After most of the others had left, Jacob Ashon approached me. By the uncomfortable stiff-armed way he stood, combined with his queasy expression, I knew this wouldn’t be pleasant.
“Trella, I…uh. I’m sorry things didn’t work out with Riley.” He cleared his throat, then his words rushed out. “It’s best if you make a clean break and forget about him.” True. And that’s when the full realization of no longer being with Riley stabbed me deep into my heart. Unable to utter a sound, I reached behind my neck and unfastened the clasp. Hooking it back together, I handed the pendant to Jacob.
“I didn’t mean…you don’t need…”
“Give it to him…please.”
Jacob’s fingers closed around it. The edges of my vision blurred as black and white spots danced in front of my eyes. I closed them and inhaled deep, calming breaths, concentrating on that simple act only.
When I opened my eyes, Jacob was gone along with Jacy. Anne-Jade tapped my shoulder, gesturing me to follow her. I did.
The trip back to the infirmary occurred without incident. Lamont spotted me, but she continued to wrap bandages around a patient’s hand.
“Do you want to inform the Doctor about your assignment or should I?” Anne-Jade asked.
“Feel free.” I kept walking.
“Where are you going?”
Annoyance spiked. “To my room. Do I need to file a request with the Committee first?”
“In triplicate.”
I turned and made a rude gesture. She laughed. I couldn’t help but grin. It lasted a microsecond. All memory of it was erased when I entered my room.
Sheepy was gone.
Sitting on the edge of my bed, I stared at the cuts from the vampire box. I ran my finger along the skin, but couldn’t feel the tracer buried inside. If I hadn’t been there, I would never have believed if someone told me that helping diffuse a bomb would send Riley and Sheepy away.
I lay in bed, curled under the sheet. Action was required. Plans needed to be made. A tracer to trick. I couldn’t let the Controllers or the Committee ruin what I had worked so hard for. What Cogon had died for. I hadn’t wanted the responsibility. No. If I was being honest, I had been…or rather was still terrified of the responsibility. And despite what Anne-Jade had said, it wasn’t too late.
But for now, I needed to grieve for the loss of the world I had imagined with the Committee in charge. For the loss of Riley. And Sheepy.
Lamont woke me. “An ISF officer is here to check on you.”
“Why?” I blinked. Her presence had triggered the daylights.
“You haven’t moved in eighteen hours.”
An impressive amount of sulking time.
Standing behind Lamont, an ISF officer nodded to me. “Just making sure you’re okay,” he said.
“Yeah right. You’re more worried I’ve found a way to fool the tracer,” I said.
He dropped the pretense. “AJ warned us not to underestimate you.”
“AJ?”
“Anne-Jade.”
“Cute. Yet you still waited eighteen hours.”
“The Doctor’s word was sufficient until she also became alarmed as well.”
“Guess I was tired.” I stretched my stiff muscles—the downside of being inactive for so long. However, my shoulder no longer ached, the swelling in my cheek had gone down and scabs covered the two cuts—the upside.
“You should shower and eat. When you’re done, I need help with a couple patients,” Lamont said. She shooed the ISF officer out as she left.
Ah, the glamorous life of an intern. I pushed the covers back and padded through the sitting area to the kitchen. Rebel that I was, I ate first then showered. Sad and pathetic.
The water cleared my mind. I considered how to bypass the tracer as I helped Lamont with routine tasks. Rolling clean bandages, I figured I needed to find a way to keep it at a constant thirty-seven degrees and to move it around, but only on level three.
Inserting it into another person would work. The next time Lamont has surgery, I could slip it in. Except as soon as the patient left this level, the ISF would pounce on the poor unsuspecting person. Avoiding the brig was imperative.
I could use the newborn warmer, parking it in my room when I wanted to explore. But if it didn’t eventually move, the ISF would be suspicious. Absently, I reached to play with my pendant only to encounter smooth skin. The jolt of pain reminded me of when Vinco’s knife had found a sensitive spot.
I wrenched my thoughts back to my current problem. The warmer could work if I moved it around the infirmary, wheeled it to the cafeteria and other areas on level three. Searching the patient area, exam room and surgery, I couldn’t find it.
“Looking for something?” Lamont asked when I exited the surgery.
“The newborn warmer.”
She gave me a rueful smile. “Confiscated by the ISF.”
Damn. “What if we need it?”
“They’ll bring it back only when I have a newborn. We do have a few pregnant patients, but they’re not due for weeks.”
So much for that idea. Again I grabbed for the pendant without thinking.
Lamont noticed the gesture. “Did you lose your necklace in the riot?”
“No. I lost it diffusing the bomb.”
“Bomb?” Her voice squeaked. “The one found in the waste handling plant? You were there? But I thought the riot…”
“I had a busy week.”