By the time morning rolled around and we’d found ourselves a ride—an old Chevy belonging to a man Ash said had been skipped several months ago when he was caught sleeping with his brother’s wife—I was ready to rip something apart.
“What do we do when we find him?” I asked. Cade and I had taken the front, and Ash and Kori the back. She’d attempted to claim shotgun, probably her way of pushing Ash and me together, but I’d been too fast. The closer I was to Ash, the more I felt the need to touch her. A simple brush of the hand…or something more.
“I’ve never met him,” Ash said, leaning between the two front seats. “But from what I’ve heard of Brewster, he’s not a very loyal person. The only reason he got out of jail is because he sold out his own father and sister, pinning the blame for the trial test disaster on them. He’s only got his own interests in mind.”
“But where does that leave us?” Cade pushed down harder on the gas to pass the car in front of us, still making sure to keep our speed within the legal limit. “I imagine Cora and Karl are paying him very well. We don’t have anything to offer him.”
“We don’t,” she agreed. “But Noah’s source from the party said he wasn’t happy with the Andersons. We might be able to work with that.”
“How?” I couldn’t imagine what the hell we could offer him. Three of us weren’t even from around here, and Ash was on the run. We had no money—not that he’d need it from the sound of things.
“Better figure it out fast,” Cade said as he killed the engine. “Because we’re here.”
Brewster’s place was a huge farm just outside of town. We’d parked at the end of a long dirt driveway, in front of a red barn that annoyingly matched the charming farmhouse a few yards away.
“Not exactly what I’d expected,” Ash said as she closed her door.
She started toward the house, but Cade jumped out in front of her. Grabbing her arm, he said, “Where are you going?”
She looked from him to me, then back again. “Is that a trick question?”
Kori dislodged Cade’s grip on Ash and smiled. “I think what he’s asking is, won’t Brewster recognize you?” She inclined her head toward me. “Both of you?”
“This is it.” Ash shrugged. “It’s not going to matter if he sees us or not. You go in there asking about Omega and he’s going to know why. Whatever this thing is, it’s big. You’re going to be just as wanted as we are.” She shook her head. “No. We all go in and make the best play we can. Whatever happens, happens.”
Cade thought about it for a minute, then stepped back and gestured for her to take the lead. Ash squared her shoulders and marched up the walk, determination oozing from every pore. God. She was amazing. Plenty of other people would have fallen apart under the circumstances she’d had to deal with. Maybe they would have crumbled, or maybe they would have run and hid. Tucked themselves away under some rock and hoped for the best. Not this girl. This girl was a fighter. She was determined to give it all she had. You had to admire the hell out of that.
She knocked, and it wasn’t long before an older guy, probably in his fifties, appeared in the doorway. “Miss Calvert. Mr. Anderson. I was wondering how long it would be before you darkened my doorstep. I trust that you’ve not been followed?”
“No one knows we’re here,” Ash said. She stood a little straighter. If his greeting surprised her, it didn’t show.
He pushed the door open and stepped aside. “Well, in that case, come in.”
She didn’t hesitate, stepping over the threshold and into the house like she owned the place. The rest of us followed, more cautious.
“You don’t seem shocked to see us,” I said, peering around the corner. For all we knew, Cora had learned of our plans somehow and had an ambush waiting in this guy’s living room.
“Not much surprises me these days, Mr. Anderson.” He led us to a large sitting room and gestured to the two wraparound couches in either corner. No ambush, but that didn’t mean shit. “Please. Make yourselves comfortable. Something to eat? Drink?”
“I’m sure you’ll understand if we want to make this quick.” Ash was all business. Serious and stoic. I didn’t normally go for this kind of thing, but watching her take charge was pretty damn hot.
Brewster settled in the armchair on the other side of the room. “I suppose that would be for the best. Please. Tell me what I can do for you.”
Ash pointed to me. “Obviously you know this isn’t Cora and Karl’s son.”
“Technically, he is Cora and Karl’s son—just not our earth’s Cora and Karl.”
“Well, the Noah of this earth didn’t kill himself.”
“I’ve no doubt about that. The boy was poking his head where he shouldn’t have been. It was only a matter of time.”
“You knew the Andersons had something to do with the death of their own son and you said nothing?” Ash said.
He leaned back in the chair and folded his hands in his lap. The expression on his face, while not smug, was indifferent. “He was their son. Their problem to deal with. It wasn’t my business.”
Ash opened her mouth, then closed it, recovering. “Well, it’s my business now.”
The old man’s lips tilted upward. “Ah. Yes. I heard you killed the boy. A lover’s quarrel?”
Ash’s fingers tightened. She was having just as much of a hard time keeping her shit together as I was. “I need a way to prove I didn’t have anything to do with his death. To do that, I need to prove the Andersons did.”
“So?”
“I need to take them down. You must be able to give me something—anything—that would prove they’re dirty.”
He let out a short laugh, cleared his throat, and fixed Ash with a genuinely perplexed expression. “Dear girl, I would love nothing more than to help you—simply because I shouldn’t. You’re listed. A no-no in polite society. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to hand you the keys to the kingdom, so to speak. But…” He adjusted his shirt and winked. “I don’t do something for nothing. Not ever.”
“A trade,” I said, standing. From the look on her face, I didn’t know how long Ash would be able to keep it together. “There must be something you want. You give us what we need to get Ash off that list and prove the Andersons are murdering freaks, and we’ll…what? What do you want?”
He thought about it for a moment, gaze going to each one of us in turn. When it landed on Ash, there was a twinge of something evil in his eyes. Whatever it was he knew, it was big. “I have something that will not only prove the Andersons got rid of their own son, but that they have been hiding their research—research the president ordered a cease and desist on—for years.”
“And in exchange you want…?” We needed to get this show on the road. Time was ticking.
“I want to leave.”
“Leave?” Cade asked, about as confused as I was. “Leave and go where?”
“To another earth, of course.” Brewster glared at Ash for a moment longer before turning his attention to me. “You get me a ride off this rock, and I’ll give you what you need.”
Chapter Fourteen
Ash
“I don’t understand.” I sank back onto the couch, between Kori and Cade. The way he kept looking at me was creepy, but considering the source, I wasn’t that freaked out. “You want to skip?”
Mr. Brewster nodded. “I do.”
“Why?” Noah’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t trust the guy. Then again, neither did I. He had one hell of a reputation. And even though coming here had been a necessary risk, I wasn’t an idiot. “Don’t you have this place wired? Money, power, pull? That kind of thing?”
“I’m quite certain my time with Infinity is coming to a close. They’ve gotten what they need from me.” He tapped the side of his head. “I’ve got knowledge that could unravel things. I imagine they’re trying to decide how best to deal with me as we speak. They’re playing in a sandbox they were told not to and I’ve been around far longer than anybody else. I’ve
seen it all. Any loose ends will need to be tied up nice and tight.”
“And what was it they needed?” I’d been curious since Kita told us he was involved. I couldn’t imagine what use Cora could have for a guy like Markus Brewster. “What did you do for Cora?”
“They needed a drug that would safely wipe someone’s memory. More specifically, certain parts of the memory.”
Everyone in the room was quiet.
Brewster must have realized it wasn’t what we’d been expecting, because he said, “They’d tried using a surgical procedure. It kept failing. Since my company had a somewhat”—he waved a hand in the air with a flourish and shrugged—“jaded reputation when it came to moral gray areas, Cora contacted me.”
“Why did they want to wipe people’s memories?”
Brewster shrugged again. “I wasn’t told. I simply know they were blowing through test subjects left and right—subjects who had been hard to come by—and needed a quick fix.”
Noah slammed a hand down against the small end table beside the couch. “You’re saying that you helped them lobotomize people and you didn’t even know why you were doing it? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“We weren’t lobotomizing anyone. That’s why they needed me. They needed a clean pharmaceutical wipe that left everything else intact and functioning. They were looking to get rid of certain parts of the memory, while leaving others—basic functions and information—untouched.”
I wondered if Noah had gotten this far. Surely if he’d spoken to Brewster, he would have blown the whistle on the whole thing. “And did you?”
“Eventually, yes—which is why I’m sure they’re looking for a way to tie up this old loose end. Whatever it is they’re doing with Omega, it’s huge. Even the smallest bit of knowledge is dangerous. Five people associated with the project in ways much smaller than I was have had, shall we say, unfortunate accidents. I’ve been around for the better part of fifteen years. It’s time—”
“Fifteen years?”
He offered a small smile. “Oh yes. Omega has been in the works for quite some time now. I’ve been around since just before its actual conception.”
“Why the hell did you help them in the first place?” Noah snapped.
“Had I known how this would all turn out, I wouldn’t have.” He laughed. “Or, maybe I would have. They offered me a lot of money.”
“What if we could find you a chip?” Noah said. “If we got you a way to skip, then would you give us the proof we need?”
“That sounds like a fair deal.”
It was a good idea in theory, but it had some issues. First, we’d need to get a chip. It wasn’t going to be as easy as waltzing back into the Anderson estate and picking a few safe locks. They kept those in the tightest security areas inside of the Infinity Division. Our only shot at a chip would be Phil—which I’m sure Noah knew. The problem was, he didn’t know the guy like I did. There was no way he’d give us something for nothing. “I can get you a chip,” I confirmed—even though I still wasn’t 100 percent sure. “But it’s not going to come for free.”
“Of course not,” Brewster said. “As I said. I’ll—”
“We’ll need something, a show of good faith, if you will.”
“Such as?”
“You’re a businessman. You know everything in this world is push and pull. I can get you the chip, but I’ll need something to buy it with. Information.” This had been Noah’s element. Talking people into—and out of—things. The guy could have charmed the candy right from a chocoholic’s mouth. I just hoped I’d learned enough from watching him. “Cora has someone stashed away in the basement of Infinity. Who is it and why is this person being held?”
Brewster waggled a finger at me and clucked his tongue. “If I tell you that, then it renders me obsolete. I can tell you why, though. My first trial of the drug was successful. The subject wiped perfectly. Unfortunately it started—and ended—with that subject. Attempts after that one were unsuccessful. Some of the patients died, while others were mentally altered in ways that made them unviable. Some were wholly unaffected.”
“So they’re keeping one of the failed test subjects?” Noah asked. Comparison number six: same irritated tone when losing his patience.
“Oh, well, I imagine they have several test subjects locked away down there. Omega isn’t the only project Cora has brewing in the sandbox.”
“But why keep them?” Kori had been quiet until now. “If they’re willing to kill their own son, why wouldn’t they just get rid of them?”
“The failure wasn’t with my drug but with the subjects themselves. Certain individuals seemed to be immune to the drug, while others were affected in different, unpleasant ways. I imagine that they’ve kept people to try and identify what the resistance is and how to combat it.” He leaned forward and winked at me. “But these are just guesses.”
“I won’t be able to get that chip without something to trade for it.”
He sighed and stood, making his way across the room to a cabinet. “Very well.” Pulling out a set of keys, he unlocked the door and shuffled around for a moment before pulling out a thin blue notebook. “Here you go.”
I crossed the room and took the thing, flipping it open to find only three sheets left. The pages were covered in names, all scrawled out in barely legible scratch. Some were highlighted, while others had lines through the center. “What is this supposed to do?”
“It’s a list of names.”
Because that was supposed to tell me everything I needed to know?
“Names of who?” Cade stood and took the book from me. “And where’s the rest of it?”
“Don’t know, and don’t know,” was Brewster’s reply. “I stole it from Cora’s office a few weeks ago. Her intern was in the process of shredding the pages, but left suddenly. I procured the book and scampered off.”
“Phil might be able to make something out of this,” Cade said. He was skimming the pages. From the look on his face, it made as much sense to him as it did me. “If it’s all we have…?”
“It’s all you have,” Mr. Brewster confirmed. “While I’m sure it’s not enough to have Cora convicted and Infinity dismantled, I do know that it was being destroyed. It must have some value.”
“We’ll be in touch.” Cade stood and handed me the notebook. I folded it in half, length-wise, and stuffed it into my back pocket, then headed for the door. Kori followed without question, but Noah looked annoyed.
He looked like he was going to say something, so I gently grabbed his arm and steered him toward the hall. There were a million things I wanted to say to Brewster, but we couldn’t afford to piss him off. If what he told us was true, he’d stooped to a new low by helping Cora do…whatever Omega was. But we needed him and he could still screw us over. I bit my tongue, and hard.
Once we were outside, we started for the car. We’d almost made it when the sound of a car pulling up the driveway stopped everyone cold. “Could just be someone Brewster knows,” Cade said. He didn’t believe that, though. He stood rigid and was gripping the keys so hard that his knuckles had turned white.
“Not worth taking the chance.” Noah nodded toward the barn. “Hurry.”
“But the car?” Kori yelled over her shoulder as Cade dragged her into motion.
“Don’t worry about it.”
We managed to get ourselves into the barn and close the door as two dark-colored SUVs pulled up in front of the main house. “Who is it?” Kori peered around Cade to try and get a peek outside.
I didn’t need to see their badges or trademark red ties to know. “They work for Infinity. For Cora…” The tallest one, Yancy, had been to the house multiple times over the years. If there was something she wanted done behind the scenes, someone she needed persuaded or nudged in a certain direction, Yancy was called in. “This isn’t good.”
Mr. Brewster answered the door after a few moments, then swung it open to let the men inside. “Bad idea, Markus,” I whis
pered. As they disappeared, I held my breath. There was only one reason for Yancy to pay a visit to someone. In a matter of minutes, Markus Brewster would no longer be an option for helping us get what we wanted. “We have to go.”
“Why? What’s—”
Two shots rang out and Kori jumped. She punched Cade hard in the arm. “Car’s something to worry about now, huh?”
A moment later, the men stepped from the house and sure enough, one of them pointed to our borrowed ride. Cade cursed and spun in a slow circle, a slightly panicked look in his eyes. “Gonna have to bolt and hope for the best.”
Noah snorted. “There’s three of them and four of us…”
“So you’re packing?”
Noah groaned. “Run it is.”
We rushed for the small door on the far side of the barn and managed to get it open just as the main barn doors flung open at the front. Cade slammed the door closed behind us in an attempt to slow them down, but they busted through, the barrier useless.
The sound was like firecrackers, only the feeling that came with it was a cold chill rather than excitement. One shot landed on the ground between Noah and me, dangerously close, and made the hairs on my arms jump to attention.
He grabbed my arm and tried to get to Cade, who’d run the other way in an attempt to avoid the shots, but another round fired in his path prevented it. One of the men tackled him to the ground, which seemed to instantly ensure Kori’s surrender. She had her hands up as the second man kept his gun trained on her.
Noah’s face paled and he immediately tried to get to her. “Kori!”
I grabbed him and held tight with everything I had. “No! Getting caught ensures we all end up dead.”
“Shit.” He hesitated for a moment longer, raking a hand through his messy hair before letting out a low growl. “We gotta go.”
Chapter Fifteen
Noah
Leaving Cade and Kori behind was like holding a blowtorch to my skin. The fact that I hadn’t gone after them—what the hell had I been thinking?