Evolution - The Oasis Project Book 3

Thirty-Six - Ira

By the time the crew had gathered upstairs, Four had already unleashed her speech of positivity to inspire Thierry out of his worry. The video feed from Linkin's contact lens had been black for three and a half minutes now, after Doctor A pulled a bag over her head. Four had rewound the footage to show everyone what had happened. Nita seemed to be cooperating fine, although after Linkin made the phone call, she looked noticeably rattled. Beside me, Celestia was shivering despite the heat.

"So that means they've passed the first stage, Thierry," Four was saying. "That's better than—"

"Four," Stuart said quietly, giving his head a slight shake. Now wasn't the time. Four shut up, licked her lips, and turned back to the screen.

"Why didn't we give Nita a contact?" Thierry muttered after a few moments of silence. He released his white-knuckled hand from Four's swivel chair and began to pace around the office. Yulian stepped back to give him more room.

Four did one final check of the system before turning around to Thierry. "Because we only had one pair, a prototype, and we couldn't make another in Linkin's time frame. We kept the other lens so we can do more research and come up with improvements for future designs." She had a point, but Thierry only shook his head and frowned. There was a brief silence where I could hear the TV downstairs – Alessia had thought on her feet and turned on the TV to keep the boy occupied while we all went upstairs to see what Thierry was so angry about.

"They'll be okay." Stuart stepped in to defuse the situation. "They're trained, prepared, they know what Oasis are like. Nita knows Doctor A. They would've rehearsed the plan. They'll be fine." He smiled tightly and turned to Yulian. "Hey Yuli, you okay? Want to continue?"

Yulian bobbed his head, giving his curls a layered ripple.

"Continue what?" Four asked after Trevor convinced Thierry to take a break and spend some time with Fang. I shrugged at her question.

"Plan B," Stuart said quietly. "Sort of. I've been working with Yulian on his memories and trauma from Russia and were trying to see if he can remember anything important about the compound. It might fill in any holes that Linkin and Nita aren't able to find, or help them escape if they need to back out early."

Four hummed, looking proud of Stuart's idea. "Yes, do that. Nita didn't look too good." She paused to make eye contact with Yulian. "Thank you."

"No problem," Yulian replied after a stunned moment of hesitation. The mention of therapy had made him tense up, and I patted his upper back, which made him smile. "I want them gone as much as you."

So did I, and I wished that I could help more, I sighed as Yulian and Stuart left the room with the others trailing behind. I looked at Four and smiled humourlessly. "One on One time again?"

Four shrugged and turned back to the screen. After a second of sitting dutifully, she stood up and switched on the fan in the corner. It blew my hair across my face. "This might take a while," she said, gently rubbing one of the burn scars on her cheek. "Is there still tea in the house?"

"I have no idea," I admitted, my eyes glued to the video feed that was all black. Frowning at Four, I added, "Did you ever go to Russia? The American One came to China." That was to reprogram me. I remembered that her voice was sweet, but not much else.

A strange smile spread across Four's face; it was almost as if she was smug about something. "Russia never let any recruits in, just reluctantly sent them out on collaborative missions like the one you and Yulian were part of. I heard rumours that their One died before most of the current recruits even got here, but it was such an embarrassment to them and the entire program that everyone kept their mouths shut."

"Huh." I pulled out a chair and sat down, absently drumming my long fingers on the old wooden desk.

"Linkin might know because she memorized a lot of Oasis files – it slipped my mind to ask her. But Russia's One was something like a decade older than all of us, and she could change the conductivity of her body to manipulate current and caused a big accident—"

"Ira!" Thierry's yelling drifted up the stairs. It took me a moment to realize that he was talking to me – Thierry never called me by my name. When he didn't hear an answer, he shouted my name again, then Yulian's.

I ran downstairs without giving Four a glance. Thierry was standing in front of the TV, absently holding onto Fang, who was swinging his legs about. I cleared my throat as I walked up to them. "What's going on?"

Fang turned to me and smiled. There was a gap in his bottom teeth. "Aunt Ira, why are you and Uncle Yulian on the news?"

My heart skipped a beat and I hurried forward to see. The world news was playing, a middle-aged white man talking about a group of terrorists targeting military bases around the world. Behind him were blown-up portraits of my face next to Yulian's. Wanted Russian spies spearheading the group.

"What the?" Yulian said loudly in my ear, making me jump.

Thierry was already scrolling through his phone. "You guys are wanted around the world now."

"What about the others?" Yulian asked, cutting off whatever Fang wanted to say. One look at the boy flicked a switch for him, and he sprang forward to turn off the TV.

"Just you two for now," Thierry said. "Maybe they're still looking for the rest of us, but you two can't go out anymore." When I left the living room without so much as a glance, he raised his voice. "Hey, Eagle, where are you going?"

I stopped in my tracks. "To get Celestia."

"Why?"

"Because Oasis would have all of us on file, and releasing the first two identities is just a warning. Maybe because they have Linkin now." I pulled my hair up and let it fall back down when I realized I didn't have a hair tie on my wrist. "They have leverage over us, and if they see any of us going to Russia, they'll send the world on our trail."

"So the extraction plan is fucked," Thierry spat, the curse making Fang jolt. Hurrying into the living room, Stuart gently coaxed Fang away from the conversation.

"No, Thierry," I emphasized every syllable. "They think Celestia is dead. You get me? Celestia is the extraction plan."