Page 55 of Garbage

But he had other resources. He could call the depot. Maybe they’d tell him where the truck was parked, and he could at least see if Quincy was there.

“Hello?” The dispatcher didn’t even have the courtesy to introduce himself.

“Hello? Is this the municipal sanitation depot?”

“Yeah.” Just great.

Evan took a deep breath. “I just got a call from one of your employees.”

Now the man was ready to interrupt. “We ain’t got employees, ‘cept me. Just the bots.”

“You have one employee, CNS-84-2. He’s a spark.” Evan dug his fingernails into his palm so he wouldn’t scream. “And I believe he’s just been abducted. He called me a few minutes ago, but I think someone slammed a disruptor on him.”

“Huh. A spark?”

No. This couldn’t be happening. “Yes, a spark. A living, thinking, and terrified spark who’s just been kidnapped by men who attacked him three weeks ago and threatened to beat and rape him.” The room crystallized and sparkled as tears welled up, whether from anger or fear he didn’t know. Every time he spoke his fears, they became more real. Like he was speaking them into being.

“What’s that designation again?”

Thank God. “CNS-84-2.”

There was a long pause. Evan paced, as if walking faster could speed this up.

“Huh. The truck’s on Fifteenth and Vine, but the bot’s not there.”

No shit. “Yes. That’s right. I believe he’s been abducted.”

“Well, I don’t see it anywhere.”

Evan spoke around his gritted teeth. “Maybe you could widen your search parameters?”

The dispatcher didn’t even believe him about Quincy’s sentience. Or perhaps he didn’t care.

“Huh. Yeah. Not seeing anything. Gonna have to report this. You called the police, boy?”

“Yes. But they can’t help him if they don’t know where he is. Alright, I’m gonna go down to Fifteenth and Vine to look for him.”

He hung up.

This was the only lead he had. And for all he knew, Quincy might be just a few feet away. The attackers had barely dragged him away from the street last time.

He said something hasty to his boss—family emergency or something—and took off before he even got a response. Just as he was hitting the parking garage, Ben’s call came through.

“What is it?” he barked, already swinging into his car.

“I’ve got a lock.”

How the fuck did he manage that? Actually, it was better if Evan didn’t know. “Thank you, thank you, Ben.” Evan instructed the car to back out of his spot and aim toward the street.

“He’s in a moving vehicle. Heading way up north, but off the freeway. I’ll link the data to you and the cops, and then do what I can to slow them down. They’re at least a half hour ahead of you.”

Shit, shit, and double shit. “You can slow them down? How?”

He could hear the grin in Ben’s voice. “You know who provides the city with their traffic lights? Or how about the magnetic locks on half the private properties around here? Or all those convenient self-driving cars that are just hanging around on the streets…”

Jesus. Evan didn’t want to hear any more. Was Ben going to hack into all those systems? Evan supposed they all had to be controlled by a computer somewhere.

A map appeared on his screen with a blinking red dot, which shouldn’t have been possible without him accepting the data packet. A maximized route showed up a moment later. “You are amazing, Ben. I owe you so much beer.”