The Pursuit (The Permutation Archives Book 2)

by Kindra Sowder

  Jameson reached forward, pressing a large red button conspicuously hidden underneath what I could only assume was a useless control switch and rolled down the window.

  A tall, broad man dressed all in black strolled up to the car, massive rifle in hand just in case we turned out to be someone unwelcome on the government road. He skin was bronze, his eyes were dark brown and dead, and a head of black hair hid underneath a black military cap. The set of his jaw was no surprise. His jaw was clenched tight, and moving as if he was grinding his teeth. I took a deep breath and held it, hoping the hologram that was installed inside of the vehicle was in working order. My face had to have been plastered everywhere at that point, as well as the others. From where I sat, I saw another man inside of the shed, looking out of the glass and at us with arms crossed. I looked at the others, each one of them with a well-placed projection over their forms that followed movements perfectly. It even wore Julius’s annoyed facial expression. If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was what we all looked like.

  When the soldier making his way to us reached the window, I had to keep myself from sinking down in the seat, trying to remain invisible in the face of the man’s scrutiny. I succeeded, straightening my back and attempting to give myself that air of entitlement that I had seen in so many high-ranking government officials.

  “Identification and travel permits, please,” he ordered, his voice unnaturally deep.

  His eyes scanned all of us in the vehicle as Jameson’s projected form took a file folder from the brunette woman in the front that I knew was Doctor Devi underneath. I pushed the breath out of my lungs as I watched deep brown eyes look over the documentation handed to him, turning up every few seconds to inspect our faces against the identification located inside of the folder. I felt my power shift as the anxiety presented itself, sweat breaking out over my flesh despite the humidity rolling in from outside through the open window. That panic led me to realize that Jameson hadn’t told us about who we were supposed to be and where we were going. Or why for that matter. I placed my hand on my belly and took another deep breath, trying to push it back down into the darkness inside where it belonged for the time being. No need for it here unless we were found out and I hoped that our cover was good enough to keep that from being a problem.

  “Taking Senator Lively to tour the new compound, huh?” the soldier asked, shifting through the papers and identification one more time before closing the manila folder.

  I recognized the name and had to stop a gasp of recognition. Senator Agnes Lively was one of King’s top chosen in the cabinet powered by not only him, but grace and intelligence. The soldier’s orbs studied me in the back seat between Ryder and Julius, who both shifted in their seats uncomfortably.

  “Yeah, you know how all this goes. She has to make the final approval of all of its security features. They had a few get out of hand at the Spartan location, so they wanted to upgrade everything. She is just coming in to make sure those changes have been made,” Jameson explained, jerking his head back at me as he spoke about my plan. Agnes’s idea, more so.

  “Sure do,” the soldier said, looking at me again. “How are you today, Senator? Hopefully, you’re not too cramped in there.”

  My breath hitched in my throat as I opened my mouth and attempted to speak, the man who didn’t look like Caius anymore speaking for me instead.

  “Well, you know, after the breakout at the Spartan location we can’t be too careful. King wants to ensure nothing happens to the Senator.” He looked down at the holographic watch on his wrist. “And we’re behind schedule. You know how King is about schedules.” He winked at the man.

  I sat there open mouthed as I watched the exchange, not having to say a single word that could very possibly betray us. My thoughts ran rampant. Did he know? And, if he did, how? Did the holograms give us away? Did they know about them at all? The possibilities were endless and, I pulled the control over my energy away just a fraction as the man watched me. I had the government stare down pat. Of course, I had only seen it so many times since my abduction, so I felt I was doing it right. But I kept the power within me right on the edge of awareness just in case. When he didn’t usher us forward, I knew I had to speak up, doubt showing in his eyes has he surveyed not just me, but all of us inside of the Humvee.

  I cleared my throat. “Yes, please, I wouldn’t want to keep them waiting, would I?” The shock took over inside of me as I heard her voice come from within my vocal chords. This technology was even more advanced than I thought initially. That was for sure.

  The soldier’s eyebrows popped up, and his eyes widened in surprise at my crassness. Was that something Senator Lively wouldn’t have said? I mentally kicked myself, but held my posture and cold, lifeless expression. He shook his head and chuckled softly, handing the manila folder back to Jameson and backing away from the Humvee.

  “You sure wouldn’t, Senator. You have a safe trip.”

  I held my breath as we pulled away, the lifelike hologram staying in place until we were at least twenty yards away. The brown hair that covered Doctor Devi’s head was now the same black she always had, Caius was the man with the lisp again, and all of us we as we had been before without having to do a thing. My lungs burned, and I let it go through pursed lips, making a slight whistling sound as the air passed between my lips. I pulled my power back and pushed it into that dark corner of myself where it came from. Or, well, where I assumed it came from, hiding just below the surface and ready for a fight.

  “Damn, that thing works a lot better than I thought it would,” Julius exclaimed, a broad smile on his face.

  Jameson laughed heartily and replied, “And you doubted me? Now, that hurts my feelings just a little.”

  Uncomfortable laughter moved through the space, each one of us relieved and still terrified at the same time. With all the gunfire that had assaulted our transportation, I thought it wouldn’t work at all, but it was a pleasant surprise when it worked so much better than any of us expected. At least, better than I had. And what I had expected wasn’t what I had seen at all. I assumed it would look like a hologram, glitchy and glowing, but I was pleasantly shocked when I saw a lifelike rendition of someone I had never once met in my life. And for it to fool someone who had undoubtedly seen the Senator on more than one occasion was baffling. I turned to Ryder and smiled weakly, the anxiety of every single encounter up to this point draining any bit of energy I had left.

  “The Paradigm has a lot of technology that’ll shock you guys. Even I have to get used to the fact that they even have bullets that will go around corners,” he paused, rubbing his stubbled jaw, “and can track your target.”

  Julius leaned forward slightly with his mouth hanging open. “No way.”

  Ryder only nodded in response.

  “So, how does King not have that? He’s supposed to be up on the latest, right? I mean, I would assume, anyways.” Julius sounded cynical and his brows furrowed.

  “We try to stay at least one step ahead, but there are things he has that even we don’t. So I’d like to think the playing field is pretty even,” Doctor Devi stated as she turned back to look at us just slightly.

  “So, am I to assume that, when we get there, we’ll get something kick ass?” Julius seemed excited, his limbs jumping with a buzzing energy I felt in the entirety of his body next to me.

  Granted, I was excited on some level too, but I was most concerned about something else.

  “Cecilia and Gaia are safe, right? You guys have security that would see to it?” I asked, their safety one of my number one concerns at that moment.

  “You don’t have to worry about that, Mila. They’re as safe as can be at headquarters. I can assure you,” Caius answered. “We have our top men with your friend and sister at all time. Horatia made certain of it. She wouldn’t even let them go outside for fresh air. She had even given Gaia a pine-scen
ted air freshening pod to make it seem like there was fresh air from outside in the place.”

  I laughed and looked down at my hands in my lap. “That definitely sounds like my mom.”

  “Yeah, sounds like her to a T,” Julius snorted. “When we were kids, Horatia took a lot of convincing for them to get a pet, but we all know how that ended. Don’t we?” He nudged me with his elbow, and I scowled at him.

  “Julius, I really don’t want to rehash the tragedy that was my first and only childhood pet.”

  “I’ll say this, even after hearing that story it never clicked that Mila was like me. I thought I was the only one, so I stayed quiet. Not even my brother said a word about what he could do.”

  The group fell silent at the mention of Nero, the wayward brother that betrayed us because he couldn’t stand to be at our side fighting against an enemy whose motives weren’t even one-hundred percent clear at the time. I guessed it was better than hanging around with a person who you felt you didn’t know anymore. And didn’t feel like you had any idea what side they were truly on, making it easier to cross that line in the end.

  “I’m not sure what to say about him except that I hate him. You know, I have a sinking suspicious he sold us out to King at the compound. There is no way King knew about our plan if he hadn’t. No one else knew, right?” he asked, his gray eyes focused and intent on me as I stared back at him.

  I shook my head. “No one else. I only told you guys.” I looked to Ryder. “It was only you and Doctor Aserov, wasn’t it?”

  “Yup,” he answered, his voice going quiet as he thought. “Nero is the only answer, then.”

  Ryder sighed and Julius slunk down into the seat beside me, his body pressing against mine as he leaned his head on my shoulder. I pressed my cheek to the top of his head and closed my eyes. I was so tired exhaustion pulled at me with strong hands to tug me into its welcoming darkness. Then I felt Ryder’s hand take mine, twining our fingers together and gripping firmly as if he was afraid I would float away on the breeze of destruction. I squeezed his hand in return, opening my eyes long enough for them to meet his and a weak smile to spread across my mouth. My heavy lids fell closed again once I saw the understanding and the love deep within those green irises.

  “I just want this to be over,” were the last words I heard Julius whisper before sleep pulled me under.

  Chapter

  TWenTY-TWO

  At first, there was only black and silence. The only thing that existed was the nothingness, but then a sound came to being. A whisper, soft and gentle caressed the entirety of my body like a warm blanket, nearly stifling but somehow pleasantly so.

  “Mila,” whispered the voice again. A voice I recognized all too well since his screams had haunted me since the moment of his death.

  “Cato?” My breathing came heavy and labored as I attempted to penetrate the darkness, but couldn’t. There was only me there.

  “Mila.”

  Then it was bright. Too bright. My eyes snapped shut, the bright white after the perfect dark searing my retinas. A searing pain spread from my eyes and into my head, but quickly vanished as I opened my eyes just enough to adjust to the glaring brightness of it. And then my eyes were open, and I was alone, but the whisper still came.

  “Cato, please,” I begged, needing to see him just once to know I wasn’t losing my mind, even if it was only a dream.

  From out of nowhere, there he was, appearing before me dressed all in white to match his surroundings, only his hands, bare feet, and head breaking up the stark white. He hurriedly walked toward me, his feet slapping against the radiant floor, coming to stand in front of me before I could even blink, his gorgeous face mere inches from my own. He placed his hands on my cheeks, his hot and rough palms like sandpaper on my skin.

  “See,” he whispered as he held me there, making me look into his dark brown eyes to see something I wasn’t sure I wanted to within them.

  And just like that, I was standing in the center of the manicured government road we were traveling on, the Humvee I was riding in coming straight at me in the night. Panic set in when I couldn’t see past the beaming headlights to the inside. I turned to see the next checkpoint, two soldiers rushing through the open door of their security shed, the light from inside of it a soft glow across the road and into the trees on either side. And one of them had a large weapon in their hands. A long cylinder with a handle and, as one soldier came outside, he stopped in the middle of the road, dropped to one knee and placed the barrel on his right shoulder. I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t. I knew exactly what that was.

  “No,” I muttered at first, whipping back around to stare at the headlights still coming straight toward me. Forcing my lungs to fill with air, I raised my hands above my head and started to wave. “No! Stop!” And it just kept coming.

  A loud whistle shrieked from behind me and, as I turned, a missile shot from the front of the rocket launcher, spewing smoke and a blast of sparks from the back end. It whizzed past me, barely missing my mid-section and I watched in absolute horror as everything seemed to move in slow motion. Then I was inside of the Humvee, and it was too late to act. The missile barreled toward us, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. The stream of brilliant smoke behind it stood out in sharp contrast, even in the night that surrounded us.

  “Jameson,” I cried out, but he didn’t have the time to do anything to stop it from hitting us either. I screamed as the missile made contact with the front of the vehicle, a blast of sound erupting in my eardrums, and then a flash of light and searing heat.

  My eyes snapped open, and I shot up to a sitting position with a gasp and a scream, startling everyone within the Humvee with me. Ryder had been asleep against me, but bolted upright along with Julius on the other side of me as I lurched forward.

  “Wow, wow, Mila!” Doctor Devi shouted as she turned around and reached out to me, every pair of eyes on my except for Jameson, who was taking quick glances at the rearview mirror. “It’s okay, now. You’re safe.”

  I shook my head in protest. “No. No, we’re not. We’re nowhere near safe.” I looked up, seeing the glowing light of the checkpoint’s security shed in the night. “Shit, we’re already at the last checkpoint?”

  “Yeah, you didn’t think we were going to stop, did you? We don’t have time for that,” Caius retorted as he stared at me with wide blue eyes.

  I shook my head again. “We have to stop. Now!”

  “Mila…” Ryder and Julius began at the same moment.

  “You don’t understand. We have to stop the car, or we all die.”

  In the distance, I saw the two soldiers rushing outside and the entire vision Cato had shown me replayed exactly as I had seen it. Now it was too late. The missile shot at us, but Jameson saw it and jerked the wheel to the left, avoiding it as it whizzed past the windows, the sound ringing in my good ear. The tires screeched on the asphalt as it skidded, but then the massive vehicle began to tip as another missile came in our direction. It would hit the bottom of the Humvee at that rate. I just knew it. The Humvee went over, landing on its side as all of us rammed into one another, cries and screams coming from all of us at that point. The hiss and the whistle of the oncoming missile was enough for me.

  “Open the door! Get out of here!” I pushed on Ryder, who had fallen on top of me and crushed me into Julius’s broad and hard chest.

  Ryder used his feet to push the door open and jumped out, glancing to his right and his eyes widening as he reached inside to pull me out. I gladly took his hand and helped him pull me out as Julius pushed against me. Once I was on top of the side, the others that were in the front were making their way out in record time, Julius the only one left inside.

  “Julius,” I shouted as I reached my hand inside along with Ryder’s. Both of us pulled him out as I watched the missile continuing to head toward us, sm
oke leaving a beautiful and long trail in its wake.

  Gunfire erupted as we pulled him out and all of us jumped to the ground, having no time to grab any of our supplies or weapons that we could very well need in this instance. Especially those that weren’t gifted like Julius and me. Just as we cleared the large hunk of metal, the missile struck, rocking the ground and the force of the blast knocked us all to the ground. My hands scraped on the asphalt as did my elbows, searing pain moving all the way up from my palms and through my forearms. My good ear was ringing while my bad ear could still barely register a sound, heat licking up my back from the smoldering Humvee behind me.

  I turned back in time to see more soldiers coming from the tree line, all in black and only visible because of the flash of gunshots.

  “Go, go, go!” Ryder yelled, grabbing my hand to yank me up as he pushed up from the ground.

  A hiss left my lips as a stinging pain registered in my palm, but I didn’t let go and followed as best as I could as he ran. The others followed close behind. My power unfurled in my gut, sensing my anxiety and knowing it was time for action. I looked back, but continued to run, raising my hand and focusing on the bullets that were slicing through the air hoping to hit flesh. Most of my focus was intent on those small projectiles while the rest poured into staying upright.