I decide to wait to tell Mr. MacRyan about my plan. At the end of our meeting in the afternoon, I can pull him aside and hope he has time to talk to me privately.
I spend the day with my sister in the apartment. She seems to be getting better. We watch TV, discover room service and order a basket of fries and fish sandwiches and cream sodas for lunch, and just relax. Jo takes more of her medicines now that she doesn’t have an empty stomach. We do not let ourselves think about Mom and her possible betrayal. We do not let ourselves think about the ex-agents from the shutdown Scorpion Project, Edward Bowser III, our house, Aunt V, all the things that were kept from us all our lives—well, at least I’m not thinking about those things. I don’t know what Jo’s thinking. Soon enough it’s almost three o’clock. Now is a good time to go find Chief MacRyan.
I stand from the couch and knock on D’s door. “Come in,” a tired voice calls. I take one step into D’s bedroom. He sits on the edge of his bed, slouched over his cell phone that lies his hands. His face is scrunched up, concentrating hard on whatever is on the screen. D isn’t wearing his hood, and I can see his face again. He wears a plain black T-shirt with the same faded jeans and black tennis shoes. His thin black hair is stringy and wet, most likely from a shower.
“What happened to your dad?” I find myself asking. “MacRyan said he was an assassin—is that true?”
D glances at me from his phone. “Yes...” he says cautiously.
“Well, what happened to him?”
“He died just like a lot of other assassins did: a mission gone wrong.”
“How come you aren’t an assassin? Why’d you join the ex-agents?” I press.
“Some people don’t want to follow in their parents’ footsteps, Harper. But I didn’t want to be a part of something like the underground Scorpion at first.”
“Well, how come—”
“Aren’t we going to see MacRyan later?”
“Oh, yeah, we are. That’s what I came here to tell you. I guess I got sidetracked.” D nods and grabs his beloved hoodie from beside him. “Is Skye still here? Have you seen her?”
“I haven’t seen her since last night.” D replies. “Maybe she’s still sleeping?”
“I hope so. I want to hurry and find MacRyan just in case he forgot about our meeting.” I say, walking over to Skye’s bedroom. Her door is ajar, and I open it some more. The room is dark and empty.
“She’s not here.” I say. We’re all in the living room now, ready to go.
“I’ll give you her number so we can both try to reach her.” D suggests.
“Okay.” I say. I receive D’s text message and put Skye’s phone number in my contacts, then I text her:
skye, it’s harper.
we’re going to find macryan for our meeting. where r u?
I wait about ten minutes for a response, but she never answers.
SKYE
“I thought you said the sensors detected something?” the voice says angrily. I can just barely hear it in here.
I realize I’ve backed myself into a storage room or a janitor’s closet of some kind; the room is no bigger than a closet, with a shelf lined with chemicals and cleaning products. It’s getting hotter by the minute, and it’s pitch black in here. I don’t think I can sit in here much longer, but I do not have a choice.
“What did you say? Hold on, I’m on my way back up.” the voice says, and moments later I hear the elevator doors open and close. Then everything is silent, the only sound I hear is my own shallow breathing.
HARPER
“I think we should go without her.” I say.
“Where could she be?” Joanna says.
“She has to be somewhere. Maybe Chief can find her in the security room when we see him.” D says.
“Yeah, she couldn’t have gone far.” I add as we all leave the apartment. When we arrive at the elevator and step inside, I press the first button, Main Level. The ground beneath us shifts, and we project upward.
“What are we going to talk to Mr. MacRyan about?” Jo asks me.
“I don’t know exactly. Maybe a plan to stop Scorpion, and to see if we can get the other FBI branches and agencies in Pennsylvania involved. And hopefully we can find out if Aunt Veronica is okay.” I reply. Joanna nods, her eyes cast down. The elevator doors open, and the four of us step out.
“Where would MacRyan be…?” I ask myself, walking past the vault door we’d entered just hours ago, past the dull office cubicles where agents are busy typing and talking and analyzing, past the empty gray cafeteria. At the end of the main level is a door with a gold sign: CHIEF’S OFFICE.
I place my ear on the door to try to hear what’s going on. Shuffling papers, ringing phones, and…Chief John MacRyan’s voice. His voice is muffled, it sounds like he’s on the phone. Should I knock? Should I wait? We have time. We have nearly fourteen days until Scorpion attacks, but who knows what they’re really planning on doing. Before I can make a decision, the door opens, and Mr. MacRyan is standing before me.
“Good afternoon, Miss Cambridge.” he says tiredly, exiting his office and closing the door behind him. He glances past me to see Joanna and D. “What are you all doing up here?”
“Can we talk?” I say. “About Scorpion’s attack?”
“No. There’s nothing my branch can do about that situation. I’ve already called two FBI branches that are the closest to Pittsburgh and told them what’s going on. I haven’t told them about you hiding here.”
“But, there has to be something we can do—something I can do. We can’t just let this happen to my family’s agency. Not when we have so much time to take Scorpion down once and for all—”
“Look, if you want to save Genesis, you’re going to have to go back to Pennsylvania and team up with their branches. I have my own problems to deal with—”
“ Mr. MacRyan !” a woman in a white button-down shirt and gray pencil skirt rushes up to Mr. MacRyan and hands him a paper. “There’s been a change in the schedule. The boats will be at the docks tonight instead of this weekend.”
MacRyan takes one look at the paper and grimaces, handing it back to the secretary. “The shipments aren’t even close to being ready. Excuse me, Harper, but I have to go deal with this.” He walks around us and disappears with the secretary.
“But, Mr. MacRyan, I…” I stammer, but he doesn’t hear me.
“I think we should just let it go, Harper.” Joanna speaks up. “Mr. MacRyan is right; there’s nothing he can do about Scorpion destroying Genesis. This is out of his power—our parents kept this a secret from us for a reason. Let’s just focus on finding Skye.”
“I agree.” D adds sadly. “Scorpion is now a growing underground circuit with deadly agendas. Not even I know what the ex-agents fully capable of. For now, let’s just find Skye and take a day to think about what we want to do.”
I sigh, a bit too dramatically. “Fine. But MacRyan’s gone. How are we going to get to the security cameras to look around headquarters?”
“Just ask an agent.” Jo shrugs. “Tell them Skye is missing and isn’t answering her phone.”
“Alright.” I look around for any agents. The secretary Mr. MacRyan was just talking to is a few feet away, typing quickly on her phone. “Come on.” I urge Joanna and D to walk with me over to her.
I clear my throat. “Um, excuse me?” The secretary glares at me with one raised manicured eyebrow. She’s a bit shorter than me, with tanned skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. “Could you help us?”
“If you want to see Mr. MacRyan, he’s not available today.” the secretary says bluntly.
“I don’t think we need to see him,” I say. “We need to get into the security room; our friend is missing and she isn’t answering her phone.”
“I can’t let you in Mr. MacRyan’s office.” the secretary replies. “That room is for authorized personnel only.”
“We don’t need to do anything serious, just take a look at the cameras.” I say, getting annoyed. “
Besides, we’re MacRyan’s guests, and this an emergency.”
“Mr. MacRyan doesn’t do guests. And I’m not letting you in his office.” the secretary quips, and walks away.
“Now what?” I say.
“We don’t need her to get into MacRyan’s office.” D states.
“What do you mean?” I ask, but he doesn’t answer. He walks over to Mr. MacRyan’s office door and kneels down on one knee. He wriggles something out of his hoodie sleeve—a bobby pin—and maneuvers it into the lock of the doorknob. He takes the bobby pin out and slides it back into his hoodie sleeve, and opens the door.
“We can’t go in without an agent. We’ll get in big trouble if MacRyan catches us in his office; he might even kick us out. Where will we go then?” I say.
“Well, let’s hurry before he catches us.” D says, stepping into the room. Joanna follows.
“ Jo .” I protest.
“Come on, Harper. This may be our only chance to look for Skye.” Joanna calls from inside the office. I sigh and follow them inside, closing the door behind us.
9.
Skye
Everything is closing in around me.
I don’t know how long I’ve been in here, but it’s getting harder and harder to breathe. The air smells of chemicals. The Tech & Vehicles Center has been empty since I trapped myself in here; I haven’t detected any footsteps, breathing, the elevator operating. Everything is silent, even my own hushed breathing.
Do Harper, Joanna, and D know I’m gone? Are they looking for me? Are they still resting in the apartment?
I wonder if they even care that I’m gone.
HARPER
The inside of Chief John MacRyan’s office is modern and organized—so organized it looks like it’s never been touched. The office is huge. There’s a wide black-stained wooden desk in the center of the room, the wall behind his swivel chair lined with shelves and bookcases, file cabinets and an impressive fish tank sit on the opposite side, and a vending machine is in the corner. A massive computer monitor rests on the edge of MacRyan’s desk with a white keyboard and wireless mouse. That has to be hosting the security feed.
D walks over to the vending machine, uses his bobby pin to screw with the money collector, and swipes a bottle of red Mountain Dew from the dispenser, still ice-cold. He opens it and guzzles it down.
“D!” I hiss. “Stop breaking into things! We need to find Skye and get out of here, now .”
“Can I have a drink, too?” Joanna asks D.
“No! MacRyan’s definitely going to know something’s not right when he comes back…” But Jo nor D seem to hear me. D steals a green Mountain Dew for Jo, and they enjoy their unlawful beverages together in the corner. I huff and sit down at MacRyan’s fancy desk. In the corner of my eye are three picture frames, and I look at them. The first one is no doubt a young, twenty-something John MacRyan, posing in a blue Navy uniform with a few other people. The second one is of MacRyan getting married, carrying his beaming wife in his arms down the aisle. His wife is black, and they both wear Navy hats with their wedding attire. The third is of MacRyan, his wife, and four kids that all look the same, standing in what seems to be a park. His kids have light brown skin and curly auburn hair.
I turn my attention to the computer monitor. The security feed is already up on the screen, thirty cameras numbered and titled. I look at all of the screens over and over again, but I can’t detect Skye’s raven-black hair anywhere. I see a rewind button along with a few other buttons on the bottom left corner of the screen, and I click it.
I rewind to 6:00 a.m. today and double click on Camera 15: Residence Hall , biting my bottom lip in apprehension. The window enlarges to fill the entire monitor as a panoramic video. I can see everything, the café, the hallways, except for the inside of the apartments.
I begin to watch. At 6:22, I see someone leave our apartment. Skye. I watch her as she goes to some kind of desk and get a bag of clothes. She then goes to another desk and gets a leather bag, and goes into a bathroom. I wait. Moments later she reemerges, this time wearing a tank top and leggings, her new bag at her side. She hurries into the elevator, and I hurry to switch to Camera 2: Elevator . She is still alone. She stops at level U4—the Technology & Vehicles Center—so I switch to the fourth camera to watch her there. She sits down at a computer, and I zoom in on her. She shakily retrieves a tiny object—a flash drive—out of her bag and puts it in the computer. She spends a few minutes clicking and reading before the elevator door opens. She scrambles to a nearby door and closes herself behind it. I fast-forward to the current time. She hasn’t come out.
Where does that door lead? What was Skye doing? Is she okay?
“Guys,” I call. “I know where Skye is, she’s on floor U4. We have to get there before MacRyan catches us.” I go back to the main screen of the security footage, right where it was before I touched it, and stand up. D and Joanna throw their now empty bottles in the silver garbage can and follow me out of the office. “Thanks for the help,” I mutter to myself as we walk to the elevator.
Luckily, we’re the only ones in the elevator. We head down to floor U4, and I hurriedly walk to the door I saw Skye go through, Jo and D a few steps behind me. The red sign on the door reads “CAUTION: ORGANIC FUEL INGREDIENTS INSIDE. KEEP AT 100.7 DEGREES AT ALL TIMES.” I open the door. It doesn’t lead anywhere, it’s a storage room. And there is Skye, sitting on the ground with her back against the wall, her skin concealed with sheen sweat. Her eyes are half-closed, dozing off.
“Skye! Are you okay? Were you trapped in here?” I kneel down next to her and grasp her arm. She stirs.
“Harper...? W-What are you doing down here…? I…” she says, but trails off.
“It’s okay, let’s just get you out of here. D, help me.” I say. D takes one of Skye’s forearms and I grab the other. We help her stand up and walk out of the tiny storage room.
“Will she be okay?” Joanna asks softly, looking at Skye, who puts her arms around my and D’s shoulders, breathing heavily.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine. Hang in there, Skye. Hopefully MacRyan won’t catch us now.” I say.
“I’m alright…I just…my head hurts…” Skye says. We slowly head toward the elevator.
“When we get to the apartment—” D starts, but he doesn’t finish his sentence; the elevator door suddenly opens. There stands Mr. MacRyan, four armed guards and his secretary at his sides.
“Stop right there!” he booms. We freeze. “There! Get them!” MacRyan says, pointing to us. The guards rush toward us while MacRyan and his secretary take their time exiting the elevator. One guard pries Skye away from us and forces her arms behind her back. Skye winces in pain, her eyes squinting shut.
“Get off of her, she’s hurt!” I say, although I know they don’t care. The guard only tightens his grip. The other three guards surround Joanna, D, and me.
“ You .” MacRyan stands directly in front of Skye. “What were you doing in my database?”
“P-Please, Mr. MacRyan…I-I can explain…I was…I was just…” Skye tries to explain, but MacRyan shakes his head in disapproval.
“I got an alert from my phone saying a hack has been detected on floor U4. So I pulled up the security feed on my phone to see you hacking into a computer and transferring information from it. So I’m going to ask you again: what were you doing on my database?” MacRyan says, taking another step closer to Skye, his jaw clenched. But for some reason, Skye doesn’t answer him. She lets her head hang in defeat. What was she transfering?
“Hm. I would send you right back to Genesis and let them deal with you, but Chief Cambridge and I are two very busy people. So I’m going to call Ms. McCoy to see what she wants to do with you. I also saw you ,” MacRyan points at me, “snooping around in my office. What were you three trying to do there?”
“ I wasn’t doing anything.” I retort, feeling my blood begin to boil. “I was trying to look for Skye when your secretary refused to help us.”
&nbs
p; MacRyan scoffs. “That’s no excuse. My office is for authorized personnel only—this entire facility is filled with things your eyes aren’t supposed to see. In fact, I don’t even know why I could trust you all enough to let you stay here. Demetrius, why are you hiding from Scorpion when they’re not supposedly striking Genesis for another two weeks, and haven’t shown their faces for over a decade? Why did your little friend here escape the ETP in the first place? Guards, take them all to my office.”
The guards grab us and force us into the elevator. MacRyan and his secretary walk over to the computer Skye was using. The elevator doors close silently in front of us, leaving us to stare back at our hazy reflections.
“Skye, what the heck were you thinking?” D hisses.
“I was just trying to find my birth mother.” Skye admits, her voice wobbling with fear.
“Why? You were going to be an assassin , Skye! One time you disobey Genesis, one time you make a mistake and reveal your identity, and your birth mother is dead, along with the other people that are linked to you.”
“She’s been dead for a few weeks, D,” Skye murmurs. “It doesn’t matter what I do now, I’ll never have the chance see her.”
I take a shuddery breath. I look at Skye, but her hair purposely covers the side of her face. One of the guards still has both her arms wrenched behind her back, as if she’s a criminal.
The elevator doors open, and we are guided into MacRyan’s office. “Sit.” one of the guards demands. There are only two chairs in the room, and Joanna and I sit in them. D and Skye sit on the floor in front of us. Two guards leave, and the other two stand in the corner, watching us. I can practically feel their cold stares from across the room.
About ten minutes later, MacRyan arrives. He sits down at his desk and clears his throat, resting his elbows on the desk. “I’m just going to cut to the chase: I’m kicking you all out. You have broken my trust and put classified information in danger. I already sent agents to your apartment to gather your belongings and bring them here.” My heart sinks. Now where are we going to hide? Who is going to help us take down Scorpion? I know better than to argue with Chief John MacRyan, because he’s somewhat right; I went into his office and on his computer, and Skye hacked into the database and stole information from it.
Rogue (The Genesis Files Book 1) Page 7