In Irina's Cards (The Variant Conspiracy #1) (18 page)

“I’m sure he found a way to enhance his gift,” said Ilya. “He always used to talk about maximizing variations, as well as making sure they were stable and under control. Every time he shared those philosophies, it was always general. His goals always sounded scientific, altruistic; like he was dedicated to the betterment of humanity.”

“We all felt that way. You’re not alone. But if he doesn’t need that bodyguard, what’s the real reason to have this new guy?” said Jonah.

“Probably doesn’t want to do his own dirty work,” said Cole.

“All the more reason we need to get a move on,” I said.

“I figured you were on your way out of town, but I couldn’t in good conscience miss a chance to warn you. Not when I could find you.” Vincent extended his hand to Ilya. “Good luck in Vancouver. I really wish I could be more help.”

“Thanks, my friend. We’re definitely going to need it.”

After Vincent said his goodbyes, Cole popped his trunk to finish packing. He and Jonah took everything we had left and quickly stuffed it all on top of an old spare tire. Jonah squeezed into the back seat on my side. I sat uncomfortably wedged between him and Faith as Cole started the car. Ilya consulted a Vancouver map he’d fished out of the glove compartment.

“So, what kind of score did you make out at that government building? We need some good news. Did you find anything cool?” Jonah asked hopefully.

“Yes and no,” said Ilya. “We’ve got another lead, but we still need to go to Vancouver if we want to find out what Innoviro and my father are really doing.”

“Right, of course. We knew it wouldn’t end that easily,” said Jonah.

I heard the disappointment in his voice. None of us had really expected to find a cure for Jonah’s genetic breakdown in a simple paper envelope, but we’d all hoped for a stronger lead.

“The only thing this envelope says is that they’re working on a big project, across several branches of science.” I looked down at the floor as I spoke. I felt responsible for not producing more information. We needed results, Jonah most of all. “It’s bigger than genetics. But that’s pretty much all there is here. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. Even if I don’t get better, we’re obviously onto something here. Who knows how much damage Ivan can do,” said Jonah.

The car fell silent as Cole pulled over at a Royal Bank. Faith and I hopped out and took turns withdrawing as much money as the ATM machine would let us.

“So, why do you think Ivan went after Vincent? Is it possible he knew about what happened in the Highlands?” I directed my question generally at everyone in the car as Cole turned back on to the dark slick highway.

“My first thought is that Brad found my father and told him what happened when we escaped. That guy lived pretty high up on the Innoviro food chain. If he knew where to find my father, I’m sure he went straight to him the first chance he got. I wish I could listen to him, but he’s got some way of keeping me out. So does my father," said Ilya.

“Brad was actually in the first vision I had about this envelope - the memo, I mean. In my vision, Ivan talked with him about a new variant, which could have been me, and then Tatiana interrupted them and he gave her the envelope.”

“It’s fortunate that we didn’t come back to find Ivan’s new beast thing with Jonah instead. I bet if he had gotten a chance to interrogate Vincent, Ivan and his new sidekick would have met us instead,” said Cole.

Faith continued glaring out the window as Cole drove, but Ilya listened to the air.

“I wish we knew what this new thug was capable of,” I said.

“I’m not sure the mystery man is our biggest problem. If my father really did attack Vincent, even on his own, he would have won. Vincent never would have been able to escape so easily. And Brad was there when we made plans to hide out in Chinatown. I’m sure he was able to find my father. So why would they bother . . . with Vincent . . .” Ilya continued listening to something distant. “I’m such an idiot!”

“What?” I said.

Even Faith paid attention again.

“They did get to Vincent. That beast thing has his daughter.” Ilya concentrated behind closed eyes. “Why didn’t I probe his mind back there when I stood right next to him! Never trust anyone.”

“Where are they now? If you can’t track your father, follow Vincent to that beast thing,” I said.

Ilya concentrated again. “Already done. I found the beast. Even from this far away, his thoughts are a primal snarl. All aggression, rage, and bloodlust. I can’t make out words or ideas. He’s a walking hunger for violence.” Ilya’s voice shook.

“It doesn’t matter now. We’ll be off this island before breakfast and the whole mess will be in our rear-view before you know it,” said Cole.

A few minutes after three o’clock in the morning Cole parked his car on the gravel shoulder before the entrance to BC Ferries’ ticket booths.

“I’m glad we’re getting the hell off this rock. I’m going to hit the little girl’s room in the bushes.” Faith slammed the door and in a few steps, she disappeared into the tree line.

“Not a bad idea.” Jonah walked up the road and the blackness of the roadside forest enveloped him.

“I can’t get over the feeling that something is still wrong. That man-creature’s snarl of a mind is getting louder, which probably means closer,” said Ilya.

I heard the fear in his voice and wished I could do something to help.

“We’re already at the end of the line. Where exactly do you want us to go from here? If Ivan knows we’re going to Van, should we abort?” said Cole.

“I don’t know,” said Ilya, his paranoia contagious.

“Why aren’t Faith and Jonah back?” I said.

Chapter 17

A guttural rumbling
GRRRRRRRRRR
rose in the bushes behind me, much deeper and more sinister than the scorpion dog I dodged at the lab. It was the beast. My feet instantly froze to the ground.

Cole saw the look on my face and his gaze shifted to focus on the landscape behind me. His concerned expression curled into rage. He bolted towards me. Survival swept me into action. I leapt off the ground and dove towards Ilya. I felt the stab of my hip hitting the concrete and the sting of gravel opening tiny wounds in my hand and forearm.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cole tackle a large dark shape. They tumbled into the blackberry brambles lining the road. The crunch of footfalls on gravel and Ilya’s wide frightened eyes confirmed Ivan’s presence. I turned to face him.

“I can’t tell you how much it pleases me that the two of you have been working so brilliantly together. I never expected you’d get on so well before being properly introduced.” Ivan’s wicked smile blossomed into an evil grin as he put his hands in his trouser pockets.

“Dad, tell us right now that this is all a misunderstanding. Tell me that when we go to the Vancouver office, we’re going to find this
Compendium Transmuto
and that the project will explain everything that’s been going wrong.”

“Right to the good stuff, hmmmm? Well my boy, you won’t find the Compendium in Vancouver. You won’t find it period. And if you think something is wrong here, you’re not the son I raised you to be.”

“Mr. Krylov, I know this is all a mistake too. We want to understand why you’ve been testing on people so aggressively. You’re taking risks like this for a reason, right? Just tell us why.”

“I’m not telling you squat about my work, love. But you’re right, I have my reasons. Starting with bringing you back home, with your brother, where you belong.”

“My
what
?” Instinctively, I looked over at Ilya.

“Your twin brother, actually. Your combined mind-reading and premonition abilities should have produced that piece of information on your own. I dosed your Tarot cards with my experimental serum T-E nine-three-zero-six, right before I had Rubin plant them in your town and compel you to buy them. I already knew the formula worked when I asked you to submit to an injection regiment. And I had a feeling that Ilya’s anguish and isolation in his little sanctuary would cause him to use astral projection. I love being right. That you couldn’t recognize your own twin . . . well that’s just hilarious.” Ivan stepped forward.

Cole emerged from the brambles wrapped from shoulder to hip in some kind of silk twine. The same sticky threads sealed a patch over his mouth. The creature we’d heard so much about ambled along behind him, shoving him forward every few steps. His dirt-streaked skin, brown fang teeth and matted hair showed faintly in the dark of our surroundings. But his vivid cat-like yellow eyes shone in the pale white moonlight. Cole fought helplessly against his restraints. What kind of thread could hold the strongest man in the world?

Ivan looked over at Cole and the beast. He nodded and with a flick of his wrist, uprooted an old stump nearby. Dripping crumbs of dirt, the stump followed the arc of Ivan’s arm and came to rest right in front of him. Ivan sat carefully.

“Let me introduce you to Mr. Thorn. He is one of my most special friends, and he’s agreed to join us at Innoviro. When the four of you return to work, he’ll take over Rubin’s post as head of security. Ilya, you’ll need to resume your studies as well.”

“We aren’t going to forget all of this and go back to the way things were, Dad. Mind games like pretending that Irina is related to us won’t distract me.”

“It’s not just the mind games,” I said. “Ivan, I can’t go back to work like nothing ever happened. Faith and Jonah won’t either.”

Ivan nodded at Mr. Thorn, who in turn shoved Cole to the ground and walked off in the direction Faith and Jonah had gone. The crack-snap of twigs and brush under his feet faded as Thorn went further into the trees. I refocused my attention on Ivan.

“This is not a request. Your choices are to cooperate willingly or to be my captive. Any of you cause trouble of this scale again, and I’ll have Mr. Thorn use his claws instead of his webbing.”

Ilya took a step forward, and then paused. He was at a loss for words and ideas. I stood up and walked towards Ivan myself.

“If Ilya’s my brother, then that makes you my father.” I looked him squarely in the eye. “Take my hand and prove it.”

Ivan eyed me up from head to toe, assessing me, deciding. After a moment, he extended his hand and I grabbed it. The road faded away and I stood in a bright fluorescent medical room. I turned around and I saw my mom lying on her side on a hospital bed. A woman in green scrubs held her hand, helping Mom brace against a contraction. A young Ivan stood on the other side of the bed. His expression wasn’t the empathetic concern of a husband. Instead, he had an intent expression as though he willed my mom to give birth.

Mom screamed again and a second woman in blue scrubs appeared. The two medical women helped my mom change positions and within moments, she pushed hard. The woman in blue obscured my view, but a primal infant wail rang out over Mom’s deep grunting. The woman in the green scrubs took the child off to a table a few feet away while the blue woman continued to coach Mom through another big push.

The woman in green scrubs returned with a swaddled infant and handed it to my father. He let go of Mom’s other hand and accepted the child. Both women kept talking at my mom, all their attention on her movements and her body. Ivan slipped away with the child while Mom gave birth again. Another man entered the room after Ivan left–Rubin! He wore the same seafoam green scrubs as the rest of the nurses. His hair was brushed into a relatively tidy ponytail, but I’d recognize that asshole anywhere.

I let go of Ivan’s hand and I slid immediately back onto the wet island road under the moonlight. “It’s true. He kidnapped you a few minutes after you were born. And Rubin was there to wipe everyone’s memories of you,” I said to Ilya, turning my back on our father.

“So now that we’ve dispensed with the formalities, let’s get off this road before I have to send Mr. Thorn after some unfortunate civilian witness,” said Ivan.

Ilya shot me a meaningful look and I turned back towards Ivan. I saw Vincent’s denim shirt creeping along the bottom of the ditch beside us, below the overgrown brambles. He was almost parallel with Ivan’s feet. I looked back at Ilya and saw Thorn approaching with Faith bound in more silky thread.

“Do you want me to go back for the water-boy?” Thorn asked in a horrible raspy voice.

“I’m afraid so, Mr. Thorn. He’s not going to be of much use, but I can’t have him running around telling stories and causing trouble.”

Thorn pushed the back of Faith’s calf with one of his feet and she fell to the ground in a clumsy collapse. Vincent stayed hidden a few paces away in the ditch

“Okay, we’ll come back to you. But, if you want our full commitment again, we need the big picture. Remember what I said in the alley, Ivan, after you showed me the catacombs? I still believe this work has to be done, for us, variants, but there’s obviously more going on here. Trust us. Tell us what you’re really working on.”

“Dad, I know you wouldn’t do this if you didn’t have a good reason. Irina’s right, you can trust us,” said Ilya.

“Speak for yourselves, you soulless sheep! Fuck you, Ivan!”

“Don’t listen to her, Ivan. We want to help,” I said.

“Bitch!” Faith yelled at me.

I looked over at her face and saw eyes brimming with venomous hate. “Shut your mouth.”

“All right, you deserve a small taste of what’s coming,” said Ivan.

I took a few steps forward, obscuring Ivan’s view of Cole and Faith.

“I’m gathering variants, here and around the world. Big changes are coming for this planet. Can’t you feel it? Humanity treats this world like a giant waste-bin. We deserve to take it, make it in our own image, tailor the very ground we walk on and the air we breathe solely for our mutations, and start over without them. Any one of you is worth sacrificing for that,” Ivan said, looking from me over to Ilya and back.

“Even if you
can
control our genes, you can’t control the earth. You can’t change geography or the weather,” I said.

“Can’t I? The process has already begun! There’s enough greed and stupidity on this planet to reform the entire thing. Global warming isn’t happening fast enough. You’d be surprised what a few ocean currents and earthquakes can accomplish, once enough ecosystems have been ruined, Irina.”

“You can’t possibly be serious, Dad. The science doesn’t exist, not even for Innoviro,” said Ilya, disbelief in his voice and an expression of disgust on his face.

“How soon?” I quickly added, “How soon can you make it happen?” I tried to sound eager. Ivan’s eyes narrowed and he assessed me for a moment. His gaze shifted quickly to my side. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cole sprinting forward.

One swoop of Ivan’s arm and the pavement underneath Cole cracked and curled up off the ground like a rind. Ivan twirled his wrist and the peel of pavement wrapped around Cole like a blanket. The roll of asphalt flew higher, up over the roadside brambles and shrubs in an arc that reached the marina in the distance. Still encased in pavement, Cole crashed through the roof of a floating wood boat garage.

I turned around as Vincent spit on the back of Faith’s bonds. The sticky silk ropes dissolved with a hiss. Ivan’s outstretched arm came to rest facing Faith and Vincent.

“I can’t move! What is this? What are you DOING to us?” screamed Faith.

“I’m done with lectures for the evening.” Ivan called out, “Mr. Thorn! Leave the boy. It’s time to go!”

He turned to say something to Ilya and me. The air went cold and a surge of sea water knocked Ivan to the ground. Like the stream of a fire hose, the water sent him tumbling. The stream came all the way from the shore and underneath it stood Jonah. His face bore the pained look of a man fiercely concentrating, using every ounce of his strength.

“Look out!” shouted Ilya.

Thorn raced down the road back towards us, shooting silken darts in our direction from the back of his mouth. With each breath, his mouth opened unnaturally wide and a muscular ripple in his throat released each repulsive bolt. They missed us, flying high and wide as Thorn ran.

A glint in Faith’s eye was all it took. She held a fireball in her hands. She pitched it at Thorn, pushing a continuous stream of rage-fueled fire behind it. The molten orb hit him with an explosive flash. He screamed, instantly meeting the same fate as Hugo. I shuddered as his blackened form fell sideways onto the concrete.

The water dousing Ivan receded. Jonah collapsed out of exhaustion. Faith ran to his side. I looked over at Vincent. He wasn’t moving. I heard Cole’s thunderous footfalls crashing through the brush getting louder with every bound.

Ilya walked slowly towards Ivan as I ran to Vincent. I immediately saw one of Thorn’s threaded darts lodged in Vincent’s neck as he struggled to breathe.

“AAAARRRGH!” Cole yelled as something crashed into him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cole deflect a large boulder and charge Ivan. I kept my attention on Vincent.

“Are you okay? No, stupid question, of course you’re not!” Camille was long gone as far as I knew and I struggled to think of some other solution. I stood uselessly wringing my hands, and then reached out to touch him. If nothing else, I could stay with him.

“Do you want me to pull it out?” I asked.

Vincent tried to answer. He convulsed and I saw that the bolt went straight through, out the back of his neck. I could do nothing but comfort him.

“I’m right here,” I said shakily. I grabbed his hand, holding firmly. As I looked in his eyes to reassure him, his life faded away. I held on for a moment, filled with remorse and panic. Then I sensed Ilya at my back.

“They wouldn’t return his daughter until he reported back on our plans. Without Rubin, Ivan became frantic and kidnapped the girl. It wasn’t Ivan and Thorn waiting for Vincent in his apartment; it was his ex-wife with Ivan’s ultimatum. Vincent never wanted to give us up to my father. He thought that right at me before he charged to our rescue,” Ilya said.

“He had a family. What are we going to say to them?” I said.

“We’ll have to figure that out later. As it is, they’ll have some idea.” Cole had Ivan’s limp body crushed firmly in his arms. Ivan looked so pitiful like that, crumpled and unconscious.

Ilya knelt on the ground next to Ivan. Disgust and agony twisted Ilya’s face. He reached out and took his father’s hand. Ivan remained motionless.
I’m so sorry Ilya. I wish this had ended differently.

“Are you going to kill him?” I said.

Cole looked at me, then Ilya, then down at Ivan again. “He's as good as dead already. I’m going to leave him on the side of the road like garbage. That’s how he treated variants. He doesn’t deserve any better himself.”

Ilya released Ivan’s hand and stood, giving Cole a nod and turning his back on all of us. Cole flung Ivan’s body into the ditch like an apple core.

Jonah and Faith walked towards us, the former leaning heavily on the latter.

“So, are we still going to Vancouver?” Jonah had regained some energy.

“I say we finish what we started. We know he had partners. And from the sounds of his insane little rant there, he has a lot worse than human testing on his social calendar,” said Faith.

“We’re still definitely unemployed.” Ilya laughed awkwardly and looked back towards the ditch where Ivan lay.

I glanced around at the scene. Miraculously, Cole’s car remained parked on the side of the road, untouched but from the spray of ocean water that left droplets as though it had just rained.

“Should we bury Vincent? He deserves whatever dignity we can give him, but his family needs to know he’s not coming home,” I said.

“I’ll find somewhere to lay him to rest where he’ll still be found quickly,” said Cole. “Go back along the highway and get some supplies.
Seven Eleven
will open soon. I’ll be waiting on the side of the road when you get back.”