Exposed (16 page)

A gleaming, sooty eye pressed voice against the door, regarding Jake with scrutiny.

voice of reason
JAKE WAS FEELING UNCERTAIN as he rapped on the door of the boardinghouse on Bank Street. He hadn't heard back from Gaia since he'd sent his semi-frantic missive. That made the chances of her actually being at home even slimmer than usual—which was saying a lot. At this point, he hardly had any idea where she could be. That was it, actually, in a nutshell—with Gaia, there was no telling where she was at any point in time. He could only hope she hadn't left the state for some sort of secret search-and-rescue mission that he was as yet unaware of.

Unconvincing Facsimile
More than that, though, was how incredibly irritating Gaia's housemother, Suko, was. So officious. Icy, even. And she seemed to think he was some kind of borderline stalker, which made every encounter just that much more enjoyable.

The door swung open.
Bingo
. Suko stood, looking poised and unsurprised to see him. As usual. “May I help you?” she asked calmly, looking for all the world like that was the very last thing she wanted to do. Her thin lips were stretched over her teeth in an unconvincing facsimile of a smile.

I get it, I get it
, Jake thought.
I've worn out my
welcome. Point taken. But what do you want me to do?

Jake stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Is Gaia home?” he asked in as friendly and open a tone as he could muster.

Suko managed a quick head shake “no.” “Gaia is out,” she said, her tone disapproving. Technically, Suko didn't have jurisdiction over the comings and goings of her wards during the day as long as they respected their nightly curfew—and it seemed that there were ways to get around even that. But Suko made it clear that she thought Gaia was one accidental encounter away from being branded a common criminal. “You should call her if you need to speak with her,” Suko offered, stepping backward and beginning to drag the door forward again, effectively shutting it in Jake's face.

“Hey—,” Jake protested, stepping forward. Suko frowned. She obviously didn't like the idea of Jake forcing his way halfway into the house. Go figure.

“You should call her,” Suko repeated, allowing irritation to creep into her tone. “She is not home.”

“Wait!”

The door stopped about a fraction of an inch before its trajectory had finished. A gleaming, sooty eye pressed against the door, regarding Jake with scrutiny.

“I need to talk to him.”

ZAN SHIMMIED OUT THROUGH THE tiny sliver of open door that Suko had—quite begrudgingly—left open. She smiled tentatively at Jake and pulled the door fully shut behind her. “Can we talk?” she asked.

His Own Share of Shadowing
Jake shrugged and copped a squat on the front steps. “Why the hell not?” he said resignedly. “Not like Gaia's going to be around anytime in the near future, is she?” He ran his fingers through his hair, feeling tired, frustrated, and above all worried about his girlfriend.

“I have no idea what Gaia's schedule is,” Zan said. “I'd tell you if I did, honestly, but I can't.”

Jake turned to regard Zan, finally, with measured curiosity. She seemed oddly subdued. He had met Zan a bunch of times by now, since she was always home when he came around. Near as he could tell, just about all she did was sit around the boardinghouse riding one high or another. Maybe late at night she went trawling for underground parties or something, but that was just speculation.

But he'd never seen her like this. He'd seen Zan high or hungover, fed up or flirtatious, daring or dismissive. Above all, Zan always seemed pretty attracted to Jake. Now she was acting like she was sitting next to
her brother's friend or something. Her baby brother's friend … someone she was
worried
about.

“Um, so, what's up?” Jake began nervously.

Zan's gaze darted up and down Bank Street—anywhere but back at Jake. “So, I wanted to tell you that I, uh … I saw you today.”

“You
saw
me? Where? Were you
following
me?” True, Jake had been doing his own share of shadowing lately, but he hadn't expected this news from Zan, of all people.

“No—no way, man,” Zan said. “You think I don't have better things to do?” she asked, flipping her hair defiantly, suddenly seeming more like herself. “Please. No, I mean, I was in the park today, you know, scoring. From God. And I saw you.”

Jake flinched. Here he'd thought he was being so subtle that Oliver would be so proud, and meanwhile he'd been discovered by a total burnout? How embarrassing. “Okay, yeah, so?” he asked gruffly, feeling a little humiliated.

“Well, no, that's not really the point,” she amended quickly. “I mean, I did see you. But the thing is—so did God.”

Now Jake was concerned. “Huh?” he asked in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Zan continued somberly. “I know you were trying to be incognito or whatever”—and that, more than anything, really stung—“but I saw you, and I saw God see you, too.”

“Well, did God
say
or
do
anything to indicate to you that he had seen me?” Jake asked, growing more defensive by the minute.

“Well, no. I didn't want him to
know
that I had seen you, so I was sort of trying to pretend that I hadn't,” Zan explained, her voice shaking.

“So then you can't be sure,” Jake finished, his face stony. His embarrassment had taken over, the voice of reason temporarily tamped down by his monstrous pride.

“Jake,” Zan said slowly, “I'm sure.”

She laid a hand on his knee. It was an utterly platonic gesture, so unlike her typical overt behavior that Jake felt even more unsettled. He shook her off.

“Well, thanks for the warning, Zan, but you know—I mean, half the time you don't even know what
day
it is, so I guess I can't be bothered to worry too much about what you
think
you saw,” he snapped.

“Jake, it's true, I don't always have it all together—”

Jake snorted.

“But there's one thing I do know,” she continued, ignoring his increasingly boorish behavior, “and for better or for worse, it's dealers. Now, I don't know if I would ever have told you that you need to look out for God. But in this case, you've seen him. I know you recognized him. And he recognized you, too. And that could be bad, Jake. Like, lose-a-finger bad. You need to listen to me.”

Jake was done listening. He stood up abruptly, brushing dust off his jeans. “No, Zan, what I
need
is to find Gaia, to talk to her about
real
problems, real issues that she and I are dealing with. What I need to do is not to waste the rest of the day listening to you babble about things that you don't know the first thing about.”

“But I do, Jake—I know about—,” Zan started, desperate.

But Jake was already down the stairs and on his way.

Here's
the thing—just now? When I told Zan I wasn't worried? That I could handle things?

Yeah, I lied.

JAKE
First off, there's the fact that however unimpressive Chris Rodke is in the hallways at school, as God this guy's got serious power. I mean, he's got half the city—at least—literally eating out of his hand. Then there's the fact that Oliver seems to think he could be a threat. No idle words, that warning. And finally, there's Zan. The fact that the girl dragged herself together enough to sustain a coherent train of thought on my behalf … well, that does say something. And it sure does freak me out.

I don't know what exactly to “do” about this. I know Oliver and his team are on it, and thank God for that. All I can do is keep aware, be on the lookout, be on the defensive. Be prepared for anything. Because now, well … I think I just may have found the trouble that I was looking for.

SKYLER PUSHED OPEN THE DOOR TO 45 Bleecker at Bowery—room 312. As expected, his father was there—but all alone.

Right-Hand Man
“Dad, I thought this was a meeting?” Skyler asked, puzzled.

Dr. Rodke put down the file that he'd been scrutinizing and gestured for Skyler to come farther into the room. “Please, come in and sit down. We'll be meeting with the rest of the team as expected in room 314 but just a little later. I wanted you to come early. I wanted us to have a chance to talk.”

Skyler eyed his father warily and slid into the seat directly to his father's right. God, did he love it—he was literally his father's right-hand man. There was actually a right-hand seat for the right-hand man. It was beautiful. He was glad, too, that his father had called him in. After all, ever since his phone conversation with Chris, well … he had some things of his own to discuss. “What's up?” he asked plaintively.

“It's Chris,” Dr. Rodke said, his voice laced with thick anger.

Skyler straightened in his seat, instantly alert. “Tell me,” he said.

“Nothing serious, son, nothing we have to be
excessively concerned about, but it's no secret that your brother's jealousy is growing every day.”

“It's so ridiculous,” Skyler scoffed.

“True, yes, he is being utterly ridiculous. But we can't completely dismiss him out of hand. The point is, he's becoming a bit of a squeaky wheel, and I'm afraid that before long, he'll be going after the oil.”

Skyler drummed his fingers against the polished wood conference table. “You think he's a threat to us.”

Dr. Rodke laughed as though the notion were completely insane. “Not quite. He has a long way to go before he's a threat,” he said. “But we should keep an eye on him. A sharp watch. As I said, his discontent is palpable, and I wouldn't want to underestimate his capabilities. After all we've done and how hard we've worked, I wouldn't want his immature games to be our own undoing. Nothing can interfere with this deal—with the release of Invince. He's done a great job of getting the drug out onto the street at base level, but he's getting antsy. And I'm charging you with keeping him in line.”

Memo

From:
L

To:
Field staff

Re:
Invince

The following information has been confirmed:

First, that Rodke and Simon Pharmaceuticals is in fact looking to create a drug that suppresses the fear gene among humans.

Second, that a beta model of the drug has been leaked to the street, most likely to test its efficacy among unwitting human subjects.

Third, that subject Genesis is much sought after on the basis of her unique genetic makeup.

The questions at hand are:

1. For what purpose is the drug being developed? Surely the Rodkes have a buyer in mind. We must know everything.

2. In what ways will the final chemical differ from the beta model? What, in fact, are the beta model's side effects?

3. Do they have G's DNA? Are they anywhere near getting it?

The pieces of the puzzle are coming together, gentlemen, and once the above questions have been answered, the end will be in sight. What we are still lacking, however, is proof. Concrete proof. Lab reports, test results, tissue samples, chemical samples. A pill. Has someone actually thought to get their hands on a tab of beta Invince? Has someone tried it?

Come now, gentlemen. We're in the home stretch.

314
. GAIA LOOKED AT THE DOORKNOB of the room. This was it, no doubt about it.

Small-Scale Endeavor
The door was slightly ajar. This all couldn't have been any stranger. For starters, this wasn't Rodke headquarters, but it wasn't some skanky downtown warehouse, either. It was an actual medical facility. She had no idea what type of dealings went on here—at the front desk she'd encountered a bored-looking security guard flipping idly through a magazine. She'd quickened her stride as she walked past him and tried to look confident. As though there was no question that she belonged here. As she had maneuvered down the hallways, she had seen one nurse hurrying along carrying a tray of test tubes.

But that was it. No high-tech surveillance, no state-of-the-art technology. This place looked like a legit medical office, albeit a small-scale endeavor. Where the hell was she?

She touched her toe against the door lightly, testing it. It swung open. Gaia held her breath and flattened herself against the wall of the hallway, prepared at any moment for a gaggle of men in white lab coats to come swarming out of the room, screaming for her blood.

It didn't happen.

She slowly, ever so slowly inched her body into the room, taking it in. There was nothing of note about it. It looked like a conference room. In the center of the room stood a huge, polished wooden table surrounded by chairs. A dismal-looking potted plant lay wilting in the corner.
Places to hide
, Gaia thought, looking around.
I don't have much time
.

There!

At the far side of the room, behind the table, stood a row of cabinets. The cabinets were at least four feet tall. Granted, Gaia was taller than that, but she could squeeze. She was flexible. She quickly crossed over to the cabinets and opened one of the doors.

Just as she suspected, the shelves inside were empty and spaced several feet apart. Jackpot.

Thank God I'm not claustrophobic
, Gaia thought, lowering herself onto her belly and sliding onto the first shelf. Okay, she didn't necessarily
need
to chill out there all night, so it would do. She pulled the doors toward her with enough force that they slammed shut once she'd yanked her fingers out of the way. Though a broken nail would have been a small, worthwhile price to pay.

For a few excruciating moments all Gaia heard in the darkness was the sound of her own ragged breath. She willed herself calm. So far she had seen only two people in this place—neither of whom seemed especially dangerous. No reason to assume
that would change. After all, hadn't she basically just sauntered in off the street?