Enders(74)

He could tolerate my touch? Or maybe he was just numb from the ZipTaser.

Brockman did not notice. He was busy addressing the room.

“You see? My son makes bad decisions. That’s why I will be the one to handle the sale of the technology.”

I removed my hand as the guard came over. He yanked Hyden to his feet, gripping him by the arm. I stood with him.

“You killed Reece.” Hyden lunged at his father. The guard held him back. “And Helena.”

“She was about to kill a senator,” Brockman said to his son. Then he spoke to the guard. “Put them in room fourteen until it’s showtime.”



The walls and floor of the small windowless chamber were made of steel. The door was also made of thick metal, affording no method of escape.

“They didn’t even bother to cuff us,” I said.

Hyden sighed. “That’s because there’s no way out of here.”

“Is that why he put us in here together?”

“We are his most valuable commodities. So we have to share the escape-proof room.”

I looked up at the flickering light from fluorescent tubes embedded in the high ceiling. “What kind of man needs a room like this?”

“A man who has more enemies than friends,” Hyden said.

We sat on the floor with our backs against the wall.

“None of the Metals had seen my father,” I said.

Hyden lowered his voice. “Don’t talk about them. In case …”

“You think he’s listening?” I whispered.

He shrugged. “Unless he’s too busy getting ready for the auction.”

“It doesn’t really matter now what we say. We’re headed out of here. Probably somewhere very far away, someplace where we don’t speak the language,” I said.

“We probably won’t be together,” he said.

I looked at him. “Were you really going to use the money to end the institutions?”

“Lobbyists to senators, I had it mapped out. Even had plans drawn up to convert the institutions to schools equipped with the latest airscreens and privatecasts.”

“I’m sorry I got in the way,” I said.

“No. No, don’t ever say that. I learned a lot from how your chip was altered, and I used Blake to keep close to you so I could stay on top of the no-kill change, but more than anything, it was about you. I felt responsible for you. Everything in your life would have been different if I had never started Prime.”

“So … you felt sorry for me?”

“No.” His eyes met mine. “I fell in love in with you.”

I froze. Time froze.

There might have been a cold metal floor beneath me, but I was not present in this cell. I was somewhere else, struggling to put it all together. I hadn’t had a chance to process the discovery that Hyden was really the Old Man. It explained so many things. At least I knew now why I felt so connected to him. We’d shared so many special times together, when he was inside Blake.

A warmth radiated from my core. Hyden was waiting for my reaction, but I didn’t know how to put it into words. I saw the burn mark on the back of his wrist. It was in the shape of a diamond.

I wondered if the touch before was a fluke. I reached out my hand. He didn’t back away. With my forefinger, I touched his skin that encircled the ZipTaser mark.

“The ZipTaser,” I said.

His eyes reflected some pain, but he let me touch him.

“Is this all right?”

“It’s not easy.” He swallowed. “But it’s worth it.”

“You had a breakthrough,” I said, removing my hand.

“Getting zapped with that many volts will do it to you, I guess.”

“Maybe. And all the manhandling you had here and at Dawson’s.”

“Desensitize or die,” he said.

I guessed that confronting the monster who was the source of his pain was the real reason. But it didn’t matter why.

I put up my hand, hoping he’d remember the time at Dawson’s, when we were separated by glass.

He lifted his hand too. Our palms met and touched in the air. He tensed, but he held his palm there. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them he looked a little more relaxed. He nestled his fingers and wrapped them in mine, our palms still connecting. He pulled me closer as he leaned in and kissed me.

He kissed me. For the first time as himself. Not as Blake or Jeremy or anyone else.

It was never better.

But all too soon, the door opened.





CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR





Briona held Trax’s passkey in her hand. “Come on,” she said quietly as she gestured for us to get up.

“It’s okay, that’s Briona,” I whispered to Hyden.

“I know,” he said. “From Prime.”