“I read it,” I said, crumpling the paper up and tossing it into a trashcan. “Not the best security at your headquarters. Honestly, I come and go all the time.”
“Do they know?”
I shrugged. “Sometimes. So, what’s with the virus?”
Her steps slowed. “It’s…”
“Yeah?”
Ah, hell. She’s second-guessing this decision…
She came to a halt and tried to back out of my hold. “I’m sorry, I—”
“Nooo, no.” My grip tightened, and I forced her up the steps with me. “See, that’s not how this works. I share something, and then it’s your turn. Give and take. You and me. If one of us doesn’t live up to our end of the bargain…well, that’s a problem.”
She shuddered against me. “You don’t understand, Cole.”
“Don’t back out on me now,” I growled, getting more and more frustrated by the minute. “You work in the lab on the weekends, right? I’ve seen them pick you up. So, why not just tell me where the info is, so I can break in? I’ve been making my way through the department, anyway. They won’t suspect a thing.”
“You swear it won’t be traced back to me?”
“I swear.” I held up three fingers in a half-assed salute. “Scout’s honor.”
She weighed my counterfeit oath, sneaking another glance over her shoulder. “The virus is a catalyst. They’re going to use it to drive people into the clinic to get vaccinated.”
“The clinic?” I scrunched up my forehead. “Why? It’s not like they’ll make money off of it.”
“You mentioned the experiments, right?” she asked. “Imagine this virus-driven chaos with hundreds, maybe thousands, of people pouring in to participate in the study. They get screened, and those who’re deemed worthy receive a special first dose of the vaccine.”
“And then they change?”
“Hardly,” she answered in a bitter tone. “Faye would never do something so obvious. The participants will have to come in several times over the next six weeks for follow-up doses. If they continue to please the pharmaceutical gods, their last shot will be bundled with something to knock them out. We’ll tell the family their loved one had a serious reaction. It was a trial, after all. Then we’ll suggest keeping them in the clinic for a couple of days, just to be safe.”
I frowned. “And?”
“And there’s not much I can tell you beyond that. Faye refers to them as SAGEs—Somatically Advanced Genetic Experiments. If they’re anything like the first sixteen incarnations, they’ll end up berserk or dead within a week, anyway. That’s why ERA had to up the ante and get a bigger testing pool.”
“What about that guy Rena kicked in the nuts? Maverick. Is he dead yet?”
Corynn shook her head. “He never received treatment. I heard he volunteered, but Gail threw a fit. It was too early in the game to test on someone so valuable.”
“That lying little shit…” I gritted my teeth. “So, how’d they get test subjects before this?”
“Faye’s goons grabbed people off the street—hookers, meth-heads, runaways—people whose disappearance wouldn’t draw attention.”
In other words, people ERA deemed disposable. I rubbed my chin. “So, this first study is a test run. They’re establishing a history so it doesn’t seem reflexive after the virus. “
“Right.”
“The big question is, how are they going to release the virus?”
“There’s talk that they’ve already released it in New England, and they’re working their way down here, but I don’t know when or how.” She edged backward, eyeing her escape route. “That’s Phase II.”
Seriously?
When she started to walk away, I spun her around and gripped both of her shoulders. “Don’t you get how serious this is? Find out the details.”
She shoved me off. “You find out. I’m in enough danger as it is.”
I fought to keep my temper in check. Right now, we needed this connection to Faye. I couldn’t afford to scare her too badly. “Fine. Tell me where the plans are. I’ve already hit most of the records offices.”
“That’s gonna be a problem. Elise seems to be running that part of the show, and she takes her laptop back to her room every night.”
“Her room?” I made a face. “They’re camping out down there?”
She cocked her head to the side. “I thought you were familiar with the facility.”
“I was looking for a lab, not luxury condos. Where are they?”
“Opposite end of the catacombs,” she explained, creating a map with hand gestures. “You coming in from the clinic or the outside entrance?”
“Outside.” I frowned.
“Okay, so you come down and swing a right instead of a left. Work your way toward the white lights.”
I scratched my head. “I did see lights, but they were red.”
“Don’t go there. That’s a testing facility. I think they blow shit up.”
“Of course.” I squinted up at the sun and shook my head. “So, are you going to fill Wallace in or am I?”
“Whoa.” She took another step back into the marshy grass and tensed. A quick glance over her shoulder told her she was too close to the pond.
Dumbass.
She stiffened and leaned in. “I thought we were keeping this between us.”
I raised an eyebrow at her feet and their proximity to the pond. “We are. You, me, Wallace, and Rena.”
“I didn’t agree to that.”
“So, you don’t want to save all those people? You’re just going to let little babies and toddlers and shit catch this virus? Will it kill ‘em?”
“I-I don’t know the specifics of the—”
Every muscle in my body tensed, ready to strike. “Will. It. Kill. Them?”
“It might,” she admitted in a soft voice.
“Then it sounds like you have a choice to make.” I crossed my arms. “If you help us, we’ll do whatever we can to shield you, but you gotta be with us a hundred percent. None of this double agent shit, because I will find out.”
“All right.” Her response was rushed—the verbal equivalent of a block out of reflex.
“I’ll give you three days,” I told her, tilting my chin toward the south end of campus. “If you haven’t told Wallace by then, I’ll take that as your answer, but we’re going to stop this domino either way. No virus, no demand for the vaccine. Everything starts there.”
She swallowed so hard it bobbed her throat. “Can we wait until after the dance Friday? I-I don’t want to screw things up and call attention to myself.”
I sighed as a breeze blew in off the pond, tousling her ponytail. “Fine. One week, but no more. You got that?”
She nodded.
“I like you, so”—I hooked my fingers under the strap of her camisole, pushed until she dangled over the water, and then jerked her back with a flick of my wrist—”I suggest you make the right choice.”
~
I had two options, at that point—put up with a pissy Rena and Wallace or go investigate ERA.
Obviously, I went with the latter. Trespassing brought less stress, and I wanted to see those white lights Corynn talked about. So, off I went.
As it turned out, the lit path did lead to a residential wing. What she’d failed to mention, however, was the biometric panel guarding the door to each suite. They looked twice as complicated as the lab version and three times more expensive. What was I supposed to do? Wait for someone to go to bed and sneak in behind them? I’d have to run laps for God knows how long just to stay under the radar.
And if I did get caught, what then? Did ERA have measures in place to contain me? Would I be forced to kill my way out? The thought didn’t upset me as much as it should have…
Gail would be first—the pseudo-intellectual bitch who had hi-jacked my mind and used Grandma as bait to draw us. All because she’d had a vision that Wallace, Rena, and I would thwart their plans for revolution. That was it. She�
��d stormed into our lives over a fucking dream, and the dominoes were still falling.
Just knowing she was somewhere around here, ignorantly going about her business, pissed me off. And of course, I couldn’t touch her without starting some kind of war. ERA had ties everywhere. It’d blow back on my family, and there was no way I’d be able to protect all three of them. I was fast, but I couldn’t be in two places at once.
Plus, ERA had the damn virus as leverage. I hadn’t gone through all of their files yet, but I knew they would have contingency plans. They’d be the types to plan for a mass release via a third party. Losing my cool with Gail could mean human genocide. And Rachel is a human…
“Ugh!” I slammed my fist against the jagged wall in passing, tearing the skin over my knuckles.
I didn’t know why I was thinking about it. Again. ERA was untouchable, even if we bypassed Gail and went for their leader. Faye’s regenerative abilities were more developed than mine. We’d have to strike quickly and without reprieve—not allowing her body a chance to compensate. But hell, even then, it’d be a gamble. If we were going to take her on for real one of these days, we needed to find her weakness…
The rest of ERA’s key players were peons. We had Elise, Faye’s daughter, whom I hadn’t had enough contact with to develop hateful fantasies about; Rudolph, Faye’s husband who owned R.S. Tobler Laboratories and was already in a damn wheelchair; and Maverick, Gail’s human boyfriend who was little more than an errand boy, despite his high IQ. Not worth the trouble.
Damn it. The treads on my shoes dragged friction as I slowed. Who was I kidding? I wasn’t getting in this wing anytime soon. The place was full of workaholics. They wouldn’t retire to their rooms until late, and I was not spending the night here.
I’d have to settle for more printouts and keep putting the puzzle together on my own. One piece at a time. I stopped at a blind corner and pressed my palms against my eyes. This shit is getting to me…
CHAPTER 13
Monday morning was a kick in the balls.
It was too bright, for starters. Superficial sunshine pissing all over the parking lot, despite the cool air. And then there was Steve No-dick, leaning against his car as he waited—for me of all people.
“Soliciting?” I asked him, not bothering to slow my strides toward the office.
A tight-lipped smile wrenched his features to the side. “Not even you can ruin today, Mr. Blake.”
I edged between him and an SUV, raising my eyebrows. “Oh yeah? Did your hair plugs come in?”
“‘Fraid not, kiddo. Today’s the day you’re getting canned.”
“Try transferred, and that’s not until Friday.”
He followed me inside to the elevator and crammed in at my side. “It seems you were misinformed. Teresa’s taking a half-day, and then it’s Splitzville.”
My heart skipped a beat, but I didn’t let it show. “Guess she’s getting a head start.”
“Guess no one saw a transfer for you or Larry.”
I clenched a fist at my side, stealing a deep breath through the nose. “You’re bluffing.”
He grinned, his beady little weasel eyes alight with mirth. “Would I be this happy if I were bluffing?”
Shit.
The doors pried apart with a sick chime, and I charged out into the lobby. “Tits!”
My giant minion—and I mean that in the nicest way possible—popped his head around the filing cabinets. “What’s up, man?”
“Where are our papers?” I asked him, vaulting over the vacant reception desk. “Have they gone through yet?”
“Papers?” He scrunched his forehead. “For what?”
I threw a glance over my shoulder and leaned in. “You know what.”
“Oh, that. Yeah, I don’t know. I figured she had one of the interns send ‘em.”
That crazy bitch is trying to play me.
“Hold on a sec.”
“Wait. Is something wrong with the tran—”
I didn’t have the time or patience to sort things out with him. Instead, I bellowed, “Oh, Teresa, darling…”
Her door was closed, not that it mattered. I swept inside on a wave of momentum and locked it behind me. “We have a problem.”
“Do me a favor and leave the door open when you’re in here.”
“We have delicate subject matter to discuss.”
“I’ll call security.”
I brandished my knife, darted over to the wall, and slashed the cord stuck in the phone jack. Then I reached back, opened her side drawer, and fished around until I felt the phone in her purse. Before my oh-so-highly-educated boss could blink, the drawer was shut, her phone was pocketed, and I was back against the door. “Go for it.”
She snorted and pushed a button. “You know, you have a real problem with authority, Cole. It’s not healthy.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“Marco,” she began, attempting to summon security through a dead intercom. “We have a problem up here.”
Silence.
“Hello?” She jammed the button a few more times before slicing me with her gaze. “What did you do?”
“What did you do?” I asked, taking a seat opposite her desk. “Word on the street is you’re leaving today—without us.”
She stared at me for a tick, letting the realization kick in. “You’ve spoken with Steven.”
“More like he came to gloat.” I leaned back and kicked my boots up on the edge of her desk. “So, what are we going to do about this?”
Her face turned to plaster. Careful. Stoic. “What do you mean?”
Are we really going to play this game?
“You rushed through your transfer, thinking you’d be gone by the time I caught on. You knew I’d get canned, and then I’d have no reason to blackmail you, since I would no longer be welcome in the company. This little matter would clean itself up.”
Slowly, her pupils contracted, hardening her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I turned your papers in. I just need a few extra days to pack, that’s all.”
“Then, where are they?” I asked her.
“The papers?” She busied herself, shuffling things around her desk. “You know, HR or something.”
A smile stretched my lips. The woman was a terrible liar. “What is this, amateur hour? Give me a break.”
Her shoulders slumped, and she dropped her head. “Please, Cole…”
How many times had I heard that statement in varying forms? Grandma asking me to straighten up. Wallace asking me to stop making rounds in the neighborhood. Hell, even Rena asking me to let her go in the warehouse—not knowing it was a charade.
No one realized I did these things out of necessity. It kept my neighborhood safe and my family safer. That was admirable, in my book.
But whatever. This bitch was two seconds from waterworks. Then I’d cave just in time to be handed a pink slip. I’d seen this movie. I knew how it ended.
Your phone is going in the toilet.
“You don’t understand how hard this is for me,” she whispered, covering her eyes. “I still care about you. I do. But when you threatened me, I felt like I had no other option. I need to get out of here. Back to the life I’m supposed to have.”
“And me?”
She sniffled. “I don’t know.”
I booted a picture frame off her desk. “Well, that’s shitty.”
“I’m sorry,” she wailed, giving in to her sobs. “I really don’t know how to deal with all of this.”
“How about doing what you promised?” I swung my legs around and sat up. “Come on. I could give two shits if we ever speak again. I’m just lookin’ to keep a roof over my head here. Assign Larry and me to someone else up north, if that makes you comfortable.”
She stared at me, horrorstricken, tears glistening in her eyes. “You don’t mean that.”
“I don’t mean a lot of things I say,” I admitted with a shrug. “But I assure you, I’m dead serious now.”
>
That started a whole new sobfest. Apparently, she wanted to have her cake and eat it, too—or have that cake eat her. Either way, she wasn’t stable.
“Put those papers through.” I stood and turned my back on her. “Or so help me, that video will go straight to the president’s inbox. Then we’ll both be out of a job.”
~
I took out my frustration during rounds, that night.
Two shady types casing a gas station, a bunch of teenagers playing some fuckwit assault game—no one was safe. Finally, I rounded the last corner before Carter Street’s bar crawl and heard a horn blaring in the distance. Over and over. Different intervals. Short, short, lonnnnng.
If someone had been in that car, they would’ve found a new way to deal with the problem by now. Ramming the other vehicle, getting out with a tire iron, et cetera. This had to be a remote. A key fob. An inconsiderate asshole.
I sprinted down the sidewalk.
Even though it was a Monday night, regulars were making rounds of their own, stumbling to and fro. Generally speaking, I didn’t give a shit about that type of behavior. What I did give a shit about were the ones making their way to their vehicles…like this schmuck.
He wandered around one of the unmonitored parking lots around back, clutching his keys. Somewhere, maybe fifteen feet away, his car came to life every few seconds. Lights, a honk—hell, the locks were probably wearing out by now. The guy was too trashed to notice.
Once he reunited himself with that Bonneville, he’d head home. No doubt in my mind about that. Barreling down the road in a two-ton pinball wouldn’t faze him—just like it hadn’t fazed Roman West the night he took my parents’ lives. If I didn’t intercept this asshole, someone was going to get hurt.
My muscles tightened in anticipation as I skirted the farthest row, getting behind him. Maybe I’d let him get to his piece of shit car. As good a place as any, right? I could rough him up, snatch his keys, and then shove him in the back. Threat eliminated. No major harm done.
With that thought in mind, I pulled my arm back. The car lit up again, blasting a warning as it blinded me. I swung fast and hard.
The blow landed on the back of his head, slamming him against the very car he’d spent so long searching for. Unsatisfied, I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and repeated the motion. His skull bounced off the hood. Once. Twice. I kept going until my vision blurred with a memory.
Honesty (Mark of Nexus) Page 8