"You are breathtaking," he whispered.
He ran his fingers through my hair, and the warmth, the energy sent a thousand little chills down my spine. I rested my head against his chest, and he continued the movement, sending me into a state of total relaxation.
Then the doorknob rattled. I unlocked it, and Mike opened the door.
"All clear, sweetie." He handed me a bag. "For the road."
The amazing smell of my favorite sandwich filled my nose. "Thank you, you're the best!" I hugged Mike, and it was like that delicious smell of fresh baked bread and sliced deli meat was in his skin and clothes. It was wonderful.
As we walked back to the front of the restaurant, I called for a cab to pick us up. Then I fished out a couple of twenties and handed them to Mike.
He shook his head no. "It's on the house."
"Please, you've been more than helpful letting us hide out like that."
"Well, we all have bad days, am I right? Just promise me you'll stay out of trouble."
I smiled. "I wish I could." I slipped the money into the tip jar and winked at him.
The cab was quick to pick us up, which was nothing short of a miracle. We went to where my car was parked, a few blocks from Genitech, and I asked the driver to wait. I grabbed my laptop bag without incident. The next stop was the bank. If I couldn't return home and I didn't want to be traceable, I would need good old-fashioned cash. I withdrew enough money to buy a small house, just to be safe. Then I asked the driver if he knew of any used car dealerships where they didn't ask many questions. The driver nodded and took us to a rather questionable place that fit the bill. I was able to buy a decent late model car with cash, no questions or paperwork required.
Once we had our own vehicle, I figured I should go about changing both my and Victor's appearance, at least enough to avoid capture. We were able to get most of what we needed from a strip mall set of stores—a wig, hats, sunglasses, some toiletries, and a couple of different outfits. We checked into a mid-range hotel, someplace that didn't have cockroaches or the general desperation of the lower end hotels, but still not where I would normally stay, and for an extra couple of hundreds, the desk clerk didn't ask for ID. We still had an hour to kill, so I took a shower and brushed my teeth, which somehow helped me feel a little more normal. After I slipped on a simple dress, I rejoined Victor in the main living area of the hotel room.
Victor had changed into one of his new outfits as well, a casual shirt and jeans. It was incredible how a simple change of clothes could make him appear so human. The neutral white scrubs he wore before made him seem like he belonged in a lab. Now he was just another guy.
"You look good," I said, as I towel-dried my hair and then began to brush it.
"Thank you. These clothes, they feel different."
"Different in a bad way?"
"No, they have a sufficient level of comfort. I guess I'm just not used to them."
I blow dried my hair and put on the wig. The long blond curls seemed so foreign when I looked in the mirror. But that was the whole point. No one would recognize me like this.
After devouring the delicious sub Mike made for me, I was ready to go meet up with Tyler. Victor put on a baseball cap and some sunglasses, to complete his disguise. Not as drastic a change as a wig, but he looked less like himself as well.
I drove to the spot where we ditched the car and was relieved to see it had disappeared. I'd hoped it made its way back to its owner. I was a strong believer in karma and stealing a car didn't bode well for me.
We waited in my beater car, in silence. I glanced at my phone. It was past the time he said we would meet.
Did he get in trouble? Is he at OCEI headquarters now?
I breathed in and out slowly, to try to calm myself. Who knows what snags he could've run into? Relax, Cass. Just sit here and be patient.
Of course, I said this to myself, but patience wasn't exactly one of my virtues. Still, I decided to wait a little longer before engaging full-out panic mode.
An hour passed. Still no sign of Tyler.
I got out of the car and began to pace. Victor joined me.
"They captured him, didn't they?" I said.
Victor avoided my eyes. "I'm sorry, Cass, but it does appear that way. However, there are other possibilities... he could've gotten lost, detained at the house, unable to get transportation here—"
"Shit, I knew we shouldn't have split up!"
Victor attempted to hug me, but I pushed him away.
"I can't go back there, to OCEI," I said. "It was horrible. I escaped because of my power, but you know they won't make that same mistake again. They'll put me in a cell with no tech and let me rot there."
I felt the panic rise in me. "For all we know, Tyler could be dead now."
"Cass, it's going to be all right," Victor said.
There were a dozen things I could've said to contradict that. But then an idea popped into my head, something I'd said earlier. "Yes, you're right. It will be. I can beat this thing."
I grabbed my laptop from the car and fired it up.
"That's the spirit! What is our next move?" Victor asked.
I opened a browser and typed in my search terms, furiously clacking the keys on my keyboard. "I really do have enough money to buy an island. Several actually."
"An island?"
"I can comfortably live out my life there. All I have to do is get enough supplies before all this shit goes down. Invest in some solar panels, rainwater collection and purification, a few generators..."
Victor raised an eyebrow. "I do not understand, Cass."
"I'll have to study farming, so I can grow my own food." I opened a word processing program and jotted down some notes. "I mean I have two weeks, right? I can get setup before then."
He gently rested his hand on my arm. "Cass, please stop."
"You're right." I turned to him and smiled.
He relaxed his concerned expression and returned the smile. "I'm glad you—"
"A bunker makes much more sense. They probably don't have those on islands, do they?" I typed in my new search parameters. "Perhaps a bunker with some kind of underground vegetation."
"Cass!"
The volume of his voice startled me. He took hold of my hand and made eye contact with me. "Running away is not the solution."
"Really?" I let go of his hand and folded my arms. "Go ahead. Run a probability calculation of a possible successful outcome, if the two of us go up against the OCEI and Genitech. Hell, factor in Tyler's powers, if by some miracle we find him again."
I stared him down. "Well?"
"There is a two percent chance of success," Victor said quietly.
"Two percent. Hmm, I'm betting my chances of survival in a bunker are significantly better than that."
"But what kind of life would that be for you?" There was kindness, compassion in his eyes.
"I don't need people," I said. "And you could come with me, Victor. Then we wouldn't be alone." I kissed his cheek.
"I'm not the one you want to be with, Cass," he said. "I saw the way you kissed Tyler. It was different."
I couldn't deny that. It was safe with Victor. And he was my friend. "Yes, but our relationship could grow into that."
"It is not possible. I cannot feel that intensely. Not in the way Tyler appears to feel about you. I would never deny you true happiness."
A tear rolled down my cheek. "He's enhanced. No matter how much I want to, we can't ever really be together..."
"That may be incorrect. In my research, I have read about cases in which two enhanced could couple and still survive. The theory has to do with genetic compatibility, and it has merit. It is rare, and I was unable to verify the facts presented, but I believe it is possible."
I didn't know many enhanced and didn't have the patience nor access to the websites Victor did, so that was news to me. Is it really possible I could be with Tyler? The very thought sparked a new hope within me.
"I guess two percen
t is better than zero percent."
A small, sweet smile appeared on Victor's face.
Just then, a cab pulled over to the side of the road. A tall, handsome black man exited after paying his driver. He walked in our direction. Although he didn't seem menacing, we were in a bad part of Jersey, so I didn't know what to expect. But as he drew closer, I began to feel more and more calm.
"Tyler!" I ran to him and threw my arms around him. "I thought you were dead."
He hugged me back tightly, and the peaceful feeling traveled through my body in waves. "I told you I'd make it back to you."
"Victor, are you okay?" Tyler said.
I abruptly withdrew from him, and turned to see Victor twitching, his eyes recessed into his head.
"It's another malfunction." I held Victor's hand to try to comfort him somehow.
"How can I help?" Tyler asked.
"We should let it play out, just make sure he doesn't hurt himself." I wondered why he was malfunctioning now. Unless it was something remote...
Victor stopped twitching, closed his eyes, and collapsed. Tyler and I held on to him, and then gently lowered him to the curb. I kept hold of his hand, to monitor his progress. It wasn't long before he started back up—I could sense his systems booting. It was different than the first time I'd encountered him, in the lab. Somehow, I understood more of it. Though the Dalia language was still a bit of a mystery, I was able to follow his startup routine. And the locks on his memory seemed to have disappeared.
Victor opened his eyes, fully booted. "What happened?"
"We were hoping you could tell us," I said. "It looked like some kind of malfunction."
I could tell by the way his eyes moved back and forth rapidly, that he was running a self-diagnostic. "Oh no," he whispered.
"What's wrong?" I asked. "Can I interface with you? Maybe I can help."
His eyes were filled with dread, but he stayed silent.
I touched his hand once more. In the memory space that was now unlocked, I found a program running with a GPS component.
They always knew where we were, this whole time. They only let Victor think he escaped. It was Genitech's plan all along to have him team up with me.
"I was afraid this could happen." Victor held his head in his hands. "I tried to warn you..." Tears trickled down his cheeks, as he lifted his head and looked at me. I was surprised they built in that functionality. But then it made sense, if they wanted him to resemble a human, to fool us.
I backed away from him, my eyes filling with tears as well. "How could you betray us?"
"Betray us?" Tyler said, his brows knitted. "I don't understand."
"I promise it was not my intention," Victor said. "I didn't know they had programmed me to—"
"Act as a homing beacon?" I let out a frustrated scream. "I bet they've heard and seen everything too."
Tyler took hold of my hand. "Let's get out of here, we can still escape."
"It's too late." Victor tried to touch me, but I moved just out of reach. "I'm so sorry, Cass."
I felt a pinprick in my neck. Then everything went black.
Chapter 13
I woke up with the worst headache, on the floor of what appeared to be a cellar storage room—musty, cold, and dark. Glancing around, I could see no tech whatsoever. The only thing in the room was a square wooden table and a few chairs, like what you'd see in a breakfast nook. Tyler sat up slowly and massaged his forehead.
"Got a headache too? Must be from whatever they knocked us out with."
He stood and immediately went straight to the door. He rattled the lock, as if they would just leave it open or something. Then he banged on the door.
"I don't think it will do any good," I said.
"What are they going to do with us?" Tyler said.
"I don't know. Kind of surprised we're still alive." I recalled what had transpired with Victor and felt a pang of remorse. "I wonder if Victor is all right."
"You're worried about him? After what he did?"
"They were controlling him. The part of his memory that knew about it was locked off." I sighed. "He didn't mean to hurt us."
"If you say so." Tyler scoured the room, looking for some way to escape. He eventually came to the same conclusion I did—we were stuck there.
"I guess we have to wait for them to make the next move," he said. Then he shapeshifted back into his regular form.
I nodded and began to randomly pace. I hated being imprisoned, certainly, but the waiting was the worst part.
Tyler intercepted me by standing in my path. "At least we're here together, right?" he said.
I wrapped my arms around him, resting my head against his chest. His strong arms embraced me, and the warmth, the total peace that washed over me was exactly what I needed.
"How do you do that?" I whispered. "Make me feel like all is right with the world, when we are completely fucked?"
He laughed. "I don't know. I was going to ask you the same thing." He withdrew only enough to kiss me. Slowly, sensually. I basked in the amplified warm surrounding me.
But then the sound of a key being inserted into the lock from the outside warned us we were about to have company.
In walked Sylvia, accompanied by Victor and another man.
"Joseph," Tyler said. "We meet again."
"Again?" the man said.
Tyler shifted into a gorgeous blonde female. "You may remember me as Rose," he said, with an outrageous NY accent.
Joseph's face grew pallid, and then his bottom lip quivered. "What did you do to Ella?"
"She was going to defect." Tyler shifted back. "Her plan was to take my power and disappear. It backfired."
Joseph turned to Sylvia. "This is why they need to be wiped out! Ella was a perfectly good agent. He's obviously lying, she wasn't even enhanced."
"Guess she fooled you, too," Tyler said, a hint of melancholy in his tone.
"So, genocide is the answer?" I said to Joseph. "What kind of monster are you?"
"It was never my intention to kill anyone," Sylvia said. "I only wish to remove the powers that make you so dangerous."
I glanced at Victor. His gaze was fixed on the floor, as if he wanted to minimize his participation. I walked over to him.
"Are you okay?"
When he didn't respond, I took hold of his hands, afraid they had reprogrammed him.
"Oh no you don't," Sylvia said, and yanked me away from him. She shoved me over to the table. "Sit down." She joined me, sitting in the chair opposite me.
"And if you even think about using your powers," Joseph said to Tyler, "I will snap her neck myself." He pointed to me, and I shuddered at the veracity of his statement. There was no deception there whatsoever.
"Sylvia, you're brilliant," I said. "With your mind, you could find the cure for cancer, make people's lives better through science. Why are you wasting your time with this intolerant asshole?" I motioned to Joseph, who narrowed his eyes at me.
"Enhanced are a threat, plain and simple. Like a disease, a kind of cancer to the human condition. By eradicating these dangerous powers, I will be making lives better." Her eyes seemed to study me, as if she were observing me in an experiment. "Everyone can feel safe again."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Tyler asked, as he joined us at the small table. "It's not like there's a huge crime spree since enhanced powers surfaced."
Joseph snickered. "Really? So, a serial killer targeting enhanced and humans alike is okay with you?"
What the media referred to as "The Romeo Killer." By having sex with his victims, he was outright killing humans, and collecting powers of enhanced.
"He is one among hundreds," Tyler replied. "The rest of us aren't abusing our powers."
"Yet," Sylvia said.
"Or that we know of," Joseph said. "There could be dozens of unexplained incidents reported that we don't know about or haven't made the connection that it was done by enhanced scum."
"People can get hurt, killed eve
n," Sylvia said with some finality. Once more, she fidgeted with her wedding ring band.
"Was it your husband?" I asked. "Was he enhanced or something?"
"No. He cheated on me with one."
The room grew heavy with silence.
"And he died because of her," I confirmed.
She nodded. "Sometimes it's not even your powers we need to fear."
"No one should have that kind of power over anyone else," Joseph said. "The faster the enhanced plague is contained, the better."
"But you had to have seen Victor's video, right?" I asked Sylvia. "You saw what happens when you unleash the serum."
"His video is a warning. I can perfect the serum before I release it and avoid any unnecessary deaths." She made eye contact with me. "Then we won't have to keep any more prisoners, in fact, the OCEI won't be necessary at all."
"It's not necessary now," I said. "You keep talking about us as if we're a different race, like we're aliens. We're still human, we're all the same. If we work together, we can—"
"Wake up, Cass!" Joseph said and laughed. "This isn't some playground we can set rules in and everyone will play nice together. History has proven time and time again that humans abuse power. That's what we're safeguarding against—the enslavement of humanity."
There was no talking down Joseph, he was already too far gone on his genocidal justification cloud. But Sylvia, she was intelligent and strong. With her, I just might be able to appeal to her rational side.
"You know that what you're doing is illegal, right?" I said to her. "You could go to jail. For the rest of your life."
"Please," Joseph said. "Law enforcement feels the same way as we do, they're afraid they can't keep people safe with the likes of you two running around. They're just as eager to end this as we are. You can bet they're not going to arrest us."
"Beyond all that, though," I said, ignoring Joseph and focusing on Sylvia, "you've got to know it's wrong. I know that you've tested PE-145 on enhanced. And I know that no one survived. Those people didn't do anything. Their parents only wanted to give them all they could in this life. They had no say in it, and they didn't commit any crimes after they got their powers."
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