Don't Let Go (28 page)

“What does it say?” Noa asked impatiently.

He hesitated; based on what little she’d said about the couple, they’d served as sort of stand-in parents for her. And what he was about to say would probably destroy that image entirely. “It explains how they caused PEMA.”

“What?” Noa’s eyes widened. “They did it intentionally?”

“I don’t think so.” Peter shook his head, forgetting that she couldn’t see the gesture. “This talks about developing brand loyalty, marketing shampoo and makeup to teens. Nothing about any disease. I think it was an accident.”

He’d spent every spare moment poring over documents from the decrypted files while Noa slept. He’d made copies of copies, and scattered them across servers on nearly every continent. Outside Buffalo, he’d left the actual server drives in a bus station locker, then mailed that key to a PO box that belonged to the one person left who he trusted: Luke, the head of the Northeast chapter of Persefone’s Army. Luke had rescued him the night he’d stolen the hard drives; they’d only spent a few days together after that, but Peter knew in his gut that he could rely on the kid. He’d enclosed a note detailing what was going on, and explaining what Luke should do if he didn’t hear from Peter by the end of the week.

The information in these files had weighed heavily on him. After all this time, he’d finally gotten the answer to how PEMA came into existence, and why they thought Noa could cure it.

The thing was, now he understood what they meant about ignorance being bliss. Because after everything he’d discovered, the thought of allowing Pike to skate on this was even more galling.

“So what did they do?” Noa pressed.

Peter hesitated, not sure he wanted to burden her with it. This was the first time in days that she was wide-awake and coherent. Would the truth really do her any good at this point?

“Peter,” Noa said warningly, “don’t you dare try to protect me.”

“All right.” He blew out a breath of air, debating where to begin. “Well, I don’t exactly understand all of it. But basically, your friends were in charge of the research and development team that was trying to get people hooked on Pike & Dolan products. They called it ‘the lifetime initiative,’ like it was a good thing.”

“But they were scientists,” Noa said, puzzled. “Doctors. It wasn’t their job to sell stuff.”

“They were researchers, Noa, working for a big corporation,” Peter explained. “They weren’t trying to cure cancer, they were trying to figure out a way to make sure that people only bought Pike & Dolan’s shampoos. So they came up with some sort of transmission system—prions, which are like a protein combined with a germ.”

Noa’s brow furrowed. “They intentionally tried to make people sick?”

“Nope, it wasn’t like that at all.” Peter ran a hand over his head. “From what I can tell, they thought this prion thing would be harmless. It was only supposed to affect the brain’s pleasure center, and not even that much. So when people were exposed to it, they’d start associating P&D products with being, like, abnormally happy.”

“That’s so creepy,” Noa said slowly. “They actually put this in the stuff they were selling? Like, toothpaste and everything?”

“Not all of their stuff,” Peter clarified. “Mainly in what they marketed to teens. They wanted to start with that group, and get them hooked for life. If it was successful, they planned to go after even younger kids. I found a few files that talked about introducing it into baby products.”

Noa shuddered. “That’s sick.”

“And totally illegal,” Peter agreed. “The thing is, all these teen products had already been on the market for years, and the additive was hush hush. So they didn’t think anyone would find out. But then, PEMA started.” He tilted his head toward the screen. “Your buddies Ray and Monique—or Roy and Monica, whatever the hell their names were—figured out right away that the prion might be responsible. They sent a whole bunch of angry emails to Pike, demanding that he put a stop to the project.”

“But he didn’t?”

“Not right away. And by the time he did, the Forbes also had proof that the prion didn’t do what it was supposed to anyway.”

“So everyone who used the wrong shampoo or toothpaste got it?” Noa asked. Her face had gone pale.

“Not everyone. Some people only got a little sick; that’s why the government couldn’t figure out what was causing it. I found one really twisted memo to Pike from his lawyer. The guy goes on about how, since the additive was in so many products, the CDC was unlikely to trace it back to a single source.”

Noa stared at him. “So PEMA was Pike’s fault, all along.”

“Yup. And I get the feeling that your friends tried to stop it,” he said. “I did a search for them, and supposedly they died in a car crash a few years ago. Pike was at the funeral and everything.”

“They faked their own deaths,” Noa said slowly.

“Or Pike tried to kill them, but they survived and ran.” Peter cleared his throat. “Hell, I can’t say I blame them.”

“But they had proof, right?” Noa said. “So why didn’t they go to the cops?”

“I don’t know.” Peter shook his head. “Maybe they didn’t think they had enough, or they were too scared.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Noa finally said, “If Roy and Monica knew all this and didn’t use it, they must have had a good reason. We could threaten Pike with these files, and he might just laugh in our faces.”

“I don’t think so,” Peter said firmly. “We’ve got too much proof, more than they had for sure, and we know how to get it out everywhere. Trust me, these files are going to be popping up in Uzbekistan. There’s no way he’ll be able to quash them all.”

“It’s a big risk,” Noa finally said.

“So is sleeping on this comforter,” Peter said, nodding toward it. “But I already did that today.”

Noa cracked a grin, and he smiled back at her. There was concern in her eyes, though. “So are you really ready for this?”

“Sure,” he said, trying to inject confidence into his voice. “What could go wrong?”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“S
o you really haven’t done it yet?” Ella whispered.

“No!” Daisy swatted Ella’s arm gently. “What do you think I am, some kind of ho?”

“But you’ve been together for months.” Two bright red dots stood out on Ella’s cheeks, and her forehead was flushed. Her eyes sparkled as she said, “I mean, don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.”

“We haven’t exactly been alone,” she hedged. This was the third straight day she’d spent with Ella, and she was finding it increasingly difficult to lie to her. But Daisy wasn’t a fool. If she spilled what was really going on, Pike might hurt Teo.

God, she hoped he’d gotten back to his room safely. She could throttle him for taking such a risk.

Still, he’d known what to do with the phone. Daisy’s eyes shifted to the bedside table. It was hard to believe Ella hadn’t realized it was missing yet; every time she was with her, she kept waiting for the girl to ask for it. And when they discovered it was gone . . . at the thought, Daisy went prickly with nerves. She drew a deep breath and forced herself to focus back on what Ella was saying.

“Well, I’d find a way,” Ella declared.

Daisy shifted uncomfortably. “How are you feeling?”

Ella laughed shortly and said, “Same as always.”

“Well, you look amazing.”

“You’re such a liar.” Ella rolled her eyes. “I know how I look.” She plucked at the blanket, the way she always did when the conversation turned toward her illness.

“I thought kids with PEMA were in worse shape,” Daisy confessed. “Like, their brains got all mushy and stuff.”

“Mine was. Man, you should have seen me last year, I swear my three-year-old cousin knew more words than I did. A few weeks ago, I was even blind for a few days.”

“But you seem normal now,” Daisy pointed out.

“The doctors said that might happen.” Ella shrugged. “You get a good week or two before the very end. Sort of a last gasp.”

“Oh,” Daisy said, instantly uncomfortable. So Ella would be dead in a week? That totally sucked. She wondered how she’d feel, knowing that her life was almost over.

Of course, it was probably her last week, too. The thought was sobering. The past few days, she’d been lulled into believing that maybe they’d make it out of this place. But unless by some miracle Teo’s plan worked, she’d die as soon as Ella did.

They sat there in silence. In spite of everything, Daisy felt sorry for this girl. It wasn’t Ella’s fault that her dad was such a crazy bastard.

“Hey, can I show you something cool?” Ella said in a low voice.

“Uh, sure,” Daisy said, praying it wouldn’t be another picture from her iPhone.

“You can’t tell anyone,” Ella hissed. “It’s seriously secret. Like, if-you-told-I’d-have-to-kill-you secret.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Daisy said with a smile.

“Oh, I can still do some damage. You should have seen me with a field hockey stick,” she said wistfully. “Anyway, come here.”

Daisy leaned in. Ella pushed herself off the pillows, grunting from the effort.

“You want help?”

Ella waved her off, an expression of intense concentration on her face. She pulled herself up until she was sitting. Ella glanced over at the guard, then shifted slightly to block his view. She tugged down the top of her hospital gown. Daisy’s eyes widened: There was a scar there, identical to the one she’d seen on Noa’s chest.

“That’s why I’m still here,” Ella said in a low voice. “At least for now.”

“You had an operation?” Daisy asked, trying to sound surprised.

Ella nodded. “They put an extra thymus in me. It’s supposed to help my body attack the disease. My dad says that without it, I wouldn’t have lasted this long.”

Daisy swallowed hard, picturing Noa. “So if it’s working, then why are you still . . . you know.”

Ella’s face clouded over. “I guess there’s some sort of problem with it. But my dad says there’s a way they could still save me. He’s working on it.”

Daisy kept her hands clenched in her lap, knowing full well what Pike was counting on: finding Noa, so he could use her to cure Ella once and for all. She swallowed hard, then said, “Sounds risky.”

Ella smiled wanly. “What’s it going to do, kill me?”

Daisy tried to smile back, but she’d suddenly gone cold. She glanced at the guard, then said, “So where did the extra thymus thingy come from?”

Ella shrugged. “Some kid who died in a car crash. We were a match.”

“That was lucky,” Daisy noted, thinking,
Yeah, right
. The perfect match just happened to show up.

“Not for the kid who died,” Ella said soberly as she tugged the hospital gown back up. “Poor kid.”

She sounded genuinely sympathetic. Daisy flashed back to the faces of all the kids she’d known who’d been sacrificed to save this girl. A rising tide of rage built inside her; she had to fight to quell it.

“Anyway,” Ella said obliviously. “I gotta ask you something.”

“What?”

Ella looked embarrassed. “It’s just . . . I can’t find my phone. I haven’t seen it since I showed it to you a few days ago.”

Daisy’s heart stopped. She tried to keep her face blank as she said, “You think I stole your phone?”

“Well, stole is a strong word,” Ella said, fingering her blanket. She looked uncomfortable. Her eyes darted to Daisy’s blue hair, and she said, “Look, it’s cool if you wanted to borrow it. It’s just . . . I need it back. I haven’t told anyone it’s gone yet.”

“What’s gone?”

Daisy nearly fell out of her chair. Turning, she discovered Charles Pike glowering down at her.

“Hi, Dad,” Ella said brightly.

“Is something missing?” His voice was calm, but there was an ugly undercurrent to it.

Ella’s eyes flicked quickly to Daisy, then back to her father. “No, it’s cool. It’ll turn up.”

Pike leaned forward, his knuckles pressing against the bedding. In a low, threatening voice, he asked, “What’s missing?”

Ella shrank back against the pillows, a frightened look on her face. In a small voice, she said, “My phone. But I’m sure—”

“Daisy needs to come with me,” Pike said abruptly, straightening.

“But we weren’t done—” Ella protested.

“Now.”

Daisy slowly got to her feet. Her heart was hammering against her rib cage. She braced to run, but Pike’s hand clamped down on her arm. “You should say good-bye,” he said sternly. “Ella, I’m afraid this is Daisy’s last visit.”

Daisy threw Ella a panicked look. Ella’s eyes shifted to her, then back to her father. Slowly, she nodded her head. “Okay, Daisy. It was great hanging with you.”

Pike started to drag her from the room. “Wait! No!” Daisy cried.

“Do not make a scene,” Pike hissed.

When they were nearly to the door, Daisy yanked her arm free and raced back to the bed. In a rush, she said, “Ella. I don’t go home after I leave you.”

“What?” Ella asked, looking perplexed.

“Your dad locks me in a room upstairs. My boyfriend is here, too. He’s holding us prisoner. Why do you think a guard always brings me in and out?”

Pike grabbed her arm again; the guard was rushing to join him.

“That’s crazy,” Ella said dismissively, but her eyes darted to the guard. “My dad just keeps these guys around for protection.”

Daisy had to get the full story out; even if Ella didn’t believe her, she should know what was really going on.

“That thymus your dad is trying to get? It’s inside a friend of mine. Her name is Noa, and he’s going to kill her to give it to you. He’s kidnapped other friends of mine and killed them,” Daisy said, speaking as fast as she could. “Your dad has been kidnapping runaways for a long time now—probably since you got sick. And his doctors have been doing horrible experiments on them. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

Ella stared at her incredulously. “What’s wrong with you? Are you crazy?”

“They’re going to drag me out of here now,” Daisy said, turning to glare at Pike. His expression was unreadable, but the rage in his eyes was clear. “And they’re going to kill me. That’s why you’re never going to see me again.”

“Dad?” Ella was regarding her father like he was a stranger.

“I’m so sorry, dear,” Pike said soothingly. His face was beet red, and his blue eyes were hard as ice chips. “I had no idea this poor girl was so disturbed. Trust me, I’m going to have a word with the community service people about who they send to us.”