“You have to physically scan the chip now to override it. Do you think you can develop a program that will knock out everyone in say a hundred-foot radius?”
“You're talking to the man who developed the chip from scratch. Of course I can.”
Jaxton smiled to himself as he backed out of the room and headed toward the kitchen. It was still hard to believe he had her back.
He flipped on the coffeepot and grabbed two mugs from the cabinet. He had forgotten how much he loved coffee over the past few months. It was sent from heaven and he never wanted to live another day without it.
The door creaked behind him, and he spun around to see Gemi leaning against the wall smiling at him.
“And what has you so chipper this morning?”
She chewed on her lip, but the force of her smile popped it free. She seemed more than bright-eyed.
“I think your stories jogged my memory. Either that or you’re just an incredible storyteller.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Mmm-hmm.” She sauntered over and wrapped her arms around him, stuffing her hands in his back pockets.
It was a very Gemi thing to do.
“We were on probation the day of Sann's twenty-first birthday. We got back at sunrise and had to pretend we all came down with food poisoning so that no one would discover how hungover we were.”
“If I remember correctly, you didn't have to try so hard since your face was already buried in a toilet from drinking too many fruity drinks.”
“The sugar gets you.”
“Yeah it does.”
For a fleeting moment Jaxton felt as if they were back at the base before any of the evil had crept in and taken over their lives. He wanted to hold on to the moment forever. He would do anything to keep that look on her face. To protect her from all the bad things that were coming.
“Is that all you remember?” he asked.
“Well, yeah. But it's a start. If you keep telling me bits and pieces, it should be a snap when Dr. Jefferies removes my chip.”
“Hold on. What are you talking about?”
“I'm not saying today, but here soon.”
“I don't think that's a good idea. You don’t understand how—”
“No, you don’t understand!” she snapped and took a step away. “I don't like being in the dark and I sure as hell don't like waiting around to be someone's victim. I've already done that about a hundred and one times now.”
Jaxton set his jaw and stared at her. Sometimes she had no idea what she was asking for or stepping into until it was too late. He wouldn't endanger her life for a few memories. Not when they had time to make new ones.
Silence stretched between them as she scowled at him. Beeping from the coffeepot broke their power struggle. He twisted away from her to switch it off. When he turned back, she was gone, and the door was swinging shut.
So much for a good morning.
Jaxton returned to the main room with two coffees. Someone had set out a round folding table in his absence and circled it with various chairs and stools they grabbed from around the room. Sann had joined Gemi and the doctor and was bent over the tabletop, pointing at a map spread out across it and immersed in the conversation. Jaxton placed the cup of coffee in front of Gemi and sat in the empty chair at her side.
She stayed focused on the map as she pushed it in Sann's direction. Jaxton suppressed a groan and directed his attention to the map. At least she remembered how stubborn she was.
“It's what, a thirty-mile hike from here to the rear side of the base you departed from?” Dr. Jefferies asked.
“Through the main path. Longer if you take the back way through the forest.” Sann said and took a sip of the coffee.
“So once I have the device ready we test it out on the group hanging around here. If it works, we head toward the base. If I know Dagmar, he won’t be that far from the action.”
“I say we set out in the middle of the night,” she suggested, “he won’t be expecting that.”
“Aren't they more active at night?” Jaxton asked.
She ignored him and pointed to the abandoned and burned-out city behind the base. “I'll bet anything this is where he is.”
Sann slumped in his chair. “You think he's been that close the whole time?”
“I'd bet my life.”
“Well, we kind of are,” Jaxton countered, which earned him a dirty look.
“Trouble in paradise?” Sann taunted and gulped downed the rest of the coffee. “That was delicious. I'm going to go make another.”
“What’s going on?” Dr. Jefferies asked as soon as Sann was in the hall and out of earshot.
“She wants to have her chip taken out.”
“I don't really think that's a good idea. You heard what happened to Jaxton.”
“And I don't like being told what to do by a bunch of men. Why don't you focus on the device? And you—” She turned on Jaxton, her eyes cold. “Why don't you go tell someone no? You seem to love doing that.”
She pushed up out of her chair and stalked to the door, snatching Jaxton's coffee off the table on the way.
Jaxton couldn’t suppress his laughter. That was definitely a Gemi thing to do.
“She'll be fine,” he said in response to the look on the doctor's face.
“I hope so. This mission is putting all of our lives at risk.”
“I'll deal with it.”
Jaxton stood up and made his way to the door. He knew she wouldn't go to the kitchen or the barracks. So he walked down the hall. He spotted the woman's restroom at the end and popped his head inside. Sure enough she was sitting on the floor under a boarded-up window, spinning her wedding ring on the tile.
“So, this is gross,” he remarked as he sat down next to her.
“So leave.”
“What is happening right now? I know you and this isn't something you would normally fixate on. We set things right. Then we work on recovering your memories. Safely.”
She fell silent as her fingers continued to spin the metal band on the grimy floor. Jaxton rested his head on the wall, waiting for her to come around. Before the testing it would have taken ten minutes. At most. But this new Gemi was harder to read. She spent months bottling up her emotions and trying to hold everything together on her own.
His gaze drifted around the room. It was an oddly designed restroom for a military base. The walls were painted pink of all colors with matching pink stall doors. It had one sink on the far wall and no showers. He dipped his head and peered under the nearest stall praying that the toilet wasn't pink as well. It was black. A pink-and-black restroom. There was a first for everything.
He shook his head thinking about what kind of people must have lived and worked there. It felt as if they were in a different world.
Gemi smacked the ring on the tile, stopping it from spinning and causing an echo to spread out in the room.
“I don't want to be the weak link,” she said, her eyes still fixed on her hand, and her voice cracking with emotion. “I've been there and done that. It didn't end well.”
“Oh.” Jaxton slung an arm over her shoulder and dragged her into him. He was surprised when she didn't push him off. “You're one of the strongest links. Dagmar doesn't know we've disabled your chip. He's going to get a hell of a shock when he finds out. He'll probably assume that you have all your memories back too.”
She tilted her head toward her shoulder, bringing her face so close she was barely in focus. He could easily kiss her with a slight shift of his body. As if reading his mind her eyes flitted to his mouth. In one breath her lips crushed against his. He had to suppress a moan as her tongue forced its way inside his mouth. It was aggressive and not very Gemi-like as she angled her hips toward his and yanked him into her by his shirt.
Even if the moment seemed all wrong, he delighted in the sensation as her fingers slipped under his shirt, trailing up his abs before dropping back down to his belt. In one pull it popped free from the loop. The sli
ght gesture was loaded with implications. Jaxton groaned and, mustering all the willpower he possessed, broke the kiss. She was panting, her cheeks rosy, and was staring up at him expectantly.
“As much as I want you—” He took her hands in his and planted a kiss on one of them. “And I really do. I'm not having sex on a dirty-ass bathroom floor.”
Her lips dipped down at the corners for a second then pulled up into a mischievous grin.
“Good thing this place has a ton of beds and a door with a lock.”
Jaxton laughed and reached around her for the ring left abandoned on the floor. He held his pointer finger up in front of her face, the ring resting just below his cuticle. She snatched it from him and slid it back on.
“I never want to see that leave your finger again.” He stood and offered her his hand. She took it without hesitation, letting him help her up.
They stepped out of the bathroom together but staggered to a stop when they saw Dr. Jefferies rushing toward them.
“I've been looking for you everywhere!” he bellowed. “Something’s wrong.”
He whirled around and ran back the way he came before what he was saying had the chance to sink it with either of them. Jaxton tightened his grip on Gemi and took off after the doctor. He ran past the barracks and through the doors to the kitchen with them close in tow.
Jaxton's heart skipped a beat. The kitchen was the last place Sann had been. He gave Gemi a brief sidelong glance and sped up. They rushed through the door seconds after the doctor and came to a grinding halt.
Sann writhed on the ground, twisting in ways the body never should. His nose gushed blood as his body arched and slammed back into the tile beneath him.
Jaxton had seen an old movie once, portraying someone as possessed. It had been too hard to watch. But it was nothing compared to the way Sann’s muscles jerked under his skin or the sound his body made as it connected with the ground.
Gemi crossed her arms across her stomach. “What’s wrong with him?”
“I don't know. But none of the drugs are working.”
“Did you override his chip?” Jaxton asked as he dropped to his friend's side and tried his best to keep him immobile.
“Of course I did. Besides, he isn't acting crazy. He's acting like you were when... oh my God.”
Dr. Jefferies ran out of the room leaving Jaxton and Gemi to stare after him. Jaxton met Gemi's wide eyes for one beat of his frantic heart then turned his attention back to Sann. He wasn't looking good.
His long arms thrashed even under Jaxton's grip. Fingers contorted into claws and remained stuck in their lurid position. His back arched so high and at such a weird angle that it looked as though his spine was going to snap. He slammed into the ground once more and blood trickled out of his ears.
Sann was on the precipice of death.
Gemi dropped beside Sann and placed her hands on his legs. Her eyes remained unblinking and full of fear as if she had come to the same conclusion Jaxton already had. The scene in front of them was what happened when memories came back.
That should have been impossible if the doctor had overridden the chips.
“Stay with us,” Jaxton whispered, “we need you to come back.”
It wasn't much, but there had to be a way he could hear him through it. Sann needed an anchor like he had. Needed something to help pull him back.
Dr. Jefferies burst back through the door, his scanner in hand. He fell to his knees next to Sann and placed the cold metal against the back of his neck the best he could between the thrashing. The device went wild, the beeping and screeching filling the air with nothing but noise.
He threw the scanner on the ground and fixed his attention on the tablet in his lap. Gemi leaned over with her hands still clenching Sann's legs and watched him work. Her mouth popped open as an audible breath escaped her then closed as another tremor racked Sann's body and she was forced to focus on holding him down.
Dr. Jefferies’s fingers moved across the screen at a mile a minute. Jaxton had gotten a peek of whatever was on the screen, but it looked like gibberish to him. Judging by Gemi's reaction it must have been some kind of coding.
“Come on!” Dr. Jefferies screamed at the tablet.
“There!” Gemi pinned Sann's legs with her forearm and pointed at the screen.
Dr. Jefferies grumbled and continued typing. He swiped the screen and a dial appeared. As he rotated it, Sann's body relaxed. Both Gemi and Jaxton released some of the pressure on him and sat back, their eyes meeting over his body.
“What the hell was that?” Jaxton asked.
“Our friend Dagmar is a clever one,” he snarled through clenched teeth. “I blocked the chip from overwhelming your brain with new memories and thoughts. But not from unleashing your real ones.” He tossed the tablet on the floor and pressed his face into his hands.
“What does that mean?” Gemi asked.
“It means I need to fix your chip before this happens to you next.” He pushed off the ground and stooped to pick up his equipment. “Jaxton, you grab Sann and bring him to the main room. We can monitor him there. You come with me,” he said pointing at Gemi.
She stood up and followed him out into the hall without another question. If only she was always that compliant, his life would be easier.
Jaxton scooped Sann into his arms, grunting at the stress it placed on his still weak body. The man was denser than he appeared. Jaxton looked down at him as he carried him out of the room. His breathing was labored, but at least he was breathing.
He just hoped his experience wasn't as bad as the one he went through.
Dr. Jefferies had Gemi sitting on one of the gurneys. He was silent as he worked on the tablet once more. Jaxton set Sann down on the bed next to her, fully aware of her eyes tracking his every move.
He rolled an IV stand over to the bed and prepared the line. At least now he remembered he had some medical training. Not much, but he could manage injuries until someone took over. And he sure as hell knew how to insert IVs.
Jaxton slid the needle into his friend's arm and taped it down. He covered him with a blanket and sat down beside him, resting his forehead on the bed.
He thought back to the moment when they first met. Sann befriended him the second they spoke in the cafeteria. It didn't stop him from giving him a hard time for being one of the oldest recruits, but he would shut down any situation that involved anyone else teasing him about it. They were inseparable, even after Gemi walked into the picture.
Jaxton had never had that kind of friendship while growing up. Just an asshole father and a mother who was too scared to stand up to him even for her children’s sake.
He strived to be that person for his younger siblings, doing his best to shield them as much as possible. But no one was there for him until Sann.
He reached out and took Sann's hand in his and gave it a squeeze. Sann was the one who forced him to admit his feelings for Gemi. He was the one who stood by their side even at the end when they knew the plan had failed. He was their family.
Gemi caressed his neck and he lifted his head fractionally although he kept his eyes downcast to hide the tears that were forming. He didn’t want her or the doctor worrying about him when all their focus needed to be on the chips and Sann.
“He’ll be okay,” she murmured. “You suffered through that for three days and came out.”
Jaxton nodded his head and continued to stare at the floor.
“I'm going to help Dr. Jefferies. He's working with some pretty outdated info. We’ve got to make sure everything is perfect when we go out there.”
“Did he fully block your chip?”
“Yeah.” She squeezed his shoulder then walked away.
With his back to them and Sann unconscious, he let his suppressed emotions wash over him. “Come back, man,” he whispered.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jaxton couldn't recall falling asleep. But when he woke, his body ached from the position he was in. His hand still c
lasped Sann's with his head resting on top. He sat up straight, wincing as his spine protested and his arm burned and prickled.
Sann lay motionless with his eyes closed. Someone had applied a nasal cannula and hooked him up to a heart monitor. The steady beeping on the machine told him that he was alive in there somewhere.
He just needed to find his way out of his head.
Gemi and the doctor sat in front of the computer and were speaking low. Neither one of them had noticed he was awake, so he settled back on the bed and watched the rise and fall of Sann's chest.
Sann had always been stronger than he let on. He would bluster and act goofy, but when push came to shove, he was one of the first people to stand up for what he felt was right.
Even on the journey to the base. Even when Gemi lost it, and he attempted to gun her down. In his stupid Sann way, he was trying to protect him and prevent her from doing something she would regret if she ever came out of it. He complained the entire time, but he was there with him, making sure they arrived in one piece.
The heart monitor suddenly went haywire. Jaxton leaped up and looked at the screen as Sann’s heart rate jumped from seventy to a hundred and fifty. Gemi and Dr. Jefferies rushed to his side and fiddled with the various leads and tubes connected to him. He wasn't seizing, which should have been a good sign, but the increasing heart rate and rapid breathing said something else.
Sann let out a gasp and his eyes flew open. Everyone froze.
His heart rate began to lower as his breathing evened out. He blinked hard and then turned his gaze to the three of them still hovering.
“The fuck?” he groaned.
A strangled laugh escaped Jaxton. Leave it to Sann to have a comical reaction when waking up out of a nightmare.
“Welcome back,” Dr. Jefferies said.
“My head feels like it’s about to split open.”
“Yeah, that won’t go away for a while,” Jaxton replied.
Sann's gaze fixed on his and he grinned. “You still mad about that one time I shaved off your eyebrow? I though you would kill me when you were forced to shave the other one so you would be in uniform.”
Paroxysm (Book 2): Paroxysm Aftermath Page 15