by Leigh Walker
“That’s her game. She wants to keep it all to herself. Always has, that one.”
I wondered if Nora was working alone or if she had the entire government’s backing. But my brain refused to accept that my government had sanctioned killing our own people.
I concentrated on keeping Althea in one place as we eyed each other.
“Why do you want more people to die? You’ve killed enough, don’t you think?” I shivered, remembering when we’d visited Phoenix. Its skyscrapers had been leveled to dust, and its people decimated. Althea had ended so many lives.
“I believe there’s still too many left. We need a total reset. The earth has been scorched—it might already be too late. I’m saying this from a purely scientific standpoint. I take no pleasure in harming others. But as a scientist, I could no longer stand by and watch the earth be sacrificed in the name of corporate greed and the collective ignorance and laziness of the citizens of the world.”
I sighed. “I believe in protecting the environment, but nothing in me agrees with the choices you’ve made. You played God and executioner. Who gave you the right?”
Althea stared at me. “You think you’re the first to ask me such questions? Do you think I chose to do any of this lightly?”
“No. I think you did it because you’re still broken and grieving over your son.”
She glared at me, her eyes a mixture of fire and ice. “You are not a mother. You do not judge a mother, especially one who has lost a child. You have no idea what it’s like.”
I swallowed hard. “I lost my father. And my sister. The Division killed them. My sister was in high school. She was smart and beautiful and had everything to look forward to.” My eyes stung with tears. “So I’m not a mother, but I’m a sister and a daughter. I lost people I love. I know exactly what it’s like to lose someone when they’re young, too young.”
Althea’s lips twisted. “I always tell my recruits the same thing so they understand: in the long run, we are saving lives. We couldn’t keep going on like this. My son—my baby son—died because of toxins in the environment. You think I’m a monster, an executioner, but I’m doing the world a kindness. I’m saving people, other parents, from what I went through. Do you think people really want to live to see our own species die out?”
“We can change the direction we’re going in—”
“Oh really?” Althea arched an eyebrow. “You want to tell that to the pangolin or the northern white rhino? You want to tell that to my son? You can’t because they’re dead. They’re all dead. Humans are so very shortsighted. They see only what their beliefs allow them to see. Death is all around them, and yet they worry about finding their favorite brand of cookies on sale at Walmart and whether or not they’ll be able to binge-watch every episode of Pretty Little Liars before it’s off Netflix.” She shook her head. “No one wants to take responsibility. Everyone just wants their cookies and their Netflix. You ought to thank me. Shame on you!”
I stood there, gaping. I almost said I was sorry. She was that good.
Finn walked in, carrying the guards’ uniforms and weapons. He took one look at Althea and me and sighed. “Bring her down. I’ll take her from here—you look like she’s getting to you.”
My eyes filled with tears. “They’re going to kill them. All of them.”
“Not if we save them first.” Finn reached for my hand and squeezed it. “Let’s go, Ri. Bring the snake charmer down. I might even put her in a toga. That’s just the kind of mood I’m in.”
I lowered Althea closer to the ground. I could feel her eyes on me as she hovered above the concrete floor.
So I dropped her. Hard.
22
Friends Upstairs
“You’re really sticking your landings,” Finn said in approval. He yanked Althea up and cuffed her wrists behind her back. Then he put her in a nearby chair. “Don’t move.” He turned to me, ignoring her side-eye. “I put the guards in the cells.”
“What about the lab worker?” I asked.
Finn shrugged. “She’s staying. She said she’s too scared to come out. So I unlocked her door, but the rest is up to her.”
He grabbed the uniforms and tossed me one. “That’s going to be huge on you, so just cuff the pants and roll up the sleeves.”
We started changing quickly. “Are you worried they’re going to try and stop us?”
“I don’t know. But I figured there’d be less questions if we dressed the part.”
“How are we going to get out of here?”
Finn buttoned up his jacket. I tried to stop ogling how hot he looked in uniform. “We’re going to fly.”
I stopped ogling. “How?”
“We’re going to start the helicopter’s engine and take off.”
“We’re?” I pointed to him, then me. “As in, we are? Us?”
Althea watched us with interest.
I pointed at her. “What’re we doing with this one?”
Finn grinned at me, flashing his dimple. “I haven’t decided yet. But I’m enjoying imagining the different possibilities.”
Althea opened her mouth to speak, but Finn held out a hand to stop her. “Don’t spoil the moment. Please.”
I cuffed my pants and rolled the sleeves of my jacket, but the uniform still hung off me. “I’m ready.” I was so not ready. “Forget about the helicopter for now. What’s the plan to get out of here?”
Finn finished buttoning his jacket then grabbed Althea. He pointed his blaster directly into her back. “This is how this works. We are going to leave the building. Althea here is not going to say a word to anyone we pass, except exchanges that are socially appropriate, like ‘We have everything we need’ and ‘My passengers are waiting for me.’ That’s it.” He shoved the blaster against her. “Got it?”
“No one will dare speak to us. They’re petrified of me.” She glanced over her shoulder at Finn. “You can thank me later. When you’re in your toga.”
Finn shook his head. “I can see how you’ve come so far. You’ve just worn everybody right out, haven’t you?” He shoved her ahead. “Let’s get going.”
“You should bring that equipment. You’ll want it for bargaining power.”
Finn turned around and shot the pile. Then he shot it again. And again. The beakers shattered, and the hard drive started to smoke.
“No one needs an army of clones, especially not you. Now move.”
Althea’s gaze sought mine. “Remember what I said about men, still thinking they’re in charge?”
“Please don’t talk to me.” I shook my head. “You just had me thinking I deserved to die because the pangolin’s about to become extinct.”
“I do have a point, though, young lady. And you know it.” Again, supreme confidence smoothed her features with a patina of vast superiority.
I turned away. Finn was right—she was like a snake charmer. All her pretty hair and moral superiority had me gobsmacked. I vowed not to look at her again.
“Do you remember the way?” Finn asked.
I nodded, taking the lead. “Let’s do this.”
We passed no one as we made our way back up to the conference room. Then we turned down the hall with the potted plants and tasteful lighting. Finally we reached the bright and airy lobby.
The receptionist trembled slightly as she rose and bowed to Althea. “Your M-majesty.”
“He has a gun to my back,” Althea roared. “Hit the panic button!”
Frozen, the receptionist just stood there.
I used her moment of hesitation to yank her into the air. She shrieked as she floated above us.
“Keep it down, or you’re dead,” I said flatly. “Who do you call when you use the panic button?”
The woman looked briefly at Althea.
“Answer me. She can’t help you.”
The receptionist blew out a shaky breath. “It calls the admiral.”
I brought her back down to her desk. She landed abruptly on her feet and straightened her
stupid skirt suit.
“Do you work for the admiral?”
She blinked at me. “I work for The Division, just like you.”
“Good to know.” I grabbed her. “You’re coming with us.”
Her jaw dropped as I hustled her through the lobby.
Finn glanced at me. Why are we bringing more dead weight with us?
I’m keeping her away from her button, I thought-spoke back. Go with it.
We climbed the stairs. The helicopter waited, black, sleek, and insidious-looking.
Finn grinned. You only think it’s insidious because I’m about to fly that bad boy out of here.
I blinked at Finn then sighed. “Are you sure you know how?”
He shrugged. “You’re my PMF, babe. I’m going to get you out of here.”
Althea glanced back in his direction. “Has anyone ever told you two that you’re mildly disgusting?”
“Shut up,” we said in unison.
“See? That’s what I mean,” she mumbled.
I opened the helicopter doors, and the donors peered out at us. They were each handcuffed to the interior. “Change of plans?” the man asked.
“No. This was my plan all along. I just didn’t know if it was going to work.” I shoved the receptionist inside and buckled her up then got in her face. “You try and run, you die. Understand?”
She nodded mutely.
I closed my eyes and mentally unlocked the donors’ handcuffs. They clattered to the floor of the copter. I held out my hand to the man. “Riley Payne. From The Division. Or at least, I was from The Division. I don’t know what the heck I am anymore.”
“I’m Ed.” His handshake was firm. “This is Beth. It’s nice to meet you.”
“I’m Jennifer,” the receptionist muttered, “if anyone cares.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Jennifer.” Ed smiled at her, then at me. “And Riley, what an honor. We were told to watch for you, but you never know what’s going to happen. It’s crazy times we live in.”
Finn shoved Althea in across from them and unceremoniously buckled her in, tightening her seatbelt for good measure. Jennifer cowered away from Althea, but Beth and Ed shook their heads in her direction as though they disapproved.
Finn hopped into the pilot’s seat. I warily took the protective earphones he gave me and placed a pair first over Althea’s head and then over Jennifer’s. I handed two more sets to Beth and Ed.
Ed grinned at me, his eyes huge. He looked as excited as a five-year-old about to ride a Ferris wheel. “Where are we going? I can’t wait to get the heck out of here!”
Finn turned around. “Back to the base. But before I fire her up and we can’t hear anything for a while, we need to ask you some questions.”
“I can tell you everything you need to know.” Beth sat forward. Again, I felt jolted—there was something so familiar about her, yet she was a stranger to me. “Ed and I are two of The Division’s original donors. We are also both top-level government scientists. I have a degree from MIT. They picked up Ed from Caltech. They asked everyone in our department if we’d agree to take a general health physical. Turns out, they were testing for advanced brain development. They were looking for people to join the program, to create your team.”
“Why were you chosen?” I asked.
“Ed and I both have latent psychic powers.”
“Can either of you do anything?” Finn asked.
Beth shook her head. “No.”
“You didn’t know you were special until they screened you?” I asked.
“No, neither of us had any idea. But latent powers are more common than you might think. Human brains are quite large, one hundred billion neurons of vast potential. The government was able to draft enough donors from their internal testing to start the harvesting program. But none of the donors had powers we could use—we just had the coding for it. There’s a lot of people out there like that.”
Finn nodded. “Please, tell me more.”
Beth continued. “We were both committed military, and we volunteered to have our DNA harvested as part of the government’s ongoing efforts to create humans with advanced brain development.”
Ed’s eyes sparkled. “So you two are, in a sense, our children.”
Finn and I took one look at each other. My heart pounded in my chest.
Finn closed his eyes. “Are you saying—are we genetically related? Are you two our parents?” He seemed to hold his breath.
“Oh—no, son!” Ed laughed. “Not at all! There were lots of other donors involved. Beth and I are the only two left is all. Her contribution was paired with some other fellow who had telekinetic traces, and mine was paired with another telepathic lady’s.”
Finn exhaled so hard, his breath hit my face. “Thank God.”
“You never had to worry about that,” Beth said. “Part of their grand plan was for you two to eventually pair off and have telepathic-telekinetic offspring.”
Finn and I just looked at each other.
“I can’t even.” I shook my head. “It’s like they wanted us to have the Goldendoodles of the genetically engineered psychic set.” The latest frenzy in the designer-dog phenomena, Goldendoodles were a crossbreed of Golden Retrievers and Poodles. Every upper-middle-class family in Hanover had had one. Of course, Katie and I had wanted one, but my mom said no.
Finn nodded, some color and warmth returning to his face. “Goldendoodles are sort of awesome, though. They’re very obedient. Sturdy.” His eyes sparkled. “They don’t shed.”
My cheeks were heating. “Please stop. There are no puppies in our immediate future.”
Ed slapped his thighs. “Aw, you two are cute!”
Althea muttered something under her breath. It sounded suspiciously like “Get genetic Jolly Roger the hell away from me.”
“Wait.” I put my hand on Finn’s arm, momentarily forgetting about the puppies. “My dad. I have to ask them about my dad.”
I turned to face Beth and Ed. “My dad wanted me to find you. He said you could tell me something—something about my sister and something about myself.”
His words came back to me in a rush. Katie had a secret power, one they couldn’t control. That was part of why they destroyed her. They were afraid.
Beth looked at Ed, her face momentarily sad. “I know about what happened to your sister. I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you. But my dad said you might know why they didn’t want her, why she was…dangerous.” I scrubbed a hand across my face. “But wait. Why would they tell you anything? How do you know about my sister?”
Beth nodded, as though she’d been expecting the questions. “Ed and I were deemed ‘successful’ donors. Both you and Finn turned out perfectly. Katie had some issues, but they were impressed by her power. Afraid of it, but in awe of it.”
She took a deep breath before she continued. “They kept some of us on through the years. We’d signed a contract for life. They took care of our families.” She turned and looked out the window for a moment. “They harvested us on a regular basis, trying to recreate the success they’d had with the original group. But the new trials never seemed to work. They weren’t sure if it’s because we’d gotten older…” She looked at Althea. “You were about to get screwed. Our DNA is no longer viable for cloning. They’ve been lying to you for a long time, Althea.”
“How do you know this?” Althea sounded haughty, disbelieving.
“Because we still have friends on the inside.” Beth’s light eyes flicked up to meet mine. “The same friends who helped your father get you messages, even from the grave. People who believed in The Division, dedicated their lives to it because they thought it would be used for the good of the people. All people.”
Beth smiled at me. “And look at you. You are good. No matter what else has happened, I’m proud that I’ve been a part of your story. Because you are the ones who’re going to save the world. And that’s what we always believed.” She grabbed Ed’s hand and squeezed it. “Now a
bout your sister. She had an advanced form of telekinesis. She was able to not only move objects and manipulate energy, she was able to…control people. That’s what her early testing showed.”
I leaned forward. “I’m sorry?”
“Katie’s talents surfaced early. The Division brought her in for testing her from an early age. Her levels were always off the charts. They wanted to activate her early but your parents wouldn’t hear of it.”
“They told me that your father was a threat to the program,” Finn said, his voice husky. He didn’t like to talk about what he knew about my father, and I couldn’t blame him. “Maybe he knew they were concerned about Katie’s power, and he was trying to get her out of the program.”
“But you can’t get out of the program,” Beth said gently. “Not ever. Just look at me and Ed, here.”
Finn scanned the rooftop, looking farther into the building. “We need to go. We’ve wasted too much time here.”
“Wait!” I reached for Beth, taking her cold hand in mine. “What do you mean my sister could control people?”
Her eyes, so much like my own, glinted in the sunlight. “I think you already know, dear.”
23
How To Save A Life
I pondered her words while Finn turned on the copter and somehow managed to get it off the helipad.
The helicopter lifted jerkily. My heart dropped every time it lurched. But Finn hit some buttons and pulled on a large lever, then the helipad and the rest of the building fell away.
We rose into the sky, free and glorious.
Finn steered us back the way we’d come, reading coordinates from the pilot’s log. I was almost grateful we couldn’t talk. I had a lot to process.
My father had known the truth about The Division—that they’d wanted to harm his daughter because they couldn’t control her. He was going to try to save her, but they’d stopped him. They had taken him and Katie away. The Division had given Katie to my family, but that didn’t make her theirs to take.