by Emery Hale
‘Naomi, you’re not going back, end of story,’ my dad snapped.
My brows furrowed as he spoke to me in that tone – he didn’t know the first thing about the situation, but he happily ordered me about. What if I went back? Would it break my mother’s heart? Would she rather I did what’s easy or what’s right?
Eighteen, that’s how old I was – an adult in society’s eyes. Shouldn’t I be able to make my own decisions? It was my life after all. I knew it was a stupid idea, to want to go back, but it was the right thing to do. Even if I just snuck in for half an hour, downloaded the footage, and then got out of there.
Now in uncomfortable silence we both turned back to the movie; my dad liked to have the final word on matters.
Abruptly my phone pinged and I grabbed it from my pocket ready to dismiss it. But it was a random number and the following message:
Have a surprise for you, front door. It’s quite handsome.
A grin broke out on my face because I knew it could only be from one person.
‘You know what?’ I said, sitting forward. ‘You can watch your film, I’m gonna go for a walk.’
‘Naomi, we’re meant to watch this together,’ my dad said pointedly.
‘Yeah, I hate these kind of films though, so you have fun.’
I grabbed my jacket on the way out, tucking my phone into the pocket before running out the door.
As soon as I did I saw Kayson Ashford, dressed in jeans, a tight t-shirt and a leather jacket, leaning against the streetlamp that was just beginning to glow. I bit my lip, shaking my head – he goes seven months without a word and he just thinks it’s alright to turn up out of the blue? Well of course it was, but I wasn’t going to let him know that.
‘Where have you been?’ I asked, tucking my hands into my jeans pockets.
He didn’t look ill, not even malnourished. He didn’t favour the side where he got shot – in fact, he looked fine. I thought he would have been on the new drugs for some time now, but the cheekiness and smug look on his face told me otherwise. Part of me worried it was just a false pretence, but there were certain things you couldn’t fake. Like when Kayson grinned that way, the rise of his lips revealing the smallest little dimples.
‘Oh, around,’ he answered taking a couple steps towards me.
I crossed my arms over my chest; he wasn’t getting away with such a vague answer. We stared at each other for what seemed like five minutes, before he grudgingly gave in to my silent demand.
‘The Academy, Washington and Italy, although that last one was more a favour than a job.’
What – so even after the incident they trusted Kayson to go on missions in different countries? Weren’t they worried he would run? Then it made me think, what have they got on him to make him stay?
‘What about the team?’ I asked.
He seemed surprised. ‘Well, Luca’s fine, being a bit of an ass if I’m honest.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘No, Jessica’s team.’
‘Oh, that’s actually the reason I’m here,’ he said, the grin and dimples vanishing. ‘They’re – Harkness has had them in with the seniors ever since you left. The only person I’ve seen recently is Lily but that was two weeks ago.’
‘Two weeks?’ My mouth dropped open. ‘Why has he put them with the seniors?’
‘He wants them ready for this new operation, Black Scorpion.’
‘But that was the one that –’
‘Gabriel warned us about, yeah I know.’
If Harkness was taking Jessica’s team and shoving them in with the seniors then something must have happened – perhaps Harkness knew about Gabriel’s plan? What the hell was he preparing for?
‘Why Jessica’s team?’
‘The new drugs made them compliant,’ Kayson answered. ‘Lily wouldn’t even look at me, she’s thinner and her fighting style – she’s fighting to kill.’
‘To kill?’
Kayson nodded.
‘I tried to get through to her but she didn’t even recognise me.’
Compliance, that’s what the Academy wanted.
I shuddered. Whatever Black Scorpion involved, I feared it was something not even Quinn could come back from. These drugs must knock out free will completely, cause last time I checked both Lily and Jessica were shooting at Harkness.
‘I managed to sneak Chris in a month ago, to try and break through to Jess. She didn’t even remember his name.’
I didn’t know the ins and outs of their relationship, although from what I’d heard it was intimate – surely you’d remember someone like that? How long before they forgot their own names?
‘Why aren’t you a mindless zombie?’ I asked, inching a little closer.
Kayson blew out a breath, shrugging.
‘I don’t know, Harkness has completely avoided my team. My guess is he wants to see if they’ll work in the field under pressure first. Apparently the new drugs take longer to kick in.’
‘There must be an easier way to deal with this. There has to be.’
‘I did some research on Black Scorpion, it’s in Estonia. The rest is classified.’
‘Oh Kayson, you’ve got to be kidding me,’ I groaned. ‘I’ve been in the Academy – I think classified is a little out of the question.’
‘No, classified to me. I tried to get to it through Duke’s computer but I needed a password. I don’t have any techies on my team.’
Black Scorpion, the one Gabriel warned us against. What could Trojan be planning that was so deadly it warranted all of this? I couldn’t decide how I felt when I asked the next question, honoured or utterly terrified.
‘Why are you here?’
Even Kayson hesitated before he answered, unsure of himself. Then, he started to lift his shirt, exposing the beautifully carved sex lines at the bottom of his torso. I tried to look away but the streetlight was direly bleak compared to the sight in front of me. Christ, I was such a virgin.
‘Try and keep your mouth shut,’ Kayson said.
I hurtled my gaze to next available spot on the pavement, I could feel the grin crawling back out. ‘I didn’t see anything,’ I muttered.
That was when a brown envelope was thrust under my nose. I took it curiously, flipping it over, the thing was blank but it wasn’t sealed. Kayson leaned back against the lamppost, saying nothing.
I stuck my hand inside, practically waiting for a rubber spider to slide out, but the prank never came. Inside was a cheap-looking necklace, a tube of lipstick and pack of chewing gum.
‘You shouldn’t have . . .’ I trailed off.
Kayson laughed. ‘There’s a second part.’ Then he leaned down and pulled a black duffle bag out, dumping it at my side.
‘That better not be your gym clothes,’ I said, before unzipping it.
Surprisingly, it was anything but stinky socks – it was the Reign Academy uniform. Complete with a brown wig in a net bag, a small bag of make-up, coloured contacts and an ID card.
‘The necklace is a camera, the lipstick has a memory stick inside for you to download the videos from the computer and the pack of chewing gum is – well, I don’t actually know how that got in there. I can get you into the school, all you need to do is download the files.’
There were already so many things that could go wrong with this plan.
‘Kayson,’ I tried. ‘Quinn is a technical genius, I’ve seen her set-up. This isn’t like James’s laptop. I can’t just guess the password. Then there’s the disguise – Quinn was the one who put it together, did all the makeup.’
‘The disguise is just so you can get in through the gates,’ he said. ‘I really need your help.’
‘Why do you need me to do this?’ Surely you could do it.’
‘I can’t just walk in. It has to be a two-person job, I can keep them away from you.’
‘You might have forgotten, but I’m not a technical whiz. We still have the problem of the computer.’
He shook his head.
‘I’ve go
t a solution to that. Right now, I need you to get changed and get in the car.’ Hold up, now? Like right now?
‘You need to hold back on the romance there, I’m drowning in it,’ I said sarcastically.
Kayson scoffed, letting out a laugh. ‘Come on, you can’t tell me you didn’t enjoy our little date. I pulled out all the stops.’
‘Sure, whatever,’ I laughed in return. I tucked the envelope into the duffle bag, zipped it shut and slung it over my shoulder.
Of course I was hopping back into this, Kayson of all people came to me and asked for help! He must have thrown his pride out of the car window on the drive over.
This was the right thing to do. If I could get the information downloaded and bring it back, we could publish it. We’d have to do it discreetly, probably from a computer in an internet café or something. I’d work out the technicalities later.
But that was when a familiar blue Vauxhall pulled into the driveway. Seriously, how did my mother time these things? As soon as her heels smacked the ground she was out the car and bounding towards us. Santa, if you’re up there, please stop my crazy mother from shouting at Kayson.
‘The day I’ve had, then when I come home, pretty boy’s decided to rock up.’
‘Mum, don’t start,’ I tried, but it was no use.
‘See, Naomi, told you she’d like me,’ Kayson said, whacking on the charm but I only rolled my eyes.
‘You, zip it,’ Mum said, pointing to him. He opened his mouth to say something but she glared and he decided against it. Wise move, Kayson, wise move. ‘Now, at work today the whole incident in Brora nearly broke headlines again.’
‘It did?’ I asked.
‘In the office, we all wanted to go to print – a new source had come in, someone called Jacqueline Buchanan. She’d found footage of the entire thing.’
She what? Jackie? The same one that I’d met? The one whose parents had bought their way in with seven figures? Kayson turned to me as a look of recognition crossed my face. How the hell had a first year got into Quinn’s computer? I asked him silently, but he shook his head. That told me one thing: whatever footage she had, it couldn’t have been from Quinn’s computer. Could it have been stored somewhere else? Quinn was smart, maybe she’d anticipated what would happen and put the footage elsewhere. She knew Jackie was with me that day on the orientation.
‘But there’s bad news,’ Mum said. ‘We’ve tried contacting Jacqueline all day. At first it went straight to voicemail but now it’s saying the phone has been disconnected.’
A hand flew over my mouth, my eyes almost reeling back into my skull. Jacqueline had been found out. I didn’t even need to look at Kayson for confirmation, the sombre expression was audible. A moment later my mother gasped – she’d caught on.
‘They wouldn’t,’ she said, horrified, but that didn’t stop my quivering lip.
How old did she say she was? Sixteen? I couldn’t remember. Had they killed her? Was she left out in the middle of the accommodation for everyone to see? Jackie was still a kid, how could they do that to her?
‘My boss wanted us to drop the story. Wouldn’t let any of us publish it, said if we did he’d fire us. Make sure we don’t get a job anywhere else.’
‘Yeah, Thompson can be a bit of a dick,’ Kayson said.
My mother was less than impressed. ‘We have enough issues without your language, young man.’
Oh, here we bleedin go.
‘Mum, we can talk about swearing another time alright, just. . .’ I trailed off, looking down to the duffle bag by my side.
I bit my lip, took in a breath and nodded in confirmation to myself, before pulling mum into a tight hug, practically knocking the wind out of her. This could be the last time I ever saw her, if something went wrong in there, and I didn’t want to leave on bad terms (I’m referring to the dishes that still weren’t done from this morning).
‘I’m gonna do something with my life,’ I whispered into her ear. ‘My life is going to mean something because I can help people. I can save my friends, mum.’
‘You can’t go back there,’ Mum said, but her wavering tone betrayed her.
‘It’s the right thing to do and you know it,’ I said, pulling back. She ran a hand over my face kissing my forehead.
‘Of course I do.’
Kayson came forward, pulling a crumpled piece of white paper from his pocket, slowly opening it and holding it out for my mum to take, which she did. As my eyes scanned up and down the page it looked like it belonged in a chemistry lab. There were words and numbers there that sounded completely made up.
‘Dr McKay gave me this, it’s the formula used for the new drug,’ he told us. ‘I know you’re not a pharmacist but you’re a journalist, you must have connections.’
‘Do you have any connections?’ I asked.
‘Oh, of course I do.’ she said, tucking the paper into her blazer pocket.
‘Naomi, if we’re to get to the car on time we need to get moving,’ Kayson said, pointing to the top of the street.
‘You’re going now?’
‘Sooner we get in, the sooner we get out,’ he said.
Mum appeared startled at my leaving, but nevertheless she pulled me into one final hug, this time knocking the wind out of me. I smiled softly, taking in the smell of her sweet perfume before begrudgingly pulling away. I wanted to stay in her arms for a few minutes more, the security that I clung to so longingly now out of arm’s reach.
‘Love you,’ I said. ‘You and Dad.’
‘Love you too.’ She squeezed my hand.
With that I let her hand go and took off, running with Kayson up the street. I was sprinting towards purpose, reason and morality – I just hoped it wouldn’t be my doom.
CHAPTER 27
Alexithymia
The inability to express your feelings.
JESSICA-GRACE WINTERS
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.
Thirty steps, that’s how many it took to walk down to the new sub-level.
The aisle between the cells was a dark green, while the reinforced titanium doors were black. On the ceiling a few naked bulbs swung freely. It was smaller than I had first thought, there were sixteen cells and then down the grey metal stairs were a further fourteen. They could put a whole year group in here if they wanted to. I couldn’t peek inside the cells, sadly – only staff were allowed to speak to the students in isolation.
Why was I down here?
‘Move it,’ Duke ordered.
Get it together, I told myself, you’re here for a reason. Duke knows why, you don’t need to, I thought.
Duke would never lead me astray or make me do anything without reason. I wasn’t here to be thrown into isolation, no, that wouldn’t make sense. It happens without warning, the guards from upstairs come and drag you away. Shameful; the humiliation was enough to deter me.
I was a soldier. The staff wouldn’t tell you to do something if there was no meaning behind it. They knew best, so who was I to question it?
We passed the guard on the door – well, it wasn’t really a door, more like prison bars. As we marched down the stairs, there was a stillness in the air – some might think it tranquil. Then I heard it, scratching. Had a mouse gotten in?
Duke charged ahead to the end of the corridor, his boots slapping on the concrete floor, then suddenly he stopped, third cell from the bottom. He took a key from his belt, fussing with it, then unlocked the door.
Inside sat a girl, around sixteen, dressed in the designated school uniform, hair untidy, shirt wrinkled. She sat at the back corner of the dark cell, hands clinging to her knees. Must have left her dignity upstairs.
‘Agent 784T, do you know why you’re here?’ The girl snivelled and nodded, snot dripping from her nose. ‘Good.’ Then Duke turned and handed me his gun.
That was strange, I wasn’t supposed to have any firearms. Why wasn’t I supposed to have one? Did something happen? Must have.
‘Deal with her,’ Duke ordered, then left.
When I closed the door, the cell fell into darkness and I think Agent 784T started to scream. I didn’t care, it told me her location as she scampered around the cramped cell. Emotion was pointless, I had a job to do.
This was my role in the world, receiving orders, carrying them out and then cleaning up afterwards. How hard would it be to get blood off these walls? Did they stain easily?
‘Please,’ the agent sobbed, ‘please don’t do this.’
I didn’t believe anyone bothered to clean down here anyhow, it reeked of shit and piss.
You got used to it after a while, I’d been in here myself, after all. Can’t remember much about it but who would? Who could recall anything about the dark? Except the bone chilling wind and the sun which never rose. To stay in the light, this consecrated sanctuary, I had to follow orders. If I didn’t I’d be condemned to the darkness.
The agent scuttled to the right, I lifted my hand and shot once, the muzzle flash providing me with a burst of light. I only saw her for a split second but she was on her hands and knees like a wild animal, her eyes consumed with anticipation.
BANG
This time I wasn’t afraid of the dark, in fact I welcomed it, as only a second passed before the door opened and I was brought back into the light. The job was done, onto the next one. That was how I proved my loyalty.
Duke held out a hand and I passed him the gun, he holstered it at his side before walking into the cell. He sneered at the agent before meeting my gaze.
‘I want your Medical Response down here to deal with the body.’
‘Yes sir.’ I nodded, then took off at a run back up the stairs.
I ran a lot of places now, it got things done quicker and kept my mind from wandering. I focused on my breathing; in, out, in, out, in, out. One foot after the other, smack, smack, smack. The fourth floor, that’s where Aspin was. She’d been there since five this morning. She’d have to deal with the body of course, along with Doctor McKay. Then I’d have to go to Thompson, he’d make some story up about how it was a hit and run, then deny Agent 784T was ever a part of this school. Better to appease the public, can’t have anything destroying the image Harkness had worked so hard to build.