Almost empty.
Because a girl is stretching out on a mat on the far side of the gym. She cracks her neck and readjusts her position, executing a series of powerful kicks, her leg traveling ever higher as she maintains her balance on one foot.
She stops when she sees us. Mother waves her over, and she trots toward us.
The moment she turns, I know who it is.
Tanya.
It takes me a second to process what I’m seeing, but just a second.
Tanya is the Gamma agent. She was always the Gamma. I was a fool to believe differently.
She walks up to us wearing workout tights and a small T-shirt that accentuates her body. Her bearing is different, relaxed but authoritative.
I say, “Everything that happened between us—it was an act?”
Her expression remains passive.
“Isn’t that what we do, Zach? We act. We play a role.”
“Not all of us. I was trying to keep you alive.”
“You’re lying to yourself. You didn’t really care about me. You were working out some kind of misplaced guilt for past missions. You made yourself feel better by being vulnerable for a little while and doing a good deed for a couple of kids. If you really cared about us, you would have dropped us off at the first police station. Put us in the hands of the authorities.”
“That wouldn’t have protected you. Not from The Program.”
“Who was the prime target? You or us?”
She’s right.
The Program was after me, not them. I should have dropped them off, gotten them away from me and into the hands of people who could help them. But I didn’t. Why?
Tanya and Mother trade glances. Tanya says, “You kept what you thought were two innocent kids with you, when you were the target. I had heard so much about the famous Zach Abram, I wanted to see how you worked in the field. Well, I saw what I needed to see. You’re selfish and, worse, you’re dangerous. I watched that helicopter go down with Father in it—”
Mother stiffens next to me.
Tanya blinks. She noticed it, too.
Tanya lowers her voice. “I saw Father die, and maybe it wasn’t your fault directly. So I gave you the benefit of the doubt, at least until you went to the mayor. But when push came to shove, you were more than willing to destroy The Program. That’s when I understood that you would sacrifice anything to get what you wanted. Your friend Howard. Mother. The Program. Me. None of us really mattered to you. The only thing you cared about was finding your father.”
“That’s not true, Tanya.”
“We have a code. Primary objective: Protect The Program. Secondary objective: Survive. You’re very good at the second, but you seem to have forgotten the first. You came damn close to destroying everything we’ve built here. Thank God Mike stopped you.”
She knows about the video he sent to the mayor.
I look at Tanya, her jaw set tight, her eyes defiant.
A few days ago I thought I loved this girl. Now I know I was wrong. My feelings have betrayed me again.
Sam, Miranda, Tanya.
Mike was right. Every time I let my feelings guide me, I make mistakes, and people get hurt. Now I’ve made the biggest mistake of all, and innocent people are going to suffer for it.
“What happened to Howard?” I ask.
“I turned him over to The Program,” Tanya says, her voice cold.
I look at her and my face burns with shame.
“You had me fooled,” I say. “Why didn’t you kill me? You had plenty of opportunity.”
She looks to Mother for permission to speak.
“Tell him,” Mother says.
“I was following orders,” Tanya says with a shrug.
“What was your mission?”
“Get close, report, and keep you alive.”
“Keep me alive?”
“Ironic, isn’t it? You thought you were the one keeping me alive,” she says, “but it was the other way around. I was making sure nothing happened to you, because The Program wanted you back.”
I race through my memories of the days since I broke into the holding house. So much has happened between Tanya and me. Could it all have been part of a plan?
Mother watches my face. “Naturally, you’ll have questions,” she says. She turns back to Tanya. “Thank you for your hard work.”
I look into Tanya’s eyes. I don’t see the girl I thought I knew.
I see a soldier. Cold, calculating, dangerous.
Tanya walks across the gymnasium, returning to her workout mat. She doesn’t look back.
Mother gestures to the doors. “Let’s talk outside,” she says.