Project Paper Doll (30 page)

F
RANKLY
, I
THOUGHT
R
ACHEL OVERSOLD IT
. So melodramatic, falling to her knees. Please.

But given that she was working with the three seconds of instructions I’d managed to whisper to her, it wasn’t so bad. And apparently it had been believable.

Zane sagged in relief as she coughed and sputtered.

Dr. Jacobs jolted as though he’d been electrocuted. Then he stood abruptly and began backing toward the door.

“No.” I reached out and held him still, without moving from where I stood—all the lessons in this very room paying off.

“You didn’t do it,” Zane said in wonder, as he moved to Rachel’s side to help her up.

I was not entirely successful at squashing the spurt of jealousy at the sight.

“No, instead she almost killed me because I had to hold my breath for freaking forever.” Rachel scowled at me. “What took you so long?”

“I’m sorry. Would you have preferred the real thing?” I asked.

She gave an indignant huff.

“You two conspired,” Dr. Jacobs said, sounding like a man who wasn’t sure what he was seeing. “But you hate her. You perceive her as a threat,” he said to me, as though he was piecing events together. “And emotion is the trigger for you.”

“Except, as you so clearly pointed out to Zane, I’m not just one thing or the other,” I said, working to keep my voice even. My whole life I’d been torn between the two voices in my head, feeling like I had to choose a side: I was either an alien weakened by my humanity OR a human tainted by the strangeness of my “foreign” DNA.

But the truth was, I didn’t have to choose. I was both. And that was an advantage, not a flaw. At least in situations like this, where someone was trying to manipulate me by counting on my allying myself to one side or the other.

“I might hate Rachel, but that doesn’t make me stupid.” I smiled tightly. “And you of all people should know the strategic value of a common enemy.” I looked to Rachel, who shrugged at her grandfather.

“She wanted me to pretend. You wanted me to die. Not a hard choice,” she said bitterly. “You just wait until Mom and Dad find out about this.”

He gave a strained laugh, startling all of us. “Darling, even if they believe you, do you think they will care?”

Rachel stiffened and then started toward him, murder in her eyes.

“Ignore him,” I said to her. “Let’s just focus on getting out of here.” I was suddenly aware that all I’d done was trap Zane and Rachel in here with me.

“I don’t take orders from you,” Rachel snapped, but after one final glare at her grandfather, she backed off.

“I’m going to let you go,” I said to Dr. Jacobs, “and you’re going to open the door for us.”

He laughed again, but with less confidence. “Why on earth would I do that?”

“You will,” I said. “The only question is whether it’ll be the easy way or the hard way. I’m betting that scanner doesn’t recognize whether you’re conscious or not. Or alive or not.”

Zane frowned.

Dr. Jacobs looked at me, surprised. “You’re threatening me now?” A faint smile crossed his face. “Perhaps I haven’t failed as thoroughly as I thought.”

“Just open the door.” I released him but stayed ready. He’d have to move fast to get through the door before I could stop him, but I wouldn’t put it past him.

Only, he didn’t even try. He didn’t do anything, remaining fixed in place as if I still held him there. “You’ll never make it out of the facility,” he said.

“So you say,” I said, but I could feel an urgency creeping up on me. Killing him would be the smart thing to do. But I suspected it might only make things worse later down the line. I’d be a murderer, on top of everything else.

“Even if you do escape, where will you go?” he asked gently. “You have no money, no resources.”

Evidently he didn’t know about the duffel bag of cash and supplies stashed under the Dumpster at the abandoned Linens-N-Things. Or maybe the bag wasn’t there. I’d never seen it with my own eyes. Mark Tucker had just told me about it. It was hard to know what to trust when your whole life turns out to be a lie.

But it didn’t matter; there was no way in hell I was staying here. He had to know that. Why was he even trying?

“There are far worse things out there than your life here,” he persisted.

I frowned. I was missing something. If he was so sure I wouldn’t get out, then why was he bothering to—

His gaze darted toward the door, and I caught the first clear whisper of his thoughts.

…should be here any minute, lazy bastards…pay them to make regular rounds.

He was waiting for the guards. “So, the hard way,” I said with a nod.

With a gesture, I shoved him into the corner that was my little bathroom. His head hit the shower tiles with a loud but satisfying smack.

Zane winced. “Ariane!” For the record, Rachel wasn’t the least bit perturbed.

I hurried over to check on the doctor. He had a bloody gash on his temple, but he was still breathing, a state I was willing to bet I’d regret at some point.

“Help me drag him,” I said over my shoulder. I wasn’t sure skilled and careful levitation was in my repertoire yet, and I didn’t want to waste time trying when we could move him the human way almost as quickly. “We need to hurry. The guards have a regular rotation. They’ll be here any minute.”

Rachel and Zane joined me—the former with an annoyed sigh—and with an effort, we dragged him over to the wall scanner. I was careful not to look at Zane in the process. Since he’d been here, I’d done only what I had to do, but I couldn’t possibly have proven myself to be more strange, more alien than if I’d set out to do just that. I didn’t want to know what he thought of me.

I lifted Dr. Jacobs’s limp hand up to the scanner—it barely reached from his position prone on the floor—and the lights across the top flashed. After a second or two, during which I thought my heart might stop from fear, the door clicked open.

“Go,” I said, dropping his hand. The two of them rushed out, and I followed, just a step or two behind.

In the hall, as the door clicked shut behind us, I waited for an alarm to sound, for someone to shout, but there was nothing but cool silence. Instead of feeling relieved, though, I felt only the growing pressure to get as far away from here as possible.

I looked at Rachel and Zane waiting in front of the elevator. The door was open, but they weren’t going in.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, suddenly envisioning guards inside, their weapons pointed.

“He had a key…” Zane began.

Oh, damn.
The key to the elevator. Some strategy expert I was turning out to be. I glanced back at Dr. Jacobs, out cold in my former room.

“Go back in and get it,” Rachel snapped, her tone at odds with her anxious fidgeting, her fingers wrapping and unwrapping around the ends of her scarf.

“I can’t,” I said. “The scanner is set only for him.”

“Maybe there’s another way out,” Zane said, not sounding particularly hopeful.

No, there wouldn’t be but…

“Come on.” I hurried past them into the elevator and pressed the button.

“Not much point without a key,” Rachel singsonged. She was still leaning against Zane, though I was convinced that was, by now, thoroughly unnecessary.

“Shut up,” I said. The doors rolled open, revealing a wood-lined elevator with thick red carpeting. I’d been unconscious or in a duffel bag during my previous rides in here. Nice to know Dr. Jacobs didn’t spare any expense when it came to his accommodations.

Inside, I found the keyhole right next to the panel with buttons. It looked pretty standard. Just insert the key we didn’t have and turn. So, if it wasn’t wired in some way to resist tampering…

I knelt down for a better look.

“Oh my God,” Rachel muttered.

I ignored her, focusing on the tiny moving parts inside the lock. Manipulating smaller items with precision was a lot more difficult than throwing stuff around, but opening practice locks had been one of the many skills GTX had taught me. Can’t have your super-alien spy stopped by a good old Schlage.

The lock clicked, sounding loud in the quiet of the elevator, and the floor numbers lit up.
Yes.
I stood up and reached for the lobby button, the fastest way out of this hellhole.

“No,” Zane said quickly. “It’s guarded. And you look…”

I glanced down at myself, in my white jumpsuit with numbers on my shoulder and blood on my sleeve.
Like an escaped experiment. Like a freak.

I nodded, my face hot. “Right.” I pressed the only other button. Fifth floor.

“It’s Dr. Jacobs’s office,” Zane said. “Maybe he’ll have a sweater or a lab coat or something.”

Rachel laughed bitterly. “Yeah, like that’ll help.”

Zane glared at her.

“What?” she demanded. “We came in as two people, but we’re leaving as three. More than a little suspicious, don’t you think?”

I stepped closer to her. “Are you volunteering to stay behind?”

She blanched and then gave me a hostile look, but she shut up.

“Ariane.” Zane moved to stand next to me. “You’re still bleeding.” He studied my face with a worried frown.

The cut on my cheek. It must have been deeper than I’d thought.

Zane lifted a hand as though he would touch me, but checked himself, color rising in his face.

“Sorry,” he murmured.

Well, I guess that answered the question of what he thought of me now. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine once I’m out of here,” I said stiffly, turning away to face the doors. Except I had nowhere to go. I hadn’t just lost my freedom in the last few hours; I’d lost my home, my family, my life. And the only guy I’d ever cared about was afraid to touch me.

Yeah, I was great.

My eyes stung with tears, and without the contacts, my vision was swimming that much faster. I tried not to blink. I would not cry in front of Rachel, not in the middle of an escape. That was just ridiculous.

“Hey,” Zane said quietly. “I didn’t mean…I just… This is a lot, you know?”

Yeah, I knew. I’d lived with who I was and where I’d come from every day of my life. But he hadn’t had nearly the same adjustment period. And I wasn’t sure if any amount of time would be enough.

“Ariane—” he said.

“I said I’m fine.” But my voice wobbled, belying my words. Damn it. If he didn’t stop talking, I was going to have to curl up in the corner and die. Which would be most inconvenient, given all the trouble I’d gone through to escape.

Rachel snorted.

“Shut up, Rachel,” Zane and I said at the same time, with varying degrees of exasperation.

“Yeah. Like I’m the problem,” she said, but with far less aggression than normal. Clearly, her near near-death experience had thrown her for a loop. Or maybe it was learning that her grandfather viewed her as expendable. I almost felt bad for her. Almost.

Zane gave me a commiserating glance, so familiar, so normal, it almost made me laugh even as it broke my heart. But I ignored the pain and drank in the moment, wanting one last bit of “normal,” or as close as I was going to get.

I was glad I’d had it, because as soon as the elevator doors opened, everything changed again.

A
RIANE TENSED A SECOND
before I saw him.
Them
, rather. My dad, in full uniform, with Joey the mountain on one side of him and another guy in GTX black on the other.

The surprised look on their faces when they saw us was comical…until they pulled guns on us. Real ones, not the kinds with darts.

“Dad, what are you doing?” I asked, shocked.

“I told you, I have contacts at GTX. When you disappeared, did you really think I wouldn’t find out where you’d gone?” my dad demanded.

I’d never really thought his mysterious GTX sources actually existed. Apparently, I’d been wrong.

“Come on out of there, son.” He waved me forward, never taking his gaze or his aim off Ariane.

“You can handle this, right?” I whispered to her. I’d seen what she’d done with those tranquilizer darts in the street.

She lifted her shoulder. “I’ve had more practice with M&M’s,” she whispered back with a frown.

“What?” I asked, confused.

“Excuse me,” Rachel yelled from behind. “I’m a Jacobs. You need to let me through.” Without waiting for a response, she pushed past Ariane and me.

I winced in expectation of shouting and possibly gunfire, but my dad nodded at her. “Come on.”

She stepped neatly to the side and tossed a strained but smug smile at us as she headed into her grandfather’s office and out of harm’s way.

Clearly, any lessons she might have learned tonight had had only a limited effect.

“Zane, follow Rachel. We’ll take care of this,” my dad said.

“Go,” Ariane said to me, never taking her gaze off the men in front of her. “I’ll be fine.”

Except she wouldn’t. Even if they didn’t shoot her, she’d end up right back downstairs in that horrible little room. I had no doubt of that.

She was trying to protect me.

That realization broke something open in me. She, who’d had one seriously crappy and messed-up childhood, was putting me first even when most people in her situation would have done whatever they could to escape, including using me as a human shield.

She cared. I wasn’t second best to her. The idea made my eyes sting with tears.

So what did it matter where she came from? Who—or what—her parents were? Everyone’s family was messed up in some way, including my own.

And she was still the same Ariane.

“No,” I said. I couldn’t let her sacrifice herself. “I came here to get you out, and I’m not—”

Startled, she looked at me directly for the first time. “You did?”

“Well, I came here,” I admitted. “You kind of did the getting-out part yourself.”

She smiled, then, a beautiful expression that lit her up from within, reminding me of the other night in the parking lot after the activities fair. When everything had been simpler, clearer.

“Zane!” my dad shouted. “Move!”

“If we don’t get off the elevator, the doors are going to close and they’ll start shooting,” Ariane said suddenly, all business once again. Her head was tilted to one side, her gaze slightly unfocused, and I realized she was probably “hearing” it from someone, possibly my dad.

“Okay, together, then.” I held my hand out to her. She hesitated for a brief moment, and I flashed back to all the moments before she’d trusted me. But then she slipped her hand into mine, her fingers cool and light. “One, two…”

We stepped out, and I moved in front of her.

“Zane,” she protested.

“Now is not the time to be a bleeding heart. Get out of the way,” my dad said.

The elevator doors shut behind us, and I couldn’t help but feel we’d just lost our only avenue of escape.

But I didn’t move. I was tired of not fighting, of just accepting the way everything was. Letting other people’s decisions rule my choices.

“Of the two of us, I’ve got a better chance of stopping bullets,” Ariane pointed out.

“Yeah, but they won’t shoot me,” I said, though I didn’t feel quite as confident about that as I sounded.

“They’re not going to let you take her out of here, Zane,” my dad said. “Just walk away. Don’t be stupid.”

That pissed me off. “I’m stupid? Because I’m too weak, too sensitive, like Mom? Yeah. I’m the one in front of the guns, Dad.”

“What is this?” a new voice demanded. I looked over to see an older man, tall and imposing, at the other end of the hallway. I hadn’t even realized there was anything in that direction, but clearly this guy had come from somewhere. Staring at him a moment longer, I realized it was the same man who’d been in the street last night when Ariane was captured—Ariane’s father, according to what my dad had said.

Next to me, Ariane flinched, her hand tightening on mine.

“Stand down,” he ordered the guards, to my relief.

Rachel peeked out from Dr. Jacobs’s office to see what was going on. “Stay in there,” Mr. Tucker said in a tone that brooked no argument, even from Rachel. She disappeared from the doorway, closing the doors after herself.

After the briefest hesitation, Mountain Joey and the other dude holstered their guns. “The chief said the kids were in here to cause trouble, vandalizing, maybe,” Joey said.

And since Joey hadn’t been happy about letting us in in the first place, it probably hadn’t taken much convincing to get him to go along with the idea. And, of course, my dad knew he would have sounded crazy if he’d tried to explain what was really going on, not that he even had the whole truth.

“Then we lost contact with Dr. Jacobs, and we couldn’t reach you on the radio.…” Joey trailed off.

“So you’re going to start shooting people based on what, a hunch?” Ariane’s dad raised his eyebrows.

“It’s more than a hunch, Mark,” my dad blustered, but he returned his gun to its holster. “And you know it. Just because it’s your kid—”

“You have no jurisdiction here, Chief Bradshaw,” Tucker said smoothly. “The police haven’t been called. This is a private matter.”

“She’s holding my son hostage!”

“I’m here willingly,” I spoke up quickly, and my dad glared at me.

“You need to leave, Chief. Now,” Tucker said. He looked to his guards. “Joey, Xavier, take the chief out and make sure he stays out. Then return to your posts.”

He gestured for Ariane and me to step away from the elevator. I tugged Ariane to the side, making room for Joey and the other guard, Xavier, to move forward and press the button.

The doors rolled open immediately. Xavier stepped in while Joey positioned himself at the threshold, gesturing for my dad to go.

But my dad stayed put. “I’m not leaving my kid here, Mark,” he protested. I cringed at his repeated use of Mr. Tucker’s first name. What, like that would make people think they were equals or friends or something? “If he stays, I stay.”

I rolled my eyes. My dad was not one to give up easily on his GTX dreams.

Tucker turned to me, his gaze flickering over my position in front of Ariane and her hand locked in mine. “Do you want to go?” he asked.

“No,” I said.

“It doesn’t matter, Mark,” my dad snapped. “Zane isn’t eighteen.”

Mr. Tucker tilted his head, as though considering his words. “But he’s an invited guest of Dr. Jacobs’s granddaughter. You, on the other hand, are trespassing.”

I winced, waiting.

My dad sucked in a breath, his face turning red, as if he was going to argue with Mr. Tucker, but then he just looked at me with disgust. “I should have let your mother take you.”

I froze. “Wait, what? She…she wanted me to go with her?” It felt as if the world was tilting without me.

“Of course she wanted you. You’re just like her, despite my best efforts,” he spat.

“Where is she?” I demanded.

He narrowed his eyes at me and then deliberately turned away.

Son of a bitch.
“Dad!” I shouted. He couldn’t drop that bomb on me and walk away. “Where?”

Next to me, Ariane squeezed my hand. “Illinois. Chicago suburbs.” She tipped her head to one side, her expression distant, her forehead crinkled with concentration. “Gurnee, I think.” She gave me an apologetic look. “It’s kind of noisy in his head at the moment.”

My father halted immediately and turned back, a horrified expression on his face. “How did you… You can’t…”

Joey grabbed his arm and tugged him into the elevator, and my dad, in shock, offered little resistance.

I grinned, relief almost making me giddy. My mom had wanted to take me with her. She hadn’t willingly left me behind. I didn’t have the whole story yet, but I’d find her and get it.

Tucker watched the doors close on them, then he turned to us.

“That way.” He directed us toward the opposite end of the hall, where I’d first seen him. “We don’t have much time.”

I started to follow him, but stopped when Ariane’s fingers slipped from mine.

I turned to find her standing still, her feet planted.

“I’m not sure we can trust him,” she said.

I swallowed a groan.
So. Freaking. Close.