by Sean Platt
If we make it through this, I wonder if he’ll ever truly think of me as his daughter. Or will I always be a painful reminder of the girl he lost?
He reaches out and takes my hand, examining the healing scar — all that’s left of Fairchild cutting my thumb off.
“Irina did good work,” he says.
“She’s not bad. She’s just confused. If only we could talk to her in a less volatile situation. I think we could win her over to our side.”
“Maybe, after she gets Niko back.”
“Maybe,” I say, hopefully. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” he says, his brow furrowing.
“Eden and Fairchild told me that The First Front killed a bunch of people. She showed me headlines like ‘Child Found Decapitated in Oak Park’ and ‘Family Killed in Suspected Arson’ and a horrible one about a homeless man taking a baby from a woman before killing himself. Is any of that true?”
“What do you think? You saw my memories. Did you see anything like that? He was just trying to turn you against us.”
“What did you do? When you uploaded memories into me, you didn’t give me many recent ones.”
“Our psychics saw people in danger. We helped who we could.”
“So, what I was doing with the Karma Police?”
“Yes, what you were doing. But not what other Jumpers in the program were doing. You weren’t an assassin.”
“I ran into someone who said that I was.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. Another Jumper who recognized me, somehow. She said that I was one of the best.”
“Best Jumpers or best assassins?”
“I don’t remember. Was I an assassin?”
“From what Eden told me in her memory dump, you spied for AD, but I don’t think that you killed people.”
“Did the First Front kill people?”
“Only if they deserved it.”
“That sounds like Fairchild.”
Father looks at me and sighs, “I’m not saying we were always the Good Guys. We were more the Better Than the Bad Guys guys.”
Suddenly, the vault door’s tumblers begin spinning.
I jump up and see the two men standing there.
She did it!
I run over to him, wanting to throw my arms around him and give him a giant hug. “Rich! You did it!”
I’ve never been so glad to see anyone in my entire life.
He’s standing with Darius, the pyrotechnic Deviant whose body I once shared. He’s wearing one of the guards’ black uniforms, a gun in his holster.
“This is the CIA agent?” my father asks, coming over and offering his hand to Rich.
“Rich Wellner,” he says, shaking it.
“Ben!” Darius says, giving my dad a hug. “Man, I never thought I’d see your ugly face again.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Rich asks.
“Did you bring a gun?” Dad says.
“I managed to get one after Chelsea let me out of the Chamber.”
“And I brought these.” Darius raises his hands. A small flame blooms from each palm before flickering out.
“Are they back yet?” Dad asks.
I connect with Chelsea, Remote Viewing the elevators. I ask if there’s been any sign of them.
“Not yet. Did Rich and Darius get to you?”
Yes, thank you.
“Thank you.”
We’re almost out of this, I swear.
Dad articulates our plans to find Eden.
“I don’t know where she is,” Rich says.
Dad smiles. “I think I do.”
“Do you know where they’re holding the other Deviants?” Darius asks. “They’ve got my girlfriend.”
“Yes,” Rich says, “Chelsea gave me a map of the place. But just be ready. We might have a fight on our hands.”
“We’ll have a bigger fight if we don’t find Eden first,” Dad says. “I suggest that be our priority.”
Darius nods.
“Alright,” Rich says, “I guess it’s time to get out of here.”
Chapter Thirteen
Ben
The path to the elevator is clear as we pass two guards lying dead on the ground. One with a gunshot wound to the head and a pool of blood beneath him, soaking his boxers and undershirt. The other is burned to a crisp.
“From here on, don’t kill anyone unless we have to,” I say. “I’m going to incapacitate any guards we run into, then we disarm and cuff them.”
“What about Deviants?” Rich asks. “As far as I know, Fairchild has about five Deviant soldiers working for him, some being pretty nasty.”
“If they can hurt us, take them out by whatever means necessary. But only if they’re a threat. His heaviest hitters are probably with him right now, though they could return at any moment.” I stop, consider this for a moment. “On second thought, if it’s a Deviant, fire first, and make it a head shot.”
We step into the elevator, and I hit the lab floor where Eden is most likely to be.
My heart is on fire as the elevator crawls far more slowly than I want it to. Every moment feels like an eternity in which Fairchild and Irina return with Niko, and he unleashes his mini army on me — however many guards or Deviants he has working with him.
But so far there have been no alarms tripped, and no lock down.
I consider reaching out and trying to feel for Eden’s location, but I don’t want to tip her off that I’m coming. Plus, I’m not certain if I’ll be able to override her from so far away, let alone up close. I haven’t connected to her in years. There’s no telling what sorts of defenses Fairchild might have installed since then.
But if I can get control of her, then I can trap Fairchild and the others in the elevator. Gas them out, then rescue Niko and my people. I can figure out what to do with Fairchild after that.
As if I haven’t already made up my mind to kill him.
He has to pay for his sins. And he has to be stopped before he starts a war that will end in a holocaust.
Killing him will make The First Front and me an even bigger target by the government. It might even ramp up anti-Deviant sentiments among those people pulling the strings. Like what’s already happening in other parts of the world.
But my visions have shown a brighter possible future than the one Fairchild claims to have seen. But that future cannot contain him. Once he’s gone, I’ll have to decide how much of AD will need to go.
My sources tell me that he’s alone in wanting to unleash the virus. Fairchild hasn’t even told his bosses back in Washington, DC. If I remove the head, AD should be okay.
But my lingering fear is that in killing him, I might very well make Fairchild a martyr. His death could empower those who hate and fear us, sparking a massive culling of Deviants, and fulfilling his prophecy which sees us all in labs or dead.
The elevator stops on Eden’s floor, and the doors hiss open.
Ella grabs my arm. “Chelsea just messaged me. She said that Eden’s in her dorm room.”
I hit the door close button, but not before a guard steps onto the elevator. His eyes widen. He reaches for his gun.
I send a blast of noise into his skull, causing him to drop his weapon and fall to the ground screaming.
Rich drops down and butts the guard in the head with his gun, knocking him out cold.
The elevator doors hiss closed.
I hope that nobody heard his cries.
We head to the fourth floor.
Chapter Fourteen
Ella
Riding toward the fourth floor, I watch Rich, wondering how much he remembers of me being in his body. I want to make sure he gets back home to his wife and family. I’ll feel terrible if he dies helping us. But the way I see it, this is his chance to fight for his family’s future.
Get rid of Fairchild and remove the threat. Maybe Rich will be put in charge of AD. I’m not sure how that would work out, but if we can help make it happen, I’d be fine.
He looks over at me. “So, you’re Ella? The one that was inside me?”
“You remember?”
He nods.
“I’m sorry about Brooke. You know I can’t control who I Jump into, right?”
“Yeah, Chelsea filled me in when she was talking me into this.”
“Thank you, Rich.”
He nods.
Suddenly, the elevator stops.
“What the hell?” Darius asks.
The elevator begins to descend.
And in my head, I hear Chelsea.
“I’m sorry.”
What did you do?
“Eden found out. She made me tell you to get in the elevator.”
“Damn it!” I say to the others. “Chelsea got caught. She was forced to give us up.”
Where is she taking us?
“I don’t know,” Chelsea says. “I’m so sorry, Ella. She said she’d hurt Carla.”
My father focuses on the elevator, trying to stop it.
“It’s not responding!” he says.
The lights go out.
The elevator descends even faster, then stops, on what floor, I’m not sure as the display has gone dark as well.
Darius’s hands light up, illuminating the box in a fiery orange.
His eyes burn with rage as he stares at the doors, waiting for them to open.
Rich raises his pistol, aiming it at the door.
I brace myself for whatever awaits us.
The doors hiss open to a pitch black room I’ve never seen.
“What is this?” I whisper.
“Hell if I know,” Rich whispers back.
A bolt of light slams into Rich, sending him hard into the elevator wall.
From the corner of my eye, I see someone, or something, zip by in the dark.
Darius shoots a ball of flame into the darkness, illuminating our attacker, someone dressed in all black, including a mask covering their face.
The attacker dodges the fireball, springs up, then shoots bright white light from their palms, straight at me.
A Deviant!
My father throws himself between the light and me. A bright, but soundless explosion surrounds him.
“Dad!” I shout, certain he’s been hit.
“Get down!” His hands are raised, creating an invisible shield which is holding off the light — for now.
The light grows brighter, and I’m certain it's going to engulf my father, maybe even kill him.
But then he sends a blast into the darkness, hitting our attacker and sending him to his knees.
Darius races forward, hurling two fireballs right at the man.
The man screams as he catches fire.
He drops to the ground, trying to roll out the flames.
Before he can douse it, Darius unleashes a stream of flames, engulfing the entire room in orange and blue.
The man, now a charred husk, finally stops moving.
Darius lowers his flames down to glow around his hands, enough to illuminate the elevator.
I drop down next to Rich, passed out on the ground, and feel for a pulse.
Still beating.
I sigh with relief.
The elevator doors begin to close.
Darius looks at my father, “Should we stay or take a ride?”
“We ride,” my father says, picking up Rich’s gun and handing it to me. “Are you ready?”
I take aim at the elevator doors, my aim steady despite my nerves. “Yes, Dad.”
The elevator is moving, still dark.
I can’t tell if it’s going up or down.
My father says, “I’m trying to gain control, but something’s blocking my access.”
The elevator slows to a crawl.
Eden’s voice comes over the speakers. “You should lay down your weapons. They will kill you.”
“Maybe you should help us,” Dad says. “Your father is wrong about his vision. You have to know this. Why else would you have asked me to take you with me?”
“That wasn’t me. That was my sister, Willow. And she’s no longer in me. Now I can see without the weakness of her feelings clouding my judgment.”
“Weakness? It’s called humanity! And I refuse to believe there isn’t some part of you that feels. A part of you that knows that your father is insane. He’s planning to kill millions, maybe billions of people. It doesn’t have to be this way. You can stop him.”
“Maybe you're insane. You’ve seen the same visions he has. You’ve had the same nightmares. I know it. Yet you refuse to acknowledge them as the warnings that they are. You cling to some misguided delusion that humans will change, that they will allow Deviants to live among them. I’ve seen our past. And our future. There’s no place in it for us unless we carve out that space.”
“You sound just like him, you know? Maybe there is nothing human left in you after all. Maybe you are nothing more than an AI, designed by a madman.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Ben. I had hoped that you’d choose to stay with us. I’d hope that you and Ella would become part of our family again.”
“I’m not letting him do this.”
“Your last warning. Put down your guns and join us. Or die.”
The elevator stops.
We all prepare for whatever is about to appear, Darius with his flames, my father with his energy, and me with my pistol.
Darius’s flame suddenly dies, plunging us into darkness.
“What’s happening?” I ask.
“I … I can’t move.”
My father falls to the ground screaming.
And that’s when I realize I’m frozen.
This time the door hisses open to Irina, Fairchild, and two agents, one of them holding a hooded Niko at gunpoint.
“Going somewhere?” Fairchild asks.
I try to pull the trigger, but my finger won’t obey.
They enter the elevator, all of us helpless to fight.
Chapter Fifteen
Ella
I'm marching with my father, Darius and Rich, even though he’s unconscious, down the hallway back to The Cage like a prisoner’s chain gang, except we’re only linked by Irina’s psychic hold over us.
We pass the pair of dead guards and Fairchild says, “What did you all think you were going to do? Leave here?”
Nobody answers.
I’m not sure if anyone can respond or if Irina is silencing them.
Two guards walk behind Fairchild, both stone-faced older men that look like they did either hard time or dangerous military work. They’re built with muscles on top of muscles and are holding assault rifles, just in case Irina’s powers suffer another hiccup, I suppose. One of them is prodding Niko forward with his rifle.
Niko’s hands are bound behind his back, and he’s wearing a hood over his face. I’m guessing that Irina is keeping his powers squelched as well.
“I tried so hard to make this place a home for you,” Fairchild continues. “For all of you. And yet you keep screwing things up. Keep killing my people. You keep biting the hand that feeds you, no matter how much love you are shown.”
We stop at the door.
Fairchild spins the handle to unlock the vault.
“Now go inside while I decide how to take care of you.”
We enter the chamber as if we have a choice.
Inside, I see Chelsea and Carla sitting on the bed, huddled together, crying.
“What are you doing in here?” I ask.
Fairchild responds, “I figured why not put all of my troublemakers in one spot where I can keep an eye on all of you.”
“They didn’t do anything. That bitch Chelsea turned me in!” I say, hoping to convince him that I hate her, even though I don’t.
“Only after Eden caught her.”
The agents step inside, crowding the chamber.
“I want you all to sit against the wall.”
My body moves without permission, walking me to the cot, plopping me next to C
helsea, with Carla on her other side.
I look at Chelsea. She whispers, “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I say.
Carla looks like she’s aged ten years instead of five. The stress of living here under the watching eye of Fairchild and Company has really done a number on her.
She’s shaking, her hand clutching Chelsea’s.
My heart breaks for them both.
They just wanted to be in love, but Fate had other plans. Then it thrust me into their lives.
My father is shoved down beside us.
Darius and Rich drop to their asses next to my father.
Fairchild smiles as he folds his hands over his stomach.
“Good, good. Now that I’ve got you all here, I want to show you what Dear Old Benjamin was hiding from me!”
He snaps and points to Niko’s hood. “Take that off, will you?”
One of the guards does, then steps back to his spot in front of the open door, ensuring that nobody leaves.
Niko blinks, his eyes adjusting to bright lights inside The Cage.
He looks at us, his eyes tearing up.
Then he closes them as if it’s all too much.
I wonder if Irina is keeping him subdued, unable to help us.
“And the cuffs. Be careful not touch the hands.”
The guard unlocks the cuffs and slides them into a case on his belt.
“Now,” Fairchild begins, “I’d like to play with my new toy before we get him to work on dispensing the virus. And I want you all to realize that this is me being fair. I have to choose one of you to serve as an example of what not to do. That’s the only way to move forward. Now, let’s begin.”
Fairchild smiles as he begins to point at each of us, one at a time. “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a traitor by the toe. If he hollers, let him go. Eeny …”
His finger pauses on me and shoves my heart up into my throat.
“Meeny.” It’s on Darius.
“Miny.” It’s on Rich.
Fairchild pauses as he brings his finger around to Carla, then smiles with a, “Moe.”
Carla cries out, “What are you going to do?”
Fairchild turns to Irina. “Now.”