“Brody,” Ariel called over Wyatt’s screams.
As he turned toward her voice, Ariel lifted her gun and fired. Kat squeezed her eyes shut, as if that would somehow make dying easier. Then the impact of the bullet slamming into Brody caused her to fall back with him because his hands were still tangled in her hair. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard a second shot fired. She scrambled on to her hands and knees.
She looked up in amazement. Ariel’s gun was still aimed at Sasha, whose lifeless body hung precariously from the control panel because her shirt had gotten caught up on the levers. Her arm was swinging back and forth eerily. Jason was aiming his gun at Ariel and kept it drawn even when she reached her hand down to help Kat onto her feet.
Ariel lowered her pistol slowly. Jason took several steps toward them with his weapon still at the ready. He was halfway across the room and had just started to lower his weapon when two shots were fired. One pierced Jason’s arm and spun him just before the second ripped through his neck.
“No!” Kat ran toward Wyatt. He had somehow managed to lift his gun despite his severely injured hands.
Kat slid and kicked the gun out of his hands and Ariel shot him several times. He was most assuredly dead this time, but Kat didn’t stick around to know for certain. She scrambled to her feet, ran to Jason, and was already crying before she scooped him into her arms. He struggled to breathe, but still smiled up at her when she leaned over him. The gunshot that ripped through his arm seemed so insignificant compared to the one that ripped through that portion of his neck just where it met his shoulder.
“I love you,” he said in barely a whisper, his eyes closing.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Kat laid him on his back. “Just hang on, babe. Hang on for me,” she cried as she grabbed the laptop and started the sequence so that the last of the rods could be removed from the uranium. The program had to run before allowing her access to the teleporter. “Go, Ariel,” Kat yelled as she pulled the laptop toward him. She dropped it and looked down at her hand, a burning light illuminating around her ring finger.
“He’s gone, Kat.” Ariel cried when Kat slid beside them. She whimpered because she knew that the pain in her hand cemented that fact in her heart forever. A blinding light illuminated her hand, the intensity matching the crushing pain that gripped her ring finger as Jason’s family crest faded from her skin.
“No! Dammit, Jason, you stay with me! Just a couple more minutes, babe! Jason!” The light flashed bright then went out. Kat leaned over Jason and checked his pulse. She sobbed. “No, no, no,” she begged. “Please just hang on,” she cried as she checked to see if the rods were up. “Two more minutes, Jason. Just hang on for me,” she cried.
“Come on, Kat.” Ariel pulled her toward the door. “We have to go. They’re sending more people because I haven’t reported back in!”
“No,” she cried pulling herself free and sitting beside him again.
“Kat, you activated this thing so we have to go, come on!” Ariel screamed pulling her so that their faces were only inches apart. “You dying too will only make his death a greater tragedy. Listen to me!” She shook her violently.
“No,” Kat pulled away from her and fell on the floor again. “Just go, Ariel, go,” she sobbed as she gathered Jason in her arms. “I can’t live without him.”
“I’m so sorry,” Ariel kissed her forehead.
She looked at Kat for a long moment then gave her a long hug. Ariel stood, somehow knowing that Kat meant it, that she wasn’t leaving. Kat watched as she ran from the room, and then disengaged all the door locks so that Ariel could make it outside safely. She only hoped that she could make it a safe distance before the plant blew.
Sobbing, Kat pulled Jason into her arms and rocked him gently. She had never felt so cheated before. They had almost made it. They had gotten so close and failed right before the finish line, which somehow made it even more devastating, because she could still almost taste victory. Kat could still picture them in their little house by the river with their redheaded, blue-eyed children.
“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go,” David shouted as he ran into the room. “Get your ass up, lady. I’m not dying tonight.” He pulled her onto her feet. “And neither are you.”
“Am I dead?” She whispered.
“Nope,” he laughed and lifted the laptop onto the control panel. “But we’ll both be dead and radioactive in about three minutes if we don’t get out of here.”
“How?” She whispered. “I watched you die…”
“I know. And let me just tell you how much that sucked. I thought I was so freaking brilliant by choosing death by poisoning,” he punched keys on the laptop. “But that little frog packs a punch. I won’t ever underestimate Kermit again.” He hit several keys then shook his head. “Dammit. Fucking Jason and his passwords—”
“David,” she said still in shock. “We mourned you, thought you—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. But I need you to focus for me right now. End of the world in less than three minutes, so we need to go. We don’t have enough time to make it back to my teleporter so we gotta use yours, what’s the password?”
“I’m not going,” she shook her head. “You go. It’s buttercup.”
“Damn,” he punched in the password. “You were right. I owe you three days of breakfast.”
“Excuse me?”
“That’s not it,” he tried it again then looked at Kat. “I just said that Sparky, and this really wouldn’t be a time that I’d joke around. Kat, password, please,” he looked at her.
“What?” She asked. She felt so lost, what breakfast and who was joking? “It’s buttercup—”
“It’s not. I typed it in three times and it’s not working, so what is it? Dammit, Sparky, I know, you’re not helping.”
“Did you try in all caps?” Kat asked looking down at Jason.
“Geez, of course I tried it in all caps! And all lowercase and a combination,” he looked up for a second. “What? Good thinking, hang on…”
“What?” She looked at Jason then back at David, her disbelief was obviously making her slightly dazed.
“Okay, it’s nine-letters. Listen to me,” he dropped next to her and forced her to look at him. “We have less than two minutes to get out of here, Kat, so I need you to focus—”
“I’m not going, David, I’m sorry,” she cried.
“If we get him to a regenerator within the next hour, he will be fine,” he grabbed her shirt and pulled her so that her face was against his. “So get your ass up and help me with this password or we’re all toast!”
“Really?” She asked when he pulled her onto her feet.
“Yes, really, I wouldn’t lie about that. What?” He asked then nodded. “Hint is Love Vernon. What the hell does that mean?”
“What?” She looked at him as he pushed her against the control panel and turned the laptop toward her, “To get the teleporter open so we can leave, the hint is Love Vernon. It’s a nine letter password whose hint is Love Vernon. Do you know what the hell that means?” He asked her, the look on his face would have been funny under any other circumstance.
“I don’t know?” She shook her head and looked at him then at Jason.
“Think, Kat!” He squeezed her hand. “Dammit, you try to break through it. I’m trying to get her to focus, and it doesn’t help when you’re chirping in my damn ear!” He shook her again. “Kat, you have to know it, think!”
She looked at him then looked back at Jason. “We can save him?”
“Yes! I swear I’m not lying to you. But not if we’re dead so nine letters, Love Vernon is the hint.” He shook his head. “Honey, less than two minutes, there’s no way I can carry him and get on the roof!”
Kat looked at him then ran to Jason and cradled him in her arms. She closed her eyes and fought against the panic that was mounting in her chest. She could save him. He would be okay if she could get him out of there, so she had to concentrate but she couldn�
�t. She looked at him and sobbed when his head lolled in her arms but she took a deep breath and focused. She knew him better than anyone so knew that he wouldn’t pick a word that she wouldn’t know. But the word he selected would be one that only she knew, so no one else could override his system.
“What was the hint?” She yelled.
“Love Vernon, come on, baby girl, we have less than a minute!”
“I’m not letting you die,” she pressed her head against Jason’s and closed her eyes. “Love Vernon,” she repeated and wondered who the hell Vernon was. The only time she had ever heard that name was when Jason was going on and on about Elvis, because Vernon was his father’s name. Her heart skipped a beat. Love, it wasn’t a salutation, it was Elvis’ mother’s middle name—Gladys Love Presley. Yes, that was yet another piece of pointless trivia that he had pounded into her head.
Then the image of the postcard in his dresser came instantly to her mind. “Brandon,” she whispered than shook her head. “That’s not nine letters…”
Kat stared down at Jason and so many memories flooded her mind of them dancing and watching movies and their Halloween costumes. His favorite song made a reference to those numbers; she had realized that several weeks after they had worn them…and his other favorite song made reference to her nick name.
How had she never seen it before? Kat was Jason’s buttercup. And if that wasn’t the password then there was only one other nine-letter word that would mean the same thing.
“Priscilla!” She yelled. “The password is Priscilla!”
“What?” David punched in the word. “That’s it!” He shouted, clearly amazed that she had put that together. He pulled Jason over his shoulder and they ran and stood in place.
“Latitude is fifty-three, twenty, fifty-two, north. Longitude is six, fifteen, thirty-five, west,” David yelled the numbers as Kat punched them into her watch.
He called out the numbers for the teleporter then the password and just as he finished saying the last number, Kat hit the button and they teleported. She followed behind David as he ran across the room they materialized in, and headed for an already opened regenerator. She helped lay Jason’s body onto it and pulled the door closed once David took a step back. She dropped to her knees and waited, the familiar humming and chirping of the machine giving her heart hope that he was right, that he hadn’t been lying to save himself, and that Jason would be okay.
As the regenerator powered down and the lights faded, the humming came to a stop. She stood tall on her knees and tried to pull the door open before the lock disengaged. She cried out in frustration. Then she heard the bolt slip as the machine shut off and pulled at it again and it popped open.
Jason’s eyes fluttered open. He looked around, then smiled when he saw her. He sat up and pulled her into her arms. Then, not sure if it was from her injuries or the overwhelming sensation of seeing him alive, Kat fainted.
Chapter Twenty My Mom Rocks
Kat opened her eyes and bolted upright so she could hug Jason. She didn’t even care that he hadn’t yet lifted the door to the regenerator all the way and that she banged her head against the handle. She was just so happy to see him, to feel him and to hear him laughing, that she could have gotten hit in the head a thousand times and would still be smiling.
“Are you okay?” She kissed his face over and over again.
“I’m okay.” He laughed and leaned her back enough to feel her head. “Are you? Do we need to lay you down again?”
“No, I’m fine. More than fine,” she cried as she hugged him and pressed her face against his neck. His very beautiful and intact neck, “I’m perfect.”
“They’re a few people here that want to see you.” He laughed again. “Us that is, and it’s a bit shocking—”
“Who?” She leaned back and gasped, “Vanessa!”
He helped her out of the regenerator, and Vanessa moved forward, and they hugged each other so tightly Kat was sure neither one of them could breathe.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Vanessa cried as she leaned back to look at her.
“Me too,” she wiped the tears away. “What are you doing here? How did you get here?” She looked at Jason. “And where is here?”
“All good questions,” David tapped Jason’s shoulder. His obvious disbelief that David was alive still evident. “Which we’ll answer after one more reintroduction,” David moved beside her and he took one hand while Vanessa squeezed the other.
“What is it?” She asked, a sense of dread coming over her. She looked at Jason who appeared just as clueless as she was. He took a step closer and rubbed her back as he followed along.
“Nothing bad,” Vanessa assured her.
“They just don’t want you freaking out is all,” the familiar voice sending a chill down her spine and bringing tears to her eyes. “I told them you’d be fine—”
“Lauren!” Kat cried as she shoved everyone out of her way so she could get to her. Lauren was leaning against a table at the far end of the next room. “Lauren!”
“I told them you’d be fine—”
Kat could barely see through her tears, so she was glad Lauren made most of the trip across the room and held her tightly, sobs ripping through her as they embraced. Then Jason was there, and he almost crushed them when he pulled them into a bear hug.
“You bitch!” Kat laughed as she leaned back and looked at her. She placed her hands on Lauren’s face, almost like she had to make sure she was real.
“Damn!” David made his way toward them. “Now that’s three dinners. Really, Kat, do you have to be so damn predictable?” He laughed when he took in her wide-eyed stare.
“Come on,” Vanessa took her hand and guided her to a sofa. “I’ve been here just a little bit longer so a lot of the novelty is wearing off, so I can maybe help clear some stuff up for you.” She pulled her down onto the couch and Jason took a seat beside her.
“You two have got to be exhausted,” David said as he and Lauren took seats across from them. “If you wanna get some rest—”
“What the hell is that?” Kat asked pointing at David’s arm when he wrapped it around Lauren’s shoulder and pulled her against him.
“What?”
“Dude,” Jason looked at them then at Kat. “How are you two alive and why does it seem like you’re a…”
“Couple?” Lauren laughed. “We are. And have been for a while now.”
“What?” Kat asked looking between them. “How…when? You never told me.”
“I did. I mean, you knew I always liked him…”
“Yeah, but…” She looked at their joined hands then at Jason and Vanessa. “Were you two together the whole time?”
“No,” Lauren stood and walked over to her and took a seat on the floor beside her. “We were both too scared to ever tell each other because we both assumed that the other was normal.”
“So to throw a lot at you all at once, which will probably be overwhelming at first, but we’ll help you sort it all out,” David said. “We pretended that there was nothing there—”
“Even though there was,” Lauren added.
“And it would have stayed that way if your mother hadn’t caught me.”
“My mother?” Kat looked between them.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “She caught me watching Lauren one day and afterward, when I got home and thought I was in the clear, she teleported to the house and scared the crap out of me.” He chuckled. “I just figured it was Ariel, so I was walking around in boxers and drinking milk out of the carton and she just walks passed me and grabbed a soda out of the fridge.” He laughed and shook his head. “Anyway, long story short, she called me on it, then recruited me.”
“Recruited you?” She and Jason asked in unison.
“Yeah, Kat,” he nodded. “All of this,” he pointed around the room. “And me, then Lauren, it was your mom’s doing. She’s been building an empire for you for over a decade now.”
“What?” She looked aroun
d the room then at them.
“She always knew, Kat,” Lauren said. “She always knew that you were more human than Nemeanian. And she didn’t want you to be forced into that life, not if you didn’t want it.”
“So this house?” She looked around.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Is yours, along with several other places. Twelve total, all in different parts of the world. And a boat load of money to go along with it, enough to last several human lifetimes.”
“But when did she?” Kat looked at Jason. “How did she?” She looked at Vanessa, “Holy cow!”
“I know, right!” Lauren said excitedly, “You’re freaking mom rocks!”
“Then how did you end up here?” She looked at Vanessa. “And you?” She looked at Lauren. “And where are we and can I see her now?”
“Whoa, sweetie,” Lauren chuckled. “One thing at a time, okay? Let me give you the CliffsNotes version…I’m here because David begged your mom to let him tell me how he felt about me before he left—”
“Which she was totally opposed to,” he added. “The plan was never for her to be here too.”
“So what happened?” Jason asked impatiently when David and Lauren stopped to look at each other and laugh.
“I lost it,” David chuckled. “When I found out that she was going to Russia, my gut just told me that she was gonna try to be all lovey-dovey with Vlad—”
“Halloween,” Kat looked between them. “That’s why you ended up going on the mission too?”
“Yeah,” he laughed. “Like hell I was just gonna sit around and let her run off with another man for the weekend.”
Sleeper Cells Page 30