The Unknown

xxiii.

Abruptly, I straightened and turned away from him, having expelled most of the anger from my system. My blood gradually stopped boiling, and my heart settled for a more relaxed pace.

Now I wanted to put a wall between us and pretend he wasn't there. Anything to get him away from me, so I would never have to think about him again. I didn't care if he spontaneously combusted right behind me.

"If it's any consolation, Tess, they're keeping me here too," Jason said plainly. The sound of his voice made the hairs on the back of my neck bristle. My hands charged with a different kind of electricity, urging me to act defensively. 

I'd turned my unguarded back to him. Kyle had drilled it into my head to always watch my back.

It took me a moment to actually process his words, but when I did, my mouth dropped open. I had to concentrate to manually make it shut again. That's what Doc must have meant before, when he said the government hadn't kept their end of the bargain. Doc and Jason were supposed to go free if he handed the rest of us in.

I slowly realized everyone was staring at me. My eyes darted between Doc and Van. "What? I'm calm now, I swear." But they didn't look away.

"Tess, your eyes..." Doc said.

I knelt at the metal desk by Doc's bedside, fed up with their lack of explanation. With a gasp, I spotted my face in its warped reflection. 

The whites of my eyes had turned blood red.

My hands began to tremble. I tried to calm myself. I felt fine. 

But I looked like a one-woman horrorshow. I stood on shaky legs and faced Van. "What is this? What's wrong with me?"

He gripped my shoulders, perhaps to steady or calm me, and leaned down to stare into my eyes. "Looks like subconjunctival hemorrhage—broken blood vessels in the eye. It's usually not a huge concern. They can happen with strain, and you were yelling. But..."

"But?"

"I've never seen the whole eye go red like that. And it's usually only in one." He released my shoulders and straightened up. "How do you feel?"

"Fine." I rubbed the back of my neck, then hurried to drop my arm when my fingers grazed the implant again. I didn't want Van to realize I knew about it. And I really didn't want to think about it.

"I don't think it's any cause for concern," Van said hesitantly. "It just looks a bit shocking."

Van grabbed a key ring from his pocket, picked out one particular key, then unlocked the top drawer of the metal desk.

I held my breath as he pulled it open. This was my opportunity. Inside the drawer, I glimpsed a shiny pair of scissors. They were only inches from my hand. However, there were still three sets of eyes watching me. I needed to shift their attention.

"So, how long does he have left?" I nodded toward Doc. 

I'd intentionally chosen a...challenging, tactless question. The moment the focus shifted to him, I slid my hand into the drawer and swiftly grabbed the scissors. I held them against the inside of my wrist as discreetly as possible, then settled on crossing my arms to completely obscure them from sight. My hospital gown had no convenient pockets or sleeves.

Doc and Van hadn't seen what I did. They were talking back and forth, utterly unsuspecting. 

My heart swelled with the hope that escape was no longer an impossibility. 

Then I glanced over my shoulder at Jason. My pulse stuttered when I met his eyes, staring back at me with curiosity. He knew. I quickly averted my gaze and obscured the panic on my face.

I'd forgotten how perceptive he was. I remembered his fingers brushing my arm when it was bruised from my hospital stay in the City. He'd uncovered our lie—that Kyle and I had made a small...detour on our mission. And it seems he'd kept it secret because Doc mentioned finding out from the government, not his son.

Maybe he would keep another secret. Apparently, it was the one thing I could possibly trust him for. Doc's past words echoed in my mind: "My son has had a little crush on you for a long time." 

Was that it? Jason liked me too much to rat me out? For whatever reason, he'd chosen me to save over everyone else. Though he was incredibly foolish to think I would ever go along with his plan.

Van was speaking only to Doc now. I didn't register the words anymore, barely noticing the subdued drone of their voices. While they were occupied, I discreetly glanced back at Jason. 

He smiled at me, raised his index finger to his lips just as he had at the school, then lowered his hand and looked away as if nothing had happened. 

I had no choice but to trust a traitor not to betray me.  

If Jason messed this up for me, I'd kill him.