Contributor (Contributor Trilogy, book 1) (29 page)

"I hate to tell you, but you can't control the world." Though there was a touch of humor in his voice, his face was serious, and his eyes looked sad.

"I might actually believe that, one of these days." She sighed again, and looked up at him. "You know what I don't get about you?"

"What?"

"How you can be so compassionate. Aren't you doctors supposed to be detached?" She said it lightly, but she was genuinely curious. Being in close quarters with him had forced her into more intimacy than she might otherwise have chosen, but she soon learned that he was a very sympathetic listener, and that he had a talent for injecting some levity into pretty much any situation.

"Who said I was any good as a doctor?" he asked, with a smile.

She smiled as well. "Come on, now. I find it hard to believe you were anything less than exemplary in your studies."

A pained look crossed his face. "I cared too much. It's why I couldn't stay."

Silently, she waited for him to say more, but nothing was forthcoming. Instead, he changed the subject to something about which Dara didn't want to think.

"Dara, I know the timing isn't ideal but, well, these two weeks are almost up now and I..." he sighed deeply, sweeping a hand back over his hair as he looked away. "This is another reason why I would have been a lousy doctor. I've always hated this part."

Though it made her sick to talk about it, she decided to spare him by getting it out in the open. "It's not going to be enough, is it? All this work you've done with her."

"No," he admitted, grimacing.

"I think...I think some part of me always knew that," she admitted, her bottom lip quivering. She bit it, hoping he hadn't noticed.

"I tried, I really did, but your mother's case is so severe—"

"Looks like I'm not the only one who's hard on myself," she joked painfully. "No one expected you to be a miracle worker, you know, least of all me."

"That didn't stop me from wanting to be one," he said despondently.

"You're sure she can't..." But she trailed off as he slowly shook his head.

He raised his eyes to hers once more, and she could see the regret there. "I've looked at every single report from the technician. Though they say that she's made a remarkable recovery, they note—correctly—that she will not be able to return to her role as a Contributor."

"Right. So it's all over." Dara covered her face with her hands and took a long, shuddering breath. She had tried her best to prepare herself for this moment, but it had been impossible to face the reality that she would lose her mother.

"I'm sorry," Raj said quietly.

They stood silently in the kitchen for a few minutes, neither of them moving. Muted conversation drifted into the kitchen from the other room, her father talking to her mother, and she felt a stab of immobilizing pain as she realized that, far too soon, she'd never hear such a sound again.

"I have to tell my dad," Dara finally said, her voice breaking.

"I already talked to him," Raj said softly. "I hope you don't mind, but I thought—"

"No, it's okay." She thought she knew what he was trying to say, and she agreed; her father did have the right to know first. "What did he say?"

"He asked if I could do anything to help."

Startled, she raised her head and saw him looking at her with a tense expression, his lips compressed. "I'm sorry he put you on the spot like that. After all you've done for us, he shouldn't have asked." The words fell out of her mouth in a garbled rush.

"Oh, no, Dara, no," Raj said, his expression changing to one of horror. "I wasn't angry at your father. Please, I don't want you to think that. I'm just so angry to have to witness another situation like this. I'm angry at the injustice of it."

"Have you...have you seen many of them?"

"Far too many." He clenched his jaw, and her own sense of outrage flared.

"These two weeks are just a way of proving to us that we can't handle someone who isn't a Contributor, aren't they?"

"Yes," he spat, as if the word was poison.

Dara felt a burning fury. "I've been such an idiot, thinking this would all be okay."

"No, you haven't. The Job Creators manipulate families when they're at their most vulnerable. They should never expect someone to put their Contribution ahead of their commitment to their family."

"But we're powerless to do anything about it." Dara wanted to tear the dome apart with her bare hands, and it frightened her.

"Maybe not. I can help your mother."

"By removing her," Dara stated, a hollow feeling spreading through her stomach.

"Yes," Raj answered.

"My father asked you to take my mother, didn't he?"

"Yes."

Dara nodded. "I agree with him." She covered her eyes with her hands.

If she had to let her mother go, she'd much rather it be with someone who cared, someone like Raj, rather than to a soulless Magnum facility.

Chapter 36

It took Raj several days to make the arrangements and, as the day approached, the tension increased to an almost unbearable point. Both Dara and Joshua were terrified that someone would uncover their plot.

"The removal will take place during the day, when you're both at your shifts," Raj told them, as they sat in the living room discussing the details. "It's best if we don't discuss it with Leona ahead of time."

Joshua frowned. "I don't know, Raj. That just seems so..."

"I know, Joshua, and I'm sorry. It may feel like deceiving her, but it's for her own safety. Try to keep that in mind."

Though her father didn't look happy about it, he nodded. It didn't sit well with Dara either, but she knew Raj was right. They couldn't risk Leona accidentally revealing the plot. It was a miracle she'd kept Raj's visits secret.

"Once Leona is safe," Raj continued, "I'll send a message to Letizia, who will pass it along to Dara."

"Will you tell us where she is?" Dara asked.

Raj hesitated. "It's not that I don't trust you, it's simply that it may be best for you not to know. That's why I won't tell you when the removal will take place. Your surprise will be genuine when you report it—which you will have to do."

"I want to know where my wife is going," Joshua said in a steely voice.

"I won't keep that information from you, if you insist on knowing it," Raj said. "But I'm asking you both to think about how extensively you want to be involved in this. Some families choose to have their loved ones removed without any further contact, so that they can try to continue on with their lives without falling under a cloud of suspicion. I know it sounds harsh, but some people think it's the best way."

"What do you think?" Dara asked.

"It's not for me to say."

"Won't her sudden disappearance look suspicious?" Joshua asked.

"As strange as it may sound, no," Raj replied.

Dara looked at him incredulously. "How can that be? It's not like there's anywhere for her to go."

Raj paused, and Dara searched his face, trying to read his expression. "I can't say what the people you know will think, and you need to prepare yourselves for the worst. But I've done quite a few of these removals, and I do know that Magnum won't bat an eye over Leona's disappearance."

"How do you know that?" Dara demanded.

"For starters, this won't be my first Magnum removal," he answered, pausing a moment to let this information sink in. "Secondly, don't forget that we have informants, that we are constantly gathering information. Over the years, we've learned that, when people like Leona go missing, the Job Creators are generally unconcerned."

"Because it's no longer their problem to deal with," Joshua erupted angrily.

Her mouth dropping open, Dara looked at her father and then at Raj, waiting for Raj to refute Joshua's answer. Instead, he looked at her with a grim expression and then turned his gaze to her father. "Precisely," he said.

"So...so we're just...disposable? Is that what you're saying?" Dara asked Raj, her voice taking on a somewhat shrill edge.

"It's not what I think," Raj responded.

"It doesn't matter to the Creators if someone kills their own family member, or if they somehow manage to get them out of the domes. There's no need to police Contributors outright because it's a lot more expedient to rule by subtle manipulation," Joshua said, his voice seething with disgust.

The more she thought about it, the more it made sense—and that was the worst part. All this time, she had truly believed that the Job Creators considered the Contributors as critical to their success.

In reality, no Contributor was irreplaceable, and the Job Creators implied this every day. It was why Contributors engaged in such vicious competition, why people were generally so mistrustful of one another. The Job Creators ensured that every Contributor had a hold that was tenuous at best.

Though it made her feel terrible, Dara had to admit that she was glad she and Jonathan had broken up. He could never have been part of the plot to remove Leona. The realization hurt her intensely.

Still, the fact that they were no longer together wouldn't prove a barrier to the suspicions he would likely have. It made Dara nervous to think about how he would react. Would he give them away? Though he was a genuinely caring person, Dara knew how seriously he took his responsibilities to Magnum.

"You're worried about how Jonathan will react," Letizia said later, when Dara discussed the details of the removal with her.

"Yes, I am," Dara admitted. It didn't surprise her at all that Letizia had figured it out. By now, Dara had accepted that her master was far more insightful than she herself would ever likely be.

"I think you have reason to worry," Letizia said. "But you also have to consider his emotional ties to you. He may look at you suspiciously, but I don't think he'll say anything to anyone. Still, we have to consider the possibility that he may decide to keep his eye on you."

"Oh, so now it's not enough to spy on someone like Andersen, someone who couldn't care less about me? Now I have to spy on someone who supposedly loved me?" Dara exploded.

"Yes." The baldness of the word made it all the more chilling. "It's why it's best not to get close to anyone—at least not anyone on the inside."

"What a cheery thought."

"No one said this would be easy. You're preventing your mother from ending up in an institution, but that doesn't guarantee a happy ending."

"I didn't think that. I just...I don't know what I thought," Dara admitted, frustrated.

Letizia's expression softened and she patted Dara's hand. "This is why I love books. It's nice to think that happy endings are possible."

Dara thought of how her mother's book had always made her feel like she could escape from the world she knew into a world of possibilities, and she realized there was something to what Letizia said.

"Maybe I ought to take up reading," Dara grumbled.

"You know you're always welcome. Now, as for your schematics..." Just like that, Letizia flipped the switch back to business again and, though Dara hated to admit it, she was rather satisfied that she had also flipped the switch.

I'm two people now, just like Letizia: the real Dara and the Magnum Dara.

Chapter 37

Several days later, as Dara stood at her station working next to an increasingly unhappy-looking Javier, a couple of Authorities arrived for her.

"Come with us, please, Apprentice Morrow," the female one said in a gruff voice.

"What's wrong? Did something happen to my father?" Dara asked, her voice rising in panic.

"Your father is fine. Come with us and we'll explain everything to you," the male one said. He spoke more kindly than the female, and Dara looked at him pleadingly, but neither he nor his partner offered any further explanation.

The Authorities escorted her to a conference room. Two people waited inside, both obviously Authorities. Based on her uniform, Dara could easily pick out which of them was in charge.