My temper sparked to life. “Zane,” I said through clenched teeth. “Give me the phone.”
Suddenly, the blond girl shrieked, making me jump. “I knew I recognized him!” She shoved her phone, face out, at her friends.
As she did, I caught a glimpse of Zane’s face, an image of his school picture from last year like they’d scanned it from the yearbook.
Or gotten it from his parents.
Oh no.
“It’s the guy from the news,” the girl continued. “On the screen in the cab? Remember, the mom worked for those companies and then they abducted him or whatever, and Teri said that, hell yeah, she’d abduct him.” She paused just long enough to look in Zane’s direction and blush, though he was still distracted, his back to them as he talked to Adam.
I moved swiftly, darting around Zane and snatching the phone out of the blonde’s hand for a closer look.
“Hey!” she said with a pout.
It was indeed Zane’s school picture, with a blue banner beneath it that said MISSING, PRESUMED ABDUCTED. And it was part of the Breaking News section of the ABC 7 site.
TONIGHT: Research Assistant in Alleged Chicagoland Bioethics Scandal Speaks Out; Accuses Former Employers of Abducting Her Son.
My heart sank.
There was a promo video, posted an hour ago and just fifteen seconds long. The still of it was Mara Bradshaw sitting in a chair, looking small, old, and tired, the silver in her hair lighting up extra bright beneath the television lights. And oddly enough, she was wearing a school sweatshirt supporting the Mustangs, even though Wingate was home of the Hawks.
How had she managed this so quickly? Zane had spoken to her only this morning. Unless it had been something she’d been planning already. I supposed that was possible. Still, something about it seemed strange. And it was definitely dangerous. Very dangerous. For her and us.
I reached back and yanked on Zane’s sleeve until he turned. “What?”
I held the screen so he could see it.
He paled, his hand with the phone slowly dropping to his side. “She said she’d do something. I…I didn’t think it would be that.”
I hit the button to play the video. Better to know what we were dealing with.
“Oh, there were questionable practices at both companies, GenTex and Laughlin Integrated. I was involved in unauthorized human testing, experimenting on children,” Mara said in response to an unheard question.
I couldn’t breathe. She was really doing it. Talking about the lab and what they’d done there. I felt as if someone were tearing my clothes off in the middle of a public arena. Or lifting me up so I could see the sun for the first time. It was a horrible mix of exposure and relief that made my stomach churn.
There would be no going back from this. Not for Mara. Not for me, either. The risk now would no longer be being recaptured but what lengths Jacobs and Laughlin would go to keep us silent or make us disappear.
“Tonight on ABC Seven,” the voice-over announcer said, “one woman’s story of her years at two area corporations and the consequences of her speaking out against their alleged infractions.”
“They took my son so I’d stay quiet,” Mara continued.
Well, not exactly. But that was an interesting spin on the story.
The screen flashed to Chief Bradshaw outside the Wingate Police Department. He looked both angry and like he hadn’t slept in weeks. “I can confirm that my son is missing. He was last sighted in the company of employees from these corporations. We have witnesses.”
So Mara had been working on this angle before today. Interesting. I wondered what Mara had done to make the chief cooperate, or if he’d just finally figured out that Dr. Jacobs wasn’t God.
The video ended with a tag about joining them at ten P.M. for the full story. Nothing about aliens, at least. Then again, accusing her former employers of kidnapping her son was already on the edge of crazy. Mentioning extraterrestrial DNA would likely have pushed this story off the mainstream news and into the tabloids, where it would have done no good.
But it was still Mara blowing the lid off of everything at the worst possible time. Or the best, depending on how you looked at it. Dr. Jacobs and Dr. Laughlin were probably crapping kittens right about now, with this airing right in the middle of the trials.
A tiny insane part of me wanted to laugh, imagining their confusion and rage, and relishing it. But Mara’s decision to go public had only made things worse for us as well.
Zane glanced over at me. “We’re screwed. If my face is all over town right now…”
I nodded, my neck so tight with tension I could hear it creaking.
“I think we should call the cops,” Teri interjected, reminding me of their presence. “She could be in on it.” She nodded at me. The five of them clustered closer together, staring at me.
“Does she look like someone who can keep me anywhere against my will?” Zane asked, trying for a joking tone to defuse the situation.