Enemy Inside (Defectors Trilogy) (28 page)

Amory dragged one of the mattresses over to the defunct radiator, and I clipped one end of Mariah’s handcuffs to the part of the fixture that was bolted to the wall. When I removed the blindfold, she was glaring up at me, still wheezing from the dust. I could tell that the effects of the sedative were wearing off.
 

“What makes you think I’m going to tell you anything?” Mariah growled. Her eyes were red and blotchy, making her look even more frightening.
 

“I think you’ll want to get out of here eventually,” I said, searching the nearest crate for some blankets to make her more comfortable.

“You can’t keep me tied up forever.”

She was right. Even in the few hours we’d had her, this hostage business was really starting to wear on me.

I sighed. “We’ll go get you some food . . . let you think about it.”

Feeling like a terrible person, I gagged her and checked her restraints. Amory followed me out of the cabin, locking it behind him.
 

Grateful to be rid of Mariah, I sank down on the bottom step and put my head in my hands. “What are we going to do?”

“We?”
 

I looked up. Amory was staring down at me with anger and detachment.
 

“You brought back a PMC officer from the Exchange — an ex-rebel — and called me out to the woods to perform an extraction. You didn’t think I had a right to know about Logan, but you dragged me into this mess anyway.”

“She had us, Amory. I was going to kill her, but then I saw who she was. She hadn’t turned. That’s never happened before.”

“It was a bad idea bringing her here.”

“I didn’t have a choice!”

“Yeah, well neither did I!” he yelled. “I would never perform a CID extraction out in the middle of the woods like that. It’s too dangerous. But you forced my hand. And now I’m helping you lie to all the people who are feeding us and giving us shelter when it’s incredibly dangerous for everyone. Having
her
here . . . not telling them that their vaccinations don’t keep them safe . . . It isn’t right.”

I drew back. Amory had never yelled at me like this before, and it looked as though he regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth.

“It’s
Logan.
”

He sighed, running a hand through his hair and sinking down onto the step next to me. “I know.”

I stared off into the darkness, not wanting to look at him.
 

“I’m sorry I got you involved,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. I was on the verge of tears, but I didn’t want Amory’s sympathy. I didn’t deserve it.

“No. I’m sorry,” he said.

“I know it was stupid bringing her here. But she’s our only chance.”

“I would have done the same thing,” he murmured, his forehead wrinkled in frustration. “Hell, I’m impressed you and Ida got back alive.”

I grinned, but my victory was hollow.

“I was just mad you didn’t tell me about Logan.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” I said, hanging my head in shame.

“How do we get her to talk? She won’t want to help Logan. I don’t think she ever forgave her for getting her kicked out of the PMC. And she hates the rebels after what happened in Sector X.”

Tentatively, I voiced the solution I’d been dreading. “Maybe . . . maybe we promise her a place at camp.”

Amory snapped his head around. “What? No way.”

“What else do we have to bargain with?”

 
“Why would she agree to that?”

“Jared. He’s her brother. And she can’t go back to the PMC. She can’t join the rebels. Where else is she going to go?”

But Amory was already shaking his head.

“What other option do we have?”

“Mariah only cares about Mariah. She’ll play along just as long as it’s convenient for her.”

“So what?” I cried.

“Do we really want her around? I know I won’t sleep well knowing she could give us up to the PMC any day.”

“We just have to offer something she wants,” I said, lowering my voice so there was no chance of Mariah overhearing. “Survival. In return, she leads us to World Corp International to steal the cure for Logan. After that . . . I don’t care what we do.”

Amory sighed. “I don’t like this. Once we involve Jared, all bets are off. He could run and tell everyone about Logan.”

“Not if he wants to keep his sister alive. He has just as much to lose.”

Amory let his head fall between his fingers, breathing loudly against his palm, and I could tell by his agitation that he was giving in. I didn’t know what we would do about Mariah after we’d found the cure. Amory was right — we couldn’t keep her around. But for now, playing her was the only way to get what we wanted.

We walked over to the mess hall looking for Jared, but he was nowhere to be found. The hall was busy, but there were more empty seats than usual. I spotted Ida from the line talking to Murphy, but judging by Murphy’s easy expression, she hadn’t told him everything about our supply run. She looked visibly relieved to see Amory and me, and I nodded once to indicate everything was fine.

Discreetly swiping two of anything I could stuff in my pockets, Amory and I situated ourselves at one of the long tables nearest the door so we would be able to avoid chitchat with the other defectors and make a quick exit as soon as we found Jared. I kept my eyes fixed on the door of the mess hall, waiting for him.

Finally, the doors swung open and a group of hunters walked in. They were a motley crew. Their boots were caked with mud, their long, wild hair tangled from the wind, cheeks red from the cold. Trailing at the back of the group, her hair plastered to her sweaty face, was Logan. My pulse quickened in alarm to see her out of our cabin socializing with the others, but they didn’t seem to notice anything strange about her. Only the yellowing in her eyes, the feverish glint of her skin, and the slight droop in her shoulders showed she was not herself.

She was chatting animatedly to Jared, looking as happy as I’d ever seen her since Max’s death. Jared looked comically sullen in comparison.
 

They shuffled through the mess line, and I waved them over. Jared looked stony and then suspicious, but he followed Logan over to our table.
 

“How was the hunt?” I asked, my voice a little too high to sound casual.

Jared grunted, digging into his meatloaf to avoid speaking.

“It was awesome,” gushed Logan.

“Do you really think you’re . . . up for it?” I asked pointedly.
 

Her smile didn’t quite meet her eyes, but she waved a hand dismissively as my gaze settled on the blood splattered across her white thermal shirt. “I couldn’t stick around while they were field dressing it, but I’ll work up to it.”

I grinned despite myself. Logan, the least squeamish girl I’d ever met, couldn’t stand the sight of blood. I tried not to think about the fact that she might not
ever
get to field dress a deer.

She pushed her food around her plate, looking a little pale, but bowed her head to deflect any more of my questions.

“So we could use your guys’ help,” I said, hoping the slight waver in my voice wouldn’t give me away. “I’m supposed to clean out one of the cabins in the back for overflow supplies for Miller, and . . . there’s this bat we can’t get out of there.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “So leave it in there until tomorrow. That way you’ll have an excuse to ditch her in the morning.”

“I think it will be easier at night.”

She chewed her food, staring at me with that sharp look that told me she didn’t miss a thing. “All right.”

As we finished our meatloaf and got up to leave, I stuffed my roll in my coat pocket with the extra baked potato I’d stolen and led them out into the snow.
 

Walking back toward the cabin, I felt the anxiety twisting my gut into knots. We really hadn’t thought this through very well, and there was no way to know how they might react.

I stomped up the steps outside the cabin and turned, feeling nervous. Logan looked expectant; Jared looked bored.

“There’s something you should know,” I said, looking to Amory for help.
 

He didn’t say anything, so I continued. “I lied about the bat.”

Logan looked caught between irritation and intrigue. “What’s going on, Haven?”

“I need your help.” I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, realizing that no matter how I revealed Mariah, it would be cruel and insensitive to Jared. “Something went wrong at the Exchange. The PMC showed up, and two of them followed us to the highway.”

“What?” snapped Jared. “Why didn’t Ida say anything?”

“I’m sure she’ll talk to Murphy. She probably doesn’t want to start a panic.”

“Start a panic? We need to move! If the PMC followed —”

I shook my head. “I shot one of them, but the other one . . .” I looked into Jared’s eyes, trying to gauge his reaction. “I don’t know how it’s possible, but I couldn’t kill her once I saw who she was.”

Watching Jared, I saw his expression go from cold and confused to furious. “Who? You couldn’t kill who?”
 

“Amory removed her CID in the woods a few miles from camp, but —”

Jared pushed past me roughly, fumbling with the lock on the door. Amory handed him the key, and he bolted inside.
 

Stepping over the threshold behind him, I watched his gaze snap to Mariah. He stopped in the middle of the room, his shoulders hunched comically, prepared to strike.

Mariah straightened up from her slumped position against the wall, and for the first time since I’d known her, I saw something ignite behind her cold cat eyes. Then it was gone.
 

“What the hell is this?” Logan spluttered.

“She’s infected,” said Jared.

“No, she’s not.”

Logan gave me a sad look. “That’s impossible.”
 

“Check her eyes.”

She crossed the room in three strides to where Mariah sat, grabbed Mariah’s chin, and cocked it upward to catch the dim light of the lantern. She examined her for nearly a whole minute before releasing her — none too gently — finally satisfied.

But it was Mariah who looked smug, even tied to a radiator. Logan yanked down her gag, nearly dislocating Mariah’s jaw in the process.

“Who cured you?”

Mariah sneered. “How does it feel to be dying?”

Logan’s eyes narrowed into slits, yanking the gag back up between Mariah’s teeth and grabbing a fistful of her hair.

“Logan —”

Mariah made a noise like a low growl, and Logan pulled back her head to expose her throat, as if wondering if she could rip out Mariah’s jugular with her bare hands.

I glanced nervously at Jared, expecting a reaction.

Finally he spoke, his voice low and cracking. “Why did you bring her here?”
 

He turned, and I saw that his eyes looked red, the corners of his mouth uncharacteristically downturned. “Isn’t it enough I had to watch them throw her out to die once?”

“She’s not infected,” I repeated.

“So what?” The way he said it sounded hopeless and broken. “It’s not like she’ll be allowed to live here. They’ll kill her when they find out.”

“We removed her CID,” I said. “It doesn’t have to happen that way.”

“Haven,” said Logan in a quiet voice. “What were you
thinking
?”

“I was thinking that she’s the first person we’ve ever seen who’s cured,” I said, my voice shaking. “We can’t just let her go without knowing where she got it. If there’s a chance we could save you —”

“What?” snapped Jared. He turned to stare at Logan. “Are you telling me
she’s
infected?” A look of disgust flashed across his face, followed by fear and anger.

“You can’t tell anyone,” I said in a low, deadly voice. “We just need time.”

“Time for what?”

“To find the cure.”

“Are you fucking crazy?” yelled Jared. “You’re putting us
all
at risk!”

“No,” I said. “Logan’s not even contagious yet.”

“She will be! Then she’ll be ripping us open in our sleep.”

I glanced at Logan, feeling horrible. But her face was calm. She was in problem-solving mode.

“Haven, maybe she just . . . got better?” Logan’s voice was softer now, pacifying. “We don’t know that she found a cure.”

“No! World Corp studied her. They
cured
her.”

“World Corp International?” Jared looked irate. “Not this again!”

“Ida thinks they’re behind it all — that they own the PMC. And after what Mariah told me . . .”

“Don’t you think she’s just telling you what you want to hear so you’ll let her live?”

“No! We never even said anything about World Corp.”

“What’s your plan?” Jared asked. He hunkered down next to his sister, studying her. “How do we keep her from running off and giving the PMC our location and keep the others from killing her?”

“I was hoping you could help with that.”

Jared didn’t answer. He just sat there for a long time, staring down at his sister as if making a decision that had weighed on him for years.

Finally, he reached over to loosen the gag on Mariah’s mouth again. It fell down around her neck, and her mouth cracked into a smirk.

“Hello, little brother. It’s been a long time.”

We left Jared with Mariah, knowing there was no use worrying that he would set her free or tell the others. From the look on his face, I could tell he was conflicted. He was shocked to see his sister alive but torn by the risk she posed to the rest of the group. Maybe I had expected him to treat her differently, but spending a lifetime in Mariah’s dark shadow must have meant he knew better than anyone how dangerous and manipulative she could be.

Amory left. Tonight he was due on carrier watch with Kinsley, though it seemed silly when the real threat was already in camp.
 

I knew I had to tell Greyson, but I didn’t have the energy.
 

Most of the campers had already returned to their cabins for the night, so Logan and I sat down by the dying embers of the fire, waiting for Greyson to make his rounds.

“Haven, I can’t stay here,” Logan said finally.