Chapter five
Jen
The air at the south fence of Site Camille is cold. Harek is beside me. The twins are on my other side. Daron has the rifle up. Dean has the radio.
"South door. Two guards," Dean says. "Voices inside. They're listening to something on the perimeter."
The perimeter is Thaw and Crull. Whatever they're doing at the north end of the compound has every ear turned away from us.
"Now."
We move.
Across the lawn. Quiet. The twins flanking. Harek half a step behind me, his hand at my back. Daron eases the south door open.
The two guards inside are looking the wrong way. Dean reaches the first before his hand finds the radio. Daron takes the second a heartbeat later. The bodies settle onto the concrete without a sound.
"Go."
The corridor runs twenty feet before turning left.
Fluorescent lights buzz overhead. The walls are painted the same pale institutional grayish white as Theresa. The same color as the holding cells.
I won’t ever forget that color.
The radio crackles.
"North perimeter held."
Thaw.
We round the corner into the medical corridor. Bright fluorescent lights. Closed doors running down both sides. The pull under my sternum tightens, drawing me farther down the hall.
A door opens. A woman steps out carrying a clipboard. She isn't a guard.
A white lab coat over jeans and a dark sweater. Hair clipped back. Reading glasses pushed onto the top of her head. She closes the door behind her and looks directly at me.
She doesn't run. Daron raises his rifle. Dean steps forward. She never looks at either of them.
She looks only at me.
"Subject Forty-Seven."
"My name is Jen."
"I know."
"Then use it."
"No."
"Who are you?"
"Dr. Evelyn Vance."
"The architect of Camille."
"One of them."
Silence. She studies me. Not my horns. Not the slate.
My face. Like she's comparing me to something.
"You’re different."
My skin goes cold.
"You've never seen me."
"The reports underestimate you."
I don’t look away. "You knew we were coming."
"I thought it was a possibility." Her eyes stay on mine. "You kidnapped operatives at the campground. You destroyed Site Theresa. Every operation involving you teaches us something."
Dean's radio crackles.
"Skylight breached. Fen is in."