by Leigh Walker
Morgan rushed to her side and brushed the hair back from her face. “Emma? Are you okay?”
Emma blinked. “What happened?” She gazed around the plane, her eyes coming to rest on Althea Remington. Then she turned to Morgan. “Am I dead? Is this hell?”
Morgan chuckled. “Not quite.”
Finn sat straight up, taking a wheezing, gasping breath and clutching his chest.
My heart did a somersault. “Finn!”
Travis was on him in an instant with a blood pressure cuff and EKG electrodes. Finn swiped them away. “Get off me!”
“Finn—Finn.” I clasped his hand. “It’s okay. He’s just trying to help.”
Finn was still breathing hard, his face white. “What happened?”
Josh sat forward. “We were in the warehouse, remember? And that lab worker spilled the contents of what he was working on. You and Emma both went down like that.” He snapped his fingers.
Finn’s brow furrowed. “We all made it? Did we complete the…” His question trailed off as his gaze came to rest on Althea. “Why is she alive?”
“I brought her as insurance,” Nicole said.
Finn tried to get off his cot. “She should be non-breathing insurance.”
“Hey—whoa.” I gently blocked him with my arm. “We have a plan. We don’t need to make her non-breathing just yet.”
Finn frowned as though that really wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
“We got what we came for,” Nicole said, trying to get him focused on the positive. “So we’ll be well prepared for our negotiations.” She tightened her grip on Althea a bit.
Finn didn’t look impressed. “We’ll see about that.”
Travis checked Finn and Emma’s vitals and drew their blood so he could run labs back at the base. Josh, Micah, and Rachel sat together, talking in low tones. Morgan stayed by Emma, and I stayed near Finn. Nicole, Maya, and Kyan kept Althea secured to the floor.
We’d only been in the air for an hour or so when the plane started to descend. I looked at Nicole, confused. “We’re landing already?”
She scowled at her watch then hit the intercom. “Have we started the landing process?”
“That’s affirmative,” The pilot responded, not saying another word.
Nicole composed her features and gave me a quick look, as though warning me to keep my mouth shut. Althea didn’t need to know we were confused about which base we were going to.
I blew out a long breath. The sooner we landed, the better. I just hoped we weren’t too late with the antidote to save my mother and Tess.
I wanted to ask Althea which vial contained the serum, but I didn’t. I was following Nicole’s lead on that one. She hadn’t asked for some reason, so neither would I.
The plane landed, and the pilot hopped out then came around to open the cargo door. We all peered outside, temporarily blinded by the bright sun.
“Wait,” Nicole said, looking outside, “this isn’t the base’s strip.”
The pilot nodded at her. “We were given different coordinates. Come on out, everyone. They’re waiting for you.”
We all looked at Nicole—including Althea—but Nicole didn’t look ruffled in the slightest. She straightened her jacket.
Damn, she’s got a good game face, I thought at Finn.
Be ready, he thought back.
I straightened my own jacket.
Finn tried to get up but Travis pushed him back onto the stretcher. “Not so fast, big guy. You’d go down like a ton of bricks.” Finn glared at him, but as Travis had just save his life, he kept his mouth shut.
We filed out of the plane. Maya and Kyan kept close to Nicole, helping with the prisoner. But Althea was no longer struggling. Back on her feet, she stood erect, her posture proud and perfect. Her complete lack of fear unnerved me.
Speaking of game faces, I thought.
Finn frowned. Unless she knows something we don’t.
My stomach sank. Still, I helped Travis get the stretchers off the plane. We placed Finn and Emma on the tarmac.
I looked around, trying to figure out where we were, but all I saw was the plane and the runway, which was bordered by trees.
Travis carefully arranged the blankets around Emma, but kept his distance from Finn. “They’ll need to go to the med center. I’ll have these labs run, but they both need to rest. We need to make sure the toxins are completely out of their systems.”
I reached for his hand and shook it. “Thank you for saving them.”
He smiled, his handsome face tired and worried beneath his crew cut. “I have the vials in this case.”
“Give them to Morgan and Riley,” Nicole instructed.
We took the case, and warmth bloomed in my chest. What’s in here can save my mom and Tess. I hope.
Althea eyed the red case, her gaze traveling from it to me, then to Finn, then to the rest of the group. “It’s been interesting to meet you.”
No one said a word. Kyan openly stared at her, a baffled look on his face.
Althea stared back. “What is it you can do again?”
“I… Uh…” He ran a hand through his hair, making it flop the way he liked.
“Don’t answer that,” Nicole snapped. She turned to the pilot. “Can you tell me where we are and who’s supposed to meet us?”
“We’re at an off-site location.” He motioned down the runway. “And here they are.”
A fleet of jeeps, SUVs, and an ambulance came flying toward us. They parked, and Nora got out of the first car.
Dr. Rharr got out of the second.
Cranston got out of the third.
We all looked at each other, stupefied.
Nora came forward, an unusually wide smile on her face as she saw who we’d brought back. Her gaze landed directly on Althea.
Althea stared right back, unflinching.
“Nora!” I waved my arms to get her attention. “How’s my mom and Tess?”
The smile slid off her face. “Not now, Riley.” She dismissed me as if I were some low-level barnacle that needed to be scraped from her sandal, as if my mom and Tess’s lives weren’t hanging in the balance.
Nora turned to her daughter, and the smile returned. “Nicole, well done.”
“We completed all the missives.” A note of pride crept into Nicole’s voice. “I have everything you asked for. And more.”
The admiral nodded. “Clearly. Ride with me and bring her.” She turned on her heel and hustled toward the car.
Nicole caught my eye. “I’ll find out about your mom and Tess.” She took Althea by the arm and led her down the tarmac. We stared at them, shocked, as they followed Nora.
“Um… Why aren’t they surrounding Althea with guns and a bajillion soldiers?” Emma asked, keeping her voice low.
“I don’t get it.” Maya fidgeted, watching as Nora, Nicole, and Althea climbed into the back of the waiting SUV. “Althea’s being treated like she’s got backstage passes at a concert, not like the most wanted person alive.”
Micah frowned as he watched. “This makes no sense. She’s public enemy number one.”
Josh, Rachel, and Morgan all had grim looks on their faces as the SUV sped away. But Finn’s expression was the worst. Already pale, his pinched face turned white with rage.
“Where do you think they’re going?” Rachel asked.
Morgan shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m literally blown away right now, and I don’t expect much out of Nora to begin with.”
Dr. Rharr and Cranston started heading toward us.
“On to other pressing issues—what the hell is Cranston doing out of jail?” Josh asked.
No one even tried to answer.
Dr. Rharr came forward, paramedics rushing in behind her. They hustled to Finn and Emma, adjusting their IVs and checking their vitals. “Get them in the ambulance. We’re leaving in T minus five. Riley, Rachel, you come too. I need to check you.”
“Do you know anything about my mom or Tess?” I asked.
He’d always been tall and lean, but he looked thinner, as though maybe he hadn’t been fed so well in the brig.
“Out of my way, people,” he barked, his silver crew cut glinting in the sunlight. Kyan and Micah had to literally jump out of his path, lest they become roadkill.
Cranston stopped at Morgan. “That case is mine.”
“Hello to you too, sir.” She didn’t let go of the case.
“That’s an order, soldier. Hand it over.”
Morgan looked around, unsure.
“Do as the sergeant says.” Dr. Rharr arched an eyebrow at Morgan. “Nora didn’t spring him from his cell and bring him out here on accident, now, did she?”
Morgan frowned, but she gave in and handed over the case.
Cranston didn’t bother to thank her. He nodded at Travis. “You’re familiar with the contents of this case?”
Travis shrugged. “A little.”
“Then you’re coming with me,” Cranston snapped. He motioned for Travis to follow him back to the car. “Let’s move it, soldier.”
Rachel and I followed Dr. Rharr to the ambulance, but not before I gave my teammates one last, perplexed look.
What the hell had we come back to?
The ambulance flew down the runway. I didn’t say a word while Dr. Rharr checked Finn and Emma.
“Where are we?” Rachel asked one of the paramedics.
“We’re at—”
“We’re at none of your business,” Dr. Rharr interrupted. “It’s a base closer to where your assignment was. You don’t need to know where it is. It’s safer if you don’t.”
“Okay…” But Rachel didn’t sound as though she meant it in the slightest.
“Are they going to be all right?” I asked. Both Finn and Emma were awake but uncharacteristically silent.
That’s because I feel like I’m going to pass out, Hanover, Finn thought into my head. He jerked his thumb at Emma, whose lips were white. “And she’s even worse.”
“Am not,” she mumbled, but her eyes couldn’t seem to focus.
“Is that normal?” I asked Dr. Rharr.
“Absolutely, based on what I know about lead poisoning. The toxins are draining from their systems, but what they both need is to sleep. So don’t bother them.” She scowled at me. “And let me check your dressing.”
I bit my lip as she unzipped my jacket and pulled my shirt down. “Riley Payne, you ripped this thing wide open!” She continued to remonstrate me as she put antiseptic on a pad and re-cleaned the wound. “I am going to have to redo this whole suture.” Disgusted with me, Dr. Rharr finished cleaning my wound then moved onto examining Rachel.
At least I get to stay with you in the med ward, I thought at Finn.
His eyes fluttered closed. Don’t let me sleep too long. And whatever happens, let’s stay together.
15
Duplicity
Once we were inside the building, I looked for any indication of our location. I found nothing. The building was smaller and more quiet than the previous base, but it looked the same. There was a similar war-room setup, a great open space filled with computers and maps and people working.
I wondered if any of them knew that Althea Remington was in the building. I wondered what they would say.
I kept my head down and stayed close to Finn and the others as we were brought to the med ward. A friendly nurse inserted another IV into my arm while I tried to think happy thoughts. Worried about my mom, I came up pretty blank and almost passed out.
Dr. Rharr bustled nearby, gathering supplies to reclose my wound. She muttered to herself as she worked. I made out a string of complaints that sounded like ungrateful, immature, reckless, and lucky to be alive.
“I hope my mom and Tess are still alive.” I didn’t know if I was talking to Dr. Rharr or to myself. “We got the antidote back.”
“Good on you.” She didn’t miss a beat as she numbed the area to be restitched. “That’s great news.”
“And you know that was Althea Remington, right? Back on the runway?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking. It was like Althea had been the elephant on the tarmac, and no one had said a word.
Dr. Rharr stared at me. “Do you think I’m blind? Of course I know that was Althea Remington!”
“But you didn’t say anything,” I mumbled. “No one said anything.”
“Are you looking for a pat on the back, soldier?”
I shrugged. “No. Maybe. Actually, I’m just looking for a pulse check.”
Dr. Rharr frowned and reached for my wrist. She started counting and I rolled my eyes. “I don’t mean a literal pulse check!”
She dropped my wrist, disgusted. “Please speak adult.”
“What I mean is, I think it’s a super-big deal that we captured Althea Remington.”
“It is. Nora was certainly pleased about it.”
“But no one made a big deal. And I’m not talking about making a big deal about us for capturing her—I mean making a big deal about her. There was no security. No one pulled a weapon on her. I didn’t see any armed guards in that car. No one even blinked when she just drove away with Nicole and Nora.”
I winced as Dr. Rharr started redoing my stitches. I couldn’t feel anything, but still.
“You doing all right?”
“Yeah. You know I’m not a medical person.”
“Oh, I know.” She was quiet for a moment while she worked. “About Althea… I can’t purport to know what they’re doing at Nora’s level. But I know they have a plan, and I trust them enough to just let it go, to believe that everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.”
“I can’t do that.” I might have been foolish for being so blatant in front of her, but for some reason, I felt as though I could trust Dr. Rharr.
“That’s because they screwed you over for a long time,” she said matter-of-factly.
Ah. That was why I couldn’t stop myself from talking. Dr. Rharr was largely no-bullshit, and I wanted to hear what she thought about all this.
“I haven’t been with The Division for that long,” I said. “Maybe too much has happened, and I just have whiplash from it. I don’t know what they’re going to do next.”
“I can see that. And then you have the whole thing about your family. Your dad, your sister, and now your mother’s sick and in custody.”
I blew out a deep breath, adrenaline thrumming through me. “Are you almost done?” I refused to look down at the stitches in progress.
She nodded.
“Good. Because I need to find out what’s going on.”
But I didn’t leave the med ward after Dr. Rharr finished with me. True to my word, I stayed by Finn’s side. He slept fitfully, moaning and occasionally thrashing in his sleep.
Emma, on the other hand, hadn’t moved. She slept like the dead.
“Is that normal?” I asked the nurse. “Are they both really okay?”
She nodded. “We gave them each something to further flush the lead out. They’re just working the toxins out of their systems. They should wake up soon.”
I grabbed Finn’s hand and waited. Whatever lay in front of us, we would face it together. I fretted, wondering where the vials were and if the lab workers had already isolated the antidote. I wondered if my mother was still alive. They would tell me if she wasn’t, wouldn’t they?
Wouldn’t they?
My thoughts skidded away from the question, landing instead on the topic of Althea Remington. Where was she? Were they interrogating her? Torturing her?
Or was something else altogether going on?
I laid my head back against the chair, my eyes growing heavy. Even though I had a million questions, my adrenaline had
spiked, and now I was crashing. The exhaustion was winning. I closed my eyes, letting my mind drift. At least Nicole was with them, I reasoned. At least I hoped she was still with them.
I must’ve drifted off for a few minutes because the next thing I knew, someone was shaking me awake. “Hanover.”
I snapped my eyes open and was met with Finn’s glorious face in mine. I rubbed my eyes, trying to wake up. “You look so much better.” His color had returned, and his eyes were no longer glassy.
I sat up. “Is Emma awake?”
He shook his head. “Not yet.”
His IV had been removed. Its plastic line dangled haphazardly from the machine. “I’m guessing you’re discharging yourself?”
He slid his sneakers on and laced them up. “Let’s get out of here before Dr. Rharr comes back and raises holy hell.”
“Are you sure you feel good enough to be doing this?”
“I’m fine.” He winced when he sat back up, but I knew there was no arguing with him.
“What about Emma?”
“She’ll be fine. She’s still sleeping it off.” He held his hand out for me. “C’mon. Let’s go find out what, if anything, they’ve done with the antidote.”
And Althea Remington, I reminded him.
He snorted. “Yeah, and her too.”
We headed down the hallway, hand in hand, not making eye contact with any of the base personnel. If they had questions, they could ask someone else.
“Not only does Althea know what I can do, she’s seen it up close and personal.” I kept my voice low. “She had me direct the antidote vapors into your nostrils.”
He winced. “That’s not good.”
“And I sort of very stupidly admitted that I was the one who killed her favorite pet soldier.”
He groaned. “That’s really not good. What were you thinking?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. I guess I just wanted her to know that she’s not the only one with power. I might just be a kid, but I can hurt her.” I looked at him. “She’s just so frickin’ smug. I want to wipe it right off her face, along with all that expertly applied makeup.”
Finn nodded. “I get it.”
I’d been expecting a lecture. “You do?”