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  “Mommmyyyyy,” she bawled, one hand extended to the open bathroom door.

  CHAPTER 2

  Heart thundering, Dre rushed down the hall. When he reached the bathroom and looked in, he froze and stared. He choked back a curse.

  Mom sat with her back against the tub, legs stretched in front of her, while she clutched her round belly. Her nightgown was soaked. Pinkish fluid covered the tiles. Her face was bleak, her brown hair a mess. “No, no, no, please, God, no.” Sobs wracked Mom’s chest.

  A pit opened in Dre’s stomach. “Mom!” he finally managed, inadvertently rubbing his pinky where the missing Two Ring belonged. Uttering that one word set him in motion. “Kai, get my phone off the couch.”

  He made to rush to Mom’s side across the tiles but slipped on the viscous fluid. Grabbing the sink saved him. He glanced over to his sister. She was still standing there, in shock, crying.

  “KAI,” he hollered. She jumped. Her watery eyes focused on him. “Get my phone off the couch.” Sniffling, Kai wiped her eyes, nodded numbly, and ran down the hall.

  He got down on his knees beside his mother. She was sniveling now, still clutching her belly, muttering under her breath. He reached a hand up to brush away strands of brown hair from her sweaty face.

  She started, but then her eyes focused on him. Her mouth opened a little, and was completely downturned as if she were about to bawl, but she just shook. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

  “What-what happened?” He wiped away the tears.

  “My water brooooke.”

  He frowned. “But that’s a good thing, right?”

  “Nooo, it’s three months early.”

  It took a moment for realization to dawn, for the thought of a miscarriage to develop. “The babies… Rayne and Regi.” His chest hurt. “They gonna be alright?”

  “I don’t know; I don’t know; I don’t knowwww.” Mom broke into prayers.

  Dre tried to think of a way he could offer immediate help. But faced with the situation, there was little he could do. He cursed himself for not paying attention, for not coming when Kai first called him, or even checking on Mom when he got home.

  Kai appeared at the door with his cell. Dre gingerly got to his feet, stepped across to the wet rug, and took the phone from her. He dialed.

  “Nine-One-One, what’s your emergency?” asked a female operator.

  “It’s my Mom. We need an ambu–”

  “NO!” Mom yelled.

  Dre snapped his head around, the operator’s voice forgotten. Mom stared at him, her expression so fierce, so determined, that it scared him. He hung up. Dre opened his mouth to question the decision when realization dawned. Better Tomorrow, you idiot. You fucking idiot.

  Dre’s phone rang. The screen read 911. His stomach knotted. He held the screen up toward Mom.

  “Answer it. Tell them you made a mistake,” she said with a grimace. “Tell them we’re on our way to the hospital already.”

  He did as he was told. After he hung up, he looked to his mother. “What now?”

  Mom beckoned him over to her. “First, help me up. Then help me change my gown. We’ll take the car to Dr. Rozanta.”

  “The car?” He reached for the rug and dragged it closer to her. “You can’t drive in your condition.” He got his hands under Mom’s armpits, and after a bit of a struggle where Mom teetered, he helped her to her feet.

  “Not me. You.”

  “Me?” His eyebrows shot up even as he let her use his shoulder and arm for support. “But I don’t have my license yet. And ever since Pops, you said–”

  “I know what I said. None of that matters now. We have to get to Dr. Rozanta.”

  “Can’t we just call her? Make her come here?” He guided Mom toward her bedroom.

  “No. All calls are on the Grid. Any calls to gynecologists or midwives are reported to the Family Planning Corps.”

  “W-we can call–”

  “There’s no one we can trust,” Mom said. “I know you’re scared of the car. You hate it, hate the idea of driving ever since your father died.”

  “It’s not that. That’s not it at all.” The idea of driving left a sour taste in his mouth, but he wasn’t about to admit it.

  “I remember when Alphonso wanted to move down from the Tenth Ward and I didn’t. I hated the idea.” Mom’s voice was tender despite the pain she had to be in. “And he said to me, ‘Theresa, sometimes you have to do something you hate to save the people you love.’”

  Dre took a deep breath. “Alright. I’ll go for Dr. Rozanta by myself. It won’t be a prob. But it’s best if you stay here.”

  “So Regi and Rayne are gonna wait, huh?” Mom chuckled painfully and then grunted. “By the time you got back, they’d be out already. I’m not sure I could survive that. Or the police would be here. And they’d alert Family Planning. Especially after the call you made. So, we stick together, get this done together. As we always have. As family. Okay?”

  “Alright.” Dre nodded. He looked toward his little sister. “Bunny, go put on some jeans, a hoody, a coat, and some sneakers.” Kai hurried toward her room.

  Dre sat Mom on her bed, got a fresh wooly gown from the closet, helped her out of the old, and into the new. Mom’s breathing had been heavy and labored the entire time. It changed. She sucked in great breaths of air and blew them out. Sweat poured down her face. Dre had seen that before. It ended with Kai born on the couch at their old apartment.

  “How bad is it? Are the babies coming?”

  “It’s bad enough,” Mom wheezed. “They aren’t coming yet. They’re as stubborn as you. But it hurts. It hurts.” She moaned. “Hurts so bad. We gotta hurry.”

  “Just hang in there. Keep fighting.”

  Dre shoved a pair of fur-lined boots on Mom’s feet. Then he led her from the room, down the hall, put her on the couch, and told Kai to sit with her. He hurried to the door, put on his sneakers, and grabbed his and Mom’s coats.

  Kai was holding Mom’s hand and speaking in a soothing voice when Dre turned from the closet. “It’s gonna be alright, Mommy. Rayne and Regi are gonna be fine. You gonna be fine. I love you, Mommy.”

  Mom stroked Kai’s hair, a smile breaking through the pain etched on her face. “I love you too, Pumpkin.”

  Dre smiled and said, “And I love you both. Now, let’s go.” He took the car keys off the little hook by the front door and hurried to help Mom off the couch.

  He got Mom into her coat. He slipped his on. With Mom using him for support, they left the apartment, made their way to the elevator, and down into the parking lot, the frigid October night reeking with the recent passing of a garbage truck.

  Mom was breathing hard, moaning, mist puffing from her lips by the time Dre got her into the passenger side backseat of their beat up 2017 Toyota Camry. Wary of Mom’s belly, he fastened the seatbelt across her lap and tucked the top strap behind her shoulder. Kai got into the seat on the other side. Dre secured his sister’s seatbelt.

  He opened the creaking front door, eased in, and slammed the door shut. The car was freezing. Dre blew on his hands several times then adjusted the side mirrors and did the same with the rear until he had a good view of Mom. He shoved the key in the ignition. You got this, dawg. It’s no prob. He turned the key. The car coughed as the engine tried and failed to start. He groaned and tried again with the same result.

  “Please, not tonight of all nights.” He shuddered as he fought against the urge to cry.

  If there was one time he truly wished they were well off again and could have afforded an electric car, or better yet, a Hover Type or a Personal Transport, it was now. But Pops had insisted on this piece of shit that wasn’t even registered or connected to the Grid.

  Dre waited a moment, took a deep breath, and whispered, “Come on, baby,
come on, baby, come on, baby.” Just the way Pops used to do it.

  He turned the key. The car sputtered to life. “Yes!” He fist-pumped.

  Dre put the vehicle in gear and drove out of the lot and onto Mermaid Avenue. A weight that he hadn’t realized he carried eased off his chest. He breathed easier. And then he frowned. “Mom? What if we get pulled over?”

  “Just tell the cops I’m your aunt… I’m in labor and we’re on our way to a private clinic. They’ll rush us there before they do an investigation.”

  Dre smiled, both at Mom’s shrewdness and the idea of racing to the doctor under a police escort. “How’re we doing back there?” He glanced at the rear-view mirror.

  Mom was taking long, slow breaths again, one hand gripping the overhead handhold, the other on her round belly. Her face was contorted. “Not bad. Not good. We just doing.”

  Dre stopped at a red light. “Then just keep doing. We gonna be there soon.” He glanced at his sister in the mirror. “You alright, Bunny?”

  “Yeah.” Kai was turning something between her fingers.

  Dre frowned. “Hey, that’s my Two Ring.” He smiled at the sight of the black ring, relieved that he’d found it. “I’ve been looking for that.” He pressed the gas.

  Something slammed into the car. Glass shattered. The world spun. He heard Mom and Kai screaming. How’d I get outside the car? His entire left side hurt so much. He couldn’t lift his arm. He was cold. Freezing. He groaned. Teeth chattering, he struggled to his feet in agony and stumbled to the open passenger side door of the mangled Camry.

  Mom was no longer making any sounds. She was slumped to one side, barely held in by the seatbelt. Kai was still crying.

  “I’m coming, Bunny. I’m coming.” He crawled inside. He reached toward his little sister, who was somehow still holding the Two Ring, her hand stretched toward him even as she bawled. Dre grimaced at a whiff of blood and shit.

  And then, blackness took him.

  CHAPTER 3

  Dre woke to a growling belly, a hammer pounding the nail that was his head, a soft bed, and cold air. Soreness radiated down his lower back, his left shoulder, his left side, and leg. He groaned. An incessant beep worsened the headache. What the hell is that sound?

  He opened his eyes to a coral-colored ceiling and recognized the coldness as air conditioning. He frowned. Neither was right. He figured he was still in the same recurring nightmare of a strange room and a car accident.

  He sat bolt upright, a sudden chest pain multiplying his agony. Mom! Regi and Rayne! Kai! Frantic thoughts made the hammer become a blade driving into his skull. With his right hand, he covered his right eye and part of his forehead, hoping to make the migraine go away, hoping to ease the hurt, chase away the memory of the accident.

  But the black Two Ring was there on his pinky finger below his eye. Then it was in Kai’s hand. Mom was on the bathroom floor. He was taking Mom and Kai to the car. Driving. The crash. He sobbed as he relived seeing Mom slumped to one side. Kai bawling. He didn’t know how long he sat there, mired in grief, but eventually the stabs in his head subsided to a hammer again… and eventually a throb.

  Sniffling, he clung to the possibility that if he were alive, so were they. But how are they? Are they here? I gotta find them. How did I get here? Where’s here? I know I shouldn’t have driven. Amidst the frantic thoughts and blame was his fervent prayers for their well-being. And a need for answers.

  “Hello.” The words echoed, his voice a hoarse thing. “Hello.”

  White walls surrounded him in a room that screamed sterility. On one side was a tall, wide, tinted window, and a solitary door. There were two comfortable-looking armchairs and a polished wooden center table. Hovering above the table was a holo display running a commercial for Equitane Holdings’ Electric Vertical Take Off and Landing Personal Transport. The acronym EVTOL PT flashed above the vehicle.

  Dre glanced down. He was wearing a gown, pale blue against his caramel skin, and was sitting on a decent-sized bed. An IV was in his left forearm, its lines running to several bags of solution. The beeps originated from a series of other monitors at his bedside. On his shoulder was a biometric tatt.

  Gotta be an expensive hospital, then. Not some shithole. Hospital? He gaped.

  His mind conjured horrid images of Mom in custody of the FPC, forced to have an abortion, and then sentenced to sterilization or death. Pops had barely managed to pay the fines for Kai’s birth. No such recourse existed for additional babies under Better Tomorrow. Not for Bottom Warders. The best he could hope for was that they’d let her live, but then NAIL would deport her for the crime. And he was likely to follow.

  “Nurseee,” he called out in desperation. “Doctorrrr… anyoneeee!” No one answered.

  He forced himself to think. Maybe, this wasn’t a hospital after all. Maybe, Mom was fine. So was Kai. His racing pulse and heaving chest subsided.

  Wincing at the soreness along the left side of his body, he rolled his neck and massaged the outside of his bicep, elbow, and upper forearm. He stopped and peered at the tender area. A barely discernible line ran from the top of his bicep, down to the elbow, along his forearm, to his wrist. Like an old scar. He reached for the I.V.

  “I would wait for the doctor if I were you, Andre.” The woman’s voice was cool, the accent, cultured.

  She filled the open doorway, attired in a black curve-hugging dress with a deep V at the neck, white trim, and heels to match. Her raven hair was cut in a short bob, every strand in perfect place, framing a tan face straight from Celebrity Style magazine. Hawkish obsidian eyes studied him. They made him feel small, unimportant, like his boss did when he called Dre into the office to chastise him for lateness. He averted his gaze and cleared his throat.

  “You probably have a dozen questions,” she said.

  “I-I do. First–”

  “I’m Sidrie Malikah. CEO of Equitane Holdings.” She strolled across the room, long tan legs and strong calves taking her toward an armchair.

  Dre tried his best to hold in his shock. Here, he was, speaking to the owner of one of the top Corps in all of New New York. One of the infamous Seven.

  “You’re Downtown Brooklyn in the Equitane Towers’ medical wing.” Sidrie gestured with an open palm.

  “Thank you, Miss Malikah.” He clasped his hands and dipped his head in a show of appreciation.

  “Call me Sidrie,” she said. “I insist.” Dre nodded. “Theresa and Kai are safe here also.”

  A little pressure eased from his chest. “How are they? I mean… their injuries… the accident.”

  “Your little sister is fine.” Sidrie took a seat and crossed her legs.

  “And Mom?” Dre swallowed.

  “She’s in a coma.”

  Dre squeezed his eyes shut. He took a deep breath and opened them. Warm tears trickled down his face. “Rayne and Regi… the twins–”

  “They’re still in your mother’s belly for now. At the moment, they’re fine.” Sidrie leaned back in the chair, a finger tapping her thin lips. The finger stopped and gestured. “My doctors aim for them to remain that way. And while under my protection, there is no need to worry about any of the authorities.”

  A tiny smile touched Dre’s lips and he whispered, “Thank you.” He cleared his throat and spoke much louder. “Can I see them?” He paused. “If it’s not a prob, that is.”

  “Certainly.” She flicked her hand up across her face. An implant’s blue light flashed in her eyes and then was gone. She pointed to the holo display above the table.

  Jet engine whining, the EVTOL PT lifted straight from a rooftop, hovered in the air, then zoomed off between skyrises in Times Square. The image changed to a room identical to his. Kai sat at the top of a bed with her back against a pillow. Her attention was riveted upon a projection floating above a Holotab.
It was her favorite show, Munsters and Minions. Dre smiled.

  The display blinked. Dre’s breath caught in his throat. Mom was lying on a bed in a pristine white chamber. Several tubes and lines trailed from her mouth, nose, and body to various machines. Five holos several feet above her displayed readings.

  “Mom,” Dre whispered, his hand extending of its own volition toward the projection. He let his hand fall to his lap. “I know you said she’s in a coma.” Mom’s chest rose and fell. “But how’s she doing? When’s she gonna wake up?”

  “She is better than one might expect, given the trauma of the accident combined with her pregnancy. She is a tough woman.”

  “But–” Dre began.

  “I have the best facilities and people at my disposal,” Sidrie Malikah said. “And not just here in the Republic, but in the entire world. They can’t say for certain when she will wake, but given time, and the proper treatment, my doctors are confident she will recover fully.”

  Dre nodded. “I understand, Miss Mal–” Her arched brow stopped him. “Sorry, Sidrie. I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done.” The woman was risking life in prison for them. The idea of it was overwhelming.

  Miss Malikah tilted her head. “Give me a moment, Andre. I have to take this call. Yes, go ahead,” she continued even before he answered. She paused for moment, perfect brows wrinkling. “Now? I’ll take a look.”

  A newsflash replaced the holos of Mom and Kai. One of the DeGen gangs from the First Ward had somehow gotten hold of XM-25 grenade launchers and HK433 assault rifles. The DeGens were a bedraggled, filthy group, faces covered with lesions. Quite a few of them were taller than anyone had a right to be. They had managed to sneak past the police and NAIL drone patrols and had robbed or destroyed two hydroponic silos in the Tenth Ward and killed several Citizens.

  The Special Defense Force and police had been first to respond. North American Immigration Logistics soldiers wearing tactical armor with NAIL emblazoned upon it soon joined them. Armed with NGSAR5 assault rifles and AVP41B pulse guns, they were in a fierce firefight with the DeGens. They drove the DeGens back down into the First Ward’s old streets and dilapidated buildings. Drones fired several missiles into the structures.