Free Unleashed by Jessica Brody Page B

says. “It was the boy who discovered her flaws and exploited them.”
    â€œI will not fail,” I promise. “I will bring her back so that she can be fixed. So that she can serve Diotech just as I do.”
    â€œAnd the boy?” Dr. Alixter asks, raising a single eyebrow.
    My pulse quickens. We have never discussed what I am to do about the boy. He has always been omitted from the conversation. Until now.
    This is a test. I know it. He is analyzing my reaction, assessing my ability to think for myself within the constraints of my assignment. I have to formulate my answer carefully, as Dr. Alixter will be judging my preparedness based on how I respond.
    If I answer wrong, he may deem I’m not yet ready.
    But I am. I am ready. I am anxious to fulfill my mission.
    I consider everything I’ve learned in the past 121 days. I recall every upload I’ve received on the history of Diotech and its future agenda. I weigh every conversation Dr. Alixter and I have had about the girl and her betrayal. And then I answer with clarity and conviction.
    â€œThe boy is a threat to us. He must die.”
    A small, almost imperceptible smile parts his pale lips and I know that I have answered correctly.

2: Upgraded
    The girl was created to be perfect.
    Superior DNA. Beauty stolen from the digitally enhanced faces on the fashion streams. Abilities that rivaled those typically reserved for the comic book superheroes of the past.
    But it didn’t take long for her imperfections to surface. Unbeknownst to the scientists who spent years bringing her to life, there was a flaw buried within her genetic code. A defect more powerful than they could ever have imagined.
    It made her foolish. It made her disobedient. It made her run.
    Like her, I took my first breath inside the walls of this compound, hidden deep in the desert. Like her, I took my first steps on the synthotile floors of a secret laboratory, shielded from the eyes of the world. Like her, I was tested for strength, speed, mental aptitude, and my ability to heal.
    I was told from the first day that I was perfect.
    That people would be jealous of me.
    That I was born to change the world.
    Un like her, I am not broken. The defect they found in her doesn’t live in me.
    In a way, I followed in her footsteps. But I was never created to be her shadow. I wasn’t even created to be her equal. I am superior to her in every way.
    I knew from the moment I opened my eyes that I was expected to surpass her. If I was going to be the one to track her down and bring her back, then I had to stand taller, run faster, think quicker.
    â€œYou are better than her,” Dr. Alixter told me over and over again. “You are better than all of us. That’s why you will succeed where we failed.”
    The day I was born, the Diotech compound rejoiced. Or rather, the handful of people who knew about me rejoiced.
    It had been almost one year since she escaped. One year since the boy lured her away from here. They had tried to apprehend her once before. Dr. Alixter and Director Raze sent their best men—their strongest men—into the past to find her, but they returned empty-handed. That was when they realized that they didn’t need more men or even stronger men.
    They needed me.

3: Caution
    Dr. Alixter pops the vial into the reservoir of the injector with a definitive snap .
    â€œYou understand the risks.” His voice doesn’t rise at the end of the sentence. It is a statement, not a question. Yet I answer it anyway.
    â€œI understand the risks.”
    â€œGene DZ227 has not yet been fully tested and”—he coughs—“we don’t know what the long-term effects are.”
    I stare at the injector in his hand and the sparkling clear liquid bubbling inside of it. It represents everything I’ve wanted in my abridged life: Dr. Alixter’s trust.
    By injecting me, he is declaring that he has complete faith in me. That he truly