Invidious Betrayal

by Shea Swain

  Before she could ask him about the room, Brandon held up his hand for her to move back, then he took a few steps away and fired at the frame and wall parallel to the lock. It took several shots to shred it, and only one strong kick to open the door.

  “Come on,” he told her after he made sure the room was clear.

  When she stepped inside the room, she knew exactly why Brandon had chosen this room. Over a dozen screens covered the wall above a huge workstation that could have accommodated more, but only held two swivel chairs. “It’s a security room,” she mumbled.

  “Yeah, so I can see the safest route to take you.” Brandon stood in front of the screens, pointing two fingers at the ones in the right lower corner. “Keep your eyes on these two,” he said, as he focused on the others.

  She quickly moved around him to watch the monitors he’d indicated. It quickly became clear why he wanted her to focus on them. The monitors showed the hallway they were currently in and it gave a clear view of the hall in both directions. Her eyes were drawn to the bodies they’d left with no regard. She watched them for a moment, thinking that one of the men would wake from this nightmare and just leave. She silently willed it to happen, but the corpses didn’t move.

  Brandon studied her face briefly then said “The dead don’t move. Watch the hall and tell me if any bad guys appear.”

  His voice broke through the spell she’d found herself under. He was right. They couldn’t afford to feel sorry for ‘the bad guys’. She sighed.

  “Remember, Aria, those men were a threat to you. They want Ian dead and God knows what will happen to you once Jasper gets his hands on you.”

  “I know,” she said, as she glanced over at him.

  Brandon didn’t look at her while he spoke. She figured he was too focused on the monitors. Monitors he seemed to be blocking her view of on purpose. “They made their choice,” he added.

  He was right again. As she lowered her head to give her full attention to the measly two monitors he asked her to watch, her attention went to one of the monitors directly above them. “Where is that?” she asked, looking back to Brandon.

  Brandon seemed reluctant to look away from whatever had him transfixed, but he glanced up where she pointed before turning back to what he’d been looking at. She then noticed his body had become rigid, his hands were fisted, and from what she could see, the look on his face was lethal. “That’s Dr. Howl’s office.” He sounded colder, angry. “Let’s go.”

  “You found a clear way for us to get out?” she asked, standing.

  “I found a way for you to get out,” he said, slightly shifting. “I’ll get you out safely, but I’m staying.”

  The image on the monitor of the man lying in his own blood—the man Ian called his uncle—faded as her attention went to one of the monitors Brandon had been blocking from her view. “Oh my God,” she said then covered her mouth. A scream force its way to the through her but Aria held it off. She had no idea she had even moved until Brandon’s arms wrapped low around her waist and pulled her back into the room. “Let me go. He needs me. Who—what is that?” she yelled.

  “He needs you to stay alive. You running into that will only get him killed. Once I make sure you’re safe, I’ll go there to help him.” Brandon’s words made sense, but Aria continued to struggle. “For fuck’s sake,” Brandon protested.

  She felt pressure on the side of her neck. Her eyes fluttered as a curtain seemed to come down.

  IAN COULDN’T HAVE HEARD JASPER right, but the confident smirk of the bastard’s lips told him that he had. So that’s why Jasper and Vincent wanted to keep Aria safe, even from me. “I knew you were off but you’re insane if you think I would let you or Vincent ever touch what’s mine.”

  “Just me,” Jasper smiled. His face stretched, making the way his lips turn up look painful due to the tightness of his skin. “Your uncle, or should I say your father, was soft when it came to you and that prick brother of his. No, Vincent won’t be touching anything, ever again. I made certain of that.”

  A trace of disbelief took root inside Ian. Could Vincent be dead? Unsure of how he felt about Vincent’s possible death, Ian buried the emotions that threatened to distract him and decided to end this confrontation now.

  With a shrug that gave nothing away, Ian continued to close the distance between him and Jasper. “You should know that you’re going to die today. I want the truth of my words to soak in during these last few minutes of your life.”

  Jasper roared with laughter.

  That was good, Ian thought. Jasper underestimates me, like always.

  “That’s it, kid”—Jasper met Ian—“never let 'em see you sweat.” Jasper kicked out, but Ian jumped back, moved to the side, and swung an elbow at Jasper’s face. His elbow hit only air and Ian had to duck before Jasper’s meaty fist could land directly on his jaw. Jasper, being fast and knowledgeable in combat, immediately brought his knee up as Ian bent to avoid his fist and connected with Ian’s chin. The impact sent Ian flying back.

  There was no time for him to recover from the bone-shattering blow because Jasper was on him, swinging those huge abnormally swollen arms. Next thing Ian knew, hands were gripping one of his arm and Jasper was pulling. Ian punched Jasper over and over as he tried to pry his arm free, but Jasper acted as if he felt none of the blows. Ian lifted his hand to send an energy pulse at Jasper but Jasper held on, causing Ian more pain. A popping sound ricocheted off the walls and Ian reluctantly let out a bloodcurdling cry.

  Ian pounded on the big man’s face with his good arm until Jasper let go of the damaged one then Jasper threw him across the room. Jasper used his speed to meet then straddle Ian, serving up blow after blow. His strength had increased and he was faster too, but Ian was motivated. There was nothing more important to him than keeping Aria safe, and as long as Jasper walked the earth she wouldn’t be. Just knowing that ignited a rage that was fierce.

  He blocked most of the blows Jasper rained down on him with his good arm, feeling the sting of a couple on his jaw. It took one good push to get Jasper off him. Ian followed the push with a pulse of energy that drove Jasper into the wall. The floor shook under the weight of Jasper’s frame as he crashed down. To Ian’s surprise, Jasper shook his head, then pinned his beady eyes on him again. Apparently the injections had Jasper not only disfigured, but amped up. And Jasper’s body was still changing, it seemed.

  Pulsating growths were emerging from parts of Jasper’s body and if Ian was seeing things clearly, which he may not have been following the blows to his head, some of the growths had small patches of hair sprouting from them.

  “Your body can’t handle the dosage you took. Look at you Jasper. Any woman would be repulsed by what you’ve become,” Ian said, as he gripped his shoulder and forced his arm back into the socket.

  “If my appearance is not to her liking”—Jasper smiled as he got to his feet—“perhaps I’ll remove her eyes. She doesn’t need them for what I have planned.”

  Ian was determined to make Jasper regret those words when the sound of another heartbeat entered the fray. He tried to appear calm as he searched the room, hoping that it wasn’t Aria. Relief that it wasn’t Aria was short-lived because Ian now had to worry about getting Brandon to safety.

  Before Ian could act, several gunshots rang out. Every bullet hit its target but Jasper moved his body in such a way that made it impossible to target accurately. A few bullets entered his chest, a couple in his arms, but Jasper barely flinched. Instead, he turned and ran toward Brandon with such speed and confidence that Ian knew none of the bullets had hit a vital organ.

  Ian maneuvered to protect his friend, reaching Brandon just as Jasper went for his neck. Swinging Brandon out of the madman’s grasp, Ian unintentionally put himself in the way. He must have swung Brandon with too much force because he heard his friend gasp as he hit the wall a little too hard. The sound of his friend’s distress broke Ian’s concentration.

  Jasper took advantage of Ian’s obvio
us concern and reached for him. Ian shifted slightly but Jasper’s huge beefy hands still closed around his neck, cutting off his breathing. No matter how Ian kneed, kicked or elbowed, Jasper maintained his hold. Ian fought for breath, fought to keep his eyes open, and when he managed to meet Jasper’s wicked gaze, he could see him grinning as if he’d already won.

  “I can’t wait to feel those luscious curves of hers under me. I know she’s a fighter. I’m going to enjoy breaking her.”

  Ian had enough. He’d never felt as much anger, so much hate for anyone in his life. He closed his eyes to allow himself to relax and reached for what really made him different, what he’d felt growing inside of him, what he’d been afraid of these past few months. He pulled at the power inside him and basked in it, commanded it. His body heeded the call, the merging of body and soul. He felt himself growing stronger. Ian could feel the drum of his heartbeat, the fire in his mind, they were in perfect synch.

  As Jasper’s hands tightened, Ian neck muscles were already fighting against that grip. Air traveled into Ian’s lungs as if his life wasn’t being choked out of him. His chest expanded and he exhaled with a calmness that only a confident man possessed.

  Jasper’s eyes widened, hinting at the fear behind them.

  A grin slowly spread across Ian’s face as he dug his fingers into Jasper’s wrist, using all of his previously-dormant strength to pry the swollen hands apart and remove them from his neck. Ian could feel his opponent struggling against him. Ian could feel the strain and tension in Jasper as he pried the hands one inch, two inches, three inches away from his neck.

  Ian slammed his head into Jasper’s, driving the big man back on wobbly legs. Giving his opponent no time to recover, Ian attacked with no remorse, no restraint, using all of what Jasper had taught him while incorporating other fighting styles he’d learn over the years. He wanted Jasper to know that he was better…no energy pulses, no telekinesis, just strength and skill. His attacks were smooth and graceful; his defense perfectly timed. Ian was the perfect weapon, and he savored the truth of it when his old teacher fell on his ass.

  Standing over Jasper’s broken, hideously transformed body, Ian felt a twinge of sorrow for the man that had saved him from the sad existence of his eccentric, boring childhood. A man who had taught him that anger, the only emotion his father and uncle seemed to embrace, could be quieted and used to power your strength.

  Only this was also the man who had killed without compassion.

  Although Ian hadn’t felt much before Aria extracted his emotions from the abyss where he’d been encouraged to bury them, he knew right from wrong. He knew that others felt pain and loss even though he had a hard time relating. Ian thought about everything he had learned about the side effects of taking Syn-serums and the impact it had on Jasper as well as his uncle. However, he also realized that Jasper had become too removed from what made him human. That, coupled with the unknown effects of the new serum on him, and his threats towards Aria meant that Jasper had to die.

  A fog lifted from Aria’s head. It took several minutes to realize what she had been doing before her mind had fuzzed over. She hadn’t yet opened her eyes when everything that had happened came to her with a force that had her sitting up before she’d figured out where she was. Her head quickly hit something and she grunted, her hands went to her head, and she fell back. She then realized that it was completely dark and she was in a small space.

  Brandon had put her in a car trunk? A trunk! He put me in a trunk; she thought just as she felt around, then located a set of keys close beside her.

  She pushed the trunk release and it popped open. It took her another few minutes to climb out of the trunk and make out where she was, but it was remedied when she saw the unmanned security station a few feet away. Looking around, she saw a door, but knew she wouldn’t be able to open it without a key card. She was in the HowlTech underground parking lot; mere feet separated her from the safety of the world.

  Aria ran for the parking garage entrance as fast as she could. It was dark out and the business district was empty as she whipped around the building and down the street, avoiding a lamp post and a metal garbage can. When she got to the front of the HowlTech building, she slowed, but climbed the wide stone steps to get to the main doors.

  Out of breath and her chest heaving, Aria cursed when she pulled at the thick glass door and it didn’t open. The building was made of a dark-tinted glass that made it impossible for her to see inside, so she had no idea what was happening. Aria pulled at the handle a few more times, banged her fist against the glass, and kicked the impossibly thick door before sinking to the cold ground.

  Ian.

  “I need to get in that building,” she said. Her voice trembled, but she wouldn’t give up. Her gaze went to the door handle again. This time she noticed the security scanner. “Keys!” she screamed, as she got to her feet. It had never dawned on her that she had the key card on the keys she’d dropped. She made for the parking garage, moving slower, but still too fast for a visibly pregnant and recently ill woman. The keys were on the ground next to the car’s rear tire.

  Picking them up, Aria paused to grab her stomach because a sharp pain streaked up her side due to the angle she’d bent. She took a few deep breaths. When she felt safe enough to move, she took off for the main door again.

  Out of breath, but determined, Aria swiped the key card as she leaned on the door handle. When the light on the door lit up green, she sighed and pushed the heavy glass open. What she saw ripped the much needed breath from her lungs and the rest of the fading strength from her body; she fell back against the door.

  Several men were motionless, spread throughout the lobby. Wait... One of them leaning against a crumbling wall was moving, but very slowly. A few feet away, Ian stood over something that didn’t look quite human; it looked much worse than what he had faced on the security monitor.

  Aria squinted as she peered and tried to figure out what— “Oh God.” She covered her mouth in an effort to keep down the vomit that had bubbled up her throat. The thing lying at Ian’s feet was Jasper, and he looked like a bloody twisted version of the Toxic Avenger.

  Aria moved forward, toward Ian, but the man who she’d seen moving against the wall called to her, causing her to stop.

  “No”—Brandon raised his arm, motioning—“don’t go near them.” His voice was low, almost too low to hear. Aria could see then that he was badly hurt.

  Aria wanted to help Brandon. She also wanted to go to Ian, but the warning in Brandon’s weak voice and her take on the situation told her that doing so wasn’t a good idea. “Ian,” she called out. But he didn’t look at her. He didn’t even raise his head to acknowledge that he’d heard her.

  She didn’t want to panic. She didn’t want to think of him being lost to her, to them. Our baby needs a father. He’d promised her that he would not let her get hurt. Do you know that losing you would kill me, she thought. Her mind went blank as she simply gazed at Ian and absently rubbed her hand over her belly.

  Then Ian moved. He’d moved so fast that she hardly saw when he bent over Jasper, but she saw the promise of death in his eyes before she heard the crack of Jasper’s neck. Ian stood, still standing over Jasper; he spread his fingers. A gun that was lying several feet away slid across the floor and into Ian’s waiting hand. The fact that he hadn’t even looked at the gun as it came to him was unnerving.

  Aria knew Ian was going to pull the trigger, but her body still jerked as all three shots rang out. One shot in the chest, two to the head. Ian didn’t lower the gun. Instead he continued to point it at Jasper’s head as if the man was going to move, even after those perfectly centered kill shots.

  Ian watched the body until Aria began to worry that maybe Jasper wasn’t dead yet, despite what Ian had done to him. Then, to her relief Ian finally made a move. He didn’t look at her or at Brandon, who was still lying on the floor in obvious pain. She watched Ian as he tossed the gun away, turned toward the elevator
s and said, “You’re safe now. There’s something else I need to do. Help Brandon.” Then he entered an elevator.

  What the hell?

  Aria saw that Brandon had watched Ian as well. But Brandon shook his head when she took a step forward to follow the man she loved. As she fought with her desire to follow him, Ian’s back was the last she saw of him before the elevator door closed. So she walked over to Brandon and began checking out his injuries as she worried for Ian.

  Ian stepped inside the elevator, waited for the doors to closed, and then pushed the button to stop the elevator. He slid to the floor, placed his elbows on his knees and his hand on his head, and took some time to just breathe. It was done. They’d survived but…but he felt unhinged. He couldn’t let Aria see him like this. It took a couple minutes of breathing easy for Ian to get to his feet and hit the buttons that would take him to the lower levels.

  When the elevator opened, he expected eerie silence, but he was mildly surprised to hear the sound of heartbeats and softened footsteps as the residual misty swirls of a smoke bomb faded.

  People who weren’t here minutes ago were now in the building.

  Just as Ian turned to get back to Aria, more smoke filled the hall, making his lungs and eyes burn. Visibility through the smoke should have been poor, but he could see men filling the hall, dressed in black combat gear and sleek masks. Red laser lines beamed out all around him until a half dozen focused on his chest. A man yelled for him to get on the floor with his arms spread, but Ian decided that wasn’t going to happen.

  Ian breathed deeply, realizing that this would never be over. He was aware that Carlos and a group of others had been Vincent’s and Jasper’s puppets, but how many more were there and had any taken the serum? How many more would Ian have to face? He readied himself to defend himself, to attack, to take more life.

  Before this all began, he would have never imagined killing someone. Now…now he had no difficulty ending a life if it meant keeping Aria safe.