“I love you too.” This time, I didn’t have any doubts about it.
He let himself collapse on the bed beside me, giving us both a chance to catch our breath. I stared up at the ceiling, wondering what on Earth I was doing.
* * *
When I awoke the next day, I thought I might have imagined the whole thing. Lochie was nowhere in sight. I sat up, rubbing my head to try to get some sense back into it.
Lochie emerged from the bathroom shortly afterwards, steam pouring out after him. The moment he saw I was awake, a grin spread across his face. “Good morning,” he said, amusement in his eyes.
I was suddenly self conscience about how terrible I must look after having barely any sleep, not to mention the remnants of my bruises. He was probably having second thoughts about the whole thing. “Did last night really happen?”
“You hog the covers.”
“You snore,” I shot back.
He shrugged. “Small price to pay. What is on your agenda today?”
Ugh, I hadn’t even thought about it. Now Lola was safe and well, I could actually start to think straight again. With the Originals having no bargaining chip anymore, there was no point in continuing to run. I could sort out everything with the Department too, given enough groveling time.
“I think I should go home,” I sighed. I wasn’t afraid of my parents and I was sure we had a lot to talk about. Even if I was nervous about what their plans for the future entailed.
“I’ll grab us some breakfast while you get ready,” Lochie said, already heading for the door. I waited until he was gone before having a quick shower and running a comb through my hair. I didn’t have any makeup and my clothes probably belonged to some bimbo but at least I was presentable. Soon, I would be back at home with all my own stuff again.
True to his word, Lochie brought us back some toast before he smuggled me outside. We drove in silence all the way home, I didn’t even know what small talk to say. As intense as our make out session had been in the early hours of the morning, I wasn’t entirely sure what it meant. Were we a couple now? Were we together? Or was it just some fun and now it was meant to be over? Lochie hadn’t made any promises and I hadn’t either. The whole thing was confusing and weird.
We pulled up outside my house. “Do you want me to come in with you?” Lochie asked nervously. I was right there with him. I had never felt so anxious about going home before.
“No, I’ll be fine. I’m sure everything will be okay.” I was trying to convince both of us.
“You think you’ll be fine, wait until I tell Shaun that I drove his car through a wall.”
I laughed, I guess he probably got the worse end of the deal. “I promise to reimburse him for any damage.” We stopped laughing and an awkward silence threatened to smother us. “Thank you for everything, I really appreciate it.”
“Don’t mention it,” he waved me away. I didn’t know how to really thank him for all he had done. He had risked his life for me and I wasn’t sure how to repay that kind of generosity. Whatever I said didn’t seem to be enough.
“I guess I’ll see you around.” I opened the door, it was time I faced my parents. I was almost ready for it, just so I could get out of the car.
“Good luck.”
“Thanks, you too.” I closed the door and waited for him to leave, giving him a wave as he pulled away. It felt weird being separated from him after being by his side for the past three days. It was starting to feel normal. What kind of a twilight zone had I found myself in? I truly expected to wake up at any moment and find out it was all a dream.
I turned around and headed for the house, hoping things wouldn’t get even weirder with my parents. I went inside after fishing the key out of my handbag.
Everything looked so normal in the house, like I had just been to school or something. My parents were in the kitchen, racing toward me when they first caught a glimpse of my arrival.
I was enveloped in their hugs and we stood there together for the longest time. Any doubts about whether they still loved me even though the project was on hold left my consciousness. They were still my mom and dad, just like I left them.
“I’m really sorry I couldn’t tell you where I was,” I started my profuse apology. “I just needed to find Lola and she’s safe now so everything is okay. I’m so sorry but I couldn’t let anything happen to her, it would be all my fault and she didn’t deserve it. And I-”
Dad put a finger to my lips, stopping my verbal vomit. “Shh. You don’t need to explain to us. But the Department has summoned you. We have orders to take you there immediately.”
One look at their faces and I knew they weren’t joking around. Nor would they let me procrastinate about going. It was pointless arguing with them. “When are we going?”
“Now,” Mom replied, she didn’t seem happy about it. Perhaps she was tiring of the Department’s demands too. I know I was.
“I’ll just change,” I said, before giving them another squeeze and hurrying upstairs. I left the bimbo’s clothes and put on my own. I was starting to feel more like myself again. Now all I needed was to hate Lochie again and I would be all set.
My parents left much of the interrogating to the Department, we drove most of the way in silence. I gave them an update of Lola and how we had rescued her. They did the parental thing and scolded me for putting myself in such danger. Their concern made me smile.
The grin was quickly wiped when we entered the large building belonging to the Department. At the front desk, we were told Special Agent Robert Bower had been reassigned and we were to wait for our new handler. We sat in the cold steel chairs in the corridor, awaiting his arrival.
A man strode toward us more than twenty minutes later, walking intently like he was in a hurry. He was tall, he had to be over six foot, and his hair was jet black. He wore a scowl, I wasn’t sure if it was for our benefit or if that was just his regular face.
“Agents,” he said, shaking hands with my parents who had sprung up from their seats. I stood reluctantly, not as eager to please him. He finally remembered I was there. “Amery, I’m Special Agent George Scott.”
I didn’t shake his hand. In those few seconds, I knew he wasn’t anything like Rob. I didn’t want any other handler except Agent Bower and I wasn’t going to welcome anyone new so easily.
“This way,” Agent Scott ordered. We followed after him like puppy dogs, lapping at his heels. He led us to his office – Rob’s former one. So not only did he take his place, but his office too. It seemed like a double slap to the face.
“You are in a lot of trouble, Miss Jones,” Agent Scott started. So much for the small talk or the pleasantries. “Removing federal property, disobeying a direct order, ignoring protocol, exposing the project. And that’s only the things I know about. I’m sure there is plenty more you are yet to tell me. But let’s get this straight, you will tell me. I won’t be so accepting of your behavior as your previous handler.”
He stood over me like a giant, trying to use his height to intimidate me. I made a decision right then and there that I would play along – for now. I would do as they say, I would follow all their orders, but I would not forget what they had done to me and how easily they had abandoned not only Lola but the entire project. I had a perfect memory and the scars weren’t going to heal anytime soon.
“Yes, Agent,” I replied. It took all my concentration to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.
“Good. Now I want a full report.” He settled in the chair across from me and hit a button on his computer to start a voice recorder. I took a deep breath and began.
I was glad my parents were there too, that way I didn’t have to repeat myself. I told Agent Scott nearly everything, leaving out the details about Lochie. He wanted the names of everyone I had encountered so I had to tell him he was with me, but I didn’t have to tell him what had happened between us. That was mine and mine alone.
By the end of it, Agent Scott turned off the recorder and stared at me.
He had sat through the entire thing, completely emotionless. I may as well have been a talking puppet for all he cared.
“I will be accompanying you to level five now where you will have a new chip implanted,” he declared. After hearing everything that had happened, that was all he could say? It seemed so typical of the Department’s attitude. Rob was different, he actually had a heart but not this guy. We weren’t going to get along very well, I could already feel it in my bones.
Just as promised – or threatened – Agent Scott was my personal escort up to level five. He waited until he could hand me over to Agent Williams who would reimplant me. And even then, he waited outside the door just to make sure I didn’t escape again. Apparently I was a badass now.
“Take a seat on the table,” the technician ordered. His ID lanyard confirmed he was Agent Williams. “Take off your top and we’ll get this chip in.”
I followed orders, the stainless steel table freezing cold under my shorts. I slid off my top, holding it against my front so I didn’t feel completely exposed.
“Oh, this is nasty,” Agent Williams gasped. I guessed he had seen my shoulder where Lochie had taken a fishing knife to it. I wasn’t game enough to look at it myself in the mirror but it was really sore so I guessed it wasn’t good. “How did you get the chip out?”
“Fishing knife.”
He made a face that was half-disgust, half-impressed. “Must have hurt like hell.”
“It did,” I readily agreed.
“Mildly impressive.”
“Only mildly?” I teased, thinking I would like to see him get his shoulder drilled with a fishing knife and see how he likes it.
A grin tickled his lips, threatening to spread across his face. “Okay, it’s impressive. And stupid, it’s infected.”
“I expected as much,” I replied. Lochie had warned me several times it would happen. Despite our efforts to keep it clean, you just couldn’t sterilize an old fishing knife found in the trunk of a car.
“I’ll clean it up while you’re here,” Agent Williams offered before he got to work. Whatever it was he did to ‘clean it up’ was more painful than it was when we first cut it. The wound burned, the pain echoing out in waves down my back and arm. When I heard the tape being pulled out of its case, I was more than a little relieved.
Unfortunately, my relief was short lived. Once he was finished with my left shoulder, he moved onto my right. He loaded up the tiny microchip and shot it into my shoulder in a syringe-like utensil. A jolt went through me which settled into a dull stinging sensation.
“You’re all done,” Agent Williams said, tidying up all the bloody pieces of gauze. “I could warn you not to take out the chip again, but I would assume you have learnt your lesson. Make sure you keep the wound clean and change the dressing twice a day. If it gets worse, make sure to come back and I’ll prescribe you some antibiotics.”
I thanked him and left, keen to get out of the torture chamber. Aliens in the project weren’t allowed to see regular doctors in case they discovered our different genetic makeup so the Department had always been the home of my regular doctor’s visits. I didn’t have one good memory of the place.
As we left the Department and headed for home, I checked my phone, desperate for a message from Lochie. Our kiss last night had been flashing into my mind all day when I least expected it. It would hit me like a train and leave me breathless when I allowed it to linger.
My phone was silent, no messages, no missed calls. Perhaps Lochie was having second thoughts. Or Shaun killed him for damaging his car. No, it had to be second thoughts. Perhaps I didn’t live up to his fantasy, or perhaps the thrill was in the chase? Now I had thrown myself at him, he didn’t want me. That would have been the Lochie I knew and loathed.
“So I guess it’s back to business,” Dad started from the front seat, pulling me from my miserable thoughts. “We won’t have the security police anymore, so we’ll have to work out our own security measures.”
“We’ll be prepared if the Originals come looking for you,” Mom said kindly, giving me a warm smile as she turned around in her seat.
“Just because the project is on hold, it doesn’t mean we can’t carry on like nothing has changed,” Dad added.
“Except it has changed,” I argued. “Do you think they’ve told the people on Trucon?”
Silence was my answer. The Department was probably hoping my race of people wouldn’t find out about the new developments. They might not be as patient as they previously were. Waiting twenty-five years to escape their planet was long enough, now they might not be able to come down at all. They’d all perish with the planet as soon as the asteroid hit.
“It will work out,” Mom tried to reassure me. “The most important thing is that we still follow the rules and mission of the project. When the Department says it’s back on, then we’ll still be on track.”
“So there won’t be any more disappearing or acting on your own,” Dad added. “We are all on the same team, we have to obey with the rules of the project. Do I have your word on this?”
I didn’t want to give him my word. I didn’t have any faith in the Department anymore. I had spent my entire life working toward something that now seemed like it wasn’t going to happen. And why? Because of budgets and money. I was completely disillusioned with the whole thing.
But I would do more damage if I argued with my parents. I needed them on my side, especially considering I didn’t know what the future had in store for me. The Originals were still out there and they knew where I lived. They knew where I went to school and they knew who I cared about. That gave them carte blanch to do whatever they wanted to me.
“You have my word,” I finally replied.
CHAPTER 26
Pain shot through my shoulder as I moved, making my face twist with the sudden discomfort. It had been almost a week since Agent Williams had tortured me and I was still suffering. I wouldn’t let my parents know though, they would march me back to the Department straight away and I was avoiding the place like the plague.
“Are you okay?” Lola asked, her voice full of concern.
“Yeah, it’s nothing,” I replied. “Are you still having the nightmares?”
She nodded sadly as we sat in her bedroom. “Sometimes. They’re all the same, I’m walking along and the Originals grab me from behind.”
“And then you wake up and think it’s real?”
“Yep. I take it you’re still not sleeping either?”
I had barely slept since that night with Lochie. I reverted to napping during the day when I knew my parents were close just so I could function. The minute I closed my eyelids, I saw the Originals all staring me in the eyes and chasing me. “Not really. Have the police contacted you again about what happened?”
Lola shook her head. “I think they bought my story, my parents too. The last I heard, the police were continuing their investigation but they weren’t hopeful of finding people I couldn’t even describe.”
“I’m so sorry, Lola,” I said again, knowing it wouldn’t fix anything. I wouldn’t stop apologizing though, my guilt would never be unburdened.
“Stop saying that, really. It’s not your fault. I don’t blame you for any of it.” She patted my arm to reassure me of her words. It would still take some more convincing. “You should have heard what those horrible people were saying about aliens, though. They have so much hatred in them.”
“They think aliens are trying to take over the human race. They think they’re doing what’s best for the world.”
“I don’t want to live in a world with such hatred,” Lola said, her eyes wide open as she spoke. “They don’t even know you, how can they want you dead? It’s just so stupid.”
“They’re afraid. Fear is a strong motivator.”
“How can you be so calm?” She asked.
I shrugged, sending pain shooting through my arm. “I guess I’m used to it. I’ve pretended to be calm and normal for a very long time.”
>
“I don’t know how you do it.”
A smile spread across my face, it was so good being able to sit there and talk to my best friend. And be so open about who I was. “I can do it because of people like you. I’m so glad you know now.”
“Me too. Does Lochie know too?”
I had managed to go five minutes without thinking about him, that was a new record. “Not really. I told him my parents were in the FBI and that’s why everything was happening. He thinks they were trying to hurt me to get to Mom and Dad.”
“And he was satisfied with that answer?”
I nodded. “He asked me straight out if I was an alien and I said no. He didn’t ask me again.”
“And he did all that to help you?” Lola asked, like she could hardly believe it.
It was time to come clean with her. I had put off telling her what had happened between Lochie and me purely because I didn’t want to talk to anyone about it. If I wasn’t sure what had happened, then how could I explain it to anyone else? The fact he hadn’t called in five days also helped to murky the water. We would all be returning to school on Monday and I had no idea what was going to happen when we saw each other. If he completely ignored me, I didn’t know what I would do.
“He kind of confessed that he loved me,” I blurted out, wincing as I waited for the reaction.
Lola picked up a cushion off her bed and threw it at me. “I told you! Thank God he finally did something about it. What did you say?”
“Nothing.” I paused, waiting to see if she would let me off the hook. The look on her face told me she wasn’t going to. “But then I said I loved him too. We kissed and it was all romantic and stuff.”
“So you’re together now?” She asked excitedly. “We can double date with Asher for real?”
I shook my head quickly before she could get too carried away and plan our double wedding. “I haven’t spoken to him since it happened. He dropped me home in the morning and I haven’t seen him again.”
Project Integrate Series Boxed Set Page 21