I don’t know which course of action to take. Do I plead ignorance? Do I confess to being a secret government operative? Do I admit that the butler tried to kill me? At the very least, Jamie already knows I’m involved in what happened outside the treehouse. And he’ll see the bandaged wound in my side anyway, assuming we still end up in a hotel room later tonight. I was planning on blaming a car accident, but it’s becoming increasingly likely that Jamison Hart was the one who ordered the butler to shoot me after all.

God, I wish Alpha was here to help me.

I can’t tell Jamie what really happened. These are the only cards I still hold in my hand, and if I reveal everything to him, I’ll have nothing left to save me. Maybe I should have reacted like a normal person and reported the butler to the police. Maybe I should have declined to fly on a private jet with someone who may or may not have tried to kill me.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “Why would I be trying to kill you?”

Jamie scrutinizes my face. “According to my father, that’s why everyone around me keeps dying. Someone at the Executive has been trying to assassinate me. He thought it was you, so apparently he ordered Smith to kill you. But that didn’t work out, did it?”

“Who’s Smith?” I ask, trying not to react to his mention of the Executive.

“The butler,” he says impatiently. “His body was burned in the forest, along with the treehouse. Did you know I thought it was you at first, lying there blackened and charred on the ground? But then I realized it was Smith. He was the one who died in that fire.”

“I left after you did,” I say defensively. “I didn’t see anyone else.”

“But there wasn’t enough time,” says Jamie, sounding unsure about who to believe. “You were the only guest on my estate. The fire started less than fifteen minutes after I walked away from you.” He clenches his hand into a fist, frustrated. “I need to know if the Executive is really trying to kill me. It could affect my takeover of Ophidian.”

Shit. I can’t keep wearing a bug. If Jamie already suspects that I’m an Executive operative, I’m in way more danger than I thought. He could decide to search me at any second, which means this might be my last chance to make sure Alpha hears everything. I have to plant the bug somewhere else as soon as possible.

“You’re taking over?” I say, picking up my martini glass and walking over to the minibar. “I thought you weren’t interested in your father’s business.”

He shrugs. “I want to take it in a different direction. I already have half the board of directors on my side. Or at least I did, before the Executive killed several of them.”

I reach for a bottle of vodka and refresh my drink, keeping my movements as smooth and casual as possible. When my back is turned to Jamie, I retrieve the bug from my corset and stick it on the underside of the minibar, where it won’t be seen by anyone taller than a child.

“It just doesn’t seem like your thing,” I say, returning to my seat and taking a large sip of my martini. “You seemed pretty annoyed when your father called you about that shipment—”

“Because those would become irrelevant with what I want to do,” Jamie interrupts, his eyes gleaming. “Imagine a world in which people could become more powerful than technology. Doctors would have the eyesight and precision to perform any surgery. Firemen would be powerful enough to lift any car with a single hand. Mathematicians could mentally perform any calculation in a matter of seconds. Bomb disposal squads could survive any explosion without a scratch. Instead of serving as a footnote in our world’s history, aberrants would become the new normal.”

“That’s not possible,” I say slowly. “Maybe in a hundred years or so, but not now.”

“Then let me be the first to tell you,” he says. “Ophidian has a research team that’s close to finding a way to do it. Any man or woman could become an aberrant after receiving a form of gene therapy. It’s imminently possible, Lily. The future is now.”

I have to struggle to keep my expression neutral. Who would actually want to become an aberrant? I was forced to bear it because of my genes, but to imagine that it might be willingly chosen by someone else, who might then apply to work for the Executive...

The mere thought of it is devastating.

No. I have to be reasonable about this. My aberration is a burden to me, but only because I have poisoned lips. If you could choose to become an aberrant, you’d pick something that would make your life better, not worse, and you wouldn’t suddenly want to become a secret government operative. A normal person would be intrigued by this, even excited.

Not on the verge of puking.

“Wow,” I say, forcing myself to sound enthusiastic. “That would be a major discovery. You’d change the world, Jamie.”

His eyes flash with interest, and I know I’ve said the right thing. “Exactly. I knew you’d understand. Just look at all the change that’s been happening lately. New inventions and discoveries every day. More and more aberrants speaking out publicly. This is the perfect opportunity to bring Ophidian into the future and create a new world.”

“Have you tried it on yourself?” I ask.

Jamie looks startled for a moment. “There haven’t been any results yet. My father wants to halt the project and bury the research, despite all the evidence that the gene therapy can work. He thinks I’m just trying to live out my childhood fantasy of being a superhero. But this is the future, you know?” He waves a hand angrily at his cell phone. “Not that.”

“I can’t believe your dad doesn’t get it,” I say. “This sounds incredible.”

“I know,” he says. “My father won’t sever ties with any of the Executives, even though they’re all trying to kill me. None of them want the world to change. My stepmother in particular was working against me—she believed aberrants were unnatural. I could take the research to someone else or go public with the findings, but I’d be ousted from Ophidian for violating my duties to the company.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be telling me this, then,” I say, attempting to shift back to a playful mood. If he keeps mentioning the Executive, I’m going to start losing the ability to keep calm. “What if I decide to tell the world?”

He laughs. “As I recall, you’re an unregistered aberrant. What if I decide to tell the world?”

I pout flirtatiously, as if his implied threat hasn’t just made the blood freeze inside my veins. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I do,” he says. “I never would have told you about this if I wasn’t sure you wouldn’t tell anyone else. And I am extremely interested in you, even if you are trying to kill me.” He reaches out and entwines a lock of my hair around his index finger. “I wanted to share more of myself with you, so why not?”

I will my eyes not to flicker over to where the bug is hidden on the minibar. He’s being so open with me that it almost makes me feel sorry for him. Now I can see why so many people have been dying on this mission. The world really would change if Jamison Hart was allowed to turn everyone into aberrants. But I still don’t know why Mongoose is so determined to stop the shipments to Ophidian, and I have no idea where the manifest could be.

Even though I was supposed to stick to the plan, I have to adjust to the situation at hand. There’s no point in lying anymore. Jamie is already suspicious that I’m trying to kill him, and he knows about the existence of the Executive. But he’s actually confiding in me about wanting to take over Ophidian, and he’s still interested in me, even though I’m an aberrant and a potential killer.

This is my opportunity to get as close to him as possible, to find the manifest and uncover the truth once and for all.

“I want to share more of myself with you as well,” I begin. “I’m not who you think I am.”

He grins. “I knew it. Your real name is Eliza, isn’t it?”

I nod, then remember the bug and confirm it verbally. “Yes. I work for the Executive—”

Before I can finish my sentence, the front of the plane explodes.