In other words, it would be a lot easier for her to use her training and abilities, go all badass assassin on them—hey, man, you reap what you sow—if she didn’t have to worry about innocent humans getting in the way.
So, Jacobs had set up the meeting, intending to use families, honeymooners, and random drivers with a tiny bladder or a taste for Baby Swiss as human shields.
I grimaced.
Ariane returned her attention to my mom. “You said Quinn’s roommates haven’t seen him since Sunday. Do you know when on Sunday? It would be helpful if we could narrow the time window.”
My mom shook her head. “I don’t know. I didn’t…I wasn’t the one who talked with them.”
Ariane cocked her head to one side, considering. “When did the chief receive the video message?”
“This morning. Early. He called and told me he was coming and I’d better meet him.” My mom stared down at her folded hands, examining the white points of her knuckles as if they held more information.
Ariane nodded, her face a blank, but I could almost hear the wheels in her head turning.
She was gathering data, trying to put the pieces together. Why that exit had been chosen as the meeting point, how long Quinn had been gone, and when he’d likely been injured.
She was planning. Ariane was going to save Quinn. Somehow she was going to get him out of there.
A rush of relief washed over me, followed almost immediately by bile-filled frustration. She was going to risk herself to save him, and I needed her to because I couldn’t fix this.
In the small world of high school, I knew my way around. I’d been bored, restless, feeling like I’d outgrown it. I was just biding my time. But that meant I’d been the expert, the one who’d guided Ariane through our elaborate scheme to get even with Rachel.
Now I was nothing. Goddamn it. I was tired of feeling useless.
I stood up and stalked past Ariane to stand in the doorway. I needed to move, to do something, anything just not to feel like a lump of clay. I didn’t expect to be able to do the same things she could do, obviously, but just to have a purpose, a way to contribute to the situation.
To be fair, not many people could have done something to help in this situation. Well, not many humans, anyway.
The hybrids, though, they were a different story.
I flashed on a mental image of the four of them crowded together around a whiteboard, their pale heads tipped together as they studied a series of Xs and arrows.
Which was ridiculous. This wasn’t a game, and they probably wouldn’t use a whiteboard anyway. They’d communicate in that eerie silence, either through telepathy or simply by knowing one another well enough, as Ariane seemed to understand them within seconds of seeing them.
It was that sense of unity, the thread that bound them together as the only (as far as we knew) aliens on the planet, that plucked at my nerves. They belonged to each other, somehow. Certainly, Ford, Nixon, and Carter, but also Ariane, too. Jealousy was sort of new to me, but I was pretty sure that’s what this was. I’d been jealous of Quinn for years, and the feeling was similar.
They wouldn’t be helpless in this situation.
I leaned against the doorway, resisting the urge to drum my fingers nervously against the wall.
“What can you tell me about Quorosene?” Ariane asked my mom, startling me out of my thoughts.
“I don’t…you’re talking about Ford and the others?” My mom sounded confused at the transition.
“Yes,” Ariane said. “What can you tell me about Quorosene?”
I shifted uneasily against the doorjamb. She wasn’t seriously considering this. She couldn’t be.
My mom frowned. “Not much. It’s part of the hybrids’ treatment plan.”
“What is your security clearance?” Ariane pressed, kneeling down in front of my mother to keep her attention. “Is it sufficient to get access to the Quorosene?”
“N-no.” My mother shook her head. “I don’t have—”
“Can you confirm that Dr. Laughlin keeps a supply in his office?” Ariane asked.
I straightened up, my heart pounding too hard.
“It’s possible. He doesn’t trust many people with—”
“Ariane, can I talk to you for a second?” I asked. The words came out too harshly, all broken edges and sharp.
Ariane turned to me and gave a brief nod before standing up and heading toward me.
She had to know what I was going to say, and yet she followed me into the tiny hallway without a word of protest.
I raked my hand through my hair. “You’re kidding me with this, right?” I burst out. Okay, not the best approach. I took a deep breath and tried again. “Why are you asking about that stuff now?”
Emotion flickered across her face before she contained it. “You know that even if I trade myself for Quinn, that will be no guarantee of his safety or yours. If anything, it might be worse. He knows I’ll do whatever is necessary to protect you from hurt or harm, and if I refuse to cooperate with him…” A tiny furrow appeared in her forehead, a big expression for her when she was in this battle-ready mode. A sign of how much the idea distressed her.
“That’s why I don’t want you to do that.” But I wanted, needed, her to do something.
She nodded, clearly picking up on what I was thinking but offering no more.
I sighed, feeling years older and weary suddenly. “So what am I missing?”
Her gaze focused on a distant point beyond me. “They’re holding Quinn at GTX. In my cell, in fact. I recognized the wall behind him.”
I closed my eyes, feeling that slip of gravity that always accompanied devastating, unexpected, and unwelcome news. If Quinn was at GTX, getting him out would be next to impossible. I’d only succeeded with Ariane because we’d had help and no one had been expecting it. We would not have that luck a second time.
“I don’t know if Dr. Jacobs is trying to warn me away or lure me into coming after Quinn. But either way—”
I opened my eyes. “We’d be walking into a trap.”
She nodded again, a slight inclination of her chin more than anything.
“So, what are you thinking?” I made myself ask, even though the tightening in my gut told me I already knew the answer to this.
Hesitation flashed across her face, her emotions breaking through. “There’s only one option that makes sense,” she said.
“You want to try to free the hybrids first,” I said dully.
“It’s more than that,” she insisted. “This is our one chance to stop the trials. If we’re all free, then the competition is over. And Dr. Jacobs won’t have any reason to hold your brother or come after you.” She moved toward me, as though she’d touch my arm.
I backed away.
She froze, her hand in midair.
“And what I think doesn’t matter?” I demanded, frustrated. It seemed we were a team, but only when I agreed with her tactics.
“What other option do you suggest?” she asked calmly, which somehow made it worse.
“I don’t know!” I shouted. “I’m not the master strategist here. Just a regular old human.” It was a low blow and not fair but the only way I could express this growing sense of being out of my league. I was an object to be worked around, extra baggage to be shuffled.
She trusted them more than me. That’s what it felt like. And why shouldn’t she? On the surface, they had more in common, they were advanced in ways I’d never completely understand, let alone be able to compete with.
Ariane’s eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to speak.
Never one to stop when the stopping was good, I kept going. “Even as ‘limited’ as I am, though, I can tell you that anything—even strolling through the front entrance at GTX—is better than walking into the trap Ford has set for you.”