by Kate Tailor
“Good to see you, Kappa.”
Kappa moved back, his hands on his brother’s arms, his eyes inspecting him. “We thought you were dead! You’ve been out of contact so long. When I called weeks ago, Collin said you’d been taken.”
“The synthetic dealers caught me.”
Kappa’s smile faded, and he caught sight of Raleigh. First his eyebrows rose and then dipped. “You know the rule. No team.”
“She’s not on my team.”
“You have a girlfriend? How did you find the time for that, being locked up? Aren’t you the one who’s always preaching to me that it isn’t something we have time for?”
“I’m not his girlfriend.”
Rho sheltered his eyes with his hand. “It’s a long story. We should go inside. I may as well explain it to everyone at the same time.”
A voice startled her from the doorway. “Yes, please do come in. Please explain why you’ve compromised our hideout by bringing an outsider. I’m happy to see you, brother, but we have rules.” A man, who could only be Sigma, stepped slowly backward, his eyes feral as they entered.
Rho was wrong, he didn’t look like Sigma. The two had the same body and hair, but Sigma held his head back with contempt, the slight sneer on his lips far uglier than Rho’s enchanting smiles.
“This is Sigma.” Rho made the unnecessary introduction to Raleigh before turning his attention to him. “Can we talk about why I’ve brought Raleigh here?
Sigma sauntered over and ran a finger down his chin considering her. “Kinda plain, isn’t she? I know you can do better, and she’s a bit young.”
“I’m eighteen.” She didn’t back down and kept her eyes level at him. From her mountain training, she knew that sometimes you played dead when confronted by an animal, other times you showed them how big you were. This time warranted the latter.
“You look younger.” Sigma shrugged. “Naive and young. Not surprising that Rho goes for that. He has a thing about playing the hero. Although, you should know that by being with you he’s putting you in danger.”
“I’m not his girlfriend or his type.” She needed them to know she was there on her own merit, not because of some guy.
Sigma snapped his fingers. “Kappa, gather the others. There better be an extraordinary reason for her being here.”
Rho dashed over and took Kappa’s arm before he could leave. “Can you also grab an extraction machine?”
“You want to extract now?” asked Kappa.
“You’ll see.”
Five minutes later Raleigh found herself at a long table. Everyone but her barricaded, she’d yet to master it for long periods. The division was clear—the only people on her side of the table were Kappa and Rho. Across the way, staring them down, was the opposition. Sigma sat in the middle of the five chairs, to his left Kappa’s shorter-haired triplet, Psi. The Gamma, Upsilon, and Xi triplets occupied the remaining seats. They all had dark-brown skin and eyes so brown they verged on black. Like the others, they were beautiful. But she couldn’t tell them apart.
Rho slid his fingers onto the wooden table and turned his palms upward. “As you know, I was captured by one of the synthetic dealers. They held me for three months before I managed to escape.”
Sigma sighed and leaned back, arms crossed. “We know this. Kappa tried to contact you when Mu and Tau were taken. You do know that Mu and Tau are captured? Marcel must’ve told you when he gave you this number.”
Rho nodded his head. “That’s all I know. I need to be filled in.”
“First, explain her.” Sigma nodded his head at Raleigh, his eyes sharp and unflinching.
“Collin, Brent, and Trevor found me barely alive in Normandy. It was after I was washed ashore and had dragged myself into hiding. I was dying and don’t remember what happened, only what Collin told me.”
Sigma focused his scowl on Rho. “Yet another discussion. Tell us about the girl.”
“They took me to Dr. Sabine Orman’s house. Brent went to Marcel to try to get in touch with all of you, but Marcel wouldn’t give him the phone number.”
Kappa rose his hand to attract their attention. “I think that we should have some kind of system in place to address that problem. Our teams are people we trust. Surely, we can share our information with them.”
Sigma shook his head once. “Collin, like most of the people I hire, is an addict. He’s loyal as long as he has Lucid. It’s a great way to control people, but it doesn’t make them honest. We seem to be straying from the point.”
Rho continued. “Raleigh was at Sabine’s. She was receiving treatment for her overproduction of Lucid. A continuous infusion of Lucid from her saved my life.”
Sigma’s ugly sneer dipped deeper into a scowl. “What? Is she some afterthought Grant and Able had?”
“Nope. She’s a natural.” Rho took the extraction machine from Kappa, attached Raleigh, and turned it on. The light hum of the machine reverberated in the now silent room.
“A natural,” whispered Gamma.
Psi lips thinned, and he pounded his fist on the table. “It explains how they did it.”
“How they did what?” Rho asked.
Sigma leveled his gaze at Rho. “Grant and Able have had Lucid for a while, enough that they could take down both Mu and Tau. They’ve been training a whole new batch of Receps to come after us. If they had a new synthetic, there’d be no reason to capture Mu and Tau. They would’ve killed them. So, they must’ve had some Lucid to start. The question has been, where did they get it? It wouldn’t be one of us. So, it had to be a natural.”
The pride in Rho’s face was replaced by concern. “It wasn’t Raleigh.” He paused, as if chewing on the possibility. His face resolved. “It wasn’t her.”
Sigma clucked his tongue. “We thought maybe they’d concocted the inducer, the original drink that tribe used so long ago. But if they did, why would they need us? They must’ve obtained a small amount from somewhere. Now we know.”
“When I found her in Belgium, she was completely unaware of what Lucid does.”
“Please. Sabine used to work with G and A,” Sigma said. “It was only a matter of time before you or Kappa reconnected, however briefly, with her. Both of you have done it over the years. No reason to suspect you wouldn’t again at some point.”
Everything he said rang true. Sabine had anticipated that very thing. Kappa and Rho were the contacts she was going to get the portable machine from.
The mood of the room changed, and with the extraction still in progress she couldn’t barricade. “I’ve never met Grant and Able. They’re after me, too.”
Rho said, “They are. Her uncle said they were poking around. That’s why we took her from Sabine. She’s one of us, and she needs our help.”
Sitting back in his seat, Sigma slowly shook his head. “Brother, you’re a fool. Grant and Able have been using her Lucid to help train their soldiers. Then they see their opportunity and place her with your old mentor—knowing that one day you or Kappa would stumble on her. She pretends to be in trouble and you, hero that you are, not only whisk her away from Sabine’s, but bring her here.”
“It isn’t true!” Raleigh stood, jostling the extraction machine and wrapping up the tubes. There was no evidence though, no proof that Sigma was wrong. All she had was her word.
Xi turned to Sigma. “What do we do?”
Sigma narrowed his eyes. “I think that we all know what happens to people who cross us.”
The thud of Kappa’s fist against the table broke the tension. “We aren’t doing anything! This is a far-fetched theory. It could’ve been another natural they got the Lucid from.”
“I doubt it,” Sigma said. “If she makes as much Lucid as us, she’s an anomaly. The whole reason they created us was because people like her don’t exist. To have two suddenly appear is too much of a coincidence.”
Rho put his hand on Raleigh’s arm lightly tugging her to her sit. “We came here to ask for your help, because she’s one of u
s.”
Leaning on the table, Sigma clasped his hands pointing his to index fingers in Raleigh’s direction. “She makes Lucid, but is she as smart as we are? No. Otherwise she wouldn’t have entered here so naively. What defines us isn’t that we make Lucid. That’s what Grant and Able intended, but we’re more than that.”
Kappa gave Rho a worried look. “Then I guess Raleigh will have to go.”
“She’s seen where I live. Is she done extracting? Let me have the vial.” Sigma’s outstretched hand wrapped around the vial in the machine. Easily he administered it to his port. His nose crinkled. “It’s different.”
“It’s Lucid,” Rho said. “She will certainly be hunted, as we are. Grant and Able have already expressed interest. Without your help, we may be the next two they get.”
Raleigh could tell that Kappa was on their side, but the others were suspicious. This was how it was always going to be. Collin and these guys had forged bonds through impossibly hard times. Now she asked for their help and offered nothing. Rho couldn’t split from his brothers. That network was important, even if Sigma was an asshole. If they left, they’d surely be caught. Grant and Able were going to get her. It felt inevitable. A crazy idea popped into her head.
“What if I get Tau and Mu out?” Raleigh asked.
“What?” Sigma and Rho said at the same time, their voices sounding almost identical except that one was curious and the other shocked.
“Grant and Able already are interested in me. I could have Sabine set up an introduction. They’ll trust me for all the reasons you don’t. They want a natural who makes Lucid and doesn’t know about their shady past, right? That’s what I’ll be. Then I’ll figure out where Mu and Tau are and rescue them.”
“No way.” Rho scooted his chair away from the table. “That’s never going to work. We’re leaving.”
Sigma grinned at Raleigh, not looking anything like his brother. “Sit, Rho. Let’s think this out. They won’t treat her like they treated us. To them, we aren’t human. But look at her. I’ve never seen anyone less threatening.” He caught Raleigh’s glare. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll master influencing, and I bet he taught you how to barricade, too. But that isn’t how you look, and all of us can tell you that appearance plays a large role in how you’re treated.”
“None of us know how they’ll treat her. For all we know she’ll end up in the same pen as Mu and Tau.” Rho tried to get Raleigh’s attention, but she kept her eyes on Sigma.
“They won’t jump to that. They’ll want to seem civilized and have her appear free, as they did with us originally,” Sigma said. “If she’s able to successfully bring back Mu and Tau, then it will prove she isn’t with them.”
“She isn’t with them! Her telling us is all the proof we need.” Rho put his hand on Raleigh’s shoulder. “It’s all I need.”
Psi leaned forward his expression excited. “This is good. We thought of using one of our guys as a mole. But Sigma’s right. They’re loyal to the Lucid, not us. We risk losing any Recep if Grant and Able offers them enough Lucid. We don’t have that problem with her.”
“Collin is loyal to me, and he’s a Recep,” Rho said.
Sigma shook his head. “But we can’t send him in. They know him, and I don’t trust any of my team.”
Rho snorted. “I can’t imagine that any of them would want to betray you. There must be team members we can trust. I refuse to believe that none of you have someone like Collin.”
“Only Sigma and I keep addicts on our crews,” Psi said. “And they’re unruly. Collin’s a wreck. They all are. It has to be Raleigh.”
Rho looked to Kappa. “Come on. This is a horrible idea.”
Nodding Kappa said, “It is. Rho’s right. This is far too dangerous for Raleigh. She just met us. We can’t expect her to go.”
“This is how she becomes one of us.” Sigma stood up and put his hand on the back of his chair pushing it in. “Raleigh, you can stay the night. Thank you for offering to rescue our brothers. Rho, thank you for bringing such a tidy solution to our problem. Get some sleep. You’re jet lagged, and Raleigh has quite the task ahead of her.”
Rho stalked out the room, pounding the side of the doorframe as he went. Sigma’s eyes were on Raleigh, a sinister smile hitching up the corner of his lips. Rho was mad, and Sigma was pleased, but she knew this was the best option. She lifted her chin and marched out of the room to find Rho. He was in the adjoining room, his fingers gripping the side of the sofa like he was about to rip it apart. She closed the door, letting her hand rest on the knob as she processed her arguments.
Quietly Rho said, “Why did you do that? If you cross Grant and Able, they won’t make the mistake they did with us. They’ll kill you.”
“Don’t you want Mu and Tau back?” Raleigh moved closer to him, thinking of his face when he discussed Mu. He had to know this was the best shot at saving him.
Rho’s fist tightened then relaxed. “Not at the cost of losing you.” He turned to her. “You’ll tell my brothers you’ve had a change of heart. None of them will blame you.”
“Then they won’t trust me, and you’ll lose them.”
“Not Kappa. We’ll run and bring him with us.”
“But Grant and Able will catch us someday. They’re already looking into me. If it’s not them, it’ll be the synthetic dealers.”
“We can hide. I was caught once, but if Kappa comes, too, that’ll help.”
“It also puts a target on our backs.”
He angled towards her, letting his fingers trace down the inside of her arm near her port. “Then it’ll be the two of us. We don’t need my brothers. I can keep you safe.”
The nerves on her arm stood at attention, trying to predict where his fingers would touch next. Rho was charming. There’d been jokes about her following him because he was. What would waking up to Rho every day be like? The thought of his intense eyes took her breath away.
“You’re beautiful.” She figured she might as well say it, the sentiment was probably written across her face.
“So are you, and yours isn’t artificial.” Slowly, he slid his fingers up her neck until they were tangled in her hair. “You saved me, Raleigh. Let me repay the favor.”
Raleigh focused on his lips. If she kissed him, she’d get to experience his Lucid. He said she had to date people with no receptors. That wasn’t true. The alternative was dating someone who made enough Lucid that they didn’t care about hers.
“Will you stay with me?” he asked softly.
Would he date her if she stayed? Did she care? Would it be enough to convince her? Rho described his Lucid as smooth, much like him. She was more like her Lucid—a bit wild. Would a reasonable girl have gone to Belgium? Maybe. Would she have followed Rho? Probably not.
A heavy knock on the door interrupted them. Not waiting for an answer, Kappa stuck his head in. “Rho, if we don’t want Raleigh to go to Grant and Able, we should leave now.”
“We aren’t leaving now.” Raleigh took a step back away from Rho. “I’m going to go to Grant and Able to get Mu and Tau.”
The image of Rho near death made her sympathize with Tau and Mu. The fear that she’d taken on too much dogged her, but no one deserved that fate. Someone had to go in, and she was in the unique position of being that person. When she returned, the others would have to accept her. She knew that Grant and Able would chase her and Rho. All she wanted was to go to college and become a doctor. Neither of those things could happen if she was in hiding. Grant and Able had to be faced.
15
RALEIGH DIDN’T SPEAK with Rho again, but she caught a glimpse of him as she left for the airport. She hadn’t told her parents that she was coming home. There was a chance that her mother would want to talk to Sabine, and Raleigh didn’t want to explain that she was in California. She simply booked a flight and landed in Denver.
In the departures line of the airport, she hailed a cab. She inhaled two large breaths of the thin dry air, both the altitude and t
he climate welcoming her home. Getting into the car, her legs twitched, she was so close. They drove by buildings that she’d seen at a distance most her life, and then by familiar complexes, and then into her development. She kept scooting to the edge of her seat, but the seatbelt tugged her back.
The hot sun of late afternoon pooled into the car as she stepped out. A distant lawn mower could be heard, infusing the air with the smell of fresh cut grass. Her two-story blue house brought on a pang of nostalgia. The basketball hoop over the garage begged a game, reminding her of the scrimmages against Ben and Lana. Everything had changed, yet this remained preserved. At the front door her fingers instinctually went to the bell before she thought better of it and opened the door. This place would be home no matter how far she’d come.
“Hello?” Her father’s voice sounded warmer without the computer speakers to distort it. His footfalls echoed through the foyer as he left his office. His face turned from worry to jubilation, his heart picking up to match her joy. “Raleigh! You’re back.”
Raleigh tucked herself into the folds of his arms. The surge of emotion made her want to spill everything and to talk to him like she used to when no secrets existed between them. For years he’d helped her pick apart her problems, but this one was too heavy for her to hand off to him.
“You’re back?” Her mother would not wait her turn an embraced both Raleigh and Theo. Lilacs from the flower shop incensed her hair. In that embrace the anger and conflict from the last few months was nowhere to be found.
How easy it would have been to pretend that nothing had changed and that she was safe just because she was home. That wasn’t the case and she stepped back. “I need to get the number for Grant and Able from Uncle Patrick.”
—
THE DECEPTION WAS surprisingly easy. Dr. Moore contacted Grant and Able, and Rho pleaded with Sabine to corroborate her story. He must have been convincing, because whatever Sabine said to Grant and Able made them very interested in Raleigh.