I watch Kaelen’s fists ball at his sides, as though he’s trying to keep from punching something. Me.
“You’ve destroyed our only chance of finding Dr. Maxxer and the antidote.”
“What? That’s preposterous.”
“You don’t seem to fully comprehend the gravity of the situation or the extent of your error.”
“My error?” I repeat in disgust.
“The memory clearly indicated that you were to contact Mr. Carlson last night, in his lab,” Kaelen says, and I immediately realize what he was doing during that brief moment of stillness. He was watching the memories he stole from my mind. He was catching up on everything he’d missed since I left him in that cab. I lean to the right, just able to make out a new receptor disk secured behind his ear.
“Yeah, so?”
“But you insisted on intercepting him earlier than the memory instructed,” he goes on, his gaze flashing momentarily to Cody. “And now the opportunity to ascertain the next clue has been lost.”
I shrug. “So why can’t we just go back to last night and get it?”
Of course, as soon as the suggestion is out of my mouth, I recognize the flaw in its logic.
“The basic laws of transession don’t allow you to occupy space in the same moment of time more than once.”
I’ve already been there. I’ve already occupied space in the time period of last night. I was at Cody’s house, with him and his wife. Making it virtually impossible for me to go back to get the memory.
“Even if you were capable of transessing there,” Kaelen clarifies, “which you are not, the memory is no longer valid. Mr. Carlson would not be where he is supposed to be—”
“Okay,” Cody interrupts, “can we stop talking about me like I’m not even here? And what’s this whole thing about me in your memory? Did she lead you to me? Is that how you found me?”
But I ignore him. “Why not?” I ask Kaelen.
“Because you effectively altered his course. The memory specified that Mr. Carlson was supposed to be in his lab last night. Working late. But he was not.”
Cody appears pensive. “Actually, he’s right. I was planning to work late last night.”
“But I showed up with Zen and we went back to your house,” I realize aloud.
“Yes,” comes Kaelen’s vacant response.
It is my fault.
I did this. I went against what the memory told me to do and I messed it all up.
“You have prohibited us from obtaining the final clue, which we believe would reveal Dr. Maxxer’s whereabouts,” Kaelen says, solidifying my guilt.
I press my fingers to my temples. “Wait. Final clue. Are you saying Cody was the last stop on the map?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know that?”
“Like I’ve already stated,” he drones, “we were able to identify the time-delayed recalls implanted in your brain; we simply could not decode them until they were properly activated. We counted three in total.”
Three.
Chinatown.
Fifty-Ninth Street station.
Cody.
“But if there were only three,” I rationalize, “then Cody couldn’t have triggered another memory. By the time I found him there were no more memories left to trigger. So how could Maxxer’s whereabouts be revealed?”
Kaelen hesitates for a moment before finally admitting, “It would seem the final piece of information is not implanted in your brain.”
I draw in a sharp breath, feeling the weight of everything come crashing down on me.
“Hold on a second.” Cody jumps in before I have a chance to speak. He turns to me. “Is he implying what I think he’s implying?”
I feel my head fall into a stunned nod. “I think so.”
The last clue.
Maxxer’s hidden location.
The key to healing Zen.
It’s buried within Cody’s mind.
44
BURIED
That’s why Maxxer sent me to him. That’s why he’s involved. She must have implanted the last piece of the map in his brain when she was erasing his memories. She must have set it to trigger when I showed up. Which was supposed to be last night. In his lab. But now I’ve ruined that. Now it might never be triggered.
“No. No, no, no, no, NO.” Cody is pacing the length of the room. “There’s been some sort of mistake. I don’t know anything. I swear.”
“Cody,” I say, reaching out to him as he passes by and attempting to rest a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “It wouldn’t be something you know now.” I turn to Kaelen. “Are you saying Maxxer put one of those time-delayed recalls in Cody’s mind, too?”
“Actually, that would be impossible,” Kaelen responds.