Modified- The Complete Manipulated Series

by Harper North

  “You’ll never break through,” Bellaton mumbles.

  Elias jabs the gun into her side. “Stay quiet!”

  Bellaton narrows her eyes at him and then shifts her gaze outside the window, probably trying to will a heroic rescue of herself with her mind.

  Lacy’s head turns from side-to-side, and she groans as if she’s fighting through something.

  I chew on my lip. “She’s coming around. How much longer?”

  “The protocols,” Emma says, tapping away on Bellaton’s terminal, “they’re buried deep. It’s not as easy to break in.”

  “Of course not,” Bellaton says. “You’re in the Command Center. Did you think we’d just hand everything over to you?”

  “No,” Emma says, “but I’ve just accessed the command codes for opening the no-fly zone.”

  Bellaton’s jaw tightens.

  Emma swipes past several more pages of data. “They weren’t hard to find.”

  “You’ve got to hurry,” Elias says.

  Beads of sweat drip down my cheeks and my heart pounds in my chest. I squeeze Lacy’s hand. “Hold on,” I whisper.

  “She doesn’t stand a chance,” Bellaton says.

  My nostrils flare and I stand. If we didn’t need the director so badly, I’d march over to her and shoot her dead. A slow grin spreads across Bellaton’s face. I’m sure she knows how important she is.

  Suddenly, a red beam flashes into the room, drifting toward the back of Emma’s head. My gaze follows it to the window and then to the op on the rooftop next door and a nearly hidden gunman. He peers over the top of a sniper rifle before returning his gaze to the scope.

  “Get down!” I yell, dropping to my knees.

  Emma dives to the side of the desk. The sniper’s bullet pierces the thick window, shattering it into a million pieces. Elias slides behind the wall, pressing himself flat next to Bellaton, securing her with his gun to her head as I shield Lacy.

  “You’ve got to lock down the building!” Elias shouts to Emma.

  She reaches up and pulls the terminal down to the ground. Shielded by Bellaton’s desk, Emma continues to work on breaking through the protocols.

  Elias raises the comm device and presses the button. “If you try to take us out,” he shouts into it, “I’ll kill Bellaton—don’t test me!”

  Warm air mixes with the cool air conditioning. Voices from outside mingle with several shouts from the street below. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to take long, slow breaths. I swallow, hoping to stay calm.

  “Can you keep them out?” I ask Emma.

  “I’m trying.” Her fingers move quickly. Each swipe on the screen brings up more information, jumbled pieces of code, and more data. Emma’s eyes flash as if she’s deciphering everything just as fast as it comes up.

  Sliding back to Lacy’s side, I feel for her pulse. It pounds in her wrists and a vein in her neck pops out as she moans in agony.

  A heavy thud comes from just outside the window. Turning, I jump back as a metal panel locks in place, covering the opening.

  “There,” Emma says, straightening back up. “The building is secure.” She exhales a sharp breath. “Now for Lacy.”

  Elias rushes to the door. “I need to check on the others—watch Bellaton!” he yells.

  I shift my gun from my side and aim it toward her head. Bellaton stiffens.

  “You don’t have to point that thing at me,” she says. She lowers down to her heels. “If I’m dead, so are you.”

  My breath hitches. “Move closer to the door,” I order her.

  Her eyes strain and flit around the room, but she complies, stepping over Reinhart, then leaning against the wall.

  “You don’t know what you’re doing,” Bellaton warns. “You’re going to get everyone hurt or killed. Why don’t you leave now? Take my hovercraft—it’s on the underground level. You can get away, and I’ll make sure no one pursues.”

  I shake my head and tighten my grip on my gun as my stomach churns. A second later, Elias returns. “Sky, Drape, and Talen are still on guard out there. They say we’re surrounded by ops—twice as many as before.”

  “The SNA is our only option,” I say. “We have to ask Morris to meet us—”

  “You’re making a huge mistake!” Bellaton interrupts.

  Elias turns a cold gaze toward her. “Shut up with your lies.”

  “Can’t we move Bellaton back with the others?” I ask.

  “No,” Elias sighs. “We might need her to give us access if Emma can’t break through.”

  “And what makes you think I’d do that?” Bellaton says.

  In one swift move, Elias cocks his gun and holds it to the side of her head. “We’re way past niceties now. This is going to work, or both our worlds end today. Are you willing to go there?”

  Bellaton’s body stiffens. She clenches her fists and lowers her gaze.

  “I’ve got it,” Emma says. She hands several wires to me. “Connect the sensors.”

  I take them and place the pads on Lacy’s temples. Her breathing picks up.

  “I can hack into her nanites and reprogram her,” Emma says, “but you need to listen very carefully. Once I break through, she may become agitated.”

  “I know,” I say and check the security of the belt around her wrists. “We’ve got it.”

  “Let’s do this,” Elias says.

  Emma swipes her fingers on the screen and Lacy arches her back and groans.

  “Come on,” I whisper to her.

  Sweat streams down Lacy’s forehead. She twists harder and kicks, nearly knocking me back against the wall.

  “Hold her!” Elias shouts.

  “I’m trying,” I say, gripping tighter. “It’s okay.” I lean closer to Lacy, gripping onto her shoulders as tears burn at my eyes. “You’re going to be okay. Keep fighting. You’re almost out.”

  But instead of being okay, her eyes bulge in pure agony and tears stream down her cheeks. Jagged red lines fill the whites of her eyes. Her mouth hangs open as if her jaw is locked in a permanent, silent scream. Then, without warning, her body goes into convulsions.

  “Come on… come on,” Elias says.

  “She’s almost through,” Emma says. “A few more nanite pathways and we’ll have them all.”

  I wrap my arms around her to hold her steady. Just as quickly as the violent shudders came on, they end, and she collapses into my arms.

  “She’s got a regular pulse,” I say as I lower her to the ground.

  “You’ve ruined her,” Bellaton says.

  “No.” Emma narrows her eyes. “You did that.”

  Lacy’s eyelids flutter open. “W-what happened?” she asks in a weak voice.

  My breath catches. It’s been too long since I heard the real Lacy. “They forced the Aura modifications on you,” I say, “but everything is okay now.”

  She pulls herself up. Her eyes search mine and fill with tears.

  “Don’t,” I say to her. “You don’t need to say anything right now. You just need to rest. We’ll find a way to work through the other stuff later.”

  “I don’t feel right,” she says and slumps to the floor.

  “We’ll need to move her to a more secure location soon,” Emma says.

  “Where?” I ask.

  “The whole building is secure for now, so we have time to try the SNA again.”

  Elias reaches for the comm and tosses it to Emma.

  She clicks through to the secure channel. “Ambassador Morris?”

  It only takes a few seconds and the device pops to life. “I’m here,” he says. “Is everything ok?”

  I take a deep breath and lean closer to the comm. “We had to do something,” I say, not wanting to spend another minute inside the EHC headquarters.

  Emma nods. “We’ll agree to meet with you outside of the Ethos city limits.”

  “We’ll need the no-fly zone open to get to you,” Morris says.

  I turn my attention to Elias. “What choice do we have?�
��

  Elias sighs. He takes the device and says, “We’ll open a small section of the no-fly defensive perimeter.”

  “No, no, no,” Bellaton groans.

  I glance at her, sitting against the wall. Her hands twitch as she shakes her head back and forth. “You cannot do that.” Leaning her head back against the wall, Bellaton presses her lips together, and then says, “You’ll get us all killed.”

  My head fills with all the EHC’s lies. Everything that comes from Bellaton’s mouth feels like another layer of deceit.

  “Do it,” I tell Emma.

  While Emma arranges the meeting point with Morris and opens the no-fly zone, I check on Lacy. Her breath is still shallow.

  Elias moves toward the door. “Let’s get Lacy into the hall.”

  Together, we slide a mostly unconscious Lacy toward the door and into the hallway. Once there, we prop her up against the wall.

  “I’ll get the others,” Elias says as he runs to the office next door.

  I glance at my friend again, not wanting to leave her, but return to Bellaton, who’s staring toward the blocked-out window. Beside her, Emma finishes up on the terminal.

  “It’s done. The passage is clear. The perimeter is open.”

  A part of me wonders if Bellaton feels as trapped as I’ve felt for my whole life. I shake off the feelings and take a deep breath, sensing how close we are to finally being free.

  “Let’s go,” I say, ordering Bellaton to her feet.

  “Just let me go…”

  I laugh. “No way. You’re our bargaining chip, remember?”

  She turns her head to face me. “What does it matter? No matter where you go now, we’re all going to get killed.”

  “Not if you’re with us.” I point my gun at her. “In the hall.”

  Emma and I head toward the door, past a still unconscious Reinhart. Bellaton walks toward Sky, who secures her against the wall outside the office. Beside Sky stands Drape, wide-eyed as he stares down at Lacy.

  I place a hand on Drape’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, okay?”

  He swallows. “Is she—?”

  “Deprogrammed?” Emma asks. “Yes.”

  Sky reaches down to Lacy, but Drape pulls back, a sudden look of fear turning his face pale. “Keep her away from me,” he says.

  “She’s not like she was,” I assure him.

  “I don’t care,” Drape argues. “She could be. You don’t know. I just want to get out of here.”

  My shoulders drop as I realize how long it will take to heal the deep wounds of this war.

  “What’s the plan to get out of here?” Talen asks.

  I look around at the group. No one speaks. “Why don’t we split up? If one of our groups gets caught, at least we’ll have the other to bail us out.”

  “You should lead Sky, Drape, and Emma to the meetup point with Morris outside of Ethos,” Elias says to me. “We’ll meet you there once everything is set up. Bellaton will stay with us just in case the EHC tries anything.”

  “I’ll stay here with you, too,” Talen says. “With Lacy.” His eyes go to hers and he crouches at her side. Lacy leans against the wall, now more alert and blinking back tears. “I know what you’re going through,” Talen says to her.

  If she’s anything like the Lacy I remember before the enhancement, she’ll fight with all the strength in her body to get back to who she is. There’s no one as strong as she is. Strong, bull-headed, determined, and with my help, there’ll be no stopping her.

  “Are we going to head out on foot?” Drape asks.

  “No,” I say, remembering the hovercraft underground. “We can take Bellaton’s personal transport hovercraft.”

  The director cringes at my words.

  I snatch Bellaton’s badge from her jacket and turn to Elias, pointing at the comm device. “Keep the line open.”

  “I will,” he says, a wry smile on his face.

  Taking a deep breath, I try to form the words, but it’s impossible. We’ve been through so much, and there isn’t time to say everything I want to.

  As if sensing my conflict, Elias reaches out a hand and takes mine. “Be safe,” he whispers.

  “I will,” I say, squeezing his hand, then letting go to wave for the others to follow. “Let’s get out of here.”

  As Sky, Drape, Emma, and I head out of the Command Center, we rush past a cracked-open window. Below us, dozens of ops line the street. We’re surrounded, but with Bellaton still secured with Elias, Lacy, and Talen, no one dares take another shot.

  We make it to the elevator, and the doors open for us to rush inside. Breathless, I flash Bellaton’s badge to the security scan and press the underground level button. The elevator’s slow humming makes my stomach swirl. I grip my gun, sure there will be hordes of ops as soon as the elevator doors open underground. My pulse throbs through me in fast beats, making me wonder if this whole thing ends with us dying in a shoot-out, only now in an elevator instead of Bellaton’s office.

  I hold my breath as the elevator stops and the doors slide open, then relax once I realize we’re really in the underground lot with no ops in sight.

  “Which one?” Drape asks as we scan the dozens of sleek-looking transport machines.

  “There,” I say, pointing to the black hovercraft parked a few yards away. It screams privilege and must be Bellaton’s. We rush to it, pull open the doors, and climb in.

  “Do you think you can fly it?” I ask Emma.

  She raises a brow. “I just broke into the EHC command codes, reprogrammed Lacy, and opened a thirty-year-old no-fly zone. I think I can fly a hover.”

  I grin as she has us up and off the ground in seconds. The engine roars to life, and the slow humming of the blades push us up and out past the security checkpoint into the dawn rising over the horizon beyond the EHC headquarters.

  Exhaling a deliberate breath, I gaze at the beauty of the city. Every building sparkles in majestic black. As we climb higher, there’s a sense of freedom that soars through me.

  “Look at that,” Sky says, gesturing outside the window.

  I follow his arm. Below us, ops line the street. There are dozens and dozens of them, all waiting for their opportunity to destroy us. All they need is the command, but they’ll never get it.

  I lean back against the soft cushion of the hovercraft. We’ve finally made it.

  CHAPTER 17

  IN A MATTER of minutes, we’re flying out of the city and into the remote outskirts of Ethos. My eyes are glued to the changing landscape; the roads widen, buildings shorten and then disappear until the only thing left is open patches of dry earth surrounded by the bones of empty buildings long since forgotten.

  “How much longer?” I ask Emma.

  “We’re almost there,” she says as she maneuvers toward what looks like an old factory surrounded by boulders and a few dead trees. The outer bounds of Ethos feels like a wasteland of used parts. Heaps of metal and crumbling towers mark where once there was a thriving civilization, long before the changes to the world, but now they stand as only a reminder of what once was. I take a long breath.

  My heart skips a beat as the steady humming of the hovercraft slows and Emma lowers the craft to the ground.

  “Where’s Morris?” Sky asks as he peers out the side and front windows. “You said he’d be waiting for us.”

  Emma scans the landscape. “We have no idea how far away he is.”

  The air from the blades kicks up the dirt surrounding us. A cloud of red soil blows gently in the wind not twenty feet away. Emma disengages the engine and opens the door. A blast of warm air hits my face, followed by particles of dirt that cling to my lips and hair.

  “I’m not going out there,” Drape says, folding his arms across his chest.

  Reaching back, I grab hold of his arm and pull him from the hovercraft. “We’re so close to ending this,” I say to him. “Aren’t you excited?”

  “No.” He pulls away. “I’ve had enough of negotiating and fighting
. I’m tired.”

  “We all are,” Sky says.

  I cough and wipe the dust from my eyes. Around the hover is nothing but desolation for miles, reminding me of our journey to Mason’s training camp.

  “Let’s wait for Morris over there,” Emma suggests, pointing to an area beside the factory, a small clearing with shade from the sun.

  “Come on,” I say to Drape. I pull out a bottle of water and hand it to him. He takes it with a sigh, then follows.

  Once we’ve reached the clearing, I take a seat on a giant boulder. I crack open a bottle of water for Sky, then open one for myself while Emma takes a long, slow drink from hers. Electricity pricks at my skin. Finally, we’re free of the EHC.

  I bump shoulders with Drape. He frowns and kicks a small rock across the ground. “What’s taking them so long?”

  Sky scans the surrounding area. “They’ll be here.”

  I adjust the strap of my gun. The air is dry and hot. I want to be excited—this is a new beginning, a chance at a normal life—but thoughts of Lacy still won’t quite let me. To shake off my nervous energy, I tap on the end of my gun.

  Emma digs through her bag and pulls out the comm. “I’ll try to make contact with them again.” She tries to tune the channel, but there’s no response other than crackles. “The signal is weak due to those tall structures around us,” she says. “I’m going to move closer to the hovercraft.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Drape says, following her.

  Sky returns to my side. “She’ll be all right.”

  “Who?” I ask, taking another drink.

  “Lacy,” he says. “I know you’re worried about her.”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “She’s better now than when she was as an Aura op.”

  I nod, knowing she’s just starting on the path to healing herself. “She’s been through a lot.”

  Sky turns his gaze back toward Ethos. “And we haven’t?”

  Leaning back, I take a deep breath. Exhaustion pulls on every muscle in my body. That, and the adrenaline I’ve been running on is starting to ebb. “When this war is finally over, we’ll all have to come to terms with our choices.”

  “Lacy will,” Sky says. “No one blames her.”