Breakout by Ann Aguirre Page A

understand.”
    â€œThey’re considering your people for citizenship. That would give you full human rights though you’d have to check ‘other’ on certain government forms.” She smiled at him, and his heart did something strange, beating extra hard for a few seconds.
    â€œOh.”
    In all honesty, he still didn’t entirely understand what she was saying, but Dr. Landau was furious. JL489 smelled the rage all over him.
    He quivered a little as Dr. Parvati put a hand on his arm. “Let’s find a quiet place to talk.”
    â€œAren’t you afraid of me?” he whispered.
    She shook her head and led the way toward the main exit. The scientists
let him go
. When he stepped out of the lab and into the unfamiliar hallway, he had no context for what might happen next.
    â€œYou must be hungry. I can tell they’ve been feeding you intravenously for some time.”
    Her kindness hurt in ways he hadn’t felt before, a blooming tenderness that filled him with a different kind of fear. She took him to a room with a table, then she pressed a button to order food. When it arrived, he drooled at the rich, complex smells wafting from the covered dishes.
    â€œNow then,” she said, smiling. “Don’t be afraid to tell me everything, JL.”
    JL. Jael.
It was the closest he’d ever come to a name. It felt right, even if it sprang from the loathsome Dr. Landau. She lifted the first lid to reveal—
    Then she was gone, leaving him to monsters and darkness.
    And pain.

11
    The Knife of Failure
    Dred raced for the front doors. Vost must have fixed his bandages and clothing, then followed because he was at the control panel not long after. He powered down the force field and opened the blast doors, then Jael stumbled inside. The smell struck her first, totally wrong,
not
Jael, and it overpowered even the reek from the merc’s wounds.
    But first she needed to close off retreat options, if it turned out she was right. “Lock us down. Quickly.”
    He complied, likely because he suspected there might be enemies on Jael’s six. She took Vost’s arm and pulled him away from the still unsteady Jael. Even if his scent
wasn’t
all wrong, she’d never seen him react this way to being hurt. He was too used to pain.
    â€œGet back,” she said.
    Vost glanced at her, a frown furrowing his brow. “He needs medical attention. We can bandage him up at least.”
    â€œDo you smell the blood on him?” she asked.
    The merc tilted his head as Keelah came a few paces closer, her nose twitching. “She’s right. There’s no scent of injury. And he smells completely off. More like—”
    â€œHex,” Dred finished.
    The illusion flickered and went off, revealing the alien. Her bad feeling intensified. If this thing had tried to trick them, there couldn’t be an innocent reason.
It didn’t want us to know Jael was missing, at least not right away.
That probably meant that its mandate was infiltration.
    It was supposed to make us think Hex was dead, Jael was safe, then turn off our security so Silence could finish us.
    â€œGet it in restraints,” she said. “But be careful, I don’t know anything about Azhvarians.”
    â€œThey have the ability to project whatever appearance they choose,” Tam said quietly. “Similar to a hologram. And they have poison spines hidden in the suckers on their fingertips.”
    â€œYou bastard,” she breathed.
    That’s how it took Jael down.
    â€œThen I won’t get close,” Duran said. And shot the alien in the chest.
    Then he walked over to make sure Hex was dead. The body looked so small and fragile, and the wound was violent, a red black hole in the torso. Part of her wanted to scream at the merc; they should have questioned it before execution. But really, what did it matter? It had to be allied with Silence, so nothing else mattered. There was