Delete: Volume 3 (Shifter Series) (27 page)

“The safety of the nation…”

I fixed him with a glare and he stuttered into silence.

“Can I go?” I said.

“I suppose so. There is still much to be done.”

“I mean, can I go home?”

“Are you asking to be discharged?”

“I don’t know what the term is. Resign. Abandon my post. Quit. But yes, whatever it is, I want out.”

Vine looked down and rubbed at a small bubble under the leather covering on his table. “I have one more duty I would like you to perform.”

“Just one?”

“Yes, but after that, I promise you that your country will ask no more of you.”

“And Aubrey and Katie?”

“No harm will come to them, I promise you.”

I didn’t know what this duty would be. One last child to kill? One last slice off the humanity I had remaining? It couldn’t be worse than anything I’d been through today.

“One last duty,” I said.

“Very good.” He stood, straightening his jacket. “Then it truly is over.”

I didn’t like the way he said that. Or the way he called for the guard to come in. When the door opened again, there were six armed men standing there.

“Commandant Tyler is under arrest for conspiring with the enemy,” Vine said.

I barely had time to open my mouth to protest when I was hit in the chest by a taser and fifty thousand volts of electricity surged through my body.

CHAPTER THIRTY

The cell was the same one we’d put George in. I could tell from the foul graffiti he’d scratched into the brickwork. I wondered where he was now. Had his execution already taken place? Just one more dead Shifter.

As I lay on the bed, staring up at the rough rock overhead, I thought about what Vine had said. One more duty to perform and then I would be free. One more duty and Aubrey and Katie would be safe.

The shock from the taser had stopped me from Shifting at the time. And now, as I banged my head against the wooden slab underneath me, I found I didn’t have the energy to try to make another.

The hours passed slowly. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. But despite exhaustion radiating from my bones, I couldn’t drift off. I sat up. I paced. Added some graffiti of my own using the coin from my pocket. Lay on the bed again before working out that the floor was more comfortable. I listened to the muffled sounds coming from the corridor outside and the vibrations in the rocks, and I thought.

I’d not really stopped to think ever since I’d arrived here. I’d been so busy just trying to survive. Now, it seemed as if I had nothing but time.

It was stupid of me to assume I could just walk away from this life. Vine was never going to allow it, for a start. He was scared of me and my power. But if he wasn’t going to let me go free, then all of the sacrifices I’d made would be for nothing.

I’d chosen to stay in this reality, giving up everything in my old life, just to be with Aubrey. But if he was going to take that away, there was nothing holding me here anymore.

In the silence of the cell, it became clear just how selfish I had been, how many people had died, and all because I wasn’t willing to let go of Aubrey.

Maybe it wasn’t too late to put it right. Maybe I could still find a Shift that could undo all of this.

I sifted through everything that had happened since I’d woken up on the banks of the Thames with the fake gongs of Big Ben sounding. Back further, to my encounter with Frankie, meeting Aubrey’s father, the fight with Glenn. And back even further to Abbott and Benjo and joining ARES. There had to be a weak point. A fracture I could put pressure on to bring this whole reality down on top of itself but which kept Aubrey alive.

I felt like the answer was there, somewhere. An itching in my mind. If only I could reach it. I was so close…

Wait.

“This might be my only chance.”

You know what Vine is planning. We have to go through with it.

“No. Anything but that.” I couldn’t bear to think it. But he was right. I’d known exactly what Vine had in store for me ever since he’d shown me that room.

It’s what I’ve been working towards since the start. It’s the only way. Together, we can do this. One thought, and there will never be a war again.

I knew he was right. But I was scared. “It would mean me staying here.”

No. Only I need to stay here.

“There has to be a way for both of us to be happy. You can get out of here. Run away. Be with Aubrey.”

That’s a lovely dream. But it’s time to wake up.

If I went through with this, there was no guarantee it would work. Maybe both of us would be trapped here forever. And even if I did make it back, I’d be leaving this side of me – the side that knew how to command, that had accepted the burden of impossible choices – in this reality. My mind had become like Schrödinger’s box. Two possibilities existing in one space. Him and me. It was time to open the box.

“Do you think Vine knows what it will really mean?

No. He’s so blinded by his fear.

It was beautiful, really. The thing he thought would destroy me would also tear him down.

“OK,” I said. “Let’s do this.”

At that moment, the door rattled and opened. “Tyler, you’ve got a visitor.”

I scrambled to my feet as the bolts on the door slid open to reveal Vine. He readjusted his tie and brushed a speck of dirt off the cuff of his sleeve with the faintest of movements, so soft that if there had been any dust there, I doubt it would have dislodged it.

“Thank you for seeing me, Scott,” he said, acknowledging that me being here at all was my choice. “I assume it is OK if I call you Scott? I think the time for ranks and formalities is past.”

“What should I call you, then? Prime Minister?”

He laughed, faking humility. “Oh, I think it’s a little early for that. But perhaps…” He adjusted the cuff of his shirt. “This country needs a strong leader. Someone who understands the true cost of peace. If only you had grasped that.”

“You don’t know me like you think you do. All I’ve ever wanted is to live a peaceful, boring life.”

“What we want and what we must do are rarely the same thing. Can I sit down?” He gestured to the bunk.

I moved out of his way, pressing against the wall, wondering what his game was now.

“My friends…” I said.

“All safe and free.”

“And the programme?”

“Shut down, and all the remaining children are to be sent to care centres. I’ve been overseeing the process myself,” he said, touching his perfectly knotted tie again.

“So what now?

I waited. Pretending I didn’t know exactly what he wanted of me.

“Doctor Goodwin says Benjo Green doesn’t have much longer to live. A few hours at most.”

I’d known what his plan was, but I played along. “You want to put me in the Igloo?”

“It is a regrettable decision, but the only choice available to us at this time. You are the only Fixer left, Scott. Doctor Goodwin has said she will do everything she can to make the process as quick and painless as possible.”

“You said the war was over. Why do we even need the machine now?”

“This war is over. But there will be others. New enemies who wish to destroy us. That machine has become the thin red line.”

“You’re asking me to sacrifice myself? After everything you’ve done to me?”

“I’m asking you to sacrifice yourself to save countless lives. So that the people of this country can rebuild their lives without the shadow of terror. So that your friends and family can.”

The way he said the words “friends and family” made it perfectly clear what his real offer was. Step into the machine and Aubrey and Katie and the others remain safe. Fight him and he would bring them down. I gave a quick, bitter laugh. For a Shifter, I’d not had a hell of a lot of choices lately.

“I’ll do it. But I want one thing from you first.”

“Yes?”

“It’s like you said; I’ve been through a lot. Before I do this thing, before I give myself up completely to the Igloo, I need to be certain of who I am. I want access to a simulator before…”

Before I’m subjected to Frankie’s ‘delicate balance of chemicals’, I didn’t bother to add.

Vine’s eyes tightened. He was pleased with me. “I think that would be a very good idea. It will give you a chance to lay your ghosts to rest.”

What it will give me, I thought, is a chance to play out my options.

Frankie waited, her tablet pressed to her chest under folded arms, a stern expression on her face. She turned without saying anything as I was escorted into the room, and went to stand next to the large chair with a headset dangling over it. I glanced at Vine. Beneath the usual mask of blank expression I sensed tension, urgency. Well, he could wait.

I walked slowly over to the chair, taking in my surroundings. The grey walls, the bright lights overhead. Would these be some of my last memories?

The soft leather of the seat hissed air as I sat down. It was surprisingly comfortable. Frankie pulled the headset down and eased it onto my head.

“If only you’d come to me sooner, Tyler,” she whispered in my ear as she fiddled with the straps. “I said I could have helped you.”

“There’s only one person who can help me.”

She waited for me to elaborate, but I didn’t bother. She sighed and lowered the glasses over my eyes, blocking out all light. “We’re ready.”

“You have half an hour, Tyler,” Vine’s voice echoed around the room. “After that, you will need to take Green’s place.”

I hoped this would work.

Frankie bustled about, fine-tuning the controls. She smelt of antiseptic and coffee. “Are you ready?”

I nodded, causing the wires on the headset to rattle against each other.

There was a blinding light and then…

I’m holding a phone in my hand, shaking fingers attempting to dial a number from a black business card with the letter ARES punched out. Forget it, I think, and put the phone down. I don’t need their help. I can do it alone. I crumple up the card and throw it in the bin.

I rode the ripples from my decision to join ARES and it led to me sitting in another jail, arrested for Shifting without a licence. And while I was there, I heard stories from the guards on duty about the death of a Shifter. Found hanging from chains in an abandoned warehouse, part of her brain missing.

I tried another decision.

I’m standing outside the wooden doors of St Sebastian’s. I’m here to warn Aubrey that ARES are coming for her. But she doesn’t want to see me. She made that clear. I turn around and walk down the street, rain soaking through my clothes.

But it was too late; I’d already lead ARES to their door. Aubrey and Zac had been arrested, just like before. Only, this time, there was nobody there to find out about Greyfield’s. Nobody to stop Abbott’s plan. Or to save Aubrey from becoming another Ganymede volunteer.

I hunted for another pivot point.

I’m peering in through the broken glass at a warehouse. I’ve forgotten to bring a jacket and I’m already freezing. There’s nothing in there but darkness. Benjo Green is dead. I’m a fool to think otherwise. I should never have bothered coming here at all. I close my eyes and I’m in my bed.

Yes! I thought. If I’d never gone after Benjo, I wouldn’t have learned about Frankie Anderson or her children. Never have put Aubrey in danger. This new reality filled me with a sense of hope. But then the consequences of turning my back on Benjo revealed themselves. Hiding in his dark warehouse, Benjo had gathered his strength, his mind twisting around a single thought. Revenge. Against the boy who had destroyed his life. And what better way to destroy me than to take away the person I loved?

There had to be another way. The images playing about my head suddenly stopped, like someone switching a TV off. But it was OK. I knew what I had to do. It was so perfect, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it from the start.

“Time’s up,” Frankie said. She raised the helmet and took the glasses off my face, looking into my eyes. “Are you with us, Tyler?”

I nodded. “I’m here.” A strange sort of calmness had come over me. I’d accepted everything that was going to happen. It felt good not having to fight anymore. I couldn’t remember the last time I wasn’t fighting against something. The enemy. Myself. I was finally at peace.

“And you know where you are?”

“I’m in the Hub. Home to the S3. And you are Doctor Francesca Goodwin, and you are about to put me in the Igloo,” I said.

Her skin blanched and her lips tightened. “Yes,” she said.

She gave me her hand and helped me to my feet. Vine and the armed guards were all watching me.

“Well,” I said. “What are we waiting for?”

They led me through winding corridors. I knew Vine hoped to keep my arrest as quiet as possible. If any of the S3 found out that he planned on putting put their saviour in the Igloo, it might all kick off. I would play along. I wasn’t going to be here for much longer.

When we arrived at the Igloo, there was a second coffin in the centre of the room, its lid open wide, ready for me. I walked towards it, glancing down at Benjo in the coffin next to the one that would be mine. His pale face was shrivelled, his black eyes sunken like hot coals in the snow.

“We’ll make the switch once you’re hooked up,” Frankie said, her voice forced through clenched teeth.

I looked at Vine. This small man who wore power like another man’s suit. Who’d become addicted to it. Twisted by it. Soon, I’d be setting us both free.

Once I was hooked up, I would Force him to stand down. I would Force every leader in the world to obey my commands. No more senseless death. No more profit above people. No more war.

Unaware of my plans, Vine nodded, unable to keep a smile from twitching at the corners of his mouth. I nodded in return.

I eased myself into the box and lay down in the padded interior. At least they’d tried to make things comfortable.