“She cannot help you,” Ford said, moving closer to Carter until he turned to face her.
“You don’t know that,” he said. “You’ve done your best for us, but that is a temporary solution at best.”
“It has worked so far,” Ford said. “I’ve done all that I can to—”
“What has?” I asked.
“If Ford cooperates, behaves herself, and wins the trial, Nixon and I stay alive,” Carter said, his mouth twisting in a bitter smile. “And I get to keep coming to school. But that’s only if Dr. Laughlin keeps his word. Do you trust him, Ford? I don’t.”
The two of them stared at each other, a silent standoff that dragged on for far longer than was comfortable. Clearly, telepathy was their primary method of communication.
I glanced at Nixon, who had shifted just slightly in the direction of Ford and Carter. Participating in the conversation, perhaps? I wondered if he was the cause for the rumors that Dr. Jacobs had heard and passed along to me, that Laughlin’s “products” weren’t able to speak. Ford and Carter didn’t have issues with speech, when they chose to use it, but either Nixon was the ultimate in “strong but silent” or he just didn’t talk. Whether through lack of ability or desire, I didn’t know.
“Fine,” Ford said abruptly, breaking off whatever discussion had been going on inside their minds. “If that is what you both wish.” She didn’t sound happy. “But we will not be foolish about it.”
“What you’re suggesting is too difficult, Ford,” Carter protested.
“That is the point,” she said, before shifting her attention to me. “You want our help? We need a supply of Quorosene or information on how to eliminate our dependence,” Ford said bluntly. “That is the price for our aid.”
My mouth fell open. “How am I supposed to do that?”
“From what we’ve been able to learn, it’s manufactured elsewhere. But Dr. Laughlin seems to keep a small amount in his office at Laughlin Integrated, just in case of an interruption in the supply,” Carter offered apologetically. Clearly, even though he disagreed with Ford, he wasn’t going to take a stand against her.
“Isn’t that where you are? Why don’t you just get it yourself?” Zane asked suspiciously.
For the first time, Carter seemed to hesitate, looking at the other two. “The price for disobedience is not worth the risk. As you have likely already deduced, only one of us will be allowed to compete in the trials, per the agreed-upon terms.”
Which meant Dr. Laughlin had two lives to hang over Ford’s head.
I grimaced. If their bond was as deep as it seemed to be, I understood Ford’s motivation, but I couldn’t help thinking that if Laughlin was anything like Dr. Jacobs, she’d just given him two opportunities to further control her.
“So, you expect Ariane to, what, break in and start nosing around?” Zane demanded.
“I don’t expect anything. How you accomplish the task is not our concern,” Ford said, talking to me as though I was the one who’d spoken. “You asked for our assistance. We are merely defining the parameters under which we’d be willing to provide it.” She sounded both annoyed and amused.
“That’s crazy,” Zane insisted.
No, it was a test (one that Ford obviously thought I would fail). I didn’t like it, but I understood her reasoning. Why should they trust me when they didn’t know me? I could just as easily be here trying to find a way to disqualify or discredit her. But if I could do as they asked, I would prove myself. And they’d have what they needed to rebel with me.
Or, quite simply, it could be a trap. One less competitor for the trials, plus some bonus points for being the ones to arrange my capture.
Either way, though, the bottom line was the same—they wanted me to walk into Laughlin Integrated and try to steal something that was most likely locked up tighter than they were now or I’d ever been.
Right.
14
Zane
THE SILENCE THAT FOLLOWED FORD the hybrid’s ultimatum (Ford hybrid—it was testimony to how frightening she was that I didn’t laugh at that) was the longest of my life. With Ariane’s back to me, I couldn’t see her expression—not that I always had a lot of luck reading her anyway. But the thoughtful quiet in the room gave me chills.
Ariane wasn’t seriously considering their “offer,” was she? She couldn’t be.
“This is bullshit,” I blurted, panic lighting the fuse on the words. “You want her to take all the risk.”
Ford turned her attention to me again, and once more I couldn’t help comparing her to Ariane. They were eerily similar, but Ford’s gaze lacked Ariane’s warmth and emotion. It was like staring into twin abysses. A whole lot of nothing. Ariane, as much as I knew she hated it, felt things deeply. With Ford, I wasn’t sure whether she was better at hiding her feelings or whether she just lacked them completely.
No, wait, that wasn’t true. She’d certainly demonstrated jealousy earlier. In some way she seemed to think of Ariane as an older sibling, one with whom she was forced to compete. I definitely recognized that emotion, even if she hadn’t shown it in a traditional manner. Ariane, an only child, both in her home and at the lab, hadn’t picked up on it.
So, maybe Ford was a broken toy, able to feel only the negative stuff. The bad things. That might make her even more effective as a soldier. Hate, fear, envy—those were pretty powerful motivators, weren’t they? Probably the source of most every war.
“We risk much simply by not reporting this contact to our creator,” Ford said, her expression flat, dead. “Would you rather we opted for that choice instead?”
So she’d moved on to threatening already? I stepped forward, fury and adrenaline pumping, prepared to move between Ariane and Ford, if necessary. I wasn’t stupid. Ford could stop me dead, literally, but it wasn’t right that she was taking advantage of Ariane being on her own. Someone had to call her on it.
“Your human is very valiant,” Ford said to Ariane, and somehow made it sound like an insult. “Is that an acceptable compromise? Being less than what you could be just to make him comfortable?” She sounded genuinely curious.
I couldn’t breathe for a second. It was like Ford had dug around in my head and found my worst fear, the very last thing I’d ever want Ariane to hear. And hell, who knows, maybe she had. “We are none of your business,” I snapped, trying to rally. But the heat burning in my face betrayed me, I knew.
“Zane,” Ariane said quietly, giving me a warning look in the mirror, one that said, Please shut the hell up before you make things worse.
That I could read just fine.
Whatever. I moved back into my corner, folding my arms over my chest. I hated this useless feeling, like a fist squeezing my heart. Ariane was on her own, and I couldn’t do anything to help.
“I will take your proposal under consideration,” Ariane said to her evil twin. “I will let you know what I decide.”
“We will be here,” Ford said without even a hint of humor twisting her mouth, as it would have if Ariane had said the same. But then again, maybe Ford didn’t recognize the irony of declaring that she’d be here after explaining in (albeit limited) detail why she couldn’t go anywhere.
Then the three of them turned to leave without so much as another word.
That was it? “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered. But I clamped my mouth shut when I saw Ariane stiffen in response.
Carter, the last out of the room, paused at the doorway. He gave Ariane a small, pathetic smile and a little wave.