Mass Effect: The Complete Novels 4-Book Bundle (36 page)

“No chance,” Pel shot back. “Wait here. I’ll be back in five minutes.”

He picked up the bag again, then stared pointedly at the quarian until he turned away. Once he was sure the alien wasn’t looking, he punched in the access code for the door and stepped inside.

It was actually closer to ten minutes when he reemerged, but Golo was still waiting for him. Pel was half hoping he would have grown frustrated and left.

“I’m still curious, friend,” the quarian said by way of greeting. “What was in the bag?”

“None of your business. And we’re not friends.”

In actuality, the bag had contained nothing more than ordinary groceries. There was a full stock of rations and emergency supplies inside the base, and while they were nutritionally adequate for survival, they were bland and tasteless. Fortunately, Pel had discovered a shop in a nearby district that stocked traditional human cuisine. Every three days he took the monorail to the store and bought enough food to keep his team well fed and happy. It wasn’t cheap, but it was an expense he had no trouble justifying to Cerberus. Humans deserved real human food, not some processed alien mishmash.

There was no harm in sharing this information with the quarian, of course, but Pel wanted to keep their relationship adversarial. It was to his advantage if Golo wasn’t sure where he stood.

“You said you had some kind of proposal,” he prompted.

Golo looked around, clearly nervous. “Not here. Somewhere private.”

“What about that gambling hall you took me to last time? Fortune’s Den?”

The quarian shook his head. “That particular district is currently under an ownership dispute. The batarians are trying to push the volus out. Too many shootings and bombings for my taste.”

Par for the damn course,
Pel thought to himself. “Violence is inevitable when different species try to live side by side,” he said aloud, spouting a common Cerberus axiom.
If the Alliance could ever figure that out we wouldn’t need someone like the Illusive Man to watch out for us.

“This opportunity is quite tempting,” Golo assured him. “Once you hear the terms I’m sure you’ll be interested.”

Pel just crossed his meaty arms and stared at the quarian, waiting.

“It involves the Collectors,” Golo whispered, leaning in slightly.

After a long pause, Pel sighed and turned back to the warehouse door. “All right. Let’s go inside.”

THIRTEEN

“You are cleared for approach on dock four. Over.”

Grayson made a slight course adjustment to comply with the traffic control tower’s instructions, and brought his shuttle in to the Grissom Academy’s exterior landing bay. The medium-range passenger vessel he was piloting on this visit was slightly smaller, and far less luxurious, than the corporate shuttle he normally used for his visits. But these were hardly normal circumstances.

For this journey he had come alone, in the guise of a frantic father rushing to the side of his gravely ill child. It wasn’t a hard role for him to play, given how he felt about Gillian. His concern for her was genuine. But depending how much Jiro had told them, it might not matter.

He waited impatiently at the shuttle doors for the docking platform to connect, then went quickly into the large, glass-walled waiting room. There were no other passengers waiting for clearance, and the two Alliance guards posted by the exit signaled him to come forward. He could see Dr. Sanders and the Project Ascension security chief waiting for him on the other side of the transparent, bulletproof wall.

“Go on in, Mr. Grayson,” one of the guards told him in a sympathetic voice, not even bothering with a cursory search as he waived him through.

Grayson chose to take that as a good sign.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Kahlee whispered to Hendel as Grayson made his way through the security screening room. “You still look a little unsteady on your feet.”

“I’m fine,” he whispered back. “Besides, I want to see how he reacts when we tell him the news.”

Kahlee wanted to say something back to him, like,
You can’t seriously think Grayson won’t care about his daughter almost being killed!
But Grayson was through security now, and he would have heard her. So she bit her tongue and prayed that Hendel would have the good sense to treat his arrival with the proper courtesy.

“Mr. Grayson,” Hendel said with a curt nod.

“Where’s Gillian?” he asked immediately. “I want to see my daughter.”

Not surprisingly, he looked much worse than the last time they had seen him. He wasn’t wearing a suit this time, but was dressed in a pair of denim pants and a simple short-sleeved shirt, revealing his thin, sinewy arms. He had what looked to be at least a few days worth of stubble growing on his chin. There was a desperate gleam in his eye and an air of nervous apprehension hung about him … not surprising, given what had happened.

“Of course,” Kahlee said quickly, before Hendel could offer any objections. She wasn’t about to let Grayson wait around here in the hall. There would be time enough for discussion later, after he had seen Gillian.

Hendel cast her an annoyed glance, but all he said was “Follow me.”

Nobody spoke as they made their way to the hospital room, though she could see the muscles along Hendel’s throat flexing as he clenched and unclenched his jaw.

When they reached the hospital room Grayson stopped. One hand slowly came up to cover his mouth at the sight of the young girl lying in bed, hooked up to half a dozen machines.

“Oh, Gigi,” he whispered, and the pain in his voice wrenched at Kahlee’s heart.

“What are all those machines for?” he asked a moment later, his voice shaky.

“They’re just monitors,” Kahlee explained, trying to keep her voice professionally optimistic. “So we can keep an eye on her.”

Grayson stepped into the room, moving slowly, as if he was suddenly underwater. He knelt down at the side of her bed and reached out with a hand, placing it not on her head but on the sheets just above her shoulder.

“Oh, Gigi … what did they do to you?” he muttered.

At the sound of his voice Gillian’s eyes fluttered open and she turned her head to face him.

“Daddy,” she said, her voice weak but obviously happy to see him.

Hendel and Kahlee kept their distance, giving him time with his daughter.

“I heard what happened,” he told her. “I was so scared.”

“It’s okay,” she assured him, reaching over to pat him on the hand. “I’m okay now.”

It was hard to say which of the adults was more stunned by the simple gesture. In all the years Gillian had been at the Grissom Academy, Kahlee had never seen her actually initiate physical contact with another person. Gillian herself seemed oblivious to their reaction, as she let her hand drop back down to her side and closed her eyes.

“I’m tired,” she mumbled. “I need to sleep now.”

A few seconds later she was snoring softly. Grayson stared at her for several long moments before standing up and turning to face them. An awkward silence hung in the air.

Kahlee broke it by saying, “The doctors say she’s going to make a complete recovery. They just want to keep her here for a few days to monitor her. Because of her condition.”

“You said Dr. Toshiwa did this to her?” Grayson’s face had lit up when Gillian patted his hand. Now, however, his expression was one of dark, barely contained anger.

Kahlee nodded with her head toward the door, indicating they should step outside to continue the conversation so their words wouldn’t disturb the sleeping girl. The two men took the meaning and the three of them went out into the hall, far enough that they were out of earshot. She did notice, however, that both Hendel and Grayson stopped just before they rounded the corner that would have taken them out of sight of the room.

“Jiro was conducting some kind of unauthorized experiment on her,” Hendel explained, picking up where they had left off. “We have him in custody.”

Grayson nodded slightly. “Good.”

“He was working for a group called Cerberus,” Hendel suddenly shot out, firing the words quickly. Kahlee could see he was looking to provoke some kind of reaction.

“Cerberus?” Grayson said quizzically after a moment, turning his head slightly to the side.

“A radical pro-human terrorist group,” Hendel replied. “Well funded. Jiro was one of their agents. We think he infiltrated the Ascension Project to get close to Gillian.”

“Never heard of them. Was he working alone?”

Hendel hesitated before answering, and Kahlee worried he might be trying to play some kind of game with Grayson. To her relief, when the security chief finally replied he did so honestly.

“We don’t know yet. Interrogations take time. He’s giving it up bit by bit. Probably figures he can negotiate a better deal on his prison time by holding something back.”

“You should try torture instead of negotiation.” Grayson’s voice was flat and cold, but the anger was impossible to miss—the primal rage of a father defending his only child.

“That’s not how the Alliance does things,” Kahlee told him.

“We’ll get the answers soon enough,” Hendel added, though Kahlee wasn’t sure if he meant it as comfort to a concerned parent, or a threat.

Grayson began to pace back and forth in the narrow confines of the hospital corridor, one hand reaching up to scratch at the stubble on his chin.

“So for all you know, there could still be more of these Cerberus agents working in the facility.”

“That’s not likely,” Hendel assured him. “I had some run-ins with Cerberus during my years with the Alliance. I picked up a few things about their methods. Their undercover operatives tend to work alone.”

“But you don’t know for sure,” Grayson pressed, stopping directly in front of him. “Dr. Toshiwa worked here for years, and you had no idea he was with them.”

The security chief didn’t reply, but shifted his feet uncomfortably.

“Anyone could be working for them. Another researcher. A teacher. One of the nurses. Even you!”

He punctuated his accusation by jabbing his finger in Hendel’s muscular chest. The bigger man bristled, but held his tongue. Kahlee stepped forward and put a hand on Grayson’s wrist, gently lowering his hand.

“Hendel saved Gillian’s life,” she reminded him.

The father dropped his head, chagrined. “I forgot. I’m sorry.”

He looked up again and extended his hand. “Thank you, Chief Mitra.” Hendel shook it without comment.

“I appreciate everything you two have done for Gillian,” Grayson told them, his voice taking on a more businesslike tone. “Not just now, but in all her years here at the Academy. And I’m grateful she had the opportunity to be part of the Ascension Project.

“But after all this, I can’t let her stay here. She needs to be with me. It’s the only way I can be sure she’s safe.”

Kahlee nodded. “We’re sorry to lose her, Mr. Grayson, but we understand. We’ll find a place for you to stay here on the station until she’s well enough to travel.”

“I don’t think you understand,” Grayson said, shaking his head. “I’m leaving. Now. And I’m taking my daughter with me.”

“I … I’m sorry, sir,” Kahlee replied, momentarily caught off-guard. “But that just isn’t possible. She needs medical attention. Until we release—”

“You said there’s nothing physically wrong with her,” he protested, cutting her off.

“She’s still weak from her ordeal,” Hendel countered, his voice rising. “Biotics require an extremely high caloric intake to—”

“I’ve got food on my ship.”

“She needs a specially balanced diet because of her condition,” Hendel stressed.

“I’d rather have her miss out on a few optimally nutritious meals than leave her here with you people!” Grayson shouted, his anger boiling over. “The last time she was in this hospital somebody tried to kill her!”

Kahlee held her hand up to cut off Hendel before he responded. “We’ll make sure there’s a guard posted outside her room at all times,” she assured Grayson.

“What if the guard is working for this Cerberus group?” he shot back. “What about the nurses who check on the monitors? Or the people who fix the meals? Don’t tell me she’ll be safe here!”

“She won’t be safe anywhere!” Hendel shot back. “Do you have any idea who you’re dealing with? Cerberus probably has agents on every Alliance world and colony. They’ve got operatives in every level of the government and the military! If you take her away from here, they’ll find you!”

“Damn it, Hendel!” Kahlee shouted, smacking him hard on the shoulder to shut him up. He looked over at her angrily, but kept quiet when he saw the expression on her face.

“Why don’t you go tell Gillian you’re leaving,” she suggested to Grayson. “We’ll find someone to unhook the machines.”

“Thank you,” Grayson replied, with a small nod of acknowledgment. Then he turned and made his way back toward Gillian’s room.

Kahlee waited until he disappeared inside the door before wheeling on Hendel.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she demanded. “Did you really think you could scare him into letting Gillian stay?”

“He should be scared,” the security chief replied. “Cerberus is dangerous. You can’t let them leave.”

“We don’t have any other choice,” she told him. “Gillian’s not a prisoner here. If her father wants to take her, we can’t stop him.”

“Then stall him,” he insisted. “At least until we learn more from Jiro.”

“And how long is that going to take?” she asked, incredulous. “An hour? A day?”

“That little punk wasn’t calling the shots,” Hendel told her. “We’ve got to keep Grayson around until we find out who was giving Jiro his orders.”

“You can’t possibly think he’s involved?” Kahlee asked in disbelief.

“I get a bad vibe from him,” the security chief told her. “There’s something off about that guy. And even if he isn’t working for Cerberus, he’s still a drug addict! I’m not turning Gillian over to him without a fight.”

She knew Hendel well enough to realize he wasn’t going to back down. She also knew Grayson was scared for his daughter’s life, and he wasn’t going to let Hendel bully him. If she didn’t come up with a solution, something bad was going to happen. Her mind was racing, shuffling through ideas, trying to sort out some way to resolve the situation.

As if on cue, she saw Grayson and Gillian, still wearing her hospital gown, exiting the room. Hendel saw them, too, and headed straight for them.

And that’s when a wild plan hatched in Kahlee’s frantic brain.

Grayson’s heart was pounding as he waited in the hospital room for a nurse to come and disconnect the machines monitoring Gillian’s status. He had played his part well enough so far, but he knew it was only a matter of time before the Alliance interrogators got Jiro to cough up the name of his contact. He needed to be well away from the station before that happened.

He began to pace anxiously in the room, back and forth at the foot of Gillian’s bed.

The nurse isn’t coming. The security chief is on to you. He’s stalling. You’re out of time.

He made a quick turn, breaking off his pacing, and stepped quickly over to the bed so he could lean in close to Gillian’s ear. “Come on, Gigi. Wake up, honey. It’s time to go.”

She stirred and sat up, her eyes bleary and still half-asleep.

“Where are we going?”

He didn’t answer, but instead turned his attention to the machines. Everything looked straightforward enough.

“We have to hurry, Gigi,” he said, turning back to his daughter. “I need to unhook the machines, okay?”

She looked concerned, the anxiety on her face mirroring his own, but she nodded. It only took him a minute to disconnect her: he just had to remove a few simple electrodes taped to her head, a monitor strapped to her wrist, and another strapped to her abdomen. She flinched each time his fingers touched her bare skin, her face twisting into a grimace of discomfort. The moment when she had reached out and voluntarily touched his hand now seemed long, long ago.

“All done,” he said when he was finished.

He cast around the room frantically until he located a pair of sandals in the corner. Picking them up, he brought them over to the side of the bed and set them on the floor.

“Put your shoes on. Quickly, now.”

Gillian did as she was told, and a few seconds later the two of them were out in the hallway. They didn’t get more than ten feet before Grayson felt a heavy hand come down on his shoulder, hard enough to make him wince.

He spun around, not at all surprised to see it was Hendel who had stopped him. Kahlee was standing just behind the big security chief, looking confused and uncertain.