"Oh, you will?" I was starting to feel hot again, a biological impossibility, and a sign I needed to move. "Then walk so we can get there faster!"

It took him a few infuriating moments, but Michael finally gave up his gun gambit and started moving. I followed him, keeping my handgun out of sight. I didn't know how many cameras might be watching, and I didn't need any guards deciding to attack us prematurely.

At one point he crouched down and said, "Guard station ahead. I'll walk, you sneak."

Buying this, I followed suit. Michael straightened and slowly led the way to a far interior entrance, trying to keep behind cars and to the wall when he could for my benefit. In time we pa.s.sed the guard station, the guards inside greeting Michael while remaining clueless about me, and made it to a metal door. The chip in Michael's wrist got us inside. From there he took me to an elevator, where his chip allowed him to hit the b.u.t.ton for the eleventh floor.

"We're going to the main lab," he said, sounding strangely at peace, as if he'd finally found a thread he could follow through the labyrinth of activity we were currently engaged in. He then slid his filthy fingers through his hair, before grabbing his own nose and cracking it to the side with a cry. Before I could react, I saw fresh blood dripping, smelled it, and realized what he'd done.

"Making yourself look worse?"

He chuckled snottily. "No, actually."

"Then what?" Maybe I'd actually driven him insane. I was relieved to find that the idea actually troubled me.

"This is what will get hold of my dad."

"What?"

"If I can get us through decontamination as we are and into the lab, the presence of blood and dead flesh will set off about a million alarms," he explained. "It's supposed to remain sterile. One of them will get Dad's attention."

Grudgingly impressed, I said, "Does he really pay attention to little things like lab spills? I thought he owned this entire place."

"They're the only things he pays attention to," Michael said peevishly.

The elevator opened, revealing a small room. Sensors detected our movements and raised the lights to reveal clear gla.s.s walls and an a.s.sortment of equipment I couldn't even begin to identify.

"There's a lull between the decontamination announcement and the far door locking," Michael said, pointing to it before cupping his hands under his nose. "You're big, so make yourself useful."

"Got it," I said, holstering my gun for the moment.

"Welcome to Allister Genetics! Please stand by for decontamination!"

The minute the feminine voice faded away, I rushed the door. It gave easily beneath my shoulder, and Michael ran to join me, ducking a sudden burst of gas from the ceiling. We hurried into the lab, the door swinging shut and locking behind us. I ignored it, figuring it'd open on the next cycle.

The lab appeared to be empty. Michael unlaced his fingers and walked toward one of the stainless steel workstations, where he proceeded to smear two exaggerated handprints of blood over the upper surface. The long, sterile white room ran red, warning lights and sirens exploding out of nowhere. Michael cupped his hands over his ears while I drew out my gun.

"Contamination. Contamination," the female voice intoned.

"Where can we talk to him?" I yelled.

Michael moved over to a long wall taken up by virtual cages full of holographic rats, and I followed. As I waited to see what would happen next, a silhouette of a man ghosted over a nearby wall, causing me to turn around and take aim. We weren't alone after all.

"Bram?" Dr. Elpinoy said, the red light from the alarms making his wrinkled face look like a puddle of melted candle wax. I was used to seeing him in a lab coat, but now he wore one with a stylized Allister Genetics logo on the pocket.

"d.i.c.k?" I said, unbelieving, as I lowered my weapon. He'd come here to work?

"What are you doing here? What are-" He looked at Michael.

Before he could get the wrong idea, I grabbed him by the hand and dragged him over to a workstation. "We've got an emergency!" I said. "Just stay here!"

"Emergency?" he said, even as he backed up to where I indicated. "What do you mean, emergency?"

"Coalhouse took Nora. Patient One, too." At this news, Elpinoy went stock-still, his eyes widening.

The sirens abruptly stopped. Turning toward the wall of rats, I saw they'd been replaced by a video connection with a middle-aged man in a fine suit, his eyes blazing with anger. He was standing in a room that looked similar to the one we were in-the same sort of equipment, the same wall of virtual rats. Several large blue vats stood behind him, strange creatures curled up within.

He was here. He was somewhere in the building. d.a.m.n it.

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded. "What's going on, son? What's happened to you?"

"Wrong person to ask," I piped up as I stepped closer to the screen. I raised my gun, training it on Michael's head. "Your only son's a little out of commission right now."

Allister the elder swung his eyes to me-and paused. "My G.o.d."

"He wants money, Dad," Michael said impatiently. "A million. Said he'll hold me hostage till he gets it."

Although there'd been no talk of money beforehand, I didn't contradict this-Michael probably knew better than I what would spur his father into action. I merely turned my gun slowly to the side, letting the man see it from all angles.

Lord Allister didn't even look at his son. Instead he met my eyes and said, "I didn't expect to meet you this way, Mr. Griswold. I'm disappointed."

This was a new level of weird. "What? How do you know who I am?"

"Dad?" Michael said, a poignant note in his voice.

Lord Allister actually held up a hand to shush his son, his attention still on me. "And in my building ... not wise. Not wise at all." The oddest thing was that he didn't sound angry. He sounded almost contemplative.

"How do you know me?" Had Michael told him about me, perhaps?

"You don't need to know that," Allister said. He finally looked at Michael. "Not right now."

Trying to recover the plot, I said, "Then we'll leave. Got a lot of my friends waiting for me. In fact, they're almost at your front door. Did your wife try to call you earlier?" The man blinked quickly, though the rest of his face didn't move. "Maybe I'm smarter than you give me credit for."

That got a reaction out of him. "Dead trash," Lord Allister growled. To his son, he said, "Hold on." The feed disappeared, the wall left blank.

I wasn't expecting it to be over so quickly. "Let's move," I told Allister. We'd puzzle out the rest later.

Michael just smiled.

A popping sound captured my attention. I looked to the door we'd come through but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then another pop, and another. Following the sound, I realized all of the doors were locking, some of them two and three times over. Even Elpinoy looked around in wonder, flinching every time a lock engaged.

"You're an idiot," Michael said. "Not only did you come in, you went eleven freaking stories up. Code 12 means my father is on the twelfth floor and doesn't wish to be disturbed!"

Grabbing Michael by the collar, I hurried over to one of the far doors. There, I forcibly waved his wrist over the reader, but for naught. They'd already shut off his access remotely. I thrust him off to the side and shot the lock, beat myself at the door, to no avail. Everything was reinforced ten times over.

"How do you think I knew about my father's guards, their tactics? You think planning for things like this hasn't been part of my life since I was an infant?" Michael gloated. "AG's probably the safest place on earth for me, and the deadliest for you. My dad's teams are going to march up here and fill you with so many holes, there won't be a square inch of you left to bury. Then I'm going to head out there, and I'm going to save Miss Dearly! You just handed me a way to make up for all of this!"

I stared at him in utter horror, realizing what I'd done. I'd dared to half trust the little b.u.g.g.e.r-dared to think that even though I was going to punish him later, he did want to do what was best for Nora. And look where it'd gotten me. Potentially dead. So far away from Nora I might as well have been on Mars.

Just as I was cursing myself, a hand appeared and tapped Michael on the shoulder. Michael turned around, only to be met by the business side of a stainless steel tray.

He spun to the ground, unconscious. Elpinoy stood behind him, blood-splattered tray in hand, his round stomach heaving with exertion and terror. He looked at me and dropped the tray with a clang, before touching his wrist to the pad near the door, which sprang open.

"My clearance is still good," he said. "Pick him up."

I did so, throwing Michael over my shoulder. "Did you tell Allister about me, d.i.c.k?"

"No." Elpinoy led the way to the emergency staircase, and together we half flew, half fell to the first floor. "No, I never told him anything about Company Z. Only about Dearly's research, which was all made public anyway."

"This is insane."

"He must know you from the news, or some other source." Elpinoy opened another door, which let out into the parking garage. "Go straight across. It will let out on the same side as the employee entrance, if you know where that is."

"This is where we came in." I turned to look at the man. "Thanks."

"I don't agree with Dr. Dearly's methods, but I do love you all. As foolish as that might sound." Elpinoy waved me on. "Go. Find Miss Dearly. I'll figure out what I can."

"No. Get someplace safe," I told him as I left.

Crossing the parking garage was easy-the guardhouse was empty, and I suspected maybe everybody'd been recalled to deal with the "hostage situation" on the eleventh floor. Just as I finished strapping Michael into the Rolls, though, a new and immediate siren went off, and I looked up to see black-clad soldiers spilling into the garage from all sides and a reinforced door lowering to block off the way we'd come in.

"Brilliant," I muttered as I slammed his door shut and ran to the driver's side. They must have finally started paying attention to the security cameras. I was trapped.

Luckily, again-I could shoot my way out.

By the time I'd gotten into position behind the steering wheel, the soldiers were converging on me, shouting and shooting rubber rounds, the bullets traveling fast enough to shatter the windows of Sam's beloved Rolls. A few slammed into my chest, doing little aside from compounding my anger. I turned on the engine and reached under the ignition, opening the console Sam had told me about. Blindly, as I gunned the engine and started moving, I pushed a few b.u.t.tons.

The railguns went off without a hitch. Lightning seemed to leap from them, and a sound like thunder rolled through the car. I swear the entire thing lifted off the asphalt. I hit the b.u.t.ton again and again. The projectiles slammed through the lowered door, punching a broad, combined hole in it for which I drove like a madman, swerving to avoid the soldiers in front of me as best I could. I managed to pull off a couple of maneuvers Nora would beg to hear about in detail later and shot out of the building, the ruined door sc.r.a.ping the top of the car.

As far as I could tell, as I peeled out onto the employee road, I hadn't actually hit anybody-but I'd sure as h.e.l.l scared them. It took a minute for the guards to regroup. By then I was well on my way, and I slowed down just a tad, hoping to lure them out. Sure enough, a few seconds later a couple of ma.s.sive armored trucks appeared behind me. This time they didn't shoot-though their exterior speakers were on overdrive. "Pull over!"

"Let's go boys," I said as I floored it again. Beside me, Michael shifted in his seat belt, moaning. Okay, this was no longer a "hostage situation." It was now a full-fledged hostage situation. Kidnapping, too. And extortion. And a.s.sault. And ... was it only vandalism? Seemed like blowing a hole in somebody's building deserved a bigger word than that.

Maybe I'd wait for the money to hit my account before I gave him back, after all. A million seemed fair.

33.

LAURA.

I awoke to find myself bound hand and foot, like the living girl next to me.

For some reason, I found it hard to care.

For the longest time, I didn't open my eyes or move. I just listened. I could hear the camp becoming a carnival once more, zombies gossiping as preparations were made. None of them seemed to know what was coming, but they must have thought it would surely be thrilling, since the stage was being a.s.sembled. I heard the pieces being unloaded from the carriage next to our tent, dead men laughing as they hauled them past.

In contrast, the living girl never stopped moving or talking. She didn't cry, she didn't scream, but fought the ropes that held her, her body twisting endlessly back and forth across the pallets. She called my name repeatedly, but I never responded. She got the same reaction from Smoke.

"Smoke? Are you all right?" He didn't speak. The girl cursed, and tried me again. "Laura? Listen to me. Look at me. Laura!"

"She won't help you." Hagens reentered the tent, and I opened my eyes to find her smirking. "She knows better. She knows she's going to die tonight."

That was it. I did know. And it had frozen me.

"Oh, do shut up," Nora said, turning herself around to glare at the woman.

Hagens seemed to obey her, striding across the tent until she could kneel beside Smoke. His legs weren't bound, but his wrists were connected by rope to the tent pole. She corrected that, tying his ankles together. "Sorry about this, but I need to make sure you don't get away again."

"You can't keep him here," Nora said. "If he gets free, if he starts the plague again, there'll be a backlash against the dead. Innocent zombies will be hurt."

Hagens rose and ran the rope to the tent pole as well, tethering it there. That done, she studied Nora, who glared defiantly up at her. "Innocent zombies are already being hurt, you little fool. Now it's time for payback."

"Payback? How?" Nora tossed her black hair out of her face.

"Fear," Hagens said, smiling sickly. "Just as you said-now that we have him back, we could start the plague again. And fear can paralyze even the strongest person, the strongest tribe." I bent my head.

"You underestimate people," Nora responded. As she spoke she tried to catch my eye.

"Do I?" Hagens knelt down and dug her nails into Nora's wrists, where her struggles had already reddened her skin. The girl twisted anew, this time in pain. "When I made my way out of the Siege, I was scared for my life. I thought I got used to the fact that I'm dead a long time ago, but the living made me feel that terror all over again. I have been frightened for too long."

"I don't blame you for feeling that way!" Nora tried to shake her wrists free. "But this isn't the way to make up for it!"

"How do I make up for it, then?" Hagens's voice was low, almost friendly, and that frightened me. "How do I make up for it, when humans are still trying to control me? Us? When they sought me out, and had the audacity to act like I should lift a finger to help them?"

Nora searched her eyes. "What do you mean? Coalhouse talked about this-is Company Z in danger?"

Hagens made a derisive noise. "Like I'd tell you."

"If you don't tell me, tell the others! Bram fought for you! If you'd told him about this, he would have helped you!"

"We're beyond that now." Hagens shifted closer to Nora and let go of her wrists, causing the girl to try and back up. Her bindings wouldn't let her get far. "I don't want to infect the entire nation. I don't want to wipe humanity off the face of the earth, end civilization as we know it. I'm not that stupid. I will keep Smoke very, very close to me. I just want my people to be safe, him included. I have fought, and screamed, and killed to get to a place where I can protect the dead. I have my own army now. Humans leave us alone? Humans let us live out the rest of our limited days in peace? No one gets hurt."

"What about me, then?" Nora demanded. "You still haven't told me."

"Smoke is my sword." Hagens cast her eyes down at the huddled prisoner. "You can be my shield. I served the New Victorian army with all my heart, and that same army turned around and told its living members that I was to be hunted, destroyed. I followed Griswold loyally, and he left me to die. I came to a new city, tried to build a new life, and still I was chased through the streets. You will make that stop!"

"I'm sorry they did that," Nora said. She was white as a sheet, saucer-eyed, but still she argued. "I'm on your side. Why won't you believe me?"

"Who said I don't believe you?" Hagens shook her head. "We might agree, but we are still fundamentally different. That's the point. That's the thing people need to be reminded of, and I can do that through you. Griswold loves you. The army loves your father. At the very least, you can send a message to them. So I'm not going to kill you, not unless I have to." She caught Nora's chin and her injured shoulder, squeezing both until Nora was forced to release a cry. "And if I do? It'll be death by a thousand bites. If the army comes after me, or anyone from Z-Comp, I'm going to let every member of the Changed snack on you. Hundreds of shallow little bites, one at a time, while you're still alive. What's left of you will be so ugly even Griswold will be too disgusted to look at it. It will haunt him until he dies-like the faces of the people he left behind should."

Nora's eyes rounded, her chest starting to fall and rise rapidly. She tried to turn her body, writhing uselessly in Hagens's direction. "Notice how you only say this c.r.a.p when I'm tied up or Bram's there to hold me back? What're you afraid of?"