Violet jerked awake and sat straight up. She hesitated only long enough for her eyes to adjust to the darkness before jumping from bed, switching on the overhead lamp, and packing the meager possessions supplied with her room. Turning the light off, she peeked out her door and slipped to the adjacent one, knocking lightly. Almost immediately Bren opened it a crack and then swung it wide enough to pull her inside. Holding her against the closed door he demanded, "What's wrong?"
Her words were urgent when she replied, "We have to leave, now!"
"What? Why?"
Violet inhaled before answering, "Because Frannie told me so. She says we're in danger." Violet felt Bren's hands on her shoulders relax.
"Your dead ancestor is telling us to leave? Do you know how crazy that sounds? And did she tell us where to go?"
"Of course. We must go to the red rocks."
"Violet, we don't even know where they are."
"Frannie is going to guide us."
Bren removed one hand from Violet's shoulder and ran it through his dark, short cropped hair. In the dim light his gaze met hers and they stared at each other for long moments. Finally, he said, "Are you sure you're not just trying to reenact Frannie's journey to the red rocks?"
"Positive." They continued staring at each other until she said, "So you never really believed me when I told you about Frannie?"
He said nothing for a few seconds and then released a long sigh. "Give me five minutes to pack my backpack. I don't like what's going on around here anyway. When we're outside, where do we go?"
"West."
"That's it? Just west?"
"For now, yes. My bag is in my room."
"Okay. But I need to disarm the hallway cameras and the outside motion sensors. If Agent Jensen saw you come inside my room, he'll likely think we're, ah, having a romantic encounter."
Violet had no response as she watched him walk to his nightstand, pick up a small device, and start punching codes.
Within minutes they were rushing to escape. When they turned into the main hallway, they jerked to a halt. Bren pushed Violet behind him in a protective gesture. In front of them were Agent Jensen and Dr. Vesper. Agent Jensen held a short metallic shaft that Violet suspected was a weapon. Both men were grinning and Dr. Vesper was the first to speak.
"Going for a midnight stroll, or perhaps a romantic tryst?"
Bren replied calmly, "I knew you were up to something, Vesper. Do you want to share why you've betrayed our organization?"
"I haven't betrayed anyone. I've just increased the funding for our efforts."
"Don't you mean funding for your efforts and your pocketbook?"
"Are you jealous, Agent Bren?"
"Hardly. Why did you sell your soul?"
Dr. Vesper's grin vanished. "Because of years of research that yields nothing. But that's interesting coming from you, a man with no soul." His grin returned. "A man who is actually a modern day Frankenstein. How many body parts and bionic mechanisms were scavenged to build you?"
Violet had been peeking around Bren's body and now her eyes widened. Dr. Vesper said, "Dr. Morningstar, it appears you're unaware of Agent Bren's dirty little secret. It's a pity I have to be the one to enlighten you."
Bren interrupted. "So why is your research worthless if you're in the midst of a breakthrough?"
The doctor glanced at Violet and smirked. "You don't think your early morning trip to the lab went unnoticed or your ruse fooled me, do you? I saw your reaction when you studied the leaves. You didn't have the same enthusiasm as before."
Violet responded with disgust, "Why have you genetically modified the plants? You know that eventually they'll become sterile and fail to produce. That fact was proven hundreds of years ago."
"He did it for the usual reasons, money and power," Bren interjected.
Dr. Vesper responded angrily, "No, I did it to gain funding. SBG has reconsidered their stance on terraforming. They're setting me up with my own lab and everything I need to continue the research. They have confidence in my ability to solve the problem that Dr. Morningstar was unable to. I just needed to convince them." His gaze honed in on Violet. "So, as it turned out, there was no need to awaken you from cryosleep. In fact, I believe SBG is going to petition the government to have you both placed in cryosleep for an indefinite period."
Bren interjected, "Are you that blind? Can't you see you're being used as a pawn to destroy any chance at terraforming?"
Before Dr. Vesper could respond, Agent Jensen, who had been silent up until then, motioned with his weapon. "You're both under house arrest and ordered back to your rooms." His face contorted into a menacing expression. Unexpectedly, there was a noise in the intersecting hallway and he stepped beside Dr. Vesper to hide the weapon.
A moment later Dr. Chandler, looking sleepy eyed, rounded the corner. "What's going on? I got up for a midnight snack and heard voices." She yawned.
Dr. Vesper said impatiently, "Nothing of importance. We're all headed back to our rooms."
"Oh, okay." She yawned again and turned to leave. But within seconds she jerked back around and fired a weapon at Agent Jensen. He twitched and fell to the ground. Next, she fired at a startled Dr. Vesper. He also twitched and dropped to the floor. She said with satisfaction, "I've wanted to do that for weeks." She moved her gaze to Bren. "Whatever you two are up to, I back you one hundred percent."
Bren asked, "Who do you work for?"
She ignored his question. "I'll have the Hawthorn brothers drag them to the holding room."
Bren repeated, "Who do you work for?"
Dr. Chandler replied, "I replaced Dr. Vesper's previous associate and the Hawthorn brothers were already here. SBG wanted to check the veracity of Dr. Vesper's claims after he approached them with fantastic results he was having in terraforming. He wanted to defect to their side for funding and position. Of course, if he was on to something, SBG wanted to know. I convinced the brothers to work with me by promising them a whole lot more money than Vesper was bribing them with and soon discovered Vesper's claims were a hoax. Per the doctor's orders the Hawthorns have been growing corn with Dr. Morningstar's formula in a secret chamber and substituting the leaves for the genetically modified crop. The information and pictures given to SBG were all a hoax. I believe it was Dr. Vesper's plan to suddenly disappear and change his identity when he got his payoff." She grinned. "But if you're escaping, I suggest you salvage the store room and leave immediately. In fact, I encourage it. The SBG bullies will be here soon and it won't be pleasant when they arrive."
Bren said, "Then you work for SBG and they've infiltrated the TEA organization?"
Dr. Chandler replied, "Yes. I work for SBG. And yes to infiltration."
Bren frowned. "If you work for them then why are you letting us go?"
Dr. Chandler grinned. "Haven't you ever heard of a double agent?"