“My friend Raine’s missing.”
“So?” Something in Jake’s face changed. A telltale sign in his usual vacant expression that he cared?
“So, I think she escaped.”
Jake’s mouth twisted. “Are you reporting this…incident to me?”
Miya swallowed hard. She’d still have to tread carefully. “No, I’m not reporting her because I’m not positive. I’m just asking…if you could check into it. Find out where she is.” Miya scanned his face. He just sat there, hands hanging between his knees. His face registered no emotion. But his eyes were full of something she couldn’t recognize.
Silence.
Please. She toyed with the injector again. Her hands had a mind of their own. If she didn’t keep them occupied, they might threaten to reach out and touch the seam of his pants. Drag a finger along the crease near his right knee. The knee that was still touching hers.
A darkness shadowed his face. Did he hear her plea just now? Could he sense the intensity between them too?
She cleared her throat. “Please, can’t you tell me if she escaped?” She clicked the injector cap again. Click. Click.
Jake looked her in the eye. “No.”
All traces of vulnerability gone, her face flushed red hot. She was an idiot for thinking he might care.
Miya squeezed the tube between the palms of her hands. “But your mind is networked with the rest of the Leadership! Just look into her biofeed. Track her. Please.” The back of her neck started to sweat.
“I told you. No.” Jake’s face turned hard.
She clicked the cap a second time and stared down at the protracted needle.
“Look, if she left the Camp, I’m sure you’d want to know. If someone else finds out, you’ll have a rebellion on your hands.”
Jake leaned forward and grabbed her wrist, squeezing it. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep your mouth shut. Do you hear me?”
“Jake.” His name fell from her lips in an agonized whisper. “You’re hurting me.”
He released her arm, and the mark his fingers left began to sting. “You’re to address me as Mr. Hamilton.” Jake never took his eyes from her.
She rubbed her wrist. Her hands shook. Her lungs refused to expand.
Silence hung in the air as Miya forced herself to keep her eyes on him. She leaned forward in her chair until her knees purposefully touched Jake’s. The corner of his mouth twitched, but he didn’t move away. Just like he hadn’t the first time.
“You’re…Jacob Hamilton.”
Suddenly, Jake lunged at her.
His shoulder hit her chest and knocked her backwards, forcing the wind out of her. He grabbed her arm and pinned it across her, effectively riveting her to the chair.
“You’re going to wish you’d never met me,” he hissed in her ear.
She struggled against him, trying to free the hand that held her only weapon: the injector. If only she could reach him. An arm, a leg…anything.
A sudden prick in her leg made her jump. She turned to see her injector in Jake’s fist; the thin silver needle glistened. He was breathing hard with one hand still on Miya’s chest, pinning her to the chair.
The blues and yellows of the room swirled together. The heady, sweet scent of the drug filled her nostrils. The pain in her head subsided as her head and shoulders seemed to detach themselves from the rest of her body.
Jake’s blurry form seemed to float in front of her. The only thing she became aware of was the heat of his hand on her arm that sent goose bumps skittering across her skin. The room spun in a swirl of color. Her cheek rubbed against something firm and warm. Jake’s face hovered over hers. Was he carrying her?
“Put me down!” she screamed, but her voice came out as a whimper.
Either Jake didn’t hear her, or he ignored her. Her eyes burned. She blinked, but couldn’t stop the single tear that escaped. Her body refused to cooperate with her brain. She could move nothing but her eyes, and even they wanted to close on their own. Fear pulsed through her.
The thudding of his heart in her ear pulled her deeper into a viscous darkness, and somewhere in a distant, foggy corner of her mind she realized he was right.
She wished she’d never met him.
CHAPTER 22
Jake
He should’ve thought this through. Jake raked his shaking hands through his hair as he paced the small storage room and avoided looking at Miya’s slender body lying crumpled on his tiny cot where he’d put her.
What was he thinking? He beat a fist into the steel wall and immediately regretted it as hot pain flashed through his hand. Slowly, he turned around then slid down the wall until he sat hunkered over his drawn-up knees.
Miya would be out for a few hours. Tribond had that effect. He rubbed his neck at the memory of his own encounter with the drug. Switching her injector in the hall the other day had been easy. But switching the other ones in her room had been more difficult. Raine had given him seven vials—enough doses to help him recover, but he’d given them all to Miya.
He sat for a long time staring at his bandaged wrist. Then he clenched and unclenched his fists until his arms ached. His chest flooded with emotions unfamiliar to him. Why did this girl make him feel this way? He was a Leadership soldier, for God’s sake!
Shai.
He curled his fists into his hair. There was one voice that wouldn’t leave him alone. It didn’t matter if he accessed Central Control or not, the voice always whispered the same name over and over, and it wouldn’t stop until his mission was complete.
“I’m Leadership QR1013. Jacob Hamilton, assigned to Level Seven, Quad One. Mission: terminate Shai Eli from Lael,” he whispered.
A soft sigh escaped Miya from across the room, and he jerked his head up. She had pulled her knees to her chest and lay in the fetal position, her long hair a dark sea of auburn waves washing over her neck and shoulders and fanning out over the thin white blanket. Her hair was the only wild spark of color in the sterile room.
What should he say to her? How much should he tell her? His gut twisted from more than just the usual hunger pangs.
CHAPTER 23
Miya
Hammers. Thousands of them. Pounding against the inside of her skull. She squeezed her eyes shut tighter and tried to lick her lips.
Water. She opened her eyes and found herself staring up at a white ceiling with metal ribbing. Where am I? Every limb weighed a ton, and when she tried to turn her head, a sharp pain in her neck made her grit her teeth.
The face of a good-looking young man with green eyes hovered over her. Blurry at first, then clearer as he got closer.
Jake.
His breath fluttered a strand of her hair against her cheek. She scratched absently at the spot and struggled to sit up.
She coughed and tried to swallow the burning lump in her throat. “Where am I?” She looked around the dimly lit room. Various sizes of storage containers lined the walls. Their shiny surfaces reflected the only light in the room coming from a single daytime light embedded in the wall near her head.
Hot and cold washed over Miya. “Why’d you bring me here?”
Instead of answering, Jake pushed his bandaged hand through his hair and sat next to her. She was lying on a portable medical bed, which he’d obviously stolen and moved here.
The bed shifted under his weight. Her pulse fluttered at his close proximity, which made her head pound even more. She sat up and crossed her legs to avoid any accidental contact with him.
Jake turned to face her. “I brought you some water.” He reached for a metal canister that sat on the nearest box. He twisted the lid off the container and offered her a drink.
She smacked his hand away. He dropped the canister and it hit the floor, spilling water everywhere.
“What do you want with me?” she demanded.
Jake slid off the gurney and began mopping up the water with a white towel from a stack nearby. He said nothing.
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“You jabbed me with an injector!” She pushed aside the thin sheet that covered her lower half and scanned the room for an exit.
Jake stopped mopping and looked at her. His eyes darkened. “In my defense, I injected you before you could inject me.” He threw aside the sopping towel and sat on the gurney again, hunched forward with his forearms resting on his thighs, hands dangling between his knees. He pressed his lips together.
Her eyes bounced from his bandaged hand to the storage room he’d brought her to. Her skin prickled with a sixth sense.
“Tell me what you want!” she hissed through clenched teeth.
He ignored her and leaned across her to grab a second canister sitting beside her on a small storage container. Miya flinched and cowered away from him. He raised the container to his lips and drank for a few seconds. She watched his throat move as he swallowed. Only when he’d replaced the cap and set the canister back down on the box did he turn to face her.
“I want to tell you the truth.”
CHAPTER 24
Miya
“You kidnapped me to tell me the truth? Oh, I can’t wait.” Fury overwhelmed fear as Miya sat with her fists clenched in her lap. Jake turned away from her again. She stared at the rigid line of his back and his straight shoulders. He commanded authority. His presence swallowed up the room and made her feel insignificant. She chewed her lip and jammed her shaking hands under her thighs.
Jake stood up and faced her. “I want to show you something.” He tossed an injection tube to her.
With trembling fingers, she rolled it around in her hand. She tore her eyes from Jake’s face to trace the word Tribond with her thumbnail. She recognized it as the injector she’d been carrying around as a weapon ever since Jake had rescued her in the corridor. She hadn’t given a thought as to how she’d gotten it. And now Jake had jabbed it into her thigh.
“This is the truth you wanted to tell me? That you switched out my injector? Why? This stuff messes with your head, Jake!”
Jake moved towards her, and before she could react, he ran a finger along the curve of her cheek, leaving a trail of heat on her skin. She recoiled and he stepped back, watching her with those intense green eyes.
“Do you know what that mark is?”
Miya’s stomach twisted into a hard knot. She refused to be a victim. Refused to feel vulnerable just because Leadership knew about her now. She squared her shoulders and looked hard at him. Ready to face his accusations regarding her imperfection.
“It’s a bruise on your neck, left by your antibiotic injection.” Jake began pacing again. The veins in his neck bulged, his face red.
“I knew you were sick when I first saw you. So that day you tripped in the hallway I switched injectors. Tribond helps repair your memory after—”
“I know what it’s for! But I didn’t have an implant issue…not like that! I was taking antibiotics! I needed those antibiotics! But now my implant is ruined because of the infection I thought I was treating! But now I’m an Invalidate because of you!” She shook with white-hot anger. Hatred for Leadership coursed through her like a drug, setting her on fire.
Jake suddenly snatched the tube from her, threw it on the bed, and grabbed her hands. With a quick jerk, he pulled her to her feet and twisted her left wrist in his hand.
She struggled to pull away from him, but his grip tightened with her every movement.
Her pulse blipped erratically on the implant.
Jake lifted his eyes to meet hers.
“You do have an implant issue.” He spoke calmly. She knew as Leadership he was used to not seeking permission or approval. Least of all from someone like her.
“Someone who’s been offline for as long as you have is dangerous.”
How could Oren and Jake have different ideas about how to treat her? They were both Leadership, and Oren had already prescribed her medication, not Tribond. She flicked her eyes at Jake’s tattoo pulsing with his heartbeat; Ava’s words arced across her mind: he’s Leadership gone rogue. Dangerous.
“I’m only doing what’s best.”
“What’s best for who?” Panic mixed with emotions she didn’t want to feel—shouldn’t feel—dulled her thinking to a dull roar. His fingers on her skin. His eyes touching her everywhere his hands weren’t. Igniting her.
“For everyone.” He threaded his hand through her hair. A shock of something wild and intense radiated through her body as he pulled her closer to him. His body was pressed tight against hers. His thighs against her thighs. His chest against hers.
“You feel things you shouldn’t, don’t you?” His breath was hot against her face. He smelled of spice and soap and something else she couldn’t place. Something familiar, earthy. His eyes looked into hers, then moved to her mouth. “You dream about people and places you shouldn’t.”
Her knees wanted to buckle. The room wouldn’t stop spinning. He was playing with her. Reeling her in only to push her away. He was testing his theory. He didn’t really know anything about her. He was guessing.
Suddenly Jake released her. He took a full step back and regarded her with the same vague indifference he’d shown earlier.
“Am I right?”
“No. You’re wrong. I had an infection. Nothing more.” She didn’t break eye contact, forcing his deep emerald eyes to remain locked on hers. She’d show him she wasn’t afraid, even though she couldn’t hide her confusion. She shouldn’t feel like this around him. He was Leadership. A soldier. His hands…his fingers…they were capable of doing…terrible things. Hurtful things.
Jake touched her arm. It was nothing more than a feathery brush of his fingers along her upper arm, but the heat of it spread to her stomach. Her mind spun, wheeling faster and faster, stealing her breath away.
No. It’s just a test.
Neither of them said anything for several minutes.
Jake’s voice was a shard of icy calm when he finally spoke. He held out his bandaged wrist. “I’m not testing you. I’m helping you. Tribond repairs a faulty mind when there’s been an implant malfunction.” He dragged a hand down his face.
She stared at him. Maybe he was right. Maybe her implant infection had caused some strange hard-wire issue that enabled her to read minds. But it seemed to only happen around Jake, no one else. Until she figured it out, she had to stop thinking things she didn’t want him to know.
“I’m only telling you the truth about what I did because you need to know something,” he continued.
“What do I need to know?” She didn’t bother disguising the sarcasm.
If he noticed her tone, Jake didn’t react. “Oren’s lying to you. You’ve never had an infection. That was just a thought planted in your mind.”
Miya sat down hard on the gurney. Someone was lying to her. But it wasn’t Oren. She’d seen the infection in her arm. The oozing, the itching. Jake was bluffing. He had to be. There was no way he knew anything about her. She had no biofeed. The only thing he knew was whatever Nathan had told Leadership about her dreams.
But it was Nathan’s word against hers.
CHAPTER 25
Jake
Jake pulled Miya to her feet. She shook so much it unnerved him. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. He had hoped the Tribond would be working by now. This girl was his ticket to completing his mission. From the first time he noticed their strange connection, he’d decided to use it to his advantage. Raine had told him Tribond would reconnect his Central Control Center. He’d assumed using it on Miya would strengthen their ability to share thoughts. If he could get into her head, maybe he could find out why he heard the name Shai every time he was around her.
Miya stiffened as he came to stand behind her with his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at her reflection in the shiny metal wall.
“I’m not here to hurt you, Miya.”
She turned around and shoved Jake. “Then let me go!”
She twisted away from him. “You’ve told me what you wanted to,
now let me go.”
With quick, lithe movements, he stood towering over her, his face inches from hers. He could feel small droplets of sweat beading on his upper lip.
As he stood over her, looking into her bright blue eyes, power surged through him.
Shai.
Her eyes looked wild. Her rapid breaths heaved her chest. She felt that. She heard the same thing he did. He was certain. With every inhale her chest touched his, filling the small space between them. It took everything in him to maintain his ground. Even though it was the connection to his target that drew him, she had an uncanny ability to knock him off center whenever he was around her.
“Let me go!” Miya backed away from him until she was nearly flat on the gurney. He moved with her until he was on top of her. His hips pressed into hers, his thighs squeezed hers. Something cold and hard bit into the right side of his neck. Without him realizing it, she’d moved her hand around until she’d found the empty injector he’d tossed there earlier, and jabbed it into his neck.
He grabbed his neck and moaned. Dark red blood squirted from the wound and spilled through his fingers.
She screamed. She pushed Jake off her and scrambled to the door panel.
She frantically waved her wrist in front of the scanner. Click. Click. Jake pushed himself up off the gurney and stumbled toward her, the injector sticking out from his throat. She whimpered and glanced over her shoulder.
“No! Stay away!” she screamed and pressed her wrist against the scanner again and again. The edges of the device tore at her infected skin.
Click, click, ping! The light turned green.
She threw herself against the door as it slid open, and she staggered out into a pitch-black corridor. The door shut behind her, leaving Jake inside.
“Shai,” he whispered as he fell against the wall. It was time for a change in plans.
CHAPTER 26
Miya
Miya ran down the dark corridor until it became brighter and she found herself in a busy hallway. She must be somewhere near the center. People ignored her as they hurried down the corridor. She let the momentum of the throng of people propel her forward absently as they headed to their work assignments.