But Evie shook her head again. “Mom, we can’t make that kind of decision.”
“The Council could,” Jeremiah spoke up. “What if we could get the virus but never actually use it? We could bring it back to Eden. The Council could use it as a threat. Demand the BioLabs quit using human beings in their experiments immediately or the virus would be released.”
“They wouldn’t use it though, right?” Olive spoke up, worried. “We don’t know how it would affect them. And what if we’re wrong and it kills people after all? I have friends with BioGrades back home!”
“Never,” Jeremiah reassured her. “We won’t give it to them until they agree not to use it. I promise.” Evie and Sol nodded.
Pearl exchanged a glance with Noble when they weren’t looking, able to tell what he was thinking as easily as if she could read his mind. This wouldn’t be enough.
“I’ve been taking pictures,” Olive was saying, “documenting everything I’ve found. If we bring a sample back, all the evidence compiled should be more than enough to stop them.”
Evie lit up with hope as they planned.
It was a nice thought. Pearl tried to smile when Evie glanced her way, twisting her lips up in what was likely more of a grimace. She knew without a doubt that a threat from Eden would only set off a war, one which Archland was far more prepared for and capable of winning. Eden’s technology had been so woefully behind when Pearl left that she couldn’t imagine them lasting even a week against Archland.
As the others nodded at Evie’s plan, murmuring their agreement, Pearl looked at Noble out of the corner of her eye. The unspoken understanding as he nodded to her was all she needed to know. They would play along. “That could work,” she said, trying to infuse her voice with enthusiasm. It sounded pathetically false to her ears, but it was enough for the others.
“The sooner we get moving, the better,” Noble added, settling Pearl back onto his shoulder, and leading her toward the stairs. “This chaos will only last so long.”
“This way,” Jeremiah led them to the stairwell. “Just in case,” he said to the group, as he held open the door for everyone. “Don’t want to get stuck in the elevators if they decide to shut them down, which I’m guessing they will soon…”
Noble bore most of Pearl’s weight, and she didn’t waste time asking questions, focusing on keeping her breathing steady. Her chest felt strained. Everything hurt.
“Which way?” Sol asked, having entered the stairwell first, looking down longingly as his voice echoed in the small space.
“Up,” Noble answered. “To the top.”
Of course it was on the top floor. Pearl gritted her teeth. She made it about three steps, when Noble said, “No offense babe, but you’re slowing us down.” Before she could protest, he swooped her up in his arms, and began climbing. It was a testament to just how exhausted she was, that she didn’t even have the energy to argue. She rested her head on his chest, tucking herself in under his chin, and closed her eyes, letting him focus on the climb. She had to conserve her energy; she would need it.
“It’s just one more flight up,” Noble gasped to the others, setting Pearl down, and leaning forward to place his hands on his knees, breathing hard. The others were in similar shape. “Let’s catch our breath.”
Thankfully, no one else was going up. The stairwell was empty.
“We need a plan before we go charging in,” Jeremiah spoke after a few more moments of everyone huffing and puffing. “Something that dangerous isn’t going to be left out in the open. How exactly are we going to get it? I’m fairly certain it’ll be guarded…”
“I sincerely hope it is,” Noble replied, cracking his knuckles, glaring at the door. “I’ve been itching for a good fight for a while now.”
Pearl couldn’t disagree. Especially not in a place like this.
Noble waved a hand in Evie’s direction. “Come. Help your mother. I need my hands free.” As Evie obeyed, stepping up to Pearl and offering her a shoulder, the group moved to the last flight of stairs.
Pearl and Evie lagged behind, as Pearl struggled with each step, her lungs burning and chest aching. “Wait,” Evie called after them, and they slowed down to look back at her and Pearl, “We still have our ID badges. Why not tell them we’re employees?”
From halfway up the stairs, Pearl didn’t notice if they agreed or not. She felt sweat trickle down her back as she struggled to keep going, leaning heavily on Evie, finding it hard to catch her breath. There was a painful hitch in her lungs and her chest was on fire now. She reached the top landing in one piece, barely.
“Follow my lead,” Jeremiah whispered, as he opened the door, striding through.
The group entered the floor where the virus was kept and Pearl stayed hidden in the back, still leaning on Evie, to avoid drawing attention to her hospital garb and lack of badge. Instead of opening on yet another hallway, this room was a wide open space with a security desk in front of the elevators a few feet further.
A beefy guard with an oily mustache sat at the front desk. He immediately squinted at their group in suspicion. “You’re not supposed to be up here,” he snapped.
“So sorry,” Jeremiah apologized, stepping forward calmly with his hands held high and to the sides. Pearl couldn’t see his face, but it sounded like he was smiling. “We were told to meet here for a classified assignment.”
This nonsense appeased the guard slightly, although he didn’t stop frowning. “I didn’t receive any notice,” he said, as his eyes looked them over. Pearl pulled herself in as much as possible, hoping the others blocked her body from view well enough. “I’ll need to see your clearance.”
“Of course.” Jeremiah twisted, as if to reach into his back pocket, and that’s when Pearl spotted the quiet man, Sol, who’d slunk around the desk behind the guard without him noticing. He stepped forward, pulling the guard’s gun out of its holster smoothly, stepping back to train it on the man.
“That’s our clearance!” Noble whooped, grinning at the guard.
“We’re here for the virus,” Jeremiah said to the guard, and there was no longer any hint of a smile in his voice.
The heavy man’s mustache twitched as he looked between them. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Don’t play dumb,” Jeremiah spoke softly, taking a step closer. Noble followed. He must’ve had a crazed look in his eyes, because the guard leaned back in his chair, gulping under their attention. Jeremiah rested an arm on the desk, drawing the guard’s attention back to him. “Show us where the virus is,” he repeated with deadly calm.
“Okay, okay,” the guard said, lifting his hands in surrender. His voice was loud. “I’m just hired to watch the building. I didn’t sign up to die for it.” Clearing his throat, he stood slowly and carefully, pointing to the side of the room. “It’s this way.” As he moved away from the desk, he accidentally knocked some pens off it, making a racket.
“Hands up,” Noble growled.
The security guard complied, but bumped into the large trash can as he made his way around the desk. The plastic screeched on the ground, shaking back and forth as if it might fall, making even more noise.
Pearl grew suspicious. Something felt wrong.
But she didn’t put it together until too late.
“What’s going on?” A young male voice said behind them. Everyone swiveled around. A boyish security guard stood in the doorway on the other side of the elevators holding a coffee mug. He couldn’t be much older than eighteen. He paled at the sight of the gun.
Turning their backs on the other man was a mistake, Pearl knew it immediately. She looked back to find the older security guard had pulled out a second handgun.
It all happened in just a few seconds. Jeremiah leapt toward the armed man, trying to knock the weapon out of his hand before he could get a shot off. But as his hand brushed the barrel, knocking the guard’s aim away, the man fired.
Before the guard could shoot again, Jeremiah grabbed his arm at the w
rist and smashed it against the metal corner of the wall, again and again, until the guard dropped the gun.
Sol kicked the gun aside. Noble jumped into the fray. His punch hit the guard squarely in the nose. As his head flew back, the guard smashed into the metal post behind him and crumpled to the ground, out cold.
Noble picked the gun off the floor where it had fallen, training the firearm on the younger guard now, who trembled and raised his hands, dropping his coffee cup. The mug hit the ground and shattered, spilling hot coffee all over the floor and his pants, creating a dark puddle.
Pain bloomed in Pearl’s shoulder, slowly surfacing above the other agonies, until she gasped.
“Mom!” Evie yelled. Her daughter stared at Pearl’s shoulder, where a bright red stain was forming on the hospital gown.
43
Pearl
PEARL FELT SHOCK. SURELY she would’ve noticed if she’d been shot. She felt light-headed, swaying a bit, and Noble completely forgot to watch the security guard as he rushed to her side.
Pearl let him inspect her wound as Sol trained his gun on the younger man, even though the boy-guard hadn’t moved. Noble peeled back the sleeve of Pearl’s hospital gown where it was getting soaked, and her breath hitched at the sting, but the pain blended in with her others so well she thought she could bear it. It was her chest that hurt the most really.
“Is she okay?” Evie asked. The fear in her voice had a razor edge. Pearl reached out with her good arm through the haze to pull her little girl closer to her, holding her tightly, squeezing until Evie squeezed her back, even though it hurt.
Sol handed Jeremiah his gun and stepped over to them. “Let me take a look.” He used a piece of her shredded hospital gown to gently dab at the blood, until he could get a good look at the wound underneath. “It just grazed her,” he told them. “It didn’t hit anything serious. She’ll be fine.” Noble let out a breath of relief. With Sol’s help, Noble ripped a strip of fabric from the bottom of his shirt and wrapped her wound. Noble gave Pearl a grin, and she managed to return it just long enough to satisfy him.
Everyone else let out a heavy breath, some of the tension fading. Except for the young security guard, still quivering in the doorway where he’d first appeared.
“Take us to the virus.” Jeremiah waved the gun for him to move. “Now!”
The young man hopped forward, passing Jeremiah with his hands up. The coffee had splashed his pants, but he also smelled of urine.
They followed the young guard toward the back of the room. He stopped at a locked door to tap a six-digit code into the lock-screen. It beeped in denial once, twice, a third time.
He made to start again, when the quiet man, Sol, asked him, “You don’t have the code, do you?”
The young guard shook his head, breathing rapidly. “Please don’t kill me,” he begged.
“We’re not going to kill you,” Jeremiah reassured him.
But Noble stepped forward, using his deep voice, scars and wild looks to intimidate the young man the way only he could. “We’ll see,” he growled. “Depends on if you know another way to get us through that door.”
“No, I–” The guard’s eyes darted frantically toward a door behind them, then back to Noble. He shook his head, voice trembling, “There’s no way—it’s all on lockdown, I’m—I’m sorry...” When Noble took another step toward him, he flinched.
But Sol put a hand on Noble’s arm, gesturing toward the office the guard had inadvertently given away. They turned as a group to read the sign by the door: CEO.
When he realized what he’d done, the young man paled even further, eyes rolling back in his head, and he fainted, collapsing where he stood. His head hit the floor hard as he landed.
“Well,” Jeremiah said, turning back to them with a shrug. “That takes care of him. Let’s pay our friendly neighborhood CEO a visit.” They followed him to the door, which was locked.
Noble stepped up and kicked, hard. It took three tries, but the door burst open, smacking the wall inside the room.
Pearl’s vision narrowed at the sight of the man inside. She hissed a breath in anger, forgetting her pains for a moment, as rage filled her. It was the sharp faced doctor she’d met her first day here. The one who’d ordered a man killed without thinking twice. Her reaction drew Evie’s worried gaze, but Pearl couldn’t look away from the man to explain.
“Ah,” the CEO smiled, which stretched the tight skin even further to the point it was painful to look at. “I assume from the breaks in our fire walls and these incessant alarms that one of you gentleman discovered the virus.”
The group didn’t answer him, but their eyes drifted to the blonde girl, Olive. The CEO’s pointed, perfectly stenciled eyebrows lifted, impressed. “Ah, excuse me,” he spoke as if they were in a polite business meeting, not moving from his seat behind his desk. “One of you ladies.”
“You know why we’re here,” Jeremiah said. The rest of them stayed quiet, watching the back and forth uncertainly.
“Absolutely.” The CEO’s smile didn’t falter.
“Take us to the virus now!” Noble yelled, slamming his fists down on the CEO’s desk. The intimidation tactics that worked so well on the young guard didn’t phase the sharp-faced man in front of them.
“I’m afraid that won’t be happening,” he replied.
“It will,” Noble yelled, grabbing him by the tie, pulling him over the desk, upsetting the CEO’s pretense of calm. “Give us the code to that room, or we’ll kill you.”
The first signs of anger revealed themselves in those sharp, narrowed eyes. “You think your threats will work on me? I’ve given my whole life to BioGrades. Don’t think for one second that I’d give that up to save my life.”
Noble twisted his fist in the man’s shirt, tightening the strangle-hold, but Sol put a hand on his arm to halt the interrogation. “I think he’s telling the truth,” he said quietly.
Pearl finally spoke through the fury that had kept her silent. “Oh, he is,” she agreed. The others turned to face her as she glared at the man. “But someone as power hungry as him would keep a private stash. Somewhere he could have access to it, without anyone else knowing.”
The CEO’s eyes bugged out and for the first time since they’d entered the room, panic flared in his eyes. They all saw it.
While Noble held the man firmly in place, the others tore his office apart. Jeremiah found a small safe behind a stack of books on a shelf. He pulled it forward.
The CEO’s sick smile returned. “You still need a code to open it, unless one of you is a master at cracking safes.”
But Olive shrugged where she stood next to Jeremiah. “No need,” she said, “There’s a thumbprint override scanner on the side.” She pointed to the tiny hidden feature.
Noble immediately hoisted the man over the desk, dragging him toward the safe, but the CEO put up a surprising amount of fight, kicking and clawing viciously, forcing Noble to protect himself or lose an eye.
Pearl drew on all her pent-up rage, pulling away from Evie to get closer to the CEO. One well-aimed punch and he was out. Her hand felt like it was broken, but she didn’t care. She swayed, having used up all her energy on that punch. Evie hurried to step under her arm and support her again.
“Nice!” Noble praised her, while the rest of the group stared with brows raised. Noble dragged the unconscious man up to the safe, and they worked as a team to place the CEO’s thumb against the safe. The light turned green and it buzzed open. Noble dropped the unconscious man to the floor without ceremony.
Jeremiah pulled out a small tray that held one clear vial of green liquid, cushioned and sealed tightly shut.
Olive carefully drew the vial out, turning it on it’s side so she could read the tiny label out loud: “DANGER: take every possible method of caution handling this product. Airborne contaminant. Known effects: attacks all varieties of biological upgrades with severe intensity and permanent side effects.”
“Be careful,” Sol
cautioned her, as Olive gently set the little green vial back in the container.
Shoving his gun into his waistband like Noble, Jeremiah stepped over the CEO’s limp form on the floor, holding the tiny container like a bomb that might go off at the slightest aggravation. “Let’s go.”
The group raced back down the hall to the stairs. Noble only let Pearl take a few steps before scooping her up in his arms once more to carry her. She sighed in relief.
Her shoulder and knuckles both throbbed in time with her chest now. Probably my heartbeat, she thought absently, feeling herself drift out of the scene into daydreams and back again. She shook her head to clear it. She could not lose consciousness right now. It was almost time to make her move.
She prayed for clear-headedness as Noble carried her down the stairs, level by level passing in thunderous footsteps and heavy breathing.
Jeremiah pulled off his light-blue scrub top and wrapped it around the vial container as they descended, either to conceal it or keep it safe, or both.
When they finally reached the bottom floor, Noble set Pearl down to catch his breath, while Jeremiah opened the door just a crack to peek outside. Even from where Pearl stood, she could see a flood of people swarming the lobby, all waiting their turn to leave the building. The alarms still peeled loudly, but at this point, Pearl barely noticed them. “Stick together,” Jeremiah said, preparing to open the door.
“Wait,” Evie held out a hand. She peeled off a layer of clothing, the light blue scrub top and pants, revealing a beautiful Archland dress underneath that changed colors under the light as she moved. She stepped toward Pearl, holding the scrubs out as if to dress her. “Put this on.” Lifting her arms was excruciating, but Pearl didn’t protest, allowing Noble and Evie to essentially dress her while she did her best not to get in the way. Pearl would normally be humiliated to be reduced to this level of helplessness, but she didn’t have enough energy to care.
Pearl's Number: The Number Series Page 28
