Evolution - The Oasis Project Book 3

Thirty-Eight - Ira

I could hear a pin drop in the farmhouse's office after we witnessed Doctor A pry the contact lens out of Linkin's right eye. Doctor A squinted at it, crow's feet and stray blonde hair sharp on camera, before turning to one side and speaking.

"Turn it off," Four said.

Thierry was horrified. "No. It's the only—"

"Turn that shit off, Robin. They're definitely going to run some tests on everything she has, and I'm not going to be held responsible for when they find current in that eye thing."

"Okay." Stuart sighed and after a few clicks and passcodes, the camera feed went black. When he swivelled around to face all of us, he seemed shocked to remember that there were six other people in this room – Yulian, Thierry, Four, Trevor, me, and Celestia. He pointed his index and middle finger at Yulian and me. "So, you two are not going anywhere near the road."

Yulian nodded sourly at our new predicament. "Of course."

I was even less happy to be prisoner again. Prisoner in my own home. "I got it," I said flatly. "Guess you're ours, Celestia."

She gave me a small smile before looking to the wall. Before Four saw that Nita and Linkin had made it to the Russia compound, we'd called an urgent meeting regarding the breaking news and the changes we had to make to our extraction plan. To my surprise, Celestia agreed without hesitation to be the only mutant going with an Australian Deviations team. Maybe times hadn't changed us so much, after all. She looked like she'd still trusted me.

"I think we need to talk," Stuart broke me out of my reverie.

"Me?"

"Celestia," he said, making the newest Deviation gasp. "It'll be fine. I just want to see how much she can take of this." He pointed to the monitor with the live feed from Russia that was switched off.

That was the cue for everyone else to file out of the room. I took a loud breath, not wanting to leave. Yulian gave me a look and a jerk of his head that said "talk outside".

I didn't have words to string together as my mind was racing. Closing the door behind me, my limbs felt like lead. Yulian's smile looked alien and my blood was thundering. It only gave way a little for me to say, "Fuck this."

"Fuck what?" he replied in English.

"Being wanted," I squeaked, moving down the hallway so no one else could hear me. "Not being able to do anything. Having to believe in her."

Yulian put his good arm around me and walked me down the stairs. "Keep breathing," he switched back to Russian. "If she survived Oasis, she can do this. Doubt is only going to bring you the worst."

"This could make or break the entire future of the Deviations. What makes you so confident?"

"When our lives can't get any worse, we fight until we have something to lose." His warm hazel eyes locked on mine and he pointed to the dark circles under his eyes. "I've been crying a lot lately. Can't you see? I've been digging deep, trying to remember, cracking my head open for the bad memories after living without them for so long. We go through this pain because we can, and Celestia can."

I bit my lip, but hugged him tight. Yulian ruffled my hair.

"I think you should go for a run. Don't forget sunscreen."

"Power walk with me?" I didn't want to go alone.

󠁌♟♙♟♙

It was a long way into the night, and we were still waiting for the contact lens to move. Four had made sure to check at nineteen minutes past the hour every hour, if Doctor Nita had managed to return our spy device to Linkin. The rest of us came and went on an almost intuitive roster, but Four stayed at the computer, unable to rest. She didn't bother to hide how nervous she was about the new move that Oasis was making with the media, and she managed to keep Wu and Celestia in the room for a three-hour conversation. I wondered if they stuck together because of their experiences in China, and if Wu still had any shred of his crush on Four from those days. After hearing about him and Yulian, I was a little disappointed to not see them together, but with everything going on, it was a good enough excuse to put anything off.

"Time to check again," Four muttered, rubbing her eyes before entering the code to activate the camera. I'd just swapped with Wu, and sleep wasn't leaving me as quickly as I wanted it to.

This time, the screen didn't show the scrutinizing eye of Doctor A or the darkness of a case. There was a scruff man at the center of the screen, sitting on a chair. He was blonde with a thick beard, and there were deep wrinkles etched in his forehead as he frowned. Linkin blinked a few times and the man's eyebrows lifted as he kicked at the whip at his feet. Beside me, Celestia gasped. It was the same man who had tortured her in China.

Everything going to plan? Four typed.

Linkin looked up; a yes.

Are you alright?

A slow pause, then a hesitant look up to the impeccably clean ceiling. Linkin's gaze fell back to the man, who had stood up. She shook her head but her eyes followed the man's movement to a metal bench, from which he picked up a serrated knife.

"Four, don't ask her any more questions," Celestia spoke up. "He's too smart."

I could hear Celestia's breaths quicken. I looked at her, frowning when I saw her eyes glued to the man who was now pointing the knife much too close to Linkin's face. Stuart, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, gave a small shake of his head when I opened my mouth to ask Celestia if she needed some time out.

"What's his role?" Four asked, laying her hands off the keyboard and twiddling her scarred thumbs in her lap. "Is he a doctor?"

"I-I think so." Celestia's face froze in nervousness and her voice retreated to a tiny volume. "I'm not sure. He seemed more military, or an agent or something. I mean, he's trained to be good at what he does."

A pensive silence stretched over the room as we watched the video bob up and down and shake left to right. One time, Linkin looked down as the knife glided down her heaving chest, and I gritted my teeth.

"Petya," Celestia whispered, her jaw trembling. "I think his name was Petya."