Chapter 105 105

Chapter 105 105
The Amazon

They found the mission at dawn. Elias, Kael, the kids and Lena were already there.

An old stone building. A roof made of palm leaves. The people who lived there were gone. Run off or maybe dead. They didn't ask.

Elias set up a clinic in the back room. Caiman carried the wounded inside. One at a time.

Mira helped him. Her hands were steady. Her face was calm. She had seen worse. She had been worse.

Kenji stood by the window staring out at the jungle.

Rina stood guard at the door. Kael walked the perimeter. Lena sat under a tree with her knife.

The kids were on a blanket in the corner. Maja was holding Leo's hand. Lars was lying down with his eyes closed. None of them were sleeping.

Jax walked over to them.

Maja looked up. "Father."

"Yeah."

"Is Uncle Kenji okay?"

Jax looked at Kenji. At his back. At his hands and at the way he was standing. He was still like a stone.

"I don't know."

"He looks different."

"He's been through a lot."

Maja nodded. "We all have."

Jax knelt down in front of her. "You're brave."

"I'm tired."

"I know."

She leaned against him. He held her.

Leo spoke. "Where's Lena?"

Jax looked around. "I thought she was outside."

"She was. But she came in. Then she left."

Kenji turned from the window. "When?"

"A few minutes ago."

Kenji walked to the door. "Rina. Where's Lena?"

Rina looked around. "She was right there."

"She's gone."

Rina ran outside. Kael followed. Mira put down her bandages. Viktor's blood was still on her hands. Niko's blood was still on her shirt.

Jax grabbed his gun. "Stay here," he said to Elena.

She nodded.

They ran into the jungle.

The trail was easy to follow. Lena had left marks on the trees. Small cuts with her knife. A trail for them to follow. Or for someone else.

Rina was ahead of Jax. Kael next to her. Mira behind him. Kenji brought up the rear.

They ran for ten minutes. Then twenty. Then thirty.

The jungle got thicker. Darker.

Then they heard her voice.

"Back off. I'm not going with you."

They found her. She was surrounded by six men wearing black uniforms and armed.

Phoenix's men.

Lena was standing in the middle with her knife out. Her hands were shaking but her face wasn't scared. It was angry.

The men were talking to her. Quiet and calm. Trying to get her to lower her weapon.

Rina raised her gun.

Jax put his hand on her arm. "Wait."

"What for?"

"Listen."

"Lena," he said. "We don't want to hurt you. We just want to talk."

"I don't want to talk."

"Your friends left you. They don't care about you. We do."

Lena spat on the ground. "You don't know anything about me."

"I know you were made in a lab. Just like us."

Lena's eyes went wide. "What?"

"You're not a clone, Lena. You're not Gen-3. You're not any of that. You're one of us. A volunteer. You signed up for the program. You wanted to be a soldier. They just forgot to tell you."

Lena's knife dropped an inch. "You're lying."

"I'm not. Check your arm. The serial number. It's different from the others."

Lena looked at her arm. At the numbers tattooed there. She had always kept them hidden. Wrapped in bandages. Now she looked at them in the light for the first time.

"They're not the same," she whispered.

"No. They're not."

Rina stepped into the clearing. "Lena. Come here."

Lena looked at her. Then at the men. Then at her arm.

"I don't know who I am anymore," she said.

The man stepped forward. "Come with us. We'll tell you everything."

Lena took a step toward him.

Kenji moved.

He crossed the clearing in three steps. His knife was in his hand. The man didn't even see him coming.

Kenji grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head back.

"You took Viktor. You took Daria. You took Niko."

The man struggled. "I don't know what you're…"

"You won't take her."

Kenji cut his throat.

The other men raised their guns.

Rina fired. Kael fired. Mira fired. Jax fired.

The scene was quiet again.

Lena was standing in the middle with blood splashes on her face and her hands. She wasn't holding her knife anymore.

Jax walked over to her.

"Lena."

She looked at him. Her eyes were empty.

"They said I was one of them."

"You're not."

"How do you know?"

"Because you ran. You came to us. You chose us."

She looked at her arm. At the numbers. "I don't know who I am."

"You're Lena. It doesn't matter anymore whether you are a clone or not. You make really good pancakes. You are with us. That's enough for now."

She stared at him for a long time. Then she nodded.

Kenji wiped his knife on the dead man's shirt. "We need to go. There will be more."

They ran back to the mission.

The safe house was quiet when they got back.

Elena had the kids in the corner. Elias was still working on the wounded. Caiman was at the door. He looked at them with blood on their clothes. At Lena's empty eyes.

"How many?" he asked.

"Six."

"They're getting closer."

"I know."

Kenji walked past everyone and went back to the window.

Jax followed him.

"What happened out there?" Jax asked.

Kenji didn't look at him. "I did what needed to be done."

"You killed a man who was trying to talk."

"He was trying to take Lena."

"Maybe. Maybe not. You didn't give him a chance."

Kenji turned to Jax. His eyes were cold. "I gave Viktor a chance. I gave Daria a chance. I gave Niko a chance. They're dead."

"That's not the same."

"It's exactly the same. We hesitate, we lose. We lose, we die. I'm done hesitating."

Jax looked at him. At his face. At the scars. At the tightening of his jaw.

"Kenji."

"What?"

"What happened to you in that warehouse when they had you?"

Kenji was quiet for a minute. Then he said "They showed me things. What they were planning. What they were going to do to the world. To the kids. To Leo."

"What things?"

He looked at Jax. "You don't want to know."

"Yes I do."

He turned back to the window. "They're going to turn everyone. Not just the rich. Everyone. The therapy is just the start. Once enough people have it, they flip a switch. The conditioning activates. Everyone becomes a soldier. For them."

The room was quiet.

Elena stepped forward. "That's not possible."

"It is. They have the technology. They've been testing it for years."

Caiman spoke. "How do we stop it?"

Kenji turned to him. "We kill them. All of them. Every investor. Every scientist. Every guard. Every person who ever said yes to any of it."

Elias shook his head. "That's genocide."

"It's survival."

Maja's voice came from the corner. "Uncle Kenji."

Kenji looked at her. His face changed. Softer.

"Yeah."

"Are you going to hurt people?"

He walked over to her and knelt down. "I'm going to hurt the people who hurt us."

Maja looked at him for a long time. Then she nodded. "Okay."

Kenji stood up and walked back to the window.

The room was quiet again.

Lena spoke from the floor. "I remember."

Everyone looked at her.

"I remember the lab. The people in white coats. They told me I was special. That I was chosen." She looked at her arm. "I volunteered. I wanted to be strong. I wanted to be brave."

Elena sat down next to her. "You are strong. You are brave."

"But I'm not a clone. I'm not like the rest of you."

"You're like us. You're family."

Lena started crying. Elena held her.

The room was quiet.

They were running out of time.

And Kenji was running out of mercy.