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leave the school anymore.”
    “Still, you could have tried,” Jordan said.
    “With tasking in the SC and the trial, I haven’t had time,” Mason said. “And even though they acquitted me, I’m afraid I’m being watched.”
    “Of course you’re being watched,” Jordan said. “Figure out who it is and ditch them.”
    “It’s not as easy as someone following me everywhere,” Mason said. “I’m not even sure what to look for. I mean, I found a MiniComm in my apartment.”
    “What’s a MiniComm?” Jemma asked.
    “Exactly,” Mason said. “I’ve since learned that it’s some sort of recording device.”
    “They transmit,” Zane said. “I’ll come sweep your apartment.”
    “Thank you,” Mason said, thankful that Zane was their friend. “But don’t disturb anything you find. I don’t want them to know Iknow they’re listening. If something disappears, I’ll look suspicious. Like I have something to hide.”
    “You do,” Jordan said.
    “No, he’s right,” Zane said. “Leaving things be will keep them off his back.”
    “Another thing,” Mason said. “When I first spoke to the task director general, he mentioned that I could task in Research. I might ask him for a reassignment.”
    “Why?” Jemma asked. “You’re in a good place in the Surrogacy Center.”
    Mason looked at his hands clasped together between his knees. “Ciddah put the MiniComm in my apartment.”
    “You’re sure?” Jemma asked. “Why would your boss do that?”
    “And what was she doing in your apartment?” Jordan asked.
    Mason didn’t want to lift that boulder, so he kept talking. “I think she’s assisting Lawten — the task director general. So I can’t imagine I’ll be able to learn much under her … observation.”
    “But you need to be at the Surrogacy Center for Mia and Jennifer,” Aunt Chipeta said.
    “It’s too late to help Mia and Jennifer,” Mason said. “But if I left the SC and tasked in Research, I’d have better access to learning about the disease. A better chance at finding a cure.”
    “Hang finding a cure, Mason,” Levi said. “A cure is not our goal. Stop wasting your time and get to the kids.”
    “The Tasker G is not going to let you learn anything, anyway, you know,” Omar said from the back of the theater. “All the man does is lie.”
    “And if you go to a new task, you’ll have to start over,” Jemma said, her soft voice a soothing change from Levi and Omar’s criticism. “You need Ciddah.”
    He
wanted
to spend time with Ciddah, but he didn’t need anyone. Mason had always been fine on his own. “I don’t trust her.”
    “Mason,” Jemma said, “you can’t trust the task director general either.”
    Point taken. “I simply think it would be good to put distance between myself and Ciddah.” Why couldn’t he be stronger? Tell Levi no. Or be strong enough to smash his feelings for that infernal woman.
    “It doesn’t matter if you trust her,” Levi said. “You can’t trust anyone in the Safe Lands. Stop thinking of her as a person. She’s the enemy, Mase. Use her to get what you need so we can all get out of here.”
    Use her. Mason had already abused his relationship with Ciddah a great deal, and he didn’t like the heaviness his actions had brought to his heart. Ciddah had abused their relationship too, planting that MiniComm. But somehow Levi’s suggestion seemed worse. More cutthroat. Sinister. Evil for evil.
    Though why should Mason care? Ciddah had been toying with him from the start. None of her words could be trusted. Levi was right. Mason needed to forget his feelings for Ciddah and do his job, find out how to free the children so they could get their people out of the Safe Lands before any more became infected.
    But he couldn’t give up his search for a cure, either. Especially not now that both Omar and Mia were infected.
    Yes, the children needed to come first. But Mason would continue his search for a cure, no matter what Levi said.