Concealed (Virus Book 1)

by RJ Crayton

  “Right now?” Josh asked, his voice incredulous. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

  Lijah shrugged. “I’m just the messenger. I asked him what it was about, and he told me it was private. Just go on. He’ll be really pissed if you don’t come, and if he has to come down and get you…” Lijah just shook his head, as if that would be the worst thing in the world.

  Josh sighed, nodded. “OK,” he said, and turned back toward Elaan, remorse on his face.

  “Elaan, come on,” Lijah said. “I’ll walk you home.”

  Elaan stared at Lijah, irritated that he was coming in, ruining their evening, and bossing her around.

  “Actually, it will probably only take a few minutes,” Josh said to Elaan. “You can stay, and then we can finish watching the movie.”

  Over Josh’s shoulder, she could see Lijah’s face tighten.

  “Sure, I’ll wait,” she said.

  Josh smiled, and then walked to the counter to grab his apartment key. Without asking, Lijah entered the room and announced, “I’ll stay and keep my sister company until you get back.”

  Josh seemed surprised at this pronouncement, taking a long look at Lijah. He opened his mouth, as if he planned to protest, but seemed to change his mind, snapping his mouth shut and giving Lijah a swift nod. He turned to Elaan. “I’ll be back in a few,” he said. “I’m really sorry about this.”

  “Elaan understands,” Lijah said. “She’s very understanding.”

  Elaan wanted to strangle him, yet there was no way she could do that in front of Josh. She folded her arms and stared at her brother. Josh looked at Lijah, his face full of suppressed irritation. He nodded and left. As soon as the door closed, Elaan, through clenched teeth, asked, “Why?”

  Lijah came over to the sofa and sat down beside her. “Why what?”

  She slid further away from him on the sofa but turned to face him, her gaze unwavering. Did he really want to pretend he had no idea what she was talking about? She glanced down at the brown fabric of the sofa cushions, took a breath, and then focused back on Lijah. “I just want to know why you do this to Josh and me,” she said, trying to sound authoritative, trying to sound like someone who deserved an answer. “The real reason.”

  He stared at her as if she were insane. “I think we’ve had this conversation over and over again, particularly today. He’s not good for you, he’s going to hurt you, and he has a secret that you don’t know.”

  Shaking her head, she said, “It’s more than that, Lijah.” She opened her mouth to say more but wasn’t sure she should say what was on her mind. Her father had specifically asked her not to, to let Lijah tell them in his own time. But if Lijah was against this because of his own feelings for Josh, she had to know. She also wanted to know if Josh had feelings for Lijah. But given how Josh was acting with her, she doubted it.

  Taking a deep breath, she looked Lijah in the eye and said, “I got the impression, and I could be totally wrong here, but I just got the idea in my head, that maybe, you, um, like Josh.”

  Elaan swallowed, watching his reaction. He stared at her. He didn’t say anything for what felt like an eternity, and finally, he laughed. “You think I like Josh?”

  She bit her lip. “I don’t know, maybe.”

  “And if I did?”

  Yes, what if he did? “I don’t know,” she admitted. She hadn’t quite gotten that far. But, in an ideal world, she’d move on. Only, their world was less than ideal at the moment. “I just know.” His face was waiting, expectant, and even somewhat affronted. She didn’t want to say the wrong thing. “I just know I wouldn’t do anything to intentionally hurt you.”

  He shook his head and gave a harrumph. “And you think I would do something to intentionally hurt you? You think that if I had a crush on a guy that my baby sister liked, that I would tell her not to get involved, just so I could feel better. That I would hurt my baby sister’s heart just so mine wouldn’t?”

  “No,” she said instantly. “You’re twisting this around, Lijah. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m just asking you …” she trailed off, not sure what she was asking him, now. Because what he said made sense. She hadn’t thought about it that way until he’d said it, but the truth was, Lijah wasn’t really a selfish brother. He teased her sometimes; all brothers did that. But he wouldn’t do something that would hurt her, just so he wouldn’t have to watch her be with Josh. At least, she didn’t think he would. Not in normal circumstances anyway. And what if he hadn’t even realized that was where his opposition was coming from?

  “Elaan, stop looking for other explanations. I told you the truth earlier,” he said. “Josh is a nice guy, but he’s not right for you.”

  “Because of the secret?”

  Lijah nodded.

  Elaan rubbed her temples. This secret was making her brain hurt. There was a knock on the door. Lijah and Elaan both looked over to it, but it was Elaan who stood and walked over to see who was there. Josh had invited her to stay, which meant she was in charge and should get the door.

  She opened it to find Nina standing on the other side. “I’m glad you’re here,” Nina said. “Can I come in?”

  “Sure,” Elaan said, stepping aside so Nina could come in. She wanted an explanation about earlier, with Gemma. She wanted to know why Nina had lied and said Elaan had canceled.

  Elaan watched Nina enter, and then closed the door behind her. Nina walked forward but stutter-stepped when she saw Lijah sitting on the sofa. “Where’s Josh?” she asked.

  “His dad needed him up in the lab. He should be back in a few minutes,” Elaan answered, as she took a closer look at Nina. Elaan wanted to ask the woman about earlier, but Nina was acting very strange. Nina had furrowed her brow, clasped her hands together, and begun pacing. Something weird was happening. “What’s wrong, Nina?” Elaan asked.

  She looked at Lijah, then Elaan. “I shouldn’t be doing this, but I like you, Elaan,” she said. “Sit down.”

  “Why?”

  “Just sit down,” Nina repeated, an edge in her voice.

  Elaan wasn’t sure what was going on, but she decided to comply and sat down next to Lijah again.

  “You know the communication has been down and Greg left to try to reach the nearby comm tower?” Elaan and Lijah nodded. “Well, there’s a backup communication hub in our suite. It’s been dead as a doornail, like the other comm units. This afternoon, after Greg had left, it came on. It sent an order.” Nina paused, her face crumpling to pity as she looked at Elaan.

  “What kind of an order?” Lijah said, his voice firm, loud.

  “A commander is to pick up Elaan at four a.m., before out of bed hours, and take her to a different research facility. The order that came through wasn’t incredibly descriptive, but it said, ‘James Woodson is still refusing request. Need subject removed.’”

  “What request?” Elaan asked.

  Nina shook her head. “I have no idea,” she said. “But, that’s why I told you we didn’t need a sitter. I’d seen the communique, and I wanted you to have one last night with your family to do something fun, before they took you. But, I couldn’t tell you because it was in a document I wasn’t supposed to see. Normally Greg locks the communication room, but, I guess with nothing having worked, he forgot. Or maybe, he just left in a hurry and thought he had. Regardless, the room was unlocked, and I saw it.”

  “You didn’t tell her earlier,” Lijah said. “So, why are you telling her now?”

  Nina looked at Lijah, some measure of hostility in her eyes, but also guilt. Guilt at being caught. “A second communique rolled in about twenty minutes ago. It said that they wanted Joshua and Elijah, too. That both of them needed to be transferred to Facility One.”

  Lijah stood up, panic creeping onto his face. “Facility One?” he asked. “Are you sure it said Facility One?”

  Nina nodded. Her eyes had widened, and she’d taken a step back as if alarmed by Lijah’s reaction.

  “And Elaan,” Lijah growled, as he mov
ed closer to Nina. “Was she supposed to go to Facility One, too?”

  Nina hesitated a moment, her expression as alarmed as Elaan felt by Lijah’s reaction. Lijah was always just Lijah to Elaan, but he was tall and muscular and appeared imposing now. Nina seemed to shrink just a little under his scrutiny. Finally, she shook her head, and said, “No, Elaan was supposed to go to some research lab in Virginia, not Facility One.”

  Lijah rubbed his forehead, blew out a slow breath. He nodded and smiled kindly at Nina. “Thank you for telling us this,” he said.

  At this Nina seemed to relax just slightly, her shoulders loosening with Lijah’s thank you.

  “Do you know, is the communication in the regular comm room working?” Lijah asked.

  She shook her head. “As far as I know, that line is still dead.”

  Lijah nodded, assimilating the information, then looked back at Nina. “If we’re being transferred, we’d like to spend as much time together as a family as we can,” he said. “Can you please not tell anyone about the orders? They’ll eventually get to the right people, and the longer we can spend together, it will make the world of difference, especially to my dad, who’s barely holding it together as is.”

  Nina eyed him more sympathetically, now. “Of course,” she said, reaching out and patting his forearm. “I don’t want Greg to know I went in there, but I did want you guys to be able to spend some time together before you…” Her voice trailed off. “Before you had to leave. In any event, let’s both not speak of this again. No one has to know I told you, but you still get to prepare.”

  Lijah thanked her again and smiled at Nina as if she was just the kindest women on the planet. Elaan was still as she watched this bizarre sight play out. What was happening? She couldn’t contain her curiosity, and blurted out what was on her mind. “Why do they want Lijah?”

  Lijah turned and stared at her, a cold glare that said drop it.

  “I was wondering the same thing,” Nina said.

  “Probably as a control subject,” Lijah said. “Kingston has done some testing on Elaan and me, just to see what makes her immune and me not when we share fifty percent of our DNA. They maybe just want to further expand on that. He’s thought that difference may help with the vaccine.”

  Nina eyes lit up and her face relaxed, as if that explanation had somehow made sense of it all.

  But it didn’t. There were all sorts of people they could use as a control. Why did they want Lijah? And what was Facility One. The way Lijah had said the name, it sounded like something from a horror flick, like he was saying Jigsaw’s lair from that horror movie Saw.

  Somehow, while Elaan was thinking, Lijah had made it to the door and was ushering Nina out. Once Nina was gone, Elaan looked at her brother. “What’s going on? Why do they want you?”

  He shook his head. “We don’t have time for this right now,” he said. “Your life is in danger and so is mine. We have to talk to Dad, and Kingston, too, if that jackass hasn’t double-crossed us already.”

  Chapter 10

  Lijah’s pronouncement that they were in danger had rattled Elaan enough to silently follow him through the dank corridors of the complex back to their apartment. The moment they walked through the door, though, Elaan had to ask some of the questions whizzing through her mind.

  “Lijah,” she said, even though his back was to her as he dashed toward their father’s room. “What’s going on?”

  Lijah didn’t respond. “Dad,” he called, not bothering to slow down for Elaan to catch up.

  “In my room,” came a reply muffled by the door.

  Elaan kept at him, despite being ignored. “Lijah, you can’t just say something like that and not explain.”

  Lijah was standing outside their father’s locked bedroom door. He turned to her. “We have to figure out what to do, Elaan. I don’t have time to explain it all right now.”

  The door opened, and her father appeared, his smile fading as he surveyed at his children. “What’s wrong?”

  Elijah spoke. “Nina told Elaan that an order came in to take me and Josh to Facility One and to relocate Elaan to Virginia.”

  Their father shook his head. “This means they know,” he said to Lijah.

  “That’s the only reason I could think of for this order,” Lijah responded. “They wouldn’t do it unless they knew.”

  “What is it they know?” Elaan piped in. “Are you guys going to talk to me, or just pretend I’m not here?”

  James Woodson eyed Elaan, contemplating something, perhaps an answer, then looked at Lijah and said, “The three of you have to leave. You have to take your sister and go. Go to,” he paused, taking a deep breath, then said ominously, “her.”

  “No,” Lijah said, shaking his head. “I’ll take Elaan, and I’ll protect Elaan, but I’m not going there.”

  “Hello,” Elaan said. “Who is her? Where is there? What are you talking about? Are you guys for real going to keep ignoring me?”

  Her father gave her a glare that said to shut her trap. “I’ll explain to you in a minute. I need to talk to your brother first.”

  Elaan folded her arms and stepped back. She knew she had to shut it if she wanted him to explain, but she was still pissed that they were keeping her in the dark, and scared as to why. Her mouth twitched with all the questions she yearned to ask.

  “Lijah,” her father said. “You don’t know what it’s like up there. You don’t know where to go, what the mood is. You need someone who knows what to do, how to hide, and how to communicate under the radar.”

  “By the time we actually get there, we’ll have figured it all out. It’s almost a thousand miles away.”

  “I know,” their father said. “But she’s smart, and she can help you. If you don’t want to stay, don’t stay, but you have an obligation to protect your sister. Take her there. She’ll be safe.”

  Lijah snorted and took a step back. He leaned against the hallway wall and gave his father an incredulous glare for a minute. “What about me? Will I be safe?”

  Their father sighed. “Lijah,” he said, putting a hand on his son’s shoulder. “You will be safer there than you will be here. They know and they want you at Facility One. Going to her, or frankly, going anywhere else, is better than staying here.”

  Lijah pulled away from his father’s hand on his shoulder. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll take Elaan, but I’m not staying.”

  Their father gave a curt nod. “OK. Does Kingston know? We need to get Josh.”

  Lijah sighed. “I think Kingston knows and didn’t tell us. He asked me to get Josh to come up to the lab, but wouldn’t say why. My money says he’s already packed him up and sent him out.”

  Their father sighed and turned around, going back into his room. He came out a moment later with two empty cardboard boxes with the words “lab equipment” printed in block letters on each side. He held them out, one toward Elaan and one toward Lijah. “Pack some clothing in there. You can transfer your stuff to backpacks when we get to the lab. We’ve got to get upstairs and talk to Kingston. If he’s getting Josh out, that means he has plans and probably supplies.”

  Lijah took a box and went to his room.

  Elaan took a step back, glaring at the box as if it were a venomous snake. “You need to explain,” she said to her father.

  “While you pack,” he said, thrusting the box toward her. “Hurry. We don’t have much time.”

  Chapter 11

  Elaan reluctantly took the box and walked into her room, setting the container on top of her dresser and pulling open a drawer. She turned to her father. “What’s going on?”

  He half smiled and shook his head. “God, you have always been the most stubborn child,” he said. “I’m only going to talk if you’re actively packing. Just because you don’t understand why it’s important to go quickly doesn’t mean it isn’t important.”

  He sounded like Lijah. Or maybe Lijah sounded like him. She rolled her eyes but reached in the open drawer and started c
ollecting underpants. “Talk,” she said.

  “Pack sweaters,” her father said. “It’s getting cold outside, I’m sure.”

  Elaan stuffed some underpants in the box. “Talk,” she repeated.

  “I guess the place to start is with Mark Dayton,” her father said.

  “Helnoan Mark?” she asked, turning to face him. “The guy who brought the airborne version of the disease here? The guy who made everyone sick?”

  “Pack,” her father hissed, forcing Elaan to turn back to the drawers so he would continue. “And yes. As you know, Mark was my responsibility once it was decided to use him in research on ways to stop the virus. We’d found you could isolate his genes — separating the carrier properties from the immunity properties. Teams were trying to engineer both a vaccine and treatment based on his cells. The way his body held off the disease, keeping it from taking hold was quite fascinating.”

  “Dad, is this really relevant?” she asked, as she opened her pants drawer. Her father had a tendency to get excited about how things worked and go off on tangents.

  “Yes,” he said. “Anyway, there was Mark and there were also the immunes. We were taking two different tracks, thinking either would get us to the same place. We had developed a vaccine using Mark’s DNA as a blueprint. It appeared to work on the chimps. The Alpha team, the treatment team, had also made a treatment based on it. It seemed to make the chimps well. When Kingston’s wife, Jenny, got sick, he wanted to use the serum on her, but they wouldn’t let him. It was around that time, too, that they decided that Mark had caused too much damage. That he was too dangerous, and they killed him.”

  Elaan had really just been moving stuff around in the drawer so her father wouldn’t stop talking, but his last words jarred her so much that she stopped her faux packing and turned to see his face. She had to have misheard him. “Killed him? He’s dead? Who killed him?”

  “The government. There’s an order that carriers are to be terminated. They plan to do all future vaccination work with immunes. It was decided that carriers were too much of a public health threat to be allowed to live. Anyone found to be a carrier is terminated.”