Page 73 of Hollow State

Darwin shifted his gaze toward Wynn, but before she had a chance to agree with her team, Quinn walked into the room.

He’d arrived earlier in the day to help Gus set up, but he wouldn’t be staying long.

"I'm jumping into the tail end of the conversation," Quinn said. "I don't think it's wise to go in without being fully prepared for anything and everything."

Darwin took off his glasses and set them on the counter.

"I wasn’t suggesting we not be prepared."

"I didn't imply that." Quinn took a spot next to Scout. "But something strange is going on."

Wynn stood next to Gus. His gaze swept between the window and Darwin. "What do you mean?" Gus asked.

"While there’s a manhunt for Darwin, there doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency for us to find him," Quinn said.

Scout frowned. "That doesn't make sense."

"It gets weirder," Quinn said. "Burn isn't even focused on figuring out who Darwin's accomplice was, as if the woman who helped him kidnap a patient isn't important. Burn told Henry, who’s heading up the task force, that there are 'other things unfolding,' but he refused to say what they are. For now, the official directive is to keep an eye out for Darwin, but the general consensus in the department is that he's long gone—probably out of the country by now. That whatever Darwin was trying to do with this poor soldier failed—just like Finch told him it would happen if Darwin continued with his experiments—and he bolted."

"Finch used the word experiments?" Darwin asked.

"That's what my boss and I were told," Quinn said. "But I think the bigger part of the picture here is the misdirection."

Darwin braced his hands on the edge of the counter. "If Finch has a buyer lined up for his version of the drug, he doesn't want the police crawling all over Hyperion. He doesn't want to give them any reason to think that Gideon or I might come sneaking around." He looked up, his gaze catching Wynn's. "And it makes even more sense if Finch has finally figured out who the woman was that helped me."

A heavy silence settled over the kitchen, and a chill traced its way down Wynn’s spine. If Finch knew who she was, then he knew the names of her team and he knew the probability that some of them had survived.

"I was thinking the same thing," Coulter chimed in. "If Finch knows this team is alive, then he's going to go about things very differently, starting with how he uses the police."

Neve uncrossed her arms. "Which means Finch might change his tactics."

"And that’s all the more reason to go in with a microdose of VKR-1," Wynn added, holding Darwin's gaze.

"Agreed." Darwin pushed his glasses up his nose. "But I want to do the first dose here after I get a baseline read."

"How long will that take?" Neve asked.

"Half an hour to an hour before you leave." Darwin popped the latches on his Pelican case. "Monitoring you all as you approach Hyperion will be key. It's possible someone might need an adjustment before breaching the fence or even after you get inside."

"We want to be out of here no later than ten," Neve said.

"We’ll get everyone online with Gideon's mini-HELIOS devices before I inject." Darwin pulled the foam insert out onto the island. "But understand, if someone's numbers go sideways—and I don't mean a spiked heart rate, I expect that—if the compound does something it shouldn't, that person needs to stop what they are doing and inject themselves with KTH-1. And if I don't like what I see, then we need to get you out."

"We understand," Neve said. "But everything changes when bullets are flying. Do you understand that?" She stared at Darwin.

Wynn held her breath. She knew that wouldn't be an easy pill for Darwin to swallow. If he could swallow it at all.

He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them. "I don't like it, but I get it."

"We don't want it to come to that," Coulter said. "Finch has controlled the board for far too long. Tonight, we take it back."

Gus shifted at the far end of the island. "That's the only part of this plan I like." Gus had sat quietly since Quinn arrived. The moment they’d brought this operation to him, he’d made it clear that he loathed it, but he hadn't tried to stop it. Instead, he went about securing this safe house and making sure they had everything they needed, including enough firepower.

"Let's get unpacked," Coulter said. "I want gear staged before Darwin starts using us as pincushions."

The kitchen emptied fast. They hauled the bags down the corridor. Zadie breezed past, juggling three laptops with power cords dragging behind her. Quinn tipped his head toward the front of the house, and Scout followed him out.

"Yo, Darwin," Gideon called from the hallway, arms loaded with hardware. "Come look at this room before I start putting holes in the drywall."