Brainrush 05 - Everlast 02: Ephemeral by Richard Bard Read Free Book Online Page B

floor. Jake had started searching from the top, working his way
down, while Pete had started at the bottom. Jake’s binoculars swept faster with
each floor he scanned, his brain capturing the images with increasing speed. For
the time being at least, his brain seemed to be working okay. By the time he
scanned the bottom floors, Pete was only a third of the way up.
    “Nothing,” Jake mumbled, rubbing his eyes. He leaned out the
window and looked down at the street. A swirl of wind tossed his hair, carrying
with it the smells of fried foods and rice. Colorful neon lights stretched in
both directions and throngs of people crowded the sidewalks, taking advantage
of the mild autumn temperature. Feng and part of his crew were down there
somewhere, waiting for the signal. Jake pressed the binoculars to his eyes and
started all over again, this time working his way up from the bottom.
     “They all look the same,” Pete said.
    “I know.” He was already halfway through his second scan.
“It doesn’t make sense.”
    There was a click in his earbud and Skylar’s voice sounded
over the comm net. “What’s taking you so long? The wind’s picking up.” She and
Lacey were on the rooftop above them.
    “Hold yer horses,” Pete replied. “Feng, are you up?”
    “Right here, boss.”
    “Your boys on the other side notice anything unusual?”
    “Nothing but residents so far.”
    “Tell ’em to keep searching.”
    “Will do.”
    Pete nudged Jake. “Whad’ya think?”
    “Something’s not right,” Jake said as he continued his scan.
“I can’t put my finger on it but I can feel it.” The former high-rise factory
was banded with ceiling-high sets of small-paned windows designed to allow in more
natural light. It made it easier for Jake to glimpse inside, despite the grunge
that covered much of the glass. The lower panes of each set opened outward from
below, and laundry hung from many of the sills. Jake had figured that a cursory
inspection would reveal the location of Geppetto’s headquarters. Instead, the
glum interior views appeared the same in each unit, with families crowded into
twelve-by-twelve rooms, bunk beds lining one wall, and shelves and cooking
areas on the other. There was barely enough space in between for a card table.
The flickers of TVs were the only signs of modern living.
    “They’re in there somewhere,” Pete said.
     “We’re missing something,” Jake said, stair-stepping his
scan toward the higher floors. Earlier, two of Feng’s men had sauntered into
the building’s lobby. They hadn’t encountered any security so they’d started up
one of the staircases. It wasn’t until they’d reached the fifth floor that one
of them had noticed a miniature CCTV camera hidden behind an overhead lighting
fixture—an irregular addition for a rundown building, especially in this part
of the city. They’d turned around immediately, acting as if they’d forgotten something,
and spotted more hidden cameras on the way down. The modern equipment was
further confirmation they were in the right place.
    Jake was searching the top floor when something odd caught
his attention.
    Even though the scene was vague and silhouetted, there was
something familiar about the room he focused on. A family of three was seated
at a card table, eating. A young child dropped something and leaned over to
retrieve it. It was an innocuous event but it triggered something in his mind.
Hadn’t he seen another child do the same thing in a different room? Or was his
deteriorating memory playing tricks on him? He hadn’t blanked since the event
in the equipment room, and he’d successfully rememorized the blueprints since
then. But he couldn’t be certain. He whipped the binoculars back to the first
floor and quickly searched for rooms with three people, sweeping the lenses
from floor to floor.
    “Thirty-two rooms,” he muttered.
    “What’s that?” Pete asked.
    “Thirty-two rooms with two adults and a child.”
    “What