Acid (34 page)

I put my glove back on. I’m about to link the medic when Aysha gasps and opens her eyes. ‘Aysha?’ I say, pushing up my visor. But she’s not looking at me. She’s not looking at anything.

‘Aysha,’ I say. ‘
Aysha
.’

She blinks, then pulls in another of those rasping breaths. Her mouth moves as if she’s speaking, but I can’t
hear
anything. I try to work out what she’s saying.
Wait
 . . .
going to
 . . .
not here any more
 . . .

‘Hang on,’ I whisper to her. ‘Just hang on.’

But her eyes are already closing again. Her mouth has already stopped moving. Just as I’m about to link the medic, she takes in one more shuddering, rasping breath.

And then her chest stops moving too.

CHAPTER 60

A WAVE OF
horror goes through me as I realize what’s happened. ‘Aysha,’ I say, even though I know she can’t hear me. ‘
Aysha
.’

I link the medic, and run back to the airlock and the seating area to tell Fiona. When the medic arrives, she’s with a guy who’s also wearing a grey uniform and a respirator, and pushing a sheet-draped trolley with a squeaky wheel.

They disappear into the block. When they come back, there’s a small shape under the sheets on the trolley. My stomach lurches up into my throat when I see it. Fiona and I both watch as they wheel it up to the lift.
What are they going to do with her?
I think, feeling slightly sick. I’m not sure I want to know.

Instead, I think of the general, sending people to die here without a moment’s thought, and a cold, sick wave of anger surges through me. When he gets here, one way or the other, all this is going to end.

The next night, after lying sleepless on my bed, filled with despair over not being able to do more for Aysha, I’m put on shift on Block Four again, but with Rav. Fiona is being sent to Two with Drew.

This is my chance.

I catch Fiona on the way out and put on my best pleading face. ‘Swap with me,’ I say as the door swings shut after Rav and Drew. Everyone else, including Felix, has already gone, so we’re alone.

‘I can’t,’ she says. ‘Sorry, but—’

‘
Please
,’ I say. ‘I – I can’t go back down to that bottom floor. Not after yesterday.’

She looks so uncomfortable that, for a few seconds, I almost feel bad for lying to her. Then I remind myself why I’m doing it.

‘Go on, then,’ Fiona says, and pushes the door open. We hurry to catch Rav and Drew up, who are looking puzzled, wondering where we’ve got to. ‘We’ve swapped,’ Fiona says. ‘Is that OK? A prisoner died on Four yesterday – I don’t think Felix knows – and it’s freaked Hol out a bit.’

‘We can’t swap,’ Rav says. ‘Felix’ll—’

‘Never know if you don’t say anything,’ I tell them, putting my pleading face on again. ‘Seriously. It’s giving me panic attacks down there.’

‘Guys, we have to go
now
,’ Drew says. ‘The agents on the other team are gonna be wondering where we are. Swap with her if you want to, Fiona, I don’t give a shit. If Felix finds out, you two can take the rap.’

He walks down to the elevator so fast the rest of us have to jog to catch up with him.

Maybe Felix hasn’t told any of them about Max being here
, I think as the elevator travels downward.

We arrive on Two, and I put on my helmet. So does Drew. Then we go through the airlock. As we walk along the corridor, I feel as if I really might have a panic attack; my chest is so tight I can hardly breathe.
He’ll be in the next one
, I tell myself as I peer into each cell and he’s not there.
No, the next one. The next one
 . . .

We reach the last leg of the corridor, and still I don’t see him.

Then we reach the second to last cell, and my heart wrenches up into my mouth.

Max
, I mouth inside my helmet, remembering just in time not to say his name out loud.

He’s sitting against the wall of the cell, his head drooping forward, his chin resting on his chest. He’s lost weight, although he’s not as skinny as Aysha – not yet, anyway. How long has he been here? As I stare through the bars at him, I feel fresh anger at FREE for refusing to help him. Alex Fisher died for them, and this is the thanks he gets – his son, chained up in a stinking prison cell and left to rot.

‘Something wrong?’ Drew says. I look round and realize that he’s already started walking back up the block. With one last glance at Max, I hurry after him, muttering, ‘Nothing.’

We return to the seating area. I want to get up again immediately, go back to Max, but I know that if I don’t sit here for a while first, it’ll make Drew suspicious. And if he says anything to Felix, Felix will find a way to send me back to the mainland, whether it makes ACID start asking questions or not.

Every minute that passes by is torture. Drew doesn’t speak to me, just stares at his gloves, fiddling with one of the cuffs.

I can’t stand it any more. Getting to my feet, I pretend to stretch. ‘I’ll go around again, make sure everything’s OK,’ I say. Drew starts to get up too, but I say, ‘It’s fine. You do it next time. Me and Fiona take turns, usually.’

He sits back down and, relieved, I walk up the corridor as calmly as I can. I head straight to Max’s cell, where he’s still sitting in the same position, shoulders slumped, his legs stretched out in front of him.

‘Max,’ I say. ‘Max.’

He looks up. His eyes are dull and sunken. He doesn’t say anything. Switching off my vidfeed and taking a deep breath of the filtered air inside my helmet, I unlatch my visor and lift it up. I swallow hard against the urge to gag. I know I should be used to the smell by now, but I’m not.

‘Max, it’s me,’ I say. He stares uncomprehendingly at me and I remember I still have Jess Stone’s face; he doesn’t recognize me.

I open the cell door and slip inside. Just like Aysha, Max tries to scramble away from me, and just like Aysha, he can’t because of his wrist restraint. I crouch down next to him and whisper rapidly in his ear, ‘Max, it’s Jenna. I know I don’t look like me. ACID changed my face after they arrested us. But it is me. I’m gonna get you out of here.’

Comprehension dawns in his eyes.

‘
Jenna?
’ he says, his expression a mix of incredulity and confusion.

‘Shh!’ I hiss at him.

‘But how did you—’

‘
Shh!
I can’t talk now. But everything will be OK. You just have to hang on in there for another couple of days, OK?’

A smile starts to spread across his face, and I can’t help smiling back. I’m so relieved that he’s OK, that he’s
alive
, that I could kiss him. But that would be suicide for both of us. Instead, I get up again and snap my visor back down. ‘That’s your final warning,’ I say in my best hard-ass ACID agent voice, then turn and walk out of the cell before my emotions can completely get the better of me.

It’s only as I walk back along the block that I realize something.

He smiled at me.

He was pleased to see me.

Which means he doesn’t hate me any more.

How did that happen?

And when?

CHAPTER 61

DREW, RAV, FIONA
and I all make it back up to the staff quarters before Felix, so Felix doesn’t find out about me being on Two. Back in my room, I change into ordinary clothes. It’s just getting light; I remember the way Max smiled at me, and feel a sharp pang of happiness mixed with frustration and sorrow.

Overtaken by weariness, I get into bed. I don’t sleep, but I manage to doze for a couple of hours. After that, I’m able to think more clearly. Whether I like it or not, Max can’t be my priority right now. I’ve got General Harvey to deal with first. And in the meantime, I have to stay away from Two. The thought makes me feel sick – as if
I’m
abandoning Max too – but I can’t afford to make Felix suspicious.

The general and Anna are due here in less than thirty-six hours. Just as we’re about to start our last shift before they arrive, Felix calls a meeting. ‘When he’s here, make sure your uniforms are spotless,’ he says. ‘I don’t want to see a button, zip, or equipment loop out of place.’

He sounds like any other ACID commander preparing his unit for an inspection, but we all know
what
he really means:
Make sure you don’t give the general any clue whatsoever that we’re not ACID
.

Afterwards, he grabs my arm and pulls me to one side. ‘You’re going to come down with a stomach upset after this shift,’ he murmurs in my ear. ‘A bad one that means you have to stay in bed. Catch my drift?’

I nod, and he lets go of my arm. I was planning on doing something like that anyway. If I’m going to confront General Harvey, it’s vital he doesn’t know I’m here.

Not until he’s at the business end of my gun, anyway. Then there won’t be a damn thing he can do about it.

I’m about to ask him which block I’m patrolling when I realize I’ve left my equipment belt in my room. I go back to fetch it and notice the door beside mine is open, and there’s a little metal trolley stacked with folded sheets and bottles of cleaning stuff next to it. I stick my head round the door, curious; as far as I know, that room’s been empty ever since we arrived. Although our rooms get cleaned while we’re patrolling the prison, and our clothes washed and our meals sent up, I’ve never seen anyone actually doing these things.

A short, grumpy-looking guy in a grey uniform is smoothing a heavy duvet across the bed, far more luxurious than the scratchy blankets I have in my room. There’s a thick rug on the floor, and a beaker and a water jug on the cabinet beside the bed. As I crane my neck to see better, I bump the door with my foot. The guy in the grey uniform looks round. ‘Yep?’ he says.

‘Is – is this where the general’s going to be sleeping?’ I say.

‘Yep.’ The guy turns away from me and goes back to wiping the window.

Sensing I’m not going to get anything more out of him, I retreat to the lounge with my helmet under my arm.

‘What are you smiling about?’ Fiona asks as we make our way to the elevator. I’m on shift with her again today, on One.

‘Oh, nothing,’ I say, and quickly try to rearrange my expression into something more neutral. I hadn’t even realized I
was
smiling.

When we get back from our shift the night has come and gone. In my room, I go to the window and I see a sunrise the colour of blood: red streaked with bruise-like shades of violet and black. The water looks red too.

A knock at my door makes me turn. Before I can speak, Felix walks into the room, closing the door behind him.

‘Anna and the general will be here in a couple of hours,’ he says quietly. He looks tense; a deep vertical frown line has appeared between his eyebrows. ‘From now on, you mustn’t leave this room for any reason. One of us will check on you every few hours and bring you food. If you need to use the bathroom, tell us and we’ll check the coast is clear first.’

I nod.

‘I’ve already informed the prison medic that you’re unwell, but that you don’t need her to come and see you. If anyone knocks at your door, pretend to be asleep until they say who they are, OK? Your next two shifts have been covered by one of the agents in the other group, so you’re not expected back on patrol until after the general’s gone.’

I nod again.

‘Good. I’m going to get some sleep before they turn up,’ Felix says. Then, just as he reaches the door, he looks back. ‘Oh, and, er, Jenna?’

‘Yes?’ I say.

‘You’ve been doing a great job. As part of the team, I mean. Thank you.’

Too startled to say anything, I watch him leave.

When he’s gone, I make sure my pulse gun is charged and that the switch is off; I don’t want it discharging accidentally. I check the vidfeed in my helmet is working. Then I change out of my jumpsuit and put on my pyjamas and, lying in bed, go over my plan one last time.

General Harvey is going to confess to ordering my parents’ assassination.

I’m going to film him doing it, and find a way to upload it to the kommweb.

Then I’m going to find Anna and tell her to arrest him.

And if he doesn’t co-operate . . .

He’s dead.

CHAPTER 62

I’M WOKEN A
few hours later by the sound of someone bumping around in the room next door, then the bass rumble of a male voice. Immediately, I snap to full alertness, sitting up and staring at the wall beside the bed.
He’s here
. We’re separated by just a few centimetres of flimsy plasterboard. If I wanted, I could shoot him through it now.

But I want that confession. He
owes
it to me.

When I check the display on the little holoclock above the door, I see it’s eleven hundred hours. I’ve been asleep for a lot longer than I thought. I get out of bed and stretch, yawning.

Then, behind me, the door opens. I whirl round to see Anna, dressed in her ACID uniform, her face pinched with fury.

Closing the door behind her, she walks straight up to me. ‘How
dare
you?’ she says, very quietly. In the next room, the general is still moving about. ‘Do you realize how much danger you’ve put us all in by coming here?’

‘If you’ve come to tell me I’ve got to stay in my room and pretend to be ill until
he
leaves,’ I reply, jerking my head at the wall and being careful to keep my voice down too, ‘Felix and I already had this conversation.’

‘And I hope you listened to him,’ Anna says. ‘If the general finds out you’re here, he will kill all of us. You do know that, don’t you?’

I think of my gun, resting in its pouch on my equipment belt.
Not if I get to him first
.

‘I know you’re tough, Jenna,’ Anna continues, ‘but you’re in way over your head here. As soon as he’s gone I’m going to find a way to get you back to the mainland, OK? I’d send you now if I could – the roto’s still over there, waiting to take us back tomorrow.’

I grit my teeth at her condescending tone. How old does she think I am? Five? She seems about to say something else, but then we both hear the door to the next room open and close, and footsteps going past outside. We freeze until we hear the door to the lounge opening too.