The Girl Who Wasn't (25 page)

I try again with my nails and find an
orifice that I pray is an eye socket. I can’t see well enough to
know for sure, but when I dig in and rake downward, I am rewarded
with a sharp cry and a significant decrease in the pressure around
my windpipe.

It is not a long-enough reprieve. The
pressure returns as he redoubles his efforts. I try to cough but it
is cut short and comes out as a strangled gasp. My vision swims. I
am pulled under what feels like a churning ocean. I can’t get my
legs under me. I can’t break the surface.

God, dying is painful.

When the noose of pressure around my
throat suddenly disappears, I am so grateful and desperate to
breathe, it takes me a moment before I wonder how it happened. I
suck in gulps of air that burn as they slide into and out of my
lungs. But I will take the burning over the drowning any
day.

There is a scuffle to my left. A fist
lands in Daniel’s gut. His shoes—polished and shiny—arc upward as
he’s driven off his feet. I scurry out of the way and stare at the
sight of Daniel grappling for the upper hand while Linc pounds on
him from above.

Linc.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. He
always seems to be here when I need him most. But I am so
overwhelmed by the sight of him, tears well and spill over and it’s
all I can do to blink through the blurriness and twist out of the
way each time they come closer to making me collateral
damage.

Daniel is pissed—as evidenced by the
wild grunts and wholehearted way he has thrown himself into the
fight. Linc is grim and silent in his determination. Daniel’s nose
is bleeding and Linc’s pants have a hole in the thigh where the
pocket seam has ripped loose. The door bangs open. I jump as it
hits the wall.

“
What the hell is going on
here?” Gus demands.

The boys break apart. Gus looks back
and forth between them in disbelief. When he spots me, his gaze
zeroes in and I can only imagine what he is thinking. “You,” he
says, pointing a finger at me, “come with me.”

“
Gus—” Linc
begins.

“
Shut it! We will talk about
this later,” Gus snaps. “Wait for me in my office.”

Linc rises to his feet, shoulders stiff
and hands fisted as he walks to the doorway and slips past
Gus.

I get up slowly, very aware of my
proximity to Daniel and how much he would like to strangle me. I
keep my hair in my face as I near and don’t see his hand shooting
out until it is too late. It strikes me in the side of the head and
sends me sprawling.

From behind Gus, Linc roars and rushes
for the doorway.

“
Stop him!” Daniel
shouts.

Gus backs up so he is blocking the door
and plants his feet. Linc barrels into him and for a moment I think
the force of it will knock Gus away but he sways and then rights
himself and pushes against Linc, holding him outside the door,
though barely.

“
Get out of my way!” Linc is
growling and roaring and cursing at Daniel. At Gus. At anyone who
will listen.

“
I trust you will remember
who signs your paychecks here, Gus,” Daniel says over the
noise.

Gus doesn’t answer but I suspect it’s
only because all his energy is diverted to holding Linc at
bay.

“
Gus, you don’t have to
listen to him. This isn’t an order from Titus. He’s acting on his
own,” I say.

“
Shut up,” Daniel tells
me.

“
Gus, I know you’re like me
and he’s using you. He—”

“
I said shut up!” Daniel
screams. He is standing over me now but he is looking at Gus.
“She’s obviously been hit on the head one too many
times.”

“
Sir,” Gus says uncertainly.
He is barely holding Linc out anymore.

“
Keep him out. That’s an
order!” Daniel turns from me to scream at Gus and I know it is the
only chance I will get. In a flash I am up on my knees, wrenching
my arm back and smashing my fist into his groin. It is the only
thing I can think to do and I wonder if it will even be enough. I
am rewarded for my efforts when he doubles over and stumbles,
groaning, bent at the waist.

I scramble to my feet and run for the
door. I see Gus, whose jaw has gone slack as he watches it all play
out. Behind him, even Linc has stilled. I am only inches from
slipping around them to safety when Daniel lets out a roar and I am
yanked backward as his fist closes around my hair.

I cry out and lurch sideways, pulling
up short.

Daniel is raving mad. He yells
something unintelligible and then his fist slams into my nose and I
see stars and blackness. I land hard on my back. Pain shoots up my
spine but I can’t cry. It feels as if all the oxygen has been
stolen from me.

I gasp until a wretched choking sound
escapes my lips and air is forced into my windpipe. My vision
clears in time to see Gus tackle Daniel—Linc close at his
heels.

They are a tangle of arms and legs and
even teeth as they grapple with each other, grabbing and clawing
and pushing and pulling.

There is a soft clicking sound amidst
the groans and grunts and then someone cries out sharply. The pile
of limbs goes slack as we all crane to see who is injured. I see
the glint of metal—a knife—as the three of them separate and crawl
away from each other.

Linc positions himself in front of me,
blocking my view of the other two. I strain to see around his
heaving shoulders as he catches his breath.

“
Linc, move,” I
say.

“
I … can’t.”

At once, my irritation becomes concern.
“Are you hurt?”

“
No.” He shakes his head,
quick to assure me. “But I don’t want you to see …”

“
Linc, move,” I
repeat.

His shoulders droop as he seems to
accept I’m not going to let him shield me. He shifts sideways, and
I can just see the side of Daniel’s face as he stares at Gus. I
scoot around Linc and stop.

At first, I don’t understand why no one
moves. Or why we’re all staring at Gus. His shoulders heave as if
he is winded. His face is set in its usual scowl. Other than that
…

But then I see.

Just below his left shoulder, a crimson
stain slowly seeps and spreads across the light blue fabric of his
shirt. Through the small tear in the center of the stain, I see a
hole in his skin.

Then, as if it all catches up at once,
Gus groans and slumps sideways, and Daniel and Linc are both on
their feet. Daniel positioned toward the open doorway, Linc
crouched and ready to spring at him should he make a run for
it.

“
Don’t even think about it,”
Linc warns. “You won’t get three steps.”

“
You forget who is the
employer and who is the employee,” Daniel says.

“
You think that excuses
murder?”

“
You think it
doesn’t?”

They face off in a silent exchange I
cannot decipher. Then Linc opens his mouth and yells at the top of
his lungs, “Code Red!”

Daniel leaps for the door. Instantly,
two security men appear, blocking his path. Somewhere in the house
an alarm sounds. Linc jumps on Daniel’s back, tackling him from
behind and they both go down. The other two security guards help
and within seconds they have subdued Daniel and relieved him of the
long, slim knife stained with Gus’s blood.

Gus groans softly and I go to him. His
hand twitches at his side and I catch sight of black ink peeking
out from underneath his shirt sleeve. I know the symbol immediately
and it makes sense. This is why I didn’t recognize Gus as someone
like me. His identifying mark is in a different place. I scoot
closer.

Gus’s eyes are wide and glassy and some
of his usual scowl is gone but only because the muscles in his face
seem to have gone slack. I crawl up beside him and try to decide
what to do with my hands. I’m not sure if I should touch him or if
I do, where. I don’t want to hurt him but I’m not entirely sure I
should comfort him, either. Aside from this attempt to save me, he
has never done a single nice thing for me. He is not a nice
man.

But he is an Imitation. He is like
me.

“
Gus?” I say.

“
Ven.”

It gives me a weird feeling in my gut
to hear him speak my name. My Real Name.

“
I’m here,” I
manage.

He squeezes his eyes shut. Opens them
slowly again. “He was the one … trying to hurt you?”

“
Yes.”

“
He won’t
anymore.”

“
No.”

He nods once and then he is
still.

Beyond this room, down the hall,
somewhere in the house, the alarm continues to blare. It echoes
around me and mixes with the sound of baritone voices as orders are
given and Daniel is carted off.

Titus appears. “Raven?” he asks as he
crouches next to me and looks down at his head of security who is
no longer breathing.

“
I thought you were writing
a speech.”

“
The alarm went
off.”

Neither of us speaks, and it is the
most comfortable one minute I’ve ever shared with him.

“
He was an Imitation,” I say
finally because it no longer matters whether I know.

“
Yes.”

“
This entire
time?”

“
Since the night of your
attack in the alley. One of the redhead’s men got him. I replaced
him.”

“
I see.” I understand now
why Gus never spoke up about recognizing Melanie. And I realize
this particular Gus is not the one who stood by and watched while
Titus struck me. A tear escapes. “He was trying to save me
tonight.”

“
So I’m told.”

“
Daniel’s behind all of
it.”

“
What do you mean?” he asks.
For the first time, his voice holds a note of surprise.

I tell him about the party and
overhearing Daniel and Melanie as they spoke of kidnapping me. And
using Gus to do it.

“
What do you mean he
replaced Gus on purpose?” Titus asks me sharply.

“
He was trying to control
Linc. He said Linc was the reason they’d failed to get to me all
those other times. That he was too good at protecting
me.”

Titus lets out a growl. “You should’ve
told me this days ago,” he snaps.

“
You’d never have believed
me without proof.”

Titus frowns and then looks at
something behind me. “Crawford, come here.”

He gets to his feet and I know the
right thing would be for me to do the same, but I can’t make myself
leave Gus. I can’t make myself stand next to his body, ignoring it
as if it isn’t here, lifeless and finished. Terminated.

In Twig City, they don’t allow us to
use the term “dead.” They say it’s because we’re not real enough to
be considered alive in the first place. We’re only created and
terminated.

I hear Titus asking Linc what happened.
Linc relays the same story as my own with fewer details since he
arrived after most of the conversation had ended. Titus frowns and
nods but doesn’t interrupt.

“
Sir?” one of the security
guards says from the doorway. Both Titus and Linc look up and I
realize then the guard has no idea which one he should be
addressing. He looks back and forth between them. “What do you want
us to do with the prisoner?”

Linc looks to Titus.

“
Restrain him and put him
downstairs. I’ll be along shortly,” Titus tells him.

“
Downstairs? You want him in
Doc J’s office?”

“
The floor beneath the
medical wing, soldier,” Titus says, his impatience
evident.

The man’s face reddens. “Yes, sir,” he
mumbles and ducks out.

“
Crawford, go with them and
make sure they don’t screw it up,” Titus says to Linc. “And bring
the doc back when you come. Tell her to bring her bag. I want a
full exam and report on Gus before they move him
anywhere.”

“
Yes, sir.” Linc looks down
at me. “And her?”

“
She’ll need to be checked
also,” Titus says.

Linc doesn’t reply and I understand
what he means. He’s asking whether I’ll be safe if he leaves this
room.

“
I’m fine,” I say
softly.

Only then does he move for the
door.

When he’s gone, I look back at Gus and
am sorry I did. The stain on his shirt has spread. It is seeping
into the rug underneath him, leaving a bright ring that peeks out
from underneath his torso. His face has gone slack and too white to
be real. Or alive. Or created. Or whatever.

“
Raven,” Titus says, calling
me back.

I turn away, glad for something else to
focus on. Even if it is my enemy. Tonight, Daniel has given us
common ground.

“
Come sit.” He offers a
hand. I don’t move. “You’re contaminating the scene. I need you to
come away.”

I look down and realize what he means.
The blood from my nose has begun to drip onto Gus. This horrifies
me. Partly because I am dripping blood on a dead man. And partly
because I didn’t notice until now that I was bleeding. It doesn’t
even hurt.