“Good.”
She stalked off down the corridor, Rico following. At Janey’s door, she pressed her palm to the panel and heard the buzzer. Janey appeared a moment later.
“Can I come in?” Tannis asked.
Janey yawned. “Of course. What do you need?”
“Some information. I want you to try and get me some background stuff on a company.”
“Sure, should be no problem. Come in.”
They both entered. Rico leaned against the wall just inside the door, his arms folded across his chest. Tannis sat down in the chair by the bed, pulled the material from her pocket, and handed it to Janey.
“Ugh. What is this?”
“The company insignia. Will it be enough?”
“Might be.” Janey sat down and flipped on the console. She placed the material on the desk beside her and smoothed it out. “CM Research.”
“What is that?” Rico asked.
“The badge I took off the guard I killed in the research center.”
“Really? And I’m guessing that CM stands for Callum Meridian.”
“You don’t sound surprised.”
“I did wonder when you told me there had been visits from the Collective. But that’s hardly conclusive evidence.”
“That’s what I’m hoping Janey can come up with.”
Gripping her hands together, she watched as Janey’s fingers flew over the board. “What do you want to know?” Janey asked.
“Could it stand for anything else? Can you find any proof that Callum Meridian is behind the company?”
“Well there’s only one company coming up. Closed now by the looks of it—in fact it closed fifteen years ago.”
“Really?”
“Let’s see if we can’t find out who’s behind it.”
She worked in silence for the next five minutes. Tannis sat and tapped her foot on the floor and tried to curb her impatience.
“What is this company?” Janey asked, her fingers not slowing.
Tannis considered ignoring the question, then she shrugged. “I was brought up in a research center.”
“You were born there?”
“No—I think I was sold to them when I was four or so. Most of my family was killed, I presume by the Church, though I don’t remember the attack.”
“Most?”
“My sister and I survived.”
Janey glanced over her shoulder, a small frown on her face. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”
“I don’t. Not anymore.” A wave of sadness washed over her as she remembered Thea, her baby sister. “She died. They did some sort of experiment on her and she…” She broke off.
“I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. It was a long time ago. I thought the center was run by the Church or at least funded by the Church—looking for new and better ways to kill us off.”
“No, there’s no Church connection. At least not in the ownership. There are large payments going out to the Church though. Could be buying children like yourself.” She sat back in the chair and gestured at the screen. “Come and look.”
Tannis pushed herself up and stepped closer, her legs strangely heavy, and she realized she didn’t want to see this. Didn’t want confirmation that Callum was behind the horror of her childhood, the death of her baby sister. Rico came up behind her, put a hand on her shoulder, and squeezed. He so rarely touched her, as though he was aware she found it hard. She took a deep breath and allowed a mask to fall over her features. The same mask she had worn every day in the center.
The screen blurred for a moment, and she made herself concentrate and read the words. She was expecting it, but all the same, a jolt of shock ran through her at the sight of Callum’s name clear on the screen. She read the information slowly, making sure she understood.
“So it was privately owned, not by the Collective.”
Janey nodded. “Yup, owned by our good friend Callum Meridian. There’s no connection at all to the Collective, except—there.” She pointed at a line on the screen. “Venna Harkness, chief research officer. She’s Collective. There’s a flag by her name.”
“I take it that’s Callum’s friend, currently sitting in the conference room,” Rico said.
“Yeah, and my fucking angel.”
“What?”
He sounded shocked, and she turned to glare at him. “How did you think I knew to look? Venna fucking Harkness is the fucking bitch who visited the center when I was a kid.” The rage rose up inside her again. “She gave me fucking chocolate.”
She slammed her fist into the metal wall and then winced at the pain to her already abused knuckles.
“What are you going to do?” Rico asked. “You want me to deal with it?”
“How?” She sounded suspicious.
“I’ll toss them out of the airlock.”
“They’re immortal. It won’t kill them.”
“No, but they might spend most of eternity floating in space.”
“Nah—they’re telepathic—they’ll just call up for help.” She shoved her hands into her pocket.