“Thank you, sir. I will.”
Dara wanted to bolt, but she forced herself to move at a normal brisk pace. The crew would descend on their apartment at any moment. They wouldn’t want to give her time to clean it out, now that she knew they were on their way. Whatever it took, she would have to get rid of all incriminating evidence immediately.
Chapter 41
“How did it go? What did—” Joshua asked as soon as Dara stepped through the door. Her face must have been frantic, because his eyes went wide.
“I don’t have time to explain. The Authorities could be here any minute. We have to get rid of it all. Now.”
He didn’t need further clarification. They both hurried to the concealed cupboard, her father frantically emptying it while she stuffed everything into a bag. Racing around the apartment, they cleared it of everything that might be considered the least bit incriminating.
“What do we do with it?” he asked.
Sick with worry, she pushed a trembling hand through her hair. “Take it to Letizia, then you have to go straight to Andersen’s apartment to meet with him. If they come and I’m not here—”
“You’re right.” Dropping a kiss on her cheek, he fled the apartment.
Not ten minutes later, the Authorities arrived. She had splashed cold water on her face in the hopes that it would drive some of the red away, bring her skin back to a more normal tone. Inside, she was screaming. What if she and her father had forgotten something? What if all of this was a trap? What if Andersen had informed on her?
“Good evening,” she said, her voice calm as she opened the door to the Authorities. “Please, come in. Would you like something to drink?”
“No, thank you, Contributor Morrow,” the stony-faced male Authority said. “My colleagues and I will work as quickly as possible, so as not to inconvenience you. We know you have important business to attend to.”
“Thank you. Please let me know if you need anything.”
“We will.”
It made Dara’s skin crawl to watch the Authorities swarming around the apartment, pulling up couch cushions, planting devices behind wall hangings. Their presence was a gross violation of her privacy, and it wouldn’t end when they left. Every last thing she and her father said would be subject to Creator scrutiny. If they forgot, if they slipped even once, it would be the end. They would both disappear somewhere into the depths of the dome, never to be seen again.
Thinking about it threatened her composure, so she forced her mind elsewhere. She didn’t know where to go while they were working, and she felt horribly exposed sitting while they milled around her, installing listening devices and security triggers. Over an hour later, Joshua still hadn’t returned, and she knew he must be lying low until the Authorities left. His being out wouldn’t strike anyone as unusual, she told herself as she pretended to study the secure tablet Andersen had given her.
When they finally left, she felt a glimmer of relief, but that was all it was: a glimmer. There would be no real relief in this apartment, not anymore. From the moment she’d decided to help the Free Thinkers, she’d known she was in danger, but she’d kept her fears in check by reminding herself that she had the unsecured tablet, enabling her to contact Mal at the drop of a hat. She no longer had any such comfort. Any messages the Free Thinkers received from her would come third-hand, and if her cover was blown, she would have to try to find Letizia to ask her to get the warning to Mal. Dara’s chances of evading capture, which had always been far smaller than she liked to think about, were now all but nonexistent. It was only a matter of time before she was found out, before she disappeared.
Joshua’s face seemed to reflect her thoughts when he returned. She had horrible memories of the period after her mother’s disappearance, when they’d had to watch everything they said in case the Creators were listening. She closed her eyes, weary at the thought of carrying on in the stiff, unnatural way they’d carried on then.
“I had a most productive meeting with Head of Engineering Andersen. And you?” her father asked, his voice sounding strained to her ears.
“I did, thank you. I’m not at liberty to discuss the details with you, though.”
“Of course. I understand. I’m so proud that you’ve proved yourself worthy of the head of engineering’s trust. You’re exactly the Contributor your mother and I hoped you’d be.”
Was it risky to talk about Leona like that? Then again, what her father was saying sounded like the words the Creators might expect to hear from a Contributor with a daughter in her position. Joshua was playing his part well, acting as the Creators would expect.
“Thank you, Dad. I’ve longed to prove my worth to Magnum, and I’ll work my hardest to ensure I’m deserving of Head of Engineering Andersen’s trust.”
“I know you will.”
“Did you have a pleasant evening after your meeting?” Dara asked, shifting the conversation not just because she thought she might give into the urge to tear Andersen apart if she talked about him any longer, but also because she wanted to provide her father with an alibi. Her story must match his, should someone ask her where he’d gone after his meeting.
“I did. I took a nice walk in the park, where I ran into Stephen, giving me a chance to discuss an accounting project with him.”
Fear made her fingers numb, but her father seemed relaxed enough, which told her his getting rid of the bag must have gone off without incident. That was good. His unremarkable evening out was good too, his alibi easy to verify.
“That was a stroke of luck. I know you’ve been trying to carve out some time with him.”
“I have. He’s been very busy helping to resolve the mess left behind as a result of the incident.”
“Let’s not talk about that,” she snapped. Her father started, and she felt guilty. She hadn’t meant to snap at him, but being reminded of what had become of Jasmine Shah hit a little too close to home for comfort. Fortunately, her reaction could be readily mistaken for righteous indignation at the mention of a woman who had tried to sabotage Magnum, so Dara didn’t have to worry too much about having betrayed her feelings.
“It’s a time I’d sooner forget too,” Joshua replied, searching his daughter’s face.
“I should get to bed. I want to be fresh for tomorrow, ready to help Head of Engineering Andersen with whatever he needs.”
“That’s wise. Don’t worry about anything. I’ll take care of whatever needs to be done around here.”
With a slight nod, she said, “Are you sure? I promised to pick up the supplies we need.”
“I am. This project takes priority over everything else.”
“Thank you for your understanding.”
“It’s no problem, sweetheart. Nothing should prevent you from devoting your complete focus to this project.”
“Nothing will.”
Chapter 42
The days became a blur. Dara was rarely out of Andersen’s sight, and when she was, she was under the thumb of the Authorities. The devices they’d installed were well concealed, but even so she was painfully aware of them. Every moment spent in her apartment made her feel the weight of those unseen eyes, every word spoken made her think of the unseen ears.
Yet the lockdown was also a good sign, if not for her personally, then for the Free Thinkers. It meant Andersen’s plan was being put into action, and they hadn’t been wasting their time in trying to uncover more about it. There was no way of reaching out to them to find out what else they’d uncovered. It was more important than ever that she be seen only with the people she’d be expected to be seen with, and leaving the dome was out of the question. Any prolonged absence on her part would be grounds for questioning, and it was a risk she couldn’t take, however much she longed to see Raj again and extract more promises that he would protect her father and mother.
Andersen finally gave her an excuse to see Letizia, which made Dara want to kiss him, however much she loathed him. He needed data for another, unrelated proj
ect. Regardless of how important his secret project was, he still had to keep up the appearance of carrying on with business as usual. His clandestine work weighed so heavily on Dara’s mind that it surprised her that everyone else was oblivious to it, and a part of her had to admire Magnum for its ability to conceal things from its own Contributors.
“I can’t stay long,” she told Letizia. “Thanks to the surveillance, Magnum knows every time I come and go from my apartment.”
“How are you holding up?” Letizia asked, her face stricken as she studied Dara.
“As well as can be expected.”
“You won’t have to do this for much longer, I promise. Believe me, I’ve kept Mal apprised of everything, and he’s scrambling to move as fast as he can. He reached out to some of his other contacts, requested more hackers to assist with the Magnum data mining, so he now has twice as many people working on it.”
“Has Shah given anything up?”
Rubbing her forehead, Letizia sighed. “No, not yet. She wants something in return for her information.”
Dara tensed. “What?”
“She has a friend she wants extracted.”
“Is she an idiot? She can’t seriously think that’s a possibility right now.” Fear clawed its way down her spine. They were running out of time, and Shah was asking the impossible.
“Why should she care? She’s outside of the dome, and she feels no loyalty to anything other than herself.”
“What about Javier? Doesn’t he know anything?”
“He’s told Mal everything he knows, Mal’s sure of it. In fact, Javier told Mal he wants to join up, and Mal is considering it.”
“How does he know he can trust Javier?”
“He doesn’t. But Javier isn’t like Shah. He wanted to protect his sister, and the Free Thinkers are taking care of her, without strings. Shah might have been able to help him obtain treatment for his sister, but she had a price attached. She knew about Javier’s hacking skills, and the information he gave her on Andersen wasn’t enough. She wanted him to do more digging, and he was going to do it, even though he knew it would probably result in his getting caught.”
Disgust burned the back of Dara’s throat. “She’s no better than Andersen.”
“No, she isn’t.”
“Was there anything useful in the information Javier had on Andersen?”
“A lot of it was of a personal nature, which doesn’t interest us much. Mal assigned a team to work on it, but he thinks it’s a dead end. There may be something to the other information Javier had, stuff like lists of Andersen’s associates, details about renovations and improvements made to his apartment, that sort of thing. None of it was very specific, though. Javier said he hadn’t realized how ruthless Shah was, and if he’d known about the Free Thinkers, he would have sought us and offered his help instead of working for her.”
“Maybe he’s just saying what he thinks Mal wants to hear.”
“Which is exactly what Mal thinks. I’m sorry, Dara, I really am. I can’t imagine the pressure you must be under, but Mal doesn’t want to be sloppy. He’s afraid he’ll miss something vital if he hurries.”
“We can’t afford that. I have no choice but to try to hold out as long as possible.” She dropped into a chair and closed her eyes, pressing her fingertips into her temples and rubbing vigorously.
“I’m keeping my ear to the ground. I want you to know that. I’m watching and I’m listening, and I’ll make sure Mal gets to you if you need to get out.”
“I know you’ll do everything you can.”
Letizia didn’t bother arguing with her. Despite Letizia’s fervent assurances, she and Dara both knew there was little she could do. If Andersen did start to suspect Dara, he would be anything but obvious about it, and by the time Letizia got wind of it, it would very likely be too late.
“Is there any way you can think of, any way at all, that you can keep a device?” Letizia asked.
“Believe me, if I could think of anything, I would have told you. I have no choice but to be cut off.”
“All right. Let’s do this, then. Do you know that statue near the back of the park, the one closest to the western path?”
“The one with the chip in its ear?”
“Yes. There’s a small niche in its base. Either you or your father can leave a note there if you have anything to communicate. I’ll go by and check it daily. ”
It wasn’t a very good plan, but it was all Dara had, and she clung to it. “Okay.”
Letizia gathered everything Andersen needed while Dara gave her as much information as she could remember. In all likelihood there was a tracking device on the secure tablet he’d given her, and if she were to access anything while she was in Letizia’s apartment, it would be noted in the log. Dara had worked hard to commit as much information to memory as possible, but it frustrated her not to be able to provide Letizia with copies of the files.
“I’d better go,” Dara said, standing up and shouldering her bag. She’d been in Letizia’s apartment for almost twenty minutes, and she was beginning to get antsy.
“Just remember, if you need anything—”
“I know, Letizia. Thanks.” Squeezing her former master’s hand, she kept her eyes focused on the functional clock hanging on Letizia’s wall, so she wouldn’t have to see the worry on Letizia’s face.
Chapter 43
“Want to go see that new film tonight?” her father asked a week later, on what should have been her last day of work for the week. Not surprisingly, her free time had diminished with each day that passed since Andersen’s supposedly bringing her more on board. Dara was beginning to suspect that what was actually going on was that she was being kept out of the way. It was true that Andersen was providing her with more details about his project, but they were minute, unimportant details about things like waterlines and motors for air circulation systems. She became convinced that the privacy she’d given up, her sense of safety and well-being, had all been sacrificed for nothing.
She was exhausted, and she knew her father could see it. Unpleasant as it was to be in their apartment, she could at least sleep at home. Magnum couldn’t pry its way into her thoughts—not yet, anyway—and sleep offered an escape from her prison, though of late she’d developed the paranoid fear that she might talk in her sleep and reveal something. Even so, the thought of going out to the theater and sitting through another dull, Magnum-approved film while trying to keep up the appearance of being normal overwhelmed her, and she wanted to say no. But there was a pleading look in her father’s eyes, and it made her say yes.
“What’s going on?” she asked him under her breath as they left.
He shot her a warning glance, and she pressed her lips together, holding her questions in. Ballasts and Cores thronged the thoroughfares, discussing the new film, and she had a vague memory of several people in engineering talking about it with great fascination. She’d felt no interest. Fiction couldn’t hold her attention, not when her reality demanded every last ounce of her concentration.
The theater was packed, every seat filled. Animated chatter filled the air, and she made an effort to add to it, feigning excitement over what they were about to see. Her father seemed composed, but his eyes kept darting around the theater, and Dara knew something was up. Frustration rose within her, and she felt a sudden urge to stand up, there in the middle of the theater, clamp her hands to her head, and scream at the top of her lungs. It terrified her how much she wanted to do it, and she suppressed the urge by clenching her fists until her nails left bloody crescents on her palms, the pain the one thing that could distract her.
The crowd settled down when the lights went out. Her father had selected last-row seats in the upper right corner of the theater, which was strange. He usually preferred to sit in the middle, which should have tipped her off, but she was still barely able to suppress a gasp of surprise when the woman next to her stood and moved to the seat on Joshua’s left. A longed-for face claimed the
vacant seat next to Dara.
“Raj,” she gasped under her breath, her heart pounding as she took in his Contributor attire. He gave her a tense smile and a slight nod. “What are you—”
“Your dad set it up,” he said, his voice so low that she almost couldn’t hear it over the boom of the film soundtrack. She glanced around, frightened that someone might overhear them. “Don’t worry. We’re secure.”
She opened her mouth to ask him how he could possibly know that, but he raised his eyebrows at her and she understood. The woman to her father’s left, the people sitting in front of them, they were all there because the Free Thinkers had arranged it that way. A couple of them she recognized, and it was a shock to have them revealed as infiltrators as well, but others were strangers, likely part of a team that had snuck into the dome with Raj. Risky as it was for them to sneak in, it was easier than trying to devise a way to sneak her out, she realized.
“We think we know what’s going on, but we need proof. I know you have a lot of questions, but I’m asking you to trust me, Dara. I don’t have time to give you much information, and even if I did have the time, I wouldn’t give it to you.”
Stupid as the feeling was, his words hurt. He had to protect the other Free Thinkers just like Mal did, and Dara had already compromised one of them. Who knew what kind of damage she could do if they gave her any real, concrete information?
“What do you need?”
“First, I want you to know you have a choice. You can walk away from all of this, right now. I’m here with a team, and we can get you and your father out tonight. Everything has been arranged.”
Her heart leapt, and she wanted to jump from her chair and run out of the theater. For a minute she allowed herself the indulgence of fantasizing about leaving. She’d never again have to worry about Andersen and the Authorities listening in on her and her father. She could move into one of the Free Thinker housing facilities, help them out in some small but useful way. She’d scour toilets for the rest of her life if that was what it took to keep them safe. They could start a new life, her and her father, and maybe her mother could eventually join them. At the very least, maybe they could have regular visits with her. They could be a family again, even if it wasn’t the same as it used to be. The limitations imposed by life under the protection of the Free Thinkers meant little. This time, she and her parents could be honest with one another, open, without fear. The sense of freedom the thought inspired was so heady it made her vision go fuzzy around the edges.
[Contributor 02] - Infiltrator (2013) Page 17