Vanessa nodded. ‘The Copy guard should be able to get us into locked places.’
Keeping him around only reminded Dom of the bad things that had happened here. But Dom was the leader now. And leaders didn’t have feelings—only the last word.
‘Agreed.’ His eyes went to the new child. She was looking up at the group through the glass with wide, blue eyes. ‘What about her?’
Vanessa glanced back at the toddler. ‘The infant is still too young. A year at most. We’ll need a couple more hours to mature her.’
‘How old will she get?’
Vanessa nodded at the half-spent vials of liquid. ‘Old enough not to slow us down.’
Dom gave a discreet shudder. How must June be feeling to see her child grow before her eyes? He would ask Sheila and Imogen to keep an eye on her.
To the room, he said, ‘Everyone who doesn’t need to be here, move out. We’re going to search this city for Copies. I want to make sure there are no threats waiting for us. We should start with this facility.’
Alex remained on his knees next to the growth accelerator machine. His hands were pressed against the glass. A smiling June gazed down at him.
Dom tapped her on the shoulder and she looked up at him. ‘Hey, how are you feeling?’
She nodded and touched her belly. ‘A little sore, but mending. The tech in this place is unbelievable. I can’t believe how fast I healed after she came out.’
Yeah, it was something else, all right. The same tech had torn him apart. He hid his discomfort behind a smile.
‘We have injured soldiers. Maybe you can use the machine to heal them,’ she said.
The thought had crossed his mind, but they didn’t have the time. ‘Rest is all we can offer them right now. We need to know how to command the technology. I won’t put them in that room without controls in place.’
‘You did with me.’
‘That was an emergency. We had to.’
June nodded. ‘You need me to help with the search?’
‘No. You and Alex should stay here, look after the child.’
‘I’ll stay with her,’ said Vanessa.
‘I’ll leave a few soldiers with you. Hopefully the search won’t take long.’
He ushered everyone else out of the room and back to the main area beyond the shimmering wall.
Waving at the entrance, he asked his ex-guard, ‘How long will it stay open?’
He shrugged as if he didn’t want to answer. ‘As long as it likes.’
Dom glanced at the Copy’s wrist. ‘Does your chip open it?’
‘You know it does.’
‘Well, how about I cut off your hand and give it to my men?’
The Copy’s eyes widened a little. ‘They c-can open it from the inside.’
‘Good. You three stay here,’ he said to the rebel soldiers. He pushed the prisoner towards the stairs. ‘You’re coming with us.’
Jacob announced that he and Carissa would head to the workshop. ‘We should get her files so we have something to compare the data to.’
Dom nodded and three soldiers plus Thomas went with them. Thomas took the bag containing the maps with him.
That left Sheila, Imogen, Charlie, Anya, Jerome and the remaining half dozen soldiers to search the medical facility. The rest—Kaylie’s team—were collecting their dead. He’d told her team they would help after they’d done a sweep of the city, but Kaylie’s team didn’t want to wait. Right now, the wolves were protecting them. Soon, the remainder of Kaylie’s team would take half the trucks and bury their fallen close to home. He didn’t know if they would return; they didn’t answer to him.
For now, checking for Copies had to be everyone else’s priority. They did a sweep of the floors together, starting in the lobby. At least his captive guard was useful for opening the doors that weren’t accessible to just anyone.
Dom swept his Disruptor inside each room, including the guards’ station. There was hardly any technology on that floor, and no way to check if the force field around the city was still down.
They moved to the first floor—the scene of his torture. Without June’s emergency to distract him, his feelings about this place hit him properly. He breathed through his nose to calm down. Anya walked on ahead with Jerome. They checked corridors and any rooms that could only be accessed with the Copy guard’s chip, while the others did their own sweep.
Charlie stayed with him.
‘You okay, son?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, why?’
He concentrated on the next corner he couldn’t see around, gun at the ready.
‘You seem on edge, even though this place looks very much abandoned to me. Why are we wasting time searching it?’
‘I’d rather be overcautious than not. Max taught me that.’ Charlie visibly flinched when he mentioned Max’s name. ‘Sorry.’
‘It’s okay. Max was a good leader. He’d be proud of you. We all are.’
Everything on this floor came back clear. The team moved to the second floor, where Anya had been. It was her turn to tense up.
They worked methodically, ignoring any rooms the Copy’s chip couldn’t open. Anya said the rooms couldn’t be opened from the inside anyway.
Sheila led the way to more rooms.
‘Down here,’ she said, stopping outside one. ‘This was my room.’
She opened the door after the soldier unlocked it. A boy of around nineteen was sitting on the edge of the bed. He looked up, shocked to see Sheila.
His face sported a yellowing bruise. Sheila pointed at it. ‘I gave him that, when he got fresh with me.’ She lunged at the boy and grabbed his arm. ‘Looks like you’re coming with us after all.’
The boy protested, but Sheila was too strong for him.
Their checks rounded up more boys than girls. More Breeders he assumed. Like Alex.
Twelve victims.
