“I’m not sure what to do,” she said quietly. “I don’t know if there’s anything to do.”
The warmth in me drained away, leaving behind a cold emptiness. It wasn’t her words so much as the defeat in her voice. That was not something I was used to hearing from her. Ever.
“The Committee, I’m sure, is long gone,” she said. “Laughlin, Jacobs, and St. John have probably been sent to their respective companies to consult with lawyers and prepare some kind of defense or statement.”
Emerson was gone? I felt a tiny spurt of panic. My condition hadn’t stabilized yet. How soon would I start to see symptoms of my body rejecting the virus and its changes?
“We have virtually no money, no ID.” Ariane lifted her shoulders in a helpless shrug. “We can’t run, and hiding will only work for so long. Whomever they’ve tasked with finding us will eventually succeed. It’s a matter of days, maybe only hours. The government has resources we can’t beat and access we can’t avoid.”
She sank down on the opposite side of the bed, drawing her knees up to her chest. “I don’t know where Ford is, even if she’s alive. I have no way of tracking her down.” She looked small and vulnerable and, even worse, uncertain for the first time since I’d met her.
“We’ll go to the news,” I said, sounding more confident than I felt. “The same place my mom—”
“The Committee will have thought of that.” She shook her head. “They’ll never let us get close. There’s too much risk. I…” She stopped, her gaze going distant.
“What?” I glanced behind me reflexively, half-expecting to see a SWAT team bursting through the door behind me, but it was still just the quiet and empty suite.
She looked at me, fierceness burning her gaze. “You can.”
“I can what?” I asked.
“With the focus your mom put on you, they might not want to take the risk of hurting you. You’re likely a secondary target. If one at all.” She stood again, warming to the idea. “It would only add credence to her claims if they kill you.”
I winced, but she didn’t notice, her brain in full strategy mode, kicking up possibilities.
“They’ll throw Jacobs to the wolves as long as it doesn’t come back on them, and right now this is a simple bioethics case, corporate misbehavior. Not a government conspiracy. If they hurt you, it might inspire someone to dig deeper,” she said, pacing again.
“Okay,” I said slowly. “But what’s to stop him from telling his side of the story, talking about the contract and the alien DNA and Project Paper Doll?”
She stopped and gave me a bitter smile. “He won’t. As it is, he’ll be lucky if he escapes this with his company intact. If he tries to pin any of this on the government, they’ll bury him. If you go to the police and tell them who you are, they might be able to protect you. Particularly if I provide a distraction and lead away whomever the Committee sent after us,” Ariane said. “I’m a much higher priority.”
“Always bragging,” I murmured.
“No, it’s just that I would give it all away.” She gestured at herself, her body, the alien DNA hidden within. “Even a simple blood test would show there’s something wrong—”
“—different,” I interjected.
“—with me,” she finished. “Your tests will show an unknown virus, I’m guessing, but nothing as conclusive.”
Until I collapsed bleeding from my eyes or something. But I wasn’t going to mention that. She didn’t need another thing to worry about.
“So, I run for the police while you distract.” I didn’t love that plan, but at least it was a plan. Better than wandering the streets waiting for a bullet. “What are you going to do, pull more fire alarms? Break more lights?” I asked, teasing a little, feeling incrementally better just seeing determination flaring in her eyes again.
“Whatever it takes. I’m something of an expert by now,” she said, teasing in a confident tone, but beneath that, I could hear something that sounded like sadness.
ZANE NARROWED HIS EYES AT me, suspicious. “Ariane…”
I ignored him, my heart pounding at pretending this was like every other strategy moment we’d shared. “So, listen, give me twenty minutes before you try to leave the hotel, okay? That should give me enough time to implement Phase 1.” Which sounded really good but meant nothing. I fully intended to be a distraction as long as possible to give him safe passage, but I had no illusions about my own fate. The second I stepped outside, I was dead. Actually, I was dead already, it was only a matter of time until the bullet—as yet unfired—caught up with me. The best I could do was make sure Zane stayed alive.