Burn by Sarah Fine and Walter Jury Page A

people in this fight,” he says. “We’ve all made mistakes, and the toll has been high. I know that will make it hard to trust each other.”
    I stare at him.
I will
never
trust you,
I think.
And I will never forgive you.
But as I squeeze Christina’s hand, as I picture some creepy parasite crawling out of Willetts and taking her over, a chill rides across my skin. “What are you proposing? I’m not helping you get into my dad’s lab unless I go in, too, and unless I have a say in what happens to whatever we find.”
    Congers’s eyes light with frustration. “Have you even graduated from high school?” he shouts. “You have no idea what we’re facing, and we don’t have time to waste like this!”
    â€œExactly,” I yell, releasing Christina, my hand clenched around the grip of my gun. “Which is why you need
me.
And I’m not just going to hand over my dad’s inventions and technology to the same people who killed him!”
    Race steps between us, his hands up. “He has to be included, Bill. He’s proven himself more capable than the average teenager, and he knows more about the lab than we do.” He sighs. “And he has a habit of causing enormous destruction when not properly informed or contained.”
    Mom lifts her chin as she speaks to Congers. “The Core is not the only group that prepares its youth to carry the torch. You should not underestimate my son. Or any of us, for that matter.”
    Her words lower my blood pressure, especially when she looks my way. Only a few days ago, she was the one trying to protect me, trying to make plans without me. But now she’s realized just how well Dad prepared me. As I think about what lies ahead of us, though, what’s coming for us—an enemy that wears our skin and disables us from the inside out . . . I can only hope he prepared me well enough.

EIGHT
    AS THE DRIVER PARKS ON THE STREET OUTSIDE THE Upper West Side building where I’ve lived my entire life, Mom turns to me. “Are you ready for this?” she asks me in a low voice.
    â€œNo,” I say honestly. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t do it.”
    She gives me a pained smile and gets out of the vehicle. The others disembark, too. Race and Congers stand stiffly near the front stoop while the other agents remain near the two SUVs and one truck, scanning the sidewalk warily. It’s Saturday, four in the morning, but our neighbors are mostly middle-aged professionals. Not a lot of night owls, so the street is pretty quiet.
    The last few hours have been a flurry of phone calls and planning.
    I’m still not happy about taking Core agents into Dad’s lab. But I know what I saw on that road in Jersey. I know the avarice I saw on the faces of Willetts and George as they worked in concert to steal the scanner. I know how I feel when I think of a parasitic alien trying to take over the body of the girl standing next to me, or anybody, for that matter. And I believe the Sicarii are already in the early stages of an invasion that could come as soon as they disable the threats to their plan. Including us.
    For all those reasons, I want to find out what my dad was doing, and why he called the scanner the key to our survival. The Sicarii wanted it, and that makes me wonder more than ever what the device can do, what might happen if they turned it against us, and what we could do to them if we could figure it out.
    Leo touches my arm as everyone else gathers on the sidewalk. “Can I go in with you?” he asks, his voice just above a whisper. He gives Graham a nervous glance as the guy glowers at us.
    I return Graham’s glare. I’m hoping he’s decided we’re even, but I know the last few hours have been rough for him. “Absolutely, Leo. I need you.”
    Leo’s eyebrows rise, and I see the question there. “You knew my dad, Leo. And you notice