CHAPTER 08_CROSSING LINES
"Ethan you shouldn't be here while the shower is running."
Morgana's voice comes through the bathroom door over the sound of the shower. I feel the air turn cold. My lungs hurt. My fingers are on her laptop and the blue light from the screen makes my skin look bad. I don't look up. Breathe while I watch the progress bar move on the black window.
"I'm just looking for my charger babe." I call back my heart beating fast.
My hands are shaking hard. I almost drop my phone while I take a photo of the hardware key plugged into her laptop. This is who I am now. This is the man shes going to kill in a warehouse. I'm a thief and a liar. I'm stealing the only thing she has left that makes her feel important.
The shower stops. The sudden silence is like a weight.
"Did you find it?" she asks while the curtain rings clatter.
"Yeah." I rasp while I shut her laptop and slide it back onto the nightstand. "Got it. I'm going to make some coffee."
I stumble out of the bedroom. My vision is blurry with red warnings from the System.
Credential Theft Successful. Sync Rate: 94 Percent. Warning: Emotional Stress levels high.
I don't make coffee. I grab my jacket. Slip out the front door into the midnight air. I drive to Elenas place with my teeth clenched. When she opens the door she doesn't say a word. She just sees the look on my face and steps aside to let me in.
"You got them." she asks while she clears a space on her desk.
"I got them." I say while I hand her my phone. "I feel like I just set her house on fire, Elena."
"She's already in the fire, Ethan. She just doesn't feel the heat yet." Elena says while she starts typing. "Marcus is the one holding the match. We're just trying to find the fire extinguisher."
She plugs the hardware data into her terminal and for a minute the only sound is her typing. Then the screen. A directory opens that looks like a map of a nightmare. Thousands of files with names like Extraction Log and Marrow Samples and Neural Degradation.
"Oh god." Elena whispers while she leans in close to the monitor. "Ethan look at the dates on these."
I lean over her shoulder. My stomach turns. The logs go back six years. Every week there's an entry for Subject Zero.
"Cerebrospinal fluid extraction." I read aloud while the words blur before my eyes. "Bone marrow harvesting. Cellular filtration. Hes been draining them like a tick, Elena."
"He knows exactly what happens when he does it too." Elena says while she scrolls through notes. "Look here. He describes how the removal of anchor biologicals weakens the dimensional fabric. He says the catastrophic failure of the bore isn't a bug. It's a feature. He wants the breach to be massive so he can prove his theories."
"Hes trading the lives of eight billion people for a Nobel prize." I say while I look at a photo of a needle.
"It's worse than that Ethan." Elena says, her voice breaking. "Look at the requisition forms from six years ago. Hazardous material handling. Disposal of waste.. This email sent the day Mateo vanished."
I read the screen and the world starts to tilt.
Subject Zero acquisition successful. Phase 1 of long-term study initiated. Disposal of research assistant handled.
"He used Mateo first." Elena says while she covers her mouth. "He tried to turn my brother into an anchor and when Mateo fought back Marcus killed him and found someone to take his place."
I look at the screen. Then at the blue light of the System.
New Data Accessed. Subject Zero viability at 12 Percent. Terminal decline inevitable within 14 days. Must acquire Subject One immediately. Subject Morgana Chen performing adequately as asset.
"Hes using her as a hook." I say while I feel anger rising. "Hes not even trying to hide it. He knows I'll do anything for her so hes keeping her close."
"Hes calculated the weight of your love, Ethan." Elena says while she starts copying data. "Hes turned your quality into his greatest weapon."
A sharp chime echoes through the apartment and a red light starts flashing on Elenas console.
"He found us." I say.
"No he found the intrusion." she says while her fingers fly across the keys. "The system detected the access through Morganas credentials. He'll know within minutes that someone used her login."
"Elena we have to tell her." I say while I grab her shoulder. "Hes going to think she's the one who betrayed him. Hes going to kill her."
"If we warn her she'll go to him." Elena snaps while she looks up at me. "She'll tell him we're working together and then we're both dead and Subject Zero dies with us. If Marcus thinks she's the traitor he might pull back. It buys us time."
"We're using her, Elena." I say while my voice cracks. "We're making her the target."
"She's already the target, Ethan." Elena says while she disconnects the drive. "The only difference is now she's a distraction too. Do you want to save her feelings or do you want to save the world?"
I look at the screen and think about the warehouse. I think about the way she looked at me while she pushed the knife in. I think about the billions of people who never got a chance.
"Don't warn her." I whisper.
I drive back to the apartment with a hole in my chest. I reach the building at midnight. The windows are dark. I walk up the stairs and my legs feel like lead. I open the door and the smell of her perfume is still in the air. The apartment feels empty.
"Morgana." I call out while I flick on the light.
No answer. I walk into the bedroom. My heart stops. The closet doors are wide open. Her favorite sweaters are gone. Her jewelry box is sitting open on the dresser and the necklace I bought her for our anniversary is lying on the floor.
I walk into the kitchen. See a piece of paper on the table. It's her handwriting. Its messy and frantic.
"I know what you are." I read while my hands start to shake. "I know what you're going to do. I can't let you destroy everything. Marcus showed me the footage of you at the lab tonight. I saw you stealing my keys, Ethan. I saw the look on your face. I'm sorry. I loved you. I love the world more. Don't come looking for me. -M"
I drop the note and the blue screen in my vision explodes into a wall of text.
CRITICAL TIMELINE DEVIATION. Subject Morgana Chen has defected to Marcus Vance. Betrayal sequence initiated 18 days ahead of schedule. Primary Objective: Survive the 60 minutes.
The front door slams open behind me. I don't even have time to turn around before a heavy boot hits me in the back and sends me crashing into the kitchen table. I roll onto the floor. See Marcus standing in the doorway. Hes holding a device thats humming with a sound that makes my teeth vibrate. Behind him I can see Morgana. Shes staring at me with a look of cold hatred.
"You should have stayed dead the time, Ethan." Marcus says while he steps into the room. "It would have been less painful for everyone involved."
"Ethan please just do what he says." Morgana says while her voice breaks. "He said he can fix you if we get you to the lab now. He said he can take the monster out of you."
I look at her. I realize she isn't even crying. She's resolute. Shes become the hero of her story and I'm the villain she has to slay.
"Hes using you Morgana." I rasp while I try to push myself up. "He's the one whos destroying the world."
"Shut up." she screams while she takes a step, toward me. "I saw the logs, Ethan. I saw you using my name to hack into the university servers. You're a spy and a monster. I'm done listening to your lies."
Marcus. Raises the device.
"Phase two is starting now Ethan " Marcus says. The air, around him starts to shimmer. "I think your girlfriend wants to be the one to bring you in."