Corruption

by Jessica Shirvington

  ‘The … the antidote?’ I stammered.

  ‘Took you long enough.’

  ‘The true match.’

  He nodded me on. And then I saw it, his need to tell me. For me to know how clever he was. ‘You mingle the disruption with the combined pheromone secretions of a true match and it causes the outgoing signals to stall and reboot. Like restarting an engine, but on new fuel.’

  ‘What about for the people who are truly negs?’

  He shrugged. ‘No cure for that.’

  ‘H-how many are not really negs?’

  ‘Enough.’

  ‘How many?’ I gritted out again.

  He paused. ‘In America, maybe seventy per cent. Around the rest of the world?’ He pondered. ‘Considerably more.’

  The blood was dripping from my fingers and pooling on the ground. I stumbled over to the cell holding Mom and Sam. Their hands were up against the glass, both of them crying openly. I wanted to tell them it would be okay. That I would get them out of there. But I couldn’t.

  ‘I love you,’ I mouthed.

  ‘We love you too,’ Samuel mouthed back.

  I dropped to my knees and placed a hand up against Mom’s. She was screaming and Sam fell to her side, rocking her back and forth.

  ‘It’s touching,’ my father said from behind me. ‘Your love for your family. It truly is. What I don’t seem to have, you possess in spades. But you’ve taught me my lesson well, Maggie. I can already see Samuel’s need for vengeance written all over his face. You decided their fate when you took this path. You cannot save them.’

  I dropped my hand from the glass and stealthily reached into the top of my boot, pulling free the small knife the guard had not found. Giving it all I had, I spun around and threw it at my father.

  But he sidestepped in time and it barely nicked the edge of his thigh.

  He looked at his leg, then to the knife on the ground and chuckled. ‘Pathetic to the end.’

  I got to my feet, refusing to look weak in front of him. ‘I might be pathetic, but at least I’m loved. All those who once loved you now despise you. I hope your money and power keep you company because that’s all you’ll ever have!’

  He glared at me and raised his gun. ‘Goodbye, Margaret.’

  The shot sounded out, harsh and loud.

  My vision blurred and I fell to my knees as another shot sounded. I dropped to my side, surrounded by the silent screams of my family.

  After a few moments, I heard footsteps approach and opened my eyes a little to see a shadow looming over me.

  ‘Mags!’ A booted foot kicked my leg. ‘Now really isn’t the best time for a nap.’

  I opened my eyes all the way. ‘Gus?’

  He rolled his eyes. ‘No. You’re in heaven and the first thing you get to see is me. Now get your ass up and help me out here!’

  It was then I noticed he had his hand pressed to his stomach. Wincing with the pain, I pushed myself up and staggered to my feet. My father was lying a few metres away. He wasn’t moving.

  I looked back at Gus. The arm still holding his gun was trembling and he was deathly white. He remained focused on my father’s motionless figure rather than what I thought was the more pressing matter of the fatal amount of blood pouring from his gut. But then I remembered what he’d said to me about using the gun.

  Watching Gus carefully, I swallowed the scream clawing at my throat and held out my hand for him to give me the gun, which he did willingly.

  ‘Stay here,’ I instructed. He didn’t argue.

  I walked over and bent down by my father to check his pulse. Not that I needed to. I could see his shallow breaths, the colour of the blood, his half-open eyes. He only had moments left. When I stood up again, I aimed the gun at his chest and shot.

  Once.

  Twice.

  ‘Jesus Christ, Maggie!’ Gus murmured. But I could already hear the relief in his voice that he hadn’t been the one to take my father’s life. And I’d never tell him – or anyone else – otherwise.

  And if stealing my father’s last breath made Gus’s a little less pained, then I could live with that.

  I tucked the gun into my back waistband and made it back to Gus just in time to fail at catching him. We both fell to the ground, him in my lap.

  There was so much that I had faced. But this was simply too much. Knowing that Quentin was most likely …

  I cried openly, sobbing as I tried to see how bad Gus’s wound was. He shoved my hand aside.

  ‘No point,’ he said, voicing what I already knew.

  I bit my lip to try to stop the sounds coming from me as I looked for some way, any way to stop this from happening. But it was impossible.

  ‘How’d you get in anyway?’ I half asked, half scolded.

  ‘When I heard the shot and you didn’t come out afterwards to give me the all clear …’ He let out a breath. ‘I listened until I heard your voice come from further away … took my chance you weren’t near the entrance and hotwired the door to open without activating the entry alerts.’ He shrugged. ‘I slipped in. Hid behind the entry desk until …’

  I nodded, lost for words. He’d risked everything to save me.

  ‘Plug this into the mainframe,’ he instructed, holding up the other end of a cable that fed into his laptop.

  Knowing I had to do this, I reached up with the cord and plugged it into the driver.

  Gus leaned against me and tapped a series of keys on his laptop. ‘Let’s get your family out of there before that machine starts spitting out gas,’ he said. Within ten seconds the machine inside Mom and Samuel’s cell shut down completely, and a few seconds later the door opened.

  Mom and Samuel rushed out, sliding to the ground beside us.

  ‘Oh my God! Maggie, I thought he’d kill you!’ Mom said.

  I hiccupped on a sob as I shook my head. ‘Gus saved me.’

  They both nodded. ‘We saw, Mags,’ Sam said.

  My chest convulsed with sobs as Gus’s breathing became even more shallow. He passed me the laptop. ‘Whatever you type in here will go to a safe place, Mags. People will find it. Send them the message with everything you know about the antidote. Even if none of us make it out of here, the solution will.’ He pointed his shaking finger to another button. ‘Press here and enter the code when you want the world to know.’

  I blinked. ‘You don’t trust Pre-Evo.’ There was no way he’d have all of our intel set up and ready to go if he did.

  He swallowed painfully as my mom checked his wound quickly, then his pulse. ‘Much easier for them to lie than tell the truth. This is the system I originally set up.’

  ‘What’s the code?’ I whispered.

  He tried to smile. ‘The Maggieverse.’

  I nodded, clenching my jaw as I stroked the hair back from his face. ‘I’m so sorry, Gus. I failed you too.’

  He shook his head slightly. ‘Nah. Never think that. Might not be hanging around, but at least we’ve got what we came for.’

  Mom gave me a look that said it all.

  ‘You’re my best friend, Gus,’ I said, tears falling.

  He tried to smile. ‘Only friend.’

  I nodded, finding it hard to talk. ‘Love you always,’ I managed.

  He closed his eyes. ‘Love you back, Mags. Always have.’

  I bit down on a moan as Gus let out his last breath. I rocked him back and forth, repeating the cries: ‘Please don’t go. Please don’t leave me too.’

  I don’t know how much time had passed when Sam gently pulled me back.

  ‘He’s gone, Mags. He’s gone and you’re bleeding real bad.’ He started tying what looked like a ripped-up lab coat around my shoulder. I was numb to the pain now, even when he pulled the knot tight.

  ‘Sam?’ I said quietly, watching as Mom covered Gus with another lab coat. ‘Sam?’ I repeated, when he didn’t answer.

  ‘Yeah?’ he said, finishing the makeshift bandage on my shoulder.

  ‘You need to keep Mom safe.’ I t
ook a step back to assess my weapons. I was vaguely aware that my body hurt, but I had no energy to care about it. ‘The two guards are unconscious but alive by the door.’ I gestured to the one I’d hit in the nose. ‘He won’t be getting up anytime soon, but keep an eye on the other one.’ I handed him Gus’s gun and then patted down the unconscious guard, grabbing my taser first. But then I paused, put it back and found my gun instead. After another brief moment, I took the guard’s gun too.

  ‘Mags,’ Sam snapped, now following me around as I got organised. ‘You were on the ground taking your last breaths a few seconds ago, in case you’ve forgotten. What the hell do you think you’re doing?’

  ‘I’m going to find Quin,’ I said matter-of-factly.

  Sam gulped. ‘Quin? As in Quentin Mercer? What the hell does he have to do with all this?’

  ‘She loves him,’ my mother threw in, now joining us. When I raised my eyebrows, she smiled sadly. ‘I was listening.’

  I sighed, picking up Gus’s laptop. ‘Did you hear everything?’

  They nodded. ‘We just couldn’t be heard,’ Sam said.

  ‘So you know about the antidote?’

  ‘Kinda. I wasn’t really focusing on that part,’ Sam said.

  ‘I caught most of it,’ Mom offered, and I knew her medical background would help.

  I pointed to the still-open vault and the tray of vials on the desk. ‘I need you to type everything you know into this message box, including everything about the antidote.’

  ‘Is that it there?’ Mom asked, stepping up to the task.

  I nodded. ‘It can be swallowed or absorbed through the skin. If they can’t make enough with what’s there, tell them …’ I grabbed at my shoulder, noticing the blood had already soaked through the lab coat. ‘Tell them the formula is Dad’s disruption recipe mixed with an equal dose of pheromone secretions from a true match.’

  Mom and Sam froze, putting the pieces together. ‘But your father said you …’ She blinked and looked back at the antidote. ‘That’s you?’

  I looked down.

  ‘That’s why you’re going after him,’ Sam said. ‘He’s your true match.’

  I felt the tears brimming in my eyes. ‘They said he’s … but I have to see for myself. Can you get the message out and then stay here until help arrives?’

  Mom nodded even as she grabbed me, pulling me to her with a mother’s strength. ‘You don’t know he’s out there. How can you ask me to let you go? You’re my baby!’

  I eased myself out of her arms and stepped back, meeting her eyes. I hoped she would see my love for her along with the determination. ‘I’m not asking, Mom.’

  She gasped and I knew she saw the side of me that I’d always kept hidden from her. The part that could be cold and calculating. The part I got from my father.

  ‘Don’t open the door for anyone unless you’re sure you can trust them,’ I said.

  ‘And if no one comes?’ Sam asked.

  I swallowed, wishing there was a better answer. Wishing I could tell them I would be back. ‘If no one comes in the next half-hour, open the doors, stay armed and take the tunnels east. You heard Gus give me the password?’

  Sam nodded.

  ‘Good. Make sure you keep Gus’s laptop with you, and hidden from everyone else. If I can’t … Make sure that the file gets activated as soon as you’re away from here.’ They had heard enough and understood what I was saying. I pulled a hard-copy map out of my vest. ‘Use this.’

  Sam took the map, resting his hand on top of mine briefly before I hit the button to open the door to the decontamination chamber. When I met his eyes, I saw that he knew this was it.

  I half smiled at them. ‘At least I’ll know that, after all my failures, I helped in the end.’ I looked away as I added, ‘Don’t come after me.’

  They watched, conflicted but knowing they had to do as I asked. The antidote had to get out there and the world deserved the truth, otherwise it was all for nothing.

  ‘I love you guys. I’m so sorry I dragged you into this.’

  I hit the button for the door to shut. As it slid closed, I heard Sam call back, ‘We love you too, Mags.’

  It was a bittersweet goodbye.

  Thirty-two

  In the chamber I kept my back to the wall to remain hidden for as long as possible, holding the two fully loaded automatic guns ready as I waited for the doors to open.

  I knew there would be troops out there; already I could hear the muted sounds of rapid gunfire. The question was, how many? And would any of the good guys be there by now? And then it struck me: I was on the good side. A team.

  How the hell did I become a team player?

  Breathing deep, I ignored the pain in my shoulder and tried to refocus, reminding myself that in some small way, we had won. I might not get out of these tunnels alive and it might not be the victory we’d hoped for, but if I knew anything about Gus’s skills, it meant that right now Sam was sending a backup of the antidote information to a place where the right people would find it. We had the answers; they would not die down here with us.

  I closed my eyes and kept my concentration, opening them just as the doors began to part. Waiting until the last moment, I exited the chamber, guns at the ready.

  The side tunnels were still blocked off and the main tunnel was immersed in smoke. All that I could see in front of me were two M-Corp guards on their knees by the doors, obviously trying to rewire them and override Gus’s handiwork.

  Judging by the smiles on their faces, they thought the fact that the doors had just opened signalled their success. They clearly weren’t expecting me to come storming out and deliver two fast shots, hitting both of them in their thighs. They both collapsed to the ground, screaming out. But I was already moving into the thicket of smoke and their screams were quickly absorbed by the deafening sounds of gunfire.

  ‘Shit!’ I said as I ducked and ran, getting my hand on a wall and using that to guide me and keep me upright. I didn’t know how long I had left in me and I could barely see ten metres in front of me. A damn big problem, considering I had just stepped into a war zone.

  Bullets hit the wall nearby and I looked around to see where they had come from. The tunnel lights were all but out, and flashlights created random beams of white light against the smoke. I was able to make out the most of what was happening in the central zone. Which was basically a shit-fight.

  Shots were being fired and one set of troops was moving in on another. But for the life of me – with almost all dressed in black and faces covered by oxygen masks – I had no idea who was who.

  A lone figure far down the tunnel passed through a beam of light, and intrigue had me moving towards it.

  A shot rang out and I pushed ahead, still using the wall for support as I stumbled towards what I could now see was more than one person. They were further away than I’d first thought. On my way I passed an unusually short side tunnel and could see it opened to a nearby hub. As I neared the entrance, what I saw caused me to stop and stare. Below me the hub, which had the usual salad-bowl design, looked standard enough. What was different was that in the centre of the hub was a massive plastic structure, like a blown-up sphere, and within it stood hundreds of negs. I looked a little closer and noticed there was also a small group of guards sitting with their hands tied behind their backs.

  The containment shells had always been part of the plan, but seeing them in action, feeding clean oxygen into the bubble to ensure that no matter what gasses were activated the negs would not be ‘cleaned’ like my father had threatened – well, it made me want to fist-pump the air. It fleetingly occurred to me that I’d left behind my backpack – and the mask I’d packed – but obviously the air I was breathing at that moment was okay. And later … I was fairly certain there would be no ‘later’ for me.

  As I rounded the corner back into the main tunnel, I froze and almost lost my footing.

  There was more light down this end of the tunnel and I could see better, enou
gh at least to recognise Eliza Mercer standing with a gun raised, facing her husband, who was also armed.

  ‘I thought it would be easy,’ she said. ‘I thought that after all the terrible things you’ve done, pulling the trigger would be a relief.’ Her hand was shaking.

  ‘You can’t kill me, Eliza. After everything we’ve been through.’ He shook his head. ‘No. You won’t kill me.’

  ‘Are you sure you even know me, Garrett?’ she taunted, standing taller for the threat. And when she did, her eyes moved to the side and she saw me. Like the pro she was, she barely paused before looking back at him. But I saw her fingers spread and sensed her plea. I stayed where I was.

  ‘Our high ratings would suggest I’ve always been aware of your strength, if not always your activities.’

  She adjusted her stance. ‘I’ve never known how you managed not to go down in your ratings with me. After all this time and all you have done,’ she said.

  I could hear the satisfaction in his voice as he answered. ‘Because you and I are two of a kind, Eliza. I realise that now more than ever. We are willing to do whatever it takes to make the future right.’ He lowered his gun slightly. ‘I started rating negative with many people a long time ago, but there were always more that I rated well with because they want what I’m prepared to give them. A stronger world, with better people. I’m not the bad man you think I am, and you know that in your heart. We’re the same. That’s why our ratings have held.’

  She shook her head even as her arm wavered. I could feel her conviction slipping away.

  ‘You’re right,’ she said softly. ‘Maybe you aren’t the bad person I think you are. But I have to know for sure.’ She dropped her gun. I had to cover my mouth to stop from shouting out.

  Garrett’s arm was in the air before I’d taken a step. The shots came in rapid succession. Sharp. Loud. Then, in the echo, I heard Garrett Mercer sigh. ‘I’ll always love you, Eliza. But I will not die for you.’

  Eliza’s eyes flashed with surprise as she clutched her stomach and I realised she honestly believed he wouldn’t kill her, that somehow their love would be enough. She staggered and looked up, her eyes fixed on mine and I knew. She had the answer she needed. The answer she was willing to give her life for. And I knew what she was telling me.