I nod, not daring to speak. We huddle in the shadows until they pass.
In halts and sprints, adrenaline-pumping runs and heart-pounding waits, we make our way to the TechRA building. Finally, we arrive and proceed to the subterranean corridor without incident.
Without incident—but with a whole lot of emotion. Perspiration dots my upper lip and gathers at the nape of my neck, only to cool once it hits the chilly air. I peek over my shoulder for the thirty-seventh time. The hallway is sterile, empty. Even the stretchers that once lined the hallway are no longer present. The purple and green lights blink at me in the dimness.
I wish I could’ve changed out of my grubby, dried-out clothes, but stopping by my house was out of the question. As was swinging by Tanner’s apartment in the nearby scientific residences. Every extra second we spend outside means an extra second we might get caught. We can’t let that happen, not when we need to get to Callie.
Five hours and counting. Plenty of time, and yet, I feel each minute sliding into the next like sand dripping down an hourglass.
“Hurry.” I grit my teeth to stop them from chattering. “The sooner I can send that memory to Callie, the better I’ll feel.”
“On it.” He positions himself in front of the retina scan, lining up his eyes with the aperture. And stays there. Four seconds, six seconds. What’s taking so long?
“That’s weird,” he murmurs. “It usually beeps to indicate the scans match.”
Panic sprints up my throat. “Is something wrong?”
“Probably not. The maintenance bots were in here earlier this week. Maybe they upgraded the security system, and there’s some sort of glitch.” He moves to the next station and sticks his finger into the slot, so that the machine can take a sample of his blood. “That’s why we have these back-up security systems.”
His finger is pricked, and his face is scanned. He speaks into a microphone. But none of these results in that elusive beep.
He looks at me. I look at him. I realize all of a sudden we aren’t alone.
Small cameras nestle in the ceiling, each one covered by a round, reflective eye. At this moment, every single “eye” is trained on us.
“Tanner?” I whisper, my mouth as dry as the air. “Why are all those cameras pointed at us?”
Before he can answer, sirens blare and the purple and green lights flash, filling the entire hallway with chaos.
Fike, fike, fike. They’ve caught us.
30
The sirens scream, drilling my ears with noise. I want to curl into a ball until it stops, but I can’t. I have to reach my sister.
I grab the door handle and jerk, putting my entire body into the motion. It doesn’t budge.
Abandoning the door, I take off down the hall, whipping my head back and forth. I need another entrance. Another way in to Callie.
There! A heating vent, covered by a grate. These vents have been good to me. They’ve taken me all over the TechRA building. Of course, the Underground has vetted all the ones I’ve used, but this one will work. It has to.
I grab the grate and pull. It comes off, and dust bellows out, choking me. I double over, coughing, and Tanner runs up to me.
“We’ve got to get out of here!” he yells. “We’ve got to—”
The door at the end of the hall opens, and half a dozen guards spill into the corridor.
Too late.
One of them grabs my arms, shoving me to the ground, while two others point their Tasers at me—one at my temple, the other at my chest.
I’m unarmed, I want to say. Just a girl, rendered helpless by a cough. It shouldn’t take three of you to contain me. But of course I don’t. Even if they could hear me above the noise, they wouldn’t listen.
Two more guards approach Tanner and flank him. But they don’t restrain him. They don’t wrench his arms behind his back. They don’t force him to his knees.
Why not?
The question worth a lifetime of credits, and maybe a couple of Meal Assemblers to boot.
I try to catch Tanner’s eye in all the commotion, but he either doesn’t see me—or he won’t.
The door opens again, and Chairwoman Dresden strides inside, her icicle heels slapping the tile, her smile shoving blades into my heart.
She waves her wrist in front of the security system, enters a code, and the alarm shuts down. Finally. We can hear one another talk again, but I’m no longer sure that’s a good thing.
“You’re so predictable, Tanner. I knew it was only a matter of time before you brought her back,” Dresden says. “I didn’t realize it would be so soon after my announcement, however. The riots are still going strong. A curfew is in place. But you couldn’t wait any longer to betray me, could you, darling boy?”
“This has nothing to do with you,” Tanner rasps. “I have to take Jessa to see her sister. She’s the only connection Callie has to this world, to this time.”
Something I can’t read flickers in Dresden’s eyes. “Yes, I know. Even though you never bothered to tell me. I had to find out from other people, scientists who are more loyal than you.” She tilts her head. “Always so earnest, so idealistic. Even as a little boy, you thought you could save the world. But what did I tell you when we took you in and trained you to be our hope for the future? You must be loyal to me—or people will die.”
I gulp. What is she saying? Does she mean she’ll kill Callie to punish Tanner? Will she kill me? No way. She’s allowed both of us to live for the last ten years. She needs us. Doesn’t she?
I may be confused, but Tanner doesn’t have any trouble understanding her meaning. His shoulders droop, and his head lowers. Right before my eyes, he transforms into a six-year-old boy again. “I’m sorry, Chairwoman. It won’t happen again.”
“Damn the Fates right, it won’t. I won’t allow it.” She snaps her fingers in the air. “Take them away.”
“Wait a minute.” I yank my arms, and the guards yank back, turning my body into a tug-of-war rope. “Where are you taking us?”
Dresden’s smile gets wider and colder. A few more degrees, and it’ll shatter in a million pieces. “You’re going to isolation, of course. But don’t worry. You won’t be there long.” She checks her wrist com. “A mere four hours and fifty-three minutes. Then you’ll be free to do as you wish once again.”
My blood turns solid. Four hours and fifty-three minutes. The exact amount of time I have remaining to send Callie a memory and tether her to this world.
“You can’t mean that.” I dart a look at Tanner, but he refuses to meet my eyes. Dresden can’t possibly understand what she’s saying. “I need to get close enough to touch Callie, for only a few moments. I need to send her a memory. It’s the only way to keep her alive.”
She turns to me, her eyelids at half-mast. “I told you already. I understand all of this, no thanks to my traitor boy. Your sister was valuable to me once upon a time. But now we’ve wrung her brain dry, and keeping her alive is costing ComA too many credits.”
“No.” I lunge forward. “Please, Chairwoman. I’ll do anything you want. You don’t even have to bribe me. I’ll sit in that chair. I’ll let the scientists study my brain. For as long as they want. I won’t even complain. I promise.”
She flickers her eyes over me. “You had your chance, Jessa. You turned me down, time and time again.”
“Please!” I’m begging now, but I have no choice. I need to make her change her mind. “I’ll come work for you. I’ll be your assistant. That’s what you want, isn’t it? That’s why you showed me the vision. So that I could make it come true.”