Chapter 11 - A Voice in Her Bones
Victoria opened the silver case. Inside sat a black transmitter and a small vial of clear liquid.
"The blue tracer isn't poison," she told Cora. "It lets me send instructions to the receiver in your neck. The sound you're hearing comes from a speaker no bigger than a seed."
Cora pressed both hands to her ears. "Make it stop."
"Give me the key."
I stared at the woman who had smiled at every school fundraiser, who'd sent me a card every birthday, who'd stood beside Evelyn at my graduation.
"You were measuring me," I said.
"I was protecting an investment."
"I'm not property."
Victoria raised her gun. Marcus moved before I did. He hit her wrist with the steel door handle, sending the shot into the ceiling. Sprinklers exploded overhead.
"Take Evelyn!" he yelled.
I grabbed her under the good arm. Cora pulled 0C out of the line of fire. June seized Victoria's case as Marcus wrestled her against the wall.
Victoria caught his injured arm. He screamed and staggered. She escaped through the elevator just as its doors slid shut.
"Why did you help us?" Cora asked Marcus.
"Because I stood there twenty-two years ago when she took you away," he said. "I can still hear you crying."
Evelyn closed her eyes. "Marcus, we need the tower."
He pointed at a stairwell. "Emergency stairs. Two flights up. But the tower transmitter needs power from the flood-control room."
We couldn't all leave.
June took the case and studied its wiring. "I can jam the signal long enough to get this thing off Cora. Maybe. But somebody needs to help Jonah."
The overhead screen flashed a new message.
ATLAS ARRAY: FULL RESTART ORDERED.
My father's voice burst through the speaker.
May you like
"Clara, stay away from the central chamber. Victoria has started the engine. If it reaches full power, every living person connected to the tanks will be used to keep it running."
Then he screamed, and the line went dead.
