by H. I. Defaz
If you think this was a crazy plan… you're right. It was.
It got darker as we approached the unfinished road, with no more markers or lights guiding our way. We heard nothing but the crunch of the gravel being compressed by the tires of our truck. Sarah drove as quickly as she could with the headlights turned off, while Damian readied two guns to take with him. One was a loaded .38 Smith & Wesson Special, which he tucked behind his back. The other was a Glock 9mm, which for some reason he unloaded completely. He even checked the chamber twice just to make sure it was empty. Both weapons were concealed by the mid-length jacket he was wearing. I was just about to ask him about the unloaded gun when Yvette slid the rear window wide open. “Get ready, guys. We're almost there.”
“I'm ready,” Damian assured us, stone-faced. He zipped up his jacket, and got ready to jump out. I too readied myself, giving Yvette a quick nod. I felt like my heart was about to jump out of chest, but I tried to project a steady serenity. After all, I was the one asking everybody to keep a cool head.
Sarah pulled over to the edge of the road, amid some trees. We were now about 300 feet away from the warehouse entrance—and yet we seemed completely invisible to them. Every element in the surroundings was playing an essential role in creating the perfect camouflage. The full trees shrouded us, and our black truck merged perfectly with the dense darkness of the night. The lamp I was supposed to burst with my telekinesis illuminated the portion of the meadow where we were planning to fake the swap; and just as we expected, there wasn't a guard in sight. The coast was clear for Damian to make his surprise entrance. Not knowing how Damian had reached the warehouse without tripping all the alarms in the place was going to be our first jab to their senses.
I jumped out of the truck and shook Damian's hand. “Good luck,” I said quietly.
“You too.” His brows knitted in a heartfelt expression as he put his free hand firmly on my shoulder. Words seemed to come hard for him. “Victor...” he began with some difficulty.
“Hey,” I stopped him. “Tell me over a beer when this is all over, all right?” I tapped him on the shoulder and smiled.
He did the same, then turned and walked swiftly into the meadow.
Yvette quickly took his place in front of me to wish me luck. Her eyes seemed relaxed, as if she had nothing to worry about. My eyes, I'm sure, were expressing the complete opposite. But a soft touch of our hands was enough to erase any doubts about what we felt at that moment. The same strange shock of energy that had allowed us to share our feelings before struck us again when we felt each other's touch.
Yvette's beautiful blue eyes opened even wider, as if she'd just been shocked by my doubts about this crazy stunt. I held her hands up in front of me and smiled, trying—unsuccessfully—to hide my fears. “Don't worry,” I said. “This will work. And everything will be just…” My voice betrayed my lack of confidence at the end.
“Shhh,” she stopped me, pressing her finger against my lips. “You don't need to pretend with me, Victor. I know what you're feeling.” She shook her head and laughed. The expression on her face held a mixture of amazement and confusion that—somehow—seemed to make her happy. “I don't know how,” she said, tightening her grip on my hands. “But I can feel you… And it's okay to be scared. I am too.” Her voice seemed to become more profound with every word that followed. “You don't need to feel responsible for what happened to Denali, or for what may happen tonight. You've done nothing but care. And that's what matters, Victor. I'm sure your Dad would be very proud… I know I am.” Her beautiful lips sealed her heartfelt speech with the most captivating smile I've ever seen.
I suppressed my tears and pressed her hands firmly against my chest. “Can you feel past my fear?” I asked. “Can you?”
She closed her eyes and sighed, trying to indulge my unusual request. Her bee-stung lips curled again, this time with a victorious grin. “Yes!” she said. Her eyes opened, glazed with a coating of tears that didn't leave her eyes. “And I love you, too.” Her voice was almost breaking by then.
“I won't let anything happen to you.” I said adamantly. “I promise.”
“Ahem!” Sarah cleared her throat behind us. “We better get into position,” she advised.
“Right,” Yvette answered quickly, throwing a glance over my shoulder. She turned back to me and ran her fingers through my hair and kissed me like only she knew how. My God! I exclaimed in my head. Is it really possible to love someone so much? Is it right? My heart literarily hurt at the thought of losing her. The truth was that loving her so much scared me. Yvette Montgomery had become my reason for existence—my reason to fight that evil growing inside of me. I knew that as long as I had her, my heart would never give up on goodness, on life, on her love.
We finally let go of each other with a reluctant look on our faces and turned away. Yvette walked cautiously towards another small shed in the middle of the meadow, while I went back to the truck where Sarah waited behind the wheel, her expression unreadable. I shut the door and watched Yvette hide behind the shed, her back against the wall. A familiar touch pulled my concentration away from her, if for only a few seconds. “Relax,” Sarah whispered, her hand over mine. “She'll be fine, Victor. She's stronger than you think.” Her comment somehow soothed my edginess.
“I know,” I replied, really meaning to say: Thank you. My tone made it sound like I had, and she nodded as if she understood. I turned my eyes back to Damian, who was taking his time walking through the meadow, as if picking his way through a minefield. Yvette was waiting for him, peeking out from behind the shed.
Suddenly, I realized I hadn't let go of Sarah's hand, and that we had unconsciously begun to fidgeting with each other’s fingers. I stopped, embarrassed, without letting go. For some reason, I thought it would be rude for me to withdraw my hand first. Awkwardly enough, Sarah kept fiddling with my fingers, her eyes fixed straight ahead. “Sarah?” I called in a whisper, but she didn't react. “Are you okay?”
Her eyes suddenly blinked and her fingers stopped. She looked down at our hands and withdrew hers gently but quickly. “I'm sorry,” she said, her face tomato-red. “I guess I'm a lot more nervous than I thought.”
“Hey!” This time I reached for her hand, taking a firm hold on it. My eyes searched her emerald greens. “You don't have to be.” I chuckled softly. “I don't know how we wound up together in this mess, or why, but I'm honored that life has given me the opportunity to meet the bravest woman in the world.” She rolled her eyes, unconvinced. “Hey, you know I wouldn't dare hike another forest, or climb another mountain, without having you there to pull me back up, right?”
She burst out laughing. “We do make a great team, don't we?” she said, a fond glint in her eyes.
“Yes we do,” I agreed. And though I smiled, my voice was sincere.
She turned her eyes back to Damian, who was just a few steps away from the security camera's field of view. “All right, then!” she exclaimed, squeezing the truck's steering wheel tightly with both hands. “Let's do this! Are you ready to bust that lamp?”
“Yes, I am,” I assured her, igniting that spark that connected my mind with my surroundings. The ethereal ramification grew rapidly, reaching farther and farther, until it allowed me to feel every inch of the aluminum fixture that encased the tempered glass of the lonely lamppost in the meadow. The light that emanated from it had a warm color, a deep yellow hue that blanketed a small portion of the meadow, giving it an eerie, somber look—a perfect match for my current frame of mind. This light also exposed the overhead door that marked the entrance to the warehouse. Damian finally stopped fifty feet away from the door, close enough to be detected by the security camera. All part of the plan, of course.
“Walker!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “Walker!”
Security didn't take long to notice the unexpected trespasser. The big silver rollup door began to rise just a few moments after Damian let out his angry shouts. Two guards came out of the warehouse, po
inting their rifles at Damian, who immediately raised his hands. The profound silence of the night, along with my amplified sense of hearing, allowed me to make out Damian's exchange with the guards. “How the hell did you get in here?” one of them demanded, approaching him cautiously.
“Easily!” Damian said, showing his hands. “I'm not armed… But I'll only surrender to Dr. Walker himself. Got it?”
The guards stopped in their tracks and looked at each other.
The voice of our nemesis emerged from the shadows of the warehouse. “It's all right, gentlemen. I'm sure we don't have anything to worry about.” Dr. Walker strolled out of the shadows and into the light. “I doubt that Mr. Black would put his wife's life in danger by trying to pull a fast one on us.” He smiled, stopping at the threshold of the enormous overhead door, two more guards behind him. “Well, well, well. It's good to see you again, Damian. How are those seizures of yours? Gone, I suppose. Along with those vicious headaches, am I right?” Damian stood quietly for a second, staring at him. “What? Don't I get a thank you?”
“Where is she?” Damian demanded.
“Of course.” Walker taunted. “The counselor wants to get straight to business, yes?” Dr. Walker signaled the guards to stand down. Damian lowered his hands. “Then I should ask you the same question, Damian. Where's the girl?” Walker's tone changed drastically with his last question, from jeering to grave.
Damian took a couple of steps forward. “I want to see my wife first!”
“How about this?” Dr. Walker countered. “You show me you really have Ms. Montgomery, and I'll let you see your wife. Deal?”
Damian hesitated for a moment, then looked back over his shoulder and signaled Yvette.
“No, no, no!” I whispered aloud. “That's not part of the plan!” Damian should've waited until his wife was in sight.
“What's happening?” Sarah asked, sounding worried. She could see them at this distance, but was unable to hear them like I could. She might as well been watching a silent movie, until my undivided attention to what was happening made her understand that it wasn't the same for me.
Yvette began to move slowly from behind the shed. Her body language showed all the uneasiness that she must have felt. Damian gestured for her to hurry. Soon, Yvette was standing under the somber yellow light I was supposed to destroy. Damian grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her closer to him.
“Good!” Walker smiled, pleased. “You brought her with you. That makes things a lot easier for me, Damian. Thank you.”
“All right,” Damian said, “she's here. Now, show me my wife.”
Walker signaled one of the guards behind him, who ran inside the warehouse and disappeared around a corner—but not before flipping a light switch that turned on a fluorescent light above Walker's head. The gloomy white glow gave us a dull view of the interior. The two-story warehouse contained countless crates with the logo R.C. Labs stamped on them; they were stacked all over and under frameworks of steel grating. On the right stood a large cylinder rack, stacked with oxygen tanks. I also noticed a fairly large collection of steel reinforcement bars, the kind that are tied in place prior to pouring a concrete floor. They were stacked in a rack behind Walker. Probably leftovers from the road work, I thought. I couldn't make out what was on the left side of the massive storeroom; the weak fluorescent light couldn't get past one of the huge crate-filled frameworks, which cast a large shadow over the room.
Walker turned back to Yvette and Damian and spoke. “At last! The final piece of the puzzle… How are you, my dear?” His eyes fixed on my Yvee, who was imprisoned by Damian's grip. “I'm so glad to have you back unharmed. It was rather unwise, the way Victor took you out of here. He could've gotten you killed.”
“What do you care?” Yvette snapped angrily. “You've been trying to kill us all ever since we arrived!”
“Oh, no,” he argued. “Not you, young lady!”
“Oh, really?” she jeered. “And what's so special about me?”
“You have yet to understand your importance, Yvette,” Walker said, almost gently. “Your new powers are the key to unraveling the greatest mystery of all. You and you alone can help me find the answers I've been looking for.”
“Powers?” Yvette scoffed in disbelief. “I didn't get any powers, you crazy old bastard! Victor and Damian are the ones whose lives you've ruined!”
“Ruined?” Walker protested. “Hardly! I merely awakened their minds to a larger world, a world in which power is not measured by limits but by desire.”
“Bullshit! What about the side effects? The dark energy that's turning them into something they're not?”
“Is it really?” Walker asked, “Or are they simply being suborned by their own personal desires? Regardless of what you think you know, this evil, as you call it, cannot enter their minds without an invitation. It's like a drug, you see? One you choose to take. One that you become more dependent upon the more you use it. And yet, it's still a matter of choice. The real problem here is that it's in our nature, as human beings, to crave power. The more we feel it, the more we want it. And Damian here has tasted this power, haven't you, Damian?”
Walker's gaze slid over to the lawyer, who seemed increasingly uneasy. “Yes…” Walker murmured, with an ominous smile on his face. “You have felt it!” His voice almost hissing, he continued, “The limitless power of this mysterious force that now dwells inside your mind… It makes you want to exceed all boundaries, doesn't it? All those petty social constructs like morality, guilt, and regret… It makes you feel free, doesn't it, counselor? I suspect you're craving your next taste even as we speak.”
Damian couldn't hide his feelings—the confusion on his face, the anger in his eyes, the anxiety in his breathing, all connected by an overpowering fear that was beginning to get the best of him.
“It's a trick!” I whispered hopelessly, knowing that my words couldn't reach his ears. “Don't fall for it, Damian! Just stay calm.”
Walker turned his attention back to Yvette. “I'll bet Victor is craving it too.” He smiled at her...and something, possibly her expression or just the way she moved, gave him pause. He narrowed his eyes and began to scan the meadow, as if looking for something—or someone. “Which reminds me… Where is that troublesome boyfriend of yours?”
“I took care of him!” Damian answered, shaking Yvette roughly by the arm. I knew it was just part of their role-playing. Walker needed to think that I was gone in order for this to work, and Damian was just telling Yvette to go along with it without actually saying it. She groaned, straining against his grasp. I didn't know my little ballerina could be such a good actress, but from what I could see of his expression and detect of his vitals, Walker was buying the whole thing!
“Well, I have to say I'm impressed, Damian,” Walker complimented him. “But you don't have to trouble yourself with her anymore.” He signaled the two guards in front of them to take Yvette.
“Back off!” Damian raised his hand in front of the guards. “The girl isn't going anywhere until I see my wife.” The two guards stopped again and swung their heads back toward Dr. Walker. He nodded immediately for them to stand down. “What are you going to do, Damian? Kill more of my men?” he sneered.
“Don't tempt me! You have no idea what I'm capable of.”
“On the contrary, counselor, I know exactly what you're capable of. Don't forget that it was I who made you what you are now.” Walker held Damian's eyes with a defiant glare.
“Stop!” Yvette cried, trying to calm the stressful situation. She knew as well as I did that if Damian lost his temper the whole plan would go down the drain, and many lives might be compromised. “No one is going to die because of me. I won't allow it!” She wrenched herself free of Damian's grip, but stayed by his side.
“Yvette!” Damian scolded her.
“I'm here, Dr. Walker!” Yvette gestured with opened arms. “I'm not going anywhere! Just let Damian's wife go and I'll come quietly… No one needs to get hurt.”
“I'm glad you feel that way, my dear.” Walker agreed, turning toward the dark side of the warehouse, where the guard who had left before was bringing someone out in a wheelchair. It was too dark to make out who, but we all assumed it was Damian's wife. The guard wheeled her toward Dr. Walker, who was standing before the shadow-casting steel framework. A cold shiver ran though my spine at that moment. I couldn't understand why, but all my senses grew cold and erratic, as if something awful were about to take place... and I knew there was nothing I could do to stop it.
And yet none of my newly acquired senses could have warned me or prepared me enough for what happened next.
Walker pushed the wheelchair out of the shadows and into the light, revealing a hooded woman handcuffed to the chair's armrests. She was barefoot and wearing a hospital gown similar to the one I'd worn during the procedure. Damian went ballistic the moment he saw her. Although he couldn't see her face under the black hood, he recognized the wedding band on the woman's ring finger. This was indeed Damian's wife. “Sonya!” he called. “It's me, baby. I'm right here. Everything's going to be okay now.”
But Sonya didn't respond.
Walker stepped hastily from behind the wheelchair. “All right,” he barked, “enough of this! It's time to hand over the girl, Damian.” Once more, Walker signaled the two guards to seize Yvette. They re-aimed their weapons and began their approach.
“All right, you!” one of them shouted. “Step away from the girl!”
“Back off!” Damian threw him a furious scowl, raising his hand toward the guards, but they didn't stop. No longer able to contain his anger, Damian finally unleashed his rage upon them. “I said back off!” he shouted, making a thrusting motion with his fist that send the two guards flying fifteen feet across the meadow, to land back first against a concrete wall. They dropped unconscious to the ground, cut and bleeding. The two behind Dr. Walker reacted immediately, raising their weapons and stepping in front of their boss, acting as human shields. They were just a second away from opening fire on Damian when a sharp order from Walker made them stop on the spot. “Hold your fire! I need the girl alive.”