“What could you possibly have to offer that will make people forget what you’re doing to innocent communities?”
“What could I offer? How about giving people back the ones they’ve lost?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Noah
“I dunno if this can work. And even if it could—I’m not okay with it.” We were waiting just inside the gate of the park where Ash and I had previously met Dylan.
Cade sighed. He looked tired, and who could blame him. This was his plan and here I was bitching, but this had to be just as hard on him as it would be on me. The fact that he’d suggested it just proved how much Kori meant to him. “You can do this. I can do this. What other choice do we have?”
I wasn’t sold on that, but I nodded anyway. Why take that away from him? He’d need something to get him through the next few hours. I knew I would. Dylan had what he needed to fix the cuffs, even though he didn’t know it yet. Unfortunately, we needed to get Kori—and Ash—out of Infinity. For that we needed Rabbit.
To get to Rabbit, we needed Dylan.
“Math might not be my strong suit, but I’ve got the basics down,” Dylan’s voice rang out from the shadows. A moment later, he came into the light beaming from the dirty street lamp above us. “Seems like you’re missing someone.”
I’d called him and said we were ready to meet. Except I’d left out one small detail. “Where’s Rabbit?”
Dylan shrugged. “Safe. Where’s Kori?”
“Not safe,” Cade replied. “There’s a small hitch in your plan.”
“Oh?” His tone was casual, but I didn’t miss the slight twitch in the corner of his lip. “And what would that be?”
“I got Cade out.” I folded my arms and leaned back against the rusted monkey bars. “But Kori was impossible. She was in a different part of the building. One I couldn’t get to.”
“If you want to skip out of here, if you want Rabbit to fix the cuffs, you’re going to have to make some concessions.” Cade grinned.
“Such as?”
“You’re going to have to let him go.”
Dylan snorted. “Just how stupid do I look, little brother?”
“Do you or do you not need all the cuffs?” I still wasn’t sure he’d fall for it. “This is your shot—and time is running out. We have no hope of getting in to save Kori without Rabbit’s help.”
He watched me for a moment, then turned and did the same to Cade, searching for the lie. I was the bullshit king, but Cade…the guy couldn’t lie to save his life. “You’re bluffing.”
Cade shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. Can you really afford to take a chance? You said Ava isn’t here. If the cuff doesn’t work, you’re stuck here without her.”
He cursed. “No. I’m not letting the geek out of my sight. But I will go with him.”
“You’re going to help us save Kori?” This was what Cade had gambled on. With Ava absent, Rabbit was his only leverage now.
“Of course not.” The sneer on his lips made it hard to stay where I was. No way. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t work with my sister’s killer. “I’m going to help save myself.”
...
We’d followed Dylan back to the road where he’d led us to an old, parked van. When he’d pulled it open, Rabbit was there, zip tied and duct taped in the back. After he’d been untied and threats had been made—if we tried to grab Rabbit and run, his family would get the nasty surprise he’d left for them—we hunkered down to come up with a plan of attack.
“This is going to work out well.” Rabbit rubbed his wrists while glaring at Dylan out of the corner of his eye. His Dockers were stained and he was missing his right shoe. “I could probably scrounge up what I needed to fix the cuffs on the outside, but getting into my office will make it easier—and faster. We’re gonna be cutting it close.”
“How close?” Dylan hadn’t taken his eyes off Rabbit since untying him—which was a little unsettling, considering he was driving the van.
“Hard to say. Really depends on when the core in your chip stopped working.”
“Wonderful.” I groaned. The inside of the vehicle smelled like rotting fish and the floor in the back right-hand corner was rusted out. Every time we hit a bump, little bits of debris would pop through and I wondered how long before the entire floor fell out.
“So how do we get in?” Cade kept his focus on Rabbit the entire time, not daring to glance in his brother’s direction. He could hardly look at the guy. Me? I could stare. I could stare, and as each second ticked by, imagine the things I’d do to him the moment this was all over. This was our last stop. End of the line. He was going down this time.
“I can walk right in through the front door—not that I ever would. I have my own lab entrance.” He stopped rubbing his wrists and had moved on to retying his remaining shoe. Over and over. Tied. Untied. Tied. Untied. It was starting to drive me nuts. Our Rabbit did it, too, though. Serious OCD issues. Cade and I would rib him as he checked a hundred times to make sure he’d turned his heater off—in the middle of July.
“Good. We’ll go with you,” Dylan said from behind the wheel.
“No.” Rabbit shook his head. “You won’t. Everything is surveyed by camera. You follow me in and they’ll be on us before you can blink.”
“Then how do we get in?” Cade and I were in the back with him. I’d contemplated flinging the door open and having us all jump when the van slowed, but Cade would never go for it. Not with Rabbit’s mom at risk.
“I’m going to have to get inside and scope things out. Make sure I haven’t fallen under suspicion. If everything looks good, I can disable the cameras.”
“Won’t someone notice?”
“Nope. I can loop the feed on all the cameras except for the main one in Cora’s office.”
“What are we supposed to do about that one, then?” Dylan asked. The van slowed, then let out a horrible squeal as it stopped completely.
“Pray she’s busy.”
...
I had no idea how long we’d been waiting for Rabbit to come back. He’d left us huddled in the woods, not far from the Infinity building and about a mile from where he’d parked the van. He promised that once the coast was clear, he’d come back to get us, assuring the group that no one—even Cora—ever came into his lab. It was one of the deals he made when coming to work for them. His paranoia was epic and I wondered what our Rabbit would have to say if he could see himself this way.
“So this is a kick, eh?” Dylan had settled against a thick pine tree and had been picking at the edge of his boot for the last few minutes. He glanced up and winked at Cade. “Never thought we’d be hanging again.”
“Shut up,” Cade mumbled. He had his back to his brother, pretending to keep watch on the building beyond the trees. Every once in a while I’d see his jaw clench. His fists would tighten and he’d close his eyes tightly for a moment before opening them and breathing in deeply. Inner calm. Meditation. Calling on all that stoic soldier bullshit. Before meeting this new Kori, that stuff had been the only thing getting him through some days. I hadn’t made it easier on him in those early weeks, sometimes going days without saying a word to him. Not because I blamed him, but because I blamed myself. But I was his best friend and we’d both lost her. He’d needed me and I hadn’t always been there.
“Is that any way to talk to the guy trying to save you?”
“Said it yourself,” I interjected. Cade looked like he was ready to start swinging. “You’re here to save yourself.”
“True. True. But you get to come along for the ride. Don’t worry, though. We’ll be back to trying to kill one another soon, I’m sure.” He snickered. “Though I technically never tried to kill either one of you. I just want Kori dea—”
That was all I could listen to. I launched myself at him, hauling him off the ground and slamming him back against the tree as hard as I could. “Not another fucking word. The only reason I haven’t torn your throat out is—” I glanced over my
shoulder at Cade. “Remind me, man. Why haven’t I torn his throat out?”
He came up beside me and set a hand down on my shoulder. “Enough people have died because of him. There’s no reason to drag Rabbit’s mom into it.”
Right. Rabbit’s mom. Anyone else would have heard a chivalrous sacrifice. A wronged man willing to shelf his bloody vendetta for the safety of others. I heard the barely bridled rage. I had a nasty temper and highly questionable morals, but Cade…Cade had a dark side that blotted out my own at times. I’d seen him lose it. Had pulled him back from the brink many times. He’d gotten a proper hold on it as we grew up, but being here, having to deal with Dylan while Kori’s condition was unknown, might just be enough to snap him.
I kept my eyes trained on Dylan and gave him a good shake. “Yeah, but if you remember correctly, my moral compass doesn’t point North. Isn’t that right?”
Dylan didn’t look overly impressed, but there was a hint of concern in his eyes. “Posture all you want, Noah. My brother would never risk it. That poor innocent woman…”
Most days I would agree with him. But looking at Cade in that moment, I wasn’t so sure. Screw Rabbit and his family. To hell with Ash and her issues. So what if we’re stuck here… I saw it all in his eyes as strongly as I felt it in my bones. “If you think—”
“Guys?” Rabbit poked his head through the brush and Dylan smirked. “Hurry. We don’t have a lot of time.”
Reluctantly, I released Dylan and stepped away from the tree. Kori. Ash. Rabbit’s mom. All decent people whose lives would be ruined if we couldn’t keep our shit together—at least for a little while longer. I nodded to Cade. “You good?”
He didn’t answer right away, breathing in, holding it, then blowing out slowly. He nodded. “I am.”
We followed Rabbit back to the building and slipped in through a thick metal door marked Phil MaKaden. Once inside, Cade let out a whistle. “Our Rabbit would be crapping himself if he could see this.”
He wasn’t kidding. There were at least seven computers, all lined up against the farthest wall, the wraparound marble countertop stacked with papers between each monitor. The room itself was huge. It had to be forty by forty, the other three walls lined with an assortment of file cabinets, locked cabinets, and a workstation. The thing that made me jealous, though? In the far corner was a huge vending machine. Candy, chips, cookies—there was fruit, too, but yuck. I gave it one more longing once-over, then turned my back.
“I found the girls,” he said, bending over his desk and pulling what seemed like random things from the top drawer. “They’re on sublevel seven.”
“Girls?” Dylan crossed the room and jabbed a finger at him, then turned back to Cade and me. “We’re here for Kori. No one else. We find her, fix the cuffs, and get the hell out. End of story, end of deal.”
“Not quite,” I said. “Ash is here. We’ll be getting her out, too.”
“Nonnegotiable,” Rabbit mumbled. I didn’t miss the bitterness in his tone. “I need her to take down Cora.” He looked up from his desk drawer. “You want the cuffs fixed, we get Kori and Ash.”
Dylan’s face reddened and the muscles in his neck twitched. His fists curled, knuckles turning white, as his jaw flexed several times. He had no choice and he knew it. Finally, he gave a short nod. “Previous statement still stands. If I don’t get what I want, your mother is a goner.”
“I heard you—and I believe it. No one here is going to screw you over. I said I’d fix the cuff and I will—as soon as the girls get here.”
“And just how do we go about doing that?” Cade asked. He kept glancing at the door.
Rabbit noticed and waved a hand in its general direction. “No fear. No one can get in unless I let him or her in.”
“Cora doesn’t have a key?” I found it hard to believe my mom—on any earth—would allow herself to be locked out of the lab where her tech was being tinkered with.
“She did. Does, actually.” He walked to the door and tapped the metal above the knob. There was a small keypad with bright blue numbers. “But if she tried to use it, it wouldn’t work. I’ve made some improvements to the lock. Trust me. This baby is impossible to bypass.”
Dylan snorted. “What about breaking down the door? You think a lock will deter them?”
Rabbit rolled his eyes. “I imagine they could eventually break it down. It’s reinforced steel, not titanium—but it would take forever. I’d have more than enough time to get out.”
“Good.” I stuffed my hands into my pockets and fought back an involuntary shudder of anticipation. “Then let’s get this show on the road. How do we break out the girls?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ash
We’d been going back and forth for the better part of two hours now. Cora was sure I knew something more about the Omega project than I was admitting to, convinced I’d hidden proof of her wrongdoing somewhere out in the world or told someone something that would implicate her in Noah’s death. But really, all I knew was that she intended to give people back what they’d lost—whatever the hell that meant.
She stopped pacing the room and settled in the chair across from me. This was the fifth time she’d done it, the first four times having said nothing before standing to resume her pacing again. I didn’t like the slow smile that spread across her face now. “Did you know that I personally oversaw Andrew and Rebecca’s skipping?”
Andrew and Rebecca. My parents?
The air in the room stilled and the temperature plummeted. “What?” She was wrong. Was saying these things to play with me. No one knew how to manipulate better than Cora Anderson. No trick was too dirty. No tactic too low. I’d seen it firsthand a hundred times. “My parents are dead. An accident several months after I was born.”
She covered her mouth and gasped. It was a totally manufactured response. “Oh, did I forget to tell you that wasn’t true? There was no accident. They were very much alive when I had them skipped. Rebecca worked for me. She was my assistant.”
“Your—” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Rebecca Calvert was a brilliant woman—despite being Bottom Tier trash. I saw her potential, and even though I received quite a bit of flack, I took her on as my assistant.”
“No…”
“It’s true.” Cora frowned. She sat back in the chair and shot me a look of regret so real that another person might have eaten it up with a spoon and asked for seconds. Me? I knew it was pure fabrication. “And after everything I did for her, everything I gave, she betrayed me and I gave her exactly what she deserved.”
I tried to focus on her words and not on the fact that I wanted to punch her. I wanted to open my mouth and scream until my voice was gone and my chest ached. “No. This is a trick. Some ploy to get me to tell you what I know—which is nothing. I know nothing!”
Cora ignored me and kept going. “In the early days of Infinity, I, shall we say, broke a few eggs? After switching from the cuffs to the chips while trying to get the Guardian program off the ground, we had a bit of an issue making things to work as they should. The first-and second-generation models had a nasty little habit of causing heart failure within the first forty-eight hours of insertion. Your mother discovered that I was using listed individuals to test the product.”
“You knew it was killing people and you still kept trying?”
“That’s how science advances, Ash. Besides, I paid the house for each and every one. Bought fair and square.”
“You can’t buy people,” I shouted. “You can’t purchase them to experiment on!”
“I think you’ll find that I can do whatever I like—or I could until she started kicking the dust around.” She sighed. “Of course the universe repaid her for biting the hand that fed her. There was a horrible accident and she lost her first child.”
I opened my mouth—then closed it, stunned. “First child?”
Cora narrowed her eyes and drew back her hand. The blow came, causing my vision to sw
im as the resounding slap echoed in my ears. “Still talking…” She took a deep breath, composing herself. “I did something very special for her. I helped her through it in a way that no one else on earth could have. It should have bought her loyalty. My actions should have ensured her compliance!”
“But it didn’t.” I couldn’t help grinning. Some people just couldn’t be bought. “She tried turning you in anyway, didn’t she?”
She bared her teeth. “Two years later Rebecca went behind my back. She met with reporters and heads of government. She supplied notes and documentation that she’d stolen from my office. She’d almost gotten to the president when I uncovered her betrayal. It was quite a mess for me to clean up—and I wasn’t happy.”
“So you had her skipped.”
“Obviously—but that wasn’t enough. I trusted her. With my secrets, with my work. Punishing her wasn’t enough—especially after what I’d done for her. I skipped her and your father, assuring them not to worry about their poor, sweet little girl. I promised that I would take you in. That I would feed and clothe you and keep a roof over your head. I would strive every day to make sure you truly understood how unloved and unwanted you were. Then, when I couldn’t stand the sight of you any longer, I would make sure you ended up listed.”
My head spun. My entire life, every wicked exchange, every dirty glare, was Cora’s way of hurting my mom. I’d suffered my entire life for something someone else had done.
“Every day, the older you got, the more you looked like her… I do believe I hate you more than I did Rebecca.” She smiled. Like she’d just told me the funniest joke in her arsenal. “When you think about it, it’s all very funny, considering.”
“Considering what?” A funny feeling bubbled up in my stomach. She was looking at me. Smiling in a way that made me think the worst was yet to come. Cora had this grin she reserved for special occasions. The secret smile she held back for her truly awful actions. That smile was on her face and it was making the air in the room frigid.