Siege of Shadows (Effigies #2)(92)

Project X19.

Four large square icons materialized in a line, filling up the entire screen. Computer files. And each icon came with a label underneath.

Phase I: Research

Phase II: Silent Children Program

Phase III: Minerva

Phase IV: Consolidation

“?‘Project X19.’?” I stared at the cursor blinking next to the last number.

“What is that?” Lake asked, leaning over my shoulder. “What are those files?”

“I don’t know.” Uncle Nathan clicked on the first icon, an error screen appeared, and the screen blinked off. “That keeps happening.”

“The Silent Children Program.” I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to remember Jessie’s frenzied babbling as we rushed through Blackwell’s courtyard. “Silent . . . yeah. That’s what she called herself back then. Jessie. She said Grunewald put devices in all the ‘silent kids.’?”

“I told you before about firms that have been trying to reproduce Effigy-like abilities. And you told me about the nanotechnology detected in that dead soldier, Philip. Creating empowered soldiers.” Uncle Nathan tapped his fingers on the surface of his laptop, his expression grim. “Looks like Phase II was successful.”

“But there’s more,” I said, my pulse quickening at the thought. “More phases. What’s Phase III? What’s Minerva? Do I even want to know?”

“I don’t know,” he answered. “But I do know that X19 was part of a code of communications between city defense control centers, like the one I work at, and the Sect. The APD technology was originally developed and fronted by Sect research, and if there were any issues, the communication between the two bodies would usually be encrypted to protect sensitive information. X19 is like a kind of Sect signature.”

“The Sect?” Lake repeated. “There you go. They really are evil.”

The Fisk-Hoffman kids could have been chosen for the project by people within the Sect. Those children, the traitors in the R & D department, the agents who helped Jessie ambush us in the tunnel, and now “X19,” a Sect signature. There were too many connections between the organization and Saul, but when had they begun working together? Had they recruited Saul recently, or had they been working with him since he appeared? They could have even linked up with him before he started his attacks all those months ago. This was insane.

I gripped the back of Uncle Nathan’s chair. It couldn’t be the entire Sect working with Saul. But for an operation this big, the network of traitors would have to have been extensive. An organization within an organization. Naomi had said herself that something was happening within the Sect.

“It makes sense,” I said. “The Fisk-Hoffman kids were reported dead and suddenly show up now. Higher-ups in the Sect could have faked their death records. And maybe they’re just the start.”

The Fisk-Hoffman kids. Jessie, Philip, and Alex were all connected to Saul. Vasily may not have had powers, but he was working with them too. And Rhys—

Rhys. My fingers felt numb, my stomach fluttering painfully as I thought of him looking up at me in Blackwell’s courtyard, at Natalya’s rage glinting through the whites of my eyes. He’d gone to that facility. He was there when the fire happened. Did he have something to do with this too? But unlike Vasily, he was just as surprised as I was when we were attacked in the tunnels—I know it. How far did this go? I buried my head in my hands.

“It’s the next phases that worry me,” Belle said. “Minerva. Consolidation. Saul’s stunt might mean that we’ve already entered into the next stages.”

“You . . .” Lake’s breath hitched. “You think it could be worse than fake Effigies?” The stiff quirk of her body told me she was terrified of the answer.

“I don’t know,” Belle answered, though the steady inflection of her voice told me she’d already made up her mind to the affirmative. “We need to know more. Nathan, can you crack these files?”

Uncle Nathan rubbed his neck. “I mean, usually, given the asymmetric algorithm, you can’t break into the locks by just guessing the key. So I was surprised to get even this far, but now that I’ve come to this screen, I’m just facing a wall. The real goods are through the veil. Peeking through it is gonna take me a while. But what I do know is that I won’t be able to figure out anything from here.”

I watched him take out the drive and stand up. “Where are you going?”

“New York,” he said, shutting his laptop. “If I’m going to crack this, I’m going to need stronger tech to mess around with it. The MDCC has far more powerful computers and other stuff I can use. There are some . . . issues I want to check out there as well.”

Like how had it gotten hacked all those months ago? I grabbed his arm, his black sleeve crinkling in my fingers. “Isn’t that dangerous? What if you get caught? What if you get—”

“Thrown in a Russian gulag?” He gave me a wry grin. “Well, I’ll just have to try not to let that happen. Don’t worry about me. You guys have other things to focus on.”

“Seven days,” I said, Saul’s promise echoing in my thoughts. “The clock is ticking.”

“What Saul did will only galvanize support against the Sect—and you. Not just among the people, but among world governments. But you can’t exactly go back to the Sect and do what they say anymore. There’s no telling what might happen. Whatever you do from now on, you’ll have to move carefully. And stick together.”