“Don’t have the luxury of resting after what we saw. I’ve realized something,” he said in a quiet voice. “They didn’t try to fight for the building. Didn’t plan to erase us. Merely cover it. Those doctors were nothing to them, as disposable as the experiments they created. They’ll kill more people.”
“Then Watson was right. This isn’t their only laboratory.”
“Aye. Far from it. They hid this one in plain sight, because there’s no better place to run an illegal operation. That place was one drop in a bucket of evil, Nisrine.”
“It was, and we’ll bring them down together. But first, we’re going to have a chat with Xander before exploring these new developments.”
He hesitated. “I’m afraid Xander will insist on pulling me from the mission. I don’t want to talk to him,” he confessed. “I don’t want to return to the Jemison. This is my mission now.”
“Give Xander more credit. He knows how important this is to you, but a good agent also knows when to get help.”
“You’re right,” Kaiden said in a small, chastened voice. “You usually are the voice of reason.”
Nisrine placed her hands on his shoulders and squeezed, the hard muscles and nanoweaving solid and unyielding beneath her touch.
“I believe you’re fully capable of continuing on our mission, but I’d like to know what brought you down so we can avoid a recurrence.”
“All right, Lieu—”
“Call me Nisrine.”
She guided him to the chair at her console, though he didn’t take the seat until she pressed on his brawny shoulders. Within seconds of placing the call, the dimmed screen brightened and gained clarity, becoming Xander’s anxious face. He sat at his office terminal in the medical bay, clothed in rumpled civilian garments and looking like a man who had been awakened in the middle of the night.
“At last!” the scruffy doctor exclaimed. As relief flooded over his features, he leaned forward. “How are you, Kaiden? Is everything functioning? Jem reported your status when I logged in to monitor your vitals.”
“At the moment,” he replied.
“Tell me what happened, from the start of the first symptom to the most recent thing you remember.”
Kaiden retold the story, beginning with the first odd sensation, the head pressure, and finally the loss of sensation to his limbs. “Then the lieutenant got me to the ship and tucked me in bed.”
“I see. Tell me, what happens if you try to communicate with Jem inside your head.”
Kaiden promptly winced and raised one hand to his brow. With his eyes squeezed tight against the pain, he released a half-shuddering breath. “No. Can’t do that right now. Hurts too much.”
“I thought so. You’ve overexerted yourself, Kaiden. It’ll probably be a few days before you’re able to access anything virtually without discomfort.”
“What can you do for his pain in the meantime?” Nisrine asked.
“As I can’t physically examine him, I’ll have to make a judgment based on his most recent vitals. I’ve done this sort of work before, and as I understand, there are safe houses with access to a wide variety of necessary drugs. Nisrine, please take note.”
Xander rattled out a list of drugs, creating a prescription list of exotic names and strange dosage measures that made Nisrine frown. At the same time, it sounded routine and familiar. In fact, she’d even taken Luxomir herself a couple years prior for a psychic migraine—after interrogating the traitor aboard their ship.
“After Jem informed me of what happened, I contacted an acquaintance who studies primarily in the field of psioneuroscience. Your symptoms struck me as similar to what I’ve seen in overexerted psychics. What I was able to gather is that what you are suffering isn’t related directly to your neurocybernetics.”
Kaiden’s frown deepened. “I don’t have psychic abilities anymore.”
Xander shook his head. “Actually, yes, you do. Prior to your abduction, you and Gareth both had A-class psychic talent.”
“Barely, Xander. On the greater end of the B scale maybe.”
“There’s no barely about it now. Your brother didn’t want to tell you this because you’ve taken losing your gift so hard, mate, but Gareth has been reclassified as an S-class. He’s experienced several improvements in great leaps and bounds since your return to the Jemison.”
“And I haven’t.” A despondent look came over Kaiden’s face, and the life left his eyes. “I’m happy for him. He didn’t have to hide it for my sake to spare me any pain. I’ve come to terms with mine being gone.”
Nisrine couldn’t imagine losing her powers. It would be no different than someone cracking open her chest with an icepick and tearing out her heart. Her psionic gifts had become a part of her, too ingrained in her personality and lifestyle. If ever they were gone, she would no longer feel like the woman they all knew.
Without understanding why she did it, she reached for Kaiden’s hand and set her fingers over the back of his knuckles.
“That’s the other part of what I’ve wanted to tell you, Kaiden. Your gift isn’t gone. It adapted. You’re no longer a psychic in the same sense as Nisrine or Gareth. You’ve developed something different. With machines.”
Chapter Ten
Kaiden was a sullen companion during the initial stages of his recovery. While he made every effort to put on a brave face, she felt the disappointment shimmering around him in palpable waves. He loathed traveling as the bedbound partner in her care, so once she declined his aid, he divided his time between sleeping deeply and drowsily asking again if she needed help.
As he slept, she read, seated at the command center with a box of documents alongside her. She skimmed medical profiles and detailed surgical notes while keeping tabs on her patient.
Patient C13, age nine, brought in by her mother with a chief complaint of asthma-related symptoms. Blood testing revealed subject to be a suitable candidate for DNA splicing. The mother has agreed to relinquish custody of the child into our care for a modest settlement.
She scowled down at the report, stomach twisting. The remainder were no less disturbing, two years of legitimate medical services peppered with insidious experiments and corrupt agendas.
She read for hours between cups of coffee and periodic checks into Kaiden’s well-being. Xander had assured her he would recover in time, but his suffering would be reduced to a handful of days if given the proper therapeutic drugs. Once Nisrine located a nearby safe house outfitted with pharmaceutical stores, she adjusted the ship’s flight pattern to the new destination.
He roused as they approached the edge of the Tangipahoa Nebula. “Nisrine?” he asked, voice little more than a sleepy slur.
She twisted away from her console. “I’m right here.”
“Where are we?”
“We haven’t yet left the United Britannia System,” she told him. “Boreas is on the edge, so we’ll be there soon.”
“Should have used the FTL,” he murmured. “Ship is slow.”
“Then sleep,” she encouraged him. “Our destination wasn’t far enough to be worth jumping to hyperspeed and putting that kind of strain on the ship. I’ll let you know when anything changes.” Nisrine also didn’t like to fly Faster-Than-Light within the same system. It took skill she lacked as a pilot to pull out at a precise location.
After his green eyes closed, she smoothed the dark hair from his brow and sighed.
By the end of the sixth day, Kaiden was able to stand on his own, but he remained unsteady on his feet and required help moving around the ship. He collapsed on the kitchen floor, and after that, Nisrine banished him to the master bedroom again and tucked him into her bed.
“I feel like a child.”
“You’re as stubborn as one,” Nisrine retorted.
“I want you to know I’m biting back an inappropriate joke about nursing.” After a pause, he muttered, “Does that count as still keeping it to myself?”
And if he’d been any other partner, she’d ha
ve taken offense. Maybe. Instead, she kept her back to him so he couldn’t see the smile fighting its way onto her lips. “It does. Technically.”
She did not need to think about Kaiden Lockhart’s mouth on her breasts, though she imagined his tongue would be talented when he closed his lips around her nipple. And his fingers, too. They looked articulate and strong and...
Focus.
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I’d rather you be yourself, and a little levity isn’t bad after what we’ve seen.”
With him safely in bed behind her, she worked at the terminal and kept tabs on their progress to the next system.
“Does HQ know you’ve taken material from the laboratory?” he asked.
“They do not,” she replied without looking up from her work. “If there’s a mole, or worse, a leak in the upper intelligence chain, everyone benefits from me reporting as little as possible. I won’t allow this to end up the same as the facility where we found you—swept under the rug. Something about this entire deal stinks, Kaiden.”
Nisrine skimmed through another set of medical records. A young boy without any discernible psychic talent. Subject incompatible. Released. The next manila folder contained the physical profile of a Royal Navy veteran in his twenties who had rejected two replacement limbs. Subject incompatible. Released.
“So that’s how they’re operating now. When we foiled their plans two years ago, they changed their mode of operation,” Nisrine said.
“How do you figure?”
“Abducting large quantities of people no longer works. It draws attention to them, which United Command isn’t able to ignore. Why kidnap a thousand people to find less than a dozen qualified test subjects, when the potential test subjects can come to you?”
“The clinics,” Kaiden breathed. “They’re using the clinics to screen for the traits they find desirable in their test subjects.”
“Yes. Are you able to read without pain yet?” Nisrine asked him. He shook his head. “Then I’ll summarize my findings for you. The clinic in Jacksonville retained 0.3% of its patients for medical testing and experimentation. They sought psychics and people with natural mutations in their gene sequences.”
“I’ll be damned. And with more clinics around the system, who knows how many more they’ve taken.”
“Exactly.” The whole thing made her sick.
“We have reached our destination,” the robotic tone of the Universal Positioning System announced to them. “Landing procedures initiated.”
“About time. I’m anxious to stretch my legs,” he muttered. When he rose from the bed and took his first step, he stumbled and caught his weight with both hands on the wall.
“No, you will remain on the ship,” she countered. “It will only be an hour at the most. I’ll grab what’s needed and return.”
“Fine then,” he agreed with reluctance. “I’d prefer to go with you, but you’re right. I can barely focus. I’m seeing double of you.” A quiet smile touched his lips as he flopped into the bed again. It protested beneath his sudden weight. “Not a bad view, though.”
“That’s the medication talking.”
“You gave me paracetamol.” A common drug for headaches and fevers.
Amusement brought a smile to her lips. “Don’t get into any trouble while I’m gone.”
“I won’t.”
After bundling up against the unforgiving weather of the planet Boreas, Nisrine left the ship. Locks clicked into place and minor defensive systems activated behind her with a soft, gentle hum.
With a location on the outskirts of Albion’s solar system, Boreas was too distant to maintain fair weather for more than a single month of the year. The rest of the time was spent in shades of gray and white. Ice and salt crunched beneath her booted feet.
Snow drifted down in fat flakes from the dismal sky. She edged into the pedestrian flow and headed deeper into the city, following a memorized route. The safe house occupied a two-bedroom apartment in an unremarkable red brick building. Though there was a droid meandering slowly down the sidewalks, its heated plow scraping away inches of hard-packed snow from the walking paths, it hadn’t yet reached the front of the safe house.
Nisrine walked with care and picked her way up the trio of steps. Ignoring the card key reader, she touched the glass panels beside the door in a specific pattern, then the door unlocked.
Plain white walls greeted her and motion-sensing lights flared pale yellow. United Command owned the entire building and rented a few of the upper level flats to agents like Nisrine who worked in the local population. Once inside, she headed straight down the hall and turned to the right, counting down to the third door on the left. She tapped in her passcode then pushed inside.
Lights activated from all corners of the furnished apartment when she entered, more motion sensors picking up her presence. She swept through each room and once assured she was alone, began to rummage through the cabinets.
She filled her pockets with the drugs Xander had named and checked out a few additional narcotics and sleeping agents. Remembering how he’d been passed out for days without food, she grabbed a pair of IV kits and liquid nourishment. The parka was big and fluffy, perfect for concealing the weapons she carried and their necessary goods.
“Kaiden? I’ve got the medicine and will return shortly.”
“Okay,” he replied. “Think you can bring me a burger since you’re already out there?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Nisrine claimed a sack from the kitchen and filled it to the brim with items to replenish their dwindling food stores on the ship. Her partner ate often, and with gusto, requiring frequent grocery stops.
When she returned to the cramped corridor, she found a man and woman dressed in light winter coats. Their presence wasn’t unusual. She’d expected to encounter other agents eventually, and it happened from time to time in the safe houses. The woman was slim, her dark hair tamed by a fuzzy white cap, makeup immaculate. The man at her side had the lithe build of a trained athlete and a familiar face beneath clean-cut brown hair. Hunt. Hunt and Merrill. She knew them both as trained assassins, having been apprised of their use to the crown seven years ago when she achieved MI6 level clearance.
Both held guns trained down the corridor in Nisrine’s direction. Their gazes met, and in the split section of eye contact, Nisrine knew she was in danger. She dove into the apartment again before a bullet struck the wall. She twisted the lock and ran by instinct to the fire escape.
“Nisrine, what’s going on?”
“There’s two assassins following me. Fly out of here now. I left coordinates for our fallback rendezvous programmed into the autopilot.” She threw open the window and crawled out onto the narrow railing. Ice rimmed the metal steps so she bypassed them entirely, jumping down to the ground and slowing her descent with telekinesis. Instead of plummeting down below and falling on her ass, she drifted like a feather.
Why the hell hadn’t she thought of that on Tallulah? She took off at a fast pace, hurrying across slushy ground.
Kaiden’s alarmed voice cried out in surprise. “Someone’s attempting to override the system.”
“Get out of there!”
“I can’t. The shuttle security system is under virtual assault. There’s a squad closing in outside,” Kaiden said. “They deactivated the external locks.”
Modern ships used a combination of physical and electronic locks to deter theft. It was only a matter of time, however, before they bashed through the remaining security features.
“Don’t use your powers!”
“No choice. Got to use them, recovered or not. Something’s wrong here.”
“You heard what Xander said. If you don’t rest your powers, you can cause lasting harm to yourself.”
“They’ve locked out the system on the ship.” He paused, but she heard his nervous and hastened breaths turn deep and filled with pain he struggled not to express in his voice. “You’ll never get i
t airborne and you’ll be stranded here. You take care, Nisrine. Okay?”
“Kaiden, don’t—”
The communication line cut off and she swore, wanting to run but forced by circumstances to maintain a natural stride. She veered onto the next street and joined a crowd paused at a red intersection. Hunt and Merrill appeared at the corner behind her, prompting Nisrine to duck into a pocket in the crowd and veer sharply left down the next street. She had to find a way behind them, lure both assassins away, and return to Kaiden. If she remained in public, she could hide in plain sight, neither Hunt nor Merrill able to kill her with witnesses. But if she did that, Kaiden would die.
She turned into a slush-covered alleyway and scanned the narrow street for obvious hiding spots. Estimating she had a twenty-second lead on the pair, she hurried to a door and picked the lock, slipping inside and bolting the door with a second to spare. She’d entered a rear storage room filled with boxes labeled with baking ingredients. Flour. Sugar. Powdered egg substitute.
“She can’t have gotten far, it’s a dead end.” Merrill’s sharp voice carried through the door.
As Nisrine debated between fleeing through another exit and losing them, she realized she’d never shake either assassin off her trail. Reaching out with her senses, she felt them approaching, their presence a nebulous, floating sensation drifting down the alley. They were there.
Hunt and Nisrine became aware of one another at the same time. Psychic power slammed against the steel door from both sides and rattled it, then it was ripped from the frame, twisted and contorted as the two fought for control of the barrier.
She stumbled back and dove behind one of the boxes of goods as bullets ripped through plastic bins and cardboard, filling the air with a sweet cloud of powder.
Hunt lunged at her through the sugar fog, swinging a phase sword. When Nisrine dove out of the way and rolled across the floor, her shoulder absorbed the shock and sang out in protest. Upon bouncing to her feet again, she shrugged out of her parka and abandoned it with her weapon in hand, the blade flaring on to deflect his next blow.
Kaiden Page 10