***
Through the plate glass window separating us from the pristine, white room on the other side, we see Agata seated in a comfortable chair, surrounded by electronic devices. Televisions blast various programs in a symphony of noise that would drive me nuts if I were her. Robotic children’s toys walk across the floor with a chorus of beeps and flashes of flickering light. Music blares from several stereos. I’m grateful that the thick glass blocks out most of the irritating sounds, and I wonder how the little girl can stand it.
“What’s she doing in there?” Gage asks. His stance is a protective one, his face full of concern for the little girl. “Haven’t you studied her enough?”
The Professor nodded. “Our session last night was eye-opening, to put it mildly. Agata passed every test put to her with perfection and excelled in every area of reason, logic, and mathematics she was quizzed in. Her grasp of the subject matter surpasses that of many of my colleagues and subordinates. It really is quite fascinating the way her mind works. The robotic left brain works side by side with the human right brain in a way that increases her thinking power to ten times that of a normal human being. She thinks faster and better than anyone in this building and is able to compute even the most difficult of equations in less than one minute. And that’s not all.”
“Her left brain can emit an EMP?” Jenica guessed, her human eye wide with shock. “How is that possible?”
“The technology that was used to build the bionic cerebrum makes it possible,” he answers. “Agata is able to emit the energy pulse, but—and this is the best part—she can control it, direct it where she wants it to go with a single thought.”
“Watch,” he adds, pressing the intercom button that allows him to communicate with Agata from outside of the room. “Agata, how are you this morning? I trust you enjoyed your breakfast?”
The little girl smiles at us from her side of the glass and nods. “It was wonderful, thank you.”
“Excellent,” the Professor answers with a smile of his own. His eyes crinkle at the corners, and I can tell by the softness in the pale blue depths that he’s already in love with the child. Perhaps because she is a walking, talking miracle that he had a hand in. Perhaps it’s because she is a symbol to him, proof that all is not lost in this war we fight against the government.
“Agata, would you please demonstrate for everyone what you showed me last night?”
She nods again. “Certainly. Which of the devices would you like me to focus on?”
“The two flat screens to your left, please.”
We all look on in awe as Agata turns to the two screens blasting newscasts into the room. In the blink of an eye, they have gone dead with no more than a look from her. Agata smiles at our shocked expressions and decides to give us a show. One by one, she shuts down every piece of technology in the room. Once the stereos fall silent and the robotic toys stop their dancing and chirping, she sits back in her chair, folding her hands primly in her lap.
“Wonderful,” the Professor says through the intercom. He turns to the lab aide standing at the back of our group. “Tess, would you please escort Agata back to Hexley Hall?”
“Yes, sir,” the aide responds. She enters the room, her gait uneven because of one bionic leg. After a few moments of chatter and smiles, she leads Agata from the room and down the hall—but not before the little girl shoots Gage her megawatt, gap-toothed smile and waves. Gage waves back and puts on a smile for the girl’s benefit, but once she’s gone, he turns his stony glare on the Professor.
“No,” he says from between clenched teeth. “Absolutely not. I will not allow my niece to be used as a weapon.”
The Professor removes his specs and wipes them with the bottom of his lap coat. “I expected this reaction from you, although when I thought of the idea, I didn’t realize that your family bond with her was so close.”
“She’s my sister’s daughter, and I promised I’d keep her safe.”
“She would be safe,” Jenica says softly, and it is the first time I’ve ever heard compassion in her voice. “In order to focus her EMP signal on a target, she only needs to be able to see it. Am I right, Professor? She should be able to do that from the hovercraft.”
The Professor nods. “You are correct, Miss Swan, but we will not try to force Mr. Bronson to do something he’d rather not do. If he says no, we have to respect that.”
“Like hell we do,” Dax hisses, turning toward Gage, his lips curled in a sneer. “Look, you bulldozed your way in here and forced your way onto our team. Everyone here has to make sacrifices for the good of the Resistance, and that means you too. No matter how rich and snooty you may have been before you came here, you’re now a fugitive and—because of Blythe and the Professor—a member of this team. Attacking two places at once was your bright idea. The least you can do is contribute.”
Gage meets Dax head on, and the two look like jungle cats ready to pounce on each other. I can’t say that the sight is all that bad. It’s actually kind of stimulating.
“I have sacrificed more than you will ever know to keep Agata safe,” Gage says, his jaw clenching in fury. “I will give everything I have to the Resistance, but not her. Agata is off limits.”
Dax snorts. “Spoken like a truly spoiled rich kid. Do you have any idea what the people in this room have been through? What those prisoners at Stonehead will be put through if we don’t save them?”
“That’s enough!”
I can’t believe the sharpness of my tone but, really, I’ve had enough of the bickering. Dax is being an asshole, and the Professor is asking the impossible of a guy who just risked his neck to save a girl we want to use as a piece of equipment. I force myself between the two large men and push them apart, one hand on each broad, muscled chest.
“Dax, Gage is right. We can’t ask him to risk his niece for us. You know how valuable a piece of collateral like Agata would be to the government. She’s dangerous to them, and they would stop at nothing to use her to get at the rest of us if they had to. If they captured her, she could even be used as a weapon against us. If someone asked you to risk my life, or Olivia’s or Jenica’s, would you do it?”
Dax looks like he wants to strangle me, but the hardness around his mouth is slowly starting to soften. “Of course not,” he answers, his voice clipped.
“Exactly. We are your family. Gage and Agata are now a part of that family, and we have to treat them as such. If Gage says no, that means no.” I look to Gage as I drop my hands from their chests, satisfied that they’re calm and not ready to leap over me to get at each other. “Gage, I know that you don’t know us very well and you may not trust us. I get it, okay? But, if you would just think about it…”
My voice trails off as Gage brushes past me, stomping angrily for the exit. Without a word, he’s gone and I’m left looking like an idiot in front of everybody.
That does it.
Now I’m pissed.