Program 13 Book One (26 page)

“Drive,” she whispered, taking a deep breath. Her foot eased off the gas pedal, bringing us to a more sensible speed. “I can do this.” Nadine lowered her head and counted to three. “I can do this, guys. I promise I’ll get you to safety.”

“I know,”
Colton
replied, his voice a bit shaky.

Safety was an illusion, completely out of our reach.

We continued down the road until we came to a green hill with a maroon colored house sitting atop it. “It’s not much, I should warn you, but it’s tolerable.” Nadine parked the car and grabbed her belongings. There was a long trail leading up to the house. I was glad to see it was almost hidden between the trees and rocks.

She unlocked the doors and then came around the back to let us out. “I don’t think they’ll be able to find you here if that’s what you’re worried about,” Nadine said, taking in my expression.

But that wasn’t it. Something seemed off, but it wasn’t McVeigh.

I turned to look back at
Colton
, who was grabbing the backpacks from the backseat. When his eyes met mine, he nodded as if to acknowledge my concern. Nadine started walking towards the house, turning back only to signal for us to follow her.

I used her absence to pull
Colton
aside. “Something’s wrong. I just don’t know what.” He looked as though he was about to cry. “I think it’s her, Emile.”

Nadine? There was no way that it was her.

“Think about it. How would she have gotten this house under an alias without them knowing? And why would she have gotten a house in the middle of nowhere so soon after her son’s death? Of course they’re tracking her. They took her son!” And he was right. Why didn’t we put it together sooner? She was working for the enemy. Nadine was with McVeigh, not us.

“What’s in it for her, though? That part doesn’t make sense.”
Colton
shrugged.

“No, it makes perfect sense.”

I made my way up the trail without saying another word.
Colton
followed closely behind, suggesting we should make a break for it, but what were we going to do? Nadine had brought us to a secluded area. There was nothing else around here. There was no place left to run to.

“Come on, guys.” Nadine was waving her arms.

“
Colton
, stay by me. I’m not sure what we’re walking into.” He wrapped his hand tightly around mine. I needed to protect him no matter what, that was my main concern. I wasn’t sure what Nadine was capable of or how far under she was.

“We’re coming!” I smiled before lowering my head.

We walked slowly up the path and even slower towards the front door. Nadine was standing there, the door wide open, with her hands on her hips. “Geez, could you guys move any slower?” She reached for our backpacks as we headed inside.

“No, it’s okay I got it.” I tried to remain friendly; I didn’t need to alert her.
Colton
handed his over to me, acting as if Nadine wasn’t even there. She glanced at the two of us quickly before walking into the kitchen.

“She knows,” I whispered.

“But--”
Colton
was cut off as the phone rang. If this was supposed to be a safe location, one in which she was meant to start over, who would have the number?

“McVeigh,” I uttered through clenched teeth. I tried listening in as she spoke to the person on the receiver, but she was whispering. It was clear this was a conversation we were not supposed to hear.

“Yes, I’ll see you soon.” That was all I could make out before she hung up the phone.

Nadine saw us still standing in the entryway and insisted we make ourselves at home in the living room. “Oh, come on!” She was friendly still, but the woman I had known was long gone. As was everyone whom I once cared for.

“How long?” I was clenching my fists. “How long have you been speaking to McVeigh?”

Nadine stared at me in shock. At first she tried to deny it, but she was such a horrible liar, I was pretty sure she wasn’t listening to a thing she’d said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she stated. “I’ve only spoken to him once.”

When
Colton
grew tired of the lies, he used Tommy against her. If there was one thing she still gave a damn about, it’d have to be him. “So you mean to tell us that McVeigh hasn’t offered you a new life with Tommy if you turn us in?”

Tears were streaming down her face. “I can’t do this.”

32
TURNCOAT

S
he was starting to fall apart, the truth eventually finding its way out. I moved her over to the recliner in the living room.
Colton
took a seat on the arm-rest while I sat down on the coffee table.

“How long until he gets here?” I didn’t even bother to look at her. What point did it serve? All of the trust was gone. She had set us up, and there was no escaping now.

“I don’t know.” She choked back tears. Her head was between her hands. “He didn’t say.”

“Was this worth it, Nadine?”
Colton
was trying to keep his temper under control, but it clearly wasn’t working. “Do you really think he’s going to give you a new life with Tommy? The minute his men get here, you’re dead, and if you’re lucky, you’ll become a Program.”

“Yes, but I’ll get to be with Tommy!” She was smiling, completely oblivious to anything else
Colton
had just said.

“No, you won’t.” I hated McVeigh more than usual. He had given her hope when he knew he’d never fulfill his promise. He made a mother think she’d get her son back in order to find me. “When you’re a Program, your life will be gone. You won’t remember Tommy just as he won’t remember you. There isn’t a second chance, Nadine. He lied to you.”

“You can’t possibly know that.” She started to pace the room, her hand covering her mouth. “He promised me. McVeigh wouldn’t break his promise. I’m giving you back to him. I’m doing what he wants!”

What she was doing was ruining lives for nothing. Charles McVeigh was a manipulator. He’d take the one thing you cared about most and use it against you in order to get you to comply to his orders. Everything he promised was a lie.

“I know more than you think, Nadine, but if you wish to believe your fairy tales, so be it.”

I pulled out my backpack and grabbed the NetBook. His men would be here soon. I needed to know how many he’d be sending. When I loaded Vesta Corp’s system, I was shocked to see Tommy’s name attached to the list of men involved on mission 13. Thirteen.

The mission was me.

Tommy would be one of the men coming to get me. He would
probably kill
his own mother.

“
Colton
,” I called out. “I think you need to see this.” He walked up behind me and grabbed the NetBook so that he could get a better view. “He’s one of them.”

“Hey, Emile, did you see this tracker down here?”
Colton
was pointing at the lower portion of the screen. “We can track their locations. They’re not that far away, maybe five minutes.”

In five minutes, the one person I loved would be here to destroy me. He wouldn’t remember me. He wouldn’t even remember his own mother. To him, we were targets that needed to be exterminated. “We don’t have much time.”

I pulled the NetBook from
Colton
’s hands and closed it, shoving it back inside the backpack.

“Here.” He reached his hand out for my bag, his already in his other hand. “I’ll go find a place to store them for now. We’re going to need them once we get out of here.”

Nadine was standing by the door now, a smile forming at the corner of her lips. “He’s coming home.” She was convinced Tommy would come back to her, and in a sense, she was right. What she refused to believe was that he was coming back to murder her.

“Should we try and help her?”
Colton
asked.

I wanted to help her, but she didn’t want to be helped. “We have to let her decide for herself.”

But she had already made up her mind.

She had decided to die.

There was the sound of car doors slamming outside. They were here.
Tommy
was here.

“Are you going to be okay?”
Colton
looked worried. I nodded and pushed him with my elbow, trying to lighten the mood. As the footsteps got closer, he moved beside me and took my hand. “Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I looked over at him and saw that he was pulling two guns from his pockets - the guns that he’d swiped off the fallen attackers before we ran.

“I know you have those.” I gestured at the glocks. “But I think you should stay behind the couch. At least until I take care of the Programs. Bullets can’t hurt them, but I can.” He didn’t argue. He leaned in and kissed my cheek before taking cover.

If I was human, I’m sure I’d be broken by now. Maybe even dead. Having to constantly fight to live? How was
Colton
able to do it? How was he able to dig inside himself constantly and find the strength to give his all even if it meant there was a possibility
that
he could die?

There was a knock on the door. Nadine’s face lit up with excitement. “Tommy! You’re here!” She was crying. The second she opened the door, he put a bullet through her head. If only she would have listened.

“Tommy.” I tried to make eye contact with him, hoping that maybe McVeigh might have left some of his human memories installed. But he hadn’t.

“My name is Program Sixteen.” He lifted his gun and pulled back the trigger. The bullet was aimed at my chest. He thought I was human, that if the bullet pierced my chest it’d go through my heart and kill me. I lifted my hand and grabbed the bullet from the air, throwing it to the ground.

“Really?” I tried not to laugh, but I couldn’t help it. He just tried to kill me with a bullet.

Annoyed at my reaction, he leapt forward and tried to grab my back. We both fell to the ground, breaking the floorboards below us. Tommy had secured a hand around my throat, the other struggling to reach my lower back. There were footsteps coming from outside. The rest of the men were preparing to come in, and I had yet to defeat Tommy.

I closed my eyes and tried to pull every ounce of energy in my body to throw him off me. His grasp on my throat loosened. I pushed against him, flinging his body
to the other side of the room and
sending him crashing into the kitchen counter.
Colton
crawled over to the other side of the couch, hiding beside me. I prayed that Tommy wouldn’t see him.

I wanted to tell him to make a run for it, but it was far too late.

The others had come barging through the front door with their weapons drawn. They were all human. Tommy was the only Program. Of course. Why didn’t I consider that before? Tommy would be the hardest to kill, not only because of the emotional ties but because he was a Program. It’d be a battle of emotions and strength, and that was exactly what McVeigh wanted. We were still playing his game. He wanted me distracted so that the others could take down
Colton
and Nadine. I wasn’t going to let that happen. Nadine they could have, but there was no way they were going to get
Colton
.

Tommy was still struggling to get up; his hard drive had loosened and was hanging. His program was not functionally properly, something I could use to my advantage. I watched as the others locked their gazes on
Colton
.

“Think again,”  I walked up behind one of them and threw him into the wall.

“Why do you want to protect him so much? He’s useless!” The man was smiling, his gun pointed at my right temple.

“Have you not learned?” I lifted his hand, the glock still in his grasp. Placing it against his shoulder, I pulled the trigger. “Bullets don’t hurt me.”

The man was screaming in pain. He dropped the gun and moved his hand up to his shoulder, examining the blood that was flowing freely down his shirt. “What did you do to me?” Tears were streaming down his face. “What did I do to deserve this?”

“You came after me.” I looked at
Colton
and noticed the other two men were inching closer towards him. “I got this, Emile. Don’t worry about it. Go take care of Tommy.”

Listen to him
, I told myself. He was capable of fighting. He wanted to fight. When I heard the gun fire and saw one of the men fall to the ground, I knew he could do it.

“Okay,” I whispered, almost inaudible.

Tommy was crawling on the ground, trying to reach his weapon. He was going to try and shot
Colton
, and I just couldn’t let that happen. I walked over to where his gun was and kicked it behind me before kneeling down and lifting Tommy by the neck.

“Mister McVeigh wants you. I will destroy you,” he said, struggling to get free.

“Well, it looks like both you and McVeigh are going to lose this time.” I reached around his back and yanked the hard drive from its slot, causing his body to fall limp to the ground. He looked so innocent and happy. He almost looked like my Tommy – the Tommy I once loved.