‘We haven’t killed him,’ I say, choking back a cry. ‘He’s still out there. This is all part of his plan. We’re still being played.’
Cole’s hands ball into fists. ‘We’ll find him,’ he says, with steel in his voice. ‘We’ll hunt him down and make sure he’s dead this time.’
‘But we can’t beat him. He’s too smart.’
Cole turns to me. ‘No, he’s not. You beat him here, and you can do it again. You have the mind of the greatest scientist this world has ever seen, but you are so much more than him.’
He takes my arm, helping me up. Overhead, passenger pigeons dart across the sky, their cries echoing from the mountains. Cole’s touch ignites something inside me – the smallest flicker of courage – and I catch a glimpse of a dangerous feeling I’ve kept locked away so long.
Hope.
‘But I don’t even know who I am,’ I whisper.
‘I do,’ Cole says. His hand rises to my face. ‘You’re strong, and you’re brave, and you care about people. You offered your life to release the vaccine, which means you’re nothing like him. He’s wrong about you. We’re more than what our genes dictate we should be. You’re proof of that, Cat. He just doesn’t know it yet.’
I stare into Cole’s eyes, feeling the earth tilt beneath me, gravity pitching me into a fight I’m not sure I can win. It’s impossible to outsmart a man with a mind like Lachlan’s – even with armies and drones, rebels and hackers, we’ll never take him down.
But he made one crucial error. One flaw in his perfect plan. He gave me his mind – his intelligence, his cunning.
It’s time for me to embrace it.