The Island (18 page)

Malgam kept his eyes closed, looking for more. Nandy was silent, waiting. He saw his son’s hand, and then Pathik must have looked up, because everything swirled for a moment. Then, the shapes coalesced again, forming into what Pathik was looking at—a wall. A wall of glass. Then, it was all gone.

Malgam shook his head. “I didn’t get much. But he’s alive. In some . . . glass room of some sort.”

“I knew it. He got on the boat.” Nandy scowled. “He wouldn’t have let them take her without following.”

Malgam nodded. “He loves her.” He looked up at Nandy. “I’d follow you, too.”

Nandy looked down at him, smiling. She kissed his lips softly, trying to take some of his anguish away. “We’ll get them both back.”

They left hand in hand, to tell the others what Malgam had seen.

Daniel and Vivian were talking with Jim. He’d returned alone, bruised and bloodied. When Daniel, who’d been waiting at the cave’s entrance, saw his lone figure approaching, he’d fallen to his knees. Jim had expected him to strike out, to blame him for losing Rachel, but Daniel had only looked up, waiting for Jim to tell him what had happened.

Vivian had not been so forgiving. She’d flung herself at Jim, pounding at him, until Daniel wrapped his arms around her and held her tight while she gained control.

“It’s nobody’s fault,” he’d whispered to her, over and over.

“I don’t know what happened after he pointed the stunner. When I woke they were gone.” Jim looked as anguished as Vivian did.

They tried to come up with a plan. But even with Malgam’s assurance that Pathik still lived, the atmosphere in the office was grim.

It was Vivian who turned the tide. She’d been watching Daniel grow more and more subdued, watching as he seemed to lose hope before her eyes. She thought about all the years she’d believed he was dead, about how blessed she was now, to have him back, alive and well. She thought about Rachel, so brave, so eager to make a difference.

“If Pathik’s alive, I bet Rachel is, too.” She said the words softly, but Daniel heard. He turned to look at her.

“And she’s doing what she believes must be done.” Vivian squeezed her husband’s hand, and stood. “So, first things first.”

“What do you mean, first things first?” Daniel sounded tired.

“We have to be ready for what comes.” Vivian, ever practical, began to organize. “Who’s making meals?” She looked around the room. Everyone will need their strength. “You.” Vivian pointed at Tom. You take Hannah and go get some food.”

Tom just stared, but Annie, who was listening, jumped up. “Exactly!” She took Hannah’s hand. “Come on dear. I know you’ve forgotten a lot, but I bet you can still make a sandwich.”

Hannah nodded, though she looked slightly amazed. “I can make soup, too.”

Annie grinned. “Then, off we go!”

Vivian watched them leave and then looked at Sarah. “Who’s making sure that Filina stays drugged?”

Sarah nodded. “Every hour on the hour is the dose. I’ll see to it.”

“And Malgam.” Vivian took a deep breath. “I know it’s tiring, but how often can you check in on Pathik? I think we should have a schedule, so we can tell if anything is happening.”

Malgam eyed her. “I always knew you were bossy.” He looked at Nandy. “Will you keep watch over me?” When he was using his gift he was vulnerable, and Malgam trusted few. There were too many strangers in the office for his taste.

“You know I will.” Nandy put her arm around him. “With my life.”

Malgam nodded. “Keep an eye on that one especially,” he joked, pointing at Vivian.

“I can go get the girl. “ Jim stood and looked around. “Lethe, I mean. She’s locked in that unit alone.”

“Bring her here, where we can feed her. It’s better if we keep her close until everyone understands what she’s done isn’t her fault.” Vivian lowered her voice so Doug wouldn’t hear. “Don’t get anyone’s hopes up about her, yet.”

Jim had shared his theory about Lethe, that she might be able to reverse the memory loss she caused. “I won’t.”

“What can I do?” Daniel stared up at his wife, marveling at her. He looked less burdened already.

“You can go and get some blankets. I think we’ll make this our command station, for the duration. We’ll need places to curl up for some sleep.” Vivian smiled at Daniel.

She kept smiling, too, until he’d left the office and she had a chance to duck into the little room where Hannah had been kept. Only then did she let her tears fall.

It felt like they would never stop.

T
he footsteps came closer, until Rachel could see that they belonged to a man. He was holding a digitab, reading the screen as he walked, its glow lighting his face so that his cheekbones jutted out like a skull’s. He didn’t look up until he was standing directly in front of Rachel.

“I see you’re awake.” When he finally did look at her, Rachel knew she was right to be afraid. His eyes were like a spider’s eyes: soulless, cold, investigative.

“I need to get my coat back.” Rachel was pleased at how firm her voice sounded.

“Yes.” The man swiped his finger across the digitab’s screen, reading some notation. “They said you kept saying that.” He was completely uninterested in her request.

“I need to show you something that’s in it—in the pocket.” Rachel waited. The man said nothing. He swiped his screen a few more times, then tilted his head toward his shoulder and spoke into the comm unit clipped there. “I’ll need lab room three, I think.”

“Did you hear me?” Rachel truly wasn’t certain whether he had heard her or not.

The man raised his eyes to her again. “I heard you.” He looked displeased. “You’ll come with me now.” He walked toward the door in her cell and touched something on his side of the wall. The door clicked. The man pointed at the door. “Push it open and come with me.”

Rachel didn’t know what else to do. She went to the door and pushed it. It was heavy. When she’d swung it open enough, she slipped through and into the hallway. She saw that Melissa hadn’t turned from the wall in her cell.

“Follow me.” The man turned and began to walk away without looking back.

Rachel followed slowly. Melissa had been telling the truth; there were cells all along the hallway. Rachel looked into each one as she passed them. One held another girl, this one sitting up on her cot, staring as Rachel walked by. The next two were empty. Another held a man, who stood as close to the glass of his cell as he could. He watched Rachel walk by, a confused expression on his face.

Rachel slowed her pace even more. She wondered if the man was Keith. “Do you know Sarah?” She tried to whisper, but the man ahead of her heard. He simply smiled though, a smile without any warmth, and waited by the door at the end of the hallway.

“I know Sarah!” Melissa spoke loudly from her cell. “That’s Keith you see, her father. Are you seeing him? A man with gray hair and a beard?”

“I see him.” Rachel stole a glance at the man waiting at the end of the hall. He seemed bored, but resigned. He was reading his digitab while he waited.

“He doesn’t remember Sarah.” Melissa sounded sad. “He doesn’t remember any of us.”

The man with the beard searched Rachel’s eyes from his side of the glass wall. He looked like he was a nice man, a kind man. “She’s okay,” Rachel whispered. “Don’t worry, Sarah’s okay.” She knew he wouldn’t understand what she meant, but she felt better saying it even so.

The man at the end of the hall cleared his throat. Rachel moved forward. She saw two more people, a women and a man, and then she saw Pathik. He was standing next to his glass wall, dressed in the same sort of jumpsuit they all had.

“I heard you coming.” He couldn’t stop smiling. His forehead was bruised and the cut he’d gotten on the boat had been bleeding again, but he looked so beautiful to Rachel.

“You idiot.” She slapped the glass where his face was, making him flinch.

“What kind of hello is that?” He raised his eyebrows. “I kind of expected something nicer.”

“You followed us, me and Jim.” Rachel put her hand up against the glass.

Pathik put his hand up too, and matched hers finger for finger on the glass. “Obviously it’s a good thing I did.”

“I can’t find my coat.”

Pathik frowned. “That doesn’t seem like our biggest problem right now.”

“It has the map in the pocket.”

“Oh.”

Rachel just nodded.

“Yes. Total recognition.”

Pathik and Rachel both heard the man’s voice at the same time. Rachel peered down the hall. “He’s talking into his shoulder thing.”

“Confirmed.” The man sighed. “I’ll bring them both.” He started walking back toward Rachel. When he reached the door to Pathik’s cell he touched the place in the wall that unlocked it. “You,” he said to Pathik. “Come along. They want to see the two of you together.” He slipped one hand into his pocket and withdrew a stunner. “Don’t try anything.”

“I saw Rachel!” Malgam shouted, startling Nandy, who’d been sitting quietly by his side while he sought Pathik’s vision once more. Malgam jumped up and slapped Daniel on the back. He saw Vivian’s face and gave her a long hug. “She’s fine,” he whispered. “She looked good.”

Vivian was overcome. “Oh.” She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “Oh, thank you, Malgam.”

“Then there’s hope.” Daniel smiled. “There’s still some hope.”

Malgam nodded. He knew how helpless Daniel felt; he felt the same way. He trusted his son, though. If there was a way, Pathik would get Rachel out. Malgam knew what his son’s love meant. He was the same as his grandfather, Indigo, about love. Malgam realized something, then. Something about what Indigo had been trying to tell him for so many years about love. What Nandy had been trying to show him about it. He ducked his head for a moment, so that no one could see his tears.

Pathik and Rachel held hands as they walked, the man with the stunner following closely. When they reached the end of the hallway, he motioned them away from the door.

“I’ll just get that.” He punched a code into the keypad next to the door. When it clicked, he held it open and gestured for them to go through. “Well? Move along.”

There was another hallway.

“Third door on the right.” The man sounded hurried, now.

The third door on the right opened into a large room. There were three chairs around a small round table. In one of the chairs sat another man, this one older than the first. He looked up from his digitab when they entered, and smiled. “Ah. Finally.” The man inspected them without getting up. “Have a seat, please.” He nodded toward the chairs facing him. “You may leave us now, Jeffrey.”

The other man hesitated. “Do you need Security to come?”

The older man sighed. “I said you may leave us. Now.”

Jeffrey scuttled out of the room.

Rachel sat down, but Pathik looked around. There was a metal table on one side of the room, with indented channels running down both sides. Pathik looked down at the floor. There was a drain set into it, just at the end of the table.

“I said to sit down,” the man snapped.

Pathik looked up. “I heard you.” He ambled to the empty chair, settling himself in it at a leisurely pace. Rachel stared at him. He just shrugged.

“Now then. I’m told the two of you retain your memories.” The man narrowed his eyes. “Is that true?”

Neither Rachel nor Pathik answered.

The man stared at them. His eyes were just as soulless as Jeffrey’s.

“I need to get my coat back. I have—”

“Yes, yes, you keep
saying
that.” The man leaned toward Rachel. “But we simply don’t care about your coat.”

Pathik took Rachel’s hand again. He leaned forward as well, staring at the man. “I think you’re going to care.”

They appraised each other for several seconds. Finally, the man spoke.

“Why would I care?”

Rachel squeezed Pathik’s hand. “You’re going to care if you have any concern about the Unified States’ Border Defense System.” She tried not to look toward the metal table. The counter next to it had several cloths laid out on it, with odd-looking shapes underneath them. She’d watched enough streamer shows to know what those shapes were. Scalpels. Drills. Hemostats. She was glad that Pathik had never seen those shows.
You can’t be brave without being afraid. You can’t be brave without being afraid.
She chanted the words to herself silently.

The man leaned back in his chair. “This is a research facility. What makes you think I have any concern at all with the BDS?”

“Maybe because of the kind of research you seem to be doing here.” Pathik touched the cut on his forehead, wincing. “I think you’re going to want to get her coat.”

“There’s something in one of the pockets,” Rachel said, as brightly as she could. She smiled at the man.

“What sort of something might that be?” The man didn’t seem happy. Rachel imagined that he was picturing all his happy cutting time slipping away.

“It’s a map. Of the entire U. S. Border Defense System. With all of the weaknesses highlighted. We’ve already sent it along to Unifolle. Of course, they probably won’t take advantage of it right away, since the U.S. has an awful lot of treaties with them, don’t you? Korusal will be next.” Rachel hoped she sounded convincing.

She must have. The man stood up and spoke into an intercom on the wall. “Was there a coat on the transport? Belonging to one of the subjects?”

Jeffrey’s voice came back over the speaker. “I took the liberty of checking, Sir, since it kept coming up.” He sounded very proud.

“And?” The man in the room did not sound like Jeffrey was going to get a gold star for his efforts.

“There is a jacket here. The transport crew delivered it just minutes ago.”

“Bring it.” The man clicked the intercom off and sat back down at the table. He Stared at Rachel, then at Pathik. He said nothing. The three of them waited.

Within moments, there was knock at the door.

“Yes.” The man at the table didn’t look away from them when he spoke. The door opened a crack. Rachel couldn’t see who was there.

“Oh, come in, Jeffrey. All the way in, if you please.” The man at the table sounded disgusted. The door opened the rest of the way, and Jeffrey stumbled in holding Rachel’s coat out like some sort of offering.