I gasp. His chest is exactly like Cole’s – same size, same shape – except Leoben’s is covered with tattoos of eagles, bears and wolves. That’s not what makes me gasp, though. It’s the scars rippling beneath the tattoos. The network of slashed, puckered skin covering his chest.
‘They did it to you, too –’ I start, and then I remember. It wasn’t Cartaxus who gave Cole his scars. It was my father. There are five files in my backpack, but I’ve only opened one. For some reason I assumed they’d all be about Cole.
But that was naive. Of course there’s more.
‘There were five of you, weren’t there?’ I ask. ‘You, Cole …’ It suddenly hits me. ‘And Jun Bei.’
Leoben nods, lowering his shirt.
‘My father did that to you, didn’t he?’
‘He did it to all of us. He wanted to see what was inside us, to see how we worked.’
‘But why? What was he trying to do?’
Leoben’s eyes narrow. ‘You want me to justify my own abuse? I was a child, Agatta. Are you really asking me why he did it?’
I turn my head away, stung. He’s right. There’s no excuse for what my father did. There’s no possible reason for torturing five helpless children.
‘So he hasn’t told you about Jun Bei?’ Leoben asks.
‘He mentioned her. He said she was smart, she was tough –’
‘Tough,’ he snorts. ‘Yeah, that’s a euphemism. This one time, when we were kids, a nurse was trying to get Cole to swallow a Geiger pill to monitor a radiation treatment. Those things are huge, and she accidentally dislocated his jaw. Jun Bei bounced across the room, cute little thing, and stuck a pair of scissors into the nurse’s neck. Took three surgeons to save her. We didn’t get scissors after that. They made us eat with plastic knives and forks for the next ten years.’
‘Jesus,’ I gasp.
‘Yeah, she was a blast,’ Leoben says, stepping closer. ‘She’ll put you in the ground if she finds out you’re sleeping with Cole.’
‘We’re not sleeping together. He’s just helping me.’
‘Yeah, helping you into bed. I can smell you all over each other.’
‘It’s not like that,’ I say, my cheeks burning. ‘And it’s none of your business.’
‘I’m his brother,’ Leoben says. ‘Maybe not through DNA, but through everything that counts. I know him well enough to see that you’ve got into his head.’
‘That’s the protective protocol –’
‘It’s more than that,’ Leoben snaps. ‘You know it, and so do I. I just want you to know that Cole’s been broken before. He doesn’t need you playing games with his heart, not now he has a chance of getting Jun Bei back. Those two are meant to be together.’
I drop my eyes as the elevator slows. Beneath the sharp scent of my immunity, I can smell it too. Ice and pine. Cole’s aftershave on my skin. Just the slightest hint of it brings back the feeling of waking up this morning, locked in the circle of his arms. I didn’t mean for it to happen, I don’t think either of us did, but that doesn’t change the fact that my first reaction when I woke was to pull him closer.
It makes no sense. Leoben’s right – Cole has a chance at finding Jun Bei again. No matter what I think of her, I heard the love in his voice when he said her name. Once we’ve released the vaccine, he’ll go looking for her. That’s the whole reason he came on this mission. That’s why he’s doing this.
For her.
Deep down, part of me twists at the thought. A stab of jealousy, even though I know I have no right to feel it.
‘I’m not playing games,’ I whisper. ‘I never intended for us to get close.’
‘Of course you didn’t,’ Leoben mutters. ‘But there’s nothing quite as dangerous as an Agatta’s best intentions.’
CHAPTER 19
The elevator jerks to a halt, and the doors slide open to reveal a stark concrete room with a space-grade airlock set into the wall. The frame is circular, and its gleaming steel doors overlap like scales, opening out from the centre. The words wash-and-blast are stencilled in red above it, and the whole room stinks of disinfectant, that same sharp scent I remember from the soap I used at boarding school.
I shuffle out of the elevator, following Leoben to a desk beside the airlock. A guard stands at attention, wearing a mirrored visor and a black uniform with the Cartaxus antlers stamped in gold across his chest.
Leoben shoots a grin at the guard. ‘We’re booked in as part of Dr Crick’s party. Priority alpha, code thirteen.’ He glances at me. ‘That means we’re as VIP as it gets.’
The guard just nods. ‘Yes, sir. Your reservation has been processed. Your entry is approved, but I’ll need to scan your personal items and weapons.’
Leoben starts unbuckling his holster. The guard turns to me. ‘No explosives are permitted in the Wash-and-Blast, ma’am. Your personal items can pass through the vacuum airlock.’
‘I don’t have any explosives,’ I say, clutching the backpack’s straps. My genkit and my father’s files are in there, and I can’t risk losing them.
‘The scanners in the elevator detected a genkit in your personal items, ma’am,’ the guard says. ‘Priority thirteen means you can keep it in your possession, but it’s not permitted inside the airlocks. If it self-destructs, it’ll set off the airlock’s pressure-sensing glass and lock the entire facility down.’
I stare at him. Genkits don’t just randomly blow up. They have self-destruct sequences to stop them from being used to hurt people, but it takes a lot of work to make them actually explode. Most of them just belch smoke when they self-destruct. You have to be running dangerous code with the lasers fully primed to get a genkit like mine to truly detonate.
I consider explaining this to the guard, but Leoben looks back at me and shakes his head.
‘Hand it over, Agatta. You’ll get it back.’ He lays his holster on the counter. Another handgun is concealed at the small of his back, and a knife comes out of his boot. He empties his pockets, pulling out a packet of chewing gum, a lighter, and a length of wire that I’m guessing is a garrotte.
If the guard is surprised, he doesn’t show it. He arranges Leoben’s arsenal in a plastic tray and slides it through a steel hatch in the wall. I swing my backpack off reluctantly, and he sends it through too, then pulls a black scanning wand from his pocket.
‘Panel check.’
Leoben holds his forearm out. Five black leylines snake up from his panel, intertwined with his tattoos. The guard swipes the scanner over Leoben’s panel, and a light on its handle blinks green.
‘All clear. Your panel, ma’am.’
I hold out my bandaged arm. ‘It was damaged, and now it’s non-functional. I’ll need to get it replaced.’
The guard swipes the scanner over my arm, then repeats the motion. ‘Looks like it’s regenerating, should be done soon.’ The light on the handle of the scanner blinks green, and the guard steps back. He swipes his arm over a sensor on the wall, and the airlock slides open. ‘All clear. Welcome to Homestake.’
‘What … what do you mean it’s clear?’ I stare down at my arm.