The Gender Secret

by Bella Forrest

  “Don’t do it,” I ordered as the cold rage raced through my veins.

  33

  Viggo

  I gaped at Violet as she barreled through the door, her gun drawn. She looked amazing, in spite of the streaks of dirt caking her from top to bottom.

  Her gray eyes were focused solely on Ms. Dale, her stance spread, her hands steady. She was ready to kill.

  “Violet,” I said softly, and I saw her eyes flick to me and then back to Ms. Dale.

  “Release him,” Violet commanded.

  Ms. Dale looked from Violet to me. Bending over, she started rummaging through the twins’ pockets. Violet watched her steadily, her focus unwavering. A part of me wanted to tell her to stop, that Ms. Dale was helping me, but after what Ms. Dale had revealed to me, I wasn’t sure what to do. I needed to sit on the information, until I could process it. Now was not that time.

  I heard the jingle of keys as Ms. Dale pulled them out, and slowly stood up, her hands raised. She backed up over to me, carefully stepping over the two unconscious women on the floor, and reached over to unlock my hands.

  I flexed them as soon as I could, ignoring the twinges of pain coming from other places as I did so. Snatching the keys from her hands, I released my legs quickly, and then stood up.

  “Pass him your gun,” Violet ordered, her focus never wavering. Ms. Dale slowly reached behind her back, and pulled out the gun. She pinched it between two fingers, and passed it over to me.

  Once the gun was in my hand, I aimed it at her, and took a few steps back. It was more a stagger then a walk, but it was better than I could ever hope for, given my current state.

  “What took you so long?” I asked Violet as I stared at Ms. Dale.

  I caught a shadow of a smile cut across her lips. “I had to make you wait so you would appreciate it more,” she replied.

  “Consider me appreciative.”

  “Are you two quite done flirting?” Ms. Dale asked, her voice frosty.

  “You do not get to speak to me,” Violet hissed, her grip tightening on the gun. “Not after what I’ve seen.”

  I heard the rage behind Violet’s voice, and I looked at her, concerned.

  She shook her head, her hands starting to tremble. “I ought to shoot you right now. Did you know?”

  “What?” Ms. Dale asked.

  Violet’s jaw clenched, her face hard and unrelenting. I had never seen her like this before. The joking Violet was gone, replaced by a creature of rage. I could practically feel the room heating up from her fury.

  “Violet,” I said, keeping my tone even. Her gray eyes flitted to me and I raised my eyebrows at her. “What did you see?”

  Violet took a shaky breath. “I found them,” she grated out. “I found the boys who failed the test.”

  I blinked as I absorbed the information, quickly analyzing the implications of it. For her to be this angry meant that how she had found them was less than pleasant.

  Ms. Dale shifted, and I glanced over at her. Her face looked pale and her mouth was pinched in a small frown. I catalogued her reaction, but turned my focus on Violet. Ms. Dale could wait, for the time being.

  “How bad?”

  Tears were glittering in her eyes as she stared down the barrel at Ms. Dale. “Bad,” she whispered.

  I nodded, hesitating over the next question. “Are they dead?”

  She shook her head, unable to articulate. “Worse.”

  I took a step toward her, and she flinched away. For a second, I thought she was going to point the gun at me, but she just looked at me, her face promising violence.

  “Violet,” I said softly.

  “What?” she snapped.

  I let out a slow breath. “Where is your brother?”

  Tears finally spilled onto her cheeks, and she lowered the gun a little. “I don’t know,” she admitted in a croak.

  “Okay. Let’s go find him,” I urged her.

  She was wavering, her instincts warring within her. I knew what she was feeling in that moment—I felt it myself after my wife had been hung. It was a deep resentment, a need to punish those responsible for the pain and injustice that had been suffered. She was teetering on the brink of darkness. I had faced that same evil from within, and I hadn’t given in.

  I knew Violet would win. It never crossed my mind that she would pull that trigger. She was capable—we all were—but at her core, Violet didn’t want vengeance, she wanted her brother back. She wanted peace.

  My relief was almost palpable when she finally lowered the gun. “Cuff her. She’s coming with us.”

  I nodded, and aimed my gun at Ms. Dale. The older woman gave an irritated sigh, and then grabbed one set of cuffs.

  “Is this really necessary?” she asked, indicating her shoulder.

  “In front of you, so you can keep the sling on,” I suggested with a smile.

  Her mouth pinched in disdain and annoyance. I kept my eyes and gun on her while I moved to Violet, taking her in my arm.

  She pressed her face against my shoulder. “Are you okay?” she whispered.

  “Of course,” I lied.

  “Who are they, and why are they unconscious?” she asked, indicating the two women.

  “Oh, yeah. Violet, meet Selina and Marina, third and fourth in line of succession.”

  Violet’s eyes took in the two women at the floor. “Did they faint at the sight of your face?”

  I chuckled, and then gave a grunt of pain as my ribs protested. I was relieved, however, to see a spark of the old Violet.

  “Actually, they decided they wanted to improve upon my good looks.”

  Ms. Dale watched our exchange as she slipped the handcuffs over her wrists, her face contemplative. I didn’t like the look there, but now wasn’t the time.

  “What’s the plan?” I asked.

  “Cuff these two and head downstairs,” Violet replied as she stepped over Selina’s legs. She stooped and quickly snapped cuffs over the twin’s wrists.

  “Violet—” I said, intending on warning her about their super strength.

  She flashed me a look so cold and dangerous, I half expected to start bleeding from a cut. “What?” she snapped.

  I grimaced. She had every right to be upset, but I wasn’t going to allow her to take it out on me. I walked over to her and gripped her hard by the shoulders.

  “First of all, you need to calm down—you are getting angry with me, and I’m on your side.”

  Ms. Dale scoffed, but I ignored her, focusing my attention on Violet. Her eyes were wide and wet, and her bottom lip was quivering.

  “What’s the second thing?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

  I sighed. I wanted to tell her that it wouldn’t do any good, but she had too much on her plate at the moment. I could see the strain in her, and the urgency in which she wanted to head back downstairs was palpable.

  So instead, I pulled her tight to my chest and hugged her. It took her a few seconds, but then she returned the hug, wrapping her arms around me gently. It still hurt—but I held it back from her. She was hurting more than both of us—my wounds were physical and would heal. Hers were emotional and would scar heavily. She had enough on her plate—I couldn’t add to it at that moment by telling her about the twins.

  Especially given her state of mind. She might kill them, something I knew my Violet wouldn’t ultimately want. But she was upset right now—I had no idea what she was capable of.

  So, I held my tongue and waited. I gave Ms. Dale a hard look when she opened her mouth, and she shut it too, although not without shooting me another look of annoyance. I had to admire the spine in that woman, if nothing else.

  Violet released me after the hug was finished, and then headed downstairs. I flicked the gun at Ms. Dale, who gave another exasperated sigh before following her. I took up the rear.

  I wasn’t in good shape. The adrenaline patch that Ms. Dale’s had given me would last another forty-five minutes, and then it was going to be lights out for me
. I knew I should mention it to Violet, but it felt selfish and wrong, especially when she was on the crux of finding her brother.

  Violet, being Violet, surprised me again. “There’s a laboratory down there,” she said. “There should be a first-aid kit. We can patch you up.”

  I smiled and my heart swelled. Even on the cusp of finding her long lost brother, she was still capable of thinking of others. She was remarkable.

  I followed her—albeit slowly—downstairs. As the door swung open, I whistled at the size of the laboratory before me.

  “Whatever they were doing down here was important.”

  “I think it’s related to the egg,” Violet said as she pushed open the door to Mr. Jenks’ office. “And the boys. He...” She paused, and I could see that whatever she had seen of the boys was haunting her. I wanted to get her to talk about it, but I knew better than to push her.

  “You don’t have to tell me anything right now. Let’s just focus on finding your brother.”

  Violet swallowed and nodded, her face a mixture of apprehension and fear. “Okay,” she whispered.

  As I entered the room, I looked around. Immediately, my eyes lit on the cabinet in the back as a familiar object caught my eye.

  “Violet, did you see this?”

  She looked over at me and shook her head. “No. I didn’t even come in here. What is it?”

  “It’s an egg.”

  “Really?” She hurried over to stand beside me. “It is.”

  Reaching out, she grabbed the cabinet doors and pulled. The cabinet shook, but the doors stayed fast.

  “Maybe there are some keys in the desk,” she said.

  “Worry about it later,” I replied. I guided her over to the desk, and sat down heavily in it. Handing her my handheld from my pocket, I watched as she plugged it in to the tower.

  Immediately, the loading screen popped up. I looked over to where Ms. Dale was leaning casually on one of the windows. “Why don’t you sit down,” I suggested.

  She immediately plopped down, looking relaxed and calm, like she wanted to be there. It was a power play, but a good one. It definitely irritated me. I stared at her for a moment until it passed.

  I turned to Violet who was glaring daggers at Ms. Dale. “Violet—it’s going to take a minute to load,” I explained patiently. “Why don’t you go find that first-aid kit?”

  Violet bit her lip and nodded, heading off to the lab. I could hear her opening cabinets and rummaging through drawers.

  My handheld beeped softly, and I looked at the computer as it unlocked. It only took a second for me to locate a folder labeled subjects—Mr. Jenks was clearly organized. My eyes bulged as I saw the hundreds of files listed there.

  Clicking the search, I typed in Timothy Bates and hit enter. The search finished just as Violet entered, carrying a little white box in her hands.

  “This was all I could find,” she said, setting the box down on the desk.

  “Forget that,” I said. “I’ll take care of me. I found your brother.”

  “You did?!” She quickly moved behind me, peering over my head at the screen. “Fifty-five B,” she exclaimed excitedly.

  I nodded at her. “Go. I’ll watch Ms. Dale. If something goes wrong, I’ll fire my pistol.”

  She nodded and turned on her heel, running out of the room.

  I let out a long breath, my ribs and body aching. I should start patching myself up, but to be honest, I was curious.

  Clicking on the file, I began to read.

  Ms. Dale coughed and I swiveled my head toward her. “What?”

  “You know what you have to do,” she replied, her gaze and voice steady.

  I smirked at her. “I know what you think I should do. But since your opinion isn’t really relevant at the moment, I’ll make my own decisions.”

  I turned my attention back to the computer. I attempted to set up a file transfer from the computer to my handheld, but the handheld couldn’t handle the data size.

  Just then, Violet peeked her head back in. “Viggo,” she said insistently.

  I blinked at her. “Why are you back?”

  “I don’t know how to open the cube. There’s a panel, with a lot of buttons on it. Is it in the computer?”

  Frowning, I began looking at the files, looking for anything under security or cells. Violet fidgeted impatiently while I searched. After a few long minutes, I looked up at her. “I can’t find anything.”

  She frowned, running a nervous hand through her hair. “What do you think I should—”

  “Get him out,” I said. “By any means necessary.”

  “I could hurt him,” she whispered, her eyes wide.

  I stood up and crossed the room to her, placing my hand on her shoulders. I winced as I lowered my face down to hers. “They already have. Do what it takes, Violet. Get him out.”

  She nodded wordlessly, and went up on her tip toes to press her lips on my cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Then she whirled and took off, running toward the door at the end of the room. I watched her go, and then turned back to the computer.

  Ms. Dale stood up and I twisted my head toward hers. “Let me go with her.”

  I hesitated, studying the older woman. “Why?”

  “Because I might be able to get her brother out.”

  I moved back over to the chair and sat down heavily, my body aching. “If you hurt her…” I warned.

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “I won’t,” she replied, moving toward the door.

  I watched her leave, heading after Violet. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sighed, hoping that Ms. Dale would come through and help Violet. After everything she had put her through, it was the least she could do.

  I turned back to the computer and began scanning files, pulling out what I thought would be the most relevant and transferring them over. While they worked, I clicked open the file labeled personal correspondence, and began reading, hoping it would shed light on what the purpose and goal of the facility was, as well as give me some names to work with.

  I wasn’t sure how I could use the information just yet, but it gave me something to do, while I waited. A part of me felt that I should accompany both of them down, but my injuries were too bad. I was already feeling dizzy again, in spite of the adrenaline patch. If anything, I would only slow them down.

  Besides, waiting down here meant I could intercept Marina and Selina if they came looking for Violet. I could provide a distraction if they did, and buy Violet a little time, if nothing else.

  34

  Violet

  I raced down through the levels, repeating the letters to Tim’s cell like a prayer. I had no idea how I was going to get him out, but I was going to figure it out.

  I couldn’t believe how close I was to finally seeing him again. It had been eight years - he would be sixteen now.

  While I had been in the re-education centers, I'd often fantasized about being reunited with him. They were silly, but I'd found myself wondering how tall he was now. Would he be taller than me? What had happened to him after he fell in the river? Was he all right? Did he remember me?

  That last one worried me a lot. That, and if he did remember me, did he forgive me for that night that he was captured?

  Of course, that had been when I believed as everyone else did—that he had been sent to the mines. Now that I knew he was being used as some scientists’ lab rat, I only cared that he was okay. If he wasn’t, I wasn’t sure what I would do.

  I entered the lower level, impatiently shoving the door open so hard that it clanged loudly as it impacted the wall. The sound reverberated in the room, the echo of it coming from several directions.

  I ignored it and ran down the catwalk. It took me a matter of minutes to reach Row Fifty-five. I bypassed all of the other cubes, shining my flashlight at each one, even though I knew “B” was the first one on the right side.

  Once there, I deftly grabbed the remote, and input the commands. I tapped my foot
impatiently as the ramp extended. As soon as the ramp connected with the cube, I hit the button locking the clamps in place, and crossed over.

  Shining my flashlights in the window, I saw him.

  He was sitting in the corner, his arms around his knees, staring blankly ahead. His black hair was longer, curling down around his shoulders. He was bigger, more muscular, but pale. I could make out the slightest bit of a beard growing in along his jaw and upper lip. His face was gaunt, cheeks sunken in, bags under his eyes.

  It was like looking at a stranger. Gone was the baby-faced boy who had held my hand as he marveled at the stars and the beauty of the world around him. In his place was a young man who had clearly suffered. I didn’t know him, and I didn’t know what he had been through.

  My arms ached to hug him. To wrap him in them and shelter him from the horrors that plagued him. Guilt wracked me as I looked at him. I pressed my hand on the window, trying to will him to look at me. Would he even remember me? Did he hate me?

  Doubts danced through my head, but I tamped them down. It didn’t matter how he felt about me. I loved him, and I was going to do everything in my power to get him out of that box.

  I looked down at the buttons in front of me and bit my lip. All of my earlier concerns about not messing with the buttons were quickly evaporating in the face of seeing Tim again. But in spite of what Viggo said, I wasn’t sure I could justify pressing those buttons in the hopes that they would let him out. Not if it meant him suffering more.

  I rubbed my fingers together and examined the buttons on the panel. They were all the same size and color—gray—with a soft glowing blue light to illuminate them.

  I looked over to where my brother was sitting in the corner. “I hope this works,” I croaked, knowing he couldn’t hear me.

  Hands reached out and snagged my wrist before I could touch the panel. Turning, I gaped at Ms. Dale.