The Gender Lie (The Gender Game #3) by Bella Forrest (ebook reader for laptop TXT) 📗

over to the opposite wall and opened the gunmetal gray cover, looking at the circuit breakers. My mouth moved as I sought out the numbers.

“Got it,” I called, my voice hoarse, but loud.

Owen grunted, and then shouted back, “Got mine. On one, okay?”

“Okay,” I replied, wiping my sweaty hands on my pants before lifting them to the row. I assumed all seven circuits needed to be flipped at once, so I shoved the radio between my knees, allowing me use of both hands.

“Three… two… ONE!” Owen shouted. I slammed the switches down at the same time I heard the pop of electricity, followed by Owen’s curse. I snatched the radio from between my legs and held it up to my mouth.

“We did it,” I radioed. “Desmond—are we good?”

There was a long pause, followed by Desmond’s voice, relief evident in it. “We’re good. Close, though—we were thirty-six seconds from detonation… Good job.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding and allowed myself to sag. I sat down hard on the floor, my legs, which had been rock solid moments ago, turning into twin columns of pure jelly. Owen grunted and slid out from the panel, his hair sticking up slightly.

I stared at him and laughter involuntarily bubbled up out of my chest. Owen gaped at me as I laughed, and then broke out into similar laughter, his eyes twinkling in the shared unexpected joy of still being alive.

We stayed there like that for a while, until we felt confident that our legs would support our long climb back to Desmond’s office.

Half an hour later, Desmond’s firm grip was on my hand. “Thank you, Violet,” she breathed, pumping my hand an extra time.

I bit my tongue and returned her hand shake.

Since we had returned from Patrus, I had been trying to get some face to face time with Desmond to ask her why she had lied to me regarding Mr. Jenks’ pills that she had promised to destroy. I knew that Owen had given her the low down, and I had sent Desmond numerous requests to talk, but they’d all been denied.

Now that I was in her office with her, I wasn’t leaving until she answered my damn questions.

Desmond had relinquished her hold on my hand and turned to Owen to shake his. He smiled broadly as she pulled him in for a hug, whispering a thank you in his ear. Then Desmond leaned back against her desk, relaxing.

I watched her curiously as she picked up her handheld and held it up to her face. “Thomas, I’ve got Violet and Owen here,” she said after he came online.

“Good job, you two. That was close!” Thomas said, relief thick in his voice.

Owen replied for us. “Thanks Thomas, especially on the clear instructions. How did you know what to—”

“Electronics are my specialty—besides, they didn’t build it that well. I guess when they built it to explode, they never considered people might be inside who would want to stop it.”

Owen and Desmond nodded in agreement, but I frowned. That seemed like a pretty big scenario to overlook. I mean… I knew that the facility was buried in The Green, but surely they had considered the possibility of a human incursion on their base. Or that maybe one day the boys would break free.

“We just need to be thankful for the lack of Matrian foresight,” Desmond said. “In my day, we would have rigged that thing to be unstoppable. Clearly my successors aren’t nearly as thoughtful as I am… Thomas,” she went on. “I want you to dig through the blueprints and find every explosive location in the base, then send me a report on how to safely remove them. I want this place free of any advantage to them that would do us harm.”

“I’m already on it, Des. I’ll have it for you in three hours or less.”

“Good,” she replied, before hanging up.

Then she turned her attention back to Owen and me. Standing up, she inclined her head toward us. “I’ll let you both know what Thomas finds, if you want to be part of the team that helps do the disconnecting. I’d understand if you didn’t want to, however—you did just save us, after all. That entitles you to a little—”

“Won’t be necessary,” interrupted Owen, who had straightened to his full height. “It doesn’t merit us to anything.”

Desmond shot Owen a winning smile and nodded. “All right then. I’ll send a runner for you when Thomas gets the report to me.”

Owen nodded and turned at her clear dismissal, while Desmond went to sit behind the desk, her hands scrolling through various files on her handheld. Owen stopped at the door when he realized I wasn’t following.

“Violet,” he hissed, and I met his gaze.

“I need to have a chat with Desmond,” I announced, causing Desmond to glance up at me.

“Owen, it’s all right,” she said. “I’ve… I’ve been putting this chat off. I’ll see you later.”

Owen gave us both a dubious look, but acquiesced, drawing the door closed behind him. I turned and stared down at Desmond whose mouth was drawn tight.

“I already know what you want to talk about, Violet, and I am sorry for putting you off, but—”

“How could you,” I said through clenched teeth, cutting Desmond off.

She froze, her mouth still open to speak, and then leaned back in her chair, giving me a stern look.

“I made the decision because it was the right one to make,” she said.

“We were right here in this office when you agreed—”

“We discussed it, Violet, and I told you I agreed with you in principle,” Desmond snapped. I shot her a contemptuous look and she tossed the pen in her hand on the desk with a clatter. “I’m sorry you disagree, but the truth is that if this is the enemy’s weapon, then we have to utilize it or be destroyed. It is an arms race, albeit a genetic one, and we are losing.”

“But Solomon –”

“Solomon knew what he was doing. He knew