“Tell that to Viper and the rest of the team when we get back to BostonCommon.”
Jamie knew he was going to have a member of his team attached to his side for the remainder of their time in the field. He had no doubt Katie had relayed to the rest of the team what happened during his showdown with Declan, and Kyle wouldn’t be shy about sharing his eyewitness account of Jamie’spredicament.
“Speakin’ of the team,” Annabelle said. “We shouldheadback.”
Kyle lowered his gun a fraction of an inch, but didn’t take his eyes off the rapidly emptyingstreet. “Yeah.”
The flat tone of his voice told Jamie he wasn’t going to like what they’d return to. But there was no getting through it until they gotthroughit.
Jamie didn’t hesitate. “Let’sgo.”
15
An Act ofMercy
The sun wentdown Thursday night at 1731, but Jamie never sawitset.
With the fight winding down, the MDF turned its attention to quarantine and containment of those citizens who were affected by the Splice chemical bombs. Washington Street was barricaded off with the help of another telekinetic called into thefield.
The Boston subway, known locally as the T, had closed off the stations before and after the Park Street Station on both the Green and Red lines. Boston PD and other MDF agents had barricaded the tunnels on the tracks after donning positive pressure personnel suits, standing guard against the people who had run from the terror on the street to a grave downbelow.
Claudia sat on the stairs in the subway leading up to the fare gates, arms curled around her bent legs and forehead resting on her knees. The crowd was quiet due to her empathy, but she’d been using her power nonstop since she got boots on the ground. Jamie settled a hand on her shoulder, watching as she turned her head to the side just enough that she could squint one eye upathim.
“The director is sending one of the empaths from the intelligence division out here to relieve you. Soon as he gets to base, Echo will teleport him to Boston. He’s flying in from a joint mission in Japan,”Jamiesaid.
“Thanks,” Claudiacroaked.
Keeping the hundreds of people on the platform, the tracks, and in the damaged subway train calm was hard work. Katie couldn’t help all that much, because her power dealt with thoughts, not emotions. She could uncover the people who were thinking about rushing the police line holding a hard quarantine zone around the station and wipe the thoughts from their minds, but she couldn’t controleveryone.
Jamie straightened up and swept his gaze over the platform, taking in the eerie way people milled about. Scattered through the crowd were members of every field team deployed today to deal with the crisis. Their black hard helmets were distinctive in the crowd as they patrolled the area, working to separate everyone into various groups as the onslaught of Splice deterioration worked its way through the civilians in the subwaystation.
The Splice chemical bombs had been detonated between 1200 and 1300. Jamie didn’t know the exact time because he’d been a little busy telling Declan, and in extension Stanislav, to fuck off. But five hours or so was still long enough for Splice to begin to take its toll on those who were exposed to the deadlychemical.
Many suffered from chemical burns from the three suicide bombers that Declan had remote-detonated on the train. In the rush to escape the blast, they’d surged off the train and onto the platform, the chemical transferring to others during those crazed moments. Already some people were beginning to suffer from organ shutdown while others were starting to lose lucidity to highfevers.
Splice killed within hours through rapid catastrophic cellular collapse, liquefying organs by the end of the death process. It killed 95 percent of those who came into contact with it. The 5 percent of survivors who were turned into a metahuman couldn’t be confirmed until twenty-four hours had passed. Most people were dead by hour twelve, but Splice affected everyone differently. Some took nearly the entire twenty-four hours to die, while others were gone soon after coming into contact with thechemical.
It was a waiting game, one that only metahumans could safely monitor within quarantine zones. Decontamination tents had been set up by the MDF in Boston Common for when the field teams and police finished with their grim task of watching thelivingdie.
Jamie was about to head over to where Kyle was busy checking on the worst off within the damaged subway train with Trevor’s help when someone stepped in his path. The little girl wore a long-sleeved dress, wool tights, and shiny ankle boots. Her brown hair was tied back in two tight braids, red ribbons dangling at the ends. Her eyes were big in her small face, the flush of fever beginning to stain her cheeks. She couldn’t have been much older than five or six, and had probably come into contact with Splice sometime after the initial blasts. Children tended to perish first in situationslikethis.
“Why can’t we go outside? We’ve been here forhours,” sheasked.
Behind the child Jamie could see her mother, hand outstretched toward her daughter, as if to call her back. Then the woman’s face crumpled, shoulders shaking as she covered her mouth with one shaking hand. Unlike her daughter, she knew why they weren’t allowed toleave.
Jamie slowly crouched down so that he could be at eye-level with the little girl, heart clenching at the situation. He knew she didn’t have much time before Splice killed her. The thought of her suffering through that much pain wasn’t something he wanted her to endure. But Federal law stated that anyone who came into contact with Splice couldn’t be killed by a secondary party unless they were trying to escapequarantine.
The US government, like all other governments in the world, didn’t want to lose out on gaining ametahuman.
“I know,” Jamie said, somehow getting the words out through numb lips. “And I’m sorry you’re stuck down here, but soarewe.”
“But my tummy hurts and I want togohome!”
The little girl sniffled, rubbing at her nose. Jamie knew it wasn’t the flu making her stomach hurt. Jamie looked over the girl’s head at her mother, who was very quietly sobbing intoherhand.
“Please,” the woman said through her tears. “Please, can you…can you make it so she doesn’t hurt? I don’t want my babytohurt.”
The girl seemed to finally understand that something wasn’tright, and went to turn around. Jamie caught her hand in his, tugging at her a little to keep her from looking behind her as her mother tried to get herself undercontrol.
