Chapter 42
FORTY-TWO
“Hello?” Steph gripped the radio tight. They’d said radio silence, but that was ages ago. Whatever they were doing it should be finished by now. And if they’d been captured? Yeah, that wouldn’t be good.
She would end up starving to death in this room.
“Anyone there?”
The radio handset crackled. “Steph?”
“Adam?” Relief washed over her. “What’s going on?”
“Kyle and I are working our way upstairs. We’re coming to you. Sit tight, and we’ll get you out of there in no time.”
Someone banged on the wall over where she suspected Adam had disappeared. He’d been to her left, close to that wall, when he was suddenly gone. The radio had been left on the desk—something she was willing to say thank You for. Especially if it meant she got out of here.
Steph raced over and banged in response.
A scant few seconds later, the wall six feet to her left exploded in.
Steph ducked down, reflexively crouching by a desk.
The cloud of dust and drywall filled the air, but she didn’t care.
She jumped up and dashed over there, stepping to the opening the explosive had created in the wall—which was apparently not reinforced like the blast door—and ran straight into… “You.”
She pulled up short, facing Vesper.
“Quick, before the blast door comes down on this side.” Her sister grabbed her wrist, squeezing so hard it felt like her bones ground against each other, then dragged her out.
Steph managed to get a look at the metal edge of the blast door above her before it fell behind her and closed the room in once again. “What if you’d hit me with that blast?”
“Why do you think I made sure you weren’t close to it?”
“And if that door trapped me inside again?”
Vesper shrugged, letting go of Steph’s wrist. “I’d have blown one of the other walls.”
Steph shoved her sister back against the empty noticeboard on the wall behind her, shoving her forearm against Vesper’s throat. “You did this.”
Her sister bit off the words, “Gonna have to be more specific than that.”
“You called me and told me to come here, and this happens? Why are you even here?”
“What this are you referring to?”
“All of it!”
“I’m not to blame for your problems,” Vesper said. “It’s your life.”
“Then why are you here?”
Something Steph didn’t understand flashed in her sister’s eyes. But before she could question her further, commotion to her right drew her attention.
“Steph!” Adam raced toward her, Kyle right behind him.
“Where’s Ash?” Steph didn’t see the other operative.
Kyle shook his head. “They took him.”
Steph turned to Adam. “Where did you go? One second you were there, and the next you were gone!”
“The AI wanted to talk to me?” He frowned. “I fell and ended up in a basement room. Polaris showed me the team, all of them captives.”
Vesper rounded on him, her body language oozing aggression. “What did it say?”
Steph grabbed her sister’s shoulder. “Back off!”
“Let’s do this outside.” Kyle pointed in the direction of the exit. “We need to get out of here before more mercenaries show up.”
“Mercenaries?” Steph glanced at them but shoved her sister in front of her.
“They took Ash and split,” Kyle said. “Guess he was all they were here for, because they didn’t stick around long enough to look for anyone else.”
“But she’s the one who told us to come.” Steph pushed her sister ahead for emphasis. “She called me.”
“I didn’t,” Vesper said. “If you care to hear an explanation.”
Steph shook her head. “What’s the point of this?” She’d been sidelined out of the way while Adam was taken elsewhere and Ash was kidnapped. “Why is Division Zero being targeted?”
Her sister didn’t answer.
“So it can learn by observing us,” Adam said. “And to keep what Earthnet is doing under wraps.”
“They’ll have to kill all of us if they want the secret kept,” Kyle said. “Too many of us know about it.”
“Speak for yourself,” Vesper shot back before stepping outside. “I don’t die so easily.”
Steph wanted to hang back and talk to Adam alone, but that meant staying in this building, and she had zero intention of remaining where she could be trapped again. She glanced at him, and he nodded.
Vesper looked around, her jacket disguising whatever weapons she was carrying. But was she the real threat here right now? Steph knew her sister but didn’t trust her. Kyle, she probably could’ve trusted, but she didn’t know him. Adam was only slightly less of a stranger, but he’d proven himself.
Thankfully, there was no one else around that Steph could see, because that was plenty.
“You can find the team?” Adam turned to Kyle. “I saw them all in cells. Ash was in a van, but the rest of them have been locked up.”
Steph gaped. “All of them?”
“We’re the only ones left apart from Ice. The program didn’t know where he was.”
That didn’t fill her with confidence. “You’re the only ones left?”
“We are.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t want me. I’m not the focus. You and your friends are.”
“She’s right.” Vesper put a hand on her hip.
“Earthnet doesn’t care about her because the CIA had her handled.
Much as it pains me to say, that actually makes her the best person to go up against them and get your friends out.
” She pinned Adam with a stare. “If you go after them, Polaris will see you coming from miles away.”
“It won’t see us?” Steph asked her sister.
“Don’t get any crazy ideas. I came here because I knew you were in danger. Not to join some ragtag team ready to take down the big bad evil and rescue the damsels in distress.”
“So now all of a sudden you give a crap about me?” Steph shook her head. “I’m supposed to believe you feel some kind of family loyalty to me?”
“Everything I’ve done is to save you. To make you stronger. To teach you that you can do whatever you put your mind to,” Vesper said. “What’s so hard to understand about that?”
Steph couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I don’t want anything to do with you and your twisted logic. Or your idea of family.”
“Sorry for trying to help you. Isn’t that what sisters are supposed to do?”
“You and I have never been family.” Steph turned to Kyle. “Adam asked if you could find them?”
Both men looked like they were trying not to smile.
Steph put her hands on her hips. “Well?”
Kyle smiled. “Yes, ma’am. I can find a tracker Ash has on him.”
“And you think Polaris didn’t notice it?” Vesper asked. “They have access to everything. They know everything. Steph isn’t going anywhere near them, at least not without me.”
“They don’t know this,” Kyle said.
Steph decided to be peacemaker. “Then it’s settled. The four of us go…wherever it is they’re being held.”
Vesper turned to her. “And go up against an army of security guys Earthnet has assembled there? And a computer program that can anticipate your every movement? You’re suicidal.” She paused. “Give me the book, and I’ll take down Polaris.”
“So that’s what this is.” Steph shifted away from her sister. “You just want the book.”
“Everyone wants the book,” Vesper countered. “Far better to have it in my hands. You know exactly what I’ll do with it, after I use it to disrupt Polaris.”
“Lot of assumptions you’re making about what the book can do.” Steph lifted her chin. “You haven’t even seen it, let alone read what’s in it.”
“Only because you aren’t willing to give up your one bargaining chip.” Vesper glanced at the two men. “I’m guessing you didn’t tell them you have the book.”
“It’s the only thing I have that can save Dad.”
“So why didn’t you immediately turn it over to the CIA in exchange for his freedom?” Vesper glared. “Maybe because deep down you know Dad’s been dead for years.”
Steph took a stumbling step back. “You lie.”
Vesper just stood there. “I wouldn’t lie to you about that. You knew, you just didn’t want to believe it.”
“You don’t know that. You haven’t seen him!”
“The CIA covered it up the way they cover up everything,” Vesper said. “Adam knows that better than anyone. He’s dead, Steph. Dad is long gone.”
“I spoke to him.”
“Did you? Or did they just let you think you did? And your most recent call? Who do you think you spoke to when you were in Zurich?” Her sister shrugged.
“It’s called subterfuge. You convince the asset to do what you want by giving them what they want, and a whole lot of promises you never intend to keep. ”
“I’ll remember the voice.” Steph didn’t think she would ever forget it. “He had Dad. He has Dad.”
Vesper dragged a phone from her jacket pocket and tapped the screen. “This man?”
“This is about Adam’s team.” They were the ones in danger. Her father… She wasn’t going to listen to whatever this was.
Vesper held the phone out, and a man started talking. “This guy?”
Steph heard the voice, and her whole body went cold.
Adam shifted closer and looked at the screen. “A press conference, with Division Chief Thomas Kraus.” He looked at her. “That’s who you spoke to?”
Steph wanted to be sick.
“You’ve always known it wasn’t real. It was just easier to believe the lie.”
“I would’ve saved him,” Steph said through gritted teeth. “It wasn’t a lie.”
“He wouldn’t have done the same for you. He wouldn’t have even cared.” Vesper lowered the phone. “They’ve been lying to you since they recruited you.”
Steph backed up a step. She hardly knew what to say.
Adam shifted so his shoulder was in front of her, facing Vesper. “They can get agents the usual ways. Why go to this much trouble?”
He was guarding her. Or protecting her. That was what his stance meant.
And when she’d just found out she had been manipulated for years? Steph moved from behind him so she could face her sister on her own. “They wanted me to be like him.”
Vesper stared at her.
“They thought they could train me. That I’d have all the natural skill he does.” She winced. “Did.” She swallowed. “But I’m not the one they should’ve chosen.”
“You think I wanna be a spy? I make my own missions.”
“I think while we’re standing here talking about my sob story, Adam’s team is still out there.” Steph swallowed back the nausea creeping up her throat. “I don’t need a reason to do the right thing. It’s my choice.”
Vesper probably didn’t need the speech about good people being in trouble. As if she would even care.
Steph said, “You should leave.”
Her sister shook her head. “No chance. I’ll help you, and in return you give me the book.”
“We don’t need you,” Adam said.
“You don’t, but she does.” Vesper lifted her chin.
“And our mutual enemy is also her enemy. Thomas Kraus has a stake in Earthnet. It took years to find the connection, but when I took that guidance chip, I found it.” She looked at Steph.
“You want to get back at him for manipulating you? Then I’ll help you find Adam’s team.
We take down Polaris—the four of us and anyone else who wants in. I kill Kraus.”
“Because you want the book?”
“Fair trade. You give me what I want in exchange for solving your problem.”
Steph shook her head. “Murder isn’t a solution.”
“These people aren’t going to stop. Earthnet is gearing up for something bigger than any of us has ever seen. Everything in that book will be a reality.”
Adam said, “We aren’t joining your cause.”
“Then I’m the only one going up against Polaris. The only one who knows what the world will become.”
Steph realized then that she would never change her sister’s mind.
Right or wrong, Vesper would go to her grave believing that technology was the biggest threat in the world.
Adam had learned that the real threat was human nature, and all its twisted schemes, but she had barely begun to comprehend what her life meant.
Or whether what her sister told her was true.
If her father really had been dead for so long…
Freedom would be something she’d spend the rest of her life trying to figure out.