by Shea Swain
Again, his friend who always had something intelligent to say was speechless. Jasper had been, too, when he’d read Aria’s chart he’d taken from the nurse’s station an hour ago, then slipped it back before anyone noticed it was missing. For several minutes, he’d sat in a bathroom stall in the hospital thinking of what this meant for them, for him.
He wondered if Vincent would have taken Syn-Beta all those years ago if he had known the side effects. Jasper then wondered if he would have made the same choice if he’d known the serum would regenerate his dead and dying tissue, but make him sterile in the end. He wasn’t sure he would do anything different if giving the choice again, but the fact that he was unable to procreate still bothered him. To look in his child’s face and see all the hope, joy, and possibilities he wasn’t offered as a child—that was something Jasper had always wanted.
“You can’t kill her, my friend. You have to bring them back alive. Safe. Whole.” Vincent spoke every word slow and clear. Jasper knew the man would be excited about this, but he never imagined his friend would get so elementary. Shit, he wasn’t an idiot.
“Don’t be an asshole, asshole. I would never hurt an innocent child. Not when… Fuck. Fuck you for even thinking it!” Jasper shouted. He took several breaths as Vincent told him to calm down. “Can this…will you be able to fix us?”
“Honestly, Jas, I don’t know. Ian is different. I…I really don’t know, but I’m going to do my best to solve that piece of the puzzle,” Vincent said. Jasper heard some papers shuffling. “I need her weight, height, and a bit more information. Call me immediately when you have it.”
Jasper smiled. He wasn’t a genius like his friend or the kid, but he didn’t have shit for brains, either. “Got it already, doc.” He began reading off the information from the copy he’d made of Aria’s file.
“Be gentle. Be gentle,” were the words Vincent said before Jasper hung up.
Jasper snorted. Like he didn’t understand the gravity of the situation or was some idiot who was all thumbs. Out of the three soldiers he’d handpicked, Vincent, all those primate test monkeys and the homeless bums they had used then dispose of, Ian was the only Syn-serum recipient able to reproduce.
Of course he was going to be gentle. To Jasper this girl Aria was goddamn Mother Mary and the baby…the baby inside her was the second coming. Aria was the key.
Jasper wasn’t a geneticist but he knew that Aria was the only woman other than Ian’s mother, to be successfully impregnated and carry a Syn-serum fetus. The fact that she was able to do it naturally rather than have a fertilized egg inserted inside her womb was a fucking miracle. If she was some kind of genetic match up for Syn-serum sperm cells, then she would have to be kept safe.
God, I’d almost killed her. He shook his head at the thought of such a treasure—an opportunity—being lost because of his and Vincent’s need to destroy whatever disturbed the balance in their lives. They needed this girl. She was their Eve. She was the bearer of life, a new beginning.
For the first time in years, Jasper allowed himself to think of fatherhood as an option. Aria was younger than the women he normally liked, but by law she was a woman at eighteen. He remembered when he’d seen her at the rest stop for the first time, thinking how beautiful she was, and that her ID, though a nice likeness, didn’t do her justice. With all he knew now, Jasper couldn’t deny wanting her, wanting his seed to grow inside her.
Of course he would respect her, maybe even one day grow to care for her. If he was capable, he was sure he would grow to love her. He would want to feel the mother of his children underneath him, feel her soft body against his; because there wasn’t a chance in hell he would allow them to produce a kid of his in a goddamn test tube. She was gorgeous and he wasn’t hard on the eyes, so he knew their kids would be perfect warriors. And if her mother was just like her, even better, Jasper had no qualms about killing the husband to get what he wanted and he wanted, a namesake, a child.
THERE WAS SOMETHING IAN WAS missing, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. And every time he tried to go over everything Marroe had told him, his mind kept clawing its way back to thoughts of Aria. Since the day he’d first touched her, it seemed he hadn’t been able to have a single thought that didn’t involve her. Her well-being, simply touching her, a desired passionate kiss, her beneath him, his thoughts of her were all-consuming, and it was clearly affecting his ability to process what was going on around him.
Glancing at his phone, Ian sighed then looked back to the road. He hadn’t been apart from Aria this long since the day she’d left him in his friend’s condo. He wanted to call the hospital from the plane but he didn’t. She was weak and needed her rest. He’d even convinced Dr. Cartwright to write a do not disturb order for Aria. The order meant that after visiting hours no one, not even the nurses would go into her room unless Aria hit her call button.
How did patients sleep in hospitals with nurses waking them every four hour for a vitals check?
Because he was unable to speak to Aria, Ian took comfort in the words she last spoke to him. “We’re holding on…for you, Ian.” Her words still whispered in his head several hours later.
Ian took a quick look at the case Marroe had supplied him with. The contents inside was a special concoction Ian called Syn-GenA that Marrow designed in his small home lab especially for Aria. He had over two dozen vials worth because there was no data on how long the drug would last in her system. He was pretty certain the older versions of the Syn formula would sustain her but he wasn’t certain how long. Marrow was convinced that because the baby had all three serums in its DNA, the earlier serums would be ineffective.
“What about Aria?” Ian had asked Marroe. The look on Marroe’s face hadn’t been encouraging.
Marroe had answered as he prepared the vials. “I don’t know. It was unclear what caused your mother to bleed out the day of your birth. The Syn-Beta was given to her because you were thriving in utero, but her body was withering away. The serum gave you what you needed, so that you didn’t siphon everything from your mother’s body. Ian,” Dr. Marroe had said, “the Syn-Beta could have aided in her death or it may have been unrelated. Your mother was the only female to carry a child so we have only her records and no other data. What’s clear is that the serum was able to sustain her during the pregnancy. My belief is that this new serum will do the same for Aria.”
Dr. Marroe wasn’t sure Aria would benefit from it, but they both believed that if she was capable of carrying his child that maybe if given a dose of the serum she would survive it. Neither knew if she would become dependent but it would offer a chance.
Ian planned to learn all he could about the medical side of pregnancy and fetuses’ before this was over. Once the baby was born, Dr. Marroe believed that there was no reason to give the baby any doses of the serum because the child will most likely function on its own. And since the baby is part Ian, its little body and DNA will acclimate without any further assistance or injections since Ian had been introduced to all three serums and had them in his DNA already. But to be safe, Dr. Marroe had included samples of all of them.
Ian let what Marroe had told him sink in as he drove away from the airfield and turned onto the road leading to the main highway that would take him to Aria. The hospital staff may give him a hard time being as it was early morning and few hours until visiting hours but Ian needed to see her. Seeing Aria would clear his mind and once he gave her the first injection, he could relax a bit.
The bells of his third burner/throw-away cell phone chimed as Ian merged onto the highway. Without taking his eyes off the virtually deserted road, Ian picked the phone up and placed it to his ear. When he heard the caller clearing his throat on the other end, Ian slammed his foot on the brake. The car jerked as the wheels skidded to a stop. Burnt rubber and the smell of smoke surrounded the vehicle and floated into the vents. The section of steering wheel he gripped crushed under his strength.
“If you hurt her, I Will Kill You.” Ian pried his fin
gers from the steering wheel and ran his hand over his head. His inner voice screamed with rage and his vision hazed over with flecks of red. He should have never left her alone.
Ian heard the casing of his cell phone begin to crack under the pressure of his hand as he did his best to relax.
“Calm down, son,” Vincent said. When Ian didn’t respond he softly spoke, “I know you care for her. Plus, I would never physically hurt my own blood.”
“She’s not your own,” Ian gritted out. His pulse was doing overtime and it beat in his ears like a drum.
“She carries your child. That makes her my own, so she’s safe.” Vincent’s tone was professional as always. “I promise you,” he added.
Ian had no other choice but to trust his uncle for now. Plus he’d never known Vincent to break a promise. Still, Ian didn’t like that the very man that wanted his Aria dead, had her right now.
“The Morel’s?” Ian demanded. If Vincent… He couldn’t even imagine it.
“They don’t even know she’s gone.” Vincent told him.
Thank God, he thought, relieved that they were safe. Ian thought of what he had to do to get Aria back. He could call the police and hope that his uncle didn’t have the entire force in his pockets. He just needed to know where Vincent was holding her. Ian pressed the gas and as he drove, he thought of where his uncle could be.
“Stop thinking of ways to find me and listen. I am not hiding her from you. I can help her.”
Ian laughed bitterly. “Like you helped me?” Damn…he didn’t mean that. He couldn’t let his uncle know that he knew about the experiments and that Marroe was alive or that the old man had helped him. He carefully said the next words as a way to lead his uncle to think he was fishing. “Tell me, did my parents know you were using me as a guinea pig, or did you make an executive decision and decide on your own that your brother’s son was the perfect lab rat?”
Vincent didn’t respond at first. “We’re at HowlTech,” Vincent solemnly said. “Come home, Ian.”
It was uncharacteristic of the men in his life to show any emotion other than anger or disappointment, so the emotion in Vincent’s words and the respect he was raised to have for him almost moved Ian, urging him to apologize for the accusation, but he didn’t. He couldn’t forget that the man on the other end had injected his mother when she was pregnant, with a life-altering serum. And Vincent had continued to inject him with the serum as a child. The drugs could have killed the both of them, and might have been responsible for his mother’s death.
Vincent wasn’t sorry. He had an agenda, and Ian needed to know what that was.
“Please,” Ian begged, “don’t inject her with anything.”
His uncle sighed. “I have to save the child, Ian.”
“Don’t you fucking touch her!” Ian yelled. He was so angry the windows of the car he drove cracked, but Ian didn’t stop driving. After a moment of silence, his shoulders slumped, his breathing shaky. “Please, Uncle Vincent. If you ever cared about me, please don’t inject her with anything.”
“It’ll be nice to see you home again, Ian. I had no idea how much you meant to me until…” Vincent lowered his voice and was barely audible. “I’ll see you soon.”
The time spent on the plane to DC did nothing to calm Ian. It was the end of business hours when he walked into the lobby of HowlTech, but that didn’t explain why the building was so deserted. At the front desk where Hillary, the information receptionist, usually sat until 5:30 were two security guards and four of his uncle’s private hired guns. The two security guards he knew wore their customary stun guns while the hired guns carried semi-automatics. Ian scanned his surroundings and noted the security camera as it tracked him.
He needed to get to the elevators but he didn’t need an armed escort.
“Mr. Howl,” one of the private guards said, as he stepped in Ian’s path.
As Ian moved forward he pulled the private guard to him to use as a shield. The security guards nervously aimed the stun gun at Ian’s chest. The one named Abel gave Ian a sorry shrug.
The private guard continued talking but didn’t fight Ian’s hold, “I understand you’re angry, but what you need to do is take a few breaths and get your head together. We’d prefer not to restrain you.”
They had prepared for a confrontation so Ian wouldn’t disappoint. He didn’t break his confident stride and didn’t flinch when the stun gun probes came at him and his captive. He leaned his shoulder back, turning his torso sideways, avoiding the impact of the prongs. Ian moved so fast that the probes hadn’t hit the floor before he grabbed the device from Abel’s hand, and knocked him out with it. He threw the device directly at Bob, the other payroll guard who moved from behind the desk, hitting him on the head. Ian had decided not to critically hurt the employees of HowlTech. He knew those men and was pretty sure they weren’t involved in this mess other than being blind accomplices who probably needed their jobs.
Ian grabbed the hand of the man he held as he was reaching for his weapon. He applied pressure so the man’s bones crushed around the handle of the gun. The man cried out as he tried desperately to get free of Ian’s hold. But Ian held him steady, using the man’s body to create a barrier between him and the other three men who he knew weren’t carrying stun guns. Ian wrapped his other arm around the man’s neck, effectively shielding himself.
He’d seen these private guards before, knew some of their names, but today they were his enemies. Today these men stood in the way of what he wanted, what he needed more than anything else in the world.
Ian turned his head slightly, using his sensitive hearing to determine if anyone was sneaking up on him, while he kept his eyes pinned on the three assholes that slowly approached with their weapons drawn. He backed up toward the elevators with his human shield.
“We have orders to take you down if you don’t come along calmly,” one of the men grunted, “even if that means shooting you, Mr. Howl.”
At the elevators, Ian used the gun he still held in his captive’s crushed hand to press the down button. The man continued to moan in pain. Ian placed his finger over the man’s finger that was still on the trigger. “Thanks,” Ian said, “that makes shooting you all that much easier.” Six shots rang out consecutively. Shocked grunts and cries filled the silence as Ian pushed the man in his arms down to the floor, keeping possession of the gun. The guy tried to push away but Ian unloaded two more bullets, hitting him in the knee caps just like he’d done to the other three.
Stepping into the empty elevator, Ian simultaneously pressed the two buttons that would take him to the basement level where a hidden rear door of the elevator would open. The ride was short and when the door opened, he pressed his body to the side wall. Hiding behind the button panel with his finger pressed on the button that held the elevator doors open, he took a deep breath.
Ian was unable to see around corners, so he had to use his ears to determine if someone was there. He really hadn’t made much use of his new hearing ability; but the few times he did, it had been to listen in on Aria talking with his family. The fact that he was relying on an unpolished ability now was crazy, he had few options but was rewarded with the information he needed. There were two, maybe three rapid heartbeats in the corridor to his right where the labs and medical facilities were located. His uncle’s office was straight ahead and unguarded.
Odd, Ian thought.
To the left were a few offices, storage, and two conference rooms. To the right then. He took three deep breaths, shifted his stance then Ian made his move.
Raising his hand and just imagining a simple push, Ian sent the first armed man flying into the air like a projectile, landing in the hall where his uncle’s office was. Ian liked the results, but thought he would need to work with the level of intensity at some point. Another man raised a gun and pointed it at him.
Guess the ‘bring him alive’ policy has been revoked.
Ian swiped his hand to the side. An invisible force slammed
the man into the wall with punishing force, causing him to drop the gun. As Ian sped pass the man’s crumpled form, he kicked the weapon away, then turned to look behind him to locate the possible third man.
A wave of fear ripped through Ian as he focused on the hard compassionless eyes that stared back at him, mere inches away. Ian swung his arm that still held the gun up, but his hesitation was enough to ensure his failure, and he knew it as the slight smile twitched at the edge of Jasper’s lips.
Ian felt a searing pressure in his chest as Jasper grabbed him. He dropped the gun. Then a sharp stinging pain sizzled through his body, causing him to shake violently to the floor. His limbs lay limp as the pain increased and his vision blurred. Jumbled babbling and the chattering of his own teeth was all Ian heard before his lids reluctantly closed over his eyes.
Jasper stood over Ian for a moment, trying to take in what he just witnessed. His mind was reeling. The kid had wielded some kind of telekinetic power. A power neither he nor Vincent knew about.
Did Vincent know about it? No, he shook his head.
Vincent couldn’t have known. They both thought Ian had some strength—the kid was faster than the average person—but they’d never assumed the kid was as strong and as fast as they were. Ian was obviously good at hiding shit, because Jasper was sure he would have noticed him holding back.
I should have known.
What Jasper had known was that Ian was quick, learned fast, and could take a muted hit from him, but that Ian was non-confrontational and a bit of a pussy when it came to the hard choices. Hard choices like taking your opponent out and crippling him in the process. Ian didn’t have that killer instinct. That Ian was nothing like the Ian Jasper had encountered at the rest stop and especially now.
Vincent had long assumed that the serum had affected Ian differently; the kid was a goddamn genius. But the kid obviously had other attributes which made things a little more interesting. Jasper wondered what else Ian was hiding.