Defector (19 page)

Devon gripped my hand and gave a nod. “Okay. I’ll come with you.” He glowered at my brother. “But I want answers. I want to know what really happened in Livingston. You had spies there. You must know more than you’ve let on.”

Zach glanced at Tanner, who was now joined by Kate. She had a wound on her forehead that was dripping blood over her left eye.

“I’ll answer all your questions,” Zach assured Devon. “But we need to go. Now.”

Before I left, my eyes were drawn to the stairs. I hoped Penny was taking care of my mother. I wasn’t sure if Zach knew about our mother being here.

Tanner was stumbling toward us over the remains of the aquarium. “Devon, Tessa, don’t!” he shouted, despair ringing out in his voice.

Guilt stabbed through me. I knew I was betraying the FEA, but they’d made their choice, and I’d made mine. I’d been longing for this all my life—for a family to call my own. Even Devon couldn’t possibly understand how strong my desire for parents like his was. And now I had the chance to live my dream. No matter the risk, I would never forgive myself if I let it slip through my fingers. And it was my only way to get to Holly. Devon and I followed Zach past the remains of the aquarium.

“Tessa, don’t!” Tanner tried again, but I didn’t stop. Zach led us into the narrow hallway between the bar and the parking lot. Neither Finja nor Benny was in their spots. But Jago was there, peering outside. “Two helicopters on the way. They’ll land in a couple of minutes. We don’t have much time.”

“Get my sister away from here,” Zach ordered. My body filled with warmth when he called me his sister. He pulled me into a quick hug. “Jago will bring you to safety.”

“But what about you and Devon?” I asked in panic as I heard the first helicopter touch down. Before Zach could answer, Jago had gripped my arm, and I felt like my body was split in two.

My surroundings started slipping away, and my hand was ripped from Devon’s. His face became distorted, worry still etched into it. Then my vision started to blur.

T
he ripping sensation was worse than anything I’d ever felt before, but then it suddenly stopped, and I landed on black leather seats. My vision was still blurry, and my stomach felt upside down. I pressed my eyes together and waited a few seconds before I dared to open them again. Jago sat beside me. He didn’t seem disoriented in the least, but his face had paled, and red blotches dotted his cheeks and neck. A myriad of pale freckles dusted his nose. Close up, I realized with a start that he wasn’t much older than me. His light red hair was plastered to his sweaty forehead. He leaned forward, perching between the front seats to talk to the driver. “Drive! I’ll go pick up Zach.”

“What about Devon?” I asked, but Jago disappeared from my side without another word. Hadn’t he heard what I’d said? I tried to catch a glimpse at the man behind the steering wheel, but I was thrown back into my seat as he floored the gas pedal and the car shot forward. I glanced out of the window, clutching the seats to stay in place. Outside the car was an unfamiliar street and a big motel sign, which bathed me in a pink glow. This wasn’t the bar parking lot. “Where are we?”

“A few blocks from the bar,” the man replied. “Jago transported you here.” He had a gruff voice, like a few too many cigarettes had taken their toll. It reminded me of a voice I had heard before.

“Why didn’t Jago take me to Abel?”

“Because that might kill him. He can transport himself over long distances, but not a second person. For a double transport to work, he has to be within a mile, better yet in view of the object.” He shook his head. His hair was black and curly, his skin very dark.

“Who are you?” I asked, more to distract myself than anything else.

“I’m Luthor,” he said, watching me through the rearview mirror with a kind smile. There was a cut on his lip. “No need to introduce yourself.”

“My eyes,” I guessed.

“Yep, among other things.” He frowned as he glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “You should make some room back there. When Zach and Jago return, they might land right on top of you if Jago messes up like usual.”

I didn’t ask what messing up meant. Had people ever been ripped apart during a transport? Or was he referring to the time he had transported Holly and accidentally taken the wrong person? I pressed myself against the door. In the distance I could see a helicopter drawing circles in the sky. I could imagine Major sitting in it, barking orders into the radio, face contorted with fury. He couldn’t possibly spot us from that distance. We were blending into the parking lot and too far away from the bar for that.

Luthor’s frown deepened as the seconds trickled by. I watched him through the rearview mirror, getting more nervous by the second. He kept glancing back and forth between the clock and his cell phone resting in the middle console. Suddenly the air crackled around me, and someone collided with my arm. I was pushed against the door, and Zach suddenly leaned against me, groaning as if in pain. He was bent forward so I couldn’t see his face, but his right sleeve was ripped, and blood dripped from a long cut. I hastily ripped the rest of his sleeve off and used it to bandage the wound. When I was done, I noticed Zach watching me with a stunned expression.

“You really looked worried,” he said quietly.

“Of course, I
was
worried. We’re family.” That word sent a rush of happiness through me and left no room for doubt and anxiety. I realized that Jago was still there next to him. His eyes were closed, his face chalk-white. “Hey, you need to get Devon,” I said, but he didn’t react. I turned to Zach. “What about Devon?” Panic rang in my voice.

Zach looked away, his eyebrows pulling together. He took a moment too long to reply. “Devon changed his mind.”

I froze. “What? He wouldn’t do that. He would have told me.”

“Maybe he felt bad and didn’t want to disappoint you.”

“Zach, why isn’t Devon here? Tell me the truth!”

He lowered his head and nodded toward his wound. “The FEA agents got us. When Jago appeared, he could only grab me. They had already wrestled Devon to the ground. The last thing I saw was Major entering the room. I couldn’t stay. I’m sorry.”

For a moment, my vision turned black. I gripped the seats and inhaled deeply. “This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have involved Devon.”

What would happen to Devon now? I shouldn’t have let Jago separate us. It was possible Major would forgive Devon if he decided to return to the FEA. Devon was still new; Major would probably blame everything on my bad influence. I tried to console myself with the fact that Devon couldn’t have gone into hiding for the rest of his life anyway. He had his parents to consider. Yet the way I’d left him gnawed at my conscience. I could still feel the warmth of his hand in mine.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Zach consoled me. “I bet Major will give him a simple warning. If they catch Will, though, he won’t be so lucky.”

“Will escaped?” I asked.

“Yeah. He knew that Jago couldn’t have transported him too, so he fled with another car. He’s good at running away. That’s what he did all the time before joining Abel’s Army.”

I buried my face in my palms, overwhelmed by my conflicting emotions: worry for Devon, relief about Holly, profound happiness over having found my brother. “Is there a way we can find out what happens to Devon?” I asked, lifting my gaze.

Zach’s lips quirked up in a small smile. “That won’t be a problem.”

“You have a spy in the FEA?”

“Maybe,” Zach said, before turning to Luthor. “When will we arrive?”

“A couple of minutes.”

“Where?” I asked.

“Our helicopter. We flew here. There’s a secure base not far from here.”

I leaned back, but my muscles were coiled tight. Zach was watching me with a strange look. “What?” I whispered.

“I can’t believe you’re really sitting beside me. I’ve been dreaming about this for years. Whenever I lost hope, the memories of you kept me going. I knew that one day we’d be reunited.”

“You remember our time together?” I asked in amazement. I hadn’t even remembered his face, much less any shared happiness between us. Before I’d found the photos in the files, I barely remembered anything at all. He was only two years older than me. Did that make such a big difference?

“Yeah, I do,” he said softly, then shifted in his seat to face me. He lifted his fingers up to my temples. I flinched from the touch and immediately felt like a fool. Zach wasn’t going to hurt me. He gave me an encouraging smile before his fingertips tightened on either side of my head. The skin contact allowed images to scroll through my mind. They materialized behind my eyes like a vision, the same way they had a few days ago in the car. There was the memory of the day I was born in a windowless, white room. Abel was holding my mother’s hand and beaming with pride. Then a later memory in which my mother had me nestled in her arm. She was lying on a narrow bed in the same small but sterile bedroom, looking exhausted and sweaty. A little boy knelt on the mattress beside her. His eyes were turquoise, and he was stretching out his tiny arm to touch the baby’s hand. Abel sank down on the mattress beside them, looking almost as tired as my mother. The boy snuggled against him as Abel slowly, gently stroked a finger over my head until I opened my eyes. Turquoise, just like his.

I gasped, and Zach dropped his hands from my temples. Those memories felt so real, like a vivid dream, as if I was experiencing them right in that moment. It was almost too much, to finally see and feel what I’d longed for. Tears sprang into my eyes. “The boy, that was you. But how can you remember it so clearly? You were only two.” I knew, of course, but I wanted to hear him say it.

Zach relaxed as if he’d been dreading my reaction. “That’s part of my Variation. I never forget. I can store memories and replay them for others.”

“A few days ago, a memory entered my mind while I was driving. Did you do that?”

He lowered his head. “Yeah. I know it wasn’t okay of me to do it without your permission, but I wanted to show you what you were missing. I’d hoped the memories would convince you to join us. I wanted you to come to us acting on your own free will. Obviously that didn’t really work out how I’d planned. You are a tough opponent.” He chuckled, but I was lost in thought.

“You didn’t need to touch me then, why did you do it now?”

“I usually need to touch people to use my Variation. The only person with whom it’s never necessary is our dad, so I thought that might work with you too, and it did. Maybe it’s because we share the same DNA, I don’t know.” He paused, scanning my face, which probably still showed my confusion.

“So they were real memories? Not fake?” Fear bubbled up in my stomach.

“Of course,” Zach said immediately. “I wanted to show you what I remember every day.”

Alec’s words about a Variant who could manipulate memories came into my mind. Maybe the rumors had exaggerated the truth, like they often do. “Can you alter memories too?” I asked reluctantly.

We pulled into a private airport, and Luthor parked the car near the landing strip. Zach still hadn’t replied. He gave Jago and Luthor a nod, and both of them exited the car, giving us a moment of privacy. Zach rubbed a hand over his face. “If I focus very hard, then I can alter memories. It’s very difficult to do, though, and I feel drained for hours afterward.”

I tensed. “But that’s horrible. You can’t just change people’s memories!” Alec had manipulated and monitored me with his Variation. I didn’t want the same thing to happen again.

“Some people ask me to change their memories. Many Variants have experienced horrible things in their life and think they need to forget in order to have a fresh start, and sometimes that’s really the case. If the past keeps weighing you down, it might be best to drop it.”

“So you’re telling me you never altered someone’s memories without their permission?”

Zach glanced out of the window. Luthor and Jago were waiting for us, their backs turned to the car. “On a few occasions, I had no choice. It was to protect myself and those I care about. I didn’t like it, and it’s always my last resort. What would you do if it was your only chance at keeping the people you care about safe?”

I shrugged. “I guess I would do it. I don’t know. I’ve never been in that situation.”

“Sometimes I hate this life of secrecy, but as long as the FEA is hunting us . . .” He trailed off and nodded toward the door. “We should go now. Dad is waiting for us.”

My pulse sped up at the mention of Abel, at that word:
Dad
. I wasn’t yet sure what to call him. It was so much to process at once.

As soon as we stepped out of the car, it disappeared. “Did you do it?” I asked Luthor. He nodded. I narrowed my eyes. “It was you! You were the guy with the syringe who attacked me.” I thought back to our night of camping and the flickering vehicle.

Luthor rubbed the back of his head and glanced at Zach, who rolled his eyes. “Sorry about that. When we found out that you were on the run from the FEA, we tried to track you, but it wasn’t easy. Dad sent out almost our entire organization to search for you. We knew you’d visited Devon’s aunt and uncle, and we sent out scouts to track you in the area. Eventually someone in a diner said they’d seen you. Luthor followed up on the hint, because I wasn’t close by. Since I wasn’t there to talk to you, Dad permitted Luthor to use a sedative. That obviously didn’t work out too well.”

Luthor smiled sheepishly. “You’re a good fighter, girl.”

“You gave me a concussion,” Jago said reproachfully. Did he want an apology?

“You scared the shit out of me. That’s not really the most effective way to convince me to join you.” But I wasn’t even angry anymore. I couldn’t believe that Abel had cared enough to send all of his men out to search for me. With the FEA out searching in tandem, that had been a big risk. “Your Variation is cool,” I said to Luthor. Jago rolled his eyes and turned toward the helicopter.

Luthor grinned. “Yours isn’t too shabby either.”

Zach smiled, but it was tense as his eyes searched the sky. “We use Luthor’s Variation to disguise our helicopter, too.”

“But didn’t it appear on the radar of the airport?”

“Nope. Luthor’s Variation prevents that. And we have connections to the people who track that sort of thing,” he said evasively, then gave me a quick smile. “Come on. We should hurry. Soon the area will be crowded with FEA helicopters.” He took my hand, and I followed him toward a helicopter that looked like it might be used by the military. Instead of skids, it had three tires and was painted in a brownish-green color.

Zach and I sat together in the back, while Luthor and Jago took their places in the cockpit. They exchanged grins as we lifted off the ground. As we rose into the sky, I could see the FEA helicopters in the distance. They were looking for me, but with Luthor’s talent, they’d never find us.

I couldn’t help but wonder who was in the helicopters. Had Major come to make sure I didn’t slip through their fingers again? I’d always been grateful to him for saving me from a neglectful home. But having seen my mother today, I wasn’t sure whether the FEA hadn’t been part of the problem from the start. Her years as an agent might have turned her into the wreck she was now, and the FEA had silently hunted me, probably from the day I was born. Even if my mother hadn’t wanted to give me away, the FEA would have forced her to eventually. What would it have been like if my mother hadn’t wanted to live a normal life? If she’d stayed with Abel? Zach seemed so normal and kind, not like the crazy Volatile Major made him out to be. What if Zach was telling the truth, what if Abel had been searching for me all those years, if he’d honestly missed me? If he loved me? Had the FEA kept me from a loving family?

My mother said she left Abel because she wanted a normal life and he couldn’t bear it. She hadn’t run from him because he had been cruel to her.

Zach touched my arm, and I jumped. His turquoise eyes were curious. He looked so much like me, I couldn’t believe it. My brother.

“So Holly is really okay?” I whispered.

Zach nodded. “She’s more than okay. She’s happy with us.”