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“How is everyone?” she asked politely as she took off her coat.
“Good,” I said. “The new volunteers are settled and understand they might be temporarily reassigned to help with supply redistribution. How are things on your end?”
“A little rocky. The team responsible for the mortality cure requested to start their first trial tomorrow. The serum is derived from hound DNA.”
Brandon swore under his breath, and Katie sat with a thump.
“How can they be so stupid?” Steve asked.
“They don’t view it that way. It’s a carefully calculated risk versus reward. They believe they’ve isolated what they needed. And they’ve tested different methods to expunge infected cells and are reasonably confident that, if the trial fails, they will be able to reset the room.”
“You mean they’re fairly sure they’ll be able to kill the person they inject,” I said.
“Yes.”
“When do they want to do that?” I asked.
“Tomorrow afternoon,” she said. “And since, in the delegation’s eyes, I’ve managed Molev well, they’ve agreed that I should head off any potential conflicts of interest by flying out to confer with him tomorrow before the test takes place.”
“Do you honestly think he’s going to be okay with this?” I asked.
“I know he won’t be, but I think he was expecting this all along and is the reason behind all of the work we’ve been doing. It’s been leading up to this. Are you ready?”
“So we leave tomorrow, then?” Roni asked, leaning forward. “It’s been nice here, but I’m glad we’re finally moving.”
Waurlyn gave Roni a small smile.
“Yes. Everything changes tomorrow. Many people are eager to learn more about Molev’s people, which I hope to use to pacify the delegation once what we’ve done is discovered. Here are the radio frequencies and times,” Waurlyn said, handing me a folder. “Communicate regularly to preserve the trust Molev has won.”
“What about you?” I asked. “Are they going to replace you when they find out what we’ve done?”
“Very possibly,” she said. “But that’s a risk Molev understood when he asked me.”
Molev hadn’t been the only one to understand the risk. Waurlyn had, too, when she agreed. So, I felt a smidge of guilt that we had no intentions of returning—something we still hadn’t acknowledged—when I accepted the papers.
We all knew we were playing a dangerous game. The power players trying to control Molev... The scientists meddling with things they didn’t fully understand… Even Waurlyn.
Playing both sides rarely worked out for anyone. Yet, she was taking the risk anyway because of the potential benefit. The scientist who accompanied us could continue working on a vaccine. If they found it, the game would be that much less dangerous. Hopefully.
“Thank you for this,” I said. “We’ll communicate on schedule even if there is nothing new to report.”
“We need a vaccine, Andie. Without it, no one stands a chance. Not even the people who go with you. You heard what Molev said. The undead are attracted to large gatherings of humans. If the barriers fall and we all turn, your group will be the largest remaining group of humans, and the undead will come after you in force. Five hundred fey won’t stand a chance against millions of infected humans.”
I understood then that Waurlyn had seen our plan from the beginning and understood we weren’t coming back. And she’d put all her money on who she thought would be the winning team.
“We won’t let that happen,” I said. “Wewillfind a vaccine before it gets to that point.”
“I hope so.”
After she left, we spent the evening checking gear and weapons. I hadn’t exaggerated when I’d told her we could leave within minutes. We had very little to pack.
We slept as late as possible the next morning and ate a quiet breakfast together before leaving to check on the last group of accepted volunteers. We found them packing up, having already received orders from Waurlyn’s people that they would be moving out. The women were nervous, which I could understand. They hadn’t volunteered to fight. They’d asked to be taken to a better, safer place. Instead, we were asking them to do something potentially dangerous. I just hoped that, in the end, what we were doing would pay off, and they would find the haven we were all promised.
A large truck showed up within the hour to shuttle us all to the landing pad near the hospital. Two large aircraft waited. The researchers were moving crated supplies into a nearby storage cube. I saw the doctor directing her team of twelve.
Waurlyn stood off to the side, speaking to Thomas. She looked just as put together as ever with her smart business suit and folder of papers. His gaze flicked over the chaos and landed on me as I disembarked with the rest. I maintained eye contact as we waited for our orders.
“The general doesn’t look too happy,” Roni noted.
