Michael scooted closer. We kept our voices low. “What’s up?”
“I just heard my father.”
“What are you talking about?”
Hyden sat up. “What’s going on?” he asked quietly.
“My father just talked to me in my head,” I said.
“How do you know it’s not my father messing with you again?” Hyden said.
“He knew about the z-drive.”
Hyden straightened. “What else did he say?”
“That he’s being held prisoner.”
“Did he say where?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. Just that it was the desert.”
When he heard that word, Hyden sat back. I could see from his expression that he finally believed me.
“Then he’s with my father.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
“My father loves the desert. Because only the tough survive there,” Hyden went on.
We leaned in close so we could keep our voices down. If Hyden’s father had kidnapped my father, he would have faked those death records. He might have held my father captive for an entire year.
For a split second, I allowed myself to dream about a reunion . “I hope we both live long enough to see each other. Wait till Tyler finds out.”
“If it helps,” Hyden said, “my father would want desperately to keep your father alive. He’d want to know everything he knows.”
“After a year, don’t you think he’d know?” I asked. My stomach tightened. “We have to find him. Don’t you have a single clue where his lab is? An educated guess? Anything?”
We heard a noise at the door. We all stopped and stared at it. It opened a crack. And then stayed like that.
Hyden went to the door and looked out. Then he motioned to us to follow.
The hallway was empty—no guard in sight. We followed Hyden alongside a projection of the rain forest, and I braced myself for someone to leap out at us at any moment.
He peered in the window cut into the door of a room. It was dark, but the dim light of an airscreen chip scanner in save mode glowed like a candle flame. Hyden nodded to us, and we went inside.
Hyden waved his hand in the air, and the screen intensified to full brightness. We left the lights off in the room—this glow was all we needed. A projection of a glacier played against one wall. Otherwise, the room was bare-bones: a table holding the airscreen, another table with a few office supplies, some folding chairs.
Hyden’s chip ID number popped up on the airscreen. Then two other chips showed up.
Hyden pointed to each of three numbers. “That’s mine, that one’s yours”—he pointed to me—“and that one’s yours.” He pointed to Michael.
Hyden pointed to his chip number and tapped the screen twice. It connected with his chip.
“I’m in,” he whispered.
“It sees your chip,” I whispered.
We watched in awe as his eyes turned to slits, and he used his mind, not his fingers, to move through files. He searched for “Brockman” but came up empty.
“They don’t know where he is,” Hyden said.
Then Hyden moved to a different area and located a new file area: “Security.” With his mind—and the chip—he fanned through files at top speed. He found the alarm system and found a way to shut it off.
“Wow,” Michael whispered.
We smiled. But then someone opened the door.
An Ender woman stood in the doorway wearing a black jumpsuit. She was slender, with beautiful bone structure and white hair she left long and flowing, just past her shoulders.
She came in and closed the door behind her.
“It’s all right,” she said. “Don’t be afraid.”
I recognized her voice. “You’re the one in the office at the shooting range.”
She was the Ender who had observed and relayed instructions to the team inside.
She kept her voice low. “I’ve seen what they’ve put you through, and it’s shameful.”
“Why would you help us?” Hyden asked.
“I’m a grandmother. I was. I lost not only my children but also my grandchild in the war. She refused to get the vaccine because she didn’t trust the government.”
I noticed that Hyden had changed the screen so it was just a pattern.
“If you stay, what they will do to you is horrendous. That’s why I’m risking my job to get you out of here.”
The three of us exchanged worried glances.
“You must get away now,” she said.
“You’re the one who unlocked our cell door,” I said.
“Yes. I was going to lead you out, but a guard came by. I had to distract him.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out our car keys. “Here. I saw you disable the alarm,” she said to Hyden. “Go now.” She tossed the keys to Hyden.