by Teri Terry
But our friends are here, behind us, and we throw off our fear, focus on our hate. She must die. We raise our weapons, and then—
Pain?
In my chest. Agony. I stagger, fall to the ground; another falls next to me.
The rest run away behind us. Cowards.
She stares at me, horror on her face…but she is the true horror.
Pain squeezes my chest tight. Everything goes black.
CHAPTER 3
SHAY
BEATRIZ IS RIGHT. When Spike and I cast out with our minds, there are pockets of consciousness and thought scattered all around us. Is that why Chamberlain was stuck to my side and jumpy all morning—could he sense their approach? I shake my head; that’s crazy. Cats don’t need a reason to be jumpy; sometimes they just are. But today he was right: people are here, and not just a few. Who could they be? No possibility I can think of is good. I swear under my breath. How did they get so close to us? If Beatriz hadn’t pointed them out, I’m not sure I’d have noticed they were there at all.
“Who are they?” Beatriz asks.
“Let’s take a look,” I say, “and see what they are up to.”
The three of us link thoughts lightly and reach out: we see from others’ eyes. Moths, spiders, a mouse or two, a few birds.
Men have come. They are wearing biohazard suits that look just the same as the ones Vigil wore when they attacked the facility, but the people inside them are different. They don’t exude rage or hate; they’re intent, professional soldiers under orders.
Maybe they’re just here to round us back up, take us to another facility—study us some more. As much fun as that would be, I’m fearing worse, and I look closer and closer at each of them until at last one of them makes my fear sharpen.
It’s him: Lieutenant Kirkland-Smith. The one with SAR. Despite my suspicions, the shock is still a kick in the gut.
He’s the one who came to Killin to get me using any means necessary. He failed, but my friend Duncan—I think of him as a friend now even though he was more the opposite before—died, pushing me out of the way when they tried to shoot me. Kai very nearly died too.
If this bunch are all with SAR, their plans for us aren’t likely to be any better than Vigil’s.
Kirkland-Smith is with the largest group of them, by the access road to the house, but they’re not the only ones. Others are just out of sight in twos and threes at intervals around the whole property. Weapons in hand.
We’re completely surrounded.
Where’s Alex?
CHAPTER 4
KAI
“WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?” Freja asks me.
“I don’t know. Keep looking for Shay, travel around until I find her. What else can I do?”
“It’s hopeless without a lead. You don’t even know if she’s still alive.”
“JJ saw her. That was, what—a few days ago? How far could she have gotten?”
“You can’t go in all directions at once.”
“No. If only we’d gotten here sooner.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“I just can’t believe I’ll never see her again. I can’t.”
Freja looks to the side and unfocuses, like she does when Callie is there and she’s talking to her.
“Callie, what do you think I should do?” I say.
Freja frowns, half shakes her head, and sighs.
“Callie says you can see Shay at least one more time, if you want to.”
“What do you mean?”
“JJ shared what he saw with us. I could show you. You have to know, it’s not…well, pleasant. It’s from inside the man she killed—what he saw and felt.”
I don’t have to think for long. What if I never find her? This could be my last chance to ever see her again. “Yes. Show me.”
“I’ll have to link to your mind.”
I nod, nervous but knowing it must be done. “Okay. Do it.”
She nods, her eyes look into mine, and then she’s inside my head.
Are you sure? she says.
Yes.
And then we’re there. First we have JJ’s view, and then we’re into the dead man’s. His hate and fear are all focused on the girl I love. What he sees is warped by what he thinks of her and what she is, and it is so incongruous with what I see that it’s hard to even look at her, feeling what he feels at the same time. But she’s there. She’s alive, scared, defending herself the only way she can, even as her face shows her horror at doing so.
And I want to rip into his chest and crush his heart all over again.
I’m so focused on Shay I almost don’t look at the man trying to open the door behind her, and when I do, I don’t believe what I see.
Shock makes me break away from the link with Freja abruptly.
I shake my head. “It can’t be. No—I don’t believe it. How can it?”
“What? What’s wrong? That was Shay, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s not what I mean. Show me all of it again?”
Freja does, and this time I pay more attention to the man behind Shay. The height of him; he towers over Shay. The silver hair. He was so vain about his hair. He glances at the bodies as they fall to the ground, and even in the smoky air there is a flash of his blue eyes. Then their attacker dies, and the memory is over.
“What is it, Kai?” Freja says, and I hear her, but I’m too caught in shock to answer. “Kai?” she says again.
I find my voice and meet her eyes. “The man with Shay? It’s Alex—Alex Cross. He was my stepfather, and he’s Callie’s dad.”
CHAPTER 5
CALLIE
THAT MAN WAS…MY FATHER?
I replay the memory again and again and stare at him within it, but there is nothing about him that I recognize apart from his name. He’s really tall and not an average-looking person—he’s the sort of man you’d remember even if you weren’t related to him.
But there is nothing.
How can I not remember my own father?
I know that what they did to me in Shetland—infecting me, all their tests, and the final cure—mucked up my memory. There are holes in it all over the place, but I still remembered Kai, my brother, and our mum. There’s a pang inside when I think of her, left behind when I chose to go with Kai.
But of my father there is absolutely nothing. I only know his name because I heard Kai and Shay talking about him—I didn’t even remember that.
Freja is radiating sadness so intense that it intrudes on my thoughts, even though I can feel she’s trying to hide it. And her sadness isn’t anything to do with Alex—it’s something about Shay.
I can’t see into Kai’s mind at all; only into survivors’ minds, and only if they let me, really, but when Freja showed Kai what JJ shared, I was there. I could feel an echo of what he felt through Freja—and his strongest emotion of all was how much he loves Shay.
And finally I’m understanding what has been weird with Freja and Kai: she must love Kai too.
Kai rushes off to talk to Patrick. Freja makes an excuse, says she’ll follow in a moment. I feel like I shouldn’t leave her alone, but I need to know what is happening.
I follow Kai.
The others are packing their tents, getting ready to leave, when Kai rushes up to them.
“Patrick, at last: I have it. The lead I need! The man that was with Shay—I know him.” Kai explains as Patrick, JJ, and Zohra listen. “So if I can work out where Alex would go—or can trace him somehow? Then I might find Shay.”
“Why do you suppose Alex was there?” Patrick asks. “He must either be a survivor himself, and so was one of those being held, or he was working for the government.”
“I didn’t think of that,” Kai says. “He could have been working for them; he’s a quantum physicist. Maybe they brought him in to try to work out al
l the antimatter weirdness? But he also lived in Edinburgh—he could have caught it and survived. I don’t know which it is.”
“Let’s get back to base, get online, and see what we can find out,” Patrick says.
CHAPTER 6
SHAY
WE RETREAT INTO THE HOUSE, find Elena, and tell her what we’ve seen. We lock the doors—not that that would stop SAR if they attack. For now, at least, they seem to be holding their positions in a rough ring around the property—just watching, waiting. For what?
Chamberlain stares out the window: a guard cat. Though I’m not sure how much help he’d be if they move in. We call Alex over and over again in case he’s heading back and close enough for our minds to reach, but he doesn’t answer.
“I can’t sense him,” I say. “Unless he’s blocking us, he’s too far away.”
“The coward,” Spike says, fury all through him. “Leaving us to face this on our own.”
“That’s not fair!” Elena protests. “I’m sure he didn’t know they were closing in.”
I nod. “I don’t think Alex is scared of much. There must be some other reason why he’s not here.”
“Like that he’s working for them,” Spike says. “That he brought them here.”
“You don’t know that he’s done anything,” Elena says, but I can see Spike’s point. Alex did disappear the same day SAR arrived. And he didn’t tell any of us where he was going or why. Where is he?
But Spike’s theory just doesn’t feel right to me.
“For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’d set SAR on us or abandon us to them either, but that isn’t what we have to focus on now,” I say. “What are we going to do?”
“Beatriz, has there been any movement?” Spike asks.
She’s been sitting there quietly all this time, watching each of us while we talk; the way she can divide her attention is amazing. Her defocused look clears, and she turns to Spike. “No. They’re all where they were when we first noticed them.” She goes back to watching.
“It’s almost like they’re waiting for something, but what?” I say.
“I don’t think we should stay and find out,” Spike says.
“Maybe Alex knew they might come,” Elena says. “He told us to stay where we are, to wait for him.”
“If he knew and didn’t tell us, I’m not doing what he said,” Spike says. “Let’s get out of here. Agreed?”
One by one we all nod, until, outnumbered, Elena does too.
“Do we have to attack them?” Elena asks. “Like how Shay showed us?”
I shake my head, wincing inside. “We’re not murderers, are we? Only strike out if we have to, in self-defense. Let’s see if we can distract them first.”
CHAPTER 7
KAI
WE LEFT THE TRAP JUST IN TIME: Callie was watching and told us the air force arrived soon after.
The whole trip back to Patrick’s house is torture. What if Shay went in completely the other direction? I could be getting farther and farther away from her. Freja tries to talk to me but soon leaves me alone when I don’t respond.
Everyone is exhausted when we get there, but Patrick takes me straight to the computer. “Let’s see what we can find out,” he says. “Tell me what you can about him. Full name and address to start with.”
“Dr. Alexander Cross.” I tell him Alex’s address and the university department where he worked.
Patrick goes first to the government site that shows the progression of the epidemic. “If he was there at the time, that area was decimated by the epidemic. Unless he was immune or a survivor, he’d be dead.”
I snort. “Figures that he’d be one of the few to escape dying.”
“I’m getting you didn’t like the guy.”
“No.”
“Just usual stepparent stuff?”
“No, worse—much worse.”
“But maybe he’s helped save your girl.”
“Maybe. If so, I’ll shake his hand; then I’ll punch him.”
“Good to have a balanced approach.”
Patrick enters his name next.
And the top hit: Breaking News: Noted physicist Dr. Alexander Cross dies in fire. Patrick clicks, and there’s a photo; his steady blue eyes jump off the screen.
“This was only posted a short time ago,” Patrick says. He looks for more information, but there’s nothing: no mention of Shay or anyone else dying with him, no time or place of death given.
I feel like my guts have been kicked out—again. Could Alex and Shay have died there, in the fires, before we arrived? No. No, it doesn’t make sense. We checked all the bodies; they weren’t there. Think, Kai: what does this mean?
Patrick’s hand is on my shoulder.
“You don’t know they were together when he died.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know that Alex is even really dead.”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe the authorities assumed he died at the trap. But we never found his body or the body of anyone who saw him die, did we? If he was working for the government and he and Shay got away, the first thing he’d have done is turned her in to the authorities. But then why would there be a report of his death? No. I think he’s a survivor too, and he faked his death to get away; maybe they’re on the run together.”
“Who is this guy, Houdini?”
“Pretty much. I hate him, but if he has Shay, her chances of survival are high.”
“Where do you think they’d go?”
“I’m not sure, but I’m thinking.”
I slip out that night. I leave a note, apologizing for taking one of the bikes, hoping they’ll understand: I can’t expect them to join me in what I must do, but I can’t stay either.
I wheel it away from the house as quietly as I can. My barriers are up high, like Freja taught me, so no one will sense me go.
Finally I judge I must be far enough away from the house for them to not hear the bike. I get on it, about to start it—
“There you are.”
Startled, I look around: it’s Freja.
“How did you follow me? I thought I had blocking you all worked out pretty well.”
“Wasn’t me, it was Callie. She never sleeps, remember? She saw you leaving and came and got me. Where are you going?”
“There are a few places I want to check that Alex may have gone and taken Shay with him.”
“Unless he really is dead.” She doesn’t fill in the rest: And maybe Shay is too.
I shake my head, push the thought away. “I have to hold on to this hope: that they’re out there, somewhere, on the run.”
“Okay, assume for a moment that you’re right. Wouldn’t the authorities check the same places? They’re likely to be ahead of you.”
“I’m hoping that they believe he’s dead, and there’s no one to look for. Anyway, even if not, I think that with the epidemic spreading south and the zone barriers breaking down, they have other things keeping them busy just now.”
“So where are these places you think he might go?”
“He might go to his house in Killin, in Scotland. It’s not actually his anymore—Mum got it in the divorce—but he loved it there, and everyone around there is dead or gone, so there’s no reason why they couldn’t go there.”
“Could the same apply to where he lived in Edinburgh?”
“I don’t think so. Even though it was hit by the epidemic, a city is maybe not a great place to hide—if even the five percent that were immune are still there, that’s a reasonable number of people that’d be around that might spot them. But he has another place too.”
“He must be rich.”
“A bit. He has a country house in Northumberland inside the zone, and that’s where I want to go first. Partly as it is closer, so I can stop there on the way to Killin, and
partly because it’s not all that far away from the trap, so it may have been a logical place for them to go. The problem is that I’m not sure exactly where it is. I haven’t been there more than a few times, and the last time was probably eight or nine years ago.” I frown, struggling to remember. “I think if I went to Hexham, I could find it from there.”
“All right; that seems reasonable. I’m coming with you.”
“No, you’re not. Look, I know it isn’t my thing, but those people back there are important to you.”
“Yes. They are, in a way. But I’m still coming with you. You can’t stop me; if you try, I’ll shout out to the rest of them and they’ll give chase. You are a motorbike thief, you know.” She grins.
“I think Patrick might forgive me.”
“Maybe. But you need me, Kai. At a minimum, you need Callie to help you find Shay, and I can help her and also tell you what she says. You can’t do it without us.”
I hesitate, uneasy. Things have been weird between Freja and me since that night in the woods—the night we came so close to doing what could never be undone. “There’s something maybe I need to say.” She shakes her head. “No, you don’t. Look, Kai: I was there when you saw Shay in that memory. I know you love her, and I don’t want to make things difficult for you. I want to help you find her, because you’re my friend. And that’s it.”
“Are you sure? Are you really absolutely sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yes. And thank you.” I mean it, and she’s probably right—that I can’t do this without help—but there is still an uneasy feeling inside, something that isn’t sure whether it is right to accept Freja’s help with this. But I can’t worry about that now.
Hang in there, Shay. I’m coming to get you.
CHAPTER 8