Page 12 of Hollow State

Coulter smiled. “Interesting response.”

“I don't think so," Darwin said.

“We’ve heard rumors,” Neve said.

“This bunker has fewer people than most family dinners. Nothing that happens here qualifies as a rumor.” Darwin had watched Neve and Coulter navigate their budding relationship in tight quarters. It hadn't been easy, considering how private both were. Gideon and Zadie managed the ribbing by tackling it head-on. But for Darwin, there was nothing worse than being in the hot seat while he was a few stories down and had nowhere to hide.

“What would you call it?” Coulter asked.

“People involving themselves in something that doesn’t concern them.”

“So, there is something.” Neve actually smiled.

“I didn’t say that.” Darwin had been having this conversation on and off for the last few days. While it was all good-natured razzing, it was still annoying. He appreciated that, at some level, they were looking out for their teammate, but it felt like he was being picked on in the school cafeteria.

He was too old for this shit.

“You didn’t have to," Coulter said. “Apparently, Wynn has been sneaking into your room.”

“She doesn’t sneak." Darwin knew there was no point in lying. “She walks across the hall and enters through the door. There’s nothing covert about it. But it's not what you're suggesting, and I'd appreciate it if everyone would stop the chatter.”

“I’m happy for you," Neve said.

“I am too,” Coulter said. “Maybe you need to take things to the next level. When Wynn walks into a room, you suddenly forget what you’re talking about.”

“That has never happened.”

“It happened at breakfast,” Neve said.

“Are you two done?” Darwin asked. Everyone in the bunker had become more than his teammates. His friends. He considered them sisters. Brothers. But sometimes, it just went a little too far.

“For now.” Neve stepped closer to the evidence boxes. Her expression became more serious. “What are you taking to Prewit?”

“A couple of patches and one of the vials. I want him to run an independent analysis while Kane is undergoing testing.”

“Good idea," Coulter said.

“That's why we pay him the big bucks.” Gideon entered carrying a clear antistatic bag containing one of the watches. The casing had been opened, and several of the internal components had been removed.

Darwin stood and studied the exposed components through the bag. “Did you isolate the communications hardware without damaging the rest?”

“Not yet." Gideon nodded toward the evidence boxes. “I want to start with the most damaged unit. If something goes wrong, we won’t lose one of the better samples.”

“How long will it take?” Neve asked.

“No idea. Whoever built this knew enough about HELIOS to imitate the original architecture, but they changed how the components interact.” Gideon pointed to a small section near the edge of the board. “This shouldn’t be here. Neither should that secondary antenna.”

Darwin leaned closer. “Could the secondary antenna communicate directly with the patch and only the patch?”

“That's a very real possibility."

"What do you mean?" Neve asked.

"It's possible that the main HELIOS antenna is monitoring biometrics and communicating that back to whoever is observing the subject’s health. The secondary antenna may be policing drug levels on its own and controlling when the patch releases the drug and how much it delivers. I have more questions than I have answers," Gideon said.

A closed-loop dosing system made sense with what Emma had been doing at the training center. It would allow her to push a subject harder without stopping to administer another dose. If a test subject's heart rate dropped below a programmed threshold, the watch signaled the patch and the patch released the compound. If the mini-HELIOS devices picked up a change in oxygen saturation, then the system adjusted again.

No doctor.