Don't Let Go (21 page)

“What do you want?” Teo demanded.

Daisy felt another flare of pride for him; in spite of everything, he didn’t sound afraid. He’d come a long way from the scared kid they’d rescued in San Francisco just a few months ago.

She was terrified, though. Because despite the opulent surroundings, if Pike gave the word, their throats would be slit right then and there.

Mason appeared in the doorway, and Pike waved him in. He walked over and murmured something to Pike; she strained to hear, but couldn’t make out what he was saying. His nose had swollen to twice the normal size: probably broken.
Good
, Daisy thought. She hoped it hurt like hell.

Pike shifted to face them. “Mr. Mason claims you weren’t very helpful on the plane.”

“We don’t know where Noa is,” Teo said.

“That’s unfortunate.” Pike set his glass down on a side table. “She’s very important to me, you know.”

“Yeah, we’ve heard,” Daisy said. “You can hardly wait to start cutting her up again.”

Pike actually looked wounded. “I’m afraid you don’t have all the information about her . . . condition.”

“We’ve lived with her for months,” Daisy said disdainfully. “We know more about it than you, for sure.”

Teo gave her hand a hard squeeze, and she realized belatedly that she should’ve kept her mouth shut. Too late—Pike’s eyebrows had shot up. “So she’s not well?”

“She’s fine,” Teo snapped, but his tone wasn’t convincing.

“Interesting.” Pike took another sip. “The doctors thought something like that might happen.”

“Something like what?” Daisy demanded. Teo squeezed her hand again, but she ignored him. Pike didn’t know where Noa was, and they were probably going to be killed as soon as they left this room. She might as well find out what the hell was going on.

“Well, I suppose she told you about the extra thymus?” Seeing their blank looks, he continued, “Perhaps she doesn’t even know herself. But I’d imagine that she’s been getting weaker, and that her eating habits are . . . odd.”

Daisy swallowed hard. She and Teo had spent hours discussing Noa, and what exactly might be wrong with her. Sometimes she seemed to go days without eating, then she’d scarf down everything in sight. Back when Daisy first joined up, Noa hardly ever seemed to sleep, but recently that was practically all she did.

Still, to share all that with this monster seemed like the ultimate betrayal.

Charles Pike was still regarding them with interest, as if they were a puzzle he was trying to solve. Abruptly he said, “I have something to show you.”

“Thanks, but we’re not into old dudes,” Teo retorted. Daisy could tell he was trying to be brave, but there was an unmistakable tremor in his voice.

“You won’t be harmed,” Pike said with a sigh. “Please. It’s this way.”

And with that, he walked out of the room.

Daisy hesitated, then started to get off the couch. Teo clutched at her hand, restraining her. In a low voice he said, “This could be a trick.”

“They’re going to make us go no matter what.” She indicated the goon squad with a tilt of her head. Two of their escorts had already stepped forward, looking eager to mete out punishment.

Teo hesitated, then got to his feet, muttering, “I really hope he’s not going to show us a bunch of chopped-up kids.”

Pike was waiting for them in the hallway. His expression was unreadable as he waved for them to follow. Daisy exchanged a look with Teo, then fell in step behind him. Two men followed as they walked through several more rooms. Pike finally stopped in front of an innocuous-looking door and said, “She’s in here.”

He actually sounded choked up. Daisy frowned.
What the hell is going on?

The door opened into a room that was a huge departure from the rest of the house. The walls and floor were bare, the lighting dimmed. In the center of the room, a teenage girl lay on a hospital bed.

“You’re doing experiments here, in your house?” Daisy exclaimed. Even given all the awful things she’d heard about Pike, that seemed beyond the pale.

“Experiments?” He appeared genuinely puzzled. “No, of course not. This is my daughter, Elinor. I’ve always called her Ella, though.”

Daisy stepped closer to the bed, with Teo at her heels. Ella was around her age, fifteen or sixteen. Tiny, maybe five-two. Even paler than Noa, like she hadn’t seen the sun in months. Her eyes were closed, and she was lying so still that she looked dead.

Even more disturbingly, she was strapped down like some sort of criminal.

“You tied up your own daughter?” Teo said indignantly. “That’s sick.”

“It’s for her own good.” Pike bent to kiss her forehead. Ella didn’t react. His voice sounded distant as he continued, “Although it’s purely precautionary. She hasn’t moved in weeks.”

Daisy vaguely remembered Noa explaining that Pike’s daughter was dying of PEMA, which was why he was doing those horrible experiments; he wanted to find a cure in time to save her. Honestly, at the time she hadn’t cared what his reasons were; she’d seen his victims, and nothing justified his crimes against them.

Seeing him standing there holding Ella’s hand with tears in his eyes, though . . . in spite of herself, she felt a twinge of sympathy.

Without looking at them, Pike said, “Ella’s mother died when she was six years old. She’s all I have left.”

Daisy stared at the girl on the bed. Ella’s dad loved her enough to do anything to keep her alive. She might not have had a long life, but it had probably been a pretty decent one. A hell of a lot better than hers, at least. “My mom died, too,” Daisy said. “And my dad took off. I spent my last birthday eating out of a Dumpster.”

“I’m so sorry,” Pike said, with what sounded like genuine warmth in his voice. “That must have been terrible.”

“Yeah, it really sucked.” Daisy felt the rage rekindling inside her. “And it got a lot worse when your people tried to kidnap me so I could be sliced open. Spare me the fake pity.”

Pike stroked his daughter’s hand, then gently set it back on the bed and smoothed out the sheet. Turning to face them, he said earnestly, “Please understand, I wasn’t involved in the day-to-day operations of Project Persephone. I had no idea what was being done on my behalf. I only found out later how my employees were securing . . . volunteers.”

Teo snorted. “Volunteers? Seriously?”

“I’m truly sorry,” Pike said. “Once I found out what was going on, I put a stop to it immediately.”

Daisy watched his eyes, trying to gauge whether or not he was telling the truth. She was having a hard time reconciling this grieving father with the monster Noa and Peter had described.

“So you’ve stopped kidnapping kids?” Teo snapped. “Because guess what? Here we are.”

“Yes, but have you been harmed?” Pike held out his hands, palms up. “Has anyone hurt you? If they have, please let me know. My orders were very strict.”

“Mason threatened to cut Daisy’s throat,” Teo snapped.

“He did?” Pike looked startled. His gaze shifted to the door, and he frowned. “Well, rest assured, I’ll have a word with him about that.”

Daisy exchanged a glance with Teo. This was all too weird. “Why are we here?”

“You’re here because I really hoped you’d be able to help us find your friend Noa,” Pike said. “I’d like to try and make amends to her, if that’s even possible anymore.”

“By cutting her open again?” Teo asked. “Yeah, I think she’s going to pass on that.”

“You really don’t understand,” Pike said wearily. “Noa is very ill, possibly even dying. And if we don’t get to her soon, I’m afraid it will be too late.”

Peter leaned into the mirror, examining the results. A stranger stared back at him; the clippers had only left a quarter inch of hair all around. “I look like I’m ready for boot camp,” he muttered to his reflection. He picked a lock of brown hair out of the sink and stared at it for a minute, feeling oddly melancholy.

“Stop being such a girl,” he said aloud. It was just hair, it would grow back. He rinsed the sink until it was clean again.

Other than the new hairdo, there wasn’t much he could do; growing a beard or mustache would take a few days anyway. He’d just have to hope this was enough. Peter dug some Bengay out of the medicine cabinet and rubbed it on his shoulder. It still throbbed in unison with the incision in his back, but not nearly as badly as yesterday. Despite his popping four Advil, the rest of his body ached; but all in all he felt okay.

Certainly better than Loki,
he thought grimly. Peter felt a twinge of guilt; if he hadn’t traced that IP address, Loki would still be living happily underground.

It’s not our fault
, he reminded himself.
It’s Pike’s
. And this was yet another death Peter was going to make him pay for.

As he closed the cabinet, Peter got an unexpected flash of his last visit to this house. Spring break, a little over a year ago. Playing beer pong in the rumpus room with Rick and a couple of girls they’d met on the slopes. He’d passed out drunk in the middle of the night, and woke up with the worst hangover of his life.

Sighing, he shoved the memory away. It was hard to believe that life had ever been so normal.

Coming out of the bathroom, he heard the sound of typing down the hall. Peter shuffled toward it, wiping his newly shaved head with a hand towel. He found Noa in the office, tapping away at an older PC.

“Anything new?” he asked.

“Nope. The news feeds are all saying the same thing. Nationwide manhunt, call the hotline, blah blah blah.” She turned to face him, then did a double take. “Wow.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m calling it my Seal Team Six look,” he said wryly.

“It’s not so bad.” Noa got to her feet and turned a slow circle around him. “You definitely look different.”

“Better?” he joked.

Noa gave him a small smile. “Different. Older, actually.”

“Perfect. First chance I get, I’m buying some beer.” He let the towel drop by his side. “I gotta say, you’re pulling off the red nicely.”

“Really?” She sounded uncertain, but pleased by the compliment. Since the photo showed her with short hair, Noa had left it long and dyed it auburn with some henna they’d found in the master bathroom’s medicine cabinet; apparently Rick’s mom wasn’t au naturel. She was wearing a blue tank top and jeans.

“Sure. Your eyes look greener. You look hot.” The words slipped out before he could stop them. Noa’s eyes widened in surprise, and he hurriedly added, “I mean, not that you weren’t, you know, pretty before. But now—” Her smile widened, and Peter blew out an exasperated breath of air. “You know what? I’m just going to shut up.”

Noa cocked an eyebrow. “First I’m glow-y, and now I’m hot. Maybe I should have gone red a long time ago.”

“Maybe,” Peter agreed. “Honestly, you don’t look that different, though. You’re kind of . . . distinctive.”

“Distinctive? How am I distinctive?”

“I don’t know.” He felt himself flush a deeper shade of red. “You’re tall, and thin, and you kind of walk different.”

She glowered at him. “You’re making me sound like a freak.”

“But a good freak.” Her smile faltered, and Peter said, “Man, I’m sorry. I just mean, you don’t look like a regular teenager. People are going to notice you.”

“Why would they notice me?” she asked, sounding genuinely puzzled.

“Well, hell,” he said. “You look like a supermodel, for one.”

“You’re so full of it,” she groaned. Suddenly, she bent double, clutching her chest.

“Noa?” Peter said, alarmed. “Hey, I was kidding. There’s nothing wrong with how you look.”

“I . . . just . . .” She staggered across the room and fell into the desk chair. “God, it hurts.”

He crossed the room quickly and dropped into a crouch before her. “What can I do?”

Noa winced in pain, rocking back and forth. “Nothing. I . . . I’ll be fine. Just . . . give me a minute.”

She was breathing hard through a clenched jaw. Peter watched helplessly, feeling utterly useless. Finally, Noa exhaled, closed her eyes, and sat up straight. “All right. I’m good now.”

“What the hell was
that
?” Peter demanded.

Noa shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s been happening for a while.”

She was avoiding his eyes. Peter ran a hand over his head, startled for a second to encounter nothing but a thin layer of peach fuzz. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought I had it under control,” she said in a low voice. “But . . . it keeps getting worse.”

The fear in her eyes scared the hell out of him. “Do you want . . . I don’t know, some Advil or water or something?”

She was already shaking her head. “It won’t help. I’ve tried that.”

“Okay.” Peter sat back on his haunches, thinking. “So this is because of the extra thymus, right? I mean, that guy Roy said it might be making you sick.”

“He said my cells were degenerating,” she said tonelessly.

“Crap.” Peter blew out hard. They were hiding out in a house in the middle of nowhere, with the entire country convinced they were murderous terrorists. There was no one left to turn to for help.

“I’ll be fine, Peter,” Noa said with effort. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Well, that didn’t look fine. I mean, first there was all the extra sleeping, and now this . . .” He stood up resolutely. “We need to see what’s in the rest of those files. There might be something that explains it.”

“Yeah, right. The files.” Noa waved at the computer on the desk. “It’ll take forever on this thing. I’ve been trying for an hour and still haven’t found any mention of Pike.” She held up a drive that had a bullet hole straight through it. “Hopefully there wasn’t anything on this one.”

Peter took the drive from her and turned it over in his hand—it must’ve gotten hit yesterday, while they were running through that field. He shivered involuntarily. What if the drives hadn’t stopped the bullets? Would he or Noa be dead right now? “How many were ruined?”

“I’m not sure yet.” Noa rubbed her temple with her thumbs. “Aside from the bullet holes, they got banged around pretty badly. Some of the data must’ve gotten corrupted.”

Peter tossed the drive in the trash. “Well, it’s not like we can go anywhere anyway, right? Nothing but time on our hands.”