“But your baby, Bhagya!”
“The fetus means nothing to me, Chelsea. Nor should it to you. Forced on us without our permission, as part of an unethical medical experiment, using the seed from one of those monsters.”
“What the councillors and geneticists have done and are planning to do is reprehensible, I’ll grant you that. But these babies, they’ve done nothing wrong – they’re innocent. I’ll not allow mine to come to any harm.”
“Good luck with that. Now, come on, let’s wash that bin and get some electrolytes into you. Don’t want them finding out you puked your guts out. They’ll want to know why.”
* * *
I got to homeroom ten minutes early the next day. My drink bottle was inside the bag this time instead of in external pouch. A small lock bound the two zippers together so no one could open the bag if they didn’t know the combination.
Ryan was already there, which surprised me, because he never came early. He was talking with Mehmet near this side of the teacher’s desk. My heart went out to the Turkish lad when I saw the shiner on his cheekbone.
Dylan and Isaac were at the far side of the room at their desks, sending dark glances towards their estranged resistance group members. It looked like they hadn’t slept a wink last night.
I stepped into the room. Dylan and Isaac jumped up from their seats, bloodshot eyes wide in fear as they looked first at me, then at the door, as though expecting someone else.
I suppressed a laugh. They were afraid I brought Custodians to arrest them for being members of a resistance group. After all, they thought I was a snitch planted in the school to uncover rebels like them. When it became obvious I was alone, their expressions changed from terror to bewilderment.
“You okay, mate?” Ryan asked, searching out my eyes, clearly concerned. I realised then that my perception of him had gone back to what it used to be. He was my friend, and I cared deeply for him, even though I was upset with him for betraying my confidence. But I no longer feared he was worked for the chancellor, that I was just a tool. I mattered to him.
“Brandon?” he said.
Did you know I’m pregnant? was what I wanted to say, but not here, not now. “Need a word with you,” I said softly.
“Lunch break, usual place,” he said.
Stepping past Mehmet, I gave his arm a squeeze while indicating his bruise with a nod. “Thanks.”
“Any time.”
Pushing my way to the back of the class, I noticed Jazza and his cronies watching me with strangely neutral expressions. Running on a hunch, I stopped before Jazza’s desk and slammed my backpack on it.
He jumped in surprise and looked up at me, lip curled back in distaste. I turned my bag around and without saying a word, pointed to the padlocked zippers. Message delivered, I went to my regular seat. He turned and looked at me, his gaze a mix of loathing and puzzlement. But puzzled about what, exactly? That I was still alive? That I hadn’t turned them in? Or that he had no idea what my gesture meant because he wasn’t the one who swapped my water bottle?
I popped up to the roof at lunchtime, and was surprised to find Ryan, Mr. Li, Dylan, Isaac and Mehmet gathered near a wooden bench in the middle of the potted garden. They were still in two groups, though, with Ryan and Mehmet standing apart from the others.
“Why didn’t you turn us in?” Dylan demanded. “I spent the whole night sitting by the front door, waiting for Custodians to rock up and arrest me.”
“Me too,” Isaac said.
Mr. Li just watched me, one eyebrow raised.
I pulled my sports cap off so they could see the real me, then gave the death star to Mr. Li, Dylan, and Isaac. “You idiots were trying to lock me up!” I said, using my normal voice.
“I was just following orders,” Isaac said somewhat apologetically.
“You have a brain, don’t you?” I said.
“You’d have done the same in our shoes,” Mr. Li said.
“Really? Lock up a twenty-year old girl? The same girl you sent into the lab to spy on the geneticists? We’re supposed to be on the same team!”
“Ryan said you were different, that you could’ve been turned,” Dylan said.
“Did he now?” I turned my accusing glare to him.
Chapter Twenty
“I didn’t say that you had been turned, just that it was a possibility,” Ryan said, looking as if he wanted to melt through the floor rather than face my accusing stare.
“Did it occur to any of you idiots to talk to me?”
“You were eavesdropping outside the door and made a run for it as soon as you saw me,” Isaac said.
“I made a run for it when your leader, Patrick Tori, told you to grab me.”
“All this muck slinging is getting us nowhere,” Mr. Li said. “You still haven’t told us why you didn’t turn us in.”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said? We’re on the same team. At least we’re supposed to be.”
“But Ryan said you reported Jazza’s group to Counsellor Cho,” he said.
“Because unlike you lot, they’re planning on using terror tactics such as assassination and arson.”
“I see. Still, you can see why we were concerned, can’t you?” Mr. Li continued. “Ryan told us you might have been brainwashed, and then you reported Jazza’s group to Counsellor Cho.”
“I never said–” Ryan interrupted indignantly.
“You put the possibility in our minds, Ryan. Told us to watch our step around her,” Dylan protested.
Ryan held up his hand. “We’re just going around in circles.” He turned to me. “You’re back to your normal self, aren’t you, Chelsea? Your atmosphere feels like it used to before you went into the lab.”
“Atmosphere? What am I, a weather system?”
“Seriously, you’re different.”
I sighed, seeing we were never going to get anywhere bickering. So I told them about the Round Room and what it did to me. Then how Bhagya used the shocking videos to break my mind free from the conditioning.
“So this Bhagya Singhe wants to destroy the chancellor?” Ryan asked when I finished.
“Yes. It’s her one goal in life.”
“I want to meet her. Anyway you can get her to come to our next meeting?”
“Now hold on, Ryan, we don’t know anything about this girl. It could be a setup,” Mr. Li said.
“I reckon she’ll come,” I said to Ryan.
“We have to run it past Tori first,” Dylan said, looking alarmed.
“She knows a ton of stuff about the geneticists and what they’ve been doing,” I added.
“Like what?” Mr. Li asked.
“Let me bring her, and ask her yourself.”
“Not without Tori’s permi–”
“Okay, you’ve made your point! I’ll run it by Tori first, but I’m sure he’ll agree. This sounds like the very break we’ve been looking for.” Ryan shot a dirty look at Mr. Li. “Now, if you don’t mind, give me a moment alone with Chelsea please.”
The others nodded and left the roof.
“Whose finger prints were on the bottle?” I asked.
“Only yours.”
“What does mean?”
“It means whoever tried to kill you either used gloves, or wiped the bottle down before putting it in your bag,” he said. “Are you sure you didn’t see anyone go near your bag? We have to find out who’s trying to kill you.”
“I’ve gone over my memories of that class a hundred times, I didn’t see anything untoward. But then again, I was focusing on the work, not my bag.”
“You told Mr. Cho yet?”
“No.”
“Chelsea–”
“In my own time, Ryan.”
“Someone tried to kill you–”
“And someone tried to lock me up. Should I tell Mr. Cho about that as well?”
“That’s a different matter entirely, and you know it.”
“Do I?”
Ryan sighed, exasperated. “Tell
Mr. Cho about the assassination attempt and that you’re quitting this assignment. It’s too dangerous.”
“As I told you before, I want to do some more digging before I tell him.”
“Chelsea–”
“This isn’t open to negotiation.”
“Fine!” He threw up his hands, and then, his demeanour changed, said, “Look, um, I want to apologise–”
“For what?”
“For putting you through the Round Room and all that. If I’d known they’d do that to you, I would not have sent you in there.”
I looked at him.
“I mean it. You mean more to me than anything, Chelsea. You know that, right?”
I reckoned I did, but the last vestiges of doubt that had plagued me about his intentions were proving hard to dismiss.
“You know it, right?” he pressed.
“Just find out what happened to the escapees, okay?”
His eyes widened in alarm.
“What – have you found something?” I snapped.
“You want to sit down?” he asked gently.
“Just tell me!”
“Okay already. I found a file in Custodian HQ. In it were a bunch of photos showing a group of people of all ages who had been killed by the Skel. The file also gave a precise map location – the Western Freeway, just outside Caroline Springs, a suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne.”
The news hit me like a blow to the head, sending me staggering back to collapse on a wooden bench behind me. “So it’s true? They really were caught by the Skel?”
Ryan sat beside me and took my hands in his. “It looks that way, but I still have my doubts. I studied those photos carefully, and although the bodies showed signs of severe trauma, I didn’t recognise any of them.”
“There were ninety people in that group, Ryan. You couldn’t possibly have known them all.”
“I knew all the foragers from studying their files before going undercover with them, and I’ve seen a great many of the town’s inhabitants. If those photos were genuine, you’d think I would have recognised some of them.”
“Keep digging, please. Find a Custodian who went out there and get him to tell you the truth, whatever it is,” I said. The hope that my sister and Sofia were still alive was at an all time low. I had wanted him to find evidence that the Custodians were lying, not proof they were telling the truth.
“Of course.”
I exhaled, staring straight ahead but not seeing anything.
“Chelsea?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m so pleased to see you back to your normal self, I was beside myself with worry when I saw how much you changed.”
“Just one more happy episode in my wonderfully fulfilling life.”
He squeezed my hands. “I know you’ve had it rough, more so than the rest of us, but it’s not forever, okay? We’re going to overthrow the chancellor and set this town and everyone in it free from his tyrannical rule.”
“Pipe dreams,” I said.
“No! We’re going to – I’m going to – make this happen.” He lifted my chin. “For you. For us.”
“Us?”
“A future where we’re not together is no future at all.”
I searched his eyes and saw that he meant every word. All the same, I couldn’t bring myself to share his vision for the future.
“You still care for me, right, Chelsea? Now that you’re back to yourself? When you looked at me after going into the lab, I saw nothing but anger and distrust. Please tell me that’s all gone now.”
“I thought I was just a tool you were manipulating for your own ends,” I said.
“Seriously?” He seemed amused.
“And that you could have been working for the chancellor, checking to see if the geneticists were doing what they were supposed to be doing.”
“A double, double agent?” He was smiling broadly now.
I laughed. “Something like that.”
“They really messed with your mind, eh? They’re going to pay for that one day, what they’ve done to you kids.”
“You’ll have to get in line.”
“Deal. Now, let’s talk about you for a moment.”
“Isn’t that what we’ve been doing?” I asked.
“I want you to visit a psychologist who is part of our movement. You’ve been through a series of major ordeals, with the Round Room, the assassination attempt, and with what Bhagya showed you about your brother. A professional psychologist wil help work through these issues in a safe environment without becoming traumatised by them.”
“I’ll pass, thanks.”
“Please, Chelsea. You’re hurting, I can see it.”
“Tell you what, if this is ever over, I’ll consider it.”
“Thank you.”
“Now tell me about this Patrick Tori, your leader,” I said.
“He’s a visionary, the most driven, charismatic person I’ve met, a fourth dan black belt in karate, and a biology professor at the university who specialises in genetics. He started the resistance movement because he’s concerned with what is going on in the lab.”
“I don’t buy it.”
“Sorry?”
“That he started the movement because he’s concerned about what the geneticists are up to – it’s too impersonal.”
“Since when have you been so perceptive?”
“Well?”
“Okay, this is confidential. Patrick has a mildly intellectually disabled daughter – she’s his only child. He managed to get her past the foetal screening process without being aborted. However, being a notable university professor, he has too many visitors at his house to be able to raise her himself, so his mother is raising her in secret. He wants to overthrow the government so he can bring her home without threat of her being euthanized.”
His devotion to his daughter touched me. “I can see why you all think so highly of him.”
“As I said, he’s an amazing guy. Now we’d better get back down, the bell’s about to go.”
I put my cap back on and followed him downstairs.
* * *
I was summoned to see Mr. Cho that evening. I’d taken only a few steps into his room when I spotted a familiar black drink bottle on his desk – not mine, the one I gave Ryan to check for fingerprints. Thanks a lot, Ryan! The Undercover Custodians and Specialists are supposed to work together, not dob each other in.
“Sit.” He didn’t look up when he spoke, just kept writing in a journal on his desk.
I gulped and sat at the edge of the leather chair, pulse racing.
“Is there something you’d like to tell me?” he asked at last, looking up at me with an expression that would melt glass.
Chapter Twenty-One
“I was going to when I had more information, Sir.”
Springing suddenly to his feet, he slammed the desk with such force that I jumped and almost fell off the chair. “Chelsea! You’re a Specialist, one of the chancellor’s representatives. An attempt on your life isn’t just an attack against you; it’s an attack against the very person and authority of the chancellor himself!”
My eyes on the floor, I nodded, unable to find my voice.
“I met Undercover Operative Lieutenant Hill at Custodian HQ today to receive his report. He gave me that bottle and filled me in on its significance. He also said that three boys in your class waylaid you the other day and beat you up. Is that true?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Another serious incident you didn’t report.”
Again, I couldn’t find my voice.
“Whatever were you thinking, girl? Which part of ‘report every detail of your work to me’ didn’t you understand?”
“I was concerned you’d take me off the case if I reported these incidents, and I didn’t want to fail my assignment after just a few days, Sir.”
“Chelsea, this isn’t about you, it’s about the welfare of the town, and it’s about locating and uncovering the identity of those dis
senters who plot against the chancellor and the authorities. Whether I leave you on the case or hand it over to others more qualified, is not your concern. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Now tell me what happened about the assault and the attempted murder – and leave out no details, regardless of whether you deem them significant or not.”
With hands clenched together so tightly that my skin turned white, I proceeded to tell him about the two incidents, leaving out the subsequent conversations held with Ryan, Tori, and the other members of their group. Mr. Cho listened intently, recording everything I said in his journal.
“Do you think Jazza’s group was responsible for the attempted poisoning?” he asked.
“I honestly don’t know, Sir.”
“How do you think they found out who you are?”
“I have no idea, Sir.”
“Did you slip up somehow, or do you think we have a mole somewhere within our organisation? Either amongst the Specialists or the Undercover Custodians privy to your mission?”
“I’ve been racking my brain in an attempt to work out that very question, Sir. I’m sure I didn’t slip up, but a mole? How’s that possible?”
“A futile question, Chelsea. Your secret identity has been leaked somehow, and we need to find the source of that leak.”
“Am I off the case, Sir?”
“I’ve a good mind to send you back to prison to complete your life sentence, arrest those three boys and do a thorough attempted-murder investigation.” He stared at me for so long I had to hold my breath to stop from fidgeting. “However, as your presence in school appears to have stirred up a hornet’s nest, you will continue your assignment for the time being. You are to focus on those boys during school hours, and follow them discreetly afterschool. I am convinced that we can discover the Patriot’s identity if we watch them closely enough.”
“Thank you, Sir,” I said, unable to hide the relief from my voice.
“Don’t thank me, Chelsea. From here on you’re going to have to put twice as much effort into keeping your wits about you. Toward that end, meet with me in the gym tomorrow morning at seven, and I’ll instruct you in how to shadow a target without them suspecting you’re doing so.”
Forager - the Complete Six Book Series (A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Series) Page 113