‘No, like top-secret Cartaxus tech that shouldn’t be here. Lachlan must have stolen it when he left.’
‘Oh. Yeah, that sounds familiar. He wired up something in the mines to keep the bats out of the main cavern, some kind of ultrasonic … thing …’
‘It’s called a black dome.’ Cole knocks on the jeep’s rear doors. They open with a hiss, and he climbs in, rummaging through the back. ‘It creates a dead zone for transmissions.’
‘Well, it works on bats, too.’
‘Great. I’ll be sure to tell Cartaxus.’
I glance at the mine’s entrance, invoking my comm-link. There are so many places on the property without reception that I hadn’t noticed it was bad near the mines. I try to load my message bank, hoping for something from Agnes, but all I get is a spinning icon. Still no calls or texts. The only thing I can think of is that she figured out that Cole was carrying the vaccine. He said the freezepaks split when they were keeping me in the ice bath, so he would have lost skin and blood. Maybe she grabbed a sample and drove straight to the Skies.
Cole shuffles out of the jeep with a backpack in his hands. He tosses it to me, and I catch it warily, stumbling with the weight. It’s nanoweave, flexible but bulletproof, with the white Cartaxus antlers stitched on the back.
I look up. ‘What’s this for?’
‘It’s got a medkit, a water filter and an emergency beacon in it. I need you to wear it everywhere you go.’
I roll my eyes but swing the backpack on. ‘Where’s my gun?’
‘You’re not getting one.’
‘You’re kidding, right? I thought we were working together.’
‘We are, but you’re still not getting a gun. It’s too dangerous. Let me handle the security.’
‘This is bullshit,’ I mutter, buckling the hip strap, shifting the backpack’s weight. ‘I should have a gun, and this pack might be the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever worn.’
‘Let me do it.’ He grabs the strap from me and slides one hand around the side of my waist, then holds me in place while he yanks the strap until it’s snug around my hips. ‘How’s that?’
I look up. He’s suddenly right next to me, the light catching his eyelashes, his scent wafting in the morning air. I meet his eyes for a moment, and something wordless passes between us, until I realize that his hand is still curled round my waist.
He realizes it at the same moment and pulls it back, stepping away from me. A guilty look flashes across his face.
Oh, no. Absolutely not. He did not just let his hand linger on my waist. I’m not sleeping in the same car as some muscle-bound jerk who thinks he can put his hands on me whenever he wants.
‘Hands off, soldier,’ I snap, ‘or I’ll break your fingers.’
I expect him to recoil, to bluster excuses and tell me I’m overreacting, but he drops his head. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I just …’
‘Just what?’ I cross my arms.
He scratches his head, embarrassed. ‘I just can’t stop thinking about Jun Bei. You remind me a bit of her, so whenever I talk to you, I can’t help but imagine how it’ll feel to talk to her.’ He pauses. ‘Sorry, this is probably making you more uncomfortable …’
I watch him, keeping the hardness in my gaze until I’m sure he’s not just making up an excuse, then blow out a sigh. He isn’t trying to make a move – he’s just lovesick. I can’t imagine how he feels, finding out his girlfriend is alive after so long. He must be a wreck.
‘No,’ I say. ‘I get it. I just thought you were a creep.’
‘I know it’s crazy to still care about her. She hasn’t contacted me in years. You must think I’m an idiot.’
‘If you’re an idiot, then so am I. I haven’t heard from Dax since the outbreak, and I still think about him every day.’
‘Dax?’ Cole looks up, stunned. ‘You’re in love with Crick?’
He looks so shocked it makes my shoulders tighten. ‘We were, sort of … Why, is he dating someone else?’
It’s been years. Of course he’s moved on. I’ve told myself a hundred times that he would, but some stupid part of myself still pictured us getting back together when this was over.
An unreadable expression passes across Cole’s face. ‘No, he’s not. I just … I didn’t think you’d be his type. But, Jesus, that’s perfect. Agatta and Crick. What a couple you two would make. You must have the combined IQ of a small planet.’
The tension in my shoulders releases. ‘A medium-size planet, surely.’
A beat passes, and then Cole’s lips curl. ‘Fine, then. Medium-size.’
I grin, shifting the backpack, starting up the hiking trail. ‘I meant what I said, just so you know. I’ll break your fingers if you touch me.’
He laughs, following me up the trail. ‘Yeah, so would Jun Bei.’
‘Oh, I like this girl. Tell me more.’
He chuckles. ‘Well, she’s tough. She could beat me up any day of the week.’
I glance back, clambering over a boulder. ‘Really? She must be strong.’
‘Yeah, but she’s mostly fast, and kind of vicious. She isn’t above biting people, or poking them in the eye.’
‘OK, I definitely like her.’ I grab a branch, pulling myself up a steep, rocky scramble and pause at the top to watch Cole climb up. He moves across the rocks with a mixture of grace and strength that makes me think of a lion.
‘So did you two get separated in the outbreak?’ I ask.
His smile freezes. ‘No, it was before that.’
‘Oh.’ I straighten. Before the outbreak. For some reason I assumed Cole and Jun Bei were at Cartaxus together, but that doesn’t make sense. They would have been sixteen during the outbreak, and Cartaxus doesn’t recruit minors. ‘So how did you two meet?’
He wipes a trickle of sweat from his forehead. ‘We were friends since we were kids.’
‘But how did my father know you? You said he knew Jun Bei, too. He must have met you both before the outbreak.’
Something flashes across his face. A look that reminds me of the scars on his chest, of how he begged me to jack out of his panel. It lasts only a heartbeat, before a wall slams down and his eyes go flat. ‘Let’s talk about this later,’ he says. ‘Like I said, I’m running blind without my tech. We need to find these notes and get out of here.’
He heads up the trail, leaving me behind him with my intuition buzzing. I don’t know what I just hit on, but something tells me it’s not good. Some link between Cole, my father and Jun Bei. Something from before the plague. I shift the backpack again and follow him up the trail, a growing sense of unease prickling inside me.