Silver and Gold (Red and Black Book 3)
Page 29
A smile cracked on Dawn’s lips. “It’s strange to think, but SynergyCorp was foiled by one of their own IT guys.”
“And they’ll probably never know.”
The smile fell from Dawn’s lips. “This is the second time we’ve come up against people trying to make Actuals, you know. I mean…Dana was different.”
“But if what Dr. Hale told us is true, they’re far from the only party interested in making Empowered soldiers.”
“I…guess it makes sense. The right powers could be terribly destructive on the battlefield.”
“Yeah. You don’t have to tell me that twice.”
Dawn gave me a questioning look.
I swallowed before responding. “Listen, Dawn. As much as I hate to make this about me, Project Regen isn’t the only thing I discovered under that mountain.”
“Oh?”
I proceeded to tell her about the shift in my powers. The way that the hallway had shook, the rockslide…
“My powers, I thought, if anything I had a good handle on them, but now I’m beginning to think I barely understand them,” I finished.
Dawn smoothed her lips before speaking. “Powers grow and change as we do.” She shrugged. “I’ve noticed over time that I appear to be building up more stamina, especially given how things were at the beginning. It makes me think about what Jane said, about my powers being based in willpower. I wonder sometimes if I really understand what that means.”
“But at least you can control them, Dawn. I don’t like this. I almost hurt your brother.”
She winced at this.
“You know, Riley said that they don’t do Awakenings on people whose powers are triggered by their emotions,” I continued. “And I’m beginning to understand why. If things continue like this—”
“They won’t,” Dawn said, reaching out to take my hand. “Because we have connections now. There has to be someone in the Forgers who can better understand your powers. We can work our way through this, I know it.”
I felt a small smile tug at the side of my lips. “I knew you’d say that.”
“Er…am I that predictable?” Dawn cocked her head to the side.
“Let’s just say I went on my own little vision quest down there. Only with me, it had less to do with a psychic Actual and more to do with hitting my head.”
“Again? Alex, that’s really dangerous!”
“No shit. And this one involved taking a dive down an elevator shaft. Let’s just say that it’s a good thing that Connor loaned me that armor, or he wouldn’t be the only one needing a hospital visit. You’re brother’s fine, by the way. Not a scratch on him.”
“Thank God,” Dawn whispered.
“Anyway, regardless of how I got there, when I was at the bottom of that elevator shaft, worrying about my powers, overwhelmed by what we had found at Project Regen? That’s when I saw you.”
“I…uh, was a little far away.”
“But the things you said, they were the same as what you said right now. That if we stuck together, we could figure out anything. And you know what, I believe that.”
Dawn blushed and snuggled to my side.
“I feel the same way too,” she said. “You’d think that being pulled back to a time when I had these feelings for Mark would change things. But they didn’t. If anything, they showed me how over the relationship was. And that what I have with you is so much more.”
“That’s a relief,” I said with a chuckle. “Because if this is a breakup speech—”
“Don’t be silly,” Dawn said, breaking into laughter. “I love you, Alex.”
“I love you too, Dawn,” I replied. “Sorry it took me so long to say it.”
“Does that mean that it took me too long?” She teased.
“How about we both agree that we have perfect timing.”
“I like the sound of that.”
I pulled her closer to me, looking out over the lights of Bailey City, our breaths freezing in the air. And although neither or us was completely sure what tomorrow would bring, we knew we had each other.
And sometimes, that’s all you really needed.
Epilogue
Thanks to their psychic bond, Connor knew the moment Lilah pulled into the parking lot.
Well, he could hear her too. The squeak of those brakes? The people down at the Boston branch needed to invest in some better vehicles. But the psychic connection did more than just that. It was one thing to know that she was here, another to know that she was uninjured. The closer she got, he could feel a vague sense of unease come across the bond.
Not that that was anything new.
A few minutes later, Lilah came into the room, her costume hidden under a long, brown jacket, snowflakes caught up in her hair.
“Snow? It’s practically April!” Connor said.
“I’m beginning to remind myself of why I never travel this far north.” Lilah sighed, shrugging off her jacket and hanging it over a chair, which she then slid into.
“How are things going with Leonard Haywood?” Connor asked.
“Pretty much as you’d expect given that we’re basically dealing with—”
“A corpse?”
“The Higher-Ups feel a little uncomfortable around the situation.”
“Almost makes me miss Alice Simmons. I don’t think that woman ever felt a little uncomfortable about anything, ethics-related.” Connor sighed. “And Forecaster?”
Lilah stilled, her gaze distant.
“Lie?” Connor asked, concern creeping into his voice.
“You don’t really need to be able to see the future to know how this one will go,” she said, meeting his gaze. “We know so much, but what do we have as far as physical evidence goes? You can bet that if SynergyCorp didn’t completely destroy what was beneath that mountain while the three of you were there, they have in the hours since. Dana isn’t confident that anything of substance can be recovered off that hard drive. And Dr. Hale, our one strong connection to SynergyCorp, has been kidnapped.”
Connor let out a long sigh. “Well, Forecaster did warn us, after all. What is it he said? Just when you think you’ve gotten to the end, you’ll find you’ve just begun. What is it with seers and being so damn cryptic?”
He let out a laugh, then cringed when he realized how forced it sounded.
“I…perhaps I am being overly negative,” Lilah replied. “This is very likely the end of Project Regen, after all. They can’t do much without Haywood. But taking down SynergyCorp? This one is going to take a while.”
“Speaking of Forecaster…”
Connor glanced at Lilah’s phone, which rested on one knee. She flipped it over, so the screen was facing down.
“You always get antsy when you expect a call.” A smile quirked on his lips. “I’m sure the other Higher-Ups will pass on any information about the mission—”
“I’m actually thinking about our other mission, Connor.”
Connor’s mouth shut. He let out a sigh before speaking again.
“Ah,” he said. “I had wondered if there was another reason why we were sent here. I suppose the almighty Forecaster will want to talk to me then. I’m the one who spent the most time with the guy. And his powers are continuing to develop, just like Riley said.”
“Shoot. I was kind of hoping that Alex would buck the trend.”
“His abilities are permanently bonded to his emotions. You know how this always turns out.”
“And I really like the guy too,” Lilah said, then repeated, “Shoot.”
“Yeah, we’re really gonna need to work on your catalog of curses, Lie.”
“Not all of us feel the need to pepper our speech with four-letter words.” She looked down at her phone. “You know, right?”
“Yeeeah, kinda hard not to pick up on it,” Connor said, running his fingers through his hair. “The more important question is, do you think that Riley did?”
“I think you just answered your own question, Sil.”
&n
bsp; “Shoot,” Connor said, then shook his head. “Now you got me saying it.”
Lilah opened her mouth to speak, then paused as the phone on her leg let out a buzz.
“Weatherman?” Connor asked.
“He hates it when you call him that, you know,” Lilah said, her lips twitching into a smile. She pulled the phone up to her ear.
“Yes?” she said. “Forecaster? I’d be happy to report in.”
A Note from the Author
You’ve now come to the end of the third chapter in Dawn and Alex’s story. I hope you enjoyed it! If you’d like to help spread the word, leaving a review on amazon or goodreads would mean the world to me.
As always, this book would not be in your hands if it wasn’t for the help of many people. Thank you to Anna Meservier, Kim Kennedy, and Meghan Trimpop for being the best beta readers imaginable. Thank you also to my professional editors, Suzanne Johnson and Sara Kelly. Your expertise really helped me bring Silver and Gold to the next level. And as always, thank you to Hampton Lamoureux of TS95 Studios for the wonderful cover art. What does everyone think of Golden Strike? She looks exactly how I pictured her.
If you’d like to be one of the first to know more about book four, then I’d recommend signing up for my monthly newsletter. It’s the best place to learn about the future of the Red and Black series, and the rest of my creative endeavors.
See you next time!
-Nancy
Books by Nancy O’Toole Meservier
The Red and Black series
Red and Black (Book 1)
Black and Blue (Book 2)
Riley’s Story (Book 2.5. Free to all mailing list subscribers)
Silver and Gold (Book 3)