Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
We stop in front of a door. Not the one we came through earlier. “What makes you think they’ll let me go, Mercer? What if they just kill me?”
“They could. But they’re going to do that anyway, Nova. You’re not getting out of here alive.”
“Won’t that look bad for their FDA approval? I mean, if I die—”
“Oh, you won’t die of the drug. It’ll be an accident. A car crash, plane, whatever they can think up that won’t implicate their drug. But if this works, you’ll have a bargaining chip.”
A child.
That’s my bargaining chip.
“They will not kill that child. No matter what. You will have used the drug once in early pregnancy. They will want that data.”
“What if they take the baby? I don’t think I can live with that—”
“They won’t. They will watch from a distance. Trust me, that will not be in the FDA paperwork. But their curiosity, Nova. It’s diabolical. They can’t help themselves. The ‘human experience’ is an ant colony to these people. Something to be stepped on or used to some advantage. They need—no, they crave these things. This knowledge. If this, then what? That’s their only purpose in life. They are bored rich people with delusions of grandeur. They want to burn it down just to see what happens. They are sick, and maybe we can’t stop it all, but then again, maybe we can stop some of it.”
I blow out a long breath.
“It’s a lot, I know. And there are no guarantees. But it’s the best plan I could come up with. And the kiss, Nova. I’ve given it to Locke, and Locke has given it to Travis. And now I’m giving it to you. It will bind the four of us together. The kiss is not just a kiss. It’s a bond. A symbol, a signal, a way out when there is no other option. Will it work? Will any of this work? I have no idea. But it’s all I have to offer.”
It’s all I have to offer.
These words echo through my head as I stare blankly around my house. And I can hear them perfectly. His voice.
Then I smile a little.
Mercer is my internal monologue.
He’s been with me, in this small way, the whole time.
“Nova?” A tinny voice, coming from the phone in my hand.
“Travis.”
“Talk to me. What’s going on?”
“I just crashed again. It’s Mercer, Travis. He’s the one we have to save. And if we save him, we save all of us.”
“I don’t—”
“Trust me. Do you trust me?”
I can think of a million reasons why Travis should not trust me. But that’s the past. So he says, “I trust you.”
“Good. I need to do something. Now. You and Veda need to get in the car and drive now. Get here as fast as you can.”
“Nova, wait—”
“I’ll see you then.” I end the call and glance at the clock. Only a few minutes have gone by.
There is still time.
If I act now, there is still time.
I go into my closet, rummage around on the top shelf, and pull out the folder. The dark-green glossy folder that Mercer gave me when I left the island that night. I open it, pull the stack of papers out, and stare at the case number printed on the bottom of every page.
I have looked at these papers so many times, they are ragged, and dirty, and dog-eared.
But I never even noticed the case number at the bottom.
I have another bargaining chip. Something I can use to get Locke and Mercer out of the Institute’s grasp.
I get in my Suburban and drive towards town.
I’m just coming around a bend when I spot the Jeep in a scenic turnout on the side of the road.
I pull in behind it and just sit there for a moment, thinking.
I need to get to that storage unit. I needed to have done this years ago. So I feel this desperate rush to go do that.
But the Jeep is empty. Like Mercer and Locke went on a hike, or something.
I know that’s not what they’re doing.
Jumping off a cliff is a better possibility.
I look at the road that leads to town, which leads to the storage facility, which leads to freedom. Or, at the very least, the possibility of freedom.
Then I look at the woods… and I get out of my car.
They’re in there.
They’re in there, and they are lost.
I’m the only one who knows what’s going on.
I’m the only one who can change things.
Locke, I don’t know if I can help him crash out.
But Mercer—I can.
He told me the crashes are easy for him. And surely, when he was here today, he was on the drug. They’re controlling him with that fucking drug.
They will never let me go.
That’s what he said.
He told me something else, too.
He told me how to bring him back.