“She’s having a panic attack,” Gerry said.
I took a step toward her, ready to…I don’t know what, but paused when none other than Justin stepped in between Anna and the three Black Hats.
“N-not today,” he said, his normally soft voice trembling slightly as he spoke. “She’s been through too much. She—”
“Out of the way,” one of the Black Hats barked, a white man with thinning hair. He seemed on edge today. All the Black Hats had been over the past couple of weeks, in truth.
“How about you take me in instead,” Justin said. “It’s been a while, right?”
“Dr. Hale didn’t ask for you,” the Black Hat said.
“But that’s because she doesn’t know what I can do now. See?”
And with that Justin began to move toward him, raising his hands in the telltale movement I had begun to identify with him using his powers. I opened my mouth in a silent “no.” The number one rule was to never use your powers in front of the guards, after all. And now they had—
The Black Hat pulled a gun from his holster and fired.
The sound of the shot echoed around the giant room. Justin’s body jerked, and I saw a spot of red pool around the center of his back.
And then he fell and didn’t move again.
Someone let out a scream. It could have even been me.
“Time to take this fucker out,” Diego muttered under his breath, and began to move forward.
Only to be stopped by Gerry’s firm hand.
“No,” he whispered in his ear. “We’re not all here. Mark’s in testing right now. It would ruin everything.”
“But Justin—” Diego began.
“We would fail,” Gerry said, his voice a low hiss.
For a second, I thought Diego would protest, would push back. But instead, I saw his jaw tense, and I knew that he had seen the logic in his podmate’s statement.
So instead of rising up, we all turned to the center of the room to watch the Black Hats drag Anna through the glassed-in doors, her body completely limp.
Five minutes later, they did the same for what remained of Justin. Who, after six months of waiting, would never have a chance to see the outside world again.
If only we had decided to leave a day sooner.
24
Breaking
Dawn
Breakfast at Project Regen was always the same. People stumbled out of their rooms, half awake, and wandered to their respective tables. But even beneath the bleary eyes, and complaints about the food, there had always been this tension. And why wouldn’t there be, when any day could be your last? The doors would open, the Black Hats would arrive, and this time it might be your name they called out.
On our final day, that tension was tuned up to eleven.
There was no stumbling or yawning, even though I’m pretty sure none of us managed to get a full night’s sleep. Instead, the nine remaining prisoners of Project Regen—Karen, Gerry, Mark, Diego, Bixby, Luiz, Anna, Sam, and I—came to the tables and sat in complete silence.
I knew it wasn’t smart. It wouldn’t take much for the White Masks on the observation decks above us to realize that something was…well, off. Perhaps they didn’t care. After all, in two days, they would be turning on the gas.
I pushed my food around on my plate, and for once, Karen didn’t urge me to eat more. I felt my attention move to the square on the floor where Justin had fallen. I remembered how Bixby had run to her fallen podmate, her normal frustration replaced by the shock of grief. Bixby’s expression had caught me off guard, but it kinda made sense. She and Justin had survived a lot together over the past six months. They had never seemed like friends, but that had to have resulted in some kind of bond.
Gerry grasped his notebook. Even Mark, who didn’t express much emotion beyond dull acceptance these days, seemed a little on edge. Next to him, Diego wasn’t even trying, gripping the edge of the table as if to stop himself from bolting. I discovered that I was holding my breath without even meaning to.
When the glass doors opened, the creak of the hinges seemed to fill the world. The sound of the Black Hats’ footsteps echoed around the Big Room. I closed my eyes, hoping the fact they had taken in Anna for testing yesterday meant that they wouldn’t do it today. She was simply too unpredictable. And the loss of Justin…
I swallowed, feeling a lump in my throat form. The loss of Justin was impacting us all.
The sound of footsteps stopped behind my chair.
“Diego del Toro,” came the voice of the lead guard.
I felt a chill go down my spine. It was the Black Hat that had shot Justin yesterday.
Diego, his hands still pressed against the plastic top of the table, pushed his chair backwards and stood. He wordlessly turned to the Black Hats with a single eyebrow raised as if to say, “Well? What are you waiting for?”
The lead guard pushed him forward and toward the door.
“Move it!” he barked.
“All right, all right,” Diego muttered beneath his breath. “I’m going.”
Which he did, in steps that seemed agonizingly slow. The rest of us sat there, bodies tense. It wasn’t enough for them just to come into the room. No, we needed the Black Hats and Diego to head back toward the lab. It was step one of the plan. Those doors needed to be opened.
I looked across to where Gerry sat. The second the glass doors hissed open, I saw his eyes shut.
Now or never.
A sharp clap filled the air. I turned to the door to see Diego. And even though his body blocked my view, I knew that his hands were pressed in front of his chest in a prayer-like pose. I had seen it a hundred times in our practice rooms after all.
I watched his shoulders tense as he took in a deep breath.
“Hey, what are you—” the lead Black Hat said.
And then Diego spread his hands out wide.
The blue bubble followed, spreading out until it captured all three of the guards. They immediately fell to the ground, gasping.
And in my head, a stopwatch clicked on.
“I can hold my breath for a full minute,” Diego had said.
Hopefully, we wouldn’t push him to that limit.
Mark was the first to move to his feet, leaping over the tables and toward the doors. I wasn’t far behind him, needing only two breaths to transform. Then I was moving too, my cape of red and black stars swirling behind me. I didn’t run. I leapt across the room, catching up to Mark at the doorway, in a single bound. He dropped to his knees, shoving his breakfast plate underneath the right door, wedging it open. I did the same with the right. Sensing our presence, Diego spread out his fingers. The blue sphere broke into three pieces, encasing all three Black Hats separately.
Or, at least that’s what the plan had been. Two of the spheres held up, but the third, the one to the right, the one that should have held the Black Had that had shot Justin, winked out. The Black Hat inhaled with a gasp and reached for the gun at his belt.
Only to have it fly out of his hands as if pulled by an invisible force. I heard a grunt behind me, and knew that it had to have been Sam, that one push pretty much all that he had in him.
But boy did he make it count.
I leapt, crossing the space between me and the guard. Rearing back, I punched him across the face. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he collapsed to the ground.
“Let’s move!” I heard Bixby yell.
I stepped inside just in time for the remaining prisoners of Project Regen to start pouring through those glass doors.
Mark, as planned, took point, heading toward the stairs with Bixby hot on his heels. The rest of the group followed, Sam stopping to pick up the gun that the armed Black Hat had dropped. The plan was for Diego and me to take up the rear. That way, we would have protection at the front and back.
Only Diego didn’t move.
I turned to see him standing over the two guards, murderous rage on his face. A single trickle of blood dripped from hi
s nose as the Black Hats under his power turned a darker shade of purple.
“Diego!” I snapped. “We need to go!”
An alarm, long and piercing, cut through the air. Reinforcements were going to arrive any second now. Time was precious. And if we weren’t together, our friends, now halfway up the stairs, would be vulnerable to attacks. I wouldn’t see them hurt.
“Diego!” I yelled again, reaching out and grabbing his arm.
And for a second, he turned his murderous gaze on me, eyes glowing with blue light.
I tightened my grip, and he let go, raising his free hand. The two men collapsed to the floor and did not move. I wondered if they were just unconscious or dead.
“Dawn! Diego, we need you!” I heard Karen say, voice sharp.
I looked up to see them standing at the top of the stairs, the emergency lights flashing over their heads. Behind Mark and Bixby, Karen stood with Luiz. In his hand, he held a map of the lab, cobbled together from the impressions he had gotten from the wires in the wall and the generator we knew to be in the garage. I saw him point to the right and say something in Portuguese before heading off. The group followed.
Every second counted.
“Sorry about this,” I said before reaching out and grabbing Diego. And then, operating more out of instinct than anything else, I bent my legs and I leapt.
I heard Diego’s breath catch as he was lifted from the ground. We soared up the entire flight of stairs to the righthand landing a story and a half up. We landed with a jolt.
“Jesus,” he said. “Give me a little warning next time.”
“I could say the same for you,” I shot back.
Diego’s face darkened.
But there wasn’t time to argue. Instead, we ran down the hallway, headed down a staircase, then took a right.
Only to be met by a set of locked double doors with circular windows at eye level. The doors that led to the lab area.
“Luiz—” Karen began, but the younger man was already on top of it, having placed his hand on the keypad next to the door, his face screwed up in concentration.
The rest of the group waited beside him with varying degrees of impatience. Gerry, hugging his notebook against his chest like a security blanket, Sam checking the lead Black Hat’s gun for bullets, Mark standing off to the side, a blank look on his face. Next to him was Anna, her back pressed against the wall, eyes wide. Mark turned his head and watched as she slid to the floor.
“Karen?” I heard Diego say.
I snapped my attention back to the doorway just in time to see Diego toss a gun to Karen, a final gift from one of the Black Hats.
“Jesus,” she said, catching it awkwardly. “This is a little different than Daddy’s hunting rifle.”
“It’ll do the job when it comes down to it,” Sam remarked.
My only warning was the squeak of a door opening behind me. Then everything happened at once.
Sam raised his gun, then cursed as Bixby spun around, jumping in his line of fire. I turned just in time to see the Black Hat Gardiner dart out of a side room, his weapon raised. My lips opened in a wide, shocked “no,” as he pivoted the gun directly at Gerry. I bent my legs to spring.
And then Bixby, of all people, jumped in between the two, reaching out and shoving Gardiner backward. A slight glow, almost like a second skin, formed around the man and he froze in place.
The gun dropped from his fingers and clamored to the ground.
Next to me, Diego swore in Spanish.
“Bixby—” Gerry began.
“We need to move him now.” There was a note of panic in her voice.
“Closet,” Sam said, nodding toward an open door off to the side.
Sam and Bixby pushed the large guard back and into the supply closet. I couldn’t help but notice that the Black Hat’s eyes seemed to bore into mine just before they shut the door in his face.
“How long will he stay like that?” Sam asked.
“For sure? About five more seconds. After that, if anyone breathes on him too hard, he’ll instantly unfreeze,” Bixby replied.
“Sounds unstable.” He raised the weapon in his hand. “This ain’t. How about next time you don’t just dart in front of—”
Before he could finish, a shot rang out. Sam’s head jerked back, followed by his body dropping soundly to the floor.
Alex
The roads were a lot darker than they had been this morning.
As we made our way to Lake Breman, I thought about Dawn wandering down this unlit, winding road. Of course, she’d been alone. I was far from that. I glanced in my mirror to see my girlfriend’s unconscious body strapped to the seat. We had talked over the pros and cons of bringing her here, ultimately deciding that we were in unknown territory. This way, if she needed us, we would be close.
It had seemed smart at the time. Now, I wasn’t so sure.
“Take a right turn here,” I said, reading the directions off my phone.
“Copy that,” Lilah said, turning the wheel of her SUV down a dark road that was probably half mud this time of year. It was a miracle Alan’s more delicate car hadn’t gotten stuck.
Unfortunately.
“Has he picked up yet?” She glanced at me from behind her mask.
I had to admit, it was a unique sight, seeing Lilah, dressed in her Golden Strike costume, driving a vehicle designed for soccer moms, but she had made the decision to conceal her identity before leaving. Dr. Hale was the mastermind behind Project Regen, after all. It wasn’t like SynergyCorp would leave her unprotected.
“No,” I answered her. “That doesn’t look good.”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Lilah said. “But I hope to baby Jesus that we drove all the way out here for no good reason.”
“Amen,” I replied, slipping my phone into my utility belt.
Unfortunately, our prayers were going unanswered.
I caught sight of Alan’s car, pulled over to the side of the road, half hidden beneath a tree. The property was pitch black, which would have made it easy to sneak up and into the well-lit house.
Especially if that someone could turn into a shadow.
“Helmet on, please,” Lilah said, pulling up behind Alan’s Audi. “This place will likely have security cameras.”
“No shit.”
Dr. Hale didn’t exactly live in a shack in the woods. Her second home was easily three times the size of my one, with a wraparound deck that looked out and over the water. The walls on the right half of the first floor appeared to be mostly made of glass, giving us a full view of her cozy living/dining room combo, complete with a fireplace, expensive-looking stainless-steel appliances, and—I realized with a wince—the same type of lighting that Dawn had in her house. I frowned at the sight of what looked like shadowy lumps, scattered across the floor.
I glanced back at Dawn one more time before exiting the car.
We circled around the back until we found the entrance, unlocked, no less. I pushed the door open.
And found out just what those shadowy lumps were.
“Shit,” I said at the sight of the bodies of three operatives, crumpled on the ground. “Do you think—”
“I don’t need to think.” Lilah’s brown eyes shimmered with gold briefly. “They’re all still alive, just somewhat oxygen deprived.”
I frowned, remembering how Alan had attacked Gardiner at Project Regen.
And then we heard a shout from the second floor, and it sounded…childlike.
Lilah and I exchanged one look, her wide eyes mirroring my own.
We sprinted to the staircase. When we got to the top, a high-pitched squeal came through one of the doors. Lilah was there first, shoving the double doors wide open.
And what was on the other side was not what I had expected. Alan wasn’t there at all.
But Dr. Hale was.
She perched on the edge of a long, red couch. Her face was in profile, her attention clearly not on us but on the small, dark-hair
ed boy, no older than eight, who sat on the floor watching cartoons.
No, not watching, laughing as some weird flying creature went soaring through the air, chased by an angry-looking monkey.
Dr. Hale craned her neck in our direction. I immediately recognized her from the photograph, despite the difference of almost ten years. Her calm expression was identical to when she had skinned Mark alive.
I felt my jaw set. This was her, the mastermind behind Project Regen. The one who had hurt—
“Are there any more of you coming?” she asked.
Lilah’s gaze drifted between the various players in the room before answering. “We’re good.”
It didn’t answer the question, but it must have been enough, because the doctor nodded and then reached for the remote at her side. She pressed one button and the TV turned off.
“Moooom,” the kid whined. “Why did you—” And then he froze as he caught sight of the three of us. “Mom, that’s Golden Strike and Faultline!”
“Darling, why don’t you watch the television in your room,” Dr. Hale said.
“What?” the boy asked. “Why—”
“Mommy has business to attend to.”
The kid rolled his eyes and picked up a stuffed monkey from the floor—the same monkey that had been on the television screen. As he passed by me, he turned to Lilah.
“Where’s Silver Shot?” he asked. “You’re always together.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” she replied. “We’re never really apart.”
Failing to pick up on the slight strain in her voice, the child smiled and left the room.
For a few seconds we just listened to his footsteps as he retreated down the hall.
“Well then,” Dr. Hale said. “Would anyone like a drink?”
I could only blink in response to that.
“Dr. Hale,” Lilah began. “I don’t think you realize why we’re here.”
“Not to rescue me, that’s for sure. Even though you were kind enough to take out my jailers.”
Silver and Gold (Red and Black Book 3) Page 25