Andreas laughs. “It’s a good thing that’s not what we are, then. We’re looking to tone down the terror, not increase it.”
He ambles over and crouches down next to Zian. “I don’t suppose you ever worked alongside a woman named Ursula Engel?”
The flicker of surprise the woman can’t suppress sends a surge of triumph through me. We’re going to get some real answers after all.
Andreas doesn’t ask anything else out loud. He stares into the woman’s eyes, already rummaging through all her memories of the woman in question.
Our captive flinches and twists away as well as she can, but Andreas doesn’t need the eye contact. Zian keeps his hand clamped around her wrists. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Andreas starts to speak, his voice distant as if he’s in a trance. Which I guess he sort of is, still riffling through her mind.
“It seems like they worked together a little more than two years. Dr. Gao here mentioned it when Engel was getting ready to leave. From the discussions they had, they were working on ‘compounds’ and ‘chemical enhancements’ for improving the focus of soldiers in the field—strength and sensory acuity and things like that.”
Dr. Gao squirms in Zian’s hold but doesn’t get anywhere. She hisses through her teeth in panicked frustration. “What are youdoing? How can you—”
Zian shuts her up with his other hand. Andreas keeps watching her, delving through her skull with his gaze.
“She saw a paper Ursula tried to hide—a deed to some land. Someplace out in Kansas. She bought property out there, not long before she quit, and she was being cagey about it, which caught Dr. Gao’s attention. I think I can make out the coordinates if I focus—someone get me a piece of paper!”
Dominic dashes off and returns with a notepad and a pen. Andreas moves the nib over the paper without breaking his gaze, pausing a few times with a furrowing of his forehead.
He’s silent for another few minutes. A sheen of sweat has broken out on his brow. I bite my lip, hoping he isn’t pushing himself too hard.
“Engel left behind some bits and pieces in her office,” he says finally. “Nothing anyone figured was important, but they stuffed it all in a box that they put in the records room just in case they wanted to go through it later if something came up. It might still be there. That’s the only other useful thing I’m seeing.”
“That’s great,” Jacob says, his voice unusually soft. “You got plenty, Drey.”
He must be able to tell the strain Andreas has put himself through. A tremor runs through the leaner guy’s legs as he stands up.
But he isn’t done yet. He focuses on the scientist again and gives her a thin smile. “Don’t worry. You won’t remember any of this—or any of us—after we’re gone.”
Zian starts tying her up. Andreas waits there to complete his work and sear away the newest of her memories—all of those we feature in.
When Jacob prods me toward the door, I tear my gaze away. He, Dominic, and I hurry back to the records room.
Dominic spots the right box first. A peeling, yellowed label on the side has ENGEL written in small caps. He pulls it off the shelf and sets it in the middle of the floor so the three of us can sit around it.
A sour smell rises up out of the box the moment Dominic lifts the lid. I wrinkle my nose and start digging out the various bits of paper and other odds and ends alongside the others.
It quickly becomes clear why Engel wasn’t worried about leaving any of this stuff behind. The highlights include a post-it note that simply says,More coffee!!and an empty chip bag. I don’t understand why they didn’t just throw this stuff in the garbage.
But down near the bottom of the mess, I unearth a magazine clipping. Unlike the rest of the contents, it hasn’t been affected by age quite as much, because it’s encased in a sealed plastic sleeve. The photo that fills the clipping is still glossy, the colors sharp.
I stare at it, tightening my grasp as a wave of emotion sweeps through me.
It’s a snowy forest scene, but not like this place or the facility. There’s a log cabin nestled between the trees, amber light glowing through its windows in welcome.
I can almost taste what it would be like to step through the doorway into the warmth and peace, so far away from the rest of the world.
Jacob knits his brow. “Is that another property she bought?”
Dominic leans closer to examine it. “I don’t think so. Look at bits of text where it was cut out—I’m pretty sure that was from a magazine, not a real estate listing.”
I finger the plastic covering. “It was something that mattered to her, though. She wouldn’t have sealed it so carefully otherwise.”
“Yeah.” Dominic nods slowly. “And look, there are tack marks on the corners of the plastic. She had it hanging up somewhere—so she could see it regularly, I’d guess. Maybe it’s someplace shewantedto have or go to?”
I swallow thickly. Is it possible that Ursula Engel dreamed about the same kind of escape and peaceful isolation that I do?