Honesty (Mark of Nexus) (7 page)

I made it to the Rec in time to see Sis storm off, red-faced and upset about something. Wallace trailed after her a minute later, looking worse for the wear. Serious shit had just gone down, and I’d missed it.

Great. Which one do I grab first?

The universe answered my question with a third party cue. Corynn bustled out the front doors in a pair of tight little jogging shorts, supplying ample motive for a Renace fight—Renace, of course, being their couple name. Expired, but still valid.

Might as well get this chat over with, while I’m here.

My distracted little Englandian made her way down the path, not even noticing me until I grabbed her arm. In her haste to flee the scene, she’d tripped over a pebble and almost face-planted on the sidewalk. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I just…” She looked up, and her eyes widened. “It’s you.”

“It’s me,” I agreed, letting her go. “Out for a stroll?”

“What are you doing here?”

My brows shot up. “Is that nice? I didn’t ask what you were doing here, Miss I’m-attending-school-forty-minutes-from-my-internship. Maybe we’re here for the same reason.”

“Right,” she quipped. “And what reason would that be?”

I narrowed my eyes and seared every threat-laced word into her consciousness. “To interfere with situations we have no
business in.”

She took a step back.

“Of course, that’s a matter of perspective,” I continued, palms up as I reclosed the gap between us. “Maybe you think yourself well-intended.”

She rubbed her temples. “What do you want, Cole?”

“I
want
to abduct you and blur on out of here, but your killjoy powers ruin that plan. So, why don’t we do this the old fashioned way?” I gestured toward a bench a few feet away. “Let’s have a chat.”

No more bullshitting. I was going to unravel at least one aspect of Faye’s plans today, come hell or high water.

She gnawed at her bottom lip. “Only if you take back the abduction comment.”

I laughed. “Please. Have you seen this face?” I grabbed my jaw and tilted my head from side to side in demonstration. “I wouldn’t have to resort to those tactics…again.”

“Comforting.”

“Yeah.” I walked over and plopped down. “So, here’s the thing.”

She sighed and followed me over. “What?”

“You’re in deep shit.”

Her shoulders fell. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Okay, I found this flyer.” I leaned forward and pulled the crumpled piece of paper from my back pocket. “It says R.S. Tobler Laboratories is hosting a vaccination study.”

“So?”

“So, you think I’m stupid?” My brow furrowed. “ERA’s been bragging about their experiments for months. Now they suddenly want to host an open house for humans? Right. What’s in those shots?”

“I wouldn’t know.” She started to walk away, but I jumped up to block her path.

“Whoa. You sure about that?”

She lifted her chin. “I work for the lab, Cole, not Project ERA.”

“So, you
do
know what ERA is,” I shot back, lips twitching in victory. “If you weren’t involved, you wouldn’t.”

I knew a scrambling look when I saw one. “They mentioned it during orientation.”

“Right, because that makes sense.” I put a hand on her shoulder and leaned in. “C’mon, Corynn. Tell me what you know. I want to help.”

Her gaze lifted past my shoulder, darting back and forth as she weighed the situation. The severity of the situation had probably just sunk in. Unless she wanted to get swallowed up by Faye’s plans, we would have to work toge—

“How do I know I can trust you?”

You don’t.
I looked around to make sure no one was within earshot. “Because I’ll tell you what I know in return.”

She blanched. “Then we should keep moving.”

I nodded and slid an arm around her shoulders, guiding her down the sidewalk. “Shall we take the scenic route?”

She scanned past the parking lot, up the hill, to the massive pond behind the student union. “Sure.”

We strode around the parked cars in silence, neither of us willing to be the first to break.

“I know about the virus,” I admitted. “And I know Gail’s mother has the ability to restructure microorganisms, but what I don’t know is why or how they plan to use it.” I flashed the flyer in front of her face again. “Convenient timing, though. Don’t you think?”

“Where did you hear all that?”

“I read it,” I said, crumpling the paper up and tossing it into a trashcan. “Not the best security at your headquarters. Honestly, I come and go all the time.”

“Do they know?”

I shrugged. “Sometimes. So, what’s with the virus?”

Her steps slowed. “It’s…”

“Yeah?”

Ah, hell. She’s second-guessing this decision…

She came to a halt and tried to back out of my hold. “I’m sorry, I—”

“Nooo, no.” My grip tightened, and I forced her up the steps with me. “See, that’s not how this works. I share something, and then it’s your turn. Give and take. You and me. If one of us doesn’t live up to our end of the bargain…well, that’s a problem.”

She shuddered against me. “You don’t understand, Cole.”

“Don’t back out on me now,” I growled, getting more and more frustrated by the minute. “You work in the lab on the weekends, right? I’ve seen them pick you up. So, why not just tell me where the info is, so I can break in? I’ve been making my way through the department, anyway. They won’t suspect a thing.”

“You swear it won’t be traced back to me?”

“I swear.” I held up three fingers in a half-assed salute. “Scout’s honor.”

She weighed my counterfeit oath, sneaking another glance over her shoulder. “The virus is a catalyst. They’re going to use it to drive people into the clinic to get vaccinated.”

“The clinic?” I scrunched up my forehead. “Why? It’s not like they’ll make money off of it.”

“You mentioned the experiments, right?” she asked. “Imagine this virus-driven chaos with hundreds, maybe thousands, of people pouring in to participate in the study. They get screened, and those who’re deemed worthy receive a special first dose of the vaccine.”

“And then they change?”

“Hardly,” she answered in a bitter tone. “Faye would never do something so obvious. The participants will have to come in several times over the next six weeks for follow-up doses. If they continue to please the pharmaceutical gods, their last shot will be bundled with something to knock them out. We’ll tell the family their loved one had a serious reaction. It was a trial, after all. Then we’ll suggest keeping them in the clinic for a couple of days, just to be safe.”

I frowned. “And?”

“And there’s not much I can tell you beyond that. Faye refers to them as SAGEs—Somatically Advanced Genetic Experiments. If they’re anything like the first sixteen incarnations, they’ll end up berserk or dead within a week, anyway. That’s why ERA had to up the ante and get a bigger testing pool.”

“What about that guy Rena kicked in the nuts? Maverick. Is he dead yet?”

Corynn shook her head. “He never received treatment. I heard he volunteered, but Gail threw a fit. It was too early in the game to test on someone so
valuable
.”

“That lying little shit…” I gritted my teeth. “So, how’d they get test subjects before this?”

“Faye’s goons grabbed people off the street—hookers, meth-heads, runaways—people whose disappearance wouldn’t draw attention.”

In other words, people ERA deemed disposable.
I rubbed my chin. “So, this first study is a test run. They’re establishing a history so it doesn’t seem reflexive after the virus. “

“Right.”

“The big question is, how are they going to release the virus?”

“There’s talk that they’ve already released it in New England, and they’re working their way down here, but I don’t know when or how.” She edged backward, eyeing her escape route. “That’s Phase II.”

Seriously?

When she started to walk away, I spun her around and gripped both of her shoulders. “Don’t you get how serious this is? Find out the details.”

She shoved me off. “You find out. I’m in enough danger as it is.”

I fought to keep my temper in check. Right now, we needed this connection to Faye. I couldn’t afford to scare her too badly. “Fine. Tell me where the plans are. I’ve already hit most of the records offices.”

“That’s gonna be a problem. Elise seems to be running that part of the show, and she takes her laptop back to her room every night.”

“Her room?” I made a face. “They’re camping out down there?”

She cocked her head to the side. “I thought you were familiar with the facility.”

“I was looking for a lab, not luxury condos. Where are they?”

“Opposite end of the catacombs,” she explained, creating a map with hand gestures. “You coming in from the clinic or the outside entrance?”

“Outside.” I frowned.

“Okay, so you come down and swing a right instead of a left. Work your way toward the white lights.”

I scratched my head. “I did see lights, but they were red.”

“Don’t go there. That’s a testing facility. I think they blow shit up.”

“Of course.” I squinted up at the sun and shook my head. “So, are you going to fill Wallace in or am I?”

“Whoa.” She took another step back into the marshy grass and tensed. A quick glance over her shoulder told her she was too close to the pond.

Dumbass.

She stiffened and leaned in. “I thought we were keeping this between us.”

I raised an eyebrow at her feet and their proximity to the pond. “We are. You, me, Wallace, and Rena.”

“I didn’t agree to that.”

“So, you don’t want to save all those people? You’re just going to let little babies and toddlers and shit catch this virus? Will it kill ‘em?”

“I-I don’t know the specifics of the—”

Every muscle in my body tensed, ready to strike. “Will. It. Kill. Them?”

“It might,” she admitted in a soft voice.

“Then it sounds like you have a choice to make.” I crossed my arms. “If you help us, we’ll do whatever we can to shield you, but you gotta be with us a hundred percent. None of this double agent shit, because I
will
find out.”

“All right.” Her response was rushed—the verbal equivalent of a block out of reflex.

“I’ll give you three days,” I told her, tilting my chin toward the south end of campus. “If you haven’t told Wallace by then, I’ll take that as your answer, but we’re going to stop this domino either way. No virus, no demand for the vaccine. Everything starts there.”

She swallowed so hard it bobbed her throat. “Can we wait until after the dance Friday? I-I don’t want to screw things up and call attention to myself.”

I sighed as a breeze blew in off the pond, tousling her ponytail. “Fine. One week, but no more. You got that?”

She nodded.

“I like you, so”—I hooked my fingers under the strap of her camisole, pushed until she dangled over the water, and then jerked her back with a flick of my wrist—”I suggest you make the right choice.”

I had two options, at that point—put up with a pissy Rena and Wallace or go investigate ERA.

Obviously, I went with the latter. Trespassing brought less stress, and I wanted to see those white lights Corynn talked about. So, off I went.

As it turned out, the lit path
did
lead to a residential wing. What she’d failed to mention, however, was the biometric panel guarding the door to each suite. They looked twice as complicated as the lab version and three times more expensive. What was I supposed to do? Wait for someone to go to bed and sneak in behind them? I’d have to run laps for God knows how long just to stay under the radar.

And if I did get caught, what then? Did ERA have measures in place to contain me? Would I be forced to kill my way out? The thought didn’t upset me as much as it should have…

Gail would be first—the pseudo-intellectual bitch who had hi-jacked my mind and used Grandma as bait to draw us. All because she’d had a vision that Wallace, Rena, and I would thwart their plans for revolution. That was it. She’d stormed into our lives over a fucking dream, and the dominoes were
still
falling.

Just knowing she was somewhere around here, ignorantly going about her business, pissed me off. And of course, I couldn’t touch her without starting some kind of war. ERA had ties
everywhere
. It’d blow back on my family, and there was no way I’d be able to protect all three of them. I was fast, but I couldn’t be in two places at once.

Plus, ERA had the damn virus as leverage. I hadn’t gone through all of their files yet, but I knew they would have contingency plans. They’d be the types to plan for a mass release via a third party. Losing my cool with Gail could mean human genocide.
And Rachel is a human…

“Ugh!” I slammed my fist against the jagged wall in passing, tearing the skin over my knuckles.

I didn’t know why I was thinking about it. Again. ERA was untouchable, even if we bypassed Gail and went for their leader. Faye’s regenerative abilities were more developed than mine. We’d have to strike quickly and without reprieve—not allowing her body a chance to compensate. But hell, even then, it’d be a gamble. If we were going to take her on for real one of these days, we needed to find her weakness…

The rest of ERA’s key players were peons. We had Elise, Faye’s daughter, whom I hadn’t had enough contact with to develop hateful fantasies about; Rudolph, Faye’s husband who owned R.S. Tobler Laboratories and was already in a damn wheelchair; and Maverick, Gail’s human boyfriend who was little more than an errand boy, despite his high IQ. Not worth the trouble.

Damn it.
The treads on my shoes dragged friction as I slowed. Who was I kidding? I wasn’t getting in this wing anytime soon. The place was full of workaholics. They wouldn’t retire to their rooms until late, and I was
not
spending the night here.

I’d have to settle for more printouts and keep putting the puzzle together on my own. One piece at a time. I stopped at a blind corner and pressed my palms against my eyes.
This shit is getting to me…