“I’ve thought about it,” she admits. “But there’s something else. He threatened . . . not in so many words, but he made it clear that if he ever found out I was plotting against him, he’d take Adam away from me. He could do it. He wouldn’t think twice about hurting Adam to control me.”
I think about my little half-brother. He’s only three. Would Dr. Reynolds really take a child? Of course he would. He took me. He took Baby.
“Some of the researchers and I have talked around the issue. They’re as alarmed as I am by Dr. Reynolds. But everyone is so careful. No one wants to be sent to the Ward. I have to be careful, too. For Adam.”
“What would you do?” I ask. “If you weren’t so afraid.”
“I’d distribute my current lab notes. They’re damning enough on their own. But I’d also release the records that would expose that I created the bacteria, that the Floraes are people. But, Amy: What do you expect people to do with that information?”
Again Dr. Samuels speaks up, this time more forcefully. “You could do more than simply release the information. You could set it all out for them, tell them what it all means, what’s really been going on here. And you could put yourself forward as an alternative to Reynolds.”
My mother laughs hollowly at this. “A coup, Dr. Samuels?”
He nods, his mouth set in a firm line. “Precisely. You’re the only person in a position to influence one . . . and we have a secret weapon.”
All eyes turn to me. “What?” I ask, not understanding.
“When you escaped,” Kay tells me, “Dr. Reynolds told New Hope you were dead. It was a big deal, the director’s daughter dying. There was a funeral and everything.”
“It was macabre,” my mother intones. “I knew you’d escaped, but I had to sit there and play the grieving mother, act as if my daughter . . . you were dead.”
“But, if we show people you’re alive,” Kay says, “they’ll know Dr. Reynolds has lied. They might be more willing to listen to what else he’s kept from them.”
“Fine,” I say. “I’m in. Just tell me what I have to do.”
At first I think my mother’s just going slap down the idea. But she doesn’t. “They could well choose to keep Dr. Reynolds in power, to find a vaccine,” she says quietly.
“But at least they’d have a choice,” I tell her. “And what makes you so sure that they’d value a vaccine above anything else? It’s become an obsession among the researchers, and maybe Dr. Reynolds sees it as an end that will justify his methods, as the ultimate vindication, but what would the citizens of New Hope think? Sure, it would be reassuring, but would they truly be willing to sacrifice children to get it? If it were a cure, maybe . . . but you told me a long time ago that a cure was impossible, that the Floraes would never become people again.
“So isn’t there already an alternative?” I continue. “You have the emitters to keep away the Floraes. You have other technology that can keep us safe, that can help humans reclaim the world.”
Dr. Samuels nods his agreement. “A vaccine is not the only thing that can save humanity. It would only solve one problem. Let the citizens of New Hope decide what sacrifices they’re willing to make.”
My mother shakes her head. “What would you have me do? Make an announcement on the evening news? Show that Amy is still alive and then expose all of Dr. Reynolds’s secrets?”
“Exactly,” Kay says. “You’d have the support of at least half of the Guardians.”
“It would be pointless. Dr. Reynolds would be able to distance himself from any research I’ve done. It would discredit me and make him look even more attractive to the people of New Hope.” She sighs, closes her eyes for a moment. When she opens them, her face has changed, her jaw set.
“The only way it would work would be to release everything at once. We have to get his lab notes, as well. He’d have documentation of all the experiments. Then I could share everything at one time, send out a data burst to every computer in New Hope. I could have it coincide with an announcement on the news, so even if Dr. Reynolds shuts us down, he won’t be able to stop the information from spreading.”
“You would do that?” Kay asks. “You could still be blamed for everything.”
She nods, then looks at me as she says, “I am to blame. I was responsible for the bacteria. It’s about time I was made accountable. If everyone knows, even if I’m punished, Adam would be safe. Most people wouldn’t want to hurt an innocent child.”
“Maybe they’ll understand,” I tell her. “New Hope still needs a leader.”
“I’ll remain director, if they’ll have me.” Her eyes flick to Kay. “But we still need Dr. Reynolds’s lab notes.”
“I’ll get them,” I say. “I’ve already been in his office.”
“Amy, you didn’t!” She’s horrified. “What were you thinking? No. If he finds you, he won’t send you back to the Ward. He’ll kill you.”