Enigma

by Tonya Kuper

  The tiny holes of light twisted and leaned and blurred. I felt as if I was perpetually falling. My eyes started closing.

  No. Open your eyes. Do something!

  Pain gripped my left lung. How could I feel that, but not my arms and legs? No, it wasn’t my lung. It was my heart.

  My eyes closed. I forced them open. The tiny lights in the fabric over my head blurred and darkened.

  Not sure if it would work, I Pushed, attempting to expand my energy beyond my body, not as a shield, but as a force. The energy built, the pressure inside myself mounting, then it shrank, smaller and smaller until there was nothing. I had no energy to expend. I was about to pass out.

  Stay awake.

  My body tilted. I wasn’t sure if that was the mole tipping me, or if it was the drugs. I dropped and landed on my front, my cheek lying on a weird surface. Unless that was the drugs, too. My eyes closed.

  No. I have to stay awake.

  I tried to listen, to hone in on my other senses but didn’t hear anything except my heart jackhammering in my chest. My eyelids were like lead. I continued to blink, trying to keep them open.

  Stay. Awake.

  Pitch black. I couldn’t open my eyes.

  Reid.

  Reid

  Through squinted eyes, I watched two people with masks over their faces carry Josie into the living room area. Another person stood watch, their head oscillating between me, to Josie, to the door. Josie’s body was still. Concentrating on her limbs, instead of the people attempting to abduct my girlfriend, I watched for a signal.

  We’d agreed that it would be best to give one of two possible signals, either balling her hand into a fist, or three short sounds, to indicate Josie was, for all intents and purposes, fine. We practiced before she went to sleep to see what might work.

  Opening my eyes fully, I chanced the mole and his helpers seeing me awake, but I had to be sure of a signal from Josie. One of the kidnappers pulled a hand away from Josie’s feet to open the door, before the third person rushed to help, and her arm flung down from her body toward the floor, lifeless.

  The dimmed light from the hallway silhouetted the figures in the doorway. For just a few seconds I watched Josie’s hand. No fist. Nothing. Her fingers curled in slightly toward her palm. They scooped up her hand, moved into the hallway, and closed the door.

  I didn’t like it. She was supposed to ball her fist and had the perfect opportunity. I had to follow my gut. I sprang from the couch and called Cohen. It rang endlessly with no answer.

  Son of a bitch.

  Shoving my phone in my back pocket, I ran out the door and down the stairs. I didn’t want to compromise the plan if Josie was okay, but at this point, I had to err on the side of caution. I wasn’t taking chances when it came to someone’s life—especially Josie’s.

  I sprinted through the main hallway toward the garage, my steps echoing through the tunnel as if I were an army, not just one guy.

  I pumped my arms harder. My thighs burned as I propelled forward faster, not letting up as I approached the training rooms. I couldn’t let anything happen to Josie. She’d put herself in danger too many times now.

  A blurry memory of me hanging out with Nick, Josie, and Eli on a beach about three years ago rushed through my mind. My family had met hers in San Diego for a little vacation.

  Both our families were complete. Besides me having to hide from Nick and Josie that I really lived in the Hub, I was happy. We were all happy.

  Then, an onslaught of faded images sifted through my head, one after another. A vacation to the Grand Canyon. Camping. Our families together in the Harper’s kitchen or backyard, wherever they were living at the time.

  I’d had a relationship with Josie for as long as I could remember. That relationship had evolved into something so much more than I ever thought imaginable. And I’d do anything for the girl I loved. For Josie, I’d fight thousands of Oculi.

  Anger propelled me faster down the hall. I was angry with the Consortium and the Council. Hell, I was angry at myself for allowing her to be in trouble.

  The hall opened to the cavernous garage, where Cohen should have been in position. As I turned my head, a slit of light disappeared under the hangar door, leaving the massive space dark. I’d just missed them taking Josie.

  Shit.

  I stopped, braced my hands on my knees, and sucked in a deep breath. “No!”

  Footfalls echoed off the walls. Cohen ran to me from the shadows. “What’s wrong?”

  “Son?” my dad yelled behind me.

  I straightened my posture. “She didn’t give me a signal. Her hand fell, limp, just as they took her from the room.” I whirled around. “I called you both.”

  Dad ran toward us. “I had company. A masked trooper tried to get me out of the Eye in the Sky. Didn’t work out so well for him.”

  Cohen pulled his phone from his pocket. “It didn’t ring.” He touched the screen. “It never came through. The call isn’t in my history. Think it was purposely jammed?”

  I stepped backward to see both Dad and Cohen. “Maybe. I’m not sure what the mole’s intent is. Josie’s body was limp. I think unconscious. We need to get to her ASAP. Coe, get Kat and Zac in here. We’re going after Josie.”

  Cohen gave a firm nod.

  “Dad, I need vehicles and troops.”

  Dad pulled his phone from his pocket, ready to deliver my requests.

  “We need coverage on both sides of the mountain.”

  Dad squeezed my shoulder. “We’ll find her.”

  Cohen was already talking to someone on the phone, so I rushed to the key box. I grabbed a set of keys for me and a set for Cohen, then sprinted to the row of vehicles, climbed into a Jeep, and pulled it directly in front of the hangar door.

  The lights in the garage came on. That would help. Dad was on the phone while at the light control box.

  Cohen jogged toward me from across the garage and I tossed the set of keys to him. He paused a few feet from me. “We’ll get Josie. I won’t stop looking for her until you do.”

  He knew how much and how long I had cared for her. “Thanks, man. Means a lot.”

  Movement caught my eye. Zac and Kat ran across the garage toward us. “Zac, you’re with me. Kat, follow Cohen.”

  I turned the key and the clicks of my and Zac’s seat belts seemed louder than they should’ve been. The hangar door disappeared. Bright white light seared my retinas, temporarily blinding me. Sunrise already.

  I turned my hat backward and Pushed Ray Bans on my face, blinking until I could bear to look at the outside world for the first time in days. As soon as we passed through the threshold of the mountain, we took an immediate left down the dirt service road that hugged the mountain.

  Checking the rearview mirror, Cohen pulled behind us with Kat in the passenger side, and the hangar door reappeared. There was no indication that some kind of opening had been in the side of the mountain moments before.

  “Hold on. This road is pretty bumpy. Keep your eyes open in case we have to Push or Retract quickly. I have the front. Can you watch the back?”

  Zac was already turned around. “Yeah.”

  The sun glowed orange in the east, not yet over the mountains.

  We rode in silence down the mountain, on high alert. We wouldn’t make up ground between us and the mole until we got off the service road.

  I was ready to snap. I had no patience for the road that required attention and careful driving. I just needed to get to Josie.

  We rolled onto the pavement and I floored it. Cohen stayed on my tail as we made our way deeper into the valley.

  The sky lightened more and the sun peeked over the top of the mountains. Light streaked the highway, making it feel as though we crossed through day and night repeatedly.

  I radioed Dad. He’d sent two Jeep patrols around the opposite side of the mountain. “Reid to Harrison. Any luck yet?”

  Static filled the emptiness in the Jeep. “Negative. Keep going. I’l
l dispatch a helicopter.”

  My left leg bounced uncontrollably. I should’ve never agreed to this bait plan. She was too valuable. It was her life we were putting on the line. My chest ached, feeling hollow.

  We weaved in and around the base of mountains as fast as we could. Following the bend in the road, we turned into another section of the valley. The sun perched above the mountains, pouring light into the valley full of trees and dormant grass starting to grow again.

  There were only two actual roads leaving the Hub—this one, and the one Josie and I had used when we first arrived. They had to have used one of them. Most of the terrain was too rough to off-road until they got farther down into the valley. If we had Jeeps searching the only two roads, we’d find her. If they happened to chance off-roading, the chopper would spot it.

  She had to be petrified. Unless she was hurt or— Oh God. My heart paused. I couldn’t allow myself to think of what could happen to Josie.

  We took the next curve too fast and Zac braced himself against the side of the Jeep. “I’m not sure what you and Josie, uh, what your relationship is.” If he didn’t think we weren’t just trainer and trainee, then he could tell we were something more. He glanced to me. “But don’t worry. We’ll find her.”

  Nice of him to say, but I’d never forgive myself for letting this happen.

  16.

  Josie

  My eyes opened and I still couldn’t see, but it was lighter than the dark behind my eyes. My head bounced and cracked against whatever was underneath me. Something hard but not concrete. Actually, my cheek was pressed into a material, something like carpet.

  My temples ached in rhythm to my heartbeat, but I dared open my eyelids a bit more. A hum lived in the background. My arms were tied behind my back and my legs were bound together. I lay face down, with something over my eyes. The movement made my stomach roll. I stilled, making sure I wasn’t going to get sick.

  What was happening? Was this a dream?

  My eyes shut again, and I was on the edge of consciousness when my body rolled. I had no control over myself. I don’t know how long I lay there just trying to keep my eyes open, my body moving without my permission.

  I couldn’t think. Everything seemed fuzzy and surreal. Was I sick?

  All I knew was that I had to stay awake and figure out how to think. Why couldn’t I move my hands and legs? Why did I have something over my eyes?

  I blinked repeatedly, my lashes brushing against the cloth blindfold.

  Eyes. Oculi. I’m an Oculi. My breathing sped. Reid.

  It all came crashing back to me. The mole. Mom and Eli at the Hub. Being taken from my room. The failed trap. Being drugged.

  I listened more closely. I bounced and heard the squeak of the suspension under me. A motor revved and I accelerated forward, my body moving from the force. I was in a vehicle.

  My eyes drifted closed and I was almost asleep again when my head bounced. I had to stay awake. I needed to get out of the vehicle.

  I was about to try rolling over, using my cheek as leverage. But I stopped struggling. My eyelids closed again of their own accord.

  NO. Wake up.

  I blinked and kept blinking.

  I concentrated on moving my shield outside myself, moving my energy beyond myself. I Pushed. My eyes slid shut. Nothing.

  I lay there for a minute, breathing, listening.

  Where was I again? Oh, yeah. In a vehicle. Taken by the mole and at least a few others. I turned my face toward the surface under me and slid my face across the itchy material. I needed to get the blindfold off. I moved my face against the surface repeatedly, rubbing my skin raw in the process. Then it happened—the cover on my eyes shifted upward. I continued dragging my face across the surface, trying to ignore the sting on my cheek until the cover inched to my eyebrows.

  Exhausted and sweating, I almost couldn’t roll myself over. The reward was huge, though; I could see cracks of light. I was in the trunk. There wasn’t enough light for me to see what was binding my hands and legs, or to actually see the space around me, but it was something. It was hope, and that hope ratcheted my pulse and woke me up.

  I’d have to gather my strength and Push my shield outside of myself to get out, still almost without the use of sight.

  Breathing slow and deep, I tried to relax my body as much as possible. I watched the cracks of light above me like they were lifelines.

  Electricity snapped on my skin and pulsed through my body. The tips of my fingers tingled and my lips went numb.

  One. Two.

  I Pushed my shield a few inches from my body. I held it there, steady and sure.

  I let the rage I felt toward the mole for using my little brother build inside me. I played the scene over again in my mind, of realizing that the boy I hugged wasn’t Eli, that the Reid I saw in the hallway wasn’t Reid. Fury burst in the center of me and the current throbbed through my bones.

  I let go of my anger and Force Pushed through my shield.

  An explosion sounded and my face was against the cracks of light. My head hit something hard and I tucked in toward my chest. Something metal smashed against my spine. No, I smashed against something metal. I ricocheted around the trunk area as the vehicle flipped through the air. Something warm and liquid dripped down my neck. Blood.

  I stopped moving, but instead of being face down on the scratchy fabric, I was on my back. My eyes closed.

  When I opened them, I screamed for help, first nonverbal sounds, then eventually the word “help” over and over again. My throat was raw, and all I wanted to do was close my eyes and take a nap. I’d used my Force Push against the road under the vehicle, not knowing if it would work. And I still didn’t know if it worked.

  Maybe I’d died and this was my own version of hell. My eyes shut against my will.

  No. I can’t take a nap. I’m trapped in a car. I think.

  I couldn’t pull my eyelids open.

  Someone, or something, lifted my body and set me on the ground. Cracking one eye open just a sliver, I had to close it again. I blinked wildly as I attempted to open my eyes in the blinding light. The sun. The light was from the sun, which meant I was outside.

  Green. Trees. Trees surrounded me. I was alive.

  Suddenly, I could move my arms and legs. I was free. I squinted one eye and closed the other, trying to focus on the face above me. My eyes watered as I blinked.

  “Reid.”

  His face got closer, blocking out the sunlight. “Hey.”

  Pop. I flinched and tried to look behind me. The sound echoed off the mountains. A gunshot.

  Reid helped me sit up, bracing my back. “Go slow. Don’t worry. That was Cohen grazing a trooper’s leg to take him down. Remember, one of the perks of Oculi. We’re almost perfect shots because we can observe where the bullet goes.”

  I twisted to see behind me. A black sedan lay upside down in the middle of the two-lane highway. Cohen and Zac escorted two troopers, one of which Cohen had just shot. Kat stood guarding Dee, whose limbs were bound. A giant gash in her head was nothing compared to the bloody mess of her leg.

  Dee. Handcuffed and hurt. I looked back to Reid. My brain, still fuzzy, couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing. Dee is the mole? Dee is the mole. She was like an aunt to me. She was one of my mother’s dearest friends. Anger scratched my throat and disgust curdled in my stomach. “Dee?”

  Reid’s lips pressed into a hard line. After a few seconds, he finally opened his mouth. “Yeah.” Pain edged the single word he grunted out.

  We were all duped. The mole really was a traitor, in the most intimate way, in the most despicable way.

  I let my head fall as I tried to think of the signs we’d missed, any hints we’d overlooked. My head throbbed, but a distinct spot in the back stung. I touched my forefinger to the tender, wet area. Blood covered my finger.

  I attempted to stand, but I was too wobbly. Reid squatted beside me and wrapped me in his arms. “Hold on.” His eyes roamed over my face
, then my hand. “Don’t move.”

  He examined the back of my head. I could feel his hands moving against my scalp and in my hair. He was bandaging me. I Retracted the blood from my hand.

  Reid examined the rest of me, moving my arms. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

  I shook my head. “I just have a headache. And I want to stand because I was curled in that small space.”

  He took my hands in one of his and wrapped his other arm around me as he gently pulled me upward. Once I stood to my full height, he let my hands go, cupping my cheek. I’d never seen him with such a concerned look on his face. He tipped his forehead to mine. “I thought maybe I’d lost you and I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.”

  “It was my fault, not yours.” I seemed to be talking slower than usual. “I didn’t factor in the possibility that they’d use drugs or—”

  He kissed my nose then my mouth. Sweet and gentle. I looked up, and I saw it in his eyes—he was scared. The enormity of what had just happened settled over me, and I allowed myself to feel rather than just think to get through the situation. Tears chased more tears down my cheeks. My closeness to death rattled me, but, simultaneously, the joy and relief of being alive was almost too much to handle. Reid hugged me against him and didn’t ask questions, he just let me be.

  After a few minutes, I pulled away from Reid, the trails of tears dried on my face, but the anger inside me still burned. I turned toward Dee, and Reid walked with me, making sure I was steady. Cohen and Zac were getting the troops in a vehicle. Kat waited next to Dee, who was obviously in need of help due to her mangled leg.

  I stopped in front of Dee, my head still fuzzy and not fully processing everything around me. My brain seemed to be moving slower than usual, but I could clearly identify my feelings. Staring at Dee, I felt nothing but resentment and loathing. A chair appeared behind me, no doubt from Reid, and I sat, only three feet from my attempted murderer. “Why would you do this?” I spat.

  Crimson dripped from the open wound across her forehead and mascara stained her cheeks. Dee leaned against the vehicle, with no color in her face. A tourniquet had been tied around Dee’s thigh and Kat applied pressure to a blood-soaked cloth. From the look of her leg and face, Dee’s leg was either severely broken or something was severed. “The Consortium has Stella. They gave me missions to complete in order to get her back. The main objective was to get you to them, alive.” She lifted her head. Tears pooled in her eyes. “They have my baby. I’m sorry. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. Or die. I just want my Stella. It was me. I impersonated Eli. And Reid. And Santos.”