The Unpaired (The Pairings Book 3)

by Ramona Finn

  “We did it,” he croaked. “We really did it.”

  “Shouldn’t we wait the full forty-eight hours?”

  John shook his head. “It was an arbitrary number we chose in the event the cure took longer to take effect. There’s no need now. We have it.” He took a cup of champagne from the table and went off to celebrate with his team.

  I watched him until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I didn’t need to turn around to know it was Syeth. He was smiling, but his smile was tighter than it should have been. I understood why.

  “That’s it, then,” he said. “We’ve got the cure.”

  “We do.” My smile and relief melted away as I understood what he was going to say next.

  “Now, we have to warn Jarid about Isra. And we have to run, Lora.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  As much as Syeth wanted to push us out of the line of fire as soon as possible, John and I wanted to make sure we had the cure in place—without any doubt in either of our minds. It had only been twenty-four hours since we’d given Cameron the injection, and while his memory was as good as it had been in the few minutes after John had had given him the cure, we still needed to be sure.

  While they continuously scanned Cameron, John ordered the production of more of the cure to be delivered to the other test subjects.

  After the round of champagne had been shared, we injected more of the subjects and tracked their miraculous recovery. We monitored them carefully, but as time was drawing near for Isra to invade the lab, I found myself watching the clock more than them.

  The confirmation of the cure’s vitality was clear, but that meant we were approaching the next step, which was to get as far away from the lab as possible. With each check-in Syeth made with Isra, her desire to kill Jarid only seemed to grow. It was time to go.

  Forty-eight-hours after Cameron received the injection, John and the other researchers reviewed his final scan. The cure had stayed—none of us had doubted it wouldn’t by this point.

  They planned for another celebration, this one bigger and more final, after which everyone would help break down the lab and disperse, returning to their lives. The distribution of the cure would be split between the rebels outside the city—helped along by myself, Syeth, and John—while the rest would go back to Chicago, where the researchers would distribute it to the insurgents living within the city and then the rest of the population. It was going to be a long, drawn-out process, but the eventual goal was to put the cure into the hands of the doctors treating any new cases as soon as they came up.

  As much as I wanted to warn all of the researchers about the impending raid from Isra, Jarid and John were our top priorities. Jarid’s life was on the line, and we needed to get him out of there.

  The hours were ticking down, and Syeth and I pulled Jarid away from the start of the celebration.

  Jarid’s smile might have been infectious if I hadn’t been about to deliver bad news. “We need to get out of here. The Unpaired are coming.”

  His eyes widened and he shook his head in disbelief. “Lora, what are you talking about?”

  “Isra knows about the lab. She and the Unpaired are going to raid it any minute now.” I checked my phone. We needed to get Jarid out of there before the Unpaired arrived; we couldn’t risk getting caught up in the impending chaos.

  “But the cure? Don’t they know how important it is to all the civilians, rebels included?”

  I moved closer to him, not wanting anyone to overhear us. If Isra thought I had warned the entire lab, she wouldn’t hesitate to break our already fragile truce, and I still needed to make sure my parents were safe. “They were waiting for it to be certified. They’re going to swoop in and kill you, and anyone else they think is associated with BioPure.”

  Jarid’s face paled, and his lips went practically white. “You told her about this?”

  The hurt in his voice was a punch to my gut. “I had no choice. Isra stuck a gun in my face and told me how she was going to handle this. I’m risking lives by tipping you off. We have a safehouse. This is the location.” I handed him a slip of paper with the coordinates of the safehouse. If the three of us went together and were spotted, Isra would never stop until she found us. “Sneak away. That’s what Syeth and I are going to do because Isra will kill us if she finds out we told you about this.”

  Jarid stared at the paper. “I envisioned us all doing this together. I wanted you by my side. I wanted…”

  His next words were cut off by three gunshots and shouting by the entrance of the lab.

  I checked my watch. No! It was too soon.

  Jarid stepped in front of me, blocking my view of the doors. I lifted onto my toes to search for Isra, expecting her to lead the charge through the door. But I didn’t see any of the Unpaired.

  Glasses dropped to the floor, shattering even as some researchers ran away from the ruckus by the door; others didn’t even move, too shocked by the sudden violence.

  Two of the guards raced for the door with guns drawn. Two shots went off, and they landed on the ground in crumpled heaps.

  Jarid and I ducked for cover before crab-walking to get a better look without getting shot. I scanned the area for Syeth as BioPure-uniformed soldiers poured into the lab.

  There had to be at least twenty of them rushing out of the stairwell in the corner of the room. Several soldiers who had defected from BioPure had been stationed at that door. Now, they were most likely dead.

  “DO NOT MOVE!” the BioPure soldiers screamed over several more gunshots. “HANDS IN THE AIR!”

  Two of them rushed over toward Jarid and me while the rest fanned out across the room. I squeezed the pin on my collar and clicked it several times before sticking my arms in the air. As much as I didn’t want to deal with Isra, she and the Unpaired were the only way we were getting out of the lab alive.

  The researchers next to us dropped whatever they were holding and put their hands in the air, but the soldiers shot them anyway. Blood splattered across the floor, soaking their white lab coats. My stomach pulsed, and I had to swallow the bile rising in my throat.

  I spotted Syeth. He stood several desks away from us, his gaze darting between the closest soldiers and me. His hands were interlocked and resting on his head.

  Where was John? I couldn’t find him among the others. Was he hiding? If BioPure knew he had escaped and was here, there was no telling what methods they would use to keep him under their watchful eye the second time he was captured.

  The soldiers moved from the stairs and elevator in a jagged line and without much space between them, forcing us backward. Everyone who didn’t comply or spoke against them was shot down without any hesitation. I didn’t dare move my hands off my head for fear of them taking out the hit that Isra had promised if I warned Jarid.

  When we were backed against the wall, far from any escape, I noticed one person moving leisurely among the research computers and retrieving hard drives. Mia placed each one into a plastic container before moving on to the next.

  “Her!” I hissed through my teeth.

  Jarid peered over at Mia, and his face fell. He hadn’t been in on the betrayal. At least my instincts about both of them had been correct. He’d really thought that, after we found the cure, we’d be moving to take down BioPure with her leading the charge. We were all fools for trusting her for more than one second.

  A couple of the soldiers moved through the lab, pointing to eight of the workers even as they then took their hands off their heads and walked toward the nearest exit. My heart thumped in my chest and a rush of blood moved to my ears. They must have been in on the BioPure plan all along.

  The soldiers kept their guns and eyes on the rest of us who had wanted to create the cure for a better world for our friends and families.

  The only hope we had was that Isra had received the signal and had a team ready nearby. With the soldiers in the lab, the Unpaired would be busy enough to where Syeth, Jarid, John, and I could escape.

&nbs
p; The elevator doors opened even as I thought this, and a man walked out. He paid no mind to us but headed straight for Mia. He clapped his hands, and the soldiers snapped to attention and parted into two straight lines.

  “Sledge,” I said through my teeth. He was taller in person, and remarkably good-looking despite his age. His expensive silk gray suit moved with him as if it was an extension of his body. As he neared us, I spotted his striking silver and lavender-tinted eyes, modded to perfectly set off his bronzed skin and light blond hair. He looked at everything as if he was sorting the items and people in the room into two categories: something to be used, or something to be destroyed.

  John was at the back of our group, only a few people away from me. Syeth had moved closer until he’d gotten just one person away from me. I reached out, and our hands brushed. Having him close by gave me slight relief, but it wasn’t enough to stop my hands from trembling.

  My attention moved back to Sledge, who had floated to the front of our group. His nostrils flared as he sniffed disdainfully. “Tarrolf, you have all the data on the cure?”

  Mia shook the box to indicate she did.

  He smiled. His teeth were unnaturally white and quite large for his mouth. “Excellent. You’re sure these are all the defectors?”

  “Looks like it.” Her wicked grin was back.

  I’d never trusted her, but I had wanted to. I wasn’t willing to trade anything for the cure, but I should have done something to keep Mia from betraying us. Refusing to follow my instincts had put everyone in danger, including my parents.

  “Where is John Wingum?” Sledge asked.

  It took all of the strength in my body not to look at my father.

  The others around me shifted, pressing closer to John. Five soldiers broke ranks and shoved the rebels who were protecting him aside.

  Syeth and Jarid moved until they stood between John and me.

  “Stay put,” Syeth grunted at me as one of the researchers backpedaled into him.

  “The tall one with the glasses,” Mia offered.

  “Step forward,” Sledge instructed him.

  Some of the workers who had been standing in front of him stepped forward to protect him, but stopped when soldiers pointed their weapons at them. “It’s fine,” John said.

  John moved around those protecting him. The researchers and workers created a path leading him directly to me.

  My hands fisted as John touched my shoulder. “Courage,” he said to me. “Do what it takes to stay alive, and never stop fighting them. You—”

  A soldier yanked him by the arm, tearing him away from me.

  I reached for him, but he was gone before I could touch him. My hand clamped over my mouth to hold in a scream as they brought him to Sledge. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from John. The vision of him blurred as angry tears stung my eyes.

  John was a few inches shorter than Sledge, but the strength in his eyes showed that he was every bit the man’s equal.

  “You thought you’d won?” Sledge asked.

  John narrowed his eyes and lifted his chin. “I think I still have.”

  Sledge laughed—a high-pitched sound. He continued by himself before he cut off abruptly. He snapped his fingers at the nearest soldier to him. “Shoot him.”

  At his words, two of the defected workers surged forward. The BioPure soldiers held their guns across their bodies and used them to block us from moving toward John.

  Syeth punched the nearest soldier in the stomach, and he doubled over before the one next to him took his place. More workers surged forward to try to take down the soldiers, but they outnumbered us by at least double.

  I shoved myself forward, trying to get to John before it was too late, but the soldiers held their ground and pushed me back against the wall. I screamed in both fear and frustration as the soldier next to Sledge raised his pistol. “No!”

  John locked eyes with me. His mouth was set in a determined line as the soldier took aim and shot John in the chest once, then twice more.

  John blinked and attempted to reach for his chest before his legs collapsed under him and he fell to the floor.

  “JOHN!” I screamed.

  Before I could get to him, something rocketed through the air and dropped between Sledge and our group. Two more appeared before I realized what they were. Flashbangs.

  I whirled on Syeth, and he wrapped his arms around me before they detonated. The sound was deafening, reminding me of the rescue mission at the prison. When I opened my eyes, everything was white for a long moment.

  Gunshots filled the space. Syeth, Jarid, and I moved along the wall. The soldiers who had blocked us from John went down one by one as the Unpaired navigated their way into the room. They moved through the lab like a virus through a host.

  My breathing roared in my ears, as I still hadn’t recovered from the flashbangs yet.

  “We have to get out of here,” Syeth said.

  I spotted Isra striding around the soldiers, shooting each one she came to in the chest before moving to the next. The other Unpaired were unrecognizable blurs of black against the white uniforms of BioPure soldiers.

  Mia and Sledge were tethered together by locked arms as Mia protected him with her body and pistol. He held the box of hard drives in his free hand as they sprinted for the exit.

  Among the soldiers on the ground in front of us, I spotted John’s body. His chest heaved as a pool of blood spread across the floor around him.

  I lunged forward, but Syeth grabbed my arm.

  “I have to save him.”

  Syeth let go and I raced to him. He was still alive, and we could make it out of there with him. We had to.

  Blood pooled around the bullet holes, and I pressed my hands against them to stop the flow. It was sticky and continued to burble from his body. I pressed as hard as I could, so that John grunted and his eyes flung open.

  “It’s okay, it’s okay,” I repeated. “We’re going to get you help. You’re going to be fine. Once we stop the bleeding, we can, we can…” I sobbed. It appeared as if I wasn’t helping at all. My hands were soaked with his blood, and it didn’t seem to be stopping.

  John’s face turned ashen, and his eyelids fluttered open and shut. His hand wrapped around mine, and he moved it away from a bullet hole.

  “No, I need to—”

  His other had reached up and cupped my cheek, stopping my words.

  “Listen. Lora, you know—you know…”

  “What is it? John, what—”

  His hand touched my forehead as if he was brushing hair from my face. Then, his hands went limp and fell against his chest. John’s eyes blankly stared up at the ceiling as the life drained out of them.

  Chapter Twenty

  I stared at John’s body—his dead body on the floor in front of me. My father. The one who had fought his entire adult life against BioPure and the evil things they were doing to humanity. He had risked his life over and over again, and now it was gone. Just like that.

  I squinted my eyes, though I didn’t need to blur any more of my vision. He didn’t move, and for once in my life since beginning to fight for the rebels, I wanted to lay down with him and not get up.

  “Lora.” Syeth’s voice crawled into my thoughts, but all I could see was John. He was there one minute and gone the next. All because of Sledge. All because of Mia. “You need to get up. We have to leave. I’m so sorry, but we have to go. Come on.”

  I swatted away his hand. Blood spattered on the floor as it dripped from my hands. It wasn’t fair. John had worked his entire life in the service of helping people. He had been captured and rescued all in service of the cure. What was this world without him?

  At Syeth’s insistence, I shoved myself up off the ground, getting even more of John’s blood on my hands. They fisted at my sides as I watched the BioPure soldiers protecting Sledge and Mia. They were close to the stairwell where they had come down earlier. The BioPure soldiers surrounded Mia in a tight group while she barked orders at
them. Sledge cowered in the middle of the group, also shouting at them. He cradled the box with the hard drives in his hands.

  Mia pointed at the door, and two soldiers broke away from the group and walked through the door to the stairs. Then, four others stood with their backs to Sledge as he retreated from the mess he’d caused. The mess on my hands and the floor at my feet.

  Once Sledge was gone, with Isra and most of the remaining Unpaired in pursuit, Mia turned and headed back toward the row of computers in the research area.

  This was my chance. Mia was going to pay for John’s death. She was a blemish on humanity and needed someone to wipe her off the earth. After betraying us, she wasn’t leaving this room alive.

  “Lora, what are you doing?” Syeth asked as I picked up the rifle from the nearest dead soldier. I weighed the gun in my hands before checking if it was loaded.

  It was.

  “I have a promise to keep.”

  “Not now,” Syeth said. “We need to get to safety.”

  “You can’t stop me. She killed John. She needs to die, too.” My voice cracked with emotion, but I swallowed it. I needed to focus on taking down Mia and worry about mourning John later.

  “Syeth, Lora,” Jarid said, rushing over to us. “Oh, God.” He spotted John on the ground and his face fell. “We, uh, need to go now.”

  He was right. That had been the plan before Sledge had ordered John’s death, but I wasn’t leaving now. “I’m not going until Mia’s dead. You can either help me or leave without me.”

  They glanced at each other for a brief moment before they moved in sync, grabbing guns from nearby fallen soldiers. I avoided John’s body by heading toward Mia, navigating between the piles of toppled equipment that had been upended by the soldiers and Unpaired in the fight as I moved toward my target.

  “Why is she still here?” Jarid asked. “They have the hard drives, so why haven’t they retreated? What more do they want?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” I had one objective, and that was taking the light from Mia’s eyes in just the same way that Sledge’s soldier had for John.