Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
KNOX
Min-ji stands near a centrifuge, her slight frame rigid with tension. Miller hovers by a computer terminal, fingers tapping nervously against his thigh.
And Ramirez—Gabriel’s fucking right hand—leans against a lab table, arms crossed over his chest.
My hand drops to my sidearm. “What the fuck is this?”
“Calm down, Jones.” Ramirez doesn’t move, but his eyes track my hand. “Or should I call you Sullivan now?”
My blood freezes in my veins. He knows. How long has he known?
Min-ji steps forward. “He’s with us.”
“Bullshit.” I keep my hand on my weapon, gaze locked on Ramirez. “Gabriel’s lapdog suddenly grew a conscience?”
“Lapdog?” Ramirez’s mouth twists. “That’s rich coming from the man who’s been licking Gabriel’s boots for three months.”
“To save Paris. What’s your excuse?”
“Boys.” Min-ji’s voice cuts between us, sharper than I’ve ever heard it. “We don’t have time for this. The patrol changes soon.”
Miller nods, his eyes darting to the door. “She’s right. We need to move quickly.”
I don’t take my eyes off Ramirez. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t put a bullet in you right now.”
“Because you need me.” Ramirez straightens, hands open at his sides. “I’ve got the vehicle you’ll need, and the clearance to do whatever I want without anyone questioning. Kill me, and Paris dies here.”
“Knox.” Min-ji steps closer, her hand touching my arm. “Please. Listen to what we have to say.”
I remove my hand from my weapon but keep it ready. “Talk fast.”
She glances at Miller, who nods once. “Gabriel is escalating. The blood draws aren’t giving him what he wants.”
“Which is what, exactly?”
“The missing link.” She moves to a microscope, adjusting it with practiced hands. “Paris’ immunity is unique. It’s not just that the infected can’t detect her. Her cells actively bind the virus on contact.”
“We knew that already.”
“What you don’t know is that Gabriel’s patience is running out.” Min-ji’s fingers tremble slightly. “He’s ordered bone marrow extraction. Spinal fluid collection. Invasive procedures.”
My stomach turns to ice. “When?”
“Next week,” Miller speaks up, his voice low. “After the regular blood draw. He’s having the equipment brought in from a military hospital fifty miles south.”
“He’ll kill her.”
“Not intentionally.” Min-ji looks down at her hands. “But yes, the risk is significant. Especially given her state.”
“You mean how he’s been fucking starving her?” The rage I’ve been bottling up for months threatens to boil over. “While you stood by and did nothing?”
She flinches. “I’ve been doing what I can. Falsifying results. Manipulating data to buy time.”
“Not enough.”
“He’s growing suspicious,” she continues. “The inconsistencies in my reports, the lack of progress… he’s bringing in another researcher to verify my work.”
“Which means your usefulness just ran out,” Ramirez says. “Along with Paris’s protection.”
I turn to face him fully. “And you suddenly care because?”
“Does it matter?” He shrugs one shoulder. “Maybe I’m tired of watching little girls get cut open for a madman’s fantasy. Maybe I’ve got my own reasons.”
“Not good enough.”
Ramirez steps closer, his voice dropping.
“Listen. I can have an SUV stashed half a mile down the eastern slope, in the tree line. Full tank, emergency supplies. Enough to get you back to Iron Gate. I’ve marked a weak point in the fence, section E-7, where the drainage pipe runs underneath.
The patrols skip it every third rotation because of the mud. ”
I narrow my eyes.
His mouth curves in a humorless smile. “You think you’re the only one playing both sides?”
“We’d still need a distraction to get through the fence. Even at the weak point, we’d be exposed.”
“That’s where I come in,” Miller says. “I can trigger a containment breach in Lab 6. It would draw security to the west wing.”
Min-ji shakes her head. “Too risky. If they trace it back to you…”
“I’ve got a better idea.” The plan forms in my mind as I speak. “Explosives. I can build something simple but effective—enough noise and fire to pull resources away from the east perimeter.”
Ramirez’s eyebrows lift. “Demolitions specialist. Right.”
“I’ll need materials.”
“I can get them.” He nods. “Maintenance shed has everything you’d need. You build it and I set it off around 0700, when the morning patrol is changing shifts.”
Min-ji frowns. “The timing needs to be precise.”
“So the plan is: I escort Paris from her morning blood draw to the fence. Ramirez places a vehicle outside the perimeter and sets the explosives to create a distraction, then we cut through and escape to the SUV.”
It’s a solid plan. Too solid for something thrown together at midnight. My eyes narrow as I look between them. “What about you guys?”
“I’ll be joining then,” Miller says.
“Someone needs to stay,” Ramirez says. “Keeping things under control.”
I turn to Min-Ji. “And you?”
“I’m not going.” Her hand drifts to her stomach. “I need to stay and continue the research. There’s too much at stake.”
Sofia won’t be happy with me leaving her friend, but if she doesn’t want to go… Can’t force her.
“When?” I ask.
“Two days from now,” she says. “Tuesday morning blood draw. Paris will have recovered enough, and Gabriel will be occupied with the new researcher’s arrival.”
I nod once. “Ramirez. Same time, maintenance shed?”
“Meet you there,” Ramirez says.
Min-Ji crosses to a filing cabinet, unlocks a drawer, and removes something small. When she turns back, she’s holding a USB drive between her fingers. “Give this to Sofia.”
“What is it?” I ask.
“Everything I’ve documented on the virus. My research, Gabriel’s projects, the results of Paris’s tests.” Her fingers close around the drive. “It might help her.”
I take the drive, slipping it into an inner pocket of my tactical vest.
Two days. In two days, I’ll either have Paris safely away from this hellhole, or we’ll both be dead.
Either way, Gabriel’s hold on her ends.