Unchanged (24 page)

Lyzender knows about Kaelen. He was the one who asked that question during the first live interview. Which means there has to be a device somewhere around here—a screen, a Slate, something!—that can connect to the SkyServer. Maybe it's simply been turned off. Or maybe its signal has been scrambled to make it untraceable.

I yank my cuffed hand, cringing at how loudly the metal bangs against the bed frame. I try to squeeze my hand out, but the hole is too narrow. I'd surely take off several layers of skin in the process. And in my current condition, who knows how long that would take to heal.

I lean forward and examine the cuff itself. The keyhole is small and round. I saw Lyzender put the key in his pocket after securing me, but perhaps there's something else I could cram in there to try to trigger the locking mechanism. Something very straight and narrow.

Something like …

I reach up and feel my hair. Although the half-swirl that Crest attempted is now a giant mess, there are still some nanopins intact.

I pull one of them from my head and insert it into the lock, maneuvering it around until the end catches on something. I give it a firm tug and the cuff slides open.

“Thank you, Crest,” I whisper as I reinsert the pin into my hair, just in case I might need it later.

The camp is empty when I slip outside of the tent. I assume everyone is at the strategy meeting Paddok mentioned but since I have no idea where it's being held, I'm going to have to tread as quietly as I can.

Balancing on my toes, I weave through the tents, stopping behind each one to listen for voices before proceeding inside. I find it difficult to maneuver in the dark. I trip over many unseen things and barely manage to stop myself from falling.

Is this what it's like for everyone else?

Being blinded by the darkness? Left vulnerable by the night?

I riffle through boxes and bags and search under beds, but I find nothing capable of transmitting a signal.

Most of the tents are arranged for sleeping, except for one particularly large one that clearly serves as some kind of food pantry. The stench of death instantly fills my nostrils, making me queasy. On a large table in the middle lies an assortment of dead animals in varying stages of preparation. Several skinned rabbits, an unidentified creature that's been hacked to pieces, and a fully intact deer with eyes frozen open in terror.

I hold back the bile rising in my throat and duck outside.

I'm able to check four more tents before I hear the soft din of voices. I follow the sound as it guides me to an outdoor dining area of sorts. Wooden tables and benches are set up around a dying fire. Every seat is taken. I count twenty-five people in all, including Paddok, who stands in the center. I scan the small crowd but it's too dark to make out any of their faces.

They seem to be in the midst of some kind of debate. They talk over one another, fighting to be heard. Paddok eventually quiets the dispute with a raise of her hand.

“There will be no more discussion about the girl.” Her voice is firm and decisive. Her eyes flick in my direction and I duck behind a tent before she can spot me, straining to hear what's being said.

“We will use her to gain access to the compound and plant the device in the underground server bunker as originally planned.”

I feel my breath catch. No one is supposed to know about the server bunker. It's where
all
of Diotech's data is stored. Project files, memory downloads, personnel records, system backups. Everything. Dr. A didn't trust any outside data security firms to protect the data, so he built an impenetrable bunker somewhere underneath the compound and told no one about it. Except the man tasked with keeping it a secret.

The only reason I'm even aware of its existence is because I once overheard Dr. A and Director Raze talking about it in the late hours of the night.

Every other Diotech employee believes the data is housed in a server room in the Intelligence Command Center, but it's just a front. A room with a bunch of processing servers and pods of dummy data. Fool's gold. The true heart of Diotech is buried deep within the earth.

And somehow someone here knows about it.

I try to assure myself that it doesn't matter. Even if they know about the bunker, they'll never be able to get this mysterious “device” Paddok is talking about past Director Raze. Every vehicle that enters the compound is thoroughly scanned. There's a force field protecting the airspace that no unauthorized hovers can pass through. Not to mention the agents in the ICC always override control of any visiting crafts as a safety protocol.

Sneaking
anything
into that compound is virtually impossible.

“So far everything has progressed smoothly,” Paddok is saying. “Thanks to Sevan, the girl is no longer traceable by any of Diotech's technology.”

I was right. It was Sevan in that hovercopter filling my veins with lava. I bet it was him outside the Feed station as well. Who Modified me and carried my body away. He might know about the bunker from scanning my memories, but he wouldn't know
where
it was located.

“There is still much to be done before we can launch this attack,” Paddok goes on. “We all have our roles and we certainly all have our motives.”

A round of hushed murmurs permeates the group.

“The most important thing to remember, however, is that we work together. If we want to pull this off, there is no room for error or discord. We must cooperate as a single unit. That is the
only
way we will successfully bring this company to justice.”

I struggle to make sense of what I'm hearing, but my thoughts are wispy and chaotic and I can't seem to hold on to any of them long enough. My heart is racing so fast, I swear it must be feedcasting my location to the entire camp.

“Diotech issued an official statement today,” Paddok continues. “As suspected, they aren't mentioning anything to the public about the kidnapping. Here's the playback from the Feed earlier today.”

My hopes lift as I hear a shuffling of some sort and then the unmistakably cheerful voice of Dane. I peer my head around the tent to see Paddok hoisting up a rectangular screen for the rest of the group to see.

A Slate!

I knew they had to have one here. Which confirms my original thought. The signal must be masked or scrambled.

I squint at the tiny screen and listen to Dane's speech from a Diotech-monogrammed press podium. “We are saddened to have to delay the remaining stops of our ExGen publicity tour due to a sudden illness that has befallen Dr. Jans Alixter, the president of Diotech Corporation. I assure you he is being treated with the best possible care and we expect a speedy and complete recuperation, at which time we will resume the tour and continue to the designated cities on our itinerary.”

So that's how they're covering for my absence. Making up an imaginary illness for Dr. A. Obviously they couldn't claim that
I'm
sick.

“Dr. Alixter wanted me to express his apologies for this delay and pass along this personal message to you.” Dane clears his throat and blinks twice, accessing something on his Lenses. “‘I look forward to the day when our ExGen product line will finally be available to the public and neither I nor anyone else will be burdened by the inconvenience of illness.'” Dane flashes a hurried smile. “Any questions?”

The cams pan to the audience as hundreds of hands go up at once.

“Can you comment on the attack earlier today? Has this in any way impacted the schedule of the tour?”

Dane shifts his weight from foot to foot. “The attack was unfortunate. For reasons we cannot even fathom, this madman, who goes by the name of Graw Levens, felt the need to try to inflict harm on our ExGens.”

I hear someone at the camp snort. “
You people
are the madmen.”

“Fortunately,” Dane goes on, “we had Kaelen's reflexes and strength to protect us from the wrath of this clearly troubled soul. But no, the episode today and the timing of our tour delay were purely coincidental.”

Paddok lowers the screen, clearly not interested in hearing the next question, and I slip back behind the shield of the tent.

I have to get to that Slate.

“As expected,” Paddok says to the group, “they are lying to cover up what really happened. But they'll be using all their resources to get to the bottom of it. So we have to stay on task and move forward as quickly as possible. How is the device coming?”

“The device is almost finished,” someone replies. A male voice. “Lyzender is going to retrieve the final part we need tomorrow. It will take me a day or two to install it and make it compatible with the other components, but we should be ready to go in a few days.”

“Thank you, Klo,” Paddok says. “You've been an invaluable asset to this team.”

Klo?

Klo
Raze
?

As in Director Raze's son?

Once again, I steal a peek around the edge of the tent and stifle a gasp as I make out the blue tips of his hair, confirming that this
is,
in fact, the boy from the compound. The one who watched me so curiously from the Rec Field the day before we left for the tour.

Pieces are falling into place faster than I can process them. If Klo has access to any of his father's security clearances, there's no end to what he can accomplish.

I retrace the last twelve hours in my mind. The transmission to Director Raze in the hovercopter, alerting us that we couldn't land on the roof. The makeshift barriers that were erected on the ground. Graw Levens smashing through the gaps in the synthoglass on his MagTractor. Paddok said something about how he died for the cause.

There was no construction on the roof.

It was all a setup. The transmission. The farmer. The tractor.

A necessary distraction.

They knew it would cause a big enough commotion to divert attention so they could deactivate me with a Modifier and carry me away without anyone noticing. They just weren't counting on Kaelen's violent streak.

They weren't counting on anyone dying in the process.

Klo helped facilitate the whole thing. He knew where we were going to be. He would have had access to the tour schedule, to Raze's earplant, to everything. I expect he's the one who has been masking the Slate signal. So they can turn it on without the risk of being tracked down by Diotech.

And worst of all, he's probably the one who told Paddok about the bunker.

How is it possible that a traitor has been living within the compound walls, in the same
apartment
as the head of security, and no one knew?

Dr. A evidently has more enemies than he realizes.

My mind is yanked back to the meeting as Paddok asks Klo another question. “And you're certain they won't be able to detect the device once it's complete?”

“No way. The origins of the pieces are too diverse. They'll never register on a Diotech satellite scan. My father built these systems. They're programmed to pick up frequencies from devices created in the last fifty years. Lyzender hasn't brought us anything from the past century. We'll be able to pass it right under their noses. They won't even know what hit them until it's too late.”

“Very good,” Paddok commends. “Okay, people. Excellent work so far. Only a few more days to go and this nightmare will be over. Are there any other discussion points before we wrap up for tonight?”

I know I should move. I should get back to the tent before this meeting is adjourned and someone finds me here, but the shock of everything I've overheard has rendered my legs useless.

“Lyzender hasn't brought us anything from the past century.”

I don't know how I didn't put it together before. I suppose I was too busy dealing with his presence here to fully analyze his involvement in the plan.

The shotguns. The walkie-talkies. The manual medical instruments. The books.

Old, outdated equipment that hasn't been in supply for over fifty years. And all of it is small enough to be carried by hand.

Lyzender has been using his reengineered transession gene to transport supplies from the past. And tomorrow he's retrieving the final piece to some undetectable explosive device.

He didn't come back for me.

Dr. A was right all along. Lyzender is here for one reason and one reason only: to destroy Diotech.

And it's up to me to stop him.

 

39

PRETENSES

Somehow I manage to slip back into the medical tent, into my cuffs, and under the scratchy blanket before anyone seems to notice that I'm gone. When I hear the first sets of footsteps outside, I pretend to be asleep. I don't want to talk to anyone right now. I have too much to think about.

This crazy group of people—these terrorists—are going to use me to destroy Diotech.

It wasn't Pastor Peder that Dr. A needed to be worried about. It was this tiny, seemingly insignificant army hidden in the desert. It was his
own
people. People he trusted. People
Raze
trusted.

As I lie in the dark and listen to the camp grow still, I make a decision. I make my own pledge for revenge.

They betrayed us and now I will betray them. I will find a way to warn the compound about their plan. I will make sure they never succeed. But before I can do that, I have many holes to fill. There's still so much I don't know.

Primarily, their plan for getting past Raze's security and getting this device onto the compound.

Paddok said they're going to use me to gain access, but how? Even if I'm sent in there alone, Diotech will still conduct their usual scans of any vehicle I'm traveling in. This device Lyzender is helping to build may not register on Diotech satellites but it'll certainly be detected during an internal inspection.