The Lethal Agent (The Extraction Files Book 2) (33 page)

LRF-AQ

SEPTEMBER 14, 2232

Mable didn’t understand why everyone was so upset until she saw the look on Arrenstein’s face. He looked stricken by the information, as if it had been a baton clubbed over his head.

In a conversation about colony terminations, there was only one that would elicit such a response from him.

She’d never known which one, never known how many or how long. She’d never known a single detail of the colony, but Arrenstein did. He understood what was at stake.

Abby stepped forward to interject. “It’s Alex. I saw him on the vid feed.” When she was done, she turned to the director and crossed her arms like she’d just won a round of high-stakes poker.

Mable felt the air leave her lungs. She couldn’t breathe.

They were going to kill Alex?

Mable lunged at the director, but Theo’s arm across her chest blocked her movement. She squirmed against him, lashing out with her feet, her elbows, anything she could use to get free.

Like Rowan, he was too strong.

“Let me go,” she screamed. Mable refused to sit back and let them discuss terminating her brother’s life. She only just found out he was alive. Mable kicked her feet and fought against his grip, desperate to have her say in this.

Theo picked her up off the floor and carried her to the door. He kept his rock-solid arms wrapped around her, refusing to let her free.

Across the room, she could hear Arrenstein say. “I believe Dr. Hill to be correct in this case, Director. You will have to recall the termination order before you receive any assistance from this facility.” He clasped his hands on the edge of his desk and waited.

Filmore slammed his fists on the desk. “Masry will terminate you for this!”

Arrenstein didn’t even blink. “I have complete confidence that the vicereine will offer nothing less than her full support. Recall the order.”

“I can’t!” Filmore screamed in frustration. His booming voice echoed off the synthetic walls.

For Mable, the room spun. Tears sprung to her eyes. She couldn’t hold them back, she couldn’t lose him again. She’d only just learned he was alive, that he had a future, a home.

Alex was going to die again.

Filmore was going to let him die.

“I suggest you figure it out. If that colony is terminated, you’ll receive no further assistance from this program. And I promise you, this is only beginning. Forty is nothing.”

Filmore grappled for a response. “You would kill hundreds of Scholars over one man?”

“There are children in that colony,” Ms. Perch said to persuade him. “There are nine little kids there and you’re going to kill them, along with three innocent people.”

Alex and Kellan? They were together. In a colony. A colony that was going to be terminated.

Mable felt the room jump. The walls closed in as the ceiling replaced the floor. Her knees went limp beneath her as she sank to the ground, clutching at Theo’s body suit as she fell.

Then came the black.

LRF-AQ

SEPTEMBER 14, 2232

Theo thought he had a firm grip on Mable until she slipped to the floor. Before he could stop her, she collapsed. Only his arm on her back kept her from hitting her head on the floor. Tears clung to her cheeks, continuing to fall even as she lay motionless.

“Aida!” he called.

When she saw, Aida rushed over. “What happened?”

“She fainted,” he said, hoping that was the right answer. He wasn’t really sure what happened. One second she was trying to get away from him, and the next, she went limp.

“I don’t have access to the code. The only person who can recall the order is the person who made it,” the director continued across the room.

“Is there a medical facility here?” he asked. Theo had little desire to see Mable in a hospital again, but if it meant she was safe, that’s where he would take her.

Aida gaped in shock. “No, of course not.”

Too late, Theo remembered the Scholar abhorrence of medical assistance. If a person wasn’t genetically capable of surviving to old age on their own, then they didn’t have genes worth salvaging. He should have known better.

“Well, who sent the order? I’d like to talk to them,” Dr. Arrenstein replied.

Director Filmore lowered his head and said, “Dr. Perkins,” like it was a secret.

Theo looked up with relief. Aida could stop this. She could keep the Ares Colony from termination and earn Dr. Arrenstein’s help with the dying Scholars.

Dr. Arrenstein said, “Get her.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Get her.”

“She’s right here, but she’s not the one—”

Theo saw the realization settle on his sister’s features. She was only inches from him—the two hovered over Mable where she collapsed.

Aida knew her husband was dead.

Theo put his hand over hers and said, “I’m sorry.” It wasn’t enough, but it was the only thing he could think to say.

“Ask her for his code.” Dr. Arrenstein didn’t even pause at the mention of Aida’s dead husband.

“Take her home,” she said to Theo before she stood and walked to the tablet display.

Theo knew she was right, that he should get Mable home safe, but he couldn’t leave. Not yet.

In an even voice, Aida said, “I’m sorry, Dr. Arrenstein. I do not know my husband’s colony access code.”

Dr. Arrenstein went wide-eyed. “Thank you, Dr. Perkins. I am sorry for your loss. Do you know anyone else who might have had access to his code?” In the way he shifted in his chair, the way his voice lowered, Theo could see that Dr. Arrenstein revered Aida. He spoke to her more kindly than anyone except Mable.

“My husband worked with Dr. Ramos for two years, but he was recently promoted to another facility. I’m sure you could find a way to reach him, though I’m not sure it would do much good. They weren’t close.”

Director Filmore stepped in. “There’s another doctor in his department. A Dr. Holtz, I believe.”

“Then it looks like you have some work to do, Director. I trust you’ll contact me when this issue is resolved.”

“Dr. Arrenstein, may I ask you a question?” Aida stood with her hands wrapped together as she waited for his answer.

“Of course, Dr. Perkins. And please, call me Silas.” He didn’t want to answer her questions. Theo could see it from across the room, but what could he do?

“How long have you known my junior researcher, Dr. Calvin Hill?”

Dr. Arrenstein’s eyes went soft. He looked at Calvin before he said, “It’s been about eight years now.”

“What is the nature of your relationship?”

“He is an agent for my facility. He has been undercover at the LRF for the last thirteen months.”

“Aida,” Calvin attempted, but she held up her hand to silence him.

“And, Dr. Arrenstein, can you tell me his name?”

Dr. Arrenstein looked at Calvin as he said, “Vincent Frederick.”

Theo gaped, frozen on the far side of the room. He couldn’t believe Dr. Arrenstein would out his agent so easily, one of his oldest agents, at that.

Aida leaned forward and ended the comm without another word. Then, she turned to Calvin.

He stood and accepted the fierce slap across his cheek—he had known it was coming all along.

“I never want to see you again,” she seethed through gritted teeth. Then she left. In the sudden, consuming silence of the office, they could hear her heels clicking down the corridor as she hurried away.

Calvin’s shoulders hung with the weight of a man who had nothing left. For all Theo knew, he didn’t. He imagined how Nate would have felt if Casey had ever said those words, or how Theo would feel if Mable said them to him. He would never recover.

Theo’s heart broke to think of it.

Abby moved closer to Calvin and tried to place a hand on his shoulder. He only swatted her away and walked over to Theo. Calvin’s cheek was bright red from the impact. His voice was little more than shattered glass as he said, “Take Mable home. And when you get the chance, please tell Aida I’m sorry.”

Then Calvin, too, was gone.

When Director Filmore turned to Abby and asked, “You were involved in this all along?” Theo decided it was really time to go. With no small amount of effort, he lifted Mable from under her knees and shoulders, cupped against his chest.

He was grateful he had the strength to carry her, that his Scholar genes were good for something after all. Nearly every person stared as they passed, but no one stopped him. It had just been that kind of day.

By the time he reached the apartment, Mable was heavy in his arms. She was a small, petite little thing, but that didn’t mean he wanted to carry her nearly a mile through the LRF. Asleep and out for the count, she looked almost peaceful, save for the tear streaks.

Theo tried to pretend that everything would be all right—that it wasn’t that bad. Dr. Filmore approved the colony termination. Bugs had killed at least forty researchers aboard the LRF. Aida had discovered Calvin’s second life and flatly rejected him.

Then there was Mable. Passed out from stress or grief or fear.

With a great deal of awkwardness, Theo managed to press his palm to the scanner and get them into the apartment. He lowered her onto the bed, her head propped up with pillows.

Then, all he could do was wait for her to wake up.

CPI-AO-301

SEPTEMBER 14, 2232

The silence in his office was enough to kill someone. Osip and Dasia stared up from the couch, slack-jawed.

Silas had forgotten they were there to witness the spectacle.

“That was her, huh?” Osip asked, clearly impressed with Kaufman’s stunning sister.

A sister who just realized the man she loved had been lying to her since the moment they met.

Silas stood from his chair and walked to the door.

“Where are you going?” Osip asked.

“To get a shirt,” he replied. His next comm would be vastly different than the last, and he couldn’t waste any more time. “Go get yourselves cleaned up and get to work on this chart. I want to know every person on our matrix.”

With that, Silas escaped to the safety of his personal quarters. Alone with the full weight of what he’d just done, Silas found his fist smashed through his closet door before he’d even realized what had happened.

He couldn’t lie to her. She was the key to everything, she had to know. She had to understand—to give them the last pieces to finding the bugs.

Aida Perkins was too smart. A Kaufman trait, he imagined.

She’d sniffed Vince out a full eight seconds after Filmore mentioned it.

Silas hadn’t even known she was there.

In the bathroom, Silas rinsed the blood from the lacerations on his hand. From one of his knuckles, he pulled a shard of plastic, at least two inches long. He washed his face and brushed the coffee flavor from his mouth.

With a fresh shirt and pants, Silas slicked back his hair and returned to his office.

On his tablet, he sent the one word ecomm:
EINSTEIN.

Masry commed back not two minutes later.

“I’m kind of busy, Arrenstein. What do you want?” Masry’s hair was less organized than usual, her features dull with fatigue.

“There’s been a large casualty event on the LRF. Filmore said in the neighborhood of forty,” Silas began.

“Cressida, add forty to the count,” she said to someone off-screen. Then to Silas, “I’m doing what I can, but there’s at least six hundred in North America alone. I’m still working on getting the international count.”

Silas wasn’t surprised to hear there had been other deaths—that this event wasn’t localized to Filmore’s facility. “I need the full work up. Names. Ages. Positions. Locales. Everything. I have a team correlating the data now, but I need everything you have.”

Masry froze. “Silas Arrenstein, if I found out you had something to do with this—”

“I’m afraid so.” He shrugged and offered her his winning smile, trying to make her laugh, to ease what would no doubt be a difficult day for her.

It didn’t work. She only grimaced.

“I’ll have Cressida keep you updated. I need to go.”

“Wait, Maz,” he shouted too loud, afraid she’d disconnected the comm.

She didn’t say a word. Instead, she waited to hear him out.

“I need to know how to override a colony termination order without the access code of the Scholar who wrote the order.”

Just before she ended the comm, Maz said, “You don’t.”