Time was short. His commander—had he been alive—would have reminded Shylar of that straight off. Then he would have berated Shylar for allowing himself to be bested by a teenager, thereby creating adequate conditions for his charge to be taken. When he awoke in the car, he had been the only one inside. After seeing Kressick's empty apartment, Shylar guessed Ada was in State custody.
"Congrats," he said, marching Darcy to the car. "You got your sister kidnapped."
Through her tears, she asked, "Huh?"
He tossed her into the car without elaborating. Shylar's tranquility was slowly ebbing away, drifting out to sea. He wanted something to grab, something to hold on to. He didn't know what to do. His whole world had been dependent on orders from Kressick; Kressick's orders had been law. Now there was no law. Total anarchy would have appealed to the old Shylar, but it frightened the new Shylar.
I have no purpose.
Yes, you do. Your mission is the same as it ever was. He imagined Kressick's responses and was comforted. The same as it ever was. Yes. Waves of tension melted, and Shylar could feel the tranquility return. Kressick was in his head; he had always told Shylar what he needed to know without actually telling him. Death didn't have to change anything.
He got inside of the car. Before he inputted coordinates into the car, he turned to face Darcy. "Hello, car."
"Hello."
Still looking at Darcy, he said, "If Darcy has any change in temperature or an increase in heartbeat, please alert me promptly."
"Yes, sir. Monitoring passenger Darcy."
She smirked. "How'll that help you, asshole?"
"It'll give me warning to use this."
From his coat, he took out Kressick's laser pistol. Her apprehensive look communicated her new compliance.
"Passenger Darcy's temperature increased to 99 degrees, and her heartbeat has quickened."
He smiled. "Thank you, car."
"You're welcome."
Satisfied, he turned back to input his coordinates. He hoped he could get to Ada before the Sammies did too much damage with their litany of testing.