The Institute (30 page)

“Yeah, I think
he is finally coming around.”

We reach Tate’s
cell and as soon as he sees us, he knows. “You guys passed your
tests didn’t you,” he says as more of a statement than a
question.

“Yeah, we did,”
Chad replies. He leans up against the cell door, which the guard
has left open for us.

Tate sighs,
“Well that’s good right? Come here then.” He walks over to me and
he gives me a hug. Tate and I sit down on his bed and lean our
backs against the wall, this has become our regular spot for our
chats lately. All three of us are silent, none of us really know
what to say.

“Well this
isn’t goodbye yet,” says Chad. “We don’t know when we will be
leaving, stop being so sad.” Tate and I don’t move, we just keep
our heads down. It’s hard to know I won’t be seeing both of them
every day. “Ugh, well if you’re both going to mope, I’m going to go
back upstairs.”

Chad leaves and
Tate and I are silent for a while, even our thoughts. It feels good
just being in his company, we don’t need to talk.

‘
It’s going
to be weird not seeing you every day, kid.’

I know what you
mean. But I will be back, I promise.

***

I get back to
my room and something feels off. I don’t know what, but something
is not sitting right. The bed! Did I make it this morning? I doubt
it, it doesn’t sound like something I would do. Then why is it made
now? I gasp when I realise, someone has been in here.

What do I do? I
should walk out, what if whoever it is, is still in here? I should
go and get someone, I should go and get Chad. Hell, I’d settle for
Drew right now. I tell myself to be strong.

I check under
my bed, no one is there. I check the bathroom, no one is there. I
finally go to my closet and realise why people were in my room. All
of my uniforms have been upgraded. I now have four stripes on all
of my clothes. When did they do this? While we were taking the
tests? What if we had failed? Maybe they did it while they threw
that lame party.

Even though I
now know why someone was in my room, it doesn’t at all make me feel
at ease. I lay awake and jump at every little bump or creak that I
hear coming from the hallway or bathroom. We also find out our
assignments tomorrow so that’s not exactly making me drift off to
sleep either. Will I ever get a decent eight hours sleep again? I’d
be happy with even five or six right about now.

***

I’m putting my
shoes on when Chad comes through the door. I see his wardrobe has
been updated too; four stripes. I guess they broke into his room
too.

“You ready?” He
asks.

“Yes, no … I
don’t know.” Physically I am ready, I am dressed and could walk out
of the door right now but I don’t know if I’m prepared to go out
there yet. We’re on our way to find out our assignments. Maybe I
have Stockholm syndrome or something; I have become comfortable
here. But I have to ask myself, would I still feel comfortable if
Chad wasn’t here with me every day? Maybe not, but at least I would
still have Tate and Shilah. Out there I will have no one. I can’t
think of anything worse than being in a town with a stranger as my
partner and no one else I know.

“It will be
fine. The furthest they could keep us apart is a five hour train
ride away and surely they won’t have us at opposite ends of the
country.” He puts his arm around me, not in a romantic way, but
like a friend would. He hasn’t mentioned the almost kiss from a few
days ago and neither have I. It has actually been quite easy to
forget it even happened. Having so much on my mind has helped
immensely though.

“Come on, let’s
go,” I say as I’m suddenly thinking about the kiss again and need a
distraction.

We go down to
the training centre where we’re told to meet. From there, we will
be collected by our new supervisors. Chad, Zircon and I are
welcomed into the agents’ quarters, a separate building. It has a
glass roof; I can see the sunlight again, it puts a smile on my
face. They lead us into a conference room which also has windows. I
can see a bright, cloudless sky, although the sky is a weird shade
of orange, like it’s almost sunset but it can’t be – it’s only 11am
– maybe these windows have an orange tint or something. We are
seated on one side of a large rectangular table while our new
bosses are on the other. There are three of them, all middle aged
men wearing suits. Somehow I think their days of actually being in
the field are over.

“Okay, let’s
get started shall we?” says the man in the middle, directly
opposite me. “I’m Agent Ryder, this is Agent Mason,” he gestures to
the man on the left, “and this is Agent Logan. We are the ones who
will be responsible for you while you’re out there. If there are
any issues, you are to contact us first. Do you understand?” We all
nod. “Great, so onto the first order of business and that is to
tell you to forget everything you just spent months learning. The
theoretical side of things is just that. It’s very hypothetical,
and a completely different game once you get out there. There’s no
textbook that will teach you any of that, you just have to get out
there, experience it, learn from it and hope you don’t get killed
in the process.” Wow, nice pep talk from my new supervisor.

“So, here are
each of your assignments,” one of the other men say. “Agent Daniels
and Peters, your assignments don’t start for another week so you
still have time to prep.” Part of me feels relieved that I still
get a week before I have to leave. “But Agent Williams, yours on
the other hand leaves tomorrow.” He hands Chad a sheet of paper
with the assignment details on it.

“Tomorrow?” I
ask. I didn’t mean for it to come out but it did.

He addresses
Chad, even though I’m the one who asked the question, “Yes, we know
it’s last minute but unfortunately sometimes emergent situations
arise and we need them addressed. We think your target is about to
up and move again, we need you out there so you can get a chance to
follow them.”

Zircon and I
are given our assignment sheets. I’m going to Rockford, it’s
actually not far from Eminent Falls, just a twenty minute train
ride. I might be able to go see Dad after all. I look over at
Chad’s paper and it says, “Rencorn.” I will have to double check on
a map but I’m fairly certain it’s on the other side of the city,
about two hours away. I’m gutted, I was really hoping we would be
closer, although it sounds like Chad will be on the move a lot
anyway.

“Okay, so we
have just a few things to go over before we introduce you to your
partners,” says the third man. He reaches into a bag on the table
and pulls out three square cases and hands one out to each of us.
“Your tracking bracelets. Once they are on, we have the only key to
take it off.”

“Tracking
bracelet?” Chad asks.

“Yes, you
didn’t think we would just send you out into the world did you?
It’s for your safety more than anything else, so if you don’t check
in for a while, we can know where to find you.” Sure it’s for our
safety, not at all to do with the fact we are Defective so they
automatically don’t trust us. To be honest, escaping didn’t even
occur to me. I know it did earlier on when I first got here, but
even then I knew it would be hard to pull off. Even without the
trackers, even if I tried to get away, there’s nowhere to go.

I grab the box
and open it up, inside is a thin leather strap, it’s simple but
beautiful. I don’t know where the tracker is, perhaps the leather
is bound to it, or encased in the metal plate where the clasp and
lock sit. I’ve seen the markings on it before, but where? I shake
the thought away and put it on my wrist, it is locked with a key
and there it will stay.

“Okay next
thing, I need you all to sign this. It is a declaration that you
will not go and see anybody that you used to know; no family, no
friends, no one. By now all of your loved ones will know where you
have been and we can’t let it get out that we have planted you back
into society. If you don’t obey this rule, you will have your field
agent status stripped away and will be transferred back to the
Institute and become a janitor for the rest of your life, or
something else just as demeaning. And you don’t want to know what
happens to your family.” They are very blunt and remind me of Mr.
Brookfield with their attitudes towards us. If I had to guess I
would say none of them are Defective.

There goes my
brilliant plan; I don’t want to put Dad in any danger, I just want
to know if he’s okay. We each sign a declaration and hand it back.
“Okay, now time to meet your partners and get your new
identities.”

Suddenly I
remember where I have seen this bracelet before, or at least one
very similar. Mine is more feminine than the ones the boys wear,
but the one Chad is wearing is identical to the one I fell in love
with on Drew. This whole time, something I admired of his was
actually a symbol of the place I dreaded most in the world, the
place I have always wanted to stay away from but have never been
able to. School reports, yearly visits, I could never stay away and
now I never will. Even worse, I have become one of them and this
bracelet will forever be a reminder of how I wasn’t strong enough
to stand up for myself, for my kind, for others who are just like
me.

“Okay Chad
Cooper, as you will be known as from now on, meet your new mother.”
I look to the door to see Drew’s mother is walking in. Oh, it’s
just clicked, of course she’s not Drew’s real mum. I can see she is
trying to avoid eye contact with me – she too is the reason I am
here to begin with; I scowl at her. I can’t help but notice just
how amazing she looks for her age, I’m almost a little jealous –
not of her looks of course, but the fact she will get to spend her
days with Chad, and I won’t. “How about you two go get to work, you
head out in the morning and your cover stories need to match.”

Chad gets up
from the table and walks out, glancing at me briefly as he leaves.
Is that his goodbye? Will I get to see him before he leaves
tomorrow?

“Agent Daniels,
you will further be known as Mrs. Allira Channing. Congratulations,
you just got married.”

“Married?” I
ask.

“Well with your
ability, you need a reason to be touching your partner. Oh here he
is now.”

The door opens
slowly. I should have known something like this was going to
happen. I would normally put this down to coincidence, but of
course nothing is coincidence here. Standing before me, is my new
‘husband’, Drew.

Chapter
Nineteen

Angry doesn’t
even begin to describe how I am feeling. This would have to be
Drew’s idea and if it wasn’t, it would have had to have been Mr.
Brookfield’s. He knows Drew is a weak spot for me and this is just
his way of reminding me that he is the one who has control.
Actually, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were both in on it.

This is just
unacceptable, I want a different partner. Before I can protest,
Drew and I are sent off to get to know our cover story. It has it
in the file they gave me so I don’t know why I have to talk with
him about it. Drew takes me into another conference room, he takes
a seat at the end of the table so I sit as far away from him as
possible, at the other end.

“Well look at
that, we’re already practically married,” Drew jokes.
“Unfortunately, it does have here in our file that we are
newlyweds, so we haven’t been married for long enough for you to be
that
pissed off at me yet.”

“I just don’t
understand why they would pair me with you, when I’m the only
arrest you actually screwed up.” I hope I hit him where it
hurts.

“I’d say it’s
probably their way of punishing me for it.”

So now I’m a
punishment? “Fine, whatever let’s just get on with it, okay?”

Drew reads from
our report, “Okay, so we’re high school sweethearts and in town
looking for our relatives. It looks like we won’t be stationed
there for long, our suspects have already fled by the look of it.
We are to ask the locals if they know where they are and follow any
leads from that.”

“And if none of
them know? Or don’t want to tell us?” I have a feeling we won’t be
in Rockford for very long. If we get no leads do we just come back
here?

“We will
investigate Allira, that’s your job now.”

“All I’m saying
is, if Dad, Shilah and I had packed up and left we wouldn’t have
told anyone where we were going. Not even Ebbodine had she still
been around.”

He ignores my
input, “Our target is a sixteen year old female, she’s meant to be
your cousin so we are looking for our ‘Aunt and Uncle’ Ava and
Denny Johns. Target’s name is Licia.”

“Oh, a young
girl, I hope you can try to keep it in your pants this time,” I say
with a hint of disdain in my voice.

“Oh but honey,
you have to remember, we never actually did anything when we were
together. You were too prudish,” Drew retorts.

I get up and
leave. I storm down the hall, across the walkway and back into the
main building. I march my way back up to my room, trying not to
yell or scream at anyone who gets in my way. Once I get to my room,
I slam my door shut, grab a pillow off my bed and scream into it as
loud as I can. I’m too angry for tears. There’s a knock at my door,
I’m hoping it’s Drew and he has followed me because I’m ready to
punch him as hard as I physically can.

It’s not Drew
though, it’s Shilah. “You barged right past me, are you okay?” he
asks.

I didn’t even
see him in the hallway. “I’m sorry,” I say a little calmer than I
am still feeling. The anger is building in my throat, I just want
to release it but I don’t know how. “I just got my assignment.
Guess who my new partner is? I’ll give you three guesses but you’re
only going to need one.”