Annum Guard: Blackout Part 8

"I can guarantee you that Old Blue is never coming anywhere near the Guard again. Last I heard, he's an inpatient at a mental hospital."

I flinch. He is. And so is my mom, and dammit, I haven't thought of her and that ticking clock for at least an hour. I mean ten hours. I've lost so much time being here.

"I just think it's a little suspicious, that's all. Especially since there would've been an easy way to figure out what happened to Orange."

Indigo stares at me.

I sigh. "Send us back to before his tracker deactivated, right? Then we could see with our own eyes what happened."

"You know we can't actually do that. It's one of our key rules. No do-overs. You know that, Iris. Sending us back to before Orange disappeared would have tipped him off that something was wrong-he's too well trained not to notice us-and considering we don't know what the h.e.l.l happened, that would have been a very, very dangerous situation. For all of us."

"Look, I just-"

"We need to get back," Violet cuts me off. "Standing around here sharing crazed theories isn't going to help us find Orange. He's obviously not here. So we need to follow protocol: go back and report everything we found."

She's right, of course. It doesn't help Orange at all, but we need to leave.

Bonner and Red are waiting outside the gravity chamber when we arrive.

"Anything?" Red practically barks at us.

Indigo shakes his head. "Not a trace. Nothing. Everyone at the State House was going about their business like nothing was wrong."

Red's brow furrows, while Bonner stays still as a calm sea. She's giving nothing away.

Red gestures down the hallway. "Back into Sit Room One. All of you. I need to know everything that happened from the moment you arrived in 1904 until now."

I touch his arm. "Blue?"

"Traveling back now. He's probably five minutes behind you guys."

Then there's a ziiiiiiiip sound and a whoosh, and Abe steps out of the gravity chamber. I forget the rules, forget decorum, forget everything. I leap forward and fling my arms around his neck. I breathe him in, resisting the urge to kiss his jawline, my favorite part of him.

"Thank G.o.d you made it back!" I squeeze him closer to me.

"What are you talking about?"

Bonner clears her throat, and I drop my arms from Abe. "Blue, did you see anything unusual during your mission?" Bonner asks.

Abe's nose crinkles like it always does when he's confused. "Um . . . no? Unusual how?"

"Orange is gone," I say. "His tracker deactivated on a mission."

Abe blinks. "He's dead?"

"That is what we're trying to ascertain," Bonner says. "Blue, go upstairs and start on your report. Make sure you include a detailed summary of every person you encountered and pay close attention to any events that seemed out of the ordinary, no matter how small. A casual glance, a misplaced object. Anything."

I give Abe's hand another squeeze as Bonner ducks into the Sit Room with Red right behind her.

"Love you," I mouth, and he does the same.

As I enter the room, Indigo, Violet, and I exchange one quick glance that lets me know they're not going to reveal everything that happened. Our little conversation at the end will stay private. But I still can't shake the feeling that something is very off here. And that one or more of the people in this room might know what really happened.

Indigo and Violet take a seat, but I rip the sticker from under my sleeve and thrust it into Red's hands. He looks down at it, then up at Bonner, and shoves it into his pocket.

And that tells me everything I need to know. Red's been trained to hide his real thoughts. But I've seen them sneak out before, when I confronted him with Alpha's deception back at Peel. And I just saw a flash of them now.

He knows way more than he's letting on.

And now my mind is made up. I'm not keeping XP a secret any longer.

CHAPTER 8.

I take a deep breath and look at my teammates. All of my teammates. Well, the ones who can project anyway. We're the only ones who have the genetic ability.

I look from Yellow to Violet to Indigo to Green and finally to Abe. We're all gathered in my bedroom. I've barely slept since we got back from 1904 last night. My last nerve is fried, and it's only six in the morning. Green's been complaining nonstop about being here early. I'm not sure why. I'd love any excuse to leave if I lived in that c.r.a.ppy bas.e.m.e.nt studio in Allston that's all his government salary will allow.

"You're being weird," Yellow says. "Just so you know. I feel it's my duty as your friend to tell you that."

I ignore her. "Guys, we need to talk."

"About Orange?" Indigo says. "I agree. I don't understand how he could just disappear, no trace of him. Like, I don't get the physics of it. Unless he's dead, he'd show up on the tracking system, right?" He looks over at Abe. It didn't take long for everyone to view him as the authority on these things. Abe always a.s.sumed he'd be drafted to join the science and technology wing of the CIA. But he chose to be here with me.

"That's how I understand it," Abe says.

And now we're all business.

"You're sure he wasn't anywhere in the State House?" Yellow looks directly at her brother. "Like, one hundred percent confidence?"

Indigo narrows his eyes. "Thanks for second-guessing my ability to do my job. Yes, Yell, I'm one hundred percent confident he wasn't anywhere in the State House."

"I don't think we can ever be one hundred percent confident on anything."

I touch Indigo's arm because I think he's about to chuck something at his sister, but he waves me off and shoots Yellow a dirty look. "We checked every spot in the State House that we could find. Obviously, given the time constraints, we didn't have a chance to check blueprints ahead of time to make sure there weren't any secret rooms, but Violet did that when we got back."

Violet nods. "Nothing. We searched the entire place."

"And there's no way someone could have killed him and smuggled him out," Indigo continues. "It was an election day. The place was packed."

"Look." Violet motions to Yellow, Green, and Abe. "I know you guys weren't there, but you have to take our word that Orange just disappeared. There's no explanation for it."

"Of course there's an explanation."

All of our heads turn to Green, who's leaning with his back against my door, arms crossed. His s.h.a.ggy brown hair has flopped in front of his eyes, but he doesn't make a move to brush it away.

"He's dead," Green says matter-of-factly.

No one else says anything.

Blackout. Blackout. Blackout.

I have to tell them.

Green uncrosses his arms. "Oh, come on, I know you're all thinking it. If what we've been told about the new trackers is correct, the only way Orange's could have deactivated is if his brain stopped functioning, and if his brain stopped functioning, he's dead. You all know it's true."

"Of course we know it's true," Yellow says. "But that doesn't explain how someone could have killed him or why there was no trace of Orange anywhere." She matches Green's sullen expression.

"Guys," I whisper. "There might be another explanation. I know some stuff you don't. Stuff that relates to Zeta, too."

Five heads turn to look at me, and I avoid making eye contact with anyone. Especially Yellow and Indigo. I drop my voice low so that anyone who might be lurking outside can't hear me. "If I was to say the word blackout, what would that make you think of?"

"Power outage," Indigo says. Yellow and Violet both nod in agreement.

"Okay, and what if I were to say the word blackout in a military setting. Same answer?"

"Of course not," Green says. "You'd think of special forces, obviously. What is this about?"

"Let's just say that I stumbled across some information that leads me to believe a blackout has something to do with the disappearances of Zeta and Orange."

"Stumbled across this where?" Green asks.

"That doesn't matter, but . . ." I look from Yellow to Indigo. "Your dad may have known about something called Operation Blackout."

Indigo's eyes go wide, while Yellow purses her lips.

"Wait, you think some kind of Annum Guard special ops team took out Orange?" Indigo says angrily.

I nod. "And I think your dad, too."

"You're saying you think my dad is dead?" Yellow asks in a small voice. Indigo takes her hand. "I mean, the idea was always in the back of my head, but I never wanted to . . ."

"I don't know," I say gently. "I'm really not sure what to believe. I hope no one is dead."

Yellow doesn't look at me. She stares at my bed.

Green pushes off the wall, and I brace myself. Green has never given me that warm, fuzzy feeling, and now that I know his father murdered mine-shot him shortly after they both orchestrated the a.s.sa.s.sination of President Kennedy on the order of Eagle Industries-getting to know Green really is the least of my concerns. Besides, he has that way of speaking where he tries to make himself sound like my superior, not my teammate.

But then he surprises me. He nods. "In the same vein, does anyone else think it's highly suspicious that we suddenly have interns connected to three very, very important people?"

Abe juts his chin in the air. "What are you saying?"

"Interesting timing, that's all," Green says. "A few days after the daughter of a senate committee member, the son of the vice president, and the grandson of the secretary of defense start combing through our secrets, Orange goes missing. I've thought it was suspicious since the first second they appeared. And now there's this? Operation Blackout? It's related."

"Where's your proof?" I ask, even though the same thoughts are running though my head.

Green turns to me. "I obviously don't have any, Iris." The way he says my name-sarcasm mixed with a hint of derision-this is the Green I know.

Yellow shoots her hand into the air, like we're in a cla.s.sroom. "Hang on," she says. "Operation Blackout. I'm not sure why, but it's kind of ringing a bell."

"Think, Yellow," I say.

"I'm trying." She closes her eyes. "I can picture myself in my dad's office at home. I'm like twelve or thirteen. I'm looking for paper for the printer. I think we're probably out of it, but I'm opening all the drawers anyway, drawers I'm not supposed to open. I'm jumpy because my dad will kill me if he finds me going through them."

Indigo lets out a nervous laugh. "That's an understatement."

"I see . . . something. A file? A stray paper? Something. It has the word "Blackout" written on it. I remember that word made me curious because blackout was the name of that game we used to play at camp late at night, the one with the flashlights"-she looks at her brother, who nods-"but that's all I remember. I didn't read whatever it was."

I groan. "Come on. You didn't read it?"

"Um, h.e.l.lo, you know my dad. Would you go snooping through his personal things?" Her expression changes, like she just realized what she said. She shrinks back. "I mean, knew my dad? Maybe?"

"Know your dad. Let's think positively. We don't know what happened to him. Or to Orange. What are the chances that memo is still in your house?"

"Zero," Yellow says. "No, less than zero. Dad had-has a paper shredder in his office and he's not afraid to use it."

"Well, we need to get that memo somehow," I say as Green rolls his eyes at me, "and that's because there's something else I haven't told you. Something I bet is related to this whole mess." I pause. "Something about Eagle Industries."

I can feel the tension in the small bedroom grow.

"You found out something more about Eagle?" Indigo asks.

I nod. "Alpha told me."

"Alpha!" Violet exclaims, then winces. She drops her voice. "When?"

"Right before Vaughn killed him. He told me about someone else who's involved." I pause. "Someone code-named XP."

"XP," Yellow repeats softly. "Like the letter left behind on my dad's desk?"

I nod. "And there was a sticker in the spot where Orange disappeared. The same symbol."

And then there's a lot of talking at once. Indigo asks why I didn't say something when I found the sticker. Green demands to know what the h.e.l.l is going on. Yellow barks at her brother to show everyone the picture on his phone.

Yellow turns to me. Her shoulders are hunched, like she's rearing for a fight, but her eyes show only hurt. "Why didn't you tell us this before?"

"Because I was ordered not to. Ordered. I'm, like, 90 percent sure I could be arrested if anyone finds out about this conversation."

"Does Bonner know?" Indigo asks as he pa.s.ses his phone to Violet.

I stiffen. "Of course she does, but she's not authorizing any XP missions. It's like she's trying to keep the whole thing hush-hush."

Yellow blows out a short, loud breath. "So XP blacked out my dad, whatever that means, and now he's done it to Orange?"