Initus (Walking Shadows Book 5)

by Talis Jones

  “But it was a part of you!” I mourn. “You had a special gift and I stole it from you.”

  “You were just protecting us,” he says gently. “Convici is the one who did this. Blame her, not yourself.”

  I shake my head in refusal, how can I just let it go?

  “Morgan.” Remi grabs my hand and gives it a tug to get my attention. When I’m looking at him, he tells me, “Watching the guilt tear you apart is tearing me apart. So unless you can abide by that, then you need to find a way to forgive yourself for not being all-powerful and omniscient.”

  “I could have tried to make it only a suppressant,” I confess, circling back to Win’s desperate ideas. “But I kept thinking about that boy and wondering about others where a suppressant would mean lifelong treatments instead of a cure. I was running out of time and it became clear that it was easier to simply destroy the variant than to cloak it.” I sigh. “If Tori had been able to keep her word then it would have been the right call.”

  “Why three doses?” Win asks suddenly.

  I sigh. “One for Convici, one for that nephew, and one as a spare in case one broke or maybe just because things come in three’s.”

  “One for my sister, one for your friend, and one for a demonstration,” Tori interrupts, startling me.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Come with me,” she orders, not waiting to see if I’ll obey.

  She leads me towards her office, but then passes it for the next door down.

  “We’re not going to your office?” I inquire curiously.

  “No,” she smiles. “This is my sister’s new office.”

  Swinging the door open without invitation, she gestures me inside and though I’m loathe to sit cozily in a chair, trapped in the office with the twins, I pretend it’s nothing but natural.

  “I see you’re wasting no time returning to work.”

  “I’ve never been one for idleness,” she returns. “I do believe I owe you a thanks. As you can see, it worked.”

  “Yes, you do seem as I last saw you,” I observe neutrally.

  “Not one to boast,” she nods. “I knew I liked you. You’ve aged well.”

  “Frequent visits to the prison’s medical ward will do that to a girl.” Ironically.

  “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, as they say,” she replies breezily. “My looks are natural, if you’re wondering. Simply good genetics.”

  “I wasn’t, but congratulations.”

  “Alright, I see you don’t care for conversation same as I so I’ll get down to the point. I’ve invited Dr. Harold Xi for a tour and demonstration. Python has been well managed by Van and now, with your help, I have two life-changing drugs to flaunt in his arrogant, soulless face. We will be demonstrating both Janus and Poppy and I expect you to be there running the show.”

  “Dr. Xi will be coming here?” I nearly choke on the words.

  “Focus, Ms. Travers,” Dr. Convici directs. “Together we will destroy our common enemy and restore order to the Union. Be proud.”

  I feel a great many things, all battling and twisting inside of me, but pride is not one of them. Or at least it is not the biggest one. I have, after all, managed to create something incredible…even if it sickens me.

  “Prepare what you need,” Dr. Convici dismisses me. “Both drugs are ready, yes? No need to test it on another unsuspecting soul?”

  “Both are ready,” I promise, trying to hold back my anger.

  “Good,” she nods. “He’ll be here by the end of next week.”

  With a bow of my head, I exit the office calmly, professionally, but the moment I see Win and Remi waiting for me in my office I collapse into long-pent up sobs of frustration and punch the wall.

  Once I’ve gathered a hold of myself, I tell them about Xi’s impending visit.

  A beep interrupts us and both Win and Remi check their wrist tablets, reading the message.

  “Speak of the devil,” Win mutters.

  “What is it?”

  “Orders for a security detail on the Thursday next, presumably when Xi will be showing up,” Remi answers. “It’s strange though…”

  I wait a moment for him to elaborate and when he doesn’t I kick his foot. “What’s strange?”

  “Guards will be concentrated on perimeter security, cuz and I will be stationed near you, again presumably for the demonstration, but no one is assigned to the twins or Xi… At least it’s not mentioned here.”

  “So they’ll be vulnerable to attack,” I frown.

  “Or open to privacy,” Remi offers.

  “They’re going to kill him,” I discern gravely. “Or inject him, but either way this is intentional.”

  Before Remi and I can start swapping theories and what, if anything, we should do about this, Win cuts in worriedly.

  “Morgan,” he begins, then swallows and tries again. “Who are you going to be using for the demonstration?”

  I open my mouth then snap it shut again. Thinking quickly, I decide, “I’m in charge of the show, as she called it. For Janus, I’ll use footage of Remi healing someone followed by footage from his time in observation demonstrating his inability to heal along with DNA arrays from his arrival at Python and during his stay in observation.”

  “How do you know there’s footage of me healing someone?” Remi asks too quickly.

  I give him a knowing look. “Who was it?”

  Crossing his arms, he gives it up. “Maddy. The first time we met she came back with an infected stab wound from one of her assignments.”

  A small laugh slips out. “No wonder Yosef and the others were so willing to help us. They owe you one.” Ignoring his discomfort over being praised for what once was something as natural as smiling, I press on. “This place is rigged with too many cameras for it not to have been captured and I assume they would have originally headed to the emergency room on the ground floor conveniently near the guard wing where you likely saw them?”

  Remi nods.

  “Then it’s definitely on camera.” With a confident nod, I add, “I assume Dr. Convici has kept her condition secret, but if not then we might not even need to use you as an example, but no one else will be tested on. No one.”

  “And for Poppy?” Win asks, an edge to his voice.

  “Trust me, Win. You’ll have to trust me.” I turn to Remi. “When will they be back?”

  He meets my eyes and tries to mask his worry. “Hopefully in time.”

  “Send a message. I don’t care how, just do it.”

  “Yes ma’am,” he smiles and Win salutes.

  Twenty-Eight

  Thursday morning, the Thursday morning, I stare at myself long and hard in the mirror. I’ve already donned my freshly pressed white lab coat, my hair is smoothed back into a low bun, and on the outside I appear composed and professional. I hear a soft ping and open the door to see Remi and Win waiting on the other side. No familiarity today. Today, they’re nothing but assigned guards.

  “If you’re ready…” Remi invites with a gesture of his arm and I take the cue.

  Win leads the way while Remi takes up the rear as we march to the observation room prepped for today’s demonstration. Win and Remi fall back, allowing me to step forwards and greet the panel. Offering short, businesslike handshakes to each of them, Tori nods, Dr. Convici smiles, and Dr. Xi’s eyes gleam.

  “Dr. Xi,” Tori introduces. “I believe you’ve met Dr. Travers before?”

  I’m just Ms. Travers. I never got the chance to finish my doctorate thanks to her sister and her using the title feels like a slap in the face.

  “Yes,” he replies as if it is no matter. “Though she was just an intern then.”

  “You’d be most impressed with what she’s accomplished since then,” Tori assures him.

  “Under my tutelage, she’s finally managed to reach her potential,” Dr. Convici smiles though the gesture feels barbed.

  “Is that so? I shall have to try locking up my most promising interns i
n the future.”

  Tired of their talking about me, I smoothly interrupt. “If you’re ready, we can begin the demonstration.”

  Tori and Dr. Convici nod before taking places by the window. Dr. Xi, however, hovers a moment, taking me in.

  Keeping his voice low he shakes his head, “Oh, the trouble you have caused me, Ms. Travers.”

  He uses my correct title, showing how well he knows me, putting me in my place, and I long to hit him.

  “You created N60, not me,” I point out.

  “Yes and you suffered in prison for Dr. Convici’s foolishness.”

  “I thought you were dead,” I confess. “The entire time I was stuck in prison, I didn’t realize you’d simply chosen to sit back and let me take the fall when you knew exactly who to blame.”

  “I didn’t realize you had so much faith in me,” he patronizes.

  “You were and are a monster, Harold Xi,” I inform him calmly.

  Xi glances over his shoulder at the murmuring sisters. “It seems you have a penchant for doing a monster’s bidding,” he murmurs darkly, softly enough so as not to be overheard.

  “I think if you recall correctly, I do no one’s bidding.” Giving him a polite bow of my head, I leave the room only to step inside the adjoining space on the other side of the mirror. I can’t see them, but I feel their eyes keenly and I have to suppress a shudder.

  A simple metal cart is the focal point in the small room. Shimmying my hands into a pair of nitrile gloves, I open the waiting silver case revealing the four remaining vials within. Carefully removing a lavender vial, I lift it high for them to see. Knowing my voice will be piped directly to the speakers in the room where they watch, I don’t bother to raise my voice above an appropriate, clinical volume.

  “Janus has been a project endeavoring to find a way to suppress unwanted, lasting effects from N60, ZoiTech’s creation, such as loss of control either emotional and/or physical, suffering or sacrifice of a balanced mental state, development of dangerous impulses, and the like. What you see here is CG3, Python’s creation.”

  Replacing the vial into the case, I pick up the tablet on the cart and gesture towards the mirror that will transform into a screen with a quick command from the tablet. “What you are watching is a subject demonstrating an ability to heal physical wounds through skin-to-skin contact. After an injection of CG3, as you can see, he lost the ability to do so.” The glass reverts back into a mirror and I know they can see me again. “All it takes is a single dose.”

  “I see two vials missing,” Dr. Xi observes, a question in his tone. It seems the audio is open to two-way for this presentation.

  I say nothing, leaving the decision to the conspiring Convici twins, but they don’t get a chance before Xi answers his own question.

  “You never were one to go into hiding,” he says to Liz.

  “I wasn’t hiding,” she rejects, insulted. “I was working.”

  “Oh I think it was Ms. Travers who was working,” he insists snidely.

  “Dr. Travers,” Tori cuts in quickly. “If you could please continue onto the next part of the demonstration.”

  With a nod, I lift high one of the amber vials. “OG8L0, project designation: Poppy, is a vaccine developed by Python for the masses. A lasting blocker against any risk of devolving into an Aggressive due to exposure to N60. Just as with CV3, all it requires is one dose.”

  Returning the vial to the case, I use the tablet to switch the glass into a simple window then step back and clasp my hands behind my back, waiting for further instruction.

  “No demonstration for this one?” Dr. Xi asks imperiously.

  “We’d need to expose a subject to a concentrated dose of N60, one with and one without the vaccine, for it to be worth a demonstration,” I explain. “We didn’t feel it worth the risk or waste.”

  “You’re right, you’d never subject another human to such treatment,” he dismisses me. “CV3 at least was admittedly impressive. Asking for two miracles from Dr. Convici would really have been asking for too much. If we could just move on with the tour–”

  “You’re right, she wouldn’t,” Dr. Convici interrupts. “But to prove good faith, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind vaccinating herself for us to witness. There might not be any dramatic change to witness, but you can’t deny it would prove confidence.”

  A small chuckle at her predictable response to his unspoken challenge mumbles through his unsmiling lips. “Irrefutably.”

  “Dr. Travers?” Dr. Convici prompts.

  “Of course,” I smile nervously. “The only reason why it hasn’t been distributed amongst our staff already is to wait for final approval from you.”

  With slightly trembling hands I select one of the vials and load it into the syringe. Settling it against my opposite arm, I take a breath then let it out as I press the trigger and feel the sharp sting of the needle. I swipe my sleeve across my sweating forehead, then second by second my body starts to relax, an innocently inane expression upon my face.

  “Morgan, how do you feel?” Tori asks.

  My head turns towards her concerned face. “I feel fine, Tori.”

  “Good,” she nods.

  “Dr. Travers,” Dr. Convici calls me calmly. “Would you please wheel the cart into this room so Dr. Xi can inspect it more closely?”

  “Okay.” I place the injector onto the cart then my hands wrap around the side handle and push it out one room and into the next, not sparing Remi or Win a glance in-between.

  “Built in mood stabilizer?” Dr. Xi inquires, taking in my mellow presence.

  “Among other things,” Dr. Convici grins triumphantly. “You know, there’s a particular poetry to a person finally committing the crime they were once falsely convicted for.”

  Dr. Xi turns to her with a frown. “How do you mean?”

  “Morgan Travers was innocent and now she’s not.”

  Suspicion threatens to crack his cool façade. “What are you saying, Liz?”

  “I’m saying,” she leans in, “that after god-like patience, and too many unforeseen setbacks, I’ve won.”

  “Liz,” he warns.

  “This so-called vaccine I had too-clever Morgan finish for me, inclines the mind towards peace and obedience.” Not taking her eyes off of her opponent’s, she orders, “Morgan, stand on one leg.”

  I tilt my head curiously. “Why? Will it help you?”

  “Yes, it would.”

  “Okay.” And so I do.

  Dr. Xi watches as I maintain the pose without protest. “What have you done, Liz?”

  “Only what you tried to do first,” she hisses.

  “I never tried to do this,” he gestures angrily at me. “I wanted to make people more, not…not less.”

  “If you make others more, then eventually you will become less.” She pulls her shoulders back. “Now I will always be more.”

  “I will stop you,” he swears. “You have this backwater facility while I have the protection of the entire Rochester Alliance.”

  “You have nothing,” Liz laughs haughtily. “I’ve been stealing your tech and luring away your subjects for years.”

  “Alpha, Chi, and only God knows what you did with the Confederation facility,” he scowls then his eyes suddenly widen. “You found the journal.”

  “This has been a fun game between you and I, but it’s time for it to end. The moment you left the safety of your little lab in the Alliance, my people moved in. It’s mine, Harold. It’s all mine.”

  “Not me,” he says softly with a sneer. “Never me.”

  If only he’d been paying attention to Tori…

  In a flash, Tori slaps the prepped injector into her sister’s hands and with no hesitation, Liz plunges the needle into Xi’s chest. “Spoke too soon, Harold.”

  Tossing the spent syringe onto the cart, she grins at her sister. “We’ve done it, Tori.”

  “Liz!” Tori shouts too late.

  With a horrible thwack, Dr. Xi slams an extended b
aton he must have kept hidden somewhere against Dr. Convici’s head sending her reeling into the cart where her head meets the sharp corner. I drop the façade and rush towards Dr. Convici in shock as blood stains the floor.

  “Bastard!” Tori roars, whipping out a gun concealed by her jacket and shoots Dr. Xi without a thought.

  My heart pounds furiously at the two broken bodies on the ground and I cease breathing entirely when Tori turns her gun on me. Win and Remi pound on the door, fighting to get inside, but I’m not sure they have time.

  “You lied,” she accuses me, furious tears in her eyes. “You said you figured it out!”

  “I did,” I say honestly. “I just wasn’t about to give it to you.”

  Anger unsteadies her hand and she can’t bring herself to see her sister’s bloodied form. “Liz,” she mourns.

  “She isn’t dead,” I rush. “She isn’t dead, Tori, but you have to get her to the emergency room unless you want that to change.”

  “Why shouldn’t I kill you?” she asks seriously.

  The question catches me off guard, as if she’s asking because she truly wants a reason not to pull that trigger.

  “Because if you kill me, then the moment those doors open both you and your sister will join me.”

  After a tense moment, she holsters her gun. “I’ll deal with you later,” she vows. Slamming her palm against the red emergency button, the door slides open and Win and Remi tumble inside halting jerkily as they take in the violent scene.

  “She isn’t dead,” I remind Tori, standing slowly and edging my way towards escape. “Help is on the way. She’ll be fine in their hands.”

  “Get. Out.” Tori bites the words and I don’t test her shaky hold on her temper.

  Rushing the hell out of there, I ignore the frightened faces who probably heard the gunshots and now see the blood garishly splashed across my white outfit.

  “What the hell happened?” Remi growls.

  Shock at the reality of the moment still grips my system, but I try to shake it off. “What we planned. More or less. Of course, Tori wasn’t supposed to have a gun…”

  “What now?” Win asks.

  “We find Van and try to contain the chaos.”