Split Second

“I wanted to test you to see if you’d tell Trevor anything. I was kind of rooting for you, kid. I thought for sure if you knew the Containment Committee was monitoring you that you’d be more careful.”

I pointed my finger at the agent, anger ripping through my chest. “My grandpa wasn’t crazy.”

He shrugged as though he didn’t care. “I didn’t know enough of his real personality to pull it off. I thought it would be safer if you wouldn’t question my answers too much.”

“And what would have happened if I never showed up at your door?” I asked, thinking I’d found the flaw in their horrid plan. “Then how would you have tested me?”

“Like I said, my partner is very persuasive. He pretended to slip about there being two relatives on the Outside. We knew you couldn’t resist investigating that. We had to make sure you weren’t hiding any unclaimed advanced abilities after what happened with Mr. Baker.”

This all came back to Bobby. And I’d fallen for every one of their tricks. I felt like an idiot. My heart ached. I couldn’t believe everything they had put me through just for their stupid tests—conjuring up a dead relative, making me distrust my own father. It all made me so sick inside. I took the awful pain I felt and turned it into energy. Soon the room was crawling. I touched each person to bring them into the moment with me, tempted for half a second to leave Duke here to fend for himself. I didn’t. “We have about two minutes. How do we get out of here?”

“I’ll wipe the memory of the alarm on the door,” Laila said, already walking toward it.

“What’s wrong with Connor?” I walked around him, the only one who hadn’t returned to normal speed. I touched him again and he only jolted for a moment, then returned to slow motion.

Laila stopped in her tracks and faced him. “Crap. It probably doesn’t work on him because he’s a Healer. Your ability can’t get through to him. Duke, grab Connor. We have to go.”

Duke shook his head and crossed his arms. “I’ve seen his temper. Got a pen stuck in my shoulder to prove it. I’m not touching him.”

I grabbed the sleeve of Duke’s shirt. “Please.” That was all it took. He threw Connor over his shoulder, and we all waited while Laila disarmed the door.

“What about him?” Eli asked, pointing to Agent Miller, whose facial expression was just now starting to indicate that he realized what was going on. At least when I was in the Tower, I hadn’t divulged my ability to slow down time. I had caught him off guard.

“I’ll wipe him. I’m taking two months. Let him see how that feels.” Laila muttered “jerk” a few times while she stood over him. We filed out the door while she finished.

We ran to the stairs, heading for the back exit. As we came to the long hall on the first floor, I thought I heard car doors shut out front. When the others looked over their shoulders as well, I knew the Containment Committee had arrived. The man upstairs might not remember the last two months for now, but I was sure that a memory restoration would be performed before we were even up the block. If we were going to wipe my breach from existence, we had a lot more than one person’s memories to alter. We had an entire team and an entire computer/surveillance system. How could we possibly do this?

While the others rushed to the rear exit, I pressed my back against the wall and inched toward the front. I arrived at the corner and peered around it just as the group came through the lobby doors—three men and Trevor. And there was Scar-Face, a Persuasive, right at the back of the group. He must’ve been working on Trevor, because he wasn’t even putting up a fight, just walking along with them like it was his idea.

My heart jumped to my throat and my hand to my mouth to prevent myself from making a sound. As they headed my way, I collected some energy with my heightened emotions. I was trying to decide if I could squeeze through the men and to Trevor without touching any of them. It seemed highly unlikely. Duke grabbed my arm and pulled me away. “Are you trying to get caught?” he asked once we were outside.

As if he had a right to ask me that question, when he was the one who had gotten me caught. “They have Trevor,” I said to the group. “We have to go back.”

Laila nodded. “And we will. But first let’s see if they left anyone at the car or if we can do some snooping. We need to be prepared.”

A navy van was parked on the street, and we stayed in the alley to determine if it was empty.

“I don’t hear any thoughts coming from inside,” Eli said.

I stared at him in awe. “You can read minds, Eli. That’s so amazing.”

He smiled and looked at the ground. “I’m still kind of new.”

“You could’ve fooled me.” I turned to the others. “Should we go check it out then?” I was worried about Trevor and what they might do to him. We had revealed our hand. If they could restore Fake Grandpa’s memory, we’d be screwed. They’d know Laila could restore memories. They’d know I could slow down time. We would no longer have the advantage. I just had to hope that someone on their team couldn’t manipulate memories because we needed a solid plan before we went back up there. If Trevor had an ability, I would be so much more confident, knowing he might be able to defend himself right now. Although, even with my ability I hadn’t been able to protect myself against Fake Grandpa.

Laila pressed her face up against the tinted back window of the van. “No fair,” she said. “They get to bring Para-tech here and we don’t?”

I tried the doors, but they were locked. “Anyone know how to break into a locked car?”

She studied the numerical keypad beneath the door handle. “I can disable the alarm, but I don’t think wiping the keypad’s memory would result in unlocking the car.”

Connor reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell.

“You going to call a locksmith?” Laila asked.

He bent over and grabbed a handful of dirt from the ring around a tree and sprinkled it over the keypad, then shined the light from his phone onto the numbers. I could vaguely make out smudges on the buttons. The first button seemed to have the most smudges, the third had none. “The combo has two ones, a two, and a four in it. Laila, disable the alarm, and I’ll start going through some patterns.”

After at least twenty attempts, I pushed on my temples. This wasn’t going to work. My gaze kept drifting back to the apartment building. How much time did we have? Then, suddenly, I heard the clunk of locks opening.

“Nice,” Duke said. Connor climbed inside and then opened the back doors for the rest of us.

“It’s too cramped in there,” Duke said. “I’ll keep a lookout.”

I wasn’t sure if I trusted Duke as our warning bell. With us all crammed in the van, this could be the easiest capture ever. Eli, probably reading my mind, said, “That many thoughts in one place will make me vomit. I’ll stay out here with Duke.”

I squeezed his arm. “Thanks.”

So Connor, Laila, and I sat in the back of the van, surrounded by Para-tech. Connor powered up the nearest screen, and what lit up in front of us caused my stomach to drop to my feet: a picture of Trevor and all his statistics—height, weight, build, hair color, etc. But much more too. His entire history—people, places, tastes. Then in a column next to it was new info that I didn’t recognize as his. Almost like the fake history the Tower had given me to study when I’d moved here in my other life.

“It’s a Reassignment,” Connor whispered. “They’re giving him a new life. One on the other side of the country.”

“But why? Why wouldn’t they just Erase what he knows?”

They both looked at me as though I should know the answer to this question. But I didn’t. Or maybe I needed it spelled out for me, because I didn’t want to believe it.

“Because of you,” Laila said. “They obviously know you won’t give him up otherwise.”

It felt like Duke’s big yellow Hummer had run me over. My chest hurt, my eyes hurt, every inch of my body hurt.

Laila cracked her knuckles. “It’s time to crash some computers. If they don’t have this”—she waved her hand in front of the screen—“maybe they won’t be able to complete the Reassignment. In fact, how about a total system failure?” She closed her eyes and held up her hands.

“No. Wait.” Connor pulled one of her hands down, and she focused on him.

“What? Why not?”

“You heard what Addie’s grandfather said.”

“You mean her fake grandfather.”

“Fake Grandpa. Whatever. He said that before Duke’s information tonight, she had passed the test. She had been changed over to a non-threat. And considering that before tonight they thought Trevor had been Selectively Erased, I’m sure he would’ve been safe too. So we don’t need to take away the last month and their potential plans. That would be a huge red flag of empty memory. We just need to take away tonight without them suspecting.”

“How are we going to do that?” I asked.

“Very carefully,” he said.

CHAPTER 40

Laila: Add the definition of stupid to your list: trusting the person who got us into this.

I watched Connor work at the computer. Addie had stepped out of the van and joined the others. She looked like she was in shock or going to be sick. Connor found the recorded conversation Duke had picked up on his body chip. He pushed a button, and it echoed through a pair of headphones resting on the floor. I slid them on. Duke’s voice rang out, asking Addie if she’d told Trevor. She confirmed his suspicions, and I took off the headphones, disgusted.

Connor glanced my way. “Can you Erase it?”

“The conversation?”

“Yes. It’s about five minutes long. It’s stored on the computer as code.” He pointed to the screen.

“Of course I can Erase it.”

He lifted one side of his mouth in a half smile. “What was it you said again that you had to think of to advance your ability?”

I laughed. “I didn’t say.”

He grabbed me by the waist and pulled me onto his lap. “A certain night in a certain train?”

“Stop. I need to concentrate.”

“You need to concentrate on a certain night in a certain train?”

“That’s only for restoring. You’re not responsible for all my awesome abilities.”

“No, only ninety percent of your awesomeness.” He kissed the back of my neck. “Work your magic.”

I turned around and kissed him. He tasted like mint gum and Connor.

“I meant on the computer. Not on me.”

“I already took care of the computer.”

He looked around me and clicked a few buttons. “Nice.”

“What next?” I asked.

“We need to figure out how to get three grown men with abilities from up there”—he pointed toward the apartment—“to down here.” He patted the seat next to him.