Amory slumped back, still fuming.
“Besides, it was a close call with those guns. Why didn’t any of us think to hide them? Now we’re down two SCARS.”
“There were quite a few close calls,” muttered Mariah. “I can’t believe he bought that story about your partner.”
“I can’t believe he didn’t see her eyes,” I said.
“Yeah, me neither.”
“No more screwups,” snapped Mariah.
“Did that seem strange to anyone else?” asked Greyson. “It seemed a little too easy to me.”
Jared shrugged, and we continued toward the city. We passed under more rovers, which made me nervous. Even though we had cleared the checkpoint at the border, I worried our vehicle was being monitored closely since the officers knew it was full of illegals.
Mariah directed Jared to take the first exit off the highway, and I began to see buildings on the skyline. The first thing I noticed upon entering the city was how many rovers there were. Not only were they mounted at nearly every intersection, but they were also above the entrances to most buildings. Officers in crisp white uniforms paced the sidewalks, and we watched a couple dressed in white scrubs shuffle by quickly. They didn’t speak to one another but walked purposefully with their heads down.
Then we saw a white stone building rising up in the distance. It took up the entire city block, and a crowd of people dressed in white coveralls was spilling out. There was an inlet on the side of the building projecting motivational messages down its facade: Forward for progress . . . Order and compliance are the foundation for our future . . . World Corp International: perfect science for an ideal world.
“Where are they all going?” I asked.
“To the factories,” said Mariah. “When they migrated north and came to the refugee commune, they could either work for the factories, the farms, or the PMC. The people with some education go to the labs.”
“And they all live here?”
“Not here, necessarily, but there are lots of communes like this one. Some are nicer than others.”
“Who pays for all this?”
“They do. Their wages just cover room and board.”
As we passed the commune, I watched the tired-looking men and women in their coveralls trudging toward the factory.
“Why would anyone agree to live here?” I asked.
“It’s safer — patriotic. Canada is fighting back.”
“And everyone up here is fine with the PMC?” asked Greyson.
“They don’t have to be. Everything is owned by World Corp International.”
Soon the meticulously trimmed bushes and trees flanking the sidewalks around the commune disappeared, and dingy-looking buildings covered in graffiti rose up out of the concrete. Fast food containers spilling from overturned trashcans blew across the street like tumbleweed.
The people here weren’t dressed in crisp white coveralls. One woman lingered on the corner dressed in a baggy gray sweater with a damp cigarette sagging between her lips. She had a small dirty boy wrapped around her ankles and carried a crumpled plastic shopping bag. She stared at us as we passed, and I felt a shiver.
It was too quiet on the street. Up ahead, a silvery beacon appeared over the filth — a building towering over all the rest, reflecting the sunlight back into our eyes.
“Welcome to the headquarters of World Corp International,” said Mariah.
We continued to stare at the behemoth building. It was impossible not to.
More imposing than its sheer size was the conspicuous lack of windows and the foreboding shadow it cast over the buildings in its wake. The Infinity Building appeared to be one continuous sheet of titanium that sloped on the side, hollow in the center to form a cylindrical space within the outer shell.
“It’s a stretched Möbius strip,” said Mariah. “You can only really tell from the aerial view, though.”
We all stared.
“Pull into that parking garage across the street,” she instructed.
Jared turned down a side street running perpendicular to the building and entered the dark underground garage. Sparse beams of light flickered through the slits in the concrete as we drove down the steep slope. I imagined we were driving under the street that ran in front of the building. We passed the main parking area until we reached the bottom level. It was empty save for half a dozen World Corp vans and two PMC cruisers identical to ours.
Jared parked between the other two cruisers and got out. Logan glared at him through the car window as she struggled to tear off the plastic zip ties.
“You and Amory are staying here,” I said.
Logan’s face twisted in indignation. “No way.”
“You aren’t well enough to fight if something goes wrong. Besides, they’ll know in a second that you’re infected.”
“Exactly,” said Mariah. “She has to go. She’s our ‘test subject.’”
Logan arched a brow in satisfaction. Even with the virus coursing through her veins, she couldn’t resist the action.
“No,” I said. “It’s too dangerous.”
“We don’t have a choice.”
“They could kill her on sight.”
“If we’re caught getting the cure, she’s as good as dead anyway. She should take it immediately in case we don’t make it out. Better to be a human prisoner than a free dying carrier.”
My stomach clenched, every fiber of my being screaming in protest. It didn’t make sense for Mariah to suddenly pretend to care what became of Logan, but her motives didn’t matter. She was right. Logan had to come.
Before I could answer, Amory grabbed my elbow and pulled me out to the other side of the cruiser, out of earshot of Mariah and Jared.
“You two aren’t going in alone with them. They could turn you over to World Corp. You and Logan . . . it wouldn’t be a fair fight right now.”
“I know that. But Mariah’s right. Logan’s our way in, and if we’re captured on the way out . . . at least she will have taken the cure.”
“If you’re captured on the way out, you’ll probably be killed! This isn’t an option. I’m coming with you.”
I shook my head. “You know you can’t. It’s too dangerous. If they recognize you as the one who escaped —”
“Then we’ll send Greyson in.”
“No. You both should stay here. If anything goes wrong, there’s two of you.”
Amory sighed, furrowing his brow. “I don’t like this.”
“Neither do I. But we don’t have another choice.”
“If they take you . . .”
“That’s not going to happen.”
Amory’s mouth was a hard line, and his eyes were crinkled in fear. “If you aren’t out in an hour, I’m coming in.”
I locked eyes with him, shaking my head once. “You have to be smart about this. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t normally do just because it’s me and Logan in there.”
“But it is you and Logan.”
“Still. Don’t forget you and Greyson have a bigger part to play in all this.” I made a serious face. “If anything happens to him, I’m holding you personally responsible.”
That did it. He sighed in frustration and looked at me as though trying to memorize my face.
I met his gaze, but I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to pour out my heart with Jared and Mariah five feet away, so instead, I wrapped my arms around his waist and buried my face in his shirt. He squeezed me with uncharacteristic force and planted a kiss on top of my head.
“Please be careful,” he whispered into my hair.
My chest filled with warmth at the tenderness in his voice, and I gripped him tighter.
“Are you ready to go or what?” Mariah asked. Her voice was dripping with boredom and irritation.
Reluctantly, I pulled out of Amory’s arms and turned to face her. “Let’s go.”
Logan appeared at my shoulder. I could tell she was trying to look like her old self — confident, lethal, re
ady for a fight — but her face was too pale, pinched in fatigue, and her shoulders slumped a little.
My skin crawled as I folded my hands behind my back and allowed Jared to loosely fasten another set of zip ties on me. I didn’t like the feeling of the plastic cutting into my skin, but I knew I could wriggle out of them if I needed to. Mariah had Logan’s upper arm in her bony grip, and her sneer told me she was enjoying it. Jared had his big hand resting loosely on my shoulder, as though he was afraid to touch me with Amory watching so closely.
Before Mariah and Jared could push us forward, Greyson elbowed in and wrapped an arm around my neck. I breathed in deeply to soak up the comforting, familiar smell of him. He was much taller than I remembered. Greyson pretended to hoist me off my feet in an intense hug — just enough to pull me out of Jared’s grip.
“You don’t have to do this,” he breathed into my neck.
“Yeah, I do.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No. Stay with Amory. If anything goes wrong —”
“I know. Don’t trust Mariah for a second, though. She’s planning something — I can just feel it.”
He released me quickly and moved to Logan, folding her carefully and with mild awkwardness into his arms.
“Be safe, okay?”
She nodded, flashing him a cocky grin that made her look stronger.
“Jesus,” muttered Mariah, rolling her eyes and shoving Logan forward.
Jared cleared his throat and pushed me to follow Mariah and Logan toward the elevator.
Mariah stabbed the “up” button, and the rover over the sliding door swiveled in to focus on us. The light turned red, and a security camera focused in on me. Jared made eye contact with the person on the other side of the camera, as if to say all was well and they had us under control — two criminals ripe for World Corp’s experiments.
Like any parking garage elevator, this one had sticky black tracks of dirt on the floor, grimy walls, and old gum wrappers collecting in the metal crevices. It gave no indication that we were headed up into the bowels of World Corp International headquarters until a robotic female voice sounded.
Welcome to the Infinity Building, headquarters of World Corp International. To ensure the safety of all personnel, please be prepared to surrender any weapons upon arrival.
A tinny bell sounded as the circle over the door was illuminated, signaling we had arrived at the ground level of the building. The doors swung open, revealing a large foyer. The floor and walls were pure white marble. We shuffled through the glass doors into an enormous round atrium fitted inside the outer shell of the building. Its gleaming brushed titanium walls gave off a cold, industrial feel, and rovers hidden over the threshold swiveled toward us and blinked red.
In the center of the floor stood a white circular desk. A woman wearing a white pants suit and a smartlens sat in the center on a swivel stool. Her gray hair was pulled back into a neat bun, stretching the loose, wrinkled skin around her eyes back into her hairline. The desk in front of her was empty except for a tablet computer, on which she was swiping frantically as her eye flickered over the stream of information flashing across her lens.
“You have the wrong entrance,” she said in clipped, bored syllables.
“Actually, we’re here to deliver two test subjects,” said Jared. “Rather . . . time-sensitive research. Sure you understand . . .”
“Security!” she barked, not making eye contact with us. “I’m sorry, but this is the visitors’ entrance. You simply can’t march in here with prisoners.”
A red banner flashed across her lens, and she scoffed in irritation. She tapped the edge of the glass, and the projection faded.
“Fine. How can I help you?” she asked Jared, finally making eye contact and forcing a harsh smile.
“As I said, we have two test subjects. Top floor.”
The woman wrinkled her nose. “Let me see.” She swiped her finger over the tablet in front of her, clicking her nails impatiently on the desk. “No, I’m sorry,” she said, distraction creeping in the edge of her voice. “There’s been some sort of mix-up. We’re not expecting any test subjects until next week.”
Mariah gripped the side of the desk with her bony hand and whispered through clenched teeth. “Perhaps you’ve misunderstood. This was a personal request from Aryus.”
I glanced at her in surprise, and the woman looked up. She arched a brow and tried to settle her sneer into a polite expression. “That’s not what I have here.”
“I’m sure you can appreciate the delicacy of the situation,” hissed Mariah, in a voice that was anything but delicate. “It’s absolutely need to know. Maybe Aryus’s assistant didn’t see the need to clear it with you.”
The woman smiled again, but this time she did not bother to hide her contempt. “I think you must be mistaken. Everything here goes through me. There isn’t a single arrival to which I’m not privy.”
“Call up to Aryus’s girl now,” snapped Mariah.
The woman’s cold eyes focused in on her for the first time.
“Tell her Mariah is back. I wish we could give more details, but as I said . . . it’s classified. As in, above your pay grade.”
The woman didn’t take her eyes off Mariah but tapped the edge of her lens. Her eyes flitted back and forth once, and I could see the reverse video image of another woman dressed the same way.
“Kale, I have two officers down here with a pair of illegal test subjects. They claim Aryus ordered them, and I said they were mistaken. Do you know if Aryus is expecting a woman named Mariah?”
I could not hear what Kale said on the other end, but she disappeared from view for a moment and returned looking harried. “Send them up.”
“I don’t understand —”
“Send them up, Marge.”
Marge swallowed with displeasure and tapped her lens, refocusing on us. “You’re free to go up.”
My breath caught in my chest as Mariah shoved Logan forward across the atrium to a set of three elevators with white doors. Jared pulled me along in his strong grip, and the doors closed automatically behind us. I looked for the panel of buttons, but the elevator walls were completely smooth. There were no buttons at all, but a rover fitted into the ceiling above us settled on Jared, giving me a very carsick ache in my throat.
“Where are we going?” I whispered, the urgency creeping in.
Nobody spoke.
“Where are we going?” I repeated more desperately.
“She controls the elevators,” said Mariah.
Jared jerked his head around. “What?”
“The woman at the desk. She controls where all the elevators go. She’s sending us up to Aryus Edric.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The elevator shot up through the titanium shell, and I felt sick. The acceleration was just fast enough to make you feel as though you were losing your stomach. We stood in silence for a moment as the realization set in.
Mariah had gone rogue. We were not prepared to face Aryus or whatever else might be waiting for us.
“Mariah!” Jared snapped finally, his eyes darting to the rover uncomfortably. “Are you insane? What’s going to happen when we get up there and he realizes we’re a bunch of defectors?”
“There’s nothing to do about it now.” Mariah was staring blankly ahead, which filled me with a sense of dread.
“We have to get off. We have to get off before it gets to his floor.”
“Why?” she asked in a lazy voice. “This is what you wanted. All of them . . . out of our hair. Gone.”
“What?” he spluttered.
“It’s what you wanted.”
He shook his head, looking disgusted. “Not like this.”
“What about the cure?” Logan’s voice was low and deadly, and the dark purplish shadows under her eyes made her look demonic.
Mariah gave a demure smile. It clashed wildly with her cold eyes and stringy, greasy hair. “I’m sure you’ll get your cure. Aryus loves he
aling the infected. It’s like he wields the hand of God himself.”
My stomach clenched in anger and fear, the bile burning in my throat.
The elevator stopped suddenly, and we lurched forward. Bound by the zip ties, I couldn’t throw out a hand to stop myself from flying against the wall, and my shoulder banged into it.
I heard the harsh, metallic ping, and the doors slid open to reveal a steeply curved hallway. The walls were titanium as well, and several panels were inlaid with rippling sheets of industrial steel shaped into abstract designs. Water cascaded over the top panels and trickled into the next. Down and around the wall they wound like stacked building blocks, filling the narrow space with the tranquil sound of a trickling spring.
We followed the hallway until it ended in front of a white door with no handle. Behind us, a panel in the wall opened, a stainless steel tray sliding out. A robotic voice sounded.
Please deposit your weapons.
Mariah laid her gun down without hesitation, but Jared clung to his. He locked eyes with his sister, doubt and betrayal etched all over his face.
“This is crazy,” he said. “We won’t make it out of there alive.”
“You don’t have a choice,” said Mariah. “You see that?” She pointed up. Above the door was an apparatus that looked like a rover, but it had an extra lens. “They’re watching you right now.”
He swallowed and laid his gun on the cold metal tray, looking at his sister with anger and distrust. “You better have a plan.”
No sooner had the tray with their guns disappeared back into the wall than the white door swung open of its own accord. Mariah pushed me roughly inside, and I stopped just past the door. We were standing in a wide-open room much like the atrium on the first floor that took up the entire inner shell. The only difference was the brightness of the place. The entire ceiling was made of glass — a building-sized skylight. Right now, it shimmered with artificial frost that seemed to dim the amount of light shining into the open space. The brushed metal walls were paneled in white.
I glanced around, half expecting someone to shoot me on sight. We had been duped by Mariah; that much was clear. But Mariah’s recklessness was her weakness. If we were lucky, maybe there was some way Logan and I could escape.
Enemy Inside (Defectors Trilogy) Page 27