look how that turned out. Now she's going to die trying to fix the mess she helped make. We don't need to go down with her."

"So you're just going to leave her out in the cold? Like you left us before?"

Marcos flushed red. His voice went icy cold. "Is that what she told you? Let's be clear Julian: Alice left me. She and her lawyers had me classified as 'unfit to parent' and an 'unsafe presence.' I was not allowed to go near you for the last 15 years.

"For all I care she can go to Lynch's whipping post. But she won't. She's too smart for that. When I left her she was working for Weizza, a psycho Burmese hard-ass. As long as your mom is useful, Weizza will keep her safe. And when has your mom ever not been useful?"