Metro by Stephen Romano

connected player back there. A guy named Marnie Stanwell. His brother will be coming after us, even if his bosses tell him not to. It’ll be personal.”
    Jollie gives him a dead stare. “Will Marnie Stanwell’s brother find us?”
    â€œNot if we’ve been careful. The problem is, you never know how careful you’ve been when you have to run like hell on short notice. I smashed the camera they were using, but it could have been streaming video to a remote location. There’s just no telling, really.”
    â€œThat was your plan , Mark? Run like hell on short notice?”
    â€œAs you can guess, I was improvising.”
    Andy lowers his head, smiling in a strange way. “That’s almost a relief.”
    â€œWhy?” Jollie says. “What could possibly be relieving about any of this?”
    â€œWell, I kinda had no idea how I was gonna pay the rent this month. I quit my job yesterday.”
    â€œAnd you were planning on telling us that when , exactly?”
    â€œWhenever, Jollie.”
    â€œYou worked at Kerbey Lane for years, man,” Mark says. “They loved you there.”
    â€œEh, it was a shithole. I was serving hippie food to greasy old housewives and their annoying kids. I dunno . . . I just had to get out of there. I walked out right in the middle of a shift.”
    Good for you , Mark thinks. Stick it to the man, man.
    â€œThat was your plan?” Jollie says. “Just walk out and worry about the rent later? You two guys are fucking unbelievable!”
    Andy shrugs. “No, actually, my plan was to walk out of there and spend my last fifty bucks in tips on as much booze and dope as I could find, spend about two weeks out of my mind— then worry about the rent.”
    Jollie leans down from the couch and punches him in the arm.
    She instantly feels bad about it.
    Mark finally lights his joint. Takes two strong hits off the good hydro. Offers it pathetically to Jollie, who just looks at him funny.
    So he takes another hit.
    The rush is good and comforting, his survival senses sharpening.
    â€œWe can’t ever go back there,” Mark says, suddenly very serious. “The House of JAM really is scorched earth now. You understand that, right?”
    â€œMy whole life was in that house,” Jollie says. “My computer, my files—seven years’ worth of research and development on all my projects.”
    â€œThere’ll be other projects.”
    â€œI didn’t even get my phone or my wallet out of that mess, Mark. I’m completely cut off from my life. You’re acting like none of this is a big deal.”
    â€œThat’s not what I’m acting like at all. I don’t think you’ve been paying attention.”
    â€œI’ve been paying damn close attention. You’ve blown into our lives and righteously screwed everything. And here’s the really funny part—I don’t even know why . What was so important that you had to turn my whole world upside down and leave me with nothing but the clothes on my back, Mark? What’s the explanation?”
    Mark shrugs. “Whatever it is, it can’t be good enough.”
    â€œThat’s not an answer. That’s not even funny.”
    â€œI did what I had to save your lives. There wasn’t any choice. Anyway, your life isn’t really blown up. You still have your cloud, your contacts.”
    â€œAnd you’re still an asshole ,” she says.
    But yeah, he’s right. Jollie Meeker is no idiot.
    Nearly every important spec of her shit is culled and backed-up in several remote cyber-locations, and she’s the kind of girl who can access everything from a pay phone, tons of important numbers and codes burned into her memory like snapshots. You plan ahead like that. For doomsday and all.
    But shit, man .
    â€œI think it’s a little exciting,” Andy says, not sounding serious. “Do we get to go in the