“Now that part I’m going to have to get a little more up close and personal to find out.” And to stop.
I waited, expecting that even though they’d said they would believe me, hearing it out loud would prove too much. That they’d tell me to hold on a sec, while they called my parents and informed them that I’d lost my mind.
Devin said, “I hope you have a plan.”
It took me a moment to figure out what to say.
“I always have a plan.” And I started to modify mine, which had been in the early stages. Having backup when I went into Advanced Research Laboratories would be better. SmallvilleGuy was right about that. “You guys are sure about this?”
They agreed, nodding without even looking at each other.
“We have to save the Scoop,” James said.
I was more than on board with that sentiment. “Agreed. So—”
“Wait,” Devin said. “Before you start, I’m volunteering.”
I didn’t like the sound of where this was going. “I thought you all were.”
He took a breath and said, “Yeah, but you’re going to need a man on the inside.”
“I can’t let you do that.”
The response came in reflex. But even as I said it, I remembered what I’d thought about Devin before. That he was the one on the staff most like me.
He set his chin and shoulders. “Not your call,” he said.
There was no point in arguing. “I don’t like it.”
“Noted,” he said. He hesitated.
His face changed and I recognized the expression on it. It was close to the one Anavi had been wearing the first day I met her, like he was about to tell us something he’d rather not, but had no choice.
“And you should be aware that I know what I’m probably agreeing to here,” he said. “The Warheads have been . . . I think they’re trying to . . . ”
He didn’t want to say it, and so I said it for him. “They’ve been messing with your mind. Inside your head, right?”
He didn’t respond, just looked at me. A long, hard look.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I couldn’t be sure. The guys at the lab didn’t seem to notice that their little experiment is hungry to grow. That the new people are being forcibly recruited. Not that it’s likely they’d care if they did know.” With the possible exception of the sympathetic man. “First Anavi. And now you. I never wanted anything bad to happen to either of you, not because of me.”
“They’ve been bothering me since the other morning,” Devin said. “After we ran the story. And then that attack on my castle—they told me they were coming after me. And they did. But it wasn’t your fault. It’s because I play Worlds and I work here.”
I shook my head. “I hate these guys so much.”
“But Anavi’s one of them now,” Maddy pointed out.
“You’re right,” I said. “And she said one was a friend of hers before. Maybe they’re all decent enough and it’s just the experiment. I don’t know.” I caught Devin’s eye. “You ready for the plan?”
“You knowing about what’s been happening makes me feel less like I’m losing my neurons,” Devin said. “I’m ready.”
“So, you’ll be our man on the inside. It will be useful to throw them off and to have you there. But only as long as you’re sure that you still want to volunteer to infiltrate them?” I asked.
“I am.”
“And Maddy, you and James will be our backup,” I said. “That okay?”
Maddy shrugged one shoulder, casting a shy glance toward James. Who didn’t even catch it. James said, “Tell me what that means.”
“It means you two are going to have one of the most important jobs of all. You’re going to be the ones who bail us out if things go sideways, off the rails. You’ll show up at—” I paused. “Devin, I don’t think you should hear me explain this part. Just in case.”
“You mean just in case I turn actual traitor?” he asked.
There was a tense silence. That was exactly what I was worried about. I shouldn’t let him do this.
The Warheads were getting stronger, and they wanted Devin. Did he understand what it would mean if they succeeded in getting him?
But he must have. He was nodding. “I’ve felt what they can do. Okay. Just in case.”
“Just in case.” I didn’t even like to contemplate the “in case” we were talking about. “Best if we keep all the elements separate anyway, so that I’m the only one who can really go down for this. I’ll know the full picture, no reason for you guys to. Plausible deniability—you can claim I told you to do something you thought was innocent if we get caught. Devin, you and I can debrief after I talk to these guys.”
Devin didn’t protest, but he gave a lost look around, like he wasn’t sure what to do. “Should I leave?”
Maddy rolled her chair over to her desk and grabbed her fancy headphones, handed them to Devin. “Noise canceling,” she said. “Now you can stay.”