SEELEY DROVE ALONG the narrow road, through the thick forest and wild overgrowth that made the journey unsuitable for anyone with queasy sensibilities. Zoe had to breathe through sickness that kept climbing up into her throat.
The time passed as the sun started its descent toward the mountains. Zoe wasn’t sure how far they had traveled but felt an overwhelming sense of relief when Seeley slowed the car and pulled in under the cover of a large oak tree.
Twilight lit the sky as Zoe held down the contents of her stomach just long enough to scramble out of the car away from Seeley and Lucy. She let everything up onto an innocent bush. Her hands were trembling as she gagged, brushing her hair back behind her ears to save the ends. She coughed and cleared the bits of sickness from her mouth before righting her stance and propping herself up against a nearby tree.
“You alright?” Seeley asked.
Zoe took a deep breath, wiped her mouth again, and faced them. She nodded and leaned back against the tree.
“We need to make a plan,” Seeley said, turning his attention to Lucy.
“Are we sure it was Dr. Loveless?” Lucy asked.
“Even if it wasn’t, she didn’t want to run. She’s not cut out for this, and now they have her.”
“We need to continue the work, so how do we do that?” Lucy asked.
“What do you mean?” Zoe asked.
“Something happened to me that time. I got past the drowning. I’m so close to tapping into my history. We can’t stop now.”
“Tell me about what happened,” Seeley said.
Lucy’s eyes dropped to the ground as she spoke. “I don’t really know. It all felt the same, until . . .”
“The barn was attacked,” Seeley finished.
Zoe was surprised by his earnest interest in Lucy’s progress.
Lucy nodded and looked up at Zoe. “You were in trouble, and I needed to get to you.”
The sentiment struck Zoe in the gut. The way Lucy was looking at her with such loyalty and fierceness, she wasn’t sure how to respond.
Lucy turned her eyes back to Seeley. “I cracked something open. I need to go back in. I can remember, I know I can.”
“We can’t go back to the barn,” Seeley said.
“There has to be somewhere else we can go.”
“The only other place I know that has the equipment you need is Xerox.”
“The black site where Grantham started,” Zoe said, finding her voice. “That is out of the question.”
“Could you get us in?” Lucy asked, ignoring Zoe.
“No, stop,” Zoe said.
Lucy turned to her. “We have to continue. I have to remember. Don’t you understand? I have to remember.”
“The three of us couldn’t possibly break into a highly secured government black site, and even if we could, what then? Just walk into the lab, use their equipment until you remember, and leave? Think this through, Lucy. What you are talking about is suicide. You might as well hand yourself over to them.”
“She’s right,” Seeley said.
“Thank God,” Zoe exclaimed.
“There has to be a solution,” Lucy said.
“We should make camp here for now,” Seeley said. “Let me put some feelers out and see what I can uncover, then we make a plan.”
Lucy exhaled, clearly unhappy, but nodded.
Seeley held out his phone. “I’m going to have to walk up toward the road to find service. You two get a fire going. It’ll be dark soon.”
He headed off, leaving the girls in tension.
“It’s going to be okay, Lucy,” Zoe said, touching the girl’s arm.
Lucy yanked it away. “I have to know, Zoe. I can’t stop until I know,” she said, then started toward the woods.
Zoe, now alone in the middle of nowhere, watched her go. There was nothing she could do. Lucy was determined to remember. Even if it meant getting them all killed.
TWILIGHT WAS GONE, and all that remained was starlight, a half-moon, and the fire that Seeley continued to stoke. The last couple of hours had seen him and Lucy going over a dozen different plans, with Zoe watching and trying to keep up, trying not to let her panic destroy her nerves. Each idea ended in ruin. They couldn’t agree on anything. Seeley was trying to reach McCoy and wandered to the road each hour to check his phone. It felt like they were stuck in an endless cycle of hopeless plans and irrational ideas. All Zoe could see was their clear end: being captured or being killed. Or both.
Lucy had gone out to get more firewood, and Seeley sat across the fire from Zoe, carving away at a stick.
“Are you whittling?” Zoe asked.
“It’s good for training steady hands,” Seeley answered without looking up.
“And probably comes in handy when you need a tiny sword.”
Through the firelight, Zoe could see his face turn up in a smile. He looked up at her. She chuckled softly to herself and was thankful for the momentary escape from the constant horror that was playing in her mind. But it was only momentary. The fear captured her thoughts again, and she dropped her eyes back to the fire.
“What are the chances any of this works out without us all getting killed?” she asked.
“You don’t believe in us?” Seeley said.
“We are three people against the government.”
“But one of us is Lucy.” He held up his sharpened stick. “And I have a tiny sword.”
She laughed but couldn’t keep the terror that was racing through her blood out of her expression. She knew he saw it clear as day, and they returned to the stillness that was only disturbed by the crackling flames.
“We’re going to be okay,” Seeley said.
“How do you know?”
“I don’t, but if I don’t stay positive then I place us all in danger.” He looked up at Zoe. “And so will you.”
Zoe heard his message and nodded. She would do her best, though it felt impossible given their current circumstances.
A stick snapped to their left, and Seeley dropped his project and grabbed his gun.
Lucy’s frame came into the light of the moon, and Zoe watched his grip on the weapon ease. He grabbed the fallen stick and returned to whittling. Lucy released the pile of wood from her arms and dusted her hands against each other.
Zoe opened her mouth to tell Lucy about Seeley’s tiny sword when Lucy jumped with a small gasp, like she’d been stung by a bee. A moment later she wobbled. Zoe leaped toward her just as she headed backward toward the ground. Seeley did the same, the two catching Lucy before she passed out.
They moved in from all sides then, armed to the teeth, masked, black, and nearly invisible in the night.
Seeley calmly laid Lucy on the ground, then stepped back. He didn’t even steal a glance at Zoe, and her mind continued to stumble over what was happening.
“Agent Seeley,” a male voice said.
Zoe turned to see a tall, suited man appear from the darkness.
“Director Hammon,” Seeley said, looking surprised. “Out in the field?”
“I wanted to oversee this one myself,” the director said. “It’s too important.”
Zoe felt like her mind had gone numb. She was trying to process what was happening.
“Take her,” Director Hammon said, indicating Lucy. “We can’t be certain how long that tranquilizer will last.”
Several soldiers moved to hoist Lucy up off the ground.
“Don’t touch her,” Zoe shouted, but they ignored her. She looked at Seeley for help, but he was just watching it all happen.
“Miss Johnson,” Director Hammon said. “We finally meet. Take her too.”
More soldiers started toward her. Zoe took a step back and nearly stumbled into the fire. She suddenly remembered the rifle that was lying along the short tree trunk where Lucy had been sitting before she went to grab firewood. She reached for the weapon and yanked it up. It caused her pursuers to pause. Maybe I could shoot them all was the last thing she thought before the end of a weapon touched her scalp.
Seeley stood beside her, his gun aimed at her head. “Drop the weapon, Zoe,” he said calmly.
The reality of what was happening crashed in fully. No, she thought. After all he’d promised. After all they’d faced. She’d known from the start. She’d known and she’d let herself get fooled.
“Seeley,” she said against the truth pounding inside her head.
“Weapon down,” he repeated. There were too many shadows on his face to see his eyes clearly, but she imagined they would reflect nothing. Because he felt nothing. He’d played her.
No, she’d played herself.
She lowered the gun, and the others rushed to apprehend her. The pain and hurt and betrayal inside her chest turned to rage.
“How could you?” she said in barely a whisper. “You lying—!”
Some invisible force took over her body, and she started thrashing at the men holding her. Their grips tightened, and she used all her core strength to pull her knees up toward her chest and kick out at the man who’d promised her safety, who’d even wormed his way into her heart. She shouted into the night, cursing him for his betrayal. He grasped her ankles with his hands and squeezed. The pressure sent pain racing up her calves, which made her thrust harder.
“Control her,” Director Hammon ordered.
Two more men joined the force trying to tame her rage, and all she could feel was the desire to slit Seeley’s throat. She was about to tell him so when a thick black bag came down over her head and a heavy hilt smashed into her skull.