The Taking: The Countdown Part 28

I heard Kyra inside my head, and even though I could feel her shock as well, she was right. We needed to go. To get Adam out of here.

Back home.

SIMON.

I WAS DAYDREAMING ABOUT ALL THE WAYS I COULD snap Molly's neck when the sirens started. There was nothing subtle about what we were hearing.

An automated voice began repeating, "Attention! Attention! There has been the report of an emergency. All personnel are to evacuate immediately. Please remain calm."

Each looped message was followed by a jarring siren that would penetrate the most effective earplugs, while red lights flashed continuously up and down the hallways.

Willow flashed me a think-that's-about-us? look.

Suddenly all I could think of was Kyra. I needed to find her, before it was too late.

The sirens were annoying, but I might be able to use them to my advantage.

I started to call Molly's name to create a distraction, but Willow, apparently, was already two moves ahead of me.

"Hey b.i.t.c.h!" she shouted before I had the chance, and at the same time she shouldered me out of her way.

When Molly jerked her head just the barest amount in Willow's direction, Willow swung as hard as she could. Her fist slammed into Molly's cheek-hard, but not quite hard enough. Molly staggered but managed, somehow, to keep her grip on the gun.

She was just getting her balance again, when the fire extinguisher struck her near the base of her skull. I heard the hard whack above the shrill sirens, and even I was revolted by the sound.

Ben stood triumphantly, holding the red canister while the rest of us watched to see what would happen.

For a moment it looked like Molly was going to stay on her feet, but then she swayed. And after another second the gun dropped sluggishly from her hand as her eyes rolled back in her head. Then her entire body just went . . . limp, and she dropped to the floor.

It wasn't until I glanced at Jett and saw his face go ashen that I realized something was wrong.

"d.a.m.n," Jett breathed, and then he pointed to the blood that was pooling on the tile floor . . . blood seeping from the wound at the back of Molly's head. "She's a Returned . . ."

I glanced to Ben, who wasn't like us. Who should never have been exposed to Molly's, or any of our, blood.

"Aw, h.e.l.l." I dropped to my knees and tried to wipe it away, mopping the blood with my hands and Molly's own hair . . . anything that might stop it from going airborne.

But we all knew it was too late. Whatever toxins Molly carried-whatever Code Red he was going to be exposed to-it was already out there.

"None of that matters," Ben said, reaching down and scooping up her gun. "All that matters is we can fix this mess. That we save the Earth from being attacked. I don't care what happens to me."

You will, I thought, remembering the way Tyler had looked after he'd been exposed . . . when his skin had blistered and peeled, and later, when he'd gone blind. You just don't realize it yet.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

WE USED DR. CLARKE'S KEY CARD TO GO straight to the place she'd called the Bas.e.m.e.nt. The floor had been cleared-not a single soul in sight.

What we found instead was beyond imagination.

When we'd been told there was a fleet, I'd imagined ten, maybe fifteen s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps like the EVE.

But what we faced was nothing less than an entire squadron . . . hundreds of s.h.i.+ps. No wonder the M'alue believed we were preparing for a war.

"Why would they build so many, without even knowing how to power them?" I asked.

Tyler shrugged. "I guess they were confident they'd find the solution." He gave me a sidelong look. "If not a Replaced, then some other way." He lifted his head. "Someone's coming."

"You kids get your a.s.ses down there," Agent Truman ordered, pointing to the hangar deck. Behind us, the elevator hummed to life, and he'd already positioned himself in front of the closed doors to cover us. "Figure out how to wake that thing and get him airborne. This whole plan falls apart if we can't get him back to his people so he can let them know we want peace."

We didn't argue. It wasn't just Adam who needed us . . . who needed this to work. The entire world was banking on it.

Like the first time, when I'd approached the EVE, these s.h.i.+ps responded to our presence-to mine and Tyler's and to Adam's.

Adam stirred as well, rousing again.

"It's okay," I whispered, when he opened his unusual glowing eyes and looked into first Tyler's and then my own. You're safe, I thought when I realized words were unnecessary.

You're going home, Tyler added.

But there was something else there between us as well. Something coming from Tyler.

An awareness of everything he'd been wanting to say to me . . . everything he'd been holding back. Everything he felt.

I looked into his eyes, because he knew I was hearing him, his thoughts.

I forgive you, he said.

I let the sensation surround me. Coc.o.o.n me. And then I nodded, because there wasn't time for anything more. Adam was ready.

A staircase descended from the hull of one of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps; as if Adam had already decided which craft he'd fly. But he was weak, and unable to stand on his own, so Tyler and I hoisted him up, carrying him inside.

It took us a moment, but we managed to strap him to the seat. Only, then his head lolled to the side.

Tyler sat back and studied Adam. Even if I hadn't been able to read it in his head, the worry was written all over his face.

"I know," I voiced out of habit, because I was thinking the same thing: I wasn't sure Adam was up to this.

It hadn't only been his body that the ISA and their experiments had damaged, it was his mind too. He was still in there, I could sense and feel and hear him, but he'd withdrawn . . . a self-defense mechanism against all the torture he'd endured. Years and years of torture.

But the M'alue wanted him back. And now that was one of their conditions. Even after all the humans they'd taken and experimented on . . . all the ones who'd never come back . . . they demanded Adam's safe return.

And the thing is, even if they hadn't insisted, I was desperate to send him. He didn't belong here. On Earth. He wasn't like Tyler and me, with a lifetime of human memories and experiences to define him.

He was M'alue, plain and simple. Maybe they could undo the damage that had been done to him.

Before I could even form my own conclusion, I heard Tyler's, and I shook my head, denying him. "No way, Tyler, it doesn't make sense for you to do it. I've flown one of these before. I've been to their s.h.i.+p. I'll take him."

The truth was-and Tyler knew, even if I didn't say it out loud-I couldn't live with the idea of anything happening to him.

"And you think I don't feel the exact same way?" he said.

"I'll do it." The gruff voice came from my dad, and Tyler and I both whirled to face him.

His head was poking up through the opening in the floor.

"Dad, no." I didn't say it the same way I had to Tyler, like his offer was a legitimate solution. Instead I blew him off. "You wouldn't have the first clue." I couldn't keep the skepticism from my voice.

After Dr. Clarke's breakdown, I saw my dad through a different lens. Maybe I'd been too hard on him. He'd already suffered so much . . . lost so much. And here he was, offering to launch himself into s.p.a.ce . . . for me.

He came up another step or two. "You said yourself this thing practically flew itself. All it needed was a jump start."

"Not exactly what I said."

"But close enough," he challenged. "I heard you, the thing was intuitive. That it read your mind."

"That's because I'm M'alue."

My dad shook his fist at me. "Don't you say that. Don't you dare . . ." His face had gone all blotchy and red. "You're as human as any of us." I didn't remind him he was the only true human here, everyone else left was at least half M'alue. And after taking a second to collect himself, he blew out a breath and tried again. "You said the s.h.i.+p seemed to know where it was going. Like it was on autopilot."

I had to concede that point at least. I'd only been in control during takeoff. After that, the s.h.i.+p had had a mind of its own, navigating into s.p.a.ce without me. "Still-" I started, but my dad cut me off.

"You can't stop me, Kyr."

I wanted to tell him that's exactly what I could do. Didn't he realize how strong I'd grown-ever since I'd gone up there, to that M'alue's s.h.i.+p? Even being in Adam's presence made me feel more . . . powerful.

I could, and I would, stop him if that's what it took to keep him safe.

But he wasn't finished just yet. "I've been infected-the Code Red thing. I'll be sick within hours. Dead within days." He just threw it out there-like a bomb . . . like it was nothing.

But it wasn't nothing. It was huge, his news, and I had a million questions about how and when and who, but none of those questions found their way to my lips. I was dizzy and heavy and tangled all at the same time.

Tyler must've been inside my head and realized how disoriented I suddenly felt, because his hand shot over to find mine.

"Listen, kiddo," my dad finally said. "Going up there . . . with them, it might be my only shot. Maybe they'll help me, the way they helped the kid there." My dad nodded at Tyler.

I glanced at Tyler, and could hear what he was saying, that his case was different. They'd come to get him. They'd chosen to take him.

Besides, hadn't they already said: no more Returned?

And even if that wasn't the case, he went on, Your dad would be forcing himself on them. And he is old. Older than the rest of us.

But what about Agent Truman? I countered, because they'd taken him when he was around my dad's age.

I had to believe he at least had a shot.

Tyler stopped arguing, probably because he knew he'd lost. I'd already made up my mind.

"And you call me stubborn," I said as I reached for my dad's hand, pulling him the rest of the way into the s.h.i.+p. The two of them helped me move Adam out of the pilot's seat. We did our best to make Adam comfortable on the floor with a cargo blanket we found.

Tyler disembarked then, giving my dad and me a few minutes alone, and because good-bye was too hard, I started showing my dad what he'd need to do, which was almost nothing. I'd already tapped into the s.h.i.+p's systems, or it had tapped into me . . . either way it was already powering up, preparing to launch.

I indicated the s.h.i.+p's control panel, which mostly consisted of the joystick and was pretty basic, really. From below, I'd navigate the thing myself, if necessary, until he was safely through the bay doors. After that, he could handle it until the M'alue took over.

Then, when I couldn't put it off any longer, I leaned over and kissed him lightly on his whiskered cheek.

Swallowing, because the last thing I wanted was for my voice to wobble, I said, "'Bye, Dad." I said it like he'd be back soon. That everything would be 100 percent fine. "Be safe."

I started to straighten, and then changed my mind. There was no way I could leave things that way. This was no time to pretend this wasn't a total mess.

I dropped back down, over the top of him and wrapped my arms around his neck. I buried my face in his beard, and when I tried to talk, my voice fell apart. "I love you, Dad. And I don't blame you for what happened," I told him, because he needed to know before he went. "I'll never blame you."

He was already strapped in, but my dad managed to reach his arms back up and around me too. "I love you too, Supernova. Don't ever forget who you are. You're my girl. You'll always be my girl."

I didn't have to see him to know he meant it. He wasn't doing this for the world; he was doing this for me.

Watching as the bay doors opened, I was caught in a strange sort of limbo between agony and relief.

My dad had done it. The hardest part was over, the s.h.i.+p was launched and Adam was on his way home.

But my dad . . .

I clamped my eyes shut. I can't do this now, I told myself as I checked the clock. Less than an hour until the M'alue launch their attack.

We're running out of time.

I didn't know the whole story, only that it had been Molly who'd exposed my dad after she'd pulled a gun on them and he'd hit her with a fire extinguisher. Griffin and Thom had caught up with them shortly afterward, and now everyone was here as my dad's s.h.i.+p cruised away.

If we'd had more time, I would've asked to hear everything, but instead, we had to finish this thing.

"You all need to leave," I said, turning to face them.

Simon scowled. "What are you saying?"