Chapter Nineteen
Delavane
Once we got everything we needed from Pender Island, we catch the next ferry back to the mainland. Sadly, that wasn't until the next morning, so we found a motel to stay at on Pender. Chloe and Jamie in one room, Abe, Jackson, and I in another. After being in a hotel full of rats, I am all too happy to be able to take a shower. When I step back out into the main room I am in the pjs we had bought from a nearby store, drying my hair.
"God those little things make my skin crawl."
Jackson is by the nightstand taking off his watch and taking the things out of his pockets.
"What I thought you loved rats."
"Not when there are that many of them and not when they are trying to kill us."
Abe chuckles.
"Kat is right. One or two are cute, but hundreds of them, not so much."
I point over to Abe before I step forward I hear something move behind me. Of course, after being in a hotel full of rats I am a little jumpy, so I jump and turn toward the noise, seeing that I had hit one of the hangers when I took the towel out of my hair and it had fallen. Jackson laughs and walks over to me.
"It's okay. I promise this is a nice, rat feel motel."
I take a deep breath and nod before Jackson kisses my forehead and heads into the bathroom. The next morning as we head back to the mainland meeting Mitch in a plaza outside of some office buildings. When we get there he is still on a low stone wall.
"Hey guys, how was Pender Island?"
Jamie is all too happy to see Mitch since she is all smiles.
"Good, we had a run in with a few hundred rats."
"A few hundred rats? That's interesting."
"Yeah, how did your meeting a Harvard go?"
Mitch tilts his head to the side and scratches hit the back of this head.
"About that... I didn't actually go to Harvard. That was never my plan. The plan was for me to meet with the CEO of Reiden, to trade the Mother Cell for medication from Clementine."
The group goes quiet, and the smile fades from Jamie's face. You can almost feel the rage pour off of each of us. The air is heavy and the sun even seems to dim. Jamie shakes her head and takes a deep breath.
"Oh, my God, you bastard."
"It was for my daughter."
"Even so."
"You gonna tell me if you could've saved your mother, you wouldn't have done the same?"
Jamie falls quiet and I step toward Mitch.
"Do not bring Jamie's mother into this. This was you."
Chloe sighs, clearing her throat.
"So, you did it? You traded the Mother Cell for the medicine."
"No, I didn't."
Jackson shakes his head.
"But you almost did."
"Yeah, I almost did. For my daughter."
"We're here trying to do this, trying to come up with a solution for everything, and you would, you would just give that away?"
"Look, while I'm not trying to minimize any of it, you're all focusing on the wrong guy right now. Okay? Delavane is not who we think he is."
Chloe shakes her head.
"How can you be so sure? Maybe he had a good reason to be there."
"Oh get serious. I saw his face, trust me."
Jackson chuckles and shakes his head again.
"You're asking us to trust you?"
"I'm asking you to call my character into question at a later date. Delavane was not at Reiden because it was Bring Your Shadowy Interpol Agent to the Office Day. He was there because he works there."
Chloe crosses her arms.
"Did we see you?"
Mitch nods, Chloe shakes her head.
"This is bad."
I sigh.
"You're saying... the company that put us together is the same company that we're trying to take down."
"It appears that way."
"But why? Why would Delavane put us together if there was even a chance of us uncovering the truth?"
Just then Chloe's phone rings and she answers, stepping away from the group, as Jackson crosses his arms.
"What else, Mitch?"
"What else what?"
"What else are you lying to us about?"
Jamie takes a deep breath.
"Okay. The Mother Cell... can we really use it to make a cure?"
Mitch nods.
"Yes, theoretically, it can be used to reverse the mutation."
I shake my head.
"Theoretically?"
"I believe that if we introduce the Mother Cell into the DNA of a mutated animal, we could possibly synthesize a cure. In order to do that, we need an animal who has mutated and has not been exposed to the Mother Cell."
Abe steps forward.
"Does such an animal even exist? Every animal we've come into contact with has been mutated because of Reiden."
Jackson nods.
"Even if there is, how would he possibly find it? There are infected animals on every continent."
Mitch sighs.
"I know It's like trying to find a needle in a stack of needles. In every country on Earth. But without that needle, we don't have a cure."
Chloe walks back to the group.
"We have to go. That was my colleague at the PGSE. The FBI has issued a warrant for my arrest. Jamie's too."
Jamie scoffs.
"Ben Shafer. Oh, my God, Chloe, I'm so sorry."
"There's nothing to apologize for. It's only a matter of time before they connect the rest of you."
I shake my head.
"Hey, hold on. Go where? If the FBI is after us if Delavane works for Reiden, where are we gonna go?"
Mitch nods, standing.
"Yeah, I don't speak spy, but... pretty much feels like game over."
We make a plan to get out of the country, the problem is we don't know how to, or where we are going to go. But we do know that we need to fall off the grid, so we find our way to a cell phone store. Five of us wait outside, while Abe goes inside. As we stand and wait, Jamie becomes very nervous.
"Maybe we shouldn't be standing around in a clump like this."
As she makes his comment Abe comes out of the store.
"Like the lady said, if they're going to treat us like criminals, we need to act like criminals. Everybody gets one."
Abe starts to hand out cell phones as we walk down the street and Chloe clears her throat.
"From now on, we pay cash for everything. And no more contact with family and friends."
Mitch shakes his head.
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen. Not for me, anyway. 'Cause, I got to get these meds to Clem. and FBI or not, I'm bringing 'em to her."
Jackson stops and shakes his head, as the group walks past him.
"Alright, guys, stop, just stop. This isn't gonna work, okay? We can't just be reactive to this thing. We gotta get out in front of it. Now, we've been together a couple months as a team, we're doing pretty good, so now... now we got to save our own asses, and we gotta save the world."
"It's a bit dramatic, but well said."
Chloe nods.
"Agreed. What's the plan?"
Jackson sighs.
"Alright, first off, it's time to go public with this thing. Now, we need a more official outlet than your blog, Jamie, but we obviously can't risk walking into a news station, so who do you know? Do you know someone that you can contact?"
Jamie nods.
"Yeah."
"Okay, Abe, take Mitch and Kat in the car and go get those meds to Clementine."
"Okay."
I nod.
"You got it."
"Kat make sure those two don't kill each other."
I chuckle softly as I step toward Jackson.
"You got it."
Jackson and I share a quick kiss before the boys and I head back to the car. When we get there Abe switches out the license plan. I'm not sure where he found another one, but he did. Mitch is on the phone with his ex-wife.
"Yeah, I'll meet you at the house. Anything comes up, just call me on this number. Yeah, I had to change phones. It's a long story. Okay. Bye."
"We're going to your ex's house?"
I poke my head out of the car door since I am sitting in the car.
"Maybe we should go somewhere that the police wouldn't think of, just in case."
"Yeah, it might be the worst idea I've ever had. But... thanks for coming with me."
Abe stands.
"We aren't doing this for you. We are doing this for your daughter."
Mitch nods.
"Yeah, I know what I did was wrong. If it's gonna make you two feel better, take a swing at me. Seriously, go ahead."
Abe chuckles.
"Believe me, that's the last thing you want right now. I know that Katherine would knock you into next week, do you really wanna know what would happen if I were to hit you?"
I shake my head and laugh softly. Before the boys walk back to the front of the car a crow lands in the alley and are making a horrible squawking noise.
"That's not normal, is it?"
Mitch stares at the bird in almost disbelief.
"I'd say that's pretty far from normal."