Lucid Design Read online

  “Sigma, let’s go!” Rho moved back, his eyes looking over his shoulder in the direction of the front door.

  “We won’t get a chance again, brother,” Sigma growled. “Everyone stay against the wall!”

  All twenty guests gathered against the wall on the other side of the large table. A few of them cried, many of them clutched each other. They stared in shock, Dale’s terrified face among them, as Rho, Sigma, and Psi held them at gunpoint. The guests huddled behind Gabe and a Recep. Both of them stood, hands raised in surrender. The inhibitor lingered in the air, Gabe and his man, like her, would be stunted by it.

  “Sigma, let’s go!” Rho’s gun remained raised on the guest, but his head turned to Sigma.

  Sigma sneered at Rho then motioned his gun at the crowd. “Agatha, Oliver, Gabe. Step forward. No one else move. If you’re lucky, we may let some of you live.”

  The three separated from the group. Agatha held onto Oliver, who paled beside her. Raleigh’s heart twisted in her chest. Not Agatha. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

  “Do the condemned have any last words?” Sigma asked.

  He had no interested in hearing them, nothing they said would save their lives. Despite that, Agatha pleaded with him. The dishes from dinner sat piled in the hallway, a steak knife on the side glinted in the light. She reached for it, gauging the weight of it in her hand. Against a gun it wasn’t much, but she had surprise on her side. Could she stab him? Gabe had trained her to fight without her Lucid.

  “Not good enough, Agatha.” Sigma leveled the gun at her heart.

  Raleigh thought about all the good times with Agatha, some earlier that day. She remembered the pictures of dead boys on Agatha’s wall and replayed the video from the island in her head. She wouldn’t stand by and let evil win. Fearlessly, she lunged forward and drove the knife into Sigma’s arm. Then she slid it up at an angle as she’d been taught in a self-defense class years ago. The lesson came back to her with a stark clarity, as promised.

  Sigma swore as the gun tumbled from his hand. Raleigh kicked it across the floor. Psi aimed his gun at Raleigh and fired. The bullet grazed her shoulder and the sharp pain knocked her to the ground. Without pause, Psi pointed the gun at Gabe, who scrambled to get Sigma’s pistol. Psi and Gabe fired at each other simultaneously, neither one having time to aim. Gabe hit Psi in the chest and Psi’s bullet hit Gabe in the leg, dropping him to the ground.

  Sigma, dripping blood and disarmed, ran toward the front door. Gabe retrained his weapon on Rho who, uninjured, stood ready to shoot Gabe. Psi, unconscious on the ground, was no longer a threat. Without sensing, Raleigh couldn’t tell if he was dying.

  “Gabe, I don’t want to shoot you,” said Rho. “We both know that I have the better shot.”

  Gabe craned his neck to see the others. None of them moved, although a few eyed the gun resting in Psi’s open hand.

  Kappa rushed in. “Rho, we’ve got to leave.”

  Rho motioned his head towards Psi. “We need help to get Psi out of here, and take his gun.”

  Kappa picked up the firearm and left. He soon returned with Xi and Gamma who lifted their brother. Kappa stayed, not leaving Rho’s side.

  Rho stepped backward, his eyes and gun still trained on Gabe. “We’re leaving. Don’t follow us. I have no intention of killing any of you. But I will if I have to.”

  Gabe tossed his gun to the ground with a clank. “I’m going to take you at your word, because I don’t have much choice.”

  For the first time that evening Rho acknowledged Raleigh. He looked at her, his expression tense. “Kappa, help Raleigh. She’s been shot.”

  Agatha moved forward, and Gabe grabbed out to pull her back. “You can’t take her, please don’t harm her.”

  Raleigh shook her head. They didn’t know that she led the Designed here or that she’d trapped Receps in the closet and the cells. “I’m sorry, Agatha.” She didn’t ask for forgiveness. She didn’t regret her decision.

  Kappa wrapped a strong arm around her. “You’re pale.”

  “I feel foggy.” Many times in the past, doctors had asked if she felt lightheaded before her blackouts. The answer was always no. Now she experienced the narrowing vision they’d described. Bracing herself against Kappa, she said, “Rho, take Dale.”

  Rho scanned the crowd. “Raleigh, we don’t have much time.”

  “Take Dale. If he wants to come. Dale, you want to come, don’t you?”

  Dale’s eyes rose high on his brow. “What?”

  “We’ve got to hurry.” Rho motioned over his shoulder for Dale to move.

  Raleigh concentrated on her friend, her body shaking. “Dale, you trust me, don’t you? Come with me.”

  Dale looked at Agatha, Oliver, and, lastly, at Gabe before stepping through them, past Rho, and over to Kappa and Raleigh. The three of them left, and Rho kept the rest of the room in line. When he finally joined them outside, he wasn’t followed. The four made their way to the helicopter in the open field across the driveway.

  Kappa hoisted Raleigh into Gamma’s arms, and he rested her inside the helicopter. Kappa jumped in and helped Dale up before moving to give Rho space to enter. Collin manned the controls.

  “We don’t have Sigma,” Xi said.

  Rho faced the door, his eyes on the field. “He ran. Collin, go. If he isn’t here, he isn’t coming.”

  A few of the others protested, but Collin’s fanatical loyalty to Rho, for once, came in handy. With the door shut, Collin took it up.

  28

  THE THUMPING OF the spinning propellers echoed through the metal ribcage of the helicopter. Raleigh’s stomach dropped as they rose. The motion was less like an airplane and more like the ground being ripped away. The noisy, cramped space and the pitch-black darkness outside disoriented her. They all had to shout to be heard—although they didn’t need the excuse.

  “We have to get to a hospital, Collin!” Upsilon cradled Psi’s head in his lap. “I can keep him from bleeding, but he needs a doctor.”

  With her legs weakened from the shock, Raleigh sat in the corner, pressing her hand against the floor as the helicopter jostled in the wind. Kappa slid beside her, propping her up.

  “How can you influence?” she asked Upsilon.

  “I hung back on purpose. I’m the only one who didn’t get dosed with the inhibitor.”

  Xi moved towards Rho. “Where’s Sigma? What happened back there?”

  Rho’s eyes darted to Raleigh for a moment. “Raleigh stabbed Sigma. He was going to kill Agatha, Oliver, and Gabe.”

  Raleigh heard the collective intake of breath. Bolstering herself she faced them. “I promised to get Mu and Tau out, not help you kill your enemies.”

  “Then Psi shot Raleigh,” Rho continued, “and turned his gun on Gabe, who by that point had Sigma’s. They both fired, and Psi ended up like this. Sigma ran out. We left shortly after.”

  “She’s one of them!” Xi yelled.

  “She got us out.” Mu eyed her curiously, as he moved closer to her and Kappa. “If it weren’t for her, I would still be in that cage.”

  Xi didn’t let it drop. “Because of her, Psi is dying. She chose them over us.”

  “She didn’t know it was going to happen.” Rho challenged Xi, staring him down as the helicopter dipped and swayed.

  “It doesn’t matter. It’s her fault.” Xi pointed at Raleigh, his lips snarled.

  Rho shook his head. “We all knew it was dangerous.”

  Raleigh met Xi’s eyes. “I’d do it again. Sigma was going to slaughter them. I didn’t sign up for that.”

  “Oh, yeah? And just what the hell did you think you were signing up for?”

  Gamma restrained him. “Calm down, Xi.”

  “She’s out!”

  “No, she’s not. You wanted her to prove herself by getting Mu and Tau out, and she did. She’s done as you asked, and she’s in.” Rho sat back down beside her and Kappa. He cupped her cheek in his hand.

  Xi tugged free
of Gamma. “I’m not allying with her.”

  “Then you’re not with me,” Rho said.

  Kappa exhaled. “Is this really the time to be splitting up?”

  “I’m not spending any more time around her.” Xi glanced at Psi again. “Psi would agree with me, and so would Sigma. The rest of you have to choose.”

  “Raleigh.” Kappa held her a little tighter in his arms, she only had to peer up to see the commitment in his eyes. He could’ve said Rho, but he chose her name instead.

  “Raleigh.” Mu leaned down and extended his hand. “Thank you for getting me out. Tau?”

  Tau’s stern eyes studied them through his lashes. “I’m with Rho.”

  “Then you’re with Raleigh,” Rho said.

  Tau’s face twisted, but he didn’t change his mind. She closed her eyes, picturing the hornet stings.

  Yes, she’d gotten him out and got herself shot in the process, but he didn’t owe her.

  Kappa looked at Gamma. “Gamma?”

  Gamma and Upsilon faced each other, their dark eyes in an unspoken conversation.

  “We’re with Rho,” Gamma said, turning to Rho.

  Upsilon nodded.

  The Designed had ended their alliance to one another. Rho and Raleigh won the loyalty of all but Sigma, Psi, and Xi. Raleigh could easily live without the three, but she didn’t know how this would affect the others.

  “I’m landing at the hospital,” Collin said. “It’s going to be quick.”

  The blue and red lights of the hospital helipad shot in the dark windows coloring the shadows.

  Rho kneeled down. “Raleigh, can you wait to see a doctor? I’d rather we just drop off Psi.”

  Despite her spinning head she wanted to be far from here. “Yeah, I can manage.”

  Collin landed, and the guys unloaded Psi and Xi. Most patients weren’t delivered by unannounced helicopters, never mind those with near-fatal gunshot wounds.

  “How will they explain themselves?” Raleigh clung to Kappa as the helicopter returned to the sky.

  “Not our problem,” Upsilon said, looking out the window.

  Dale coughed in the corner. In all the commotion, she’d all but forgotten him. He’d tucked himself in the front, holding on tightly to the seat, his face contorted with worry. Raleigh’d had time to think about what she wanted to do when they saved Mu and Tau. Dale had less than a minute. Hopefully he wouldn’t regret it....

  “She’s not doing well,” Upsilon said, his voice sounding like it was in a tunnel.

  That was the last thing Raleigh heard.

  —

  THE SKEPTICAL DOCTOR peered over his clipboard at Raleigh. “All right, Alice, you need to take one of these twice a day. Normally, with your type of injury, I’d call in a social worker or the police.”

  They had cleaned and wrapped Raleigh’s wound. She didn’t tell the doctor that she knew a lot about dressing wounds as he handed her a leaflet about proper wound care and how often to change her bandages. Instead, she looked over the information and asked questions.

  “I was holding the gun when it fell and went off.” Raleigh had repeated this lie enough times that she herself was in danger of believing it.

  Dr. Young didn’t buy it. “Usually I’d keep you longer than a few hours.”

  A few hours were already too many. Kappa and Rho camped out in her room, only leaving when the doctor requested them to.

  “I feel great.” Raleigh got off the exam table folding the papers. The cocktail dress had no pockets, so she crumpled the papers in her right hand. The bullet had grazed her left arm. Once the inhibitor wore off Rho and Kappa influenced the cut to bleed less.

  Dr. Moore inspected the bandage. “I’ve never seen anyone heal the way you do. Are you sure I can’t call your parents?”

  “No, my friends will take me home.”

  “I have no doubt about that. They’ve been very attentive. I’m going to give you the card of a women’s shelter and therapist.”

  “It was an accident.”

  “In case you change your mind about what happened.” Dr. Young correctly assumed that something was off. Thankfully, the truth was so obscure that she wasn’t worried about him guessing it.

  The fake license Marcel had provided came in handy, and the nurse bought her story about not having insurance. Kappa told Raleigh not to worry about the bill, but she was worrying about everything right now. With a prescription for pain meds and a bottle of antibiotics, she said her farewells. Rho and Kappa escorted her from the building, her arm in a sling.

  Rho held open the front door of the car, and Raleigh sat down, wondering where’d they gotten it on such short notice. “Where are we headed?”

  “My house.” Kappa drove through the short buildings of Washington DC. “It’s safe. Well, as safe as anywhere.”

  “How’s Dale?” Raleigh asked. Rho had insisted that only he and Kappa should accompany her to the hospital.

  Rho leaned forward his mouth inches from her ear. “He’s fine. What’s the deal with him?”

  “I’m going to let him tell you why he’s here.” She leaned back in her seat. If she could draw the parallels between the Modified and Designed, surely, they would as well.

  29

  RALEIGH OPENED HER eyes and rolled onto her left side, the pain where she’d been shot nipping at her. Sitting up quickly, she almost bumped her drug-muddled head on the bunk above her, the sheets twisted uncomfortably around her legs.

  Rho, Raleigh, and Kappa had arrived at Kappa’s house in the very early hours of the morning. The other Designed and Dale slept, affording her another few hours before she had to explain everything. Kappa had led her to a room with twin bunk beds, and after taking one of the bottom bunks, she quickly drifted off. Now, awake, she would have to face the day.

  “You’re up.” Dale spoke loudly enough to ensure that she wouldn’t be going back to sleep. He was perched across the way, on the edge of the made bunk.

  Raleigh unwound the blankets with her right arm and swung her legs over the side of the mattress, her feet padding onto the beige carpet. “I’m glad to see you’re all right.”

  “They’re all downstairs.”

  “Have you been watching me sleep?” She reached her hand up to her forehead and brushed back the hairs that clung to her face.

  “What was I supposed to do? Rho invited me to join them for breakfast and then lunch, but I didn’t want to. Why are we here?”

  Raleigh let out a loud yawn, unintentionally mocking Dale’s turmoil. “Sorry. These pain meds make me groggy.”

  “One of them shot you.”

  Raleigh didn’t need the reminder, the pain in her arm didn’t let her forget. “I went undercover with Grant and Able to get Mu and Tau out.”

  Dale jumped up with his hands out. “Obviously! I figured that out. How could you do this to Agatha? To Gabe? To Adam?”

  “I didn’t know them when I set out to betray them.” There was no sense in not owning it.

  “How could you?”

  “Because they were wrong. Wrong to capture Mu and Tau. Wrong to get Adam and the other Receps addicted to Lucidin. Wrong to capture you and Quinn.”

  “I wouldn’t call it being captured.” He sat back down. Raleigh sensed the weariness that came with uncertainty and too little sleep.

  “Then why did you leave with us?”

  “Because you’re my friend, and I trust you.”

  “Then trust me when I tell you that the Designed are as human as you and me. Grant and Able used them, too. Only they were never fed the promise that they’d get out one day when it was safe. Because Grant and Able isn’t making the world safer. They’ve unleashed something very unsafe, and it isn’t the Designed.”

  Dale leaned forward on his knees. “Lucidin? You’re talking about Lucidin.”

  “You saw what it did to Brandon.”

  “But Lucidin is good. It cures cancer.”

  “It’s not black and white.”

  “The
Designed are evil.”

  Raleigh rubbed the bridge of her nose with her right hand. “Dale, they aren’t. I met Rho weeks before I went to Grant and Able. He was near death from what the synthetic dealers had done to him. Do you know who he was most concerned about? Me. Sigma and some of the others might be nasty, but, as a whole, they’re like everyone else—a mixed bag.”

  “So now we’re on their side, just like that?”

  “I’m sorry that you didn’t have time to think about your decision and had to make it in the middle of that mess. I never dreamed I’d get you out. Hell, I didn’t think I was ever going to get the chance to see Mu and Tau. I’d given up on the whole thing.”

  “You were going to stay with Grant and Able. No one is that good an actor. You were going to become a healer.”

  “I was. I bought into it all. The idea of being a healer down the road and going to college was enticing. I thought the added synthetic was to blame for the addiction. The longer I was there, the more abstract the Designed became.”

  “You were about to go out in the field to catch them.”

  “I was going to help get Sigma and Psi. But I was going to do a crummy job on the rest, get sent home, and start college.”

  “But instead you did this!”

  “Let’s go downstairs and talk with the Designed. They need to know about who you are. It was kind of them to take you no questions asked, but we’re going to have to give them those answers now.”

  “We don’t have any other choice, do we?”

  “I could try to get you back to Grant and Able if you want?”

  Dale rose and stared at the carpet for a moment. “No.”

  “Then let’s go downstairs, and you can meet them. But I stink, I have to clean up first.” Raleigh wore some of Kappa’s clothes and desperately needed a shower. She stepped into the bathroom as Dale hesitantly went down the steps. The bathroom had a tub, toilet, and two sinks. Underneath one she found a package of toothbrushes. Kappa must’ve predicted that his home would be used as a safe house. Brushing her teeth, she wished that the events of the last day could be as easily scrubbed away. In the end they weren’t, but at least her breath smelled minty.