Dawn (18 page)

“Then we'll find her,” Jace said, full of confidence.

I took heart in his assurance. I needed to believe at least one thing would go right for us.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ken didn’t try to persuade me to stay in the hospital that night. There was no need. If I was going to have any more seizures, I could have them at the house just as well as in the hospital. It didn’t really matter where I was. I was helpless to stop them and there was really nothing anyone else could do to prevent them, not unless they could magically produce the drugs I needed. Everything, even my own body, seemed to be leading me back to the queen.

When I made my bargain with her, I had hoped to return to her minus the Harvester chip in my head. Now, I would have to go with the specter of becoming a Harvester shadowing my every move, every decision. It definitely wasn't what I had planned, but whenever I looked at Jace and the kids, I somehow knew the future would turn out the way it should. I kept replaying the scene my future self showed me where Jace and I were playing with the kids on top of a hill. I had no doubt it would happen, but I was clueless to how we would eventually get there.

Ken promised to perform the procedure of uploading Zoe's sister's genetic code into Jace the next morning. I had no idea how such a miracle worked, but held onto the hope that we would be able to find Piper once it was done.

I knew Zoe's sister would have to be around the age of eleven by now. I prayed Jace saw a future for her instead of total darkness. The search for Piper served a twofold purpose for me. I truly did want to find her, not just for myself but for Rose and Simon. At least with Zoe's sister involved in their lives, they would always have a living, breathing piece of their biological mother to connect with. Plus, I planned to encourage Jace to begin his search for her immediately. I knew it would take him a while to find her and by the time he got back, I would either be long gone or back home too. I was counting on a miracle and hoping I would make it back before he returned. All I had to do was kill the queen. With her dead, we could live our lives the way we wanted. No more war. No more danger. We would be able to rebuild the world the way we wanted it and hopefully do a better job the second time around.

Blue didn't leave my side while I was at the house. I think he sensed something was wrong with me and wanted to be near in case I needed him.

Early the next morning, our regular troupe of babysitters (Kirk, Teegan, and Kale) came over to take care of Rose and Simon while Jace and I went to the queen's laboratory in the mansion. I was glad they didn't mind their roles as caretakers of my children. I felt better knowing the kids had people in their lives they could count on besides just me and Jace. Rose naturally connected with Teegan and surprisingly Simon loved Kale. It might have been all the curly brown hair Kale had on his head because Simon seemed to pull on it just to watch it spring back and forth.

When Jace and I pulled up to the mansion in our car, my father and Doc Riley were sitting on the porch in rocking chairs having a heated discussion with one another. I used my Harvester hearing while we drove up to listen to what they were arguing about.

“He never should have said such a thing to them,” Doc Riley said to my father, anger in her voice. “It places her in too much danger, John.”

“I know,” my father agreed. “But apparently he felt it was the only way to get some of them to cooperate.”

“What if they find out she's the cure he promised them?  What's to stop them from bleeding her dry?”

“He didn't tell them how the Cain virus cure worked or what it was. After the war, we'll just tell them the cure was destroyed by the queen before we were able to get a hold of it. I have no intention of curing them just so they can become Harvesters again. And I seriously doubt Michael has any intention of honoring his promise either. This is war and we have to use everything at our disposal to win.”

“Win first and deal with the consequences later?” Doc Riley scoffed. “Not much of a plan if you ask me.”

“No, it isn't,” I heard my father say as Jace and I walked up the steps to the porch, unaware I had heard his conversation with Doc Riley.

They both stood from their chairs as we approached them.

My dad walked over to me and gave me a hug as he asked, “How are you doing?”

I knew what he really wanted to know because the same question was plastered all over Doc Riley's face too.

“I haven't had another seizure,” I told them both. “Maybe my body is healing the damage.”

Doc Riley nodded.

“It very well could be,” she said, even though I could see the doubt of believing in such a miracle on her face.

“Is Ken ready to perform the procedure?” I asked her.

“Yes, he worked all through the night to make sure everything would be prepared this morning,” Doc Riley told us. “I think he feels guilty for not knowing about the Harvester's chip defensive programming. He wanted to make sure everything went smoothly today. I expect the very best outcome.”

Lux stuck her pink head out the front door.

“Hey, you guys ready?” She asked me and Jace. “Ken's waiting.”

Lux opened the door wider, and we all went straight to the queen's laboratory.

Ken was standing near a hospital type bed in the center of the room exactly where my mother's glass and iron coffin had stood at one time. A computer sat on a cart by the bed.

“Good morning,” Ken said to us, a bright smile on his face. “And how was your evening?”

“No seizures,” I told him, assuming he was asking the question in the same roundabout way my dad did.

Ken nodded with a tight lipped smile. “Good.”

Jace leaned down and kissed me on the lips before releasing my hand and going to sit on the bed by Ken.

I walked to the other side of the bed.

“How does this work anyway?” I asked. “How is Jace able to see into other people's futures?”

“It's really quite ingenious,” Ken said. “Part of it's based on quantum mechanics which says that all matter is made up of tiny bits of energy called
quanta
. When these bits of energy coalesce, they form atoms which vibrate at a particular frequency. Thus, each person has their own unique frequency that they vibrate at. Kind of like every person has their own unique set of fingerprints. No two people have the same fingerprints and no two people share the same frequency. Now, you add in the resonance theory which is based on the block universe model. In this theory the past, present and future time lines all exist simultaneously. Since the future exists in what we perceive to be our present, a particular person's memories already exists in the universe as well. By uploading a person's genetic code to Jace's chip...”

“Chip?” I asked, surprised by this revelation. “What kind of chip?”

“It's not a Harvester chip,” Ken reassured me. “Jace's chip is embedded in the right neo-cortex of his brain which is thought to be involved in psychic abilities. When we upload the genetic code of a person to the chip, it adjusts the frequency of the nanites in Jace's body to match that of the frequency of the subject we are interested in. The nanites also stimulate Jace's pineal gland to produce a neuro-chemical called dimethyltryptamin or
DMT
which enhances his precognitive abilities a thousand fold. So, in essence, Jace is able to adjust his body to an individual's frequency and pull their memories from what we perceive as the future.”

“It sounds like magic to me,” I confessed, “but if it works, let’s do it.”

Jace lay down on the bed.

“Does it hurt when it happens?” I asked Jace as Ken placed a series of four electrodes across his forehead.

“No, it doesn't hurt,” he said, a pleased smile on his face at my concern for him. “I do get extremely sleepy though which is why I always have to lie down when this happens.”

“It's the amount of DMT in your system that makes you sleepy,” Ken explained while turning his attention to the computer Jace was now hooked up to. “Ok, ready?”

Jace nodded. “Yes, let's find her.”

Ken tapped his fingers on the keyboard. Right after he hit the enter button, Jace's eyes immediately closed and he looked like he had just fallen instantly to sleep.

“How long does it take?” I asked.

“Not long,” Ken said, watching Jace expectantly just like me. “A few minutes at the most.”

About ten minutes later, Jace's eyes opened and he took in a deep breath.

“Are you ok?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said with a nod before smiling at me. “I saw her, Skye. I saw Zoe’s sister.”

I closed my eyes and let out a pent up breath in relief.

“Thank God,” I said, before reopening my eyes. “Do you think you can find her?”

Jace nodded. “Yes, I have a good starting point.”

“How do you know where to start looking for people anyway?”

“Lucena uploaded specific geographical points of reference into my memory to make it easier to pinpoint where people are. From what I saw, I think Piper is in one of those trading caravans you told me about once. From the age she's supposed to be now and the image I saw, I think she's actually made it down south somewhere because she was standing on a broken bridge that used to cross a wide river. There were acres of cleared land around her, like it used to be farmland. From what remained of the trees in the area, I would have to say she's somewhere along the Mississippi river. I'll need to take a helicopter, but I think I can find her fairly quickly. There are only a few bridges that cross the Mississippi in areas like that.”

A genuine smile lit my face. “That's the best news I've heard in a while.”

“You might want to wait a day or two before going on your search,” my father said as he came to stand beside me. “Your father is supposed to be back soon.”

“So he's visited all of the Cain virus camps Ian knew about?”

My dad nodded. “Yes. He sent someone ahead of him to let us know things went well and to expect more people to come into the camp soon.”

“Then what?” I asked. “What do you plan to do first?”

“Take out every remaining installation Lucena has,” my father said with certainty. “Short from killing her outright, it's the best way to take away her control. The less she has the less she can provide to her troops and hopefully the less loyal they will remain to her. Even Harvesters have to eat.”

“She reprogrammed the Harvesters around her,” I said, realizing I had completely forgotten to mention this important fact to them earlier. “They tried to kill me and she stopped them. She told me she reprogrammed them to defend her at any cost since it seemed like we were trying to kill her.”

“Did she ask you if we were?” My dad asked.

“I told her we weren't trying to kill her, just take away her control.”

“Now that you have Simon back, I've given the order to kill her on sight. Do you think she'll remain at the Geneva compound?”

I shook my head. “No, she said she was moving somewhere else, but she didn't tell me where she was going.”

“It doesn't matter,” my dad said. “She's running out of places to hide. We'll kill her, Skye. Don't worry.”

I prayed Walsh came to get me before my father found out where the queen was hiding out. I needed things only she could provide. I needed to destroy the trigger which would detonate the bomb in Jace's head, and I needed medication to control my seizures so I could have a normal life. I guess to some it would seem odd I simply took the queen's word that such a device even existed inside him, but I had more reason to believe her than not. Unfortunately, I could always count on her sadistic side.

For the next two days, Jace helped my father coordinate the troops we now had in camp into three strike force teams of four thousand troops each. My father would lead the troops designated to head south while Michael led a group to the north. Ian was placed in charge of the troops heading west. With five thousand troops in each team, most of them Cain infected Harvesters, taking out the rest of the queen's installations should be fairly easy.

By the time Michael returned on the second day, we had almost twelve thousand Cain infected Harvesters in camp with the promise of three thousand more on the way. Things were running smoothly in camp which just made me even more suspicious of the Cain infected Harvesters. Neither my father nor Doc Riley told me about Michael's promise to provide them with a cure. I'm sure they felt I already had enough on my plate to worry about. I couldn't argue that they were wrong, but the fact was I did know about the promise.

What would the Harvesters expecting a miracle cure do once they learned we had no intention of giving it to them?  Even worse, what would happen when they found out I was the cure?  I shivered at the thought and prayed their ignorance would continue indefinitely.

Not long after Michael arrived and Jace was able to spend a little time with him, we decided he should start his search for Zoe’s sister.

“It won't take me long,” Jace promised as I walked him up to the helicopter he would travel in to help facilitate his search. “I'll be back before you have a chance to miss me.”

“I doubt you can find her in a few seconds,” I told him.

Jace chuckled but I could tell by the smile on his face he was happy to know I would miss him the moment he left my side.