Free The Compendium by Christine Hart Page B

stuff. Innoviro has plans to transform the whole planet into a variant-only environment.” Cole rubbed his own beard stubble thoughtfully.
    “For starters, Ivan plans to set off an earthquake, on purpose, somewhere around San Francisco.” I heard the desperation punctuating my words. I ran my hands through my loose hair, failing to soothe my nerves.
    “They were doing genetic experiments in Victoria. And in Vancouver they’d started some kind of variant botanical and silviculture program,” said Jonah, tugging on his shirt cuffs to straighten his sleeves. Even on the road, Jonah wore a casual button-up shirt with his crisp dark jeans.
    “They’ve got some kind of variant bee too.” It sounded more ridiculous said aloud than it had in my head.
    “Okay, let me get this straight. You all are chasing Ivan and Tatiana Krylov over plants and bees. And you think he can start an earthquake down in California. I heard Rubin’s dead and Thorn’s in charge now. Have you guys met Thorn?” said Josh calmly, looking at me over the rim of his beer bottle.
    The image of Thorn’s reflective cat-like eyes leapt into my mind. The rest of Thorn’s face quickly followed. I remembered every detail of his grimy skin, decayed fangs and long matted locks.
    “Yeah, we met Thorn,” said Cole darkly.
    The image of Cole bound by Thorn’s web came back to me as well.
    “And you all still want to tangle with them?” said Josh.
    “We don’t want a fight, but we all helped further Innoviro’s research and development. Since that knowledge is going to be used to hurt people, we want to atone,” said Jonah.
    “Hurt people is putting it mildly. When my father unleashes whatever he’s got up his sleeve, we could be talking about billions of lives lost, the destruction of cities, and the end of human society the way we know it,” said Ilya.
    “Come on, man. This is a bit much, even for Ivan. You’re blowing things way out of proportion. Just because Ivan plays things close to the chest doesn’t mean he’s trying to kick-start the apocalypse. If you do give him shit though, there are more out there like Thorn.” Josh crushed his beer bottle over the kitchen sink.
    Josh’s beefy hand sparkled with glass shards and dust, but not a drop of blood showed anywhere. He rinsed his large forearm under the tap and I saw it in the light as he dried it. His skin was flawless–completely impenetrable.
    “We’ve got other reasons for chasing Ivan.” I glanced over at Jonah, who looked weary.
    “My variation isn’t stable,” Jonah said. “I’m dying and I think Ivan knows how to help me. He’d been giving me injections to stabilize my metabolism. If he told the truth, he had something more effective in development. He might have already had it, only stringing me along to keep me working.”
    “We know something is deeply wrong with my father too. I owe it to him to try to help,” said Ilya.
    Josh reached into the back of a cupboard above his range hood and pulled out a handgun. He set it down on the kitchen table between Ilya and Faith who both eyed the firearm with furrowed brows.
    “If Ivan doesn’t want you near him, you’re not getting to him without a fight,” Josh said. “You need to be prepared. You’ll need weapons and you’ll need to train. I can tell you that whoever else is working with Thorn on Ivan’s security team will not only be armed, with ranged and hand-to-hand weapons, they will each have a dangerous variation. Ivan had us all trained to use our variations with precision and deadly force. Before I worked for Innoviro, I worked for Halliburton. I wasn’t the only guy at Innoviro with a military background.”
    The chaos of Rubin’s attack on Ilya’s Sombrio Beach settlement played out in my mind. It was sheer luck that some of us had gotten away. Most had been captured. It had all happened so fast. It wasn’t simply a matter of Rubin’s variants getting the jump on us. We outnumbered them ten to one, but