Quentin started laughing. ‘Actually,’ he said, ‘I’ve been thinking about that. We’ve never told anyone about our rating and I was wondering if we should maybe …’
I threw the sheet back. ‘No!’
Quentin took a step back from the bed, his hands raised. ‘Okay. Just a suggestion,’ he said, still smiling. But I could see the hurt.
I crawled on my knees to the edge of the bed. ‘It’s not that I don’t want to tell people we’re together, or that I love you, or any of that … I just …’ My father’s words replayed in my head. He’d warned me that society would never accept that Quentin and I were a true match. We’d only just worked everything out and the idea of creating a new problem … I couldn’t. ‘I just want to keep the true-match part to ourselves for now – well, us and Gus.’
‘And your father,’ Quentin added. ‘Do you expect him to keep it a secret?’
‘I don’t know what my father will or won’t do. I have no idea why he’s bothered to keep it a secret at all. But for now, can we not say anything? Once this is all over, if I’m still here –’
‘Maggie!’ Quentin snapped, cutting me off.
‘Okay.’ I nodded. ‘That was stupid. What I meant to say was that once this is all over and we are getting on with our happily ever after, then you can tell anyone you want. Please?’
Quentin studied me for a moment, tracing his finger down the side of my face. ‘Happily ever after, huh?’ he said, his voice suddenly rough.
I leaned into his touch. ‘I’m thinking we both go back and sit our final exams, then move out to the country where my mom and Sam will have a small farm. We can help them run the property. We’ll have to rent at first, but with all of us working, we should be able to get something nice. Maybe we’ll build a little cabin on their land to stay in when we visit, or we could go to university, or both. There are some great universities close to good farming land.’
‘You’ve got it all worked out.’
I wrapped my arms around his waist. ‘All open for discussion, of course, but … yeah. I gave it some thought when I was underground.’ I frowned. ‘I probably gave it too much thought, to be honest.’
Quentin stared at me and I wondered what he was thinking. But then his face broke into a gorgeous smile and he pulled me closer, peppering me with kisses. ‘As long as you’re there, it sounds like the kind of place a person could spend forever.’
I smiled.
Yes. It sounded like paradise.
Twenty-five
Everyone was already well into discussion by the time we made it to the table. By the looks we received, and the wink Grace gave me as we walked by, it was clear they knew why we were late. I felt my cheeks burn.
When I saw Gus, I sobered quickly. Damn, could I be any more insensitive? Flaunting my relationship with Quentin straight after what had happened to Kelsey?
As if he could see right through to my guilt, Gus rolled his eyes at me and turned to Quentin. ‘You’re a brave man, my friend.’
‘I hope that isn’t jealousy disguised as sarcasm,’ Quentin returned, his tone even and yet the threat unmistakeable. I tensed. Things between Gus and Quentin had settled down as if the events of the other night were forgiven, but now I wondered if I’d been wrong.
Gus’s eyes flicked between Quentin and me and I could tell he wondered the same thing. For about a second. Then he simply smiled and shook his head. ‘Comforting and oddly enough … not at all.’ His smile transformed to something more familiar, something that already had me narrowing my eyes. ‘But I just have to know …’ he said, raising an eyebrow. ‘Did she leave bite marks?’
I glared at Gus as he laughed, and then at Quentin who was barely containing himself.
Ha, ha, very funny.
‘As much as I would love to continue this particular line of conversation, could we please, for the love of God, get back to the small matter of bringing down the most powerful entity in the world?’ Eliza barked.
Gus snorted. ‘I suggested she just divorce the guy, take half of everything and bring the company down that way.’
I blinked. ‘Is that a terrible idea?’
Quentin and I sat near Gus as Alex groaned. ‘Okay, here’s a little survival 101 for you people,’ he said, using a condescending tone that made my hackles rise. ‘Divorcing a man like Garrett Mercer and ultimately making yourself his public enemy really only ends with one outcome.’
‘Tragedy strikes,’ Grace threw in dramatically. ‘Out on highway five tonight, slippery roads and hazardous conditions proved too much for motorists, causing a multi-car pile-up. Five lives lost, one of whom was the well-known Eliza Mercer, wife of devastated M-Corp chief executive Garrett Mercer … Blah, blah, blah, you get the picture.’
I nodded. ‘Got it.’
‘So you’re willing to risk Maggie’s life, sending her up against her father, but not your own, is that about right?’ Quentin said quietly, looking at his hand resting on the table as if it was taking all his energy to keep it still.
All eyes bounced between him and Eliza.
Eliza’s expression was neutral, giving nothing away. ‘I risk my life every time I sleep beside him. Every time I make up an excuse about where I’ve been so that I can be here, like now. Every time I’ve diverted his attention from you or your brothers to protect you from the truth.’
‘And you want me to thank you now? For all the lies?’
‘You can hate me all you want, Quentin, but don’t be so narrow-minded to think yours was the only life sacrificed in all this. Don’t forget that for as many years as I can remember, I have lived a lie and have had very few people that I could turn to and trust. If you think it’s easy to watch your children gradually move away from what’s right and drown in a world of wrong, you are very mistaken.’ The conviction in her voice, even as it shook, was enough to have everyone sitting back.
Finally Quentin nodded. ‘I can’t imagine how it’s been for you,’ he conceded. ‘But I also can’t ignore the fact that you made informed decisions, one of which was to give your children no choice at all.’
Eliza straightened the papers in front of her, avoiding any eye contact. ‘Shall we move forwards?’
Everyone nodded, including Quentin.
‘How am I going to get to my father?’ I asked, hoping to redirect the focus and give Quentin a moment to get himself together. Processing disillusionment was something I was well and truly familiar with. ‘Is he even here? Doesn’t he spend most of his time in New York? And if he is, won’t he be secured in the core?’ I asked, ignoring the shudder that ran through my body at the thought of that place.
‘He is definitely here. Since you were first identified as a problem, he has been under orders from Garrett to remain until you are taken care of,’ Alex said. ‘But, yes, he will be in the core. Which is another reason why it has to be you.’
I scrunched up my nose. ‘Why?’
Alex shifted in his chair uncomfortably. ‘You’re the only one who’s been in there.’
I didn’t bother hiding my disbelief. ‘Except for Eliza, of course.’
Eliza shook her head. ‘I’ve never been to the core, Maggie. Garrett never wanted me there for reasons I’m sure you can imagine. He knows I know what goes on and that outwardly I don’t oppose it, but that doesn’t mean he lets me see it all in motion. I don’t even have access.’
‘Yes, you do,’ Gus offered.
‘No, I’m afraid I don’t.’
‘But you do,’ Gus insisted. ‘We got in using Mercer DNA – Quentin’s to be precise. There is no way his DNA would’ve worked just by matching with Garrett’s; it had to have been compatible with yours too, which means …’ He held out his hand, not needing to finish.
Eliza’s mouth fell open. ‘I didn’t know.’ I watched her carefully for any sign of deceit, but all I saw was genuine shock.
‘Well, it’s probably so that you can access the panic chambers,’ Gus explained.
Eliza stared at Gus. Ale
x and Grace were doing the same thing. ‘Panic chambers?’ she queried.
Gus rolled his eyes and fixed an incredulous look on the Preference Evolution team. I couldn’t help but smile. ‘You people really should’ve started talking with us when we offered. Someone bring me a computer and I’ll show it to you on the blueprints. And …’ he glanced around, ‘any chance we can get some coffee?’
‘And doughnuts?’ I added quickly. ‘Or anything greasy.’
‘Bacon sandwiches would work,’ Quentin threw in.
Somewhat stunned at Quentin’s unhealthy food choice and most definitely more in love with him because of it, I nodded enthusiastically. ‘Bacon sandwiches would be perfect.’
I watched as Eliza’s jaw clenched. She really didn’t appreciate that we were there and that we had skills and intel to offer. She might endure it to get the job done, but it was also becoming more and more apparent that the two roles she played – wife of Garrett Mercer, and head honcho spy – were actually not entirely dissimilar. Before she could hide it, I saw her glance in my direction. The intensity in that one look told me everything. She hated that Quentin was with me.
Grace placed a laptop in front of Gus and he got to work.
‘Can I ask you a personal question, Eliza?’ I asked, crossing my arms.
‘Go ahead,’ she said with a sigh.
‘What happens if this entire plan plays out and we take them down? What’s your intention once all the steps are taken to implement the changes you’ve outlined? If Garrett is gone, that would put you in a very high position of power, so I want to know, what are you planning to do?’
Eliza stood and started to pace behind the chairs. ‘It’s a fair question, but the answer, I’m afraid, might not be as radical as you would like.’
I shrugged. ‘Try me.’
She watched me carefully. ‘Okay. If you want me to say that the world of M-Bands, that the technology that created this way of life will be extinguished, I can’t.’
I wasn’t expecting that at all, but I nodded. ‘Go on.’
‘The technology will continue. Microchipping now plays its part in the world and, for the most, that’s a good thing. M-Bands, likewise, offer many conveniences and health advantages that people won’t want to part with.’
‘And Phera-tech?’
‘You tell me, Maggie. What do you think the world will be willing to settle for? Have you seen the way society has changed since Phera-tech has been available? How many relationships have been broken and formed? Will people simply go back to a world without it?’
I wished I could answer her with a direct yes, but I couldn’t and she knew it. I wasn’t a fool. Life had changed so much over the past eight years. It seemed like such a short time for our way of life to shift so drastically, but I suppose that’s how it has often been in history. I also knew it would be impossible to turn back the clock. We couldn’t ask people to pull out their M-Chips and pretend their lives had not already become dependent on this technology; it had become the modern way of life.
‘So what are you proposing?’
‘I’m proposing that we fix the problem first. We need to help the people who’ve been taken and locked away, and we need to help the third-world countries that are being overrun by negs before war breaks out. We play out the plan and then, when we’re ready, we tell the world the truth: that they were lied to about what was happening to the negs and how many of them there were. We admit that the people governing the technology were corrupt and that lives were lost. And then we ask them to stand with us. To give up a convenience in order to save lives. If we can get the majority on board, we have a program we can use to adapt Phera-tech.’
‘What does it do?’ Gus asked, looking up, intrigued.
‘It doesn’t reveal any ratings lower than fifteen per cent.’
‘No one will know who the negs are,’ Quentin said.
Eliza nodded. ‘And we will go back to accepting that in society we are not perfect, but nor should we be.’
‘And M-Corp saves the day?’ I said, my bitterness shining through.
‘You have no reason to trust me, Maggie, but I’m going to ask that you try your hardest to have faith in the fact that I have thought this through and have a plan.’
‘And you will be the new head of M-Corp?’
‘I will,’ she said, and I had to give her points for not backing down.
Gus chose that moment to spin the laptop around. ‘There you are. Panic chambers. They’re not far from the core lab and have similar entry and exit points. I assume they’re there in the event of some kind of attack.’
Alex nodded. ‘Garrett must have had them added on in the last two years. They were never on the original plans.’
Gus shrugged. ‘Well, they’re there now and I’d be willing to make a hefty wager that when this all goes down, that’s exactly where Garrett and your lovely sons will go.’
Eliza passed the laptop to Alex. ‘Let’s plan a way in based on the assumption I’ll be able to access the outer door of the panic chambers with my DNA. Have we got codes that will get us in that far?’
Alex nodded, getting up from his chair. ‘Should do. Let me get the guys on it and we’ll work something out. But we can’t assume we’ll get in everywhere without triggering some kind of alarm. Maggie and Quentin got in last time because no one was expecting a breach, but now they’ll be more prepared, and there are a number of nearby hubs, not to mention core security, that we’ll have to deal with.’
Gus tapped his fingers on the table and I watched him knowingly as Eliza and Alex continued to theorise.
‘Gus?’ I said quietly.
‘There is a way …’ he said to me.
‘What?’ I asked him quickly, glancing at the rest of the table who were still oblivious to our conversation.
Gus locked eyes with me and something in my gut twisted in an all-bad way. Gus gave me a wry grin before addressing the table. ‘If you can give me the right access codes, I can write a program to shut off the hubs.’
Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Gus.
He shrugged. ‘I’ve been studying the design for a long time. The hubs were originally created by the government, correct?’
Alex nodded. ‘Yes, they were designed as a system of bunkers in the event that something terrible happened and they needed to move people below ground.’
‘And, of course, being American, it was designed with defence in mind,’ Gus continued.
Grace leaned forwards. ‘Yes. They call them hubs, but really the system is more like the hull of a ship. If one hub is attacked or infiltrated, it can be shut off from the core.’
Gus smiled. ‘The main doors to the core section – where you’ll find Maggie’s father and the panic chambers – are impenetrable. Once you are on the inside and those doors close, no one else will be able to get through. If I can hack the security programs and take over the system, I can make sure all the security personnel are shut down in their hubs or, at the very least, outside the main doors.’
‘Are you sure?’ Eliza asked.
Gus nodded. ‘If you have the right codes and access intel, sure.’
‘That would make things a lot simpler for processing afterwards as well,’ Eliza murmured to Alex.
‘How long will it take?’ Alex asked Gus.
‘Two days, give or take. I’d already been working on the bones of the program, I just never had all the pieces of the puzzle.’
‘Get him everything he needs,’ Eliza ordered Alex.
Alex was already up and walking. Grace went to follow him, but then paused and looked at Gus. ‘There’s already a betting pool going for where we’ll find Garrett. I’ll throw in your call and take your bet later on.’
‘Be ready to lose big,’ he said, sitting back with a grin.
Grace returned the smile before she took off to catch up with Alex.
‘Quentin,’ Eliza said, drawing our attention back in her direction. ‘I know you’ll wan
t to be with Maggie, but I was hoping you might reconsider. Liam will be down there to keep her safe and they’ll be able to move faster through the tunnels if it’s just them. Not to mention that she has more chance of pulling this off if it looks as though she’s come alone.’
Slowly Quentin stood from his seat. I could feel the tension rippling off him and wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around him. Instead I inched back in my seat and watched him take the time to stretch before settling his attention on his mother.
‘I want you to know that I forgive you,’ he said so quietly she had to lean towards him a little. ‘You had to make impossible choices and I accept that you did the best you could. And I can’t tell you how relieved I am to know that not all of my family are the monsters I’d come to believe they were. In time, you and I might even be able to forge some kind of relationship based on truth and trust. But let me give you the first hint on what is never going to happen,’ he said, his voice becoming increasingly dark and threatening. ‘You, along with any other person in this place, are not going to send the one person I love and trust completely into the pits of hell and tell me to sit up here, twiddle my thumbs …’ he hit his fist down hard on the table, ‘and wait for someone to come and tell me she is never coming back! Are we clear, Mother?’
Eliza tried to hide her surprise. She didn’t know what we were to one another. But I did. And I knew that every word Quentin had just spoken was the truth. It was why I hadn’t bothered trying to tell him to stay behind myself. We’d gone too far for that. We were in this thing together now and no one was going to tear us apart.
Twenty-six
I sat on the work-out mats, massaging my calves. I’d made serious inroads since I’d been released from my underground prison, but my muscles still often cramped in response to the workload. From the corner of my eye, I watched Quentin kicking at the commando dummy. We’d been working out for a while and had reached my favourite stage – the one where I pretended not to care that he’d lost his shirt.
Eliza had been mostly absent over the last two days due to keeping up appearances with Garrett, Sebastian and Zachery. When she did manage to send word through to Alex, it was to inform him that Garrett’s behaviour was increasingly volatile and that he was frustrated by the lack of progress they were making on locating both Quentin and myself. The descriptions of Garrett’s mood swings would’ve had me more concerned if Alex hadn’t reassured us so completely that no one would be able to track our location – not even through direct satellite. The computer systems in the theatre had been designed to act as a kind of magnetic field. First, they pulled in signals and then proceeded to bounce them all over the world. By now, it would be sending their GPS department up the wall.