Holding my hands out to the side, I felt strangely calm as I was relieved of my weapons and roughly patted down by the guard behind me. Unsurprised by the turn of events, I stared ahead, directly into the same brown eyes my brother and I shared. The eyes I had grown up looking into with naive wonder and trust. The eyes of the man I had gone to the ends and depths of the earth to rescue, only to discover I had never known this man at all.
‘Hello, Dad,’ I said evenly.
Seeing my father before me with his raised gun and arrogant expression made me want to be sick. All I saw now when I looked at him was death. I couldn’t begin to imagine how many lives he had ruined, taken, prevented.
The guard continued to prod at me, checking my pockets and finding my smoke bombs and my standard tools. When he moved around to my side, gun still pressed firmly to my head, I glanced at him and was startled to note it was one of the guards who had released me from my cell. I remembered the creases around his eyes. Like the last time I’d seen him, it was clear to me he did not want to be there. Yet he was. He had learned that no matter what his feelings, they did not count. And the look of resignation reminded me that so many negs had given in to this life. Had been so entirely broken that no task would be too awful or gruesome. He would do whatever he had to.
Then again, so would I.
Another guard appeared at my other side. This time I wasn’t surprised to discover it was the other guard who’d moved me out of my cell.
‘Glad to see you don’t stink as much this time,’ he sneered at me.
My eyes narrowed.
Seeing him was a reminder of the complexity of the situation. For, fight as we might for those who’d been wrongly turned neg and even for those who genuinely rated as negs but didn’t deserve to be judged and convicted for it, there were others who were undoubtedly sinister. Who embodied every unhinged quality of a neg, in the worst possible ways.
Looking into his eyes, it was clear. This man was not resigned to what he must do. He welcomed it. Hungered for it.
I relaxed into my captor’s tight hold. ‘You should’ve kept more guards with you, Dad,’ I suggested conversationally.
My father chuckled. ‘Oh, I think I’m doing just fine, Margaret.’
Feeling the gun at my temple, resting easier than before, I took my chance. I slammed my head back into the guard behind. Stepped forwards fast. Leg back. Grabbed the other guard in front of me by one shoulder. Swung forwards, my knee hitting his most sensitive target. My fist was already moving, straight on, for maximum impact. My flat knuckles smashed into his nose.
‘You mean him?’ I said to my father as we watched the guard, who hadn’t even had time to grab for his balls between the two hits, now on the ground. Blood ran wildly from his nose and he gagged on it then passed out cold.
The guard behind me had yanked me back by my ponytail and belted me hard across the face – a price I happily paid – before attempting to restrain me again. But I was already pulling back and spinning out of his hold.
He got in an extra jab to my gut, I’ll give him that, but from there, the fight was mine. With two hard hits to his face – one with my fist, the other with my elbow – it gave me the time I needed to both grab the gun from his waist and then lever my body back to deliver a round-kick to his head. With the help of the nearby wall which his head collided with, he went down, just as unconscious as his buddy.
I had the gun aimed at my father even as I took a moment to right myself and assess my handiwork, focusing on the first guard who still had blood gushing from his nose.
I licked my cut lip. ‘You might want to roll him onto his side so he doesn’t drown,’ I suggested, turning back to my slightly horrified father. Violence was clearly nothing new to him. But coming from me … it was enough to make him falter. ‘They might’ve been able to push me around when I was starving to death, but I’ve been having three square meals a day, Dad. And for someone who has been following my every move, you’ve severely underestimated me if you think this is “doing just fine”,’ I said, parroting his words back at him.
He quickly recovered his game face as he straightened and focused his attention away from the bloodied guard and back to me. My stomach flipped when I saw the overly confident and cruel smile curl his lips.
‘Actually, Margaret, I wasn’t referring to the guards,’ he said, adjusting his hold on his gun to press a button on his M-Band. It activated the dark tinted glass wall behind him which slowly faded into clear glass, revealing what lay beyond.
‘I was referring … to them.’ A look of triumph settled over his features. ‘Besides, as I hear it, the troops are needed elsewhere right now.’
My shoulders dropped. My throat closed in tight and my eyes stung with unshed tears as I stared at the glass prison behind my father.
‘What … what have you done?’ I whispered, unable to tear my eyes away from the sight before me. Samuel and Mom were bruised and battered, their clothes dirty and torn. Blood had dried down the side of Sam’s neck and they both stood with their hands banging against the glass, yelling to me a jumble of words I had no hope of hearing since the cell was obviously soundproof.
I hadn’t heard from them since Sam’s letter, but we’d been cut off from communication in the theatre and I’d thought they were safe. Never had I thought … Not my own father! Even after everything I’d learned, I never believed the threat to my family – his family – would come from him.
‘Put the gun on the ground and kick it away,’ he ordered.
I did as I was told, keeping my eyes on my family the entire time. ‘I’ll kill you if you hurt them,’ I warned, hoping that my voice conveyed the absolute truth in my threat.
My father sighed with little heart. ‘I never wanted it to come to this, Margaret. I never drew attention to you or Samuel. If you had just left well enough alone, you’d be on your way to a good university by now, just like everyone else your age.’ He paused to adjust his aim and glanced at his M-Band. ‘Unfortunately for you, you have become a problem I can no longer afford.’ He jolted his arm in warning. What he didn’t realise is that I didn’t care what he did as long as the gun was pointed at me and away from Mom and Sam.
‘How did you get in here again?’ he hissed.
I took a slow step towards the nearby desk where a glass of water sat on the edge. ‘I’ve made some new friends,’ I explained.
‘Preference Evolution,’ he scoffed. ‘Fairly pathetic friends. I expected more from you.’
I held my hands out. ‘You know all about them, then?’ I asked, taking another small step.
‘Stop moving,’ he snapped. When I nodded, he went on. ‘I know they think they have a chance against us, but they don’t. It doesn’t matter what their little raid achieves tonight or who they have helping them. It won’t get them anywhere. Garrett can push a button and clean out every hub within minutes. Do you think he would hesitate taking your friends down at the same time?’
I glared at him. I knew all too well what their interpretation of ‘cleaning’ meant. Just hearing him talk about gassing so many innocent people to death was the final confirmation that my father was a monster. On the upside, his answers also confirmed that, for all he thought he knew, somehow Eliza Mercer had managed to keep the true identity of Preference Evolution a secret all this time.
I shrugged, playing along and trying to keep my eyes from darting to Mom and Sam. ‘Possible, but I met their leader the other day and she seems to think they have a real shot at bringing you lot down. I’ve got to say, hearing it from her …’ I baited. ‘Well, it gave me a shiver, you know?’
He glared at me. ‘She? Who the hell are you talking about?’
I smiled knowingly. ‘She’s very convincing.’
My father shook his head. ‘You’re talking about Alex, aren’t you? Well, we know all about him. In fact, you gave us a fabulous opportunity to unhinge him recently.’
I nodded slowly. ‘Killing Kelsey like that was a very clear stateme
nt. Unfortunately for you, it only pissed Alex off. And apart from that,’ I flashed a quick smile, ‘he’s not the one in charge. Gotta admit, that part surprised me too.’
My father’s eyes narrowed. For the first time, I had his interest. He cocked his gun. ‘Who’s their leader? Tell me now and stop wasting my time!’
I took the final step towards the desk, showing my father that I knew he wasn’t about to shoot me right this second, not when I had information he wanted, and gestured to the glass of water. ‘May I?’ I asked.
He huffed in an oddly parental way, which only served to annoy me. ‘Help yourself,’ he said.
‘Not poisoned?’
He smiled. ‘The time for anything other than a bullet has passed.’
I grimaced. ‘Sadly I feel the same way.’ I picked up the glass and took a small sip. Water.
‘Who is it?’ he pushed.
I leaned towards him, now only a metre or so away. Sensing I was going to give him what he wanted, he mimicked the movement.
‘Eliza Mercer,’ I whispered.
When his eyes flew wide and he reared back, I threw the water in his face and leaped on top of him, causing him to topple to the ground.
Straddling him, I took my opportunity and struck him with clean strong hits to the face. Right. Left. Right. A cut on his eye started to bleed down his cheek. And when he screamed out, my right hand shot forwards, clasping his cheeks, my fingers digging in deep to keep his mouth open.
Then from a small concealed pocket on the top of my shoulder – in the past two years I’d noticed that pat-downs rarely included the tops of shoulders – I pulled out the flat plastic vial Eliza Mercer had given to me that afternoon.
I popped the lip and shoved the contents down my father’s throat, blocking his nose until he was forced to swallow in order to breathe.
When he had consumed the contents, I leaned forwards and whispered into his ear, ‘Now you’re a neg too, Dad. You just swallowed one of your own disruptions. The permanent kind. I hope you like it down here.’
He flinched.
I stood up, smiled down at him and turned to look at my family. I could hear him shuffling and grunting behind me, but I kept my back to him and ignored Sam’s wide eyes as he pointed.
Sure enough, my father didn’t disappoint.
‘Very clever, Margaret,’ he said, causing me to look over my shoulder and find him back on his feet, gun raised. Did he really think I’d expect any less?
‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘I’ve been looking forward to this moment ever since Eliza told me she could access a supply of your disruption. Kill me, Dad. If that is what you need to do.’ I shrugged. ‘Nothing I chose to do today was going to stop that. But at least now we know your actions will be solely because you’re more evil than any neg out there – because killing me won’t help you. You’re as dead as anyone else in this room.’
My father clenched his jaw and shook his head. ‘Do you honestly think I would surround myself with these disruptions every day, would risk my life without having a protection plan?’ He started entering a series of numbers into his M-Band. A click sounded on a nearby wall and a concealed door began to open up, revealing a hidden vault.
He reached in and removed a tray that must have held about a hundred tiny vials and placed it on the desk.
‘An antidote?’ I whispered. ‘There’s an antidote?’
He pulled out one of the small vials and shook his head at me, as if disappointed. ‘Still a child.’ He threw the contents of the vial into his mouth and swallowed.
‘It’s that simple. Just swallow it?’ I asked, feigning just the right amount of confusion.
He shrugged, increasingly confident now he’d taken the antidote. ‘It can be swallowed or absorbed through the skin,’ he gloated. ‘Yet another display of my brilliance.’
I nodded thoughtfully, trying to contain my pleasure at getting the information I had come for. ‘How much of it do you have?’ I asked carefully, knowing this question might be one too many.
I remembered thinking: Yep, too many, as I watched his eyes narrow.
The shot came so fast I’m fairly certain I felt it before I heard it.
Thirty-one
‘I should thank you, Maggie. If it hadn’t been for you and your friend, I might’ve had a small supply problem on my hands. Perhaps,’ he mocked, ‘perhaps your return to my life was a blessing in disguise. For me.’
The force of the bullet had thrown me back a few steps. Hunched over, I slowly straightened, unable to stop the small cry of pain as I peeled back my hand from the wound in my left shoulder.
There was a lot of blood.
Too much.
I pressed my right hand against it as firmly as I could manage and, grimacing, I looked at my father. ‘You should have aimed a little lower, Dad. You would’ve shot me through the heart and I’d be dead by now.’
He shook his head, looking slightly regretful for a brief moment. ‘At least this way you can all say goodbye.’
I looked at Mom and Sam who were pounding frantically – futilely – on the glass. Mom had slid down to her knees and was screaming uncontrollably while Sam had tears streaming down his face.
Seeing them made it all so much worse.
I heard the noise of static – my father was talking into his M-Band radio. ‘Status report!’ he ordered.
‘Intruders at the panic chambers apprehended and dealt with,’ came the reply. ‘We are now en route to your lab and expect to encounter more resistance.’ It took me a few beats to place the voice. But when I did there was no doubt it was Sebastian Mercer.
I watched as my father pressed another few buttons. He glanced at me before talking into his band again: ‘And Quentin?’
A breath caught in my throat while there was a pause on the other end.
Finally the response came through – the voice was distorted, leaving no doubt that my father had activated his truth zip, which would alter Sebastian’s voice to a high-pitched squeal if he was lying, as opposed to the low gravelly response that meant truth.
‘My brother is dead,’ he said.
The oxygen left my body, I started to lose my vision.
No.
Not Quentin.
I’d … I’d know. I was sure of it.
I looked at the blood seeping through the gaps between my fingers and considered just letting go. It would speed up the process of what I knew was going to happen anyway.
But then my father spoke again.
‘Who killed him?’
‘I did,’ Sebastian answered. ‘Shot to the head.’
Truth.
‘Keep his body intact,’ my father ordered sharply before shutting down the connection.
On hearing those words, something snapped inside of me.
I looked at Mom and Sam, and for the first time fully grasped their fate. Just as Sebastian could kill his own brother, my father would kill not just me, but his entire family.
‘Just remember,’ my father said, as if reading my thoughts, ‘you left me no choice.’
I stumbled on the spot. ‘You’re my father!’ I screamed. ‘My choices were made out of love for you!’ Tears rolled down my face. ‘How could you have been so loving to me when I was a child and so evil now?’
His face gave away nothing. ‘I can make another family, but I can’t replace what I have here. I’ve worked too hard and I’m right on the verge of having everything. You think I’ve been playing second fiddle to Mercer all this time without looking at the bigger picture?’
I blinked. What the hell was he talking about?
‘What plan?’ I asked dully.
He shook his head. ‘Yet again you disappoint me. What was the number one rule, Margaret?’
I didn’t need to think for long. ‘Information is power.’
He raised his eyebrows and nodded. ‘Mercer has been so busy managing his kingdom and selling his tech to anyone and everyone, he forgot to keep his eyes on the future.’
I was starting to lose my ability to focus. But I knew this was important. ‘But not you,’ I said.
‘Not me.’
‘You always said that the technology was a disease.’
He smiled. ‘And nothing is more valuable than –’
‘The cure,’ I finished for him.
His smile turned wicked. ‘It was so easy. All I had to do was sit back while Mercer convinced countries, governments, the private sector to come on board. Garrett Mercer is one conniving son of a bitch – even I was amazed when he sold the population-control remedies. And none of them stopped to consider the science or its repercussions.’
‘The riots?’
He half laughed. ‘Only the tip of the iceberg. The world is on a fast track to anarchy and devastation. The term “world war” will be brought to a new level as battles become not about country or honour, but about basic animal instincts to kill or be killed. The negs have grown in number to become a plague upon the earth. And I am their god.’
I sucked in a sharp breath. ‘You’re insane.’
‘No. I’m a genius.’ He raised his gun again. ‘But I will give you some peace of mind before you leave us.’ He took a deep breath and pressed a number of buttons on the mainframe computer, which caused a machine within Mom and Sam’s cell to start powering up.
I didn’t need to ask what the machine was. I’d seen similar ones rolled into the hubs on cleaning day. He was going to gas them, but I wasn’t going to say it aloud. Mom and Sam didn’t need to know.
He looked back at me. ‘At least you can know that you and your true match – along with other true matches – helped make all of this possible. Take solace in the knowledge that a future exists because of your contribution.’
Sluggishly my mind tried to put together what he was saying, even as I watched him pull out a long syringe.
‘I would have preferred to keep you both alive at one point,’ he mused. ‘But since your match is already dead …’ he shrugged, ‘and you’re well on the way, I’ll make do.’
I scrunched my eyes closed, trying desperately to think through the pain. I was missing something. The value? Quentin and me? The syringe?