Ellison turned away without answering.
“Um, Major,” Dr. Langer called from his chair. “We’re registering an increase in heart and respiratory rates. The subject should be conscious in the next couple of minutes.”
Ellison stepped between the researchers and grabbed the phone from the wall. He punched in four numbers, and the phone rang twice.
“Hello.” The voice on the other end sounded heavy.
“I’m sorry to wake you, sir.”
McCann coughed. “No. It’s fine, Stuart. I wasn’t asleep.”
“Yes, sir. You wanted me to tell you when Jeremy Cross was about to—”
“I’ll be right there.” The phone hung up. Ellison put down the receiver and stepped back, looking up at the video monitor on the wall. He could see the boy on the table start to turn and shift in his sleep. For a second his eyes fluttered open and then they closed again. He was awake. Ellison watched as he rolled over to his side, blinked open his eyes, and sat up. Then Jeremy reached for his head, rubbing just above his eyes.
“We’re recording now.” Langer spoke loudly into a microphone. “The time is twenty thirty-eight, and the subject is now conscious and alert. It’s been approximately seventy-four minutes since initial sedation. All vital signs register within range.”
Langer looked down at his monitor. “Field sensors are up and recording. Sensor data reads normal.”
“Hello?” The voice of Jeremy Cross filled the narrow room, calling over a set of speakers. On the video screen, the boy hopped off the table and walked in a circle around the room, looking in every direction.
He called again, “Can anyone hear me? Hello?”
One of the doors in the narrow control room slid open, and the dull sentry standing next to it saluted.
Colonel McCann walked into the room. Ellison wheeled around to face him, rising to attention. He lifted his hand in salute, and the sentry on the far wall did the same.
Lara Miller rose from her seat. “Good evening, Colonel.”
McCann offered a half-salute to the room. “Everyone, as you were. What’s the boy doing now?”
Ellison stood with his hands folded behind his back, “He just got off the table. He’s becoming more oriented. Everything looks normal so far.”
On the video screen, Jeremy stepped toward the door in the wall; he rapped his knuckles against the stainless steel. “Hello? Is anyone there? Can you hear me?”
“And now we’re starting to panic,” Langer said. “I have an increased heart rate. Increased respiratory rate. We’re getting adrenaline in the bloodstream now.”
“Hello?” Jeremy called again, louder this time, a different tenor in his voice.
One of the lab techs spoke up. “Field sensors still coming back at zero—wait. Sorry. Field sensors now show plus one.”
On the screen, Jeremy pulled back his fist and punched it against the door. A soft, metallic clang echoed over the speakers into the room. The boy rubbed his knuckles.
Langer laughed. “Looks like that hurt him.”
McCann still stared at the video monitor. “Play the recording for him. Let’s see how he reacts.”
“You got it, Colonel.”
Langer clicked an icon on his computer and a deep voice with a thick Middle-Eastern accent played over the speakers. “You are safe. You are now in our possession. You are property of the Red Moon. Sit down and wait.”
Jeremy turned back to the door.
The lab tech spoke again. “Oh yeah, he’s freaking out now. Everything’s up. Adrenaline levels are way up.”
“Gravity field just rose to plus three,” Langer interrupted. Then Jeremy punched the door again. It looked like he hit the steel hard enough to shatter his hand this time, but he didn’t flinch. Then he punched the door again. And again. The sound of ringing metal echoed over the speaker.
Langer was shouting above the noise, “Up to plus four now. We’re at plus seven. Gravity field at plus nine and climbing. This is amazing. It’s all localized on the subject.”
Jeremy kept punching with both hands now, over and over, harder and harder, slamming his fists against the door. The sound was like a blacksmith’s hammer raining down on an anvil.
“We’re up to plus twelve!”
Jeremy punched again. This time, as he connected, the door buckled, bending into a shallow concave shell, and the sound filled the narrow room—not over the speakers, but right through the door, the low percussion of impact mixing with the high-pitched whine of twisting metal.
Jeremy pulled back his fist and kicked his heel into the door. Another thunder-crack filled the room, and the sentry by the far wall raised his rifle to his shoulder, aiming it at the deformed door. The other guard did the same, edging forward past Ellison and the colonel to gain a better angle for a shot.
“Put down your weapons. Both of you!” Lara screamed, but neither man moved.
McCann pointed at Ellison, and Ellison gave the order, “Stand down. Shoulder your weapons and get behind us.”
Both men answered with a quick, “Yes, sir,” as they re-slung their M-4’s and stepped to the opposite wall.
Jeremy hit the door again, and it sounded like an explosion as the steel plate ripped out of the door frame and twisted away to the right.
Ellison reached for the Beretta holstered at his hip as he stepped forward, placing himself between Lara and the broken door. Jeremy staggered forward into the room, his teeth clenched and his hands balled into fists.
Ellison pulled his sidearm. “Stand down, Cross.”
Jeremy didn’t move. He stood in front of the broken door, fists tight at his side.
Ellison shouted again, “I said stand down!”
“You’re safe here, Jeremy.” Lara stepped forward, her voice low and calm. Jeremy didn’t respond. She stepped forward again, holding her hands up in front of her until finally she stood in front of Ellison. “This was just a test. That’s all. You’re not our prisoner. We’re not the Red Moon. No one’s going to hurt you here. It was a test.”
Colonel McCann spoke up. “She’s right, Jeremy. You’re safe here.” He turned to Ellison. “You can put the gun away, Major.”
Now it was Ellison who refused to move. He stood rigid, staring down the sights of his handgun at Jeremy.
McCann repeated, “I said put down your gun, Major.”
“Yes, sir,” Ellison forced himself to answer. He took a long breath. Then he squared his shoulders and put the Beretta back on his hip, but still his eyes fixed on Jeremy.
The boy’s breathing was ragged. He stumbled back, catching hold of the doorframe.
Lara spoke again, her voice still low, “John, I want you to play the recording for him. Let him hear it.”
Langer clicked the icon on the screen, and the deep Middle-Eastern voice played over the speakers, “You are safe. You are in our possession. You are property of the Red Moon. Sit down and wait.”
Lara took another step closer, holding out her hand as if approaching a wounded animal. “It was all just a test.”
“Test for what?” Jeremy’s voice caught between shallow breaths.
“We needed to see what you could do,” Lara answered. “Your ability seems to trigger when you’re in danger, so we recreated that sensation. It was just a test.”
“Then it was the last test.” Jeremy unclenched his fists, and it was like his whole body took a breath.
“It was the last test like that, I promise, but there are other tests we need to run,” Lara said. “Right now, in fact. The doctor wants to see you for your baseline physical. Then you’re all done for the night. Okay?”
Jeremy nodded.
“Good. Then I’ll go with you. This way.”
As she finished, Lara turned and walked to the far door. Jeremy followed, stepping between McCann and Ellison without acknowledging either one. Lara touched a panel next to the door, it slid open, and they both stepped through.
Everyone in the narrow room was silent.
/> Then, as the door slid shut behind them, Langer spun around in his chair. “Holy—did you guys see that? Sustained gravity fields of plus twelve. A late bump to plus sixteen!”
McCann stepped closer to the monitor. “You want to explain what just happened here?”
Langer turned back to face the colonel. “Yeah, sorry. I mean, obviously there’s still a lot of data we need to look at, but, basically, it looks like your boy created a gravity well—we have it at plus sixteen in the data—and it was all localized on the subject. I mean—”
Langer stopped; he could see the colonel was lost.
He tried to explain again, “Basically Colonel, the subject manipulated his own gravity to alter his relative density—which is awesome!”
McCann still wasn’t amused. “Try that again, doctor.”
Langer reached for a Styrofoam coffee cup sitting next to his keyboard. “Yeah. Sure. I want you to imagine for a second that you throw this empty cup against a window.” Langer tossed the cup against his computer monitor, and it bounced back. “Nothing happens, right? The cup is too light to do anything. But now if you take the same cup, and this time you fill it with cement, and you throw it again, what happens? This time it goes right through the window. And that’s what just happened. That kid in there was the cup, and at plus sixteen the cement was more like…well, it was more like depleted uranium.”
Ellison stared at the monitor. “So what’s his rank?”
Langer cleared his throat. “Like I said, there’s still a lot of data to look at, but right now I would rank him as a four, possibly a five depending on his limits.”
Colonel McCann was smiling now. “So, Stuart, it looks like we have a new player on our team.”
Ellison lowered his eyes and tried to think. He had always struggled with change; he knew that. It was part of his nature, but this time it was different. Adding anyone to the team this late in the game would be difficult. Add the wrong person and it could be dangerous. Still, the Cross boy had potential; that much was clear from what he did to the steel door. But he was young, his ability was raw, and there wasn’t much time to fix either one. McCann could smile now because he only saw the potential. Ellison was left to weigh the liability. He felt the muscles between his shoulders go tight.
McCann pressed, “What do you think, Major?”
Ellison knew the right answer, and it had nothing to do with what he actually thought; the colonel had already decided.
Ellison sighed. “He’s going to need a lot of training.”
McCann slapped his hand on Ellison’s shoulder. “Well that’s why I have you, Major.”
Chapter 8
The infirmary door opened, and Jeremy stepped through into a small waiting area, rubbing his hand up and down his arm. Lara was waiting for him, sitting in one of the chairs lining the wall, her electronic tablet balanced on her knee.
She stood up when she saw him. “How do you feel?”
“I’m fine.” Jeremy forced himself to smile. “Better now, even though your doctor gave me about a dozen shots.”
“Yeah. That’s pretty standard. Tetanus and malaria and ten more you may or may not ever need.” Lara motioned to the door, and Jeremy followed her out. In the hall, they turned to the left and started down the long corridor.
Lara continued, “Did Dr. Barnes say anything about you losing consciousness? I know it happened with the bus and again at the mall. It almost happened tonight.”
Jeremy shook his head. “No. Just that we need more tests.”
“That’s good then.” Lara glanced sideways. “No news, right?”
They reached the end of the hall, and a pair of sliding steel doors. Lara punched in a series of numbers on the keypad on the wall, and the doors opened with a soft electronic ping.
A monotone female voice played over the speakers, “Access code accepted. Welcome, Agent Mirror.”
Jeremy and Lara stepped inside, the doors closed behind them, and the elevator car started to descend.
Jeremy turned to look at Lara. “Who’s Agent Mirror?”
“It’s just Mirror. There’s no ‘Agent.’ I don’t know why they say that. Mirror is my designation. It’s like a code name. We all get one. You’ll see.”
Jeremy smirked. “What do you mean ‘we’?”
“All the Anoms.” Lara kept looking straight ahead at the doors. “What did you think I was, Jeremy? Your babysitter?”
“So you’re an Anom? Like me? What can you do?”
Now Lara turned to look at him, and her jaw was set. There was a thin crease between her eyes, and her voice was sharp. “You don’t ask that question. Not to anyone. Not ever again. Understand me?”
Jeremy’s face flushed. “I—I didn’t—I’m sorry—”
Lara turned back to face the elevator doors. “We’re not some carnival act, Jeremy. We’re not a sideshow, and we’re sure as hell not our powers.” She looked back at him over her shoulder. “So don’t ask. Not ever.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know. It’s not—it’s not about you. It’s just the way it is.” Lara took a breath before she started again, “I’m a psychic Anom. I’m officially registered as a class three Echo. That’s my power.”
For a second, Jeremy was ready to ask another question, but then he caught himself and thought better of it.
Lara answered anyway, “Echo means I can read minds. Thoughts. Emotions. Memories.”
“So you can read my mind? I mean, just now did you read my mind? I didn’t say anything, but you still knew what I was going to ask.”
Lara shook her head. “It was a lucky guess. I told you, I’m a class three,”
Jeremy’s face twisted.
“We’re all grouped according to our limitations. A class five has almost limitless power. A class three? Not so much. For me, I’m restricted by physical touch. I need to be in contact with either the person or one of his possessions for my powers to work. Here, let me show you.”
Lara held out her hand. Jeremy reached for it, and Lara wrapped her slender fingers over his palm. Her hand was cool and her skin was… Jeremy shook his head. If she really could read minds, the last thing Jeremy wanted to be thinking about was—
“You’re excited.” Lara’s voice was soft now, low, like she was talking in her sleep. “You’re excited, but you’re also nervous. Really nervous. No, it’s something more than that. You’re scared. It almost feels like you’re in danger.”
Lara let go of his hand, and then her voice was back to normal. “You’re funny.”
“Why? Why is that funny?”
“It’s just,” Lara looked back at the elevator doors, “out of the two of us, which one can punch his way through a steel door? If anyone’s in danger here, it’s not you.”
All at once Jeremy understood. He saw the danger; realized the damage he could do. Lara’s words came racing back. This wasn’t a game. For better or worse, this new world was real, and he couldn’t afford to be a spectator. He was part of it now.
“Back at my house,” Jeremy’s voice was low, deliberate, “back in Philly, you said something. Not out loud; it was just in my head. What was that?”
“I can’t answer that. Not yet.” Lara turned, and her jaw was tight. Not with anger this time. Was she concerned? Afraid?
The elevator slowed and stopped. There was another soft, electronic ping, and the metal doors slid open. Lara stepped out of the elevator. Jeremy followed. They drifted for a couple of steps into a large, open room.
Then, as the elevator doors slid shut, Lara turned back around. “Welcome, Jeremy, to the Rec Room.”
Jeremy turned on his heels, trying to take in the whole room at once. Immediately in front of the elevator there stood a large, rectangular table. It was made from wide planks of wood, old and heavy, and it was surrounded by eight chairs, three on each side and one at the head and foot.
Beyond the table, on both sides of the room, four steel doors lined the walls, and at the far end of the room
a sectional sofa wrapped into a three-sided arc facing a large, flat-screen television mounted on the opposite wall. A basketball game flashed across the screen in vibrant color, and the low voices of the television commentators played just loud enough to fill the room with a muted buzz.
“Mirror!” The excited voice came from his right. Jeremy turned to see a young woman stepping out from an open door, her dark-brown hair cascading loose down her back, falling over her shoulders. She had hazel eyes that they seemed more green than brown, and she was smiling. A pair of shallow dimples dotted her pale skin on either side of her mouth. She was wearing a thin blue sweater and a pair of dark blue jeans, and her feet were bare.
She hugged Lara, and said, “What are you doing back so soon? I thought your rotation—”
Lara shrugged her shoulders. “Colonel McCann wanted me back, so here I am.”
“Good! Everything always seems easier when you’re around.”
“I don’t know about that,” Lara laughed, “but it’s good to be back anyway. I like this assignment. Good people.”
Then the new girl glanced over at Jeremy, and her whole demeanor seemed to change. She stood taller now, rigid.
Lara saw the reaction and motioned over to Jeremy. “Megan, this is Jeremy Cross, our newest member. Jeremy, allow me to introduce Megan Reynolds, code name: Nyx.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Megan.” Jeremy reached out his hand.
Megan didn’t react. In fact, she barely moved at all other than to flick her hazel eyes on Jeremy and look him up and down. Her smile was gone now too. So were the dimples dotting her cheeks. Instead, there was a coldness.
Megan squared her shoulders. “It’s just Nyx, and I already know who you are. I read your file. We all did.”
Jeremy still held out his hand.
Nyx didn’t move; she only shifted her weight and folded her arms. “I know all about your stunt with the school bus, and I know about the mall attack. You went after that guy with no training, no plan of attack, and no hope of survival—”
Jeremy’s face flushed red; he wasn’t expecting them to know his life story. “Yeah, well—”
“So I have one question. Are you suicidal or just plain stupid?”
ANOM: Awakening (The ANOM Series Book 1) Page 9