Divination

by Leigh Walker

  “But did you know, even back then, that Nora might hurt him?”

  “I wasn’t sure about the particulars. But I knew enough about myself to know that I was dangerous to be involved with.” We saw the others in the adjacent field, and Nicole stopped walking. “I know you have Finn to think about, so you might understand this better than most.” She put her hands on her hips and exhaled deeply, staring out at the fields surrounding us. “I love Trey so much, I would literally do anything for him. I would die for him. I wouldn’t even think about it. And I didn’t want my mother, or any of the other people involved in the government, to know that because I knew they’d do something like this.”

  “You knew they’d use him against you?”

  “Yes.” She cursed under her breath. “I can’t believe I let her blindside me just now. Two years ago, I knew she could hurt him. That’s why I broke it off. But I guess I thought she was so busy trying to save the world, maybe she’d grown up a little…” Nicole snorted. “My mother is the child. A petulant, tantrum-prone child.”

  “I still don’t understand about Trey, though. Why now? You’re committed to our team and to this mission. You’ve proved that you’re ready to lead. Why is she doing this to you?”

  The muscle in Nicole’s jaw jumped. “That’s the question, isn’t it? And I’m afraid it means something very, very bad about the government’s intentions. I believe what they’ve done—to me, and you, and Finn—is because they’re about to pull a shit show, and they want us to comply no matter what.”

  I opened my mouth then closed it. I had no idea what to say.

  “C’mon. Let’s get to cover before our girl talk gets us captured by Althea Remington.”

  I hustled after her, feeling more worried than ever.

  We’d waited to do the briefing until we landed. Nicole said that was for our protection, in case we were intercepted on the way in. But we’d made it—to the perimeter at least. Sitting in the scrubby woods outside of the compound, we reviewed the plans before moving out.

  Finn whipped out his tablet and started pulling logistics. “She has the entire campus secured.” He showed us a satellite map of several buildings surrounded by a fence. “I think most of her team’s relocated to this outpost. Management’s report says there’s over five hundred people. It’s not going to be crappy security like at the prison. This is more like a fortress.”

  “What sort of compound is it?” Maya asked.

  Finn enlarged the picture of the main building so we could see it. The sign read SVA SYSTEMS. “It’s an office park. It was for a government contractor that built biotechnology equipment. So the existing setup and security was decent to begin with.”

  Maya peered at the map. “Do we know which building they’re in?”

  “Here.” Nicole tapped the screen, enlarging one of the buildings in the rear that looked like a warehouse. “Management believes they’re using the warehouse space to mass-manufacture the virus, or the artificial intelligence, or both.”

  “How are we handling the recon?” Micah asked.

  “I know you guys don’t like to split up, but we’re doing this in waves,” Nicole said. Whatever she really felt about Management, she was all-business at the moment, focused and determined to get into the campus.

  “Josh, Emma, Finn, you’re the first wave. You’re going to identify potential areas of weakness. Rachel and I will be right behind you to back you up. We’ll take care of any threats. Riley and Kyan, you’re the second wave—you’re going in and heading wherever we point you. Micah and the twins, you’re last. You make sure no one sneaks up on us. Everyone, you have direct orders to shoot on sight. We’re in and we’re out, no witnesses.”

  Nicole rose to her formidable height and dusted off her clothes. “The plane’s coming back for us. Whatever happens, get out and get back to the drop spot. But we have to have the serum, and we have to get C-fab’s original chips. We don’t care about the computers and the data. We just need to get in and get out. I can reverse-engineer just about anything.”

  I raised my hand. “Are we also getting Althea? Do we want her dead or alive?”

  “Nora wants her alive. I, on the other hand, have my own opinion on the matter.” Nicole frowned. “If you see her, you have my permission to shoot. I’ll deal with the consequences. Now, let’s get in there. Bring your A-Game, soldiers. Our families’ lives depend on it.”

  10

  While The Getting’s Good

  While we made our final preparations, Finn approached Nicole. “I don’t mean to seem insubordinate, but I want to be with Riley during the raid.”

  “I understand that, but I’ve set the team up this way to maximize not only our effectiveness, but also our protection of her. I’ve got her covered, Finn. I’m not going to let anything happen to her.”

  Finn’s eyes flashed. “I don’t want us to be separated.”

  Nicole reached out and squeezed his arm. “I understand. But I need you in the front for this mission. If we want to end this, we have to perform.” They stared at each other for a beat. “I know you’re not okay with this, but this is the plan. Get ready, Finn.”

  His gaze flicked to me. Don’t be a hero in there.

  I arched an eyebrow. I love it when you’re bossy.

  He growled inside my head, then turned back to Nicole. “I can hear them inside the warehouse. The third shift is getting ready to change over. We should head in—this is the perfect time.”

  “Thank you.” Nicole motioned for everyone to come close. “We’re prepared for this. We know what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. Execute the mission and do not waver. Meet back at the drop spot. And no one on the team gets left behind. Let’s moat the hell out of each other, okay?”

  Morgan nodded then reached for her sister’s hand. “Let’s do it.”

  “Let’s go.” Micah shrugged. “Not like we have anything better to do.”

  Kyan snorted as he adjusted his jacket. It was a relief to see him in something other than his signature tank top. “I could easily make other plans.” He gazed back toward the fields. I didn’t have to be telepathic to know he meant like run the hell away from here.

  I grabbed his hand. “Not just yet. We need you.”

  He snorted and pushed his bangs back from his face, but I knew him well enough to know he was pleased with the compliment.

  Finn got up in Kyan’s face. “Do not let anything happen to her.” He jabbed a finger in my direction. “Got it?”

  “I like it better when you use your manners, but yes.” Kyan fluttered his eyelashes at Finn.

  Finn strung together several curse words under his breath as he turned away from Kyan. He jabbed a finger toward me again. “And you. You… You do not die.”

  “I won’t. I’ll die some other time.” I reached for his hand and squeezed it. “You die another day too, okay?”

  He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Okay.” He squeezed my hand back then went to join Emma and Josh.

  “Put your weapons in silent mode,” Nicole instructed. “And let’s move out in three, two, one.”

  Kyan and I hung back as directed. Finn, Emma, and Josh went first, then Rachel and Nicole a minute later.

  We waited until they were out of sight to follow.

  They had blasted the chains on the gate open. My heart thudded, blood rushing in my ears, as we crept through. Dead guards littered the entrance to the compound. The others had worked silently and quickly to clear Althea’s perimeter watch. Kyan and I dragged the bodies to the wall, hiding them behind some grounds equipment. In the semi-darkness, I didn’t count the dead. I didn’t want to know how many there were.

  I just crouched, moving forward when Nicole and Rachel gave us the sign.

  We crept toward the warehouse, seeing more dead bodies scattered as we went. Either Finn and his crew had killed the guards, or Nicole and Rachel had. But no one had been spared, and it was eerily silent. Kyan and I moved along buildings, practically hold
ing our breath. The quiet unnerved me. Or maybe it was all the dead bodies I had to keep stepping over that I found unsettling.

  The front of the building came into view. The doors were closed, but I guessed that Nicole and Rachel wanted it that way. They wanted everything to appear normal from a distance.

  I looked at Kyan, and he nodded.

  We ran for it.

  He went inside first, wedging the door open a crack and slipping through, staying close to the ground. I followed suit, praying but not even knowing what I was praying for.

  I followed Kyan to a dark corner of the room, where we crouched, undetected. I hadn’t known what to expect, but workers in hazmat suits going about their business hadn’t been it. It looked like no one from our team had been in here. The workers were busy with their routine. They hadn’t heard the guards get blasted outside, and they didn’t see us. Where is Finn and everyone else?

  Kyan put a finger to his lips then pointed to a set of stairs at the side of the building. “Nicole,” he mouthed.

  We crept up the stairs and saw the evidence that our team had come through—more dead guards littered the landing. We stepped over them and headed down a dimly lit hallway.

  I didn’t know where the others were, but following the trail they’d left would have to be good enough. We passed several rooms, and I peered into them. In one, glass encasements held multiple beakers that swayed back and forth. Petri dishes cooked under carefully positioned heat lamps. The lab.

  I pulled on Kyan’s sleeve, stopping him. I pointed through the window, but he shook his head, motioning toward the far end of the hall. A door farther down was half open, with a pair of legs sticking through. That was where they were.

  I held up my finger. “One second,” I mouthed. “Keep watch.”

  I didn’t know what was in any of the containers in the lab, but I was going to get them while the getting was good. One thing I was certain of was that I wasn’t coming back to this frickin’ warehouse, and I wasn’t leaving empty-handed.

  I made sure the petri dishes had tight-fitting covers before I shoved them into my bag. Then I grabbed the glass enclosure, disrupting the swaying test tubes. I opened the top of the box and grabbed the tubes, making sure they were capped.

  “Any day now!” Kyan hiss-whispered from the doorway.

  “I’m coming.” We crept silently down to the door that was cracked open. We crouched outside, and Kyan looked through the crack and nodded. He stepped over the body and went inside. Taking a deep breath, I followed.

  It was another lab, but this one appeared to be more mechanical than organic. Computer screens illuminated the room in an eerie glow. I looked down—more bodies littered the floor. These weren’t guards; they were dressed in lab coats.

  Nicole worked furiously at one of the lab tables, disassembling some sort of cube. Rachel was farther down the table, carefully wrapping several items with soft padding and arranging them neatly inside her backpack.

  “Where are Finn and the others?” I whispered.

  Nicole didn’t look up. “They went down the back set of stairs. The first level is where they’re producing the virus and the antidote. At least, I hope they’re producing the antidote. That’s why they had protective gear on downstairs.” She briefly looked up. “You need to be careful down there and make sure that you don’t break any vials or get any liquid in the air. I don’t know what will happen if you do.”

  I motioned to the tables. “Is this the AI stuff?”

  Nicole nodded, getting back to her cube. “They locked the chips up in here somehow, and I’m trying to figure out how to unlatch this so we don’t have to take it with us. I don’t know what it is or what it does, and I don’t want to find out.”

  “Okay.” I was antsy to see Finn and make sure he was all right. “We’re going to go after them. Hopefully Micah and the twins are inside now.”

  “We’ll see you down there.” Rachel looked over her shoulder. “Look out for Josh for me, okay?”

  I nodded. “I will. We’ll meet you outside, then?”

  Nicole took a deep breath and blew it out. “Yes, keep going. I need to figure this out.”

  Kyan and I left them to it. We crept down the back stairs, pressing ourselves against the wall and listening.

  “I can’t hear anything.” I kept my voice so low, I was worried that Kyan wouldn’t be able to hear me.

  “Me either. But let’s hope that’s good news.” Kyan moved silently down the stairs, two at a time. I struggled to keep pace. For someone who could be so jarringly loud annoying, he could be pretty stealthy. He reached the bottom of the stairs, stepping over another pile of dead guards and peering around the corner.

  Then he clapped a hand over his mouth, stifling a silent scream.

  11

  Eyes On The Prize

  I threw myself down the stairs so fast, I practically knocked Kyan over when I got to the bottom. I stared out at the first floor of the warehouse, momentarily stunned. The scene was out of a nightmare.

  Then I ran for it, with Kyan right on my heels.

  We passed the workers. They weren’t dead, but Josh had done something to them. They sat, hazmat suits still on, in a circle on the floor, swaying slightly. But that wasn’t what had me running. They didn’t even look up at us as we sprinted past.

  Finn and Emma were sprawled out together in the middle of the floor, limbs askew, while Josh stood at the assembly line, almost hysterically picking up different vials and putting them down way too harshly.

  I ran to Finn and Emma. They were both inert, their eyes wide open. Oh no, you don’t! Don’t you dare leave me! I checked their pulses, both of which were weak.

  “They’re alive,” I croaked. The lab workers didn’t even flinch at the sound of my voice. “Josh, what the hell?”

  “They inhaled something.” Josh picked up another test tube, squinted at the label, and slammed it back down.

  “Josh,” Kyan said, “easy with those things!”

  Josh cursed as he read the label on another tube. “I don’t know what the hell any of this means. I don’t know which ones to take.”

  I gripped Finn’s hand. “Take all of them! And tell me what happened.”

  “We came down the stairs, killed the guards in the back, and walked right up to the assembly line. We surprised one of the workers.” Josh ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up in wild spikes. “He jerked back, and his test tube spilled out. Whatever was in there turned to fumes. Emma and Finn went down like stones.”

  “Nicole said not to spill the tubes.”

  “It’s not like we spilled it on purpose—”

  “No, I mean the ones you’re handling now. Collect all of them, but do it carefully.” I snapped into boss mode. “How long can your empathy hold the workers?”

  He shook his head as he gathered the test tubes, moving more carefully now. “They’ll snap out of it as soon as we leave.”

  I nodded at Kyan. Without hesitation, he took out his weapon and blasted each of the workers. Their bodies slumped to the floor.

  Josh went pale. “Jesus.”

  “Rachel’s upstairs. They’re coming down soon—we need to protect them.” I needed to keep him focused on what mattered. Like me, Josh struggled with the violence of what we did. But this wasn’t the time for an internal moral battle. My boyfriend and my best friend were on the ground, and they looked as though they might not make it.

  I hoisted Emma up and started dragging her toward the door. “Kyan, help me get them out of here.”

  Kyan grabbed Finn underneath his arms. “We might want to get telekinetic with this. What’re we going to do if we have to fight out there?” He looked at Josh, who was shakily finishing packing up the vials.

  “Take Emma for me.” I motioned to Josh. “Josh, you take Finn. I’ll handle anyone who gets in our way.”

  Josh nodded. He slipped the backpack straps over his shoulders and gently grabbed Finn. “Let’s get them out of here.”
>
  The sun was breaking over the horizon by the time we got back outside. Curse word that rhymes with truck. Now the dead bodies were plainly visible, and so were we. There was no use trying to hide in the harsh light of day.

  Still, we stayed low. I kept my blaster out, on point. Kyan dragged Emma behind me. I’d considered telekinetically lifting her and Finn, but if there were shots fired, they would be too vulnerable. I couldn’t risk it.

  Josh grunted behind me. Emma was tiny, but Finn was huge, two hundred pounds of pure muscle. Josh struggled to drag him while trying to move across the yard as quickly as possible.

  For all of our concerns about increased security, we only encountered two small groups of guards on our way back to the fence. I blasted all of them reflexively, and without looking back.

  I tried not to think about it.

  We dragged Emma and Finn into the scrubby woods but saw no sign of the others. Josh arranged Finn carefully then sank down beside him, breathing hard. “Jesus, he’s a heavy bastard.”

  I checked Finn’s pulse again, then Emma’s. Both were weak. “It’s weird that they just collapsed like that. I don’t understand.”

  “Speaking of weird”—Kyan crouched near us—“why aren’t their hundreds of heavily armed guards trying to kill us right now?”

  Josh scrubbed a hand over his face. “Finn killed everyone we saw. Did you see all the dead guards? I counted thirty. Thirty.”

  I swallowed hard. I hadn’t kept track on purpose.

  Josh shook his head. “He was like a rage monster. I’ve never seen him like that.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  He sighed. “Usually he tries to find another way. Usually he listens in on them first, to see if they’re going to shoot us automatically. But this time he didn’t. He just killed every guard he saw.”

  I gripped Finn’s hand, which was cold and inert beneath mine. “He wants to save his sister.”