Landlocked (Atlas Link Series Book 2)

by Jessica Gunn

  “Spit it out,” Mara commanded.

  Our eyes met for a few seconds before it came spilling out of me. “We know what happened to SeaSat5. We know kind of where it is. We know that the third mole wasn’t involved.”

  “Then why can’t you go get the crew and the station?”

  I turned back to the couch. Couldn’t I lie down and pretend this wasn’t happening? “It’s more complicated than that. I wish I could tell you more but I can’t. What you guys do here, it’s great and the security clearance is high.”

  “But not high enough?” she guessed.

  If only she knew what General Allen had kept from them. About the Lemurians he sent them after and the experiments he conducted on them once they’d been brought in. Where would I begin telling Mara about that?

  “All you need to know is that the person threatening me thinks I’m the third mole, the one walking free. But I’m not. I swear I’m not. I was an archaeologist who came on board at the wrong time, under the weirdest circumstances, that’s all. Mara, you’ve got to believe me.”

  She placed a hand on my forearm. “I do, Chelsea.”

  “I can’t tell the truth about who the spy really was, because he’ll go after who it is, too. Either way I lose.” I shook my head. “I’d rather take the heat for this than let him.”

  Mara looked at me, making some sort of deduction. “It’s Trevor, isn’t it?”

  “What?”

  “The third spy. I mean, why else would you go to these lengths to protect him?” She held up a finger. “What I don’t get is why? He hurt you bad enough that you singled him out on stage in front of five thousand people.”

  “Trevor didn’t choose that life,” I whispered. “We met as he tried running away from it. He wasn’t playing for the enemy, they just thought he was.”

  “Who’s the enemy now, Chelsea?” she asked, turning back to the original conversation.

  Several deep breaths rushed and deserted my lungs. I couldn’t tell her. “He’ll kill you.”

  Her eyebrows scrunched as she thought it over. Then her eyes shot to mine and fear finally registered on her face. She moved her chin ever so slightly to the side. “Say it and I’ll protect you from him.”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “And you can’t. If he can hurt me, especially me, there’s nothing you can do to stop him.”

  “But Chelsea—”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. Vomit sloshed in my stomach, up my throat. I couldn’t put her in danger. Or them. Or Trevor. Or anyone, ever again. But my resolve crumbled under the pain eating away at me and from the intensity of her stare, the fierce fire of protection burning beneath. I’d seen the same in Freddy’s eyes when he shielded me from gunfire on the Bridge. Mara reminded me so much of him, it hurt.

  I closed my eyes as tears spilled out. “General Allen. But it’s my fault. I—”

  Her body grew taut enough to snap, and she knew: there was nothing she could do. “You’re staying at my place tonight.”

  I shook my head again. “It’s not what you think. He’s not…” Not what, assaulting me? That’s very much what he did. “He usually drugs me, takes away my powers so I can’t fight back. It makes me dizzy. I think he hopes it’ll make me weak enough to answer his questions. Threats are exchanged. That’s it.” I paused, looking toward the door to make sure no one stood nearby. “But he knows I’m lying, that I’m protecting Trevor. General Allen thinks he knows exactly what happened on SeaSat5 that day, and I can’t risk Trevor getting hurt or taking the fall. I can’t risk what would happen if people think either of us had any hand in SeaSatellite5 and her crew disappearing. I can’t—”

  “I get it.” Mara’s expression softened and she loosened her grip on me. “But you’re still staying over my place tonight, all right?”

  “But Josh—”

  “Will think we’re having a girl’s night and can deal with it,” she insisted. “It’ll be fine.” She slid her phone from her pocket and flashed the metal backing at me. “Do you really want to go to him and Weyland looking like this?”

  My reflection from her phone terrified me. My eyes were puffy and red around a growing black eye. Tears still streamed down my face. Most would be repaired by morning, even my arm, once the drugs wore off and my super soldier healing could take over, but tonight I was a mess. “Mara…”

  She wrapped her arms around me again, careful of my injured arm, and held me until I stopped crying. I sent Josh a text saying I’d be out with Mara all night.

  spent the night throwing together a stupid flash game. It’d never do well and it’d never be updated, but it would serve its purpose well enough. Sometime around 7 a.m., I published Mega Rush 4 to one of those free game websites and stared at the screen. How long would it take Valerie to see it, to consider coming to me? Would she contact me at all? If she was in as much danger as she’d made it seem, probably not. But that I sought her out might be enough to get her to come to me.

  I passed out until lunchtime, falling asleep at the computer until my keyboard imprinted itself onto my face like in my college days. I checked my email when I woke up. There were no new contest awards or other weird emails. Not a damn thing.

  My stomach growled, and I resigned myself to silence. Short of launching the game onto every gaming client out there, there was nothing more I could do. And given the quality and intended purpose of Mega Rush 4, it would be deleted in a few days.

  I made my way down to the cafeteria and grabbed a tray of food before retreating back to my quarters. I had no doubt Valerie would see my beacon requesting help, but twenty-four hours was the longest I’d wait for a response.

  It was kind of funny, this game we played now. I’d spent years of my life competing with her, lost with her in the world I thought was fairytale. Then we got assigned to SeaSatellite5 and everything changed. And here we were, playing cat and mouse yet again.

  As soon as I finished my lunch, the room warmed and fiery lights lit up the space around me. I fought the urge to cover my eyes. If it wasn’t Valerie appearing, it was my mother again. I wasn’t used to the brightness of Lemurian teleports. Chelsea’s were calmer, bright blue but somehow less intense.

  Valerie appeared where the lights formed. She had her hands on her hips, a trademark Valerie pose. She looked powerful, commanding, and beautiful in dark jeans and a blue long-sleeved shirt. The irony of her color choice made me want to laugh.

  “This better be good,” she said.

  I stood from my desk. “I wouldn’t call you over to hang out.”

  She smirked. “What’s the emergency then?”

  “I can see the Waterstar map.” I figured it was better to just say it.

  Her visage faltered. “I’m sorry, what?”

  I nodded. “I see it, the map. Like Chelsea always described. Like an Atlantean super soldier would.”

  Valerie looked around the room like the shadows held spies and electronic bugs. Then she stepped forward and grabbed my shoulder. One moment we stood in my quarters, then fire erupted around us and Valerie deposited us somewhere new. Teleported us to somewhere else. I took in the familiar ancient walls, the shelves of artifacts we’d left behind. The art pieces hanging or tucked around murals and frescos.

  Valerie had brought us to the Atlantean outpost SeaSatellite5 had found years ago.

  “Now talk,” she said.

  “Why are we here?” I asked her.

  “Because it’s about the only place I can think of that’s not bugged or monitored,” she said. “Lemurian powers work based off connections, too, although we have fewer limitations. Thompson’s crew are the only people who have ever been inside the outpost, and most of them are dead or imprisoned.”

  Well, then this made for the perfect hideout, and it looked like Valerie had used it as such for a while now. A mattress lay on the floor in the corner next to a large Greek marble statue. A pile of food wrappers and bottled water sat not too far away. Small lanterns had been scattered across the room b
etween the lights the SeaSat5 crew had left behind.

  “Have you been living here?” I asked her.

  It was possible Valerie had. The Navy knew the outpost was here, had the exact coordinates and everything. But when SeaSat5 was taken, the Navy deemed the site unsafe. So instead of evacuating the rest of the artifacts, they left the relics to their submerged slumber with subs passing by every now and then as guard. We’d taken all the Link Pieces and left the rest, ripe for the picking.

  “Only recently,” Valerie said. “I needed an untraceable place to stay for a while, and the outpost is about as off the grid as you can get. Now tell me, Trevor, what in the hell do you mean you can see the Waterstar map?”

  I gestured around the outpost like the action answered her question in full. “I started seeing it after the incident in the jungle temple ruins. It was like every day I got better after the plague, it grew stronger. Sometimes it’s a blue hue, sometimes it’s artifacts with lines and dates—everything Chelsea’s always described it as.”

  Valerie stepped toward me. “You’re Lemurian.”

  “I know.”

  “You can’t see the map, Trevor.”

  “I can.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think you understand. You physically should not be able to see it. The only reason Atlantean super soldiers can is because of the genetic experiments Atlantis conducted to make soldiers capable of besting our people. No one in Lemuria has ever seen the map. No one. We can see bits immediate to the Link Piece in our hands—if we can find one in the first place since we can’t detect them the same way. That Chelsea can is a side effect of the experimentation, like a window into an alternate dimension. An accident. A byproduct something in her head allows her to handle. You don’t have that alteration, Trevor. Your head can’t handle it.”

  I pointed to my head. “Then how is it in here?”

  “I have no idea.” She ran a hand through her fiery mane. “Are you feeling okay otherwise?”

  “No. It takes over my entire vision. Sometimes I pass out, sometimes I don’t. I still feel like shit from the plague.”

  “Unless it’s not the plague,” she said. “Maybe it never was. Shit, Trevor. This is bad.”

  “Why bad? This could be a good thing.”

  She bonked the side of my head. “Pay attention. You shouldn’t have the map in your head. You can’t. It’ll destroy you.”

  “Or turn me into something like Chelsea for the Lemurians.” I wasn’t sure why I said it. Maybe it was wishful thinking, like I’d end up the Lemurian version of a super soldier and finally be able to offer something to TAO’s fight in the war. I thought being able to see the map might be that offering, but Valerie’s reaction had me scared for my life.

  Valerie shook her head. “I don’t think so, Trevor.”

  “Then what am I supposed to do?”

  She didn’t answer, only paced the distance between two walls, like my problem was one too many for her to deal with.

  “Valerie, if you can’t help, then don’t. I know you’re in trouble. If it’s too much…”

  “I’m always in trouble. Have been from the start,” she said. “This makes it all worse and make sense all in one swoop. Who else knows about the map?”

  “No one.”

  “Good, keep it that way. And don’t tell Chelsea,” she said.

  “I wasn’t planning to. She’d freak if she knew what happened.”

  Valerie nodded. “Probably.”

  “Why don’t you want me to tell her?” I asked. Such a weird stipulation for Valerie’s help.

  Valerie stopped pacing and stared at me as she took long, deep breaths. “I’m not sure what I can tell you, or what Chelsea may know or not know.”

  “Tell me.”

  “I should tell her first.”

  “If you showed up in front of her right now, she’d clock you,” I said. “Besides, why can’t you tell me? We’ve been friends for years.”

  Valerie considered it. “You’re right. Fine, I’ll tell you and you tell her that I need to speak with her. But you do not tell her about the Waterstar map in your head. These are my terms if you want me to help you.”

  “Fine, whatever,” I said. I just wanted her help, to know I wasn’t insane.

  Valerie sighed and began her explanation. “If you’re seeing the map after touching the Link Piece you found in ruins of La Ciudad Blanca, then it’s tied to that civilization. Honestly, I don’t know much, but I’m working on it. From everything I can gather, they knew about Link Piece travel, but I don’t think they’re around anymore. For all we know, they were the ones who helped the Atlanteans figure out the whole time-travel thing. Maybe they helped them engineer super soldiers, too. If that’s the case, then you seeing the Waterstar map as a byproduct of touching an infected manufactured Link Piece would make sense.”

  “Because the Link Piece was manufactured using a device that channels the map to make connections via its users.” Like the Altern Device.

  “Yes.”

  “But what does this have to do with Chelsea?” I asked.

  She studied me for a moment, like she still wasn’t sure if I should know. “Someone’s been targeting Atlantean super soldiers. You assumed the Link Piece that gave you the plague was planted, and I think you’re right. But, unlike your guesses, it wasn’t the Lemurians.”

  “Then who?”

  And why wouldn’t she tell Chelsea this right away, especially if she knew who was after them?

  Valerie shook her head. “I’m not sure, but it’s already started. Two have been killed so far.”

  “Two? Wait—there are other Atlantean super soldiers?” The ramifications of this were monumental. TAO only knew of Sophia and Chelsea, though Helen’s research had always implied there could be more, but we’d never proven it. Ever. “Valerie, are there others?”

  She swallowed hard. “Yes.”

  “How many?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Where are they?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Then what do you know?” I demanded.

  She raised her hands to the sides of her head. “It’s complicated. Very, very complicated. Like I said the last time, it won’t matter unless you all find SeaSatellite5. The station is… It’s everything.”

  “Is Chelsea in danger?”

  Valerie nodded. “Yes. The command she’s working with—”

  “TruGates,” I supplied.

  “Yeah, TruGates. My sources warned me he’s part of the hunt. I can’t be sure if he’s the same person that planted the Link Piece in the jungle, but luring Chelsea in under the guise of going after Lemurians was the perfect ruse. She’d never suspect him of wrong-doing.”

  My heart dropped to the floor. “He who?” Josh? Chelsea was in immediate danger and didn’t even know it. I closed the distance between Valerie and me and placed my hands on her shoulders. “Take me back. I need to call her. To tell her about—”

  “No,” Valerie said. “You need to let me talk to her about that.”

  “I—”

  Pain shot through me, then the map appeared again, covering every artifact in the room. But of course no Link Pieces gleamed in the haze. There weren’t any left.

  “Trevor?”

  I held my head with a hand. “I’m fine. It’s the map.” But the world swayed and I staggered a few steps.

  Valerie held me upright and looked me in the eyes. “Stay with me, Trevor.”

  “It’s everywhere,” I said, biting back wave after wave of nausea. My skin felt cold, slicked with sweat. “Being… here…”

  “Shit,” she said. “Hold on tight. I know where to get help.”

  Her fingers dug into my shoulders and she teleported us again. As soon as we landed I felt better. Only a pounding headache remained. I looked around at our new surroundings—a warehouse, by the looks of it. Most of the room was empty, but the trademark walls and high windows spoke volumes. At the center stood a pedestal holding
up an artifact, a perfect skull made of crystal.

  “Where are we?” I asked Valerie.

  “Are you better here?” she returned.

  I nodded. “Yeah. It was almost an instant change.”

  “The outpost was actually a section of Atlantis itself,” she said. “I found that out, too, since I’ve been gone. The combination of it being part of the original city and the fact it once held loads of Link Pieces probably did you in. I’m sorry. I had nowhere else to bring you that was safe to talk.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “Come,” she said, pointing to a door on the far side of the room. “I know a guy. He can make you something.”

  “Make me what?” I asked.

  She tugged on my arm. “Come on.”

  I followed her through the warehouse compound, up and down flights of stairs and through halls, until I wasn’t sure I could walk anymore. My head grew heavier with every step and I thought maybe I’d end up in the Infirmary at TAO again. Damn this map.

  But it wasn’t only that. Chelsea was in danger and I couldn’t warn her at all. Would Valerie let it sit that long if the situation was seriously that bad?

  Maybe.

  Finally we stopped outside a sliding metal door and Valerie knocked once. “It’s Val. Don’t shoot.”

  She slid open the door. Behind it sat a man at a desk. He had black hair all over his head and face. Artifacts and artworks lined the walls and every inch of shelf space. How many Link Piece caches existed?

  The artifacts drew me in and the Waterstar map out. I clutched my head between my hands. “Valerie, I can’t stay in here.”

  “Val, nice to see you again,” the man cut over me. “What brings you here? And who this?”

  “Hey, Butch.” That’s Valerie. Always making friends with the burly men with weird names. “This is Trevor, a friend. He needs help. He’s a Lemurian but he’s seeing the map.”

  Butch’s eyes widened, the whites becoming all I could focus on. “The map?”

  Valerie nodded.

  “Fuck,” Butch said as he stood and ran into a side room.

  I turned to Valerie while he was gone. “Who is this guy?”