My eyes lift to the horizon for a sign of where we are, and my breath catches in my throat.
On the other side of the lake, three rocky peaks rise from the forest into a blanket of low-hanging cloud. I know these mountains. I saw them during the procedure and in my dream, and looking at them now tugs at something in my memory. Did my father bring me here? The thought crystallizes for a heartbeat before splintering, spinning back out of reach. It’s like a name on the tip of my tongue. A song at the edge of my hearing. Every time I think I catch it, it ripples away.
I crawl to the back of the jeep to get a better look, pushing away the silver blanket. Cole’s eyes blink open, instantly black. He sits up in a blur and grabs the rifle lying beside him.
‘Cole, it’s OK. It’s just me.’
His eyes snap to me, his pupils contracting. ‘Cat,’ he breathes. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘I feel like … I feel like I got shot in the back.’
‘That’s a common side effect of getting shot in the back.’ Cole stands up slowly, stretching. His movements are stiff, and I can tell that he hasn’t had much sleep since we left Sunnyvale. He’s still in the same dust-strewn, wrinkled clothes, and there’s a bandage on his arm that wasn’t there before.
His eyes are bloodshot, like he’s been crying. My stomach clenches. ‘Did Leoben make it out?’
‘He’s fine,’ he says, rubbing his face. ‘He’s not far from here.’
I let out a sigh of relief. ‘You look awful.’
‘You’re not looking so great yourself.’ He rolls his head from side to side, cracking his neck. ‘You got pretty beat-up. Some of the bruises rose while you were sleeping.’
‘Oh,’ I say, bringing my hand up to my face. My cheeks and eyes feel swollen from where Dax hit me. ‘I was hoping that was just a dream.’
‘I should have gone back and killed him.’
I drop my eyes. He means it. His voice is like ice, but it’s not the violence in his words that shocks me. It’s the flash of Dax’s snarling mouth, his elbow in my face, and the little voice inside me that says Maybe I should have let you.
I swallow. ‘Well, I guess Cartaxus’s drones did that for you.’
‘No, Crick’s not dead. Novak got the bastard out, and he’s back to normal somehow. They’ve been all over the VR channels, taking interviews, talking about the vaccine.’
‘What?’ I push myself up to my knees, clenching my teeth against the pain. ‘So who triggered the orange panels? What are the Skies saying?’
‘That’s the thing – they’re not saying anything. It’s like it never happened. Novak and Dax are setting up a new joint HQ for Cartaxus and the Skies. Everyone’s still working together. They say the plague is over. It’s been two days, and there haven’t been any new infections. They’re even talking about opening the bunkers up.’
I press my hand to my forehead, swaying. This news is everything I’ve wanted to hear, but it doesn’t make any sense. Why would the Skies help Cartaxus after their drones blew Sunnyvale to hell? One of them must have set off the orange panels. Someone drove everyone crazy …
But maybe it wasn’t either of them.
My pulse slows to a crawl. Cartaxus and the Skies wouldn’t maintain their truce like this unless someone else was behind the orange panels. Someone they couldn’t fight alone. Someone capable of manipulating them, who could construct a plan that would plant malicious code into every panel on the planet.
Someone like the great Dr Lachlan Agatta.
‘It was my father,’ I breathe. ‘Dax said an implant inside me added four million lines to the vaccine’s code, but that was what he wanted all along, isn’t it? That’s why he needed me to unlock it. He wanted to get that code into everyone’s arms without Cartaxus seeing it.’ I cover my mouth. ‘Cole, I made them send it out to everyone.’
‘This isn’t your fault. Don’t think like that. This was Lachlan’s doing and his alone. Leoben and I think he has to be the one behind the attack on Sunnyvale.’
The realization takes a moment to settle in. ‘You think he’s still alive.’
It isn’t a question. I see the answer in Cole’s eyes, and the thought knocks the air from my lungs.
‘We don’t know for sure –’
‘But there’s a chance?’
Cole nods. ‘There wasn’t much left after the explosion in his lab. I checked the report. They found a few traces of blood and tissue that matched his DNA. He could have been the one behind the hack that blew up the lab in the first place. It wouldn’t be easy, but Lachlan’s smart enough to leave tissue behind as a decoy.’
Smart enough. I let out a short, bitter laugh. Of course he’s smart enough to fake his own death. He’s smart enough to manipulate us into releasing his abomination of a vaccine to everyone.
And he’s still going. Whatever his plan is, it certainly isn’t over. Driving a town full of people crazy isn’t a big enough goal for a man like my father. Any minute now he could use the vaccine to turn on the orange panels across the world.
He could kill us all. But why?
‘We need to find him,’ I say. ‘Whatever he’s trying to do, he’s not finished.’
‘I know. That’s why Lee and I came up here. We’re near the lab he wanted us to go to, the one he mentioned in the notes he left us. It took us a while to find it, but we spotted some landmarks last night. Lee’s gone down there on foot to check it out.’
Landmarks. The lab. Something itches in the base of my skull – the same feeling I get before a migraine, but it’s different this time. I stare at the mountains on the horizon. They’re the landmarks Cole is talking about – I know it. I must have seen them when I was a child, but I still can’t remember when.
There’s a wall in my mind I can’t punch through. A memory locked away, rattling deep in my subconscious. It draws closer every time I look at the mountains, every time I think about the flashes I saw during the procedure. Something happened to me in that vat. Something I can’t explain.
‘Cole, there’s something I need to tell you.’ I take his hand, climbing out of the back of the jeep.
‘What is it?’ He takes my elbow to steady me, then looks into my eyes, and a jolt passes through him. He steps away suddenly, his face paling, staring at me like I just pulled a gun on him. ‘Why did you do that to your eyes?’
‘What?’ I bring my hand to my eyes, meeting bruised, tender skin. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘The upgrade. They’re green – you changed their colour. Why did you do that?’
‘I didn’t do anything.’ I turn to the side of the jeep, peering at my reflection in the mud-strewn windows. My face is bruised, one eye swollen, and my hair is full of dust from the explosions. My cheeks look hollow; my lips are chapped …
And I have bright green eyes.
I blink. ‘My new panel must have …’ I drift off as I look down at my forearm, seeing three lights flashing beneath bruised, dirty skin. It’s still growing. It hasn’t started running yet. There’s no way it could have changed the colour of my eyes.