Lilou had been at his interrogation on Opt, fingers away from the plasin box holding him in place. She had trained him. She had marked him suitable for Earth—a planet of scarce cosmic challenge even for someone who did not possess the full circle of enhancements needed to become an ambassador. He had no healing skills but he compensated with leadership abilities, no interplanetary language skills but extraordinary memory and capacity. He did not need to speak all the languages of the universe for this position. If anything, he had proved himself overqualified for a planet like Earth. Precision made him good, strategy made him unbeatable, and that’s what she aimed for. She even chose his name for mission Earth—Etienne—it meant “crown” in Greek and she’d vowed he deserved his position simply for overcoming tasks not compatible with his enhancements. She had chosen the one optan who created havoc, the one who unremorsefully stared back into her eyes today.
“You’re very dear to me, Lilou—you are—which is why I’ll give you a choice…” Etienne spoke blankly. “Shortly.” He trailed off, switching his piercing eyes to Zoey, her mouth still open, her nostrils flaring from the cold and heavy breathing.
James. Her James—the British travel blogger, the guy who bought flowers for her moms with every visit, the soft-spoken guy who took her camping and ruffled her hair with every chance he got for two years.
Jasper took a step closer to Etienne, mirroring him at an arm’s length. “No wonder she was the only subject observed from the distance—you fell for her, didn’t you? Was it before or after you altered her?” He tilted his head, amber eyes provoking, searching for truth.
“If you’ll just excuse me for a brief moment.” There was no one on Paseo Sarasate anymore. A few people walking their dogs in the distance, yet no one crossing their path anymore. Etienne stepped closer to Mia and Rufus, sending his hand straight for the cobblestone and vanishing with both of them. It took Jasper a fraction of a second to get to Zoey and grab her shoulders.
“Are you ok?” His eyes pleaded. “Stay behind me.” Both Lilou and Jasper shielded her, regardless of her discomposed features. There was no time to waste and no playing with fire. Especially not with Etienne. Jasper contemplated shooting a brick at his head and rendering him unconscious, but what good would that do not knowing what he was capable of, knowing he’d already managed to escape death? That and Lilou’s eyes practically begging him to stand down.
Alex’s voice made its way through Jasper’s earpiece. “Shall I alert the Alliance?”
“You mean you haven’t already?” This was not a time for egos, this was an unprecedented time.
Breathe, Zoey, breathe. She swallowed her tears and shock and forced herself into sanity. This was not her James, not possibly.
Her knees were weak, energy melting away through the soles of her trainers and her half-frozen toes. She couldn’t feel the cold any longer but she felt the pavement ripple before her eyes.
Rufus and Etienne were back.
“Where’s Mia?” Zoey demanded through her teeth, shooting Rufus a less-than-friendly look. She couldn’t fathom where this newly acquired badassery was coming from as she scoured his features for anything resembling his former self. Nothing.
“Sedated.” Rufus kept a detached tone, waiting behind Etienne like a puppet.
Could Etienne be strong enough to exert mind control over Rufus?
She felt her guts boiling, enraged at every setback, and erupted like a violent storm, making her way past Jasper and Lilou. “How could you lie to me? How could you alter me and kill so many people?!” Rage quickened her blood as she got closer. That ruffled chestnut hair, the unearthly brown eyes he’d said he inherited from his mother, and a perfect mouth that served more lies than she could count.
“My biggest mistake was not telling you, Zoey—you would’ve understood by now, you would’ve been on this side,” he signaled the space next to him, “instead of their side!”
“Tell me what?” She could no longer fight back the tears running angrily down her cheeks. “That you came here to observe and instead you massacred? That I welcomed you into my life and you experimented on me? That my better half kills for a living?”
“I love you.” He looked in her eyes like he had a million times and meant every word. “I always have.” And it was hard seeing her enraged, and he saw it from every possible angle. She had no idea Rufus had a hold on Lilou and Jasper, freezing their bodies with a swift mental command, pinning them in place like useless mannequins. She was too angry to check on them.
“They called me Etienne and sent me here just because I had enhanced strategy skills and overall learning capacity—and I agreed because I was curious enough to give it a try and eager enough to learn to get by. I trained for three years and they released me into the world to walk among you and all I had to do was report back every now and then.” He wanted to step closer to her but kept his ground. “I was working on enhancements on Opt, editing optan DNA for my kind to strive, for our system to be improved.” He picked his eyes from the ground and stared back at her. “Does a world where no one can lie sound good to you? It did to me, and I dedicated all my time to research that was rejected on the grounds that it violates personal freedom.” A dry laugh followed. “Did you know there’s personal freedom in starting wars or deciding which planets should live and which should not? And do you know what dictates that personal freedom? Politics.” Etienne’s voice was serious. “There’s politics in every corner of the universe. On Earth you’d call my practices ‘unorthodox’—which is funny given the facts—but when I started I was hoping to make a breakthrough and make them see reason, make them see how what they called a violation of the code of ethics would benefit us all.”
“So you killed people because you’re an idealist?’
“Do you remember the morning you turned twenty-four?” How could she forget—she still lived with her moms and he managed to persuade them to throw her a breakfast party. They’d conspired together for weeks to put on the very best sock puppet show their kitchen had ever seen—from the cardboard theater stage they’d spent hours gluing together to the fancy DIY characters with matching lips and crazy eyes—she nearly had a heart attack when walking into the kitchen.
Jane and Margaret had hidden behind the counter and she could hear them giggling as James pulled off the best show the morning had to offer. Because he was all about the details and ideals and she loved saving the world by his side.
“James volunteered twice a month at the shelter, donated a month’s wage to the World Wildlife Fund every year! You’re not James!” she choked.
“I’m not James and I’m not Etienne, call me what you wish, but that very morning I asked you a question, I asked you who you’d save…” She remembered it all like a pan slamming her face at the realization. He’d asked to put herself in a situation where she could have saved one person or one hundred, like a riddle. “You said you’d save the largest number of people—unless that one person was me—then you’d save me!”
“You’re talking like a madman! I don’t understand where you’re heading with this.”
“I love you!” The words rippled with an echo and somewhere deep it felt right to hear those words thrown like knives at her conscience. “I love you enough to fight for you even if you don’t understand it now!”
She didn’t. “What have you done to Rufus? Mia? What for?”
“This is me returning the favor, Zoey—this is me saving you—the Alliance was no longer going to shield Earth! They’ve discovered thousands of more evolved planets that need imminent assistance before making contact with us. They weren’t expecting such performance but tech improves at a faster pace than we do. Now the Alliance is lacking ambassadors with the right skillsets—and because of politics, they cater to the strong, the possible allies, not weak, primitive Earth…” He held out his hands defensively, trying to make a point. “They were going to take me away from you and they were going to leave your species to chance. Surely the new ambas
sador has told you this?” He glared sarcastically at Jasper.
The deaf sound made by her plummeting sanity crashed into the pit of her stomach.
A stinging pain twisted in her chest. The air was so cold it made her drowsy, but not drowsy enough to forget she’d heard that story before. Jasper had confirmed they were discovering a wild number of planets, ambassadors were scarce, hence sending Etienne to her unsophisticated planet.
Shit. Zoey felt her heart pounding in her gut and a bitter taste rising from her stomach to her tongue, making her unable to articulate.
She turned to Jasper with a mortified stare only to watch Rufus relax the hold he had on him once Etienne nodded.
“Is this true?! Did you only come here to retrieve the hybrids and clean up the mess? Did you lie to me all this time?!”
“Zoey, I—I couldn’t disclose that information. It was off limits.” Jasper tensed, defeated by Etienne’s words, twitching, trapped in his own body. He couldn’t move anything apart from his head, trying to tamp down his irritation.
“He didn’t lie, Zoey, he played the part, used information to his own advantage to get the job done. Like I’m sure he also forgot to mention what’s going to happen to your blue planet once the Alliance retreats.” Watching the wave of fresh fear washing over her face, Etienne continued, “Six planets refused to join the Alliance. Six planets who disagree with I.P.A. politics, two of which are already scouring the Universe for new homes because their home planets are soon to reach the end of their lives.”
This is not happening! Her anguish accelerated. Rufus had disabled Jasper’s motor functions again next to Lilou and she just had an overload. Too many lies, too little truth. Inhale, exhale.
Etienne paced a little closer but kept his distance. Love was complicated and selfish. It meant preserving your loved ones at the cost of your sanity, it meant letting go of the one you loved and doing unspeakable things to her so that she could shield herself in the worst of scenarios.
“I love you, and I’d do it all over again if it means keeping you alive. I don’t care if I die or if you hate me right now because I’ve lived the best to live thanks to you, and I promised Jane and Margaret I’d keep you safe.” God, it was hard not surrendering to the innocence of his eyes. “Things got complicated, Zoey. I thought I could live the rest of my life reporting back to Opt in my ‘office time,’” he air quoted the latter, “while shielding Earth on my many work expeditions. I had to make excuses for every possible emergency—a marathon, a chess club event—and you were on board with everything.” He took a deep breath. “The Alliance told me I had another four to six months before they’d send me to a new planet. I took all I could get and brought back just enough to start working on a plan.” He remembered failing trial after trial, not sleeping enough to get things done—until the day he met Trenton Beck’s boss, an eager doctor attending an experimental seminar in desperate search of private investors. “Coincidence brought Beck and I together. Long story short, he had what it took to save your world and for me to save you! He’s vain, but loyal to a cause he embraced as his own—he wants to be the one to carry Earth to glory. So we helped each other out.”
Jasper fought against the stiffness of his body, registering every word, unable to access his enhancements. Etienne had to be mad—but the way his eyes looked at Zoey mirrored his own, making it hard to bear under the layer holding him in place.
He couldn’t see Zoey’s eyes, just her fists tensing until she turned to look at him.
“What have you done to them?” She ran by Jasper’s side and shot an angry look at Rufus. “Release them immediately!”
Etienne nodded towards Rufus and it was done. Lilou grabbed ahold of her throat, filling her lungs with fresh air.
“Optans don’t kill for love! It goes against our moral compass!” Lilou blurted, not knowing love had in fact made Etienne alter himself to be more like her, to see the world with the intensity of her eyes and her passing joy, to give up everything he was and turn to Zoey like a religion in the flesh.
James shook his head at Lilou. “Optans don’t kill for love, optans ponder consequences, optans protect the Universe—do you hear yourself? ’Cause from where I’m standing, you sound like robots preaching a code that violates every shred of morality! The Alliance protects’—who the fuck do they protect—themselves? The strongest ally? The logic behind their benevolence is domination and supremacy, and deep inside that brainwashed sock you call a brain, you know it better than anyone! You lied to the altered to get them to work with you, knowing you were going to toss their planet any day now!”
Etienne pulled his hands out of his coat pockets and folded his arms across the chest. He could have easily terminated them but Zoey seemed to be bending the scale their way. Winning her back meant convincing her and time was scarce, especially seeing how she turned to Jasper.
“You’re wrong!” Jasper tensed. He was done playing nice. Done with the peaceful interrogation that was not getting anywhere. In a swift move, he eyed a bollard and pulled it from the grip of the pavement. No one noticed. He had to get Rufus first—hard enough to knock him down senseless—and then Etienne, hopefully fast enough. He eyed a second bollard but no cars passed to stomp the noise of it tearing through concrete. “I’m sorry, Zoey.” He glanced at her one last time before aiming the bollard at Rufus and sending it straight for the back of his head. There was a loud thump followed by Rufus rolling his eyes and collapsing, shut-eyed, on the cobblestone. Zoey gasped as she watched Lilou reach for a small triangle on her belt.
“Perimeter secured.” She nodded towards Jasper. They were now shielded from the eyes of the few people roaming by.
Zoey felt her pulse throbbing at her temples. “What just happened here?” She looked for hope in Jasper’s eyes but there was none. Instead, he pursed his lips and glanced back at Etienne. The smallest grin hung on the corners of Etienne’s mouth like a trophy.
“Zoey, luv, meet the real citizens of Opt, righteous members of the Alliance.” Laughter broke seeing how the new ambassador kept setting his credibility on fire with every breathing chance. “If that’s what he did to Rufus, imagine what he’ll do to you given the circumstance. The only reason you’re still breathing is the Chancellor’s curiosity to see what’s under the layers of your genetically enhanced fabric.” The Alliance’s intentions were more than clear to Etienne. He’d seen it reflected in the background of every cosmic initiative they ever took.
Zoey fought back the tears as she turned to Jasper. “Are we just toys for you?” All life had been drained out of her voice. Either way she’d end up losing again, so no harm in asking the obvious.
“No, Zoey! Everything I ever told you was the truth, all except the I.P.A retreating its officials from Earth, and that’s because we were instructed not to. My direct orders were to retrieve Beck and keep you and the rest away from him and safe. They did ask us to access your enhancements with kalenium and see how you’ve been enhanced.” Jasper turned to look at Etienne. “What did you do to Rufus?”
“None of your damn business!” His reply came defiant.
“James!” Zoey buried her face in her hands and dragged her fingers down her skin, exhaling. “What happened to Rufus, James?” She looked him straight in the eye.
“It’s complicated.” He looked down at his unconscious body as if he couldn’t care less that there was a human being passed out at his feet.
“Try me!” she dared him.
“This is not a conversation I want to have in front of them! We don’t have time for this, Zoey, they alerted the Alliance already—now they’ll try and stall.”
Lilou was quick to shoot him a glare.
“We have minutes! We need to go, Zoey!” He reached for her hand and she tore it away from him in an instant.
“I’m not going anywhere! I can’t stand being lied to anymore. I need the truth!”
He could swear he saw Jasper’s jaw tightening.
“The truth, Zoey, is
that I had less than six months with you and I needed to act fast. Please!” Imminent panic took over his voice. There was nothing he wished to reveal more than the truth, but time was what he didn’t have. She looked dead serious and there was nothing fragile behind her frown. “I had to create a distraction in case it didn’t end well for me so they could never reach you. I enhanced Beck, told him the truth about my business on Earth and the fact that this planet doesn’t have one single shot at survival without the Alliance’s surveillance once they retreat their teams. So I offered to boost your planet’s chances at survival if he helped me in return without asking any further questions. And he didn’t. Because he’s smart enough to do the math and curious enough to let his scientific nerve get the better of him.” Lilou tightened her fist, knowing Aline and Gerard were close by. Listening to Etienne talk only brought a fresh wave of anxiety. “It’s damn easy pointing fingers here, isn’t it? You just need a bad guy!”
Lilou looked him straight in the eye as she spoke. “Over forty-two casualties make you the bad guy—altering humans, violating the code, kidnapping Sam—are we still having this conversation?”
Guilt rose in Zoey’s chest. It was hard not feeling as if she was at the core of everything, that every death now held a label with her name on it.
“If I didn’t know you any better, Lilou, I’d say you speak as if you’ve never taken a life for a cause—but since it’s work, it’s somehow a better excuse…” Etienne straightened his shoulders. He had an answer for everything. “This is how science works—trial and error—and most of the humans we altered knew what they were in for.”
“Why alter so many people? I’m sure the Alliance can’t be blackmailed into giving Earth a chance.” Zoey’s words came strong.
“But they can be persuaded, especially when we have someone who can portal wherever uninvited and I hold the coordinates to all the headquarters of one hundred and fifty-six planets, chancellors, authorities…” He waved a hand and continued, “And when we have someone who I can use to manipulate every single mind in this galaxy to turn whoever I please against them…Let’s not forget Mark, he took the longest to recover but is now speaking all the languages of the universe.” They all remembered Mia’s words—“vegetable boy.” “And then, ultimately—there’s you, Zoey. I gave you the power to shatter entire galaxies at your will. You have the power to end every foreseeable NEO entering your atmosphere, or us all for that matter.”
Lost in Amber Page 26
