Contained (Virus Book 3) Read online

  Elaan swallowed and looked down at the wood grain of the table. She had thought she didn’t care if anyone was watching, but she hadn’t expected it to be her father. And this felt incredibly uncomfortable.

  Her father reached out and patted her hand. “Don’t be embarrassed,” he said. “It’s the drugs. Number Nine was designed for that.”

  “Number Nine?” she asked. “That’s what the drug is called?”

  Her father laughed. “Yeah. It’s a reference to an old song, ‘Love Potion No. 9.’”

  She didn’t know the song, so she was nowhere near as amused as her father appeared to be. Elaan took a deep breath and tried to look her father in the eye when she spoke, hopeful he wasn’t thinking about what he’d witnessed earlier. “I’m worried about Ki. She doesn’t like her guy. What are they going to do to her?”

  “Why would they do anything to her?” Josh asked, and she realized her father hadn’t explained what they did when the shots didn’t work.

  “Because she’s not taken an interest in two different guys they’ve paired her with, so they think she’s gay,” Elaan said. “And our new leader doesn’t want gay people in the world he’s creating.”

  Josh looked confused. “You’re kidding, right?”

  Elaan shook her head.

  “Your friend will be fine. I’ve suggested another mate who may be a better fit.”

  “But if she doesn’t like guys, nothing will be a better fit. We have to let her know what’s at stake, or she won’t know how important it is to like this guy.”

  “And what is at stake?” Josh asked.

  “Her freedom,” James answered. “They send the unmatables to the Basement. It’s the lab of horrors I was concerned they’d send Elaan to. It’s for the more rogue experimentation. Given the progress they’re making, that kind of experimentation shouldn’t really even be necessary. But I suspect Thoreaux and the guys who run the Basement like it.”

  Josh’s mouth parted, and he shook his head. “This doesn’t make any sense. No one would accept this.”

  “Not everyone knows,” James said, a little sharp. He sighed as he looked sympathetically at a reeling Josh. “Listen, you’ve studied history, right?” Josh nodded, so James continued. “The Nazis killed millions of Jews without people doing anything. They did a lot of it in secret, telling people who were concerned exactly what they wanted to hear. They told them that nothing was wrong, that the people were just going elsewhere. That rumors of death were propaganda meant to discredit the great and powerful Nazi party. Those who wanted to believe in Hitler and his regime believed the stories because, frankly, the stories of Jews leaving for greener pastures made more sense than their government murdering its citizens. People here turn the same blind eye. They don’t want to believe Thoreaux is bad because he presents himself as good. But that doesn’t mean he is.”

  James turned his wrist so he could see his watch. “You need to eat,” he said, standing and walking over to the oven. He pulled out a dish full of lasagna and set in on the stovetop. “They’ll be back for you both soon, so put some food in your mouths and maybe I can get a word in edgewise.”

  He cocked a crooked smile in an attempt at humor, but neither Elaan nor Josh were in the mood to return the smile. He served them each a plate of lasagna and poured them some water. Then he sat back down at the table.

  “Now, Elaan,” he said. “As to your roommate’s trouble, I’ve suggested that they offer her the revised Number Nine. It’s a little more potent, and try her with a new match I’ve suggested. It doesn’t matter if she takes to the guy or not. The key is to buy us time.” Elaan opened her mouth to ask time for what, but her father held out a hand to silence her. “The dorm rooms are monitored via audio, so please do not discuss this issue with her. It’s important we not tip people off that you know.”

  Elaan nodded. “Fine, but you said this was just buying us time. Time for what?”

  “Time for the resistance to carry out its plan.”

  “There’s a resistance?” Josh asked.

  “Yes,” James responded. “A group of military personnel who realized what Thoreaux did and want to get rid of him. They’re in charge of an underground newspaper that spreads the truth about what’s going on.”

  “The Slam Report?” Elaan asked, thinking back to the papers Alex gave her.

  Her father nodded. “Yes. Anyway, with their help, we can get the information out about Thoreaux, and once it’s available to all, they can take a few military elites in to take custody of him. So here is the plan. Thoreaux has control of four immune complexes. One here, one in Missouri, one in Texas, and one in Washington state. He plans for these to serve as the hubs of his new America. But, there’s so much more to the country and he knows he needs that under his control. So, as president, he plans to send out messages inviting the masses out of hiding and declaring the vaccine will save the day. Once people are in the open again, he plans to take them into mass centers, learn more about them, and spread the virus to any people he doesn’t want. There won’t be mass vaccination, just death to those who remain and aren’t what he wants.”

  Josh looked up from his bite of lasagna, skepticism written all over his face. James ignored this.

  “He plans to address the nation, tell them to come out, and then send in teams who are carriers to supposedly give out the inoculations.”

  “How do you know all this?” Elaan asked.

  “Kingston told me,” he said.

  “My dad?”

  James nodded. “When I told him that Shonda could fix your test in Urbana so it looked like you were immune, I told him I’d only ask her to do it if he told me everything he knew. He did. So, I know the plan.”

  “What if he’s wrong?” Elaan asked.

  “He’s not. And that wasn’t the point. My point is, when Thoreaux makes the call for people to come out, he’s going to broadcast it live, as well as send his staff with messages to broadcast in town centers across the nation. That same staff is in charge of restoring communications as they go across the country. Those people will be receiving real inoculations. The one they’ve perfected. We just need to get to them, to get the real messages to them, and we can finish Thoreaux.”

  Elaan shook her head. “This seems really difficult.”

  “It is, but we can do it. I’m going to steal recordings from their listening center. Ones where Thoreaux discusses his plans. When the men go out to deliver their messages, I plan to sneak you out with them.”

  “How?” Elaan asked.

  “Well, that’s the part I’m still trying to resolve, but don’t worry. We’ll figure it out.”

  Anytime someone said “don’t worry,” Elaan tended to worry.

  Chapter 35 - Lijah

  He’d spent three days in the holding cell and he wasn’t happy. Mainly because he’d been alone. No one had come to see him. Not his mother or Natalie.

  He had no idea whether they were alright or if he should be plotting his own escape. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He knew he should be planning an escape route; he just didn’t see how. There were guards stationed outside, and he couldn’t fathom a great way to get around them.

  Even if he had figured that out, he didn’t know what to do about his mother. Had Alex done something with her, too? Or was she safe and sound, just under his controlling thumb?

  The door rattled open and Natalie appeared. She looked tired, but Lijah didn’t care. He was glad to see her. To see anyone really, other than the guard who’d brought him food. His time in this room before had been halfway palatable because he had company. Alone, he was going mad.

  “What’s up?” he said, as the door closed behind her.

  She half smiled. “Nothing. The same old same old.”

  Rolling his eyes, he said, “Seriously. What’s going on? My mother hasn’t come to see me.”

  Natalie took a seat on the bed, and Lijah sat back down next to her. “I know. She asked me to let you know that she wants to come
, but that she’s too busy with work. They’ve pushed ahead the schedule for releasing the new vaccine. It’s been tested, but not that well, and your mother wants to do more. She’s concerned about side effects.”

  “Why are they pushing ahead?”

  Natalie shrugged. “Not sure. President Thoreaux is planning a big announcement. Supposedly he’s going to announce more people can head back uptop, now that we’ve finally turned the tide in our fight against the Hell Virus.”

  Lijah bristled at Natalie’s use of the diseases nickname. It had plunged the uptop into a living hell, so he understood why it had stuck. He tried to put the past out of his mind, focus on the future. “You said people plan to go uptop, even though the vaccine isn’t fully tested yet?”

  “I’m not a scientist. I don’t know all the ins and outs of the vaccine, so maybe they mean something else by fully tested. Plus, we’re not the only facility that has been working on this. Maybe our vaccine is just another way at the same thing. Or maybe one of the cure centers has better treatment. I mean, dropping the kill rate from ninety-six percent to fifty percent would be a drastic improvement.”

  Natalie was right about that. She put a hand on his knee and said, “Besides, I didn’t come to talk about that. I wanted to see how you are.”

  He stared at her hand a moment and sighed. “I’m antsy,” he said. “I’d like to go back to my duties. I’m not sure why I’m in here.”

  “I’m not sure either. I’ve asked Alex to explain, but he hasn’t,” she said, patting his leg, then placing her hand back in her own lap. “I just wanted you to know I’m thinking about you. That you’re not forgotten. Not by me or by your mother.”

  That was a hard thing to believe when no one came to visit you. “If she hasn’t forgotten me, then she should come, even if she’s working round the clock on the vaccine, she could spare a minute for me. Tell her to come have dinner with me. She did it before. Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  Natalie shook her head. “No,” she said. “I’d tell you if anything was wrong with her.”

  “It’s just that she’s all alone down here. The only people she knows are me and Alex. And if Alex has put me down here, then maybe he’s done something with her, too.”

  “Alex wouldn’t,” Natalie said, then paused, frowning slightly. Her voice lowered. “Alex helped me when I was really down. I had just left an abusive relationship, and he helped get me back on my feet. He took me into this facility. He got me safety from the world uptop, and ever since then, he’s taken great care of me. And before then, he just barely knew me. He did all that for me, with me having just been in his class, and talking a couple of times.”

  Lijah stared as she extolled Alex’s virtues. He tried not to look like he wanted to vomit. He knew it was important that she extoll Alex’s virtues for whomever was watching.

  “So, I get the impression that he knew your mother from before. Knew her better than he ever knew me. If that’s the case, I know he’ll do everything he can to help her while she’s here. You don’t have to worry about her. And maybe even the reason you’re in this cell is to help her.”

  Lijah refrained from scoffing. There was no way that was the case. Instead, he shrugged. “I can’t imagine any reason me being in here would help her,” he said, offering a small pause, as if he was considering her words. “But if you say he’s trustworthy, that he’s helping, I’ll try to believe.”

  She smiled. “Alex is a good guy.”

  Lijah nodded.

  “I brought you a deck of cards,” she said, pulling a deck from her pocket and handing it to him.

  “Solitaire,” he said. “Fun. Thanks.” He hadn’t meant it to sound sarcastic, but it had. So, he cleared his throat and managed a friendlier, “I appreciate it.”

  She patted his thigh again and smiled. “Good, enjoy the deck.” She eyed him significantly and stood. “I have to get back to work.”

  “So soon,” he said. “You can’t stay and play a round of something with me — blackjack? That’s short. Will only take a couple of minutes.”

  She shook her head. “No, but I’ll be back soon.”

  Lijah nodded and watched as she left the room. He looked down at the deck of cards in his hand. He shoved them in his pocket and lay there for a few minutes. He didn’t want to be too obvious about what he was doing. And heading immediately to the bathroom with the cards in his pocket seemed too obvious, so he lay there with his eyes closed and waited. After about ten minutes, he headed to the bathroom, where he emptied the box of cards into his hand. He was hoping the note would be stuck to the inside of the box. It wasn’t. However, he noticed there was a bit of a gap in the deck of cards. Dead center of the deck was a folded note.

  He opened it.

  Lijah,

  Spoke to your mother. She says she has the thing you need, and you’ll know what that means. She’s going to try to bring it tomorrow. The plan is for you to leave in three days. I will come for you then, probably in the middle of the night, around 1 or 2 a.m. Be ready to leave quickly and quietly.

  N.

  Three more days. He could do three more days.

  * * *

  The next morning, Lijah opened his eyes to find his mother sitting on the floor staring at him. Startled, he sat up. “Whoa, Mom. What are you doing?”

  She laughed. “Just watching you sleep. Haven’t really done it much since you were little.”

  “That’s creepy,” he said.

  “Wait ’til you have kids,” she said. “It’s nice to watch them and know that they’re safe and sound.”

  Only Lijah was neither here in this place. He decided not to bring it up. He looked around. The door appeared closed and locked. “Did they put you in here, too?”

  “No,” she said. “I just didn’t want to wake you up. I had a few minutes with you, so I thought I’d let you sleep.”

  He nodded, though he wished she’d awakened him. He couldn’t see Alex telling her to spend all day with her son. “So how long can you stay?”

  She looked at her watch. “About ten more minutes.”

  “That’s not long,” he said.

  “I know.” She cast her eyes down, her shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry that I’ve not been able to convince Alex to let you go.”

  “It’s not your fault,” he said. “You don’t control him. And he doesn’t want to put his population at risk.”

  “But you’re not a risk, and I have a fix for you. It’s ready. It works. I just want to give it to you and see your progress, but he thinks it’s too risky.”

  Lijah sighed. “It’s alright, Mom. It’s not your fault.”

  Shonda blew out a breath. “My fault or not, you’re still my baby and I still want to protect you.”

  He laughed. “I haven’t been a baby for a long time.”

  “You’re my baby, I said.” She looked around the room. “What’d you want to do with our ten minutes?”

  “How about you tell me what’s going on out there?”

  She smiled. “Sure, but it’s pretty dull.”

  “Not as dull as in here.”

  * * *

  He’d felt better after seeing his mother, like things might be alright. She had the fix to his carrier problem. One she thought was good enough to give to him. That was good. Once they got out of here, he could at least take it. The key was getting out of here.

  It was set to happen in two days, and he wondered if either Natalie or his mother would be able to see him again before the escape. So, he was pleasantly surprised when he saw the door to his room open. The pleasantry faded immediately when he saw Alex Caldwell file in. Alone. He’d thought briefly that Alex hadn’t let his mother come to see him because he didn’t trust her. He’d thought perhaps his mother would come, accompanied by Alex, and they’d have to have a supervised visit.

  But Alex coming alone meant that whatever they were going to do was something he didn’t want witnessed by Shonda. So, that couldn’t be good news for
Lijah.

  Lijah, who’d been lying on the bunk, stood, nodded to his visitor. “Alex,” he said, as the door to the room shut.

  “Elijah,” Alex said, a smile on his face. “I wanted to come see how you are.”

  “I’ve been better,” Lijah admitted. “I’d like to know why I’ve been sent back here. I haven’t done anything to deserve this.”

  Alex nodded and put a hand on Lijah’s shoulder. “I know, son,” he said. Lijah tried not to bristle at the term. It wasn’t uncommon for older men to call younger men they mentored son, but Alex was not his father or his mentor. Alex was, in fact, creepily obsessed with Lijah’s mother, so the son grated on him. Alex didn’t notice, though, and continued his thought. “You’re a very nice young man, and I have a real fondness for you. Especially since you’re named after my grandfather.”

  Lijah couldn’t help do a double take. “Excuse me?”

  Alex smiled. “Oh, Shonda would never admit it, but I’m sure she named you after my grandfather. He helped raise me, and was a really good man. Shonda and I spent a few long weekends with him a long time ago. He adored her. Told me I shouldn’t let her get away.” Alex sighed, shook his head. “I certainly tried. I guess it took a while for me to succeed.”

  Lijah didn’t respond. He simply tried not to look as horrified as he felt at the revelation. Would his mother really name him after creepy guy’s grandfather? That had to be wrong. “You haven’t told me why I’m locked away again,” he said, trying to sound firm, though not overly aggressive.

  “Your mother lied to me, Elijah,” he said. “You know that as well as I do. She told me the warrant seeking you was bogus, something designed to get Kingston Wells and your father to turn over their research. I believed her, and I sent the Wells boy back and didn’t mention you. But I did a second lab sample with your blood, and the findings disturbed me.”

  Lijah swallowed. “Why?”

  “It appears you were in fact given the poorly tested vaccine. You seem to be immune to the disease, but the blood mutates after it’s been exposed to the virus. Takes on the properties of a carrier.”