The Girl Who Punched Back (Death Fields 2)

Moving closer, I see the torn spot on the hem of his shirt and the red scratch near his jaw. I reach for him, running my finger down the hot wound. “What happened? Why are you here?”

He sits on the edge of my bed and I have a flash of being at Fort Shaw, sharing bunk beds and plotting our escape. I didn’t trust him then. I’d just learned his story and how he’d followed me on my father’s orders. But now, when I sit next to him our outer thighs touch, and I can’t express how happy I am to see him.

“Before you left The Fort, Wyatt and I came up with a system.”

I frown. “What kind of system?”

“It was the only way I was willing to stay behind—to leave you,” he says, pushing my hair behind my ear. “My work in the lab is important and the job out here is important, but he promised to let me know if anything changed, he’d get a message to me. I came right away. It took me two days to get down here.”

“You walked?”

“No. Not the whole time. Sneaking out of The Fort is harder than you may realize.”

I can imagine. “So that was you at the gate? Why didn’t you just ask for me?”

He shakes his head. “I had my orders.”

I glance down at my feet, trying to absorb everything. Wyatt knew before Paul told us his story that something major happened at the school. Something he felt required Cole, a scientist, to risk everything to come to the compound.

I exhale, at the same time feeling worse and better. Better because Cole is capable and I can depend on him. We have the same motivation. I never know where Wyatt stands, including being shocked to know he’d been concerned enough days ago to send for Cole.

Worse because…well, something isn’t right. The testing, the sickness and sending in bombs to cover it up. Whoever is behind all of this seems determined, and now Cole is mixed up in it.

“Thanks for coming.”

He plants a kiss on my temple, but he fidgets nervously and says, “I’m glad you think so.”

“Is there a reason I wouldn’t be?”

He sighs and runs a hand over his scruffy blonde hair. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Okay.”

“It’s about PharmaCorp. About your sister.”

I have no idea what to even assume. With Jane, it could be anything. “What?”

“Since you’ve been gone I managed to get back on your father’s good side. I think he feels guilty about everything we went through. I’ve had access to everything the lab is working on. Full clearance.”

“That’s awesome.”

“Yeah, the problem is I found out way more than I was expecting.”

“About what?” I ask, not liking where this is headed.

“The vaccine. It’s not what we think it is.”

Chapter 19

I’m on my feet in an instant, pacing. Cole quietly suggests I lock the door. I nod and follow his instruction. I don’t want the others to hear what he has to say. Not yet. The worry I’ve been carrying for weeks—months—about my sister’s work comes crashing down. I rub the spot on my arm where I got my own vaccination and shiver.

“What has she done?”

“When your dad let me on the team, I finally got my hands on some of the real testing that the lab had been performing for the last couple of months. Even before we got to The Fort, Jane and your father had been working on a vaccine.”

“We knew they were trying to replicate the results he’d been working on with me, right?”

He shakes his head. “Yes, but I’ve learned PharmaCorp is always working on more than one project.”