The Unpaired (The Pairings Book 3)

by Ramona Finn

  “It’s such a beautiful day,” Eve said, indicating the glass wall over by the doors where we had come in. “Lisa and Sam were thinking of going for a walk in the park. They haven’t been out in ages—work, you know. What do you say, Arnold? You know the best places around here with great views.”

  The skin around Arnold’s eyes crinkled warily as he looked at Syeth and me.

  Syeth opened his mouth, but Decker spoke first. “They’re looking for more of an open space,” he said. “I’m sure you could use the distance, as well. You’ve been cramped in that office too long. Fresh air will do you good, Arnold. You know how your wife keeps saying that.”

  They lost me in their doublespeak, but when Arnold sat back in his chair, considering us, I wasn’t sure if it was the push from Decker or Eve or not, but I had a feeling he’d been convinced.

  Arnold licked his lips. “I think I’ve had enough coffee for the day.” He lifted his mug and downed the rest of it. Syeth and I slid from the booth, allowing him out.

  Decker retook Eve’s arm, but my hands were too sweaty for me to want to attempt to touch Syeth’s. Eve and Decker had already done what they’d wanted to do with “Arnold.” Now they were allowing me to talk to him about John. Questions bounced in my head, but I wasn’t sure how long we would have with him. It had already felt like a lifetime in enemy territory, and now that Decker and Eve had what they wanted, we were on a clock for getting out of there. I had to be strategic, as I had no idea if or when I’d have any communication with this agent again.

  We exited the café, and I inhaled the crisp air and shivered. Between the warmth of the coffee shop and the adrenaline coursing through me, my shirt clung to my body.

  “It’s right down here,” Eve said in a low voice to me. “You’ve got this. But make it quick.”

  The park they wanted to meet in was one block over. We walked as briskly as the citizens of Chicago passing blurring buildings. The chill in the air made my eyes water, but I was determined and focused.

  Between skyscrapers, the park was a concrete slab with colorful metal sculptures depicting a variety of flowers and other so-called plant-life. It was all arranged in such a way as to create winding paths through the park. If I’d squinted, I might have thought the vegetation was real. But the colors were too bright in the glistening sun, almost as if the government wanted its citizens to believe that this was what real plants looked like.

  A memory surfaced from what seemed like a lifetime ago. When Jarid and I were in New Manhattan, he had taken me on a carriage ride to the biodome, where I’d seen more greenery than I had in my entire life. This park didn’t compare.

  Thinking of him, I glanced around, wondering if he was somewhere in the city around us, or in a similar place as John and Marisha. I wanted to believe he had succeeded in infiltrating BioPure and was living in one of the skyscrapers, but I knew the consequences of getting my hopes up.

  We wandered into the park. At the entrance, two civilians sat huddled together on a bench, holding steaming cups of liquid between them. It wasn’t warm enough to enjoy the sunlight, but the air was clean, and I imagined I would have been leisurely sipping from a cup of tea amid this type of scenery in New Manhattan if I hadn’t joined the rebellion. A pang of regret pierced through me.

  But this wasn’t the time to think back to everything I had done. By joining the uprising, I had been reunited with my biological parents, and I intended to bring us all back together as soon as possible.

  “There’s a pond across the way,” Arnold said. “It’s quite beautiful, as it is secluded from the main path.”

  The meaning was clear, and I nodded my agreement. Syeth walked a step behind me, as if signaling that he would follow my lead. His confidence in me made me breathe a little easier.

  Decker and Eve moved to drop away from our group.

  I glanced at Eve just before she turned, and she nodded her head. “You can speak freely, but wait for his lead. We will keep an eye out.” Her voice was low and her eyes were on the sky, most likely looking for doves. There weren’t any more pretenses, as there’d been in the café. As far as I knew, we were alone. With the open air above the park, it would be easier for the Unpaired to spot surveillance, but also vice versa. I trusted her and Decker to do their jobs. I had to—I needed the information about John and Marisha to make any attempt to bring him home.

  The pond that Arnold had described was almost as wide as the skyscraper behind us. A wrought iron fence surrounded it, reaching up to my chest. Darting movement under the surface caught my attention as colorful fish rose to the surface before diving back down. We slowed, walking close to the fence as if we were enjoying a stroll and not engaging in one of the most difficult conversations of my life. As we approached a small waterfall, I understood why Arnold had chosen this spot. The water crashing into the pond was loud enough to keep any passing people from hearing our conversation.

  “My father, John Wingum, was taken to Point Black with another lab worker,” I said through the corner of my mouth. The words rushed out of me, and I didn’t take my eyes away from Arnold.

  The smile he had been beaming since we had met faded now that we were away from the crowded streets and café. In the time since we had been in the park, we’d passed only a few people, and they all seemed distracted enough with their own lives not to notice us. BioPure had promised them safety, so why would they think otherwise?

  Arnold stood straighter, peering over my shoulder. “John and several high-value targets were brought to Point Black on the day of the raid. It was quite the celebration among the security staff that day.” His lips twisted into a frown.

  “He was alive?” I asked.

  “Of course,” Arnold said. “He was on a list of people for security to procure from the rebels.”

  A breath tumbled out of me, yet the same constricted feeling as before clenched in my chest.

  “They’re not there anymore, though,” Arnold said.

  “Where are they now?”

  Arnold blew out a breath big enough to create a cloud around his head of fog. “They were transferred quickly. Security forces knew that the rebels were tracking the helicopter. Point Black is secure, but with the exact location tracked, it was only smart to split up the prisoners.”

  I shot Syeth a look. The information from Isra had been correct, but did she know that the security knew of the rebels’ tracking methods?

  “John and several others were brought to a maximum-security prison by the lake, where they are in holding until security forces arrange properly guarded transport to bring them to New York on an armored train.”

  Syeth crossed his arms, leaning closer to Arnold. “Why New York?”

  “It’s the protocol for high-level treason. BioPure Chicago would ship away all rebels if they could.”

  “Where’s the train, and when are they leaving?”

  Arnold shook his head, staring at the water in front of us. “I don’t know any more than that. It’s beyond my pay-grade. John is alive, and I think your lab worker is, too, but this is where your rescue mission ends. There’s no way you can get them back before they’re gone.”

  “Where is the prison?” Syeth asked.

  Arnold gave Syeth a pitying look. Syeth grimaced at him.

  “Even if you got your troops together, there’s no way you could infiltrate the prison. It’s guarded twenty-four hours a day with special forces tapped into the security system. You might as well go back to New York to have any shot of a rescue.”

  I mashed my lips together. Arnold wasn’t going to tell us how to save my father when he didn’t even have all of the information. “Who else do we need to speak with to find out more?”

  Arnold’s nostrils flared. “No one on the rebel side. They scramble any information they convey with code that our hackers create. There are dummy transports that leave at different times and days, which will make it impossible for you to do what you’re hoping. I don’t think you’ll see John or that lab
worker again without putting your own lives at risk. Mine is the best intel you’re going to get, and you should take my advice.”

  I shook my head, unwilling to give up this easily. “That’s everything you know?”

  Arnold shrugged. “Yeah.” He checked his watch. “I have to get back to work now.”

  We walked the same path as we had coming in. Decker and Eve met us on the next bend in the way, but I was so preoccupied that I’d almost forgotten they were with us. John, locked away in prison, consumed my thoughts. I imagined him huddled in the corner of a dark cell, starving to death.

  Coming into the city had proven to be a failure. I had even less information than before when it came to any rescue. Sure, we had a location, but who knew if John and Marisha were already on their way to New York, awaiting a fate I couldn’t rescue them from?

  “We need to get back. We’ve already been here too long. If the surveillance grid catches us…” Eve’s words trailed off. We didn’t need her to tell us what would happen if that came to pass. Security already had several big targets from the raid. I was on their list, as well, and I had waltzed into their city of my own volition. If caught, I might end up in that prison, as well, or worse. BioPure already had scans of my brain, though, I thought to myself. What else did they need from me, other than taking down one of the last on their hitlist?

  “Let’s go,” I said a little sharply. I couldn’t help the sourness of my mood creeping into my voice and thoughts. I tried to appear as if I belonged, but my mind was too foggy without another plan of attack for our people’s rescue.

  The five of us walked together toward the entrance of the park. Sunlight continued to glisten off the sculptures. If I’d been home, it might have been pretty. But all I could think about was John inside of a dark prison cell, about to be shipped off away from his family.

  At least he was alive, and hopefully Marisha was also. Hope in that regard was the only good bit of information we had. Though, I wasn’t sure how long that would last.

  We neared the bench with the same couple sitting on it. They turned to us, and Arnold slipped on his smile again, joking with Eve and Decker. They played the part, but I found it hard to muster the same fake enthusiasm. The other couple turned back to each other, snuggling on the bench.

  I settled on tucking myself against Syeth’s side and trying to stay engaged in the conversation as my mind rolled over what I was going to do next.

  “We’ll find them,” Syeth said, brushing his lips against my ear.

  “How can you be so sure?”

  He kissed my cheek. “John would never give up on you, and I doubt you’d do that to him.”

  I sighed. He was right. We would find another way, even if I had to go back to Isra and ask her to help us again. I brushed off my momentary doubt and steeled myself for what was to come. We still needed to get out of this city and formulate another plan.

  “Well, it was nice to see you again,” Eve said to Arnold. “I always look forward to catching up.”

  “I can imagine how busy you are with your kids,” he said to her.

  A couple walked briskly by and Decker cleared his throat. “We’ll be on our way now.”

  Arnold turned to me and opened his arms. “I feel like we’re already good friends.”

  To keep up with the charade, I embraced him. He was stiff against me, and I imagined I was the same. Though, when he brought his lips to my ear, I shivered.

  “You’re Lora Flannigan, aren’t you?” he asked.

  I nodded. If Arnold knew who I was and hadn’t turned me in yet, then he had to be on our side. His hand moved next to my waist, and I was about to shove him away when he said, “I have a message for you.”

  My throat tightened, and I reached into my pocket. My fingers wrapped around a small rectangular object which hadn’t been there before Arnold had touched me.

  He was the first to pull away, and he barely looked at me as he shook Syeth’s and then Decker’s hands. “Have a safe trip back.”

  As he walked away, my hand gripped the item tighter. As we walked, I waited until we were separated before I pulled it out. I turned my body just enough so that Syeth couldn’t see the thumb drive in my hand. I shivered.

  Who was the drive from, and what was the message?

  Chapter Ten

  The journey back to the rebel base wasn’t as eventful as getting into the city had been. In the process of us getting in and talking to Arnold, the anticipation of getting information on John’s whereabouts had been anxiety-producing, but now that emotion had been replaced with worry. This mission hadn’t ended as I’d expected, especially considering the flash drive in my pocket.

  It burned a hole in my mind the entire way back to the clinic. I fumbled to keep it close to me as I changed back into my clothes. I hid it in my bra, and with every few steps through the tunnel, I could feel it there pressing tight against my skin.

  I was in a different headspace than I had been when we’d arrived. While there was nothing I could do for John and Marisha at the moment, I wondered if the drive would offer any more information. All I could think of was what was on the drive and who’d sent the message. I wanted it to contain more information about our people, but I’d also opened my mind to the idea that it was something else.

  Throughout the trip, I had expected Syeth to have a spark of his usual intuition and ask me why Arnold—still practically a stranger to us—had hugged me out of the blue. Maybe he’d thought that I was playing along, but it was even out of character for me. I’ve still no idea why I actually did it, other than that it would have looked awkward to passersby if I hadn’t hugged him back. Maybe that was it.

  Syeth hadn’t, though. I wasn’t going to push the subject in front of Decker and Eve, either. I almost wanted Syeth to push me, and then we could discover what the message was together. But Arnold had made a point of being secretive. Would it put Syeth and the others in danger if I told them?

  I wanted to know who the message was from and what it contained before I involved Syeth. While that made my stomach twist, Arnold would have handed it over in front of everyone if he had planned for them to know. Whoever gave him the drive may not have known that Syeth would be with me, though, so why wasn’t I eager to tell him about it? A part of me knew the answer. Isra. If I brought Syeth in on it, would he feel obligated to turn it over to her? I already knew that she felt saving John and Marisha was a low priority, so if there was data on the drive to help find them, I was prepared to act on it… with or without her blessing.

  I couldn’t imagine what was so secretive that he couldn’t have announced it in front of the group. Maybe John had wanted to give me a message about his location. Maybe, somehow, he knew that it was unsafe for Arnold to know? Or was the message from John at all?

  He wouldn’t have gone through all of that trouble to meet us if it had all been a trick. Though, when we were back at our apartment and Syeth went to shower, I placed the drive on the countertop and stared at it. Was it a tracking device of some kind? Had I put us in danger by allowing Arnold to give it to me?

  Questions flooded my mind, but I had to wait until I was alone before I could get any answers. It was for the safety of the group. At least that was what I told myself to ease my mind somewhat. The next time I was truly alone, I would find out what the drive contained.

  That night, after Syeth had fallen asleep, I left the apartment as quietly as I could. Each floor had a small common room on one end. Usually, these were places for rebels to convene between shifts or during small gatherings for birthdays or meetings between smaller groups. Syeth and I rarely had a reason for the space since he was gone for days at a time with the Unpaired, and when he was gone, I dedicated my time to the lab and my parents. Neither of us had the time or inclination to socialize with others.

  Thinking of my parents made me think of John, which gave me all the more determination about seeing what was on the drive as soon as possible

  Tonight, the common room
was empty. It was almost midnight and I wasn’t a stitch tired, even though I’d been up early that morning. Even the stressful trip to Chicago hadn’t made me as tired as it should have.

  There were several thick, padded chairs arranged to face each other, with two long couches in the corner of the room. An old-style television was propped against the wall. There was barely enough space to move around with all the furniture, but I pulled one of the chairs up by the door. I wanted to get a view of the hallway in case Syeth noticed that I was gone. On the tip of my tongue, I balanced the excuse that I’d been unable to sleep, and I had an e-book screen pulled up in case he wanted to see what I was doing.

  I hated lying to him, and I hoped I had made the right choice.

  I left the light off, not wanting to signal my presence in the room. After getting comfortable in the chair, I leaned forward, checking the empty hallway again before I plugged my headphones into the tablet. Placing them in my ears dampened the sound around me. I tucked my legs underneath myself and pulled the drive from my pocket, immediately sliding it into the appropriate port on the side of the tablet.

  I gripped both sides of the device then, preparing myself for what was to come.

  The file opened, and I clicked on the only file inside. It was formatted as a video and was labeled LORA.

  This was it. The moment of truth. I licked my dry lips and tapped on the video. And then I studied the frozen image on the screen. It was a crisp image of the edge of a wooden desk, an empty black leather chair behind it. Both in front of a balcony of what looked like a high-rise building. I wasn’t sure if it was Chicago or not that I was seeing, but I assumed it was since Arnold had relayed the message. Several skyscrapers jutted up from the space beyond the desk. The sun shone down, cascading its light over three potted plants next to the metal railing of the balcony. No doubt, they were fake, but this didn’t look like a prison. Unless Arnold had lied to me and John was being kept in an office or apartment building, this message wasn’t from him.