Defector (6 page)

I
t was sweltering. Without a word, Connors and Orlov, Senator Pollard’s usual bodyguards, positioned themselves next to the windows. They were solid, pretty much walking wardrobes. I could see the muscles bulging under their suits. If I’d met them in a dark alley, I’d have run as fast as my legs would have taken me. Orlov especially: With his square jaw, hard features, and cold steel-gray eyes, he could have played the hit man in every Hollywood production. Neither of them even glanced Alec’s way. He was new and, it was pretty obvious, unwanted. Of course they judged him on his appearance. They didn’t know about the power hidden beneath his lean muscles.

Sweat gathered at the nape of my neck. I twisted my head back and forth in an effort to widen the collar. But it was useless. The suit and the button-down shirt felt confining. I didn’t think I could fight in them—even if I didn’t have Pollard’s unfamiliar body to consider.

I inched a finger into the gap between my neck and the clammy collar to try to loosen its hold once again. Nothing. The fabric was stiff with starch and resisted my tugging. I sagged against the brown leather couch. The dark green carpet smelled flowery in an artificial way, as if someone had used a carpet cleaner shortly before we’d arrived. The smell tickled the inside of my nose.

“You all right, sir?” Orlov asked in his thick Russian accent, taking a step toward me. I waved my hand dismissively. “I’m fine. Do your job and watch the windows.” I hated how rude I had to act toward them, but I couldn’t step out of character.

Alec came up to me—without asking for permission and thus breaking protocol. His expression reflected the worry that he couldn’t voice in front of the others. “What are you doing? Go back to the door,” I snapped, Senator Pollard’s voice emerging rough and clipped from my throat. Alec’s lips tightened, but he strode back to his designated spot. Elation flared up in me at my position of power over him.

I was glad to have some distance between us. Something brushed my arm, the touch warm and comforting. Holly. Her form hadn’t once flickered during the thirty minutes we’d been waiting in this room. Her invisibility seemed to work just fine. I hoped it was her own doing and not Alec’s manipulation.

I wanted to smile at Holly to show her that I’d felt her comforting touch, but I didn’t move a muscle. Senator Pollard’s bodyguards and Alec were all watching me. Though Alec seemed busy guarding the door, I knew he would never take his eyes off me.

Outside the door, I could hear the current speaker wrap up his speech. I was next.

I dug Senator Pollard’s fingers into my legs and tried to feel nothing. I focused on my breathing, on the way the trousers clung to the back of my thighs, on the way the strange hair growing in my ears tickled. Slowly a wall of calm came up around me. But my reprieve was short-lived. Applause rose outside, and someone knocked at the door. Alec stepped back, a hand over the gun at his waist, as he opened the door a gap. The same middle-aged woman with a tight ponytail who’d first taken us to the greenroom appeared in the corridor. “It’s Senator Pollard’s turn,” she said politely.

I hoisted myself to my feet and followed the woman to the back of the stage, Alec taking up my front and Orlov and Connors my rear. I could feel Holly moving at my side, and it was her presence more than theirs that eased my nerves. Five hundred people made up the audience—law students and journalists and possibly someone intent on Senator Pollard’s death.

“You’re safe,” Alec said under his breath. “Don’t worry. Security measures were tripled.”

“If it’s so safe, why am I here and not Pollard?” I whispered, glaring at his back, as I lumbered up the stairs onto the stage. A wave of applause welcomed me, and I raised my arm in Senator Pollard’s trademark greeting. Every gesture, every move was perfect. Nobody would realize I wasn’t him—not even his enemies. I walked up to the speaker’s podium in the center of the stage as the clapping ebbed away. I let my gaze swivel over the audience, looking for anything out of the ordinary. But there was nothing. Most of the blue chairs were occupied by men and women in their twenties. They’d probably fall right off their seats if they found out a sixteen-year-old girl was actually the speaker.

I cleared my throat and opened my lips to recite the speech, but the words faltered in my mouth. Something was off. The hairs at the base of my neck rose. I wasn’t exactly sure what caused me such discomfort. A wall of silence lay before me as people stopped talking to stare at my mute form. I coughed and glanced at the notes on the speaker’s desk in front of me.

My voice was calm and businesslike as I started the speech. I’d seen videos of Senator Pollard giving speeches and knew that he was a good orator. He possessed the natural charisma and verbal skills to grab an audience—which made this that much harder for me. I forced myself to look up every now and then to smile at my audience and search the auditorium for suspicious activities. A few minutes into my speech, I raised my head again, my mouth already dry from reading, and the words died in my throat. Every muscle in my body bristled with anxiety.

My eyes landed on a familiar face in the audience. It was the man who’d been watching me a few weeks ago back in Livingston, the man who was most likely a member of Abel’s Army. He was leaning at the back of the auditorium, returning my gaze with unsettling calm. Brown hair, pale skin, dark sunglasses, unidentifiable age. He wore a long beige coat. What was he hiding beneath it?

Alec stared at me, then followed my eyes across the room. Of course he hadn’t seen the man before, but he could feel how nervous I was. The man was wearing exactly the same sunglasses and coat he had last time. Was he the only Variant in the room? Was he here to enact some sinister plan?

I took a deep breath and continued my speech. The audience was starting to whisper about my strange behavior, and I couldn’t risk losing their attention. Alec gave me a tiny nod and moved off to the side of the auditorium as he tried to make his way toward the back. The man’s eyes flitted briefly to Alec but then returned to me, as if Alec wasn’t even worth his attention. I couldn’t sense Holly anywhere near me. Where was she? Maybe she was also heading for the strange guy.

Connors and Orlov had picked up on the tense atmosphere, of course (they weren’t that bad, no matter what Major might think), and were watching Alec’s progress across the room with barely hidden contempt.

Maybe I should give them a sign to follow Alec. I didn’t like the thought of Holly getting involved in a possible fight.

A loud boom sounded in the auditorium, and with a rumble, a shockwave thrust me backward. A second later, everything was pitched into darkness. I tumbled down the stairs of the podium, unable to stop Senator Pollard’s tall body from hurtling forward. My face smashed against the ground, and I tasted blood in my mouth, coppery and warm. My nose was clogged with liquid, and when I touched it, pain shot through my face. Probably broken. I gagged. My ears rang, but slowly my hearing returned. Screams and shouts surrounded me on all sides. The auditorium was filled with bitter, grayish mist that stung in my eyes and nose.

I tried to jump to my feet, but the ground had started shaking. I knelt, trying to find my balance. Pollard’s body was more difficult to maneuver than my own, and the trembling ground wasn’t helping one bit. Panic flashed through me. I had to do something. Could I risk changing back to my own body? I still heard shots and shouting. How could anyone fire when they couldn’t possibly see their targets in the darkness?

Where were the others?

“Tess!” Holly’s scream echoed in my skull. I stumbled to my feet and changed back to my own body. The ground vibrated under my feet, and a sudden burst of motion sickness hit me. I forced myself to remain calm. My clothes began to slip off, much too big for me now that I was no longer Senator Pollard. I hastily changed into Alec’s body, which was better for fighting. Tightening the belt a notch, I looked around. “Holly?” I called in Alec’s deep voice. “Holly, where are you?” She’d sounded so scared.

Orlov lay sprawled on the floor beside the speaker’s podium. I couldn’t tell if he was alive. The shaking ground made it look as if he was having spasms. Keeping my eyes on my dark, misty surroundings, I bent over him and pressed my fingers against his throat. The moment his pulse thrummed against my fingertips, I straightened and hurried past him, ignoring the tightness in my chest and the way my eyes watered from the gas.

“Tess!” Holly screamed.

I whirled around toward the sound. It was coming from somewhere to my right, from the seating area. A few people were still running around in panic, and half a dozen were lying on the ground, unmoving. I could only hope they’d lost their balance, hit their heads, and lost consciousness when the shockwave collided with them. Thankfully, most of the audience seemed to have fled the auditorium. But I still couldn’t see Holly.

My eyes swiveled around the room. In the back I could make out a struggle between several forms. I decided to head that way and was halfway there when suddenly Holly appeared in front of me, her body slowly flickering into view. Her blue eyes were wide when they found me. “Holly!” I’d never heard Alec’s voice sound that scared. Realization flashed across her face. “Tess,” she said quickly, fearfully. “We have to leave.”

Her legs were materializing inch by inch when a man popped into view behind her. “Grab the girl! It’s her,” another man screamed. Did he mean Holly or me? But then I realized I was in Alec’s body right now. They didn’t even know I was a girl.

“No!” I screamed, but he didn’t even look at me as he wrapped his arms around Holly’s waist. Her eyes grew wide with fear and she clamped up. She had to fight! But she seemed paralyzed with terror. I stormed toward them, staggering from left to right as the ground’s vibrations picked up once more. I had almost reached them when they disappeared into thin air. My fingers closed around nothing. Holly was gone. One moment they had been there, and then they’d vanished. I stared at the spot, trying to make sense of what had just happened. I turned around myself. “Holly?” There was no answer.

Tears sprang into my eyes. Where had she gone? Alec ran in my direction then jerked to a halt when he saw that I looked like him. I shuddered and returned to my own body, not caring if anyone saw it. But there was no one around who was able to pay attention. The trousers fell off my body, but I couldn’t even bring myself to care that I was only wearing a dress shirt and a tie. Blood was streaming out of my nose, over my lips, and down my chin. “Holly,” I groaned.

Alec bridged the last few steps between us. His clothes were torn, and his gray eyes were wild. He touched my shoulder. “Are you okay?”

I blinked up at him, and somehow it seemed to happen in slow motion. “Holly,” I said voicelessly.

“What? What’s the matter, Tess?” His grip on my arms was the only thing keeping me upright. “Holly,” I croaked. “She’s gone.”

“Where to?” Alec looked around like she might be springing up from the ground any second.

“She vanished. She was right there.” I pointed toward the spot behind Alec. “And then a man grabbed her, and they vanished into thin air.” A hysterical laugh burst out of me.

“Hey,” Alec said softly as my legs buckled and he picked me up. I wasn’t sure if it was the gas or Holly’s disappearance, but I was cracking up completely. “I caught one of them. He’s over there.”

Alec carried me to the back of the building, where I’d seen the man with the sunglasses. He stepped over unmoving bodies without stopping to check if they were alive. “Are they dead?” I whispered. The taste of blood was overwhelming.

Alec’s grip on my legs tightened. His fingers felt hot against my naked legs, and I shivered in only the thin dress shirt. How could I have thought it was sweltering just minutes ago? “I didn’t have the time to check them all. But the ones I did were alive, just unconscious. We have to hurry. I already called Major to tell him about this. He has to make sure that law enforcement doesn’t get wind of it. We can’t risk them finding out about us. We should be gone by the time they arrive.” I could already hear sirens in the distance.

Alec stopped beside a body on the ground. “Can you walk?” he asked quietly. I nodded, though I wasn’t sure. My legs shook when he set me down. He didn’t let go of my arm.

“I’m okay,” I said firmly.

“I need to carry that guy toward the helicopter so we can get away,” Alec said with a nod toward the unmoving form.

“Is he Abel’s Army?”

“It seems that way. What else would he be doing here? And he tried to kick my ass with two other guys.”

He was right, then—we’d need to bring him back to headquarters for questioning. Maybe the guy knew where Holly was. Alec wrapped his arm around the man’s back and hoisted him to his feet. I gasped. I knew him. It was the last agent who had been kidnapped, formerly one of our own. Agent Stevens.

I
’d never seen Major this furious. His entire face was twisted. The blades slowed down, and Major ripped open the door of the helicopter before it even stopped moving. Two older agents were at his side in a blink, and they helped him heave Stevens outside.

“They took Holly,” I said again, my voice muffled by the blood in my nose. I’d said it out loud at least a dozen times, but it still didn’t seem real.

“Alec already informed me,” Major said distractedly. “This isn’t the end of it. I’ll demand an explanation from Senator Pollard.” His scowl was fixed on Stevens, but the agent wasn’t intimidated. Something was different about him. When I’d last seen Major and Stevens in a room together, Stevens had cowered under Major’s stare and tried to make himself as small as possible, but not today. He held his head high and returned Major’s gaze without hesitation. He looked confident, defiant, completely at ease with himself.

“Why did you take Holly?” I shouted at him, taking a step in his direction. He opened his mouth, but before he could reply, Major raised a Taser and stunned him. He sacked to the ground, face slack. I was frozen. Why had he done it? Stevens wasn’t being aggressive or struggling against his restraints. There was no reason for the violence.

Major’s face was a mask of stone as he bagged the Taser again and straightened his collar.

“Sir, what about Holly?” I asked as I watched two agents pick Stevens up from the ground. He hung limply in their grasp. I could feel Alec’s hand on my shoulder, steering me away from the helicopter. It had started raining again. I couldn’t stop shivering.

“We’ll talk later, Tessa. I don’t have time for this now. Return to your room and try to get some rest,” Major said sharply.

“But I want to be there when you interrogate Agent Stevens,” I insisted.

Major shot me a quick look, his eyes lingering on the blood on my face and shirt. “That isn’t your place, I don’t think that would be wise. You heard what I said. Get some rest.”

I stared at his back as he followed Stevens and the two agents who were carrying him into the building. “Alec, I need to have a word with you,” he called without turning around.

Alec was still touching my shoulder. “I’ll bring you to your room.”

“No, it’s okay,” I said mechanically. “You shouldn’t let Major wait. Maybe you can find out more about Holly. Will you?” I looked at him pleadingly.

He gave me a sad smile. “Of course.” He leaned down and brushed his lips across my forehead. But I barely felt it. My body had gone numb. I watched as he hurried after Major before I dragged myself toward my room.

Devon was waiting in front of my door when I arrived. Major must have warned him about my injuries. His eyes moved over my naked legs and the bloody shirt until they came to rest on my nose. I hadn’t seen myself yet, but from Devon’s expression of horror, I was a mess. He wrapped an arm around me, and I gladly accepted his support. He only let go of me when I’d sunk down on the bed. “It’s just my nose,” I said quietly.

“What happened?” He touched his fingers to my cheeks.

“I—I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about it.”

“Aren’t we on the same side now? FEA, fighting for the right thing?” he asked, but there was a trace of sarcasm in his voice.

He rested his palms on my face, and after a few seconds the dull throbbing in my nose ceased. Slowly, he removed his hands. “Do you need anything else?” he asked in a careful voice.

I began to shake my head, but my body began trembling uncontrollably. I gasped. “Holly was taken.”

Devon reached for my hand. “Shit,” he murmured. “I’m so sorry, Tessa. I haven’t been in headquarters for long, but I can tell how close you two were. I’m sure the FEA will find her.”

His blue eyes bored into me, and suddenly I couldn’t take it anymore. “Devon, I’m sorry, but I need to be alone.”

The understanding on his face nearly undid me. When he closed the door after him, I dropped to my knees in the doorway to the bathroom. It took a while before I found the strength to stand.

• • •

I couldn’t stop staring at Holly’s empty bed. Her sheets with the huge sunflowers (she couldn’t stand the stark-white FEA-issued sheets) were crumpled, and the pink teddy bear that her younger siblings had given her last Christmas was perched on the pillow. I’d caught Holly pressing it against her chest more than once in the middle of the night. She’d always denied it with a happy little smile. My stomach clenched painfully at the memory.

Now she was gone.

Gone.

What would they tell her family if she never returned? Would anyone tell them? Or would Major just make up a story?

I’d fought the tears back for hours, but now I couldn’t stop them. The floodgates opened, and they poured down my face. I still wasn’t sure what had happened. But somehow I knew they hadn’t intended to take Holly. It was why everyone had been so afraid to let me go. They’d been given orders to take the auburn-haired girl from the Livingston mission. Me. And because I had looked like Alec, the guy had thought Holly was his target.

The door to my room opened, and Alec stepped in. Deep shadows spread under his eyes, and he was still wearing the suit he’d worn for the mission, but he’d loosened the tie and unbuttoned the top two buttons of the white shirt. Red dots sprinkled the collar and parts of the front. Alec followed my eyes. “It’s your blood,” he explained, like I could have forgotten that my nose had been broken earlier that day. He scanned my face. “Devon was here?” he asked neutrally.

I nodded. Slowly, I tried to stand, my legs wobbly. “What did Stevens say? Did he tell you where they took Holly?” I wished I could have been present during the interrogation.

Alec looked exhausted. “He didn’t tell us anything.”

“But he must have said something! He knows where Abel’s Army is.” Despair rang out in my voice. It seemed to fill every fiber of my body.

“Maybe he doesn’t,” Alec said softly. “If it’s true that they have a Variant who can alter memories, they might have done that to him, because he was new and they weren’t sure about his loyalty.”

“Why?” I whispered. “Why would he work for them?”

“I’m sure they promised him money or power.”

My legs gave way, and I sank down onto the bed. Money and power? That seemed too easy. I covered my face with my hands, unable to stop the sobs. The mattress dipped as Alec sat down and pulled me against him. I buried my face in the crook of his neck. He felt so solid and strong. My fingers clutched at his arms, and my tears soaked his shirt. I couldn’t stop them. “I’m so scared. What if they hurt her?” I gasped. My throat felt swollen and raw. “God, Alec, I love her. If something happens to her, I . . . I . . .” I didn’t even know what I’d do. If anything horrible happened to Holly because they’d mistaken her for me, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.

“I know,” he whispered against my hair, kissing the top of my head over and over again.

And I knew he did. For once it was a relief to know he could feel what I felt, that no words were necessary. He tightened his hold on me.

“This is all my fault. They wanted me. I know it,” I said miserably.

“Don’t say that. It wasn’t your fault, and you don’t know that they wanted you. Abel’s Army wants to hurt the FEA, and they don’t care who gets in their way.”

“Alec, they said, ‘Get the girl.’ Why would they have orders to catch Holly? I was the one they saw in Livingston,” I said. “They wanted me.”

Alec didn’t argue again. He just held me and let me cry until I had no tears left. I hung limply in his grasp, forcing myself to breathe in and out. His familiar scent surrounded me, brought me back to better memories, and slowed my pulse.

“Everything will be all right,” Alec said eventually. “We’ll find Holly. I’m sure Major will find a way.”

But was Holly really Major’s top priority? The FEA came first, and Abel’s Army was the enemy. He wouldn’t negotiate with them even if it meant saving Holly.

“Maybe I could talk to Stevens?” I said quietly. “Maybe if he sees what he’s done and how much I miss Holly, he’ll feel pity.” But could someone who’d betrayed the FEA, who’d worked for a known murderer like Abel, even feel pity? He would probably laugh right in my face. But I had to try.

Alec shook his head. “Stevens is scared of Major. If that didn’t loosen his tongue, nothing will.” But he hadn’t looked scared when I’d last seen him. “And Stevens will be transported to the FEA prison today. He’ll be placed in a high-security holding cell, and neither you nor I will be allowed to visit him there.”

I stiffened in Alec’s embrace. “When?” I asked. I pulled back and stared at him. “When will he leave?”

Alec glanced at the clock. “Any minute now.”

I freed myself from his hold and stumbled to my feet, determination coursing through me.

“What are you doing, Tess?” Alec looked alarmed.

“It’s worth a try. I need to see him.” I staggered toward the door, Alec only a few steps behind me. “Don’t,” he protested. “You’ll only get hurt.”

I walked faster and faster until I was sprinting through the corridors. “I have to.”

A wall of cold hit me when I stormed out of the front door and hurried toward the heliport. I could hear the sound of rotating blades roaring over the wind. My lungs constricted as I sped up even more and rounded the building until I had a free view of the helipad.

A man I didn’t recognize sat in the pilot seat, and Major sat beside him in the front, with Stevens riding in the back. The moment I reached the helicopter, I pulled open the back door. My hair lashed against my face and my eyes watered from the blasting blades. Stevens’s eyes widened when he spotted me. Blood crusted his lips and chin, and his nose was askew. I couldn’t remember if Stevens had had the injuries before the interrogation.

“They won’t give up. Not until they have the one they really want,” he said. He let out a scratchy laugh. From the corner of my eye, I could see Major opening his door to get out and remove me from the helicopter. I didn’t have much time.

I gripped Stevens by the collar, and he winced, eyes growing wide. He couldn’t defend himself since his hands were cuffed behind his back. “Where is Holly? What will they do to her?”

He smirked. It made him look even more like a hawk. “Who knows? Abel wants you, not her.”

I
knew
it. “Where is she?”

His eyes stared at something behind me. I shook him and didn’t even stop when someone gripped my shoulder. “Tell me,” I hissed.

The grip on my shoulder turned painful.

Stevens looked into my eyes, and suddenly he leaned very close, his breath wet against my ear. I had to stop myself from shuddering. “You have his eyes, you know? It’s so obvious. Too bad you’re blinded by their lies.”

Major pulled me away forcefully, and I stumbled backward and would have fallen, if Alec hadn’t grabbed my arm. “Whose eyes?” I shouted.

Major closed the door, but I couldn’t stop staring at Stevens through the window.

His lips twisted in triumph before he mouthed something. I wasn’t the best lip-reader, but I didn’t need to be to know what he’d said.

Abel’s eyes.