Rory didn’t sleep that night. He roamed the the grid of streets through Haven, one by one, until the sun glimmered over the glass of the dome and his exhausted legs could carry him no further. He knew it was pointless, even as he forced his blistered feet forward. The city of Haven had been embarrassingly ineffectual at rooting out the Hive; until recently, some had believed the terror cell to be a rumor intended to enforce an unspoken curfew. That idea, though more comforting than reality, had burnt out quickly as the Hive’s activity picked up over the years.
Where could they hide? Rory paused on the street corner to let the light morning traffic pass. There weren’t too many places to hide in Haven. The common theory at this stage was that they operated a moving base, never staying in one quadrant of the city for long, always one step ahead of the city police. Cardinal Enterprises’ Cards were no more useful when it came to rooting out the infestation; if anything, the advent of the private security force had only served to make the Hive more aggressive.
Rory didn’t bother to look both ways as he crossed the street with a small throng of fellow pedestrians. To his knowledge, the disappearances hadn’t started until the Cards had become a permanent part of the Cardinal Enterprises offerings. He rubbed his eyes tiredly; campus wasn’t far away but it might as well have been miles for the aching in his legs. Immediately, he was struck with guilt. He was tired, he was blistered, his legs were sore. It paled in comparison to whatever Eden was going through.
She wasn’t dead, he realized. She couldn’t be. He would know. There were a lot of people who whispered about what happened to those taken by the Hive. Rory pushed all those thoughts out of his mind. Eden was alive and she was waiting for him to find her.
His phone buzzed and he jumped, scrambling to answer it. It’s her; it’s her!
Have you heard anything? It was Silas Cooper. His desperation was palpable through the screen, though perhaps that was Rory’s own reflected back at him.
Nothing yet, he replied.
None of the neighbors have heard either. We’ve reported to the city. Stay in touch, son.
Rory stared at the words until they swam through the tears in his eyes. He tucked the phone into his pocket and wiped the moisture from his eyes as he climbed the campus steps. He ached to return to his dorm, walk past the cursed work that was likely waiting there for him, and climb into his bed. Maybe when he woke, the nightmare would have passed. Maybe when he woke, everything would be right again.
Instead, Rory passed the elevators and continued down the hall to the last door at the end. The door was slightly ajar; through it, he could see that Mara was hard at work in her office. The dark furniture and low lighting was a welcome relief to his tired eyes. She was sitting at the desk, hunched over her computer screen, but her eyes flicked up when he entered through her open door.
“What do you need?” she asked, looking back at her screen.
“It’s about Eden.”
Mara looked up from her screen and seemed to see Rory for the first time. The permanent scowl on her face softened as she looked at him. Pity. He didn’t want her pity. He could only imagine how haggard and rough he looked. He needed her help. The city police were worse than useless and, in his eyes and in the eyes of the company, he knew this was a Cardinal Enterprises matter.
“You look like shit. Come in,” Mara said. “And shut the door behind you.”
He did as she asked and perched on the edge of the chair across from her. There was no point beating around the bush, and Mara wouldn’t tolerate it if he did. He tried to pretend that the captain of the Cards did not slightly terrify him, but that was only possible because every ounce of his fear was centered on Eden. He tried to organize everything in his mind into some kind of coherent thought, but every time he opened his mouth, nothing intelligible came out.
“Spit it out,” Mara snapped. “Tell me what you need to tell me, or get out and let me get back to work.”
Rory took a deep breath. There was no way to say it to make it better, to make it more palatable. Why was this harder than telling Silas? Why did reporting this to Mara make it feel so real, so final, so crushing?
“Eden is missing. No one has heard from her since the night before last. The last time I saw her was at the Garden the night of the festival.”
“The night of the festival? And you’re sure no one has heard from her?”
“She’s not answering any of my calls and her room is untouched. She hasn’t been there. I don’t think she ever made it back to campus,” Rory said, as quickly as he could, as though that would lessen the hurt. It didn’t. “She’s missing.”
“Have you talked to her parents? Maybe they’ve heard from her.”
“They haven’t heard from her either. She didn’t show up for work yesterday. They have her, Mara. They got her. Didn’t they?”
“Slow down,” Mara said, not unkindly but without any unnecessary measure of comfort. “I’ll make the report. You’re right, okay? Keep it together, at least while you’re in my office. But you’re probably right: if she’s missing, it will be the work of the Hive.”
“If?”
Mara grimaced in response. She began typing on her keyboard and her eyes moved back to her computer screen. After a few moments, she looked up at Rory.
“Is there something else I can do for you?”
“Is that it?” Rory asked, trying to keep from leaping out of his chair and shouting at her.
“I’ve added her to the list of the missing. Right at the top,” she said. “The reports been made. I assume the city has been notified as well? Excellent. You’ve done everything you can, Dr. Lawrence.”
Rory couldn’t listen anymore. Mara’s words were distant, hidden beneath the angry buzzing of the noise in his head. The lights were too bright; his necktie was too tight. His hands, he realized, were damp. He got up from the chair and, in his haste to escape, almost sent it flying over behind him.
“Settle down, Lawrence. I’ve never seen you this worked up.”
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Hal’s voice was loud, grating, and instantly recognizable, even through the haze of Rory’s headspace. The last thing he needed was to be stuck in Hal’s vile presence, but there he stood, leaning in the doorway, with his usual smug expression.
“Take it easy, Hal,” Mara said from her desk. “Dr. Lawrence was just leaving.”
Hal, being Hal, had no intention of letting it drop; that much was obvious by his face. Rory clenched his fists and shoved them into the pockets of his jacket. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion and all he knew was that he needed to leave. Quickly.
“What’s got you so riled up?” Hal asked. “Giving Mara a hard time?”
“That’s enough,” Mara said. “Eden Cooper is our latest victim. She’s just been added to the list of the missing. She’s been missing since the night before last.”
Hal didn’t look at all repentant. If anything, his smirk only deepened. Rory’s nails earned a drop of blood from his palms as he clenched his fists harder. How many times had Eden spent an afternoon in his old office at the city center, telling him about some altercation or another she’d had with Hal Cooke? More than he could count.
They’d been fairly good friends in school, competing together on the shooting team and running track in the summers. It hadn’t always been like this. Rory had never been privy to exactly whatever had gone down between Eden and Hal in junior high, when things had started to change. He knew that Hal had asked Eden on a date, which she had refused. Likely in her too-blunt way, Rory had assumed at the time. He knew that Hal had never looked at Eden the same, or Rory for that matter. Rory felt his heart fill with fire to think of it. Was that what this was? A childhood broken heart that had a grown man standing before them, smirking at the disappearance of the brightest woman in the city?
“You sure she’s missing, and not just branching out?”
Rory could only stare at him blankly. If he moved, he would surely swing at the man, and that would do no good. Still, it was a tempting prospect.
“What are you talking about?” Mara asked. She slid her chair back, as if anticipating a need to get up and put herself between the two men in her office.
“I think his girlfriend just moved on. I saw her leaving the Garden last night with some guy. Maybe she’s still at his place.”
Hal seemed to relish the thought and he winked at Rory. That was more than enough. Rory wasn’t even sure what he was doing as he stepped forward. He’d never been in a fight, unless he counted all the one’s Eden had rescued him from when they were children. Luckily, Mara was faster than Rory and she stepped between them.
“Take a step back, Lawrence,” she said. Rory would have been offended, had Mara’s tone not become considerably sharper as she turned to Hal. “Some guy? Who? What did you see?”
Hal put his hands up in a gesture of mock surrender. “I didn’t see who. Some guy. He certainly wasn’t dragging her. She left with him.”
“She would have said something,” Rory snapped. “She would have answered. She’s been taken, and I’m losing hope by the second, knowing that you are the ones looking for her.”
Rory shoved past him, deaf to his laughter and Mara’s shout, out into the hallway, his vision darkening around the edges and his heart beating into overdrive. He never should have left Eden alone in the Garden. Not for any meeting. He should have insisted or refused to leave without her. Rory threw himself into the elevator and sank to the floor as the doors closed around him, mercifully alone. He never should have left her. He sank his face into his hands. It was his fault. Mara was probably already deleting Eden’s name from the list of the missing. When the doors opened, Rory pulled himself to his feet and wiped his eyes. His phone beeped in his pocket and he flinched. Did he dare to hope?
Conference room C. 15 minutes.
“Shit,” Rory muttered. Another meeting.
“You’re late,” Sabrina whispered when Rory robotically lowered himself into the seat beside her, barely giving her enough time to move her briefcase. “Are you okay?”
Dr. Abrahams had already started his meeting. He glowered at Rory as the conference room door swung shut, announcing his lateness more loudly than he’d expected.
“Sorry, everyone. Please, continue,” Rory said. Softly, to Sabrina, “No, I’m not.”
“As I was saying, Project Tyche is on track to be a success. Dr. Harper, the code I’ve received from you has been stellar. Dr. Lawrence, I assume you’ll have completed your assignment before the end of the day.”
Maybe it was because he was running on empty, without food or sleep or care for himself. Maybe it was the twist in his stomach at the thought of being a part of the team that shattered the treaty, on top of everything else. Without Eden, what did any of it matter? Whatever it was, Rory could be silent no longer.
“Have any of us considered what breaking the treaty will mean?” he asked. “Have we really considered the repercussions of this?”
Abrahams glowered at him.
“We’ve discussed this already, Dr. Lawrence. The treaty will not stop Cardinal Enterprises from dragging this city into the future, farther than our sister cities could ever hope to do. No one else has the bravery. Cardinal Enterprises is bound by no treaty.”
“You know as well as I do that the distinction won’t matter to anyone but you. The capital and our sister cities will see this as a breach of the treaty.”
Something changed in the air of the already quiet room. Every eye darted between Abrahams and Rory, both stony faced and unyielding. There would be consequences for this, Rory knew. He didn’t care what happened to himself anymore.
To his surprise, Dr. Abrahams didn’t shout, or eject him from the room. He straightened his suit jacket, the lines impeccable, and smiled cooly at Rory.
“I’m surprised you can’t see the value in this project, Dr. Lawrence. If you’d rather be removed from this task force than search for your friend, so be it.”
Rory’s heart went from racing to nearly stopped. “What do you mean?”
Abrahams looked smug, but it was Sabrina who jumped in. Her voice was quick and nervous, almost apologetic at first.
“Rory, I’m sorry, but when you were late, I thought that you might not show up at all! I told Dr. Abrahams about your friend. But don’t you see, Rory? This satellite is going to be the beginning of a new era of safety for all of Haven. With the Tyche watching over us from above, the Hive will have nowhere to hide. Part of my assignment was a heat signature detection program. Wherever they are in the city, we’ll be able to flush them out, stomp them out for good. No more missing, no more attacks on our crops or storage centers. A safer city. A happier city! This is a good thing, Rory. Let Dr. Abrahams worry about the treaty, but he’s already assured us that this is no breach. Okay?”
Rory closed his eyes, painfully aware of the rest of the room watching them. Maybe she was right. Damn the treaty, if it would stand in the way of something that would bring Eden home. Wasn’t it worth it, to risk it all to bring her home?
“She’s right, Dr. Lawrence,” Dr. Whitmore said. “When the cities agreed to the treaty, they had no idea the dangers we’d be facing from within our own dome. It’s a pity that it has come to rest on our shoulders to make a stand, but who could begrudge us this?”
“You really think they’ll understand? Building the Tyche, launching her, using the Paradisium? Truly?” Rory shook his head, dumbfounded. It all felt unreal. Everything was colliding in his brain and nothing made sense anymore.
“Dr. Lawrence, I will ask you once to trust me. Do you want to find your friend–and the rest of the missing–or not? Or do you want to leave them in the hands of the Hive, where stars know what is happening to them?”
Rory swallowed nervously and tried to sound more confident than he was. “I want to help, Dr. Abrahams.”