Betrayed (18 page)

Time for the final phase of the plan
, Rae thought. She swung open the door and backed into the center of the
room. "Start talking," Rae blurted. "Start talking, and when I've heard everything I want to hear, I'll take you to the
evidence. It's in a safe place. But you'll never find it without me."

Mercer slowly shut the door behind him. He walked into the room, toward Rae, then pulled out the chair in front of
the table across from the bed and sat down. Then he looked at Rae. Just looked at her, waiting to see what she'd do
next but not all that worried about it.

And why would he be?
Rae thought, hysteria surging inside her.
Remember how many people he's killed? And

you expect him to be afraid of you.

The evidence
, she reminded herself.
You have the evidence
. Of course, she didn't really have the evidence. There
was no evidence. But she couldn't let him suspect that, or she'd never leave this room alive.

"If we don't get to the place I stashed it in half an hour, I made arrangements for someone to pick it up," Rae lied.

God, maybe she should have said fifteen minutes. Ten minutes. Five minutes, even. But she wanted him to have the
time to tell her everything. "Start with what you did to my mother."

"I understand that you're angry. But I'm not the person you're looking for," Mercer said. He propped one foot on
the opposite knee.

"You're telling me you didn't kill my mother?" Rae burst out. She hadn't meant to say that. She'd wanted him to
volunteer the information all on his own, so it wouldn't seem like she was putting words in his mouth on the tape.

Well, forget it. Nothing she could do about it now.

Mercer rubbed his left temple with his knuckles. "Oh, I killed her," he answered.

Rae sank down on the edge of the bed. If she didn't, she knew she'd end up on the floor. Her legsweren't strong
enough to hold her anymore. He admitted it. Just like that. So calm. So rational. So cold. He'd said it in a tone
someone would use to admit to leaving the toilet seat up or forgetting to lock a door. It was nothing, no big deal. Rae
struggled not to lunge at the man and strangle him with her bare hands. But she needed to hear the rest-she needed
to hear all of it.

"I had no choice," he continued. "The good of the many outweighs the good of the one or the few. You're a smart
girl. You must understand that."

"Are you even human?" Rae got out through clenched teeth. Then she forced herself to remember what she
wanted. A confession. On tape. "Can you tell me how you did it? I… I think about it all the time. Was she in pain? I
need to know. Please." Rae wanted her voice to come out trembly and vulnerable sounding, and that was no
problem.

"The virus I gave her acted very quickly. And I'm sure her doctors kept her very comfortable," Mercer answered.

Then he smiled at her, actually smiled. "Morphine, I'd imagine. You don't have to think of her in pain."

No, I just have to think of her dead
, Rae thought.
He's insane. He really is insane, sitting over there, smiling at me,

as if he actually cares about reassuring me.

"You said you're not who I'm looking for," she said carefully. "But you killed her. So I don't get it-who am I looking
for, then?"

"I wasn't talking about looking for anyone," Mercer said. "I meant that I'm not responsible for your mother's death.

The woman who ordered the experiments is. I didn't know she was government. I didn't know what she really
wanted. I never would have had to take the action I took if it wasn't for the way she used me for her own agenda."

"Did she order you to kill my mother, too? Did she order you to kill Amanda Reese?" Rae demanded.

Mercer's eyes opened a fraction wider, but they could still be sitting there talking about quilting or a math problem
if you went by the way he was acting. "No, I did that on my own," Mercer answered. "I had to. No one else would
take responsibility. Do you know what happens in a world where no one takes responsibility?"

His voice had gotten louder, and his breathing had sped up. Rae could hear his fast, ragged breaths from her seat
on the bed.

"I'll tell you what happens," Mercer rushed on. "Chaos." He gave his head a violent shake. "The experiments
changed them. It changed them all. But I didn't kill them. Not until I saw a sign. I just watched.

Watched and documented. And when I saw a sign, then I took responsibility."

"Then you murdered them," Rae said softly. Beads of sweat had popped out on Mercer's forehead, but Rae felt
cold, cold deep in the marrow of her bones.

"Yes!" Mercer exclaimed. He jumped out of his chair and began to pace. "I. Took. Responsibility. I went to the
mental hospital where your mother was held. I dressed as an orderly. It was easy. I had the syringe with the virus in
my pocket. I walked in. Injected the virus into her I V. Walked out."

Ice formed around Rae's internal organs. Each breath was an effort. Her lungs had to break the ice to expand, to
get oxygen. But the moment the air was released, Rae could feel the ice reforming.

"She was dangerous, Rae. She had to die. It was better for you that she did," Mercer rushed on, pacing faster and
faster. Abruptly he stopped directly in front of Rae. "I was hoping the next generation wouldn't be infected. But it
was. You know that. Still I waited. Hoping that a sign wouldn't come. That some kind of mutation had occurred that
would make the G-2s benign. But when you had your breakdown in the spring, it was the sign I hoped I wouldn't
see. Your behavior today confirms that my fears about you were correct." He leaned down, so close, Rae could feel
his hot,fast breaths against her face. She struggled to pull in a breath of her own. The shards of ice jabbed into her
expanding lungs, sending spears of pain into Rae.

"I never wanted to kill you, Rae. But I must take responsibility." Rae's breath froze in her chest as Mercer pulled on
a pair of thin rubber gloves, then removed a gun from the inside pocket of his jacket. He pried open her jaw and slid
the metal barrel between her teeth.

It singed the cold flesh of her mouth.
What should I do? What am I supposed to do?
Rae thought. But there was
nothing to do. She had a gun in her mouth. Her only option was to stay motionless and… and…

Mercer wrapped Rae's fingers around the barrel of the gun. She didn't pick up a single thought. The only
fingerprints would be her own.

"Teen suicide is such a tragedy," Mercer said as he moved her trigger finger into place.

"The evidence," Rae managed to say around the gun. "Evidence," she repeated when he just stared at her blankly.

"The evidence will show that what I did, I did for humanity," Mercer answered. He sounded calm again. Calm and
determined.

I'm going to die,
Rae thought.
My dad…

The motel door flew open. Mercer jerked towardthe sound. Rae wrestled the gun out of her mouth and flung it
across the room, the metal taste like poison against her tongue.

"Both of you stay where you are," a man ordered. Rae's gaze snapped to the voice. Three men were lined up just
inside the doorway. There were more in the hall. All wore masks. And all carried guns, sleek high-tech things.

"Who-" Rae said. Before she could get out another word, Mercer jerked her to her feet and pinned her against him.

A shield. He was using her as a shield.

All three men had their guns aimed at Mercer. Mercer and so Rae. "Put them down or you'll end up killing her,"

Mercer told them.

Rae felt a rush of air over the top of her head. Then Mercer went down, bringing her with him. Rae knew before she
looked that he was dead. She scrambled to her feet and stared down at him. His eyes stared blankly up at hers, the
small bullet hole like a third eye in the center of his forehead.

They could have killed me,
Rae thought as she turned to face the men.
And they didn't even care. Are they going to

shoot me, too?
The thoughts moved slowly through her cold, numb brain. She didn't step away as one of the men
moved toward her. He pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

"No!" one of the men in the hall barked. The manwith the handcuffs took a step away. The man who'd yelled from
the hall strode up to Rae. "If you leave now and make no further attempts to get information on the group, you will
be allowed to live."

Rae recognized the voice. It was Aiden standing in front of her.

"Don't think that we won't know. You will be watched. And you will be killed immediately if you don't do as I say."

Rae nodded. She made her way to the door on the sticks of ice that were her legs.
Already found the hiding place

for my tape recorder
, she thought dully as she saw one of the men reach for it out of the corner of her eye.
They'll

have the camera in another second.

"Leave it alone, Rae," Aiden called after her. "It's over now."

Over now
, Rae repeated to herself as she stepped out of the room. The men in the hall moved aside just enough to
let her pass.

One of them will follow me home,
she realized.
One of them will follow me everywhere from now on.

She walked down the hall on her cold, numb feet.
Over now. That's what I thought. I thought that after today, it

would be over-one way or the other. But no matter what Aiden says, it's not over. It's never going to be over.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melinda Metz grew up in California, lived in New York City for many years, then moved back to her home state. She
lives in Los Angeles with a pen-eating dog named Dodger. Melinda has written many books for teens including the
Roswell High series, and two books in the Sweet Sixteen series (Sweet Sixteen: Julia, Sweet Sixteen: Sunny Matt).

She just completed the seventh book in the Fingerprints series. In addition to writing books, Melinda, along with her
TV writing partner, Laura J. Burns, is a staff writer on the UPN show Roswell, which is based on her Roswell High
series. Credits Cover photograph (c) 2001 by Barry Marcus Cover design by Russell Gordon 'perfectbound About
the Publisher Australia HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd. 25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321) Pymble, NSW 2073,
Australia http://www.harpercollins.com.au Canada HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900

Toronto, ON, M5R, 3L2, Canada http://www.harpercanada.com New Zealand HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand)
P.O. Box 1 Auckland, New Zealand http://www.harpercollins.co.nz United Kingdom HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 77-85 Fulham Palace Road London, W6 8JB, UK http://www.fireandwater.com United States HarperCollins Children's
Books A Division of HarperCollins Publishers 1350 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10019

http://www.perfectbound.com

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10/25/2009

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