The Significant (37 page)

      
Kailynn was getting worried about Isa.
She decided that she needed to take the tour of Trid into her own hands.

      
“We can’t stay,” she said quickly,
turning around. “I am in enemy territory over here. I’ll take you to see some
sick Trids.”

      
She walked quickly. Through the silence,
she prepared herself. She knew that she had to give the appropriate signal to
Rayal so that he could go through with the more dangerous part of the plan.
But, as the time was drawing closer, she grew more nervous.

      
She slipped into one of the alleys and
stopped at the corner of the building, pressing her back against the wall.

      
“Why are you stopping?” Venus demanded.

      
“I just want to make sure that I’m safe,”
Kailynn said. She turned and glanced around the corner. She already knew who
would be waiting for her, but she allowed time for Rayal to open a virus that
Isa had programmed to take down all the blocks on the video feed. This allowed
everyone in Syndicate Intelligence to see what Kailynn was seeing, and would,
hopefully, spark some controversy. They were sure that the video would quickly
spread. She peered around the corner once more.

      
“Is he a friend?” Rayal asked.

      
That was her signal.

      
The virus was working.

      
“Actually, yes,” Kailynn said, trying to
sound surprised. “But…I…” She started forward. “Raffy!” she called.

      
Raphael turned. His face was pale. He was
nervous about the plan that Kailynn had explained. Kailynn had not explained
why, but she said that they needed to be there at that time on that day and
pretend that they had not arranged the meeting. That told Raphael that they
were being watched, though he was not sure how. However, he also knew that her
plan was to try and save Theo’s life, so he decided not to ask questions until
afterward. Kailynn was too tense and frantic to explain beforehand. He would
have to wait.

      
“What are you doin’ here?”

      
“I was going to ask you that,” Kailynn
said, trying to sound confused while communicating with her eyes that they were
being watched very closely. “I thought Viv was supposed to bring Amailli her
food today.”

      
Raphael swallowed hard and lowered his
eyes to the ground.

      
“Listen, Lynni,” he said. Kailynn tried
not to show her fear at what he called her, remembering that she had not told
him to use her fake name. “Amailli is dead.”

      
Kailynn stopped, legitimately surprised.
For several long moments, she could not speak.

      
Amailli and her two children were under
the care and protection of the Cobalt Panthers. Two years previous, during a
dark territory dispute between the Cobalt Panthers and another gang that had
since been eliminated, Amailli’s partner, and father to the two children, had
been gunned down, leaving Amailli pregnant and caring for her six-year-old
daughter, Emira, alone. Kailynn had seen the bullets tear through Amailli’s
partner, killing him instantly. Ever since, she had felt a duty to care for the
small family, even if it was only providing small amounts of food and clean
water when she could.

      
At the beginning of her care for the
three Trids, Kailynn would stay and visit with them, playing with Emira and
helping Amailli look after the infant Annette. But time progressed, Kailynn got
a job with Brad, then Theo continued to get into trouble with the authorities.
She had delegated the task of caring for Amailli to others of her gang. Even
when they got the sickness that was frighteningly common among Trids—nicknamed
“Wheezing Death”—Kailynn continued to insist that care was given to the small
family.

      
Suddenly, she believed that she had
failed them.

      
“What?” she hissed. “A-are you sure?”

      
Raphael nodded and glanced at the door.

      
“I came here instead of Viv,” he said.
“When I went in there to check on them…she was dead. Seems like it’s been a
couple days.”

      
Kailynn was speechless, her jaw opening
and closing uselessly.

      
“Let me see the corpses,” Venus said in
her ear.

      
The others watching the video feed did
not speak.

      
Kailynn still could not speak for several
long moments. When she did, the words caught in her throat and almost choked
her.

      
“And the kids?”

      
Raphael hung his head.

      
“They’ve both got it,” he said. “Annette…probably
won’t last to tomorrow.”

      
“Show me,” Venus ordered.

      
Kailynn bit her tongue from snapping at
the computer to leave her alone. There was a lot for her to process.

      
“I want to see them,” Kailynn muttered,
turning and shoving the door open. Raphael glanced around behind her. He was
desperate to know what was going on, but he knew that Kailynn was in no
position to tell him in that moment. He was worried that Kailynn was in further
trouble, and being near Amailli’s children, who were extremely ill, he was very
concerned for Kailynn’s safety on many levels.

      
Kailynn was sure to keep her eyes up as
she climbed the stairs to the flat where Amailli and her children lived so that
everyone, Venus included, could see the horrible conditions I which Trids
lived. There was a small bite of contempt in her blood as she stepped around a
large hole in the stairs, holding the rail tightly, in case more of the
staircase collapsed.

      
Kailynn found the door to the flat open.

      
She could hear the soft sobbing as she
rounded the corner into the dirty, refuse-filled home. There were broken
bottles everywhere, wrappers of rations littering the ground with dirty clothes
and rags. The smell was rancid and Kailynn cringed away, covering her face.
Raphael came up behind her, holding out a rag that was mostly-clean. Kailynn
placed it over her nose and mouth and stepped further into the flat.

      
Raphael followed nervously, holding his
sleeve over his mouth.

      
Kailynn walked around the half-demolished
cabinets that originally made up a functioning kitchen and found Amailli’s body
curled on her side, facing the cabinets, her eyes wide and glassy and her skin
blue, the color only broken by the large, dark, aggravated blisters. Her stiff
body was in a disturbing position. Kailynn tried to block out the images of
finding her father dead in the alleyway when she was a child. He had also been
in a horrifying position, though he had been propped upright against some
discarded crates.

      
“Blue hints in the skin indicate lack of
oxygen,” Remus said quietly.

      
“Severe malnutrition,” Rayal added.

      
“Is this spread through air
contamination? Or physical contact?” Venus asked Kailynn.

      
The Significant did not respond.

      
Unable to look at Amailli’s body, she
turned her attention to the eight-year-old girl holding a still two-year-old.
Emira, Amailli’s older daughter, was pale and thin, her eyes sunken into dark
sockets as she cried, staring at her mother’s body while she clutched
desperately to Annette.

      
Kailynn had made it a point to avoid
anyone with Wheezing Death, so the horrifically-ill child caused her stomach to
flip and a chill to run through her body. However, she had no concern for her
safety. She quickly went to Annette and put a hand on her shoulder, staring at
the girl worriedly.

      
Emira turned her head to Kailynn,
shaking.

      
“She’s cold…”

      
“Please, be careful,” Isa said gently.

      
Kailynn looked down at Annette, seeing
the open sores on the girl’s skin and the way her chest quickly rose and fell
as she tried to breathe. Her eyes were closed, her face contorted in pain.

      
“She will die tonight,” Venus stated
simply. “The older girl appears healthier. Take her to the hospital for
examination. The bodies will be collected by a HazMat Team and brought in for
analysis.”

      
“What?” Kailynn hissed, feeling her anger
bubble within her.

      
“What is it?” Raphael asked, walking over
to her.

      
“I have already contacted the Officials,”
Venus said. “You can wait with the girl until they arrive or you can take her
to the hospital yourself. You will need examination as well. You are not
allowed near any member of Syndicate until you are decontaminated.”

      
Kailynn stared with wide eyes at the
floor.

      
“How…how can you…”

      
“Jacyleen,” Rayal said quickly, “it is
for the best. The doctors might be able to treat the girl if we get her there
in time.”

      
“She just lost her mother, and her sister
is dying,” Kailynn snapped.

      
“Kailynn…what…” Raphael trailed off when
he saw the distant, angry look in Kailynn’s eyes. He realized that she was
talking to the person who was watching them. That was when he realized that not
only were they being watched, but Kailynn was bugged with some sort of audio
feed.

      
“There is nothing that can be done for
the younger girl or the mother,” Venus said shortly. “We must gather all
information possible for analysis.”

      
“She just lost everything and you want to
turn her into a lab rat?!” Kailynn growled darkly.

      
“She is vital to understanding what
illness is plaguing Trid. If we can discern a way to treat it, then we can stop
it before it reaches Anon,” Venus continued.

      
“This illness has been killing Trids for
years!” Kailynn snapped. “But because it could spread,
now
you pay attention?”

      
“Kailynn, who the hell are you talking
to?” Raphael hissed. Emira’s tears began running more freely as she looked
around nervously, holding her dying sister tighter.

      
“Jacyleen,” Remus’ voice said slowly, “I
suggest you let the Officials take the girl to the hospital. You will need to
be examined as well.”

      
“I’m not going to leave her,” Kailynn
said darkly. “She’s scared and she’s alone, and you want to have her arrested
and hauled to a lab for testing like she’s some kind of criminal. She has done
nothing wrong!”

      
“She is a Trid,” Venus responded. Even
though the translation of her voice was even and calm, Kailynn could almost
feel anger from the machine. “She is not a citizen.”

      
“So she’s going to be arrested?”

      
“She will be treated,” Venus corrected.

      
“And then turned back here with no family
and no protection,” Kailynn challenged. “She’ll starve to death.”

      
“No, she will not,” Venus said. “She will
be taken to the Keeper and cared for until the age of fifteen, as is custom.”

      
“The same Keeper that prostituted Tarah?”
Kailynn hissed. “Isa, you can’t possibly—”

      
“Learn your place, Jacyleen,” Remus said
quickly.

      
“Always address the Elites with their
titles,” Rayal said, trying to remind Kailynn of the situation.

      
Kailynn turned to Raphael and, upon
seeing his pale countenance, she could feel the color drain from her face as
well. She had just said Isa’s name in front of him.

      
He knew they were being watched by the
Syndicate.

      
“If the Officials are coming, we cannot
stay,” he said quietly.

      
“Raphael—”

      
“Are you
insane
?” Raphael hissed.

      
“Officials?” Emira gasped, her eyes wide.
“Am I in trouble?”

      
“This situation is getting out of hand,”
Venus said. “Significant, leave the premises at once. Go to the hospital.”

      
“I told you! I’m not leaving her!”
Kailynn snapped, closing her eyes and lifting a hand to her head. “This…there
has to be another way…”