“You couldn’t have done anything anyway,” I said with a shrug.
Running his hand through his hair, he turned and started across the room. “I’ve never heard of nanotechnology that advanced.” He sat in a chair by the curtain-drawn window and set up his laptop on the table, pushing away a little tray of milk and sugar for coffee. “But none of this surprises me. Development firms around the world have been looking for a way to reproduce Effigy-like abilities. And I suppose they’d also need to come up with a method to control them.”
I walked behind him. “Why?”
“Why else? For defense. For war.” He looked at the drive. “When I was at Caltech, I heard whispers of a program jointly developed by DARPA and another defense subcontractor. That guy you mentioned, Grunewald? His name definitely came up.”
“DARPA?” I furrowed my brows, confused.
“The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.” He pushed up the lid of his laptop and clicked it on. “An agency within America’s Department of Defense.”
“What are they working on?” asked Belle.
“Were,” Uncle Nathan corrected. “I mean, it was years ago, after the Seattle Siege. An entire American city reduced to ashes by phantoms—of course the government was spooked enough to try different things. A black project. But the Senate axed it, I guess.”
He shoved the flash drive into his laptop and, for a moment, only stared very seriously at the empty black screen that popped up, sitting back in his chair with his fingers clasped.
“If this is even close to being similar to what I think this could be . . . then, Maia, you’ve stepped into some serious crap here.” He sighed. “Well, I guess I’m right in it with you.”
“Sorry.” My hand tightened its grip on the back of his chair. “Effigy or not, I’m still just some dumb kid asking you to do my homework for me.”
As he turned to look up at me, his lips quirked into a lopsided grin. “Well, the stakes are a bit higher this time around. There are worse things than getting a call from your principal.”
I watched him get out of his chair, stretching his arms above his head. “I didn’t want you to get roped into this.”
“No, you did the right thing coming to me.” His expression darkened as he lowered his voice almost instinctively. “If what you’re saying about the Sect is true, then you can’t trust them with this. We don’t know how many people inside and outside the organization are working with Saul. We don’t know how big this could really be, or how many people like Jessie are out there. Maia . . .” He grabbed my hand. “I strongly suggest you don’t go back to London.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket. Lake had sent me a text to hurry back, because apparently it was getting harder to keep her agent from sending out a search-and-rescue team.
“Well, I’ll leave you to break into the Sect’s or the American government’s or whoever’s secrets. Hopefully, you can find something out about those freaks who keep trying to kidnap me. Meanwhile, I have to go get ready so we can present the award for Male Hottie of the Year.” I paused. “My life is weird.”
“No kidding.” Uncle Nathan smirked. “You guys go ahead. I’ll stay here, pour myself some coffee, and work on this.” He cracked his knuckles. “Though, to be honest, I haven’t done any serious hacking since college.”
“Make sure you keep out of sight,” warned Belle.
“Sure.” He reached for the empty coffeepot next to his laptop and paused. “Heh. It’s kinda like a spy movie, isn’t it?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Uncle. Just like a spy movie.”
“Good luck,” Belle said, and we left him to the drive.
21
LAKE WOULD NOT ALLOW US to arrive at the red carpet too early. “You know who shows up early to red carpets?” she asked once our limo finally started toward the venue. “Has-beens and D-list reality TV show wankers. We are the Effigies. We hold the security of the world in the palm of our hands. Now pass me my phone. I need to take some selfies.”
The windows were tinted so none of the Torontonians jaywalking across the street could see how ridiculous I looked squirming into Lake’s photo, or the terrible kissy face I made with my lips because she said it was a popular pop-star pose. Chae Rin and Belle stayed resolutely out of the picture, a comfortable distance away from us and each other. The series of pictures that Lake uploaded was on the Doll Soldiers forum in under a minute.
Soon, we were on Queen Street. My nerves were shot as the screams bombarded us from all sides. Under the gray, sunless sky, fans stretched their hands out at our limo from behind a set of barricades glowing neon blue, almost like the metallic lights that skidded up a fully powered American Needle. Maybe it was antiphantom technology. Toronto was well protected because of the extra security they had around the city as well as the rail system protecting most of Canada’s small population. At least I knew I didn’t have to deal with phantoms tonight, but as our driver parked our limo right on the red carpet and we stepped out into the chaos, I almost wished I’d been sent on another mission.
“And look who just pulled up to our red carpet!” I heard the woman’s voice speaking into a microphone, but I had no idea who she was. “Looking as badass as ever—I’m about to be joined by the always-hella-epic Effigies. Make some noise for the Effigies!”
The crowd did. We were immediately swarmed by giant video cameras, staff, and security. Lake had stepped out first and she was already waving to the crowd, posing with her best angles in a short, off-the-shoulder red dress that matched her earthen skin tone. Lake had ordered us all the same one in the correct sizes and colors—peach for me, silver for Belle, black for Chae Rin. Had to look unified but distinct, she’d said. I hadn’t actually realized how much work and effort she’d put into this event in the midst of all the Saul chaos until this moment as I watched her confirm with event staff where we needed to go. She had the poise and control of someone who’d done this before, someone who fed off the energy like a willowy, starving plant soaking in the sunlight.
“Here we go—we’ve got the Effigies with us!”
Oh, so she was the interviewer. She was tall and busty with a beige dress on and her blond hair slicked back behind her ears. Lake ushered us forward, but my heels were too high and thin for a straight, smooth walk, so the second I tried to twist around to face the right way, I stumbled and nearly fell over.
“Oops, looks like she’s having a little bit of trouble there!”
Chae Rin grabbed my arm and helped me walk. I was sure that the one-second gaffe was already online, but what could I do about it? I had to keep smiling even as my cheeks hurt, even as I continued to scan the crowds for any sign of trouble.
“Hi!” the interviewer said, and only Lake and I bothered to respond as jovially as we could. “Ladies, hi! Wait a second, let’s turn around here and face the camera.”