The Lethal Agent (The Extraction Files Book 2) (8 page)

LRF-AQ

SEPTEMBER 5, 2232

Abby crossed her ankles at her desk and tried to ignore the painful stabbing of the bodice within her tight dress. As light as fresh cream, she knew Michael loved the color on her skin, loved the shape of her body so revealed. Beauty is pain, she reminded herself. And for Michael, she would endure almost anything.

Today, she turned her tablet so Michael couldn’t see. She would die if he found out the truth.

Feigning as much nonchalance as she could manage, Abby searched through her ecomms for the latest update from PC. She’d waited two days for the report. Dozens of ecomms had come in since then, but she couldn’t be bothered with those now. She needed to see for herself.

She tapped the vid file from the security feed at Ares Colony. The miner in green walked down the hall flanked by a dark-haired woman and a tall, blond man. She clicked the woman and instructed her tablet to run the facial-recognition software. From her round chin, pointed nose, and dark eyes, she was attractive enough. The software identified her easily.

CHARLENE MONTGOMERY, CRAFTSMAN, PRIMARY CHILD EDUCATION

ARES COLONY, AF-1

PERMANENT RELOCATION STATUS

Abby expected no less. All standard. Then she clicked on the man, the one she really wanted to see. His hair was shorter, his skin lighter, but as soon as the image appeared, she knew him.

ABRAHAM ARRENSTEIN, CRAFTSMAN, AGRICULTURE

ARES COLONY, AM-3

PERMANENT RELOCATION STATUS.

And there it was, as she suspected. It wasn’t in her mind. He wasn’t just a man she thought she recognized. It was really him.

Her eyes filled with tears. He was alive. Alex was alive.

And Silas had put him on the Martian colony, under his own name, no less. It was smart. It made sense. She only wished she’d known. Abby had long grieved a friend who was still alive, at least for now.

As Michael’s assistant, Abby had access to more information than most. She would be the first to learn of any termination attempt. Michael was good enough to resist, but without long-term justification, he couldn’t keep them from terminating the colony at some point.

Abby wiped her eyes as discreetly as possible, resigned to keep an eye on Alex and do whatever she could to let him have his quiet life on Mars.

CPI-PQ1-RL, NEW YORK

SEPTEMBER 5, 2232

Mable knocked on the ancient wooden door and waited, pleasantly surprised by Theo’s lack of protest. She didn’t feel like explaining.

“Come in, sweet child.”

Mable pushed into the room with Theo on her heels. “Good morning, Ramona.”

“Good morning, Maggie. And who’s this you’ve brought with you?” Ramona sat in her high-backed green chair with her striped afghan pulled over her lap. Her hair was braided down one shoulder, though wisps of grey escaped like smoke.

Mable motioned to Theo and felt stupid for it. “This is my handler, Theo. We think we found something.”

Ramona turned her hands in her lap and smiled, her useless eyes searching them out in dark. “Well, let’s hear it child.”

“Theo collected the masses of the bugs for metal analysis. They have a high percentage of iron.” Mable sat on the floor at Ramona’s feet and crossed her legs under her. Theo sat to her right, though a little farther back.

“Iron, you say?” Ramona sat back in her chair.

“Yeah, and when we got the masses, they were almost entirely the same. What was the percent?” she looked back and asked Theo.

“Uh, 0.008 percent.”

“So what are you thinking Maggie?”

Mable realized she didn’t have a good reason for visiting Ramona, especially not so early in the day. “I don’t know. It just seems odd.”

“Tell me why,” Ramona pressed her.

“Well, they’re animals, right? Don’t they come in various sizes? Humans have vast differences in their masses. Why are the bugs all the same?”

“Are all the bugs identical in mass?”

“No, just for each species. The Slight is the lightest, and the Echo the heaviest. But if you compare each Slight, they’re all the same. I tested the Echoes and Yields this morning, and they were close. I didn’t run the calculations yet, but I can already tell they’re close.”

“So what do these identical masses tell you about the bugs?” Ramona leaned forward and attempted to stare at her despite her blindness.

“I don’t know.” Mable felt it. The answer was close, a lingering aftertaste of something she couldn’t quite remember. The harder she grasped for it, the further it slipped away.

“Yes you do. Tell me, Maggie. What does their identical mass indicate?”

“That they’re identical?” It sounded lame as soon as she said it.

“Yes child,” Ramona said with a sly smile as she leaned back in her chair. She closed her eyes and would have looked to be asleep if not for the smile.

“You mean—” Mable said before her thoughts could catch up. “Come on, let’s go tell Arrenstein.” She leapt from the floor, thanked Ramona, and rushed out.

A full minute later, they bolted into Arrenstein’s office. He sat at his desk with a file displayed in holograph. “You’re just in time,” he said, as if he’d been expecting them.

“We figured something out. About the bugs.”

“It’ll have to wait.” His voice was cold.

“But this is big—”

“You’ve got another assignment. Level One.”

Mable froze at the words. She shouldn’t have been surprised. She knew jobs could come up at any time, that they would continue to come up until she’d figured out how to stop them.

Still, she was shocked. “Where?”

“Berlin, a pharmaceutical researcher.” Arrenstein was all fake smile and charm, sauntering around his desk as he spoke.

“Let me guess, Dr. Ludwig?”

Arrenstein looked at her then. “How did you know that?”

“Lucky guess. When do we leave?”

“As soon as you’re ready. You know, I could make a case for you to stay here. You’ve just suffered considerable injury and an extraction. Jane and Georgie have yet to go into the field. I could—”

“No, we’ll head out within the hour. But when we get back, I want to set up a meeting so me and Theo can tell you about what we found.” His jaw set tight. He looked almost disappointed in her.

“Maggie, you don’t have to—”

“Yes, I do.” She walked over to him and stood inches from his chest, though she was too short to look him straight in the eye. “I’ll follow the rules, I’ll do whatever you want, I’ll make you look so damn good. So the next time I ask you to do the right thing, you won’t go belly up on me.”

And with that, she marched out of Arrenstein’s office and headed to her room with Theo tight on her heels.

LRF-PQ-291

SEPTEMBER 5, 2232

The idea of being alone again sat on her chest and emptied the air from her lungs. She knew it was the right thing—she knew they had been in the wrong all along.

That didn’t make it any easier.

Aida couldn’t decide what was going on with Sal. Why was he so—what? Not attentive, really, but less absent. He noticed when she didn’t eat or when she changed her outfit. In five years, he’d never shown such interest. Was he somehow aware, even innately, of her interaction with Calvin?

Aida returned to her apartment and stripped off the decorative top she wore over her body suit. She put it on a hanger and closed the closet door, trapping a piece of herself inside.

Where at first guilt had filled her, now there was something else. She was less afraid of her class rules, less concerned with the type of woman she would be made out to be. Now, her thoughts were with Calvin, even when she couldn’t be with him.

Now that she’d sent Calvin away, would Sal retreat as well?

Had she lost them both? Did she care about them both?

It was for the best, she reminded herself.

No one had forced her to be with Sal. The committee had made their recommendations based on genetic compatibility, career aspirations, and background. Aida, in the upper echelon of Scholars, had had a narrow window from which to choose. The Gallaghers of New York. The Birminghams of Tulsa. The Perkinses of San Diego. There were only so many others who could match her profile, and of them, even less with careers that would send them off-world.

At the end, there had been four options, and she’d chosen Sal. He was the kindest of them, the least robotic. She hadn’t realized, even then, that that was important to her.

Now, in light of Calvin’s consuming warmth, even Sal fell short. The entire apartment felt cold.

“You’re home early today,” he said from his desk.

Aida sank into her own chair and pulled up the news feed, pretending to read it.

Two full hours passed in silence. She couldn’t concentrate on the news but refused to go back to Calvin so quickly. She’d give it a few days at least, to make sure nothing was wrong, that Sal was still unaware of her infidelity. Then, not a moment later than she had to, Aida would go back to Calvin. Aida had to laugh at herself. A successful Scholar woman, so easily derailed by the bright-green eyes of her junior researcher.

She couldn’t pretend for even a single evening.

Or at least she thought.

Without pretense, Sal spoke as if to no one. “Dr. Ramos was promoted this morning,” he said like she knew who that was. “I’ll be the new Lead for PC.”

Aida realized the significance. They were both leads in their departments. Among Scholars in LRF, their combined salaries were some of the highest. If they ever made their way back to Earth, they would be very rich.

But Aida didn’t want to go back to Earth. Not anymore.

“I think it’s time we apply for a Child Permit.” Sal spoke about it like it was little more than a new provision flavor. It wasn’t what he wanted, but rather it was what he thought appropriate of someone in his position. It was his duty.

Aida struggled to breathe. Tears stung at her eyes. The unfairness of it.

She would have to choose between the child she wanted, and the man who awakened her. A baby or a lover.

She couldn’t have both.

Aida wanted to smack him. So rarely in her life had she been violent, but now, the desire came so easily. If only he’d agreed to a child weeks before when she’d asked—when she’d been ready. When she didn’t know what she would be missing.

“I think that’s wise,” she said instead, her voice even. There was no other choice. If she hesitated, Sal would ask why. If she told him the truth, she would be exiled.

So instead, she agreed.

“I’ll submit the necessary files in the morning.”

A Child Permit Application. It was a dream come true.