My shoulders rise and slump as I take a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Both, I guess? When Ephraim moves the base, he wants to leave Toby behind. I don’t think he trusts me to follow through on that.” And we both know what that means. I don’t know if he’d go so far as to kill an innocent man to protect his rebels, but I’m a long way short of ruling it out.
“Stay here,” Scott says. “I’ll get the others.”
He doesn’t give me a chance to reply before he strides out of the door and shuts it behind him. I stare after it for a long moment. Scott knows Ephraim better than I do: while I was stuck on the wrong side of the Pearce divide, he was living alongside the Ishmaelians for months. So if he’s worried enough to go looking for reinforcements, then maybe I’m not worrying enough.
I tap once on the door to the side room then let myself in. Toby’s leaning over a metal work desk but breaks off from what he’s doing when I enter.
“Anna. Is he–?”
I shake my head and close the door behind me.
“No. No change.”
He nods and swallows, then turns back to the laptop in front of him.
“You know, they have chairs here,” I tell him, walking over and squinting at the screen. It’s split between two images, both dominated by dozens of red circular blobs. “What is this?”
“Uh, I’m running an analysis of the haemoglobin diagnostic biomarkers in the red blood cells to isolate the specific gene or genes responsible for the chronic rejection of the talent.”
“Yeah, okay. In English?”
He pushes his glasses further up his nose and squints as he tries to dumb it down to my level. I never was good at school.
“Well, this one,” he taps the image on the left, “is a magnification of Iain’s blood cells, and this one,” he gestures the image on the right, “is a sample of my blood. I’m trying to isolate the, uh, difference so I can identify which genes are causing his body to reject the talent. A sample of his blood before Doctor Pearce infected him would have been best but I’ll do what I can with this.”
“How’s it going?”
He shakes his head and scuffs his feet on the tiled floor.
“Slowly.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
“I don’t know, do you happen to have a degree in biochemistry I don’t know about?”
“Sorry.”
He smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes. Neither does mine. Doesn’t seem like there’s so much to smile about right now. I chew my lip, trying to hide my frustration from Toby. I can’t stand being helpless. Give me someone to fight, some enemy I can see. I’d go after Pearce but even he’s admitted defeat on this. Toby is literally our only hope. And me? I’m just in the way. I slouch back against the wall, because it’s that or pace, and pacing might distract Toby.
“Do you have everything you need?” I ask after a moment.
“Well, uh, there is, uh, one thing,” he says, not taking his eyes from the screen. I don’t take offence. Toby has zero social skills and besides, his attention is exactly where I want it.
“Sure, name it.”
“Do they have anything to drink round here that isn’t coffee?”
I stare at him blankly for a long moment. He twists his head round to glance at me when I don’t answer.
“I, uh, I don’t drink caffeine.”
“What sort of monster are you?”
He smiles awkwardly again and adjusts his glasses.
“It makes me restless.”
“Well that’s kinda the point, Toby.” I push myself off the wall. “I’ll go find you something.”
“Squash, if they have it.”
I hide a smile. Honestly if squash is what it takes to keep him functioning, then I’ll find some from somewhere. I can shift to the nearest shop and back before anyone notices I’m gone. But not this close to all Ephraim’s electrical equipment.
I open the door and almost walk straight into Nathan. He raises an eyebrow and I step back with a cough.
“Someone order a bad-ass bodyguard?” he asks, stepping through the door.
“Yeah, but you showed up instead,” I answer, rolling my eyes. A chuckle sounds behind him and Helen steps inside. Scott is behind her, carrying a tray loaded with food. One look is enough to set my stomach rumbling. Chocolates and flowers are over-rated. Give me a man who comes bearing a tray full of junk food any day of the week. I snatch up a bacon sandwich then pause, eyeing it suspiciously.
“Red sauce or brown?”
“Red.”
“I swear one day I’m going to have to marry you,” I say, taking a bite of the sandwich and sighing with contentment. That’s when I realise everyone is staring at me, and replay my words back in my head.
“But not today. We’ve got work to do.”
“You’re a strange one, Anna,” Nathan says, not bothering to hide his bemusement.
“It’s part of my charm.”
“You don’t have any charm,” he says, grabbing the other half of the sandwich and seriously making me question my decision to fall back in with these guys. I mean, locking me in a cell is one thing, but my sandwich? Some things are sacred.
“You’re just still smarting from the beating she gave you back in that alley,” Scott gibes, pride burning fiercely in his eyes. I don’t remember too much of that fight, but I remember the state of his nose afterwards. I never did apologise for that. On the other hand, he’s eating half my sandwich, so we’re probably even.
“Hey, I was trying not to hurt her,” Nathan says, his hand hovering over the rest of the food on my tray.
“Everyone be quiet or leave.” That’s about the most assertive I’ve ever heard Toby be, and I turn to him in surprise. “Er, please,” he mumbles, suddenly finding his hands very interesting.
“You heard him, everyone out. You can guard from next door.”
I usher them back out through the door.
“You should eat something,” I tell the scientist, nodding to the tray beside his laptop. “I’m going to get you that squash. Be back soon.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I can only have been gone for twenty minutes, but I arrive back to chaos. I use the back entrance so as not to get chewed out by Ephraim for disregarding his instructions, but with people hurrying around all over the place, I doubt he could have picked me out from the crowd if I passed within a hundred yards of him. I spot a face I recognise, and make a beeline for him.
“Duncan, what’s going on?”
“Evac, lass. Ephraim wants everyone out inside the hour.”
“An hour?” No wonder it’s chaos. This is a massive base, housing I don’t even know how many Ishmaelians.
“Aye. Your old buddy Pearce has put the wind up him.”
“He’s not my– never mind.” I flatten myself against a wall as a young guy hurries past carrying a precarious stack of tins, then fall into step beside the Scotsman again. “Where are you headed?”
“The medical wing. Young Rohan’s already on his way down there. We’re t’ make a start moving all the non-essential kit.”
I nod and hasten my step. I hadn’t realised things were progressing so quickly, but then again, the Ishmaelians have had enough practice at moving in a hurry over the last year to have the whole process down to a fine art. I try not to feel too guilty about that. I mean, speedy evacuations are a useful life skill when you’re rebelling against a top-secret government organisation of head-hunters and cut-throats, right? Really, Ephraim should be thanking me.
“You got a hoard of kiddies I don’t know about, stashed round here some place?” Duncan asks, nodding at the massive bottle of squash I’d all but forgotten in my hand.
“Nope. Just one reclusive scientist.”
“Mind your backs!” a voice echoes down the narrow corridor and we both flatten ourselves against the plasterboard as another man hurries along, this time straining under the weight of an overflowing cardboard box.
“Any news on yo
ur cop pal?” Duncan asks as we peel ourselves off the wall and get moving again. I shake my head.
“No change. But Toby’s on it. He’ll save him.” I force some confidence into the words, but they sound hollow even to me.
“Course he will, lass,” Duncan agrees, and we walk in silence for a while.
“Whoa! Easy there,” he says as we round a corner, catching a box as it flies from the hands of a flustered looking woman. I recognise her from our training sessions.
“Everything okay, Steph?” I ask, stooping to grab some papers from the floor. I glance at them, but she quickly grabs them and chucks them back in the box.
“Yeah, fine, I’ve just got lots to do. Thanks.” She plucks the box from Duncan’s arms and hurries off. We watch her blur into motion again and Duncan raises an eyebrow.
“Super-speed?”
“Yup. Too bad she doesn’t have super-spatial awareness to go with it.”
He chuckles then holds open a door for me. I shoot him a tight smile and step though into what we’re still generously calling a med wing.
“Look, doc, I got orders.”
“Rohan…” Scott is saying, planting a hand firmly on the young man’s chest before he can get right into Doctor Cullen’s face. He’s about the only person who could get away with manhandling the hot-headed teen like that, other than Mika, who’s keeping out of the way. Then again, Rohan’s practically hero-worshipped Scott since we first got here.
“Orders or not,” the doctor says, “I must insist you leave. Now.”
“What’s going on?” I ask, before it can come to an all-out brawl. I can see Nathan shifting his weight from one foot to the other at the far side of the room, watching the trio through tight eyes. No sign of Helen.
“Ephraim wants Rohan to start moving all the non-essential equipment,” Scott says in an exaggerated calm voice.
“And as I’m trying to explain,” Cullen says, looking pretty stressed himself, but somehow just about holding on to his calm façade, “there is no non-essential equipment. There’s no way of telling what I might need for my patient. We’re dealing with a genetically-engineered talent rejection, not the common cold.”
“Your patient’s going too, doc,” Rohan says. “In less than an hour.”
“Absolutely not. Moving this man will kill him.”
Rohan hesitates for the first time, and shoots an uncertain look at Mika. The redhead nods.
“Rohan, we cannot let any harm come to Iain,” she says. “He is a friend.”
“Well, there’s got to be a way,” Rohan says, sounding unconvinced by his own words. “Maybe Anna could shift him.”
We all look at Cullen – because that sounds like a decent idea – but he shakes his head.
“There’s no telling what the shock would do to him.”
“Well I know what Pearce will do to him,” Nathan says. “If he stays here, he’s dead anyway.”
He’s not wrong. Whatever Pearce’s reason for letting him out, he’s got no more need for him now, and that man doesn’t like loose ends.
“Doctor?”
He shakes his head in frustration.
“I don’t know how to spell this out to you any more clearly. Moving him is tantamount to murder.”
“So he can’t stay here, but he can’t move until he’s more stable. Great.” I glance at Iain lying on the bed behind Cullen. Unlike in Duncan’s illusion, this Iain’s face is a pale and flushed with pain, even with all the meds Cullen has pumped into him. “Do what you can for him. No-one will touch anything without your go ahead.”
I fix Rohan with a stare and he nods.
“Good.”
I push through the door into the next room, the bottle of squash still hanging limply in my hand. Toby’s eyes light up when they see it, then fall when he looks at my face.
“Is he–”
“No, but he will be. Pearce is coming and Ephraim’s ordered a full evacuation. The doctor says moving Iain like this will kill him. Tell me you’ve got good news.”
“I’m sorry, Anna. I’m getting closer, but...” he gestures helplessly to the laptop and the piles of scrawled notes. “I need more time.”
I nod grimly.
“Then you’ll have it.”
It’s time to have another chat with Ephraim.
*
“Absolutely not.”
Seems like lately everyone seems to think they can tell me what I can and cannot do. Seems like maybe I should do something about that.
“Look Ephraim, I’m not asking you to risk anything. I just want to give Iain the best chance possible to recover. And that means letting Toby work for as long as we can. The first sign of Pearce showing up, I will shift everyone out.”
“And if you’re not fast enough, Pearce will have a host of prisoners to interrogate to find our new location. Not to mention all the valuable medical equipment we would have to abandon. It’s an unacceptable risk.”
“Medical equipment? Are you kidding me? We’re talking about a man’s life here – or have you forgotten? Hell, I’ll steal you more equipment if that makes you happy.”
“That would not make me happy, Ms Mason,” he says, eyeing me distastefully. “Tell me, exactly whom do you plan to risk with this reckless idea of yours?”
I bristle but answer anyway.
“Just me and Toby. Doctor Cullen, if he wants to. No-one else.”
Ephraim snorts derisively.
“I doubt that very much. Very well, do as you wish: I wash my hands of your idiocy. But don’t expect our assistance if you allow yourselves to be captured – again.”
Like I hadn’t already worked that out from past experience. I duck out of his office before he can change his mind, and hurry back to the med wing. Scott fixes me with a decidedly unimpressed look. He doesn’t like me running around making plans without him. And to be fair, I do have quite a poor track record.
“Care to fill us in on this plan of yours?” he asks, his voice so conversational that I know I’m in serious trouble with him. Uh oh. The others – Nathan, Helen, Rohan, Mika and Duncan – all give up pretending to be engaged in various tasks, and listen in as I outline the bare bones of my plan. For a long moment they all stare at me in silence. Nathan’s the first one to speak.
“Absolutely–”
“If you say absolutely not,” I cut him off, “I swear to God I will end you.”
“I was going to say,” he says, unperturbed by my outburst, “absolutely nuts. Life is never dull with you around, Anna, you know that?”
“I’m staying too,” Scott says, his voice low.
“What? Scott, no.” I can’t put him at risk. Staying here myself is one thing, but I can’t leave Scott in harm’s way.
“Yes,” he insists firmly, then softens his tone. “You can’t ask me to sit around fifty miles away while you’re right in Pearce’s path. I won’t do it. I can’t. So please don’t ask me.”
“The more people here, the greater the risk,” I try, knowing it’s a weak argument.
“You can only shift two people at a time, anyway. Your first shift gets Cullen and Toby out, you still have to come back for Iain. It makes no difference if I’m here, too.”
I don’t have the energy to fight him. Besides, I want him by my side just as much as he wants to be by my side, I’m just too much of a coward to admit it. I give in with a nod.
“Good,” Nathan says. “That’s settled. And me and Helen will be in the woods, keeping a look out for any of Pearce’s men.”
“Don’t be leaving me out of your hairbrained scheme, lad,” Duncan chimes in. “I haven’t had a good tear up in weeks.”
“Guys, no.” I shake my head. Why are they all so quick to throw themselves in the line of fire? I owe Iain my life. Hell, I owe Iain more than that: I owe him Scott’s life. I have to do this. They don’t.
“Anna,” Nathan says with a grin, “if you think you’re hogging all the fun yourself, you’re sadly mistaken. In fact, unless I miss
my guess, Joe’s going to want a piece of the action too.”
“What about the pre-cog?” Duncan suggests. “Seem to recall he knew how to handle himself in the scrap.”
“Marcus?” Nathan says, eyeing Scott carefully. Neither of them much like that idea. I, on the other hand, have absolutely no problem putting Marcus squarely on Pearce’s radar. In fact, I’ll do it with a smile on my face. Filthy traitor. Sure, he can claim he was an Ishmaelian spy the whole time all he likes, but fact is, he was more than happy to stand by while Gardiner threw me and countless others in cages, and he didn’t hesitate to smash up Scott’s hand to protect his former master. And then he comes running back, claiming he was just protecting his cover story. That war is messy. So no, I have no trouble putting him in danger. But I sure as hell don’t trust him, and I don’t want him anywhere near this.
“We’re staying too,” Rohan says, taking hold of Mika’s hand.
“No,” I tell him, and this time I mean it. I will absolutely not put them in danger.
“We’re not kids,” he snaps. “And with my gift I can fight off twice as many as any of you.”
His eyes blaze as he looks round, challenging any of us to deny his assertion. No-one does.
“And that’s exactly why we can’t let you anywhere near AbGen. Do you know what Pearce would do to have access to your talent?” I let my eyes rest on Mika until he gets my meaning, but I’m not done yet. “And you, Mika, you’re the ultimate interrogation weapon. He already wants you. If he ever saw what you could do, he’d never stop hunting you. I know how that ends, and trust me, you do not want to go there.”
They’re both silent for a moment, which I take for assent.
“Besides, you’re the only ones here Ephraim really trusts. I need you to stay close to him and keep us in the loop.”
After a moment, Mika nods.
“We will.”
“Good, then go. Help with the rest of the evacuation and find out everything you can.”
I pull the redhead in for a brief hug.
“And be careful,” I tell her.
“You, too.”
Chapter Thirty
The base is eerily quiet. There are no booted feet rushing up and down the hallways outside and no loud banter from the undisciplined rebels, just the hushed bleeping from the machines monitoring Iain. Me and Scott have set up vigil by his bedside. Toby’s busily working in the side room, door open so we can hear if there are any problems, and the doctor’s grabbing some sleep in a spare bed. We’ve got no idea how long we’re going to be here for, and Iain needs to be watched round the clock, just in case. This way we can rotate and stay fresh. There’s no telling if Pearce will come in an hour, or a week, but however long we have, I’m not going to waste a second of it. We’ll be here until he’s right on top of us.
Unleashed (TalentBorn Book 4) Page 21
