Ultraviolet Catastrophe (27 page)

My feet wouldn’t obey.

“Come on, Lexie.” Asher pulled me along with him until we stood in front of the desk, then he moved to shield my body with his.

Danvers crossed the room to her keyboard and typed a command one-handed. The gun never moved.

Instantly, the sirens stopped mid-screech, and she looked up with a cold smile. “That’s better. Now you can tell me exactly what you’re doing in my office.” Her eyes narrowed. “And how exactly you’re still standing.”

I glanced at Asher, and he shook his head, eyebrows furrowed. “Why wouldn’t we be standing?” I asked.

Danvers tapped her fingers on the desk, and my skin crawled at her appraising gaze. “QT has a very special security system. When you started here, you received an inoculation to be recognized by the system, correct?”

I nodded, suddenly chilled as I remembered Grant’s injection.

Danvers continued. “If the security system is activated, anyone without that vaccine is immobilized. Frozen in place until the system is rebooted. Except, I reengineered the system to paralyze everyone who had the inoculation. Every scientist in the building is currently standing frozen. Why aren’t you two?”

She waited for us to answer, but I had no idea. If it had something to do with Grant’s injection, why would Asher be unaffected, too?

Finally, she shrugged. “Whatever the reason, it still doesn’t explain why you’re in my office. Though I doubt I need to ask.” She raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow at us. “As soon as Amy told me Lexie had reworked the equation, I knew it would only be a matter of time before you discovered the full truth. I should have moved faster.”

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.

“Why wouldn’t I? Branston is paying me very well. And when we succeed, I’ll have my choice of projects. I might even decide to run for office. You have no idea how powerful we are. Or how far our reach goes.”

I shook my head. “But why build a weapon of mass destruction?”

“Don’t you remember how well it worked for the Middle East? People were terrified. What better advantage than the ability to destroy an entire state? Money, resources, approvals, grants… The governments of the world will be throwing those things at us when they learn what we can do.” Her eyes flashed with determination as she spoke.

I frowned at her. “Branston is evil. They’ve experimented on children, performed genetic experiments — all without the subject’s consent. They’ve crossed the line.”

“There is no line. There’s only survival of the fittest. Or, in this case, the most powerful.” Danvers smoothed the front of her suit and smiled kindly, a ghost of her old mentor self returning to haunt me. “Branston is just a shell for a larger, more powerful group, and now, with this ultraviolet catastrophe, they’ll be able to take their place at the table. Listen to me, Lexie. When this goes down, you want to be on the right side. Come with me. Branston has been saving a place for you since you were born. You, too, Asher. We could build great things.”

I took a step toward the door. “Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t think using science to blackmail your way into power is a great thing. So, on that note, we’ll be leaving.”

“Oh, I don’t think so. My plans will be wrapped up tonight, and while I was supposed to bring back as many of you as I can, I don’t think anyone will blame me if you get caught in the explosion. I know Branston may be disappointed, but somehow I don’t think their techniques would work on you anyway.” She smiled. “Besides, what’s one little girl to mourn when this whole facility and all of its scientists disappear? I’m glad your father felt up to coming. All those loose ends will be wrapped up nicely in the explosion.”

The blood turned to ice in my veins. Dad was supposed to be at home tonight, still recovering. What the hell was he doing here?

Asher squeezed my hand. “Don’t listen to her,” he said. “She’s trying to freak you out.”

“Ah, if I were trying to freak her out, I’d tell Lexie her mother came, too. We’ve been trying to recruit her back to this branch of QT for years.”

My knees buckled, and Asher had to hold me upright. “You bitch!” The hatred in his glare could have started a bonfire. “You’re never going to get away with this.”

“And who’s going to stop me? A bunch of teenagers? I don’t think you realize what you’re up against.” She pressed her communication device. “Send in the team now. We’re good to go.”

The building shook, and outside the window, bright lights flooded the QT grounds as three helicopters touched down in the parking lot. Men in dark uniforms swarmed the building, and I clutched at Asher’s hand. His touch was the only thing keeping me sane right now.

She gestured with her gun. “Both of you, sit down, backs to each other.”

Asher and I sank to the floor, but we still held hands behind our backs. The steely glint in her eye told me she’d shoot us where we stood if we disobeyed.

“Isn’t that too sweet? Guess you got over Amy, huh, Asher? I wondered how long she could keep your interest.”

“Why is she helping you? What is she getting out of this?” Asher demanded.

“More than she ever got from QT. How can one genius compete against so many? With all of you the same, there’s no way for her to get ahead here.”

“What are you talking about?” Asher demanded

A sly smile twisted her lips. “Didn’t you know? You, Amy, Max, Zella and Lexie were part of a Branston test. They altered your DNA to make you even smarter than you might have been, but that also means all of you are the same now. And Amy wants to be special. It was very easy to convince her that she could find that at Branston.”

Danvers’ words sparked another connection.

Altered DNA.

Grant’s shot.

The security system vaccine.

Neither had affected me.

But maybe both had changed
because
of me, because of my altered DNA.

My head still throbbed from the scream of the sirens, and everything started to fit together. I’d mutated the vaccines. Maybe Asher had as well. We were
part
of the security system now. That’s why the sirens had sounded like they were
inside
my head, why I’d had such a hard time moving.

Danvers continued. “Lucky for Amy, Branston has projects that even you haven’t heard of. And you won’t be there to make her look average. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

She opened the desk drawer and pulled out a handful of what looked like metal bracelets. “Enough talking. I have a few last things to finish up.” Her heels thumped on the carpet as she approached us, snapped one around each of our wrists, and then slid another between them, joining us together. I twisted my head to see how they worked, but there was no way I was that flexible.

“Engheim’s bracelets? How did you get those?” Asher asked, moving his arms against the cuffs. The metal bracelets clinked together at his tug, suddenly cold and hard against my skin.

“He’s a Branston man, too. You’d be surprised at how many of the QT staff were. Avery was supposed to join us, but he got cold feet at the last minute.” She shrugged. “Such a shame I had to kill him. He was a brilliant man.”

Footsteps thundered in the hall, and three soldiers sprinted into the room. They wore dark clothes, combat boots, and each had a belt full of sharp, shiny tools I’d never seen before.

“Good. Devon, I need you to finish downloading the rest of the project schematics from the main computer. You two, come with me. There are a few experiments I need to personally retrieve.” She spared us one last look. “The system is programmed to explode in one hour. Are you sure I can’t convince you to join us?”

“Go to hell,” Asher said.

“I’ve already been there. I don’t plan to go back.” Danvers turned on her heel and walked out, followed by two of the commandos.

The commando Devon moved to Danvers’ desk, ignoring us as she started typing. And it hit me.

We were going to die here.

The tremors started deep inside until I shook violently, the metal cuffs rattling around my wrists. My parents were going to die here. Danvers was going to escape with the ultraviolet catastrophe machine. Each breath I took felt like knives slicing into my body as the panic attack hit full force.

Asher grabbed my fingers. “Stop, Lexie. It’s going to be okay. We’ll get out of this. I promise.”

The woman at the computer smirked and went back to downloading data. I jerked and pulled at the metal bands, trying to slide them over my hands, but they only seemed to get tighter, rubbing and scraping my skin raw.

“Stop struggling, Lexie. Every time you move, the metal shrinks. Engheim’s design has a serious flaw.” Asher pitched his voice so only I could hear it. “And I need you to calm down so you can do something for me.”

I forced myself to focus on his words instead of the panic screaming inside of me. “What?”

Asher whispered in my ear. “Reach into my pocket and pull out the lock scanner we used on Danvers’ door. Then slip it beneath one of my cuffs.”

I shimmied closer to him, the heat from his body soaking into mine and calming me enough so I could twist my hand into his pocket. My fingers brushed against the thin wire, and I pulled it out slowly, blindly searching for the metal card. It felt like hours, but finally it tugged free of the pocket. Chewing my lip, I concentrated on shimmying it closer to the cuffs. My fingers felt clumsy and stiff at this angle, and I dropped it twice before I slipped it beneath the thin metal of Asher’s band.

“Done. Now what?”

Asher’s breath was hot against my ear. “Pull out my phone and put it in my palm.”

That was a whole other struggle. The way Asher sat, the phone was stuck inside his pocket at a strange angle. My fingers slid right off the slick surface. I shifted to get a better grip, and Devon looked up.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, narrowing her eyes at us.

I shrugged. “Just trying to get comfortable. It would be great if you’d unhook us. We’re not going anywhere.”

“Nice try.” She turned back to the computer, and Asher nudged me with his shoulder. I slid my fingers back into his pocket to fish for his phone.

Asher took up chatting with the guard to keep her focus off me. “How long have you worked for Branston?”

She didn’t even bother to look up. “Started there as a kid. Only home I’ve known.”

“And your specialty?”

“Computers. Just like you, Mr. Rosen.”

He shook his head, his voice going hard. “Not quite like me. I’m not betraying my country.”

She smiled. “Don’t you know? Branston runs your country. Along with a few others. It’s a regular United Nations.”

My fingers finally got a grip on the slick surface of Asher’s phone. Hoping our bodies still hid what I was doing, I slowly tugged it free.

I felt Asher shake his head. “My country wouldn’t kill brilliant scientists because they’re in the way. They wouldn’t destroy years of scientific research and discovery just to blackmail people into giving up power.”

I pressed the phone into his hand, and he squeezed my fingers.

“Doesn’t matter. You’re not going to be around to see it, are you?” The woman froze and pressed a finger beneath her ear. “Yes, ma’am?” She nodded. “I’ll be right there.”

Devon glared at us. “Dr. Danvers has found your friends. Looks like they’ll be in the same boat as you.” She typed a few last things into the computer and straightened. “Take it easy, kids. The end will be painless. Hopefully.” With a smirk, she strode from the room.

I thrashed against the cuffs again. “Asher! They found Max and Zella. We’ve got to get out of here.” I tried to hold back the tears burning behind my eyes. Why had we been so stupid? Why had we thought we could stand up to something like Branston? “We should have gone for help. We should have told someone what was going on.”

“Hold still, Lexie. I’m almost there.” I could feel his arms moving as he tried to activate the unlocking mechanism on his phone.

He continued, and I knew he was talking to keep me calm. “We got lucky. Danvers did the one thing that might stop her. The security system is hooked into the regents’ notification system. Their own team is already on their way to investigate.”

“But why would Danvers do that? She had to know they’d show up.”

“Maybe she wanted them to get caught in the explosion, too.” Asher was breathing hard, and I knew it wasn’t because his fingers kept grazing my hips. “Almost there.” His body jerked against mine a few more times, and I heard the click of a lock releasing. “Got it.”

And then he was on his feet. The sudden absence of his heat from my back made me shiver, but a second later, I felt the bracelets fall from my wrists and I was on my feet, too.

“You are amazing,” I said, staring down at the little gold bands that had seemed so impossible to escape from a moment ago.

“I’ll remember you said that.” Asher gave a half-hearted grin, but it slipped from his face as he went serious again. “We need to get to the security office and shut down whatever Danvers has done to the system. If we can reverse the polarity, maybe we can freeze her team in the building and free the scientists.”

I shook my head. “But what about Max and Zella? And the bomb?”

“We can’t do anything until we get to the security office and see what we’re up against. Are you up for a sprint?”

I rubbed at the throbbing pink skin on my wrists before nodding. We were running out of time. “Let’s do it.”

I eased open the door and peered out into the hallway. Shouts rang out in the distance, but otherwise, it seemed empty. Asher took my hand, and together we darted toward the end of the hall. Pressing me back with one arm, he peered around the corner, looking for more of Danvers’ commandos.

“All clear. Stairs or elevator?”

I chewed my bottom lip and tried to make my brain focus past my fear. The security office was just off the lobby. Elevator would be faster, but we’d have to press the button and wait for the car to arrive, and if the doors opened on a group of commandos, we’d be really screwed.

“We take the stairs.”

“Good call.” Asher checked the corridor again. “Let’s do this.”

We sprinted for the emergency door and started the descent to the lobby. Three floors. We could do it. Our footsteps thundered in the space, but I wasn’t worried about being quiet. We needed to stop Danvers before this place exploded with my friends and family inside. I’d take down anyone who got in our way.

I was panting by the time we reached the ground floor, my leg muscles aching at all the stairs.

Asher pushed open the door to peek into the lobby, then waved me through. The area was deserted except for Sam. He sat at his station, his features frozen in shock, his hands raised as if he’d been about to pull his gun from his holster. He looked like an unanimated robot. Creepy.

“Grab his scan card,” Asher ordered as he strode toward the security office door.

I tiptoed behind the desk and unclipped the key card from Sam’s belt. “Sorry, Sam. This is an emergency,” I whispered, patting his solid shoulder.

Two seconds later, we were inside, staring at the bank of monitors lining the wall. And the flashing red numbers on the screen at the end of the row.

“Eighteen minutes until system destruction,” said a computerized voice. The seconds flashed past:
forty-eight, forty-seven, forty-six
. My whole body flooded with ice, turning my insides to jelly. I had to tear my gaze from the numbers, or I’d stand there, frozen and unable to do anything.

But when I spotted my dad on one of the video monitors, I wished I hadn’t.

Fear crawled like spiders across my skin at the grainy image of the auditorium packed with immobile scientists. A whimper escaped me at the sight of my dad sitting in the front row. Mom sat beside him. Danvers hadn’t been lying.

My voice was barely a whisper as I clutched Asher’s arm. “We have to stop her.”

“I’m already on it.” He threw himself into one of the chairs and started tapping at the keyboard. Security schematics flashed on screen — DNA helixes, genome sequences, building plans, pod locations.

He frowned at the screen. “She’s reengineered everything. It must have taken weeks.” His voice was flat, no hint of his earlier certainty. “I’m never going to be able to do this.”

My mind rejected his words. I’d come to count on Asher and his crazy abilities. He could do anything. My gaze flashed back to my frozen parents and then down to the Division Seven monitor where Max and Zella were trapped with Dr. Danvers. If they had planted the device, they could probably still stop her.

I shook my head. It didn’t matter. We couldn’t take the risk of her escaping with the machine. Branston would have everything they needed to blackmail their way into the top levels of the government. We had to stop her for good.

I stared at my dad on the screen. He looked so small and weak, sitting in his wheelchair. I remembered our last conversation in the hospital, about Branston’s experiments, about my ability to make connections and see how things worked. It seemed so long ago, and yet it had been just a few days.

I let out a shaky sigh and watched the codes scrolling past on Asher’s screen. The numbers rolled over me like water and sank into my brain. And then I straightened. Watched the codes more closely.

Felt that familiar click.

“There,” I said, pointing. “That number chain repeats over and over. What is it doing?”

Asher hit pause on the scan, leaning closer to study the numbers. “Hang on…” He pulled up another window and another copy of the security protocols. “Lexie! It’s the code Danvers snuck in. It’s permeated through the system like a virus, but if I can strip it out and reverse it, I might be able to turn it around on them.”

“What can I do?” The red, flashing timer kept decreasing.
Fifteen minutes.
“We’re running out of time.”

Asher’s lips thinned, and he shook his head. “That’s a whole different problem. One thing at a time, okay?”

I nodded and tried not to watch the numbers ticking slowly down. I felt useless sitting there. But while I might be able to make freaky connections in my head, I had no idea where to even start disarming an explosive device.

Finally, Asher said, “I think I’ve got it.”

I rushed to the desk and stared at the screen. “What am I’m looking at?”

“I stripped the code from the system and used it to reverse the polarity of the device at its core. Danvers’ hack already primed the system to search for anyone with the inoculation to freeze them, so I just switched it to look for anyone without it. When I enter this last bit of code, anyone in the facility who doesn’t have the antibodies will be trapped in the stasis field and anyone with it will be released.”

“And what about us?”

He shrugged, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze. “I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen. I don’t know why Danvers’ virus didn’t affect us, and I don’t know what will happen when I throw this switch. If we’re frozen in here like the commandos, we have to hope one of the scientists will be able to stop the bomb in time.”

I shook my head. “Not good enough. They don’t even know it’s here. We have to stop the bomb first. Dying in a thermal explosion is seriously going to mess up my college plans.”

Asher frowned. “Fine, but I need you to get downstairs and stop Danvers while I work on this. Maybe Max and Zella will be able to help you.”

“Let’s hope so.” Because I was running out of ideas, and the woman had a gun. I wiped my palms on my jeans and ignored the pricking of my skin. Asher looked as scared as I felt, his eyes wide and skin pale. “It’s been fun,” I said with a half-smile.

He grabbed my shoulders and shook me slightly. His fingers dug into my skin, but I welcomed the pain. “Stop that,” he said. “We’re going to be fine. Besides, you owe me dinner. I’m not letting you get out of that now.”

I wanted nothing more than to believe him. “Promise?”

He leaned closer until his lips almost brushed mine. “Promise.”

I curled my fingers into his shirt and jerked him to me, crushing myself against him. His arms clutched me hard to his chest, and I poured myself into the kiss. It wasn’t soft or romantic. This was a kiss before war, and we both made the most of it, clinging to each other, knowing it could very well be our last. As much as a goodbye as a promise.

And when we pulled away from each other, I saw the realization in his eyes as well.

We might not make it out of this.

Asher’s hand wasn’t quite steady as he rubbed the back of his neck and turned to stare at the monitors on the wall. “I don’t see any of Danvers’ commandos on the security screens, but I’m not sure where they are. Be careful on your way down.”

I nodded, took one last look at the blinking red numbers.

Thirteen minutes.

And slipped out of the relative safety of the security office.

I felt exposed in the great, empty marble room, like there were eyes watching me from every shadow. But I wasn’t going to stop Danvers by quaking in my boots, no matter how cute they were. It was time to move.