“The point is,” my father says, steering us back, “Julia Van Veen is alive. Which means Global Dynamix still has leadership. Which means you’re both still in considerable danger.”
“We knew that already,” Nate says flatly.
“But you didn’t know you were in danger from someone who wants revenge and will get it any way that she can.”
He’s right about that. The idea that Julia is still alive and out there and plotting feels like ice sliding into my guts. I know how obsessed she was with Vanguard before, but now that he’s turned on her, and chosen me, she’s never going to let that go. I think she’ll chase Nate and I to the ends of the earth.
“Did you know that President Vasquez is compromised?” my father suddenly says.
That makes us both look up.
“Compromised how?” I ask.
“Blackmail, almost certainly. I don’t know the specifics, but some have indicated she’s not as free to act as she appears. There are people with leverage over her, people who won’t allow her to move against Global Dynamix without consequences.” My father sets aside his tea and leans forward, elbows on his knees. “This is bigger than two fugitives on the run. Global Dynamix has connections everywhere—Congress, the Pentagon, the intelligence community. I know they’ve been running Project Prometheus for almost a decade, trafficking human beings forexperimentation, and no one with the power to stop them has been willing or able to do so.”
Seems my father probably knows more about it than I do.
“But you’ve seen inside that particular machine,” my father continues, his attention shifting back to include both of us. “You’ve survived it. That makes you dangerous to them. And potentially useful to anyone who wants to see that machine dismantled. A lot of people want to see that bloody machine dismantled. There are very few people actually willing to step up to the plate.” He gives Nate a faint smile. “Very few people like you, Nate.”
Nate swallows and looks away. “Yeah, well, I’ve spent my whole life being useful to people. Being their weapon, their symbol, their asset. Forgive me if I’m not eager to sign up for another round, if I’m tired of stepping up to the plate.”
“I understand your reluctance. But this isn’t about using you—it’s about giving you a choice you’ve never had before.” My father spreads his hands. “Right now, you’re running. Hiding. Eventually, they’ll find you, and when they do, you’ll have nothing but your fists and your powers. But if you understand what they did to you, what they made you into, then you have something else. Knowledge. Leverage. The ability to expose them to the rest of the free world.”
“Assuming you can figure out what they did to me,” Nate says quietly, looking down at his mug.
“But I can,” my father says brightly.
It’s exactly what I was hoping to hear.
Nate looks up at him and he gives us a quick smile, adjusting his glasses. “I can run tests on you here in the lab. We have a state-of-the-art facility. Whatever you want to know about yourself, I can help you.” He pauses. “I’m going to assume that whenever you had scans or appointments, you were kept out of the loop for a lot of them, correct?”
“Pretty much,” Nate says. “I don’t think they made my brain as strong as the rest of my body, I could never understand most of their mumbo jumbo.”
“That was probably on purpose.”
“Why?” I ask. “Were they hiding something?”
My father gives me a pointed look. “Of course, they are hiding something, angel. It’s Global Dynamix.”
Angel. The name my father used to call me both grates on me and gives me a sense of comforting nostalgia.
“The voice in my head,” Nate says, voice still low, his body shifting uncomfortably beside me. “Can you help with that?”
“Voice inside your head?” my father repeats.
Nate shrugs. “I think it’s always been there but lately it was getting worse. Ever since, well, I met Mia. I know that Julia had a remote, she was controlling some of it but…it’s still not gone.”
“Well, now that we know she’s not dead, she might be trying to control you still,” I say, “just at a distance, so the signal is weaker.”
“Could be,” my father says. “I don’t know what they did to you, Nate, I only know what they said they did to you. And I won’t know until I examine you properly.” My father stands. “My equipment is probably not as sophisticated as what Global Dynamix has access to, but it should give us a baseline understanding.”
“And then?” Nate asks, but for the first time in a long time he actually looks hopeful.
“And then we figure out what we’re dealing with. And how to fix it.” He pauses. “If it can be fixed.”
I don’t like the hesitation in his voice, but it’s a lot more than we had yesterday.
“Fine,” Nate says, pushing to his feet. “Let’s do it.”
