I leaned over for a moment, sucking in a breath, fire burning in my newly broken ribs. “Aieee.” I had at least a few minutes before he healed enough to be trouble—even in Unbounded, the brain was vulnerable—and those few minutes would be all I’d need to torch this place. I could see myself emerging from the jungle when Ritter and the others arrived, having single-handedly stopped Justine’s assassination plan. No need for Ritter to lose himself in revenge. Jace would be disappointed, but he’d also be proud.
From the edge of my vision something moved by the door. I whipped upright to meet this new threat, barely blocking the oncoming blow. Justine laughed, her other fist coming at me before I could react. The blow caught me off balance and sent me sprawling.
“Getting slow, are we?” Justine pulled out her pistol and pointed it at me.
The next minute the grin slid from her face as she crumpled to the ground, a huge rock falling with her. I stared in amazement as Benito stood there, shock on his bruised face. “I found it right outside the door,” he said. “Saw her going back inside. Thought it might be useful.”
I shook my head. “You’re crazy.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
Fear radiated from him, bright and debilitating. I threw up my barriers and shook my head. “I have to get rid of these supplies so they can’t make their drug. Burn it all, if I can. You go. I’ll meet you behind this hut. Hide in the trees and wait for me.”
He nodded once, his eyes sweeping uneasily over Justine and Edgel. I didn’t wait to see him go but started toward the tables. A lighter lay beside one of the camp stoves, and shredding a couple of the boxes that had held the supplies would help create a decent blaze. I began ripping the first one, piling it by the wall.
What could I do with Justine and Edgel? I’d like to examine their thoughts—since they were unconscious, their shields would be gone, or at least greatly diminished—but I couldn’t take the time now. I had no idea when the men that Ritter and the others were following would end up here, but it had to be soon given the eight hours it took to prepare the drug. I didn’t even dare waste time tying them up. At least the fire wouldn’t kill them permanently, and as long as we retrieved them before the Emporium did, we’d be able to question them once they healed.
I’d begun stacking whole boxes in a bonfire pile when a sound at the door broke my concentration. “Benito, I said you should—”
Too late I noticed he was backing in, his hands above his head. Pushing out my thoughts, I felt them, two life forces, only one shielding his mind. The shielding life force was closer, probably the focus of Benito’s terror, while the unshielded life force was several yards away in front of the hut, his unbridled fear choking the breath from my throat.
“Well, what have we here?” A man came into view through the door, his gun pointed at Benito. My jaw tensed as I recognized one of Stefan’s sons, and thus my supposed half brother. He was slightly built, with wispy hair, his face small and crunched, as if his features hadn’t time to fully develop, but his movements showed Unbounded assurance.
“Jonny,” I said.
He laughed, his blue eyes crinkling at the sides. “Hello, Erin. Didn’t expect to see you here.” I started to get up, but he waved his gun. “Don’t try anything. You know how fast I am. I’d hate to have to shoot you.”
His speed was a variation of the combat ability, a poor one in his opinion, though I’d been impressed. Unfortunately for him, he was the result of a forced Changing at eighteen by the Emporium, a semi-successful experiment that ended in the death of at least one of Jonny’s close friends. As a side effect of the experiment, he was now aging at five times the rate of a normal Unbounded. He already looked near thirty, when at his real age of a hundred and fifteen, he should still look nineteen. In my mind, he was a child in an adult body, which was silly, given that he was far older than I was, but it was a perception left over from our first meeting that I hadn’t been able to shake.
“You don’t sound all that sorry,” I said.
He laughed again. “Not really, after the night I had. Look, tie up this fellow before I wake Justine.” He blew out a short blast of air. “Don’t know which of you did this to her, but it ain’t going to be pretty when she wakes up.”
Benito shot me a frightened look.
As if on cue, Justine stirred. Benito stumbled rapidly back from her, falling into the bottom hammock.
Justine pushed to a seated position, shaking her head as though to clear it. “Jonny,” she purred, reaching for her gun. “You’re a bit early.”
He pulled out a thumb drive from his pocket. “We had a little trouble. Caught wind of some Renegades following us. The rest of the gang stayed and set a trap for them, while I grabbed the scientist and came here.”
“Nice. Where is he?” She climbed to her feet. Behind her, Benito shrank into a miserable ball.
“The scientist? Outside on a horse. He’s a little worse for wear. He couldn’t keep up with me on foot, of course, and I couldn’t carry him the whole way, so I hijacked the horse for us a while back. I don’t think he’s ever ridden before. He kept falling off, so I had to tie him on. He should still be there—along with the stuff we took from the lab.”
“He ready to start cooking?”
“Sure. It’s not like he ran for more than a few miles.” Jonny snorted and rolled his eyes. “Actually staggered would be a more accurate term, despite all my pushing. He should have your drug all mixed before the others deal with those Renegades and catch up to us.”
“Good.” Justine glanced at Benito, who lowered his gaze. “You, I’ll deal with later. In fact, I’ve just decided that you’ll play a starring role in my plans this afternoon.”
I didn’t like the sound of that.
Her gaze switched to me. “Ready to give up yet, Erin? You can’t beat me.” She waved me over to the hammock.
I had no choice but to obey. Minutes later, Benito and I were securely tied in separate hammocks, and Justine was administering Emporium tonic to Edgel. I didn’t bother telling her that he’d already received a full dose from my needle. Near the tables, a portly, red-haired scientist wearing broken eyeglasses mixed chemicals with shaking hands. The fear coming from his unshuttered mind was numbing, and I had to close myself off completely.
What sort of trap had Jonny and his friends set for Ritter and the others? Jonny had almost caused Ritter’s death at our past encounter. He was both quick and intelligent, and any plan he’d helped concoct would be a good one. Though he was bitter about the experiments enacted upon him, he was fiercely loyal to Stefan and the Emporium.
“You’re sure you can do this within eight hours?” Justine left Edgel and sauntered over to the scientist.
He nodded. “Seven and a half. That is, uh, if you have all the supplies.” I pegged him as an American by his accent.
“We have them.” Justine studied the doctor through half-closed eyelids. “There are enough pharmaceutical companies around that we were able to buy what we needed.”
His head jerked. “Yes. Th-they’re ruining the rainforest.”
“Don’t be so nervous.” Justine’s soothing voice paled in comparison with the huge amount of pheromones floating around her. I could feel them around me, promising me secret pleasure. “You don’t have anything to worry about as long as you fix this up for us. We’ll have you back home in no time.”
The scientist’s hands stopped shaking. “You’re very beautiful.”
“Thank you.” Justine ran a finger down his cheek, her long nails painted purple like her shirt. Had she planned that in advance or had she found time to visit a nail salon here? Maybe Edgel had hidden talents I wasn’t aware of.
“You’ll do your very best for me, won’t you?” Justine added.
The scientist nodded and reached for a beaker.
I tore my eyes away from the pathetic sight. First they frighten the poor doctor nearly to death and then they overdose him on Justine. He didn’t stand a chance.
“Why didn’t you do what I told you to?” I asked Benito. “If you’d left the first time, it’d only be me stuck here.”
He shrugged. “It’s a jungle. I don’t like snakes.”
But I knew he’d stayed out of loyalty, and that meant I was once again responsible for whatever happened to him. Better that I’d given him my wallet and Mari’s ring back in Portland.
If only there was a way to warn Ritter. I had to try. Dropping my mental shield, I reached out past the scientist’s eager flurry, searching the surrounding area. Maybe if they were close enough, I could reach my brother, Jace. Searching . . . harder . . . reaching. A dull throb began in my temples and at the base of my head. Nothing, but the whisper of the native life, blending in with the jungle around us.
Frowning, I’d begun pulling in my thoughts when my mind stumbled on something. Mari. Her fear and eagerness burst through my mind. I stiffened. Had she shifted back here? That was the only explanation for why I felt her so close.
Jonny stretched and walked toward the door. “Going to look around,” he called to Justine. “If those guys spring that trap right, it shouldn’t be long before they’re here.” Without waiting for her agreement, he strode outside.
I waited for the shout of discovery or the sound of a bullet shattering the peace of the village, but nothing happened. I closed my eyes and concentrated on Mari, but she was gone—if she’d ever been here at all. Was I imagining things? Or had she popped in while trying to get away from Tom?
I hadn’t felt so helpless in a long time, but there didn’t seem to be any way to get free, so I let myself slip back into worrying about Jace and the others. Would Cort die without knowing Tom was his brother? Would I forever mourn the fact that I’d never be able to clear the air with Dimitri?
I felt most stupid about not working things out with Ritter. I’d been so busy trying to punish him for lost time that I may have squandered all the time we’d had left.
MINUTES TICKED INTO ONE HOUR, and then two. After three hours my position on the hammock had become torture. Above me, Benito snored, apparently undisturbed by his tied hands. The scientist, his fear allayed by Justine’s pheromones, worked feverishly, eager to please, looking every so often at a laptop screen where Jonny had plugged in his thumb drive.
Edgel had mostly recovered and now shot me black stares with his undamaged eye whenever I shifted position. When he wasn’t glaring at me, he was walking to the door and peering out, seemingly as worried as I was when no one else appeared. I imagined Jace fighting in the jungle. I should never have left him. And Ritter. I couldn’t even go there.
Finally, the scientist sighed. “Okay, now we just have to wait.”
“That’s it?” Justine asked. “It’s not sensitive to movement anymore?”
He grinned. “We don’t have to worry about that now. But these two mixtures must sit separately for three hours by themselves.”
“Exactly three?”
“Doesn’t really matter. But at least three before they’re mixed. Not more than ten. The real trick is that this frozen mixture”—he motioned to a test tube in a case of dry ice—“must stay frozen until it goes in with the others, and it must be in at least fifty-five minutes before it is injected into the subject.”
“In with the mixture? Or after it’s thawed and mixed?” She caressed the upper part of his arm, rubbing up and down.
He leaned into her hand. “Oh, you add it in frozen. Mix only after it dissolves. That takes about twenty minutes. Mix by swirling together in the test tube. No spoon or anything needed. The three mixtures stay together fifty-five minutes from the time it thaws. It’ll stay good for about twenty-four hours, but after that it degrades. We never tested stabilizers or anything. It’s all written in my notes.”
“You’re certain it will work?”
“We tried it out on our test subjects.” He frowned when she took her hand away. “Fortunately, it was in a controlled environment, and we were able to sedate them until it wore off. The effect on their immune system was remarkable, though, and it pointed us in the right direction for our main objective. We had to remove all the negative aspects, of course.”
“Negative meaning that your subjects will do anything suggested to them.”
“Or any thought that crosses their mind.” His brow furrowed. “Violent things, that is. To themselves, others, anyone. We didn’t test exactly why. We thought it best not to . . .” He shook his head. “After a few hours there’s no trace of the drug in their bodies—or at least nothing that doesn’t look like it should already be there. You’re not really going to use this, are you?”
Justine’s eyes met mine. “Oh, yes. We are. But don’t worry. It’s for a very good cause, and you won’t be blamed.” She broke eye contact with me and waved at Edgel. “The doctor here needs to go for a walk. Take care of him would you? We don’t need his services any longer.”
“No!” I sat up, straining against my bonds. Apart from the fact that he was an innocent here, I needed him for Stella and Bronson. If I didn’t manage to get that thumb drive, he’d be their only hope.
“I do need to see a man about a dog,” the scientist said, winking at me. “I’ll be right back.”
“Sure you will.” Justine kissed her finger and placed it on the man’s lips. “Goodbye, uh, Mr. Scientist.” She didn’t even know his name.
He laughed. “You’d better be here when I get back. I don’t like these other guys so well.”
“Come on.” Edgel put a hand on his shoulder.
“No! Please, Justine,” I said. “It’s for a friend.”
Justine sauntered in my direction. “What friend?”
Edgel paused at the door, and I was sensing something from him now. Something about his daughter. But it vanished as he pulled the door open.
“Don’t do it!” I called after him, but already he was taking out his gun. My stomach churned.
“You know I can’t let him live.” Justine’s voice came from so close it startled me. “We have too much invested in autoimmune medicines to allow a cure.”
I searched her face. “I just need it for a friend.”
She sat down in the hammock beside me. “I’m sorry. I really am.” She sighed deeply. “You know sometimes I really hate all this. One of the best times of my life was when Tom and I met you and we were all just ordinary people. I loved all the things we did together.”
“It was all a lie.”
She gave a soft groan. “It still meant something. I miss those days.”
I believed her. Not only because she wasn’t emitting pheromones, but because of the emotions peeling off her. Not a glimpse into her mind exactly, but like Edgel earlier, a loosening of control. Even so, I would not be moved. She didn’t deserve forgiveness, and I wouldn’t give it to her.
“You’ve never told him you’re his mother,” I said.
She started at that, an involuntary jerk that told me she’d thought her secret safe. “I don’t plan to. Yet.”
“Does Tihalt know he has another son?”
“Oh.” She waved that aside. “Everyone is required to participate in the genetic experiments, even Tihalt, and I simply used my ability to exchange a few tubes. He doesn’t know—yet.” She smiled. “But he will. I’ve been planning this a long time.”
“This? You mean taking control of the Triad.”
She shrugged. “Delia’s ruled it for long enough.”
“Stefan is no pansy.”
Justine laughed. “Oh, no. That he is not. But him I can work with. He is a man after all.”
“I think you’ve bitten off more than you can chew.”
“Perhaps.” She sighed. “See? Isn’t this nice? All this exchange of information? If we worked together, there’s no end to what we could do.”
“Until I wanted to do something you didn’t approve of.” Why was I sitting here chatting with her when so many lives hung in the balance? But there didn’t seem to be another option. Even if I attacked her now, and ma
naged to knock her out somehow, my hands were still tied so tight they were numb, the two ends of the rope firmly knotted on the opposite sides of the hammock out of my reach.
“Something I don’t approve of? You mean like that delicious Renegade you had with you in New York?” She licked her lips, and I caught a subtle shift in my emotions that told me she’d resorted to pheromones again. She should realize by now that though I wasn’t immune, I was able to resist. “I don’t blame you for the attraction,” she added. “But Tom really is better for you.”
“I don’t love Tom.”
“So you’re with that Renegade now?” Justine’s expression was calm, but her eyes glittered dangerously.
I stared right back. She didn’t deserve an answer. “You helped murder his family.”
“I was protecting the Emporium. My family. That we missed him was unfortunate. Apparently more unfortunate than I knew at the time, if he’s influencing you. Did you tell him it was me who was there that day when his family died? Tom said he told you. I bet him you wouldn’t say anything.” She laughed at my grimace. “I’ll have to tell Tom I was right. That should tell you something, Erin. Think about it.”
Edgel returned to the hut alone. He dug into a box and pulled out a couple of bullets, refilling those missing from his magazine. Pushing out with my mind, I searched for the life force that had been the scientist. It was gone.
I swallowed bile, feeling completely and utterly useless. “Go away, Justine,” I told her. “Leave me alone. And quit it with the pheromones.”
“Fine.” Justine bounced from the hammock, but she didn’t leave. Instead, she leaned over to whisper. “Do you know about his son?”
I froze. “What do you know about it?”
“There’s a facility in London. A hospital for the very wealthy. Place is like Fort Knox. Not even we can penetrate it. We’ve tailed Ritter there several times there over the years.”
The Cure Page 23