“Sweet,” he said. “But since my entire property is flooded with military personnel who’ll be breaking in any moment now, save your sappy reunion for later. We’re heading to my basement.”
“Your bunker,” Cade corrected. “Basement makes it sound lame.”
“I think there’s something wrong with you,” Jake retorted.
“Of course there is. Look where I am and who I’m with.”
Jake nodded and conceded Cade’s point.
I glared at their backs as they headed toward the basement door then quickly grabbed Saige’s hand and brought it to my lips. “I love you,” I whispered. “Always you.”
“Always,” she whispered back. “But this is it, Drake. No more lies. No matter what.”
“I promise,” I assured her.
And this time, I knew that no matter what I discovered about myself in the coming days and weeks, I would hide nothing from her. She would either love me as I am – the imperfect Frankenstein that I am – or not. But I wouldn’t hurt her again by deceiving her, by letting her heart get pulled farther into my dark and soulless world. We would claw our way out of it together, or I would raise her on my shoulders to free her from it while sacrificing myself to the real monsters who’d created me.
Cade waited impatiently by the open basement door and motioned for me to join them. I held Saige’s hand as we approached the dark stairwell, feeling very much like I was passing through the gates of Hell. I hesitated for a moment before Cade pushed on my shoulder and I stumbled onto the top step. I wanted to turn around and hit him again, but Saige was following behind me.
The dark stairwell opened into a narrow, dimly lit room filled with metal lockers. Only one wall displayed an assortment of firearms, mostly M240s and MK13s. I stared at the latter because it was the weapon I had the most experience with and the most knowledge of; after all, that was the sniper rifle I’d been forced to use for the past five years.
Jake approached the back wall and removed one of the machine guns to hand to Cade. “Explosives?” he asked.
“Whatever you can give us,” Cade answered.
Jake nodded and picked up another M240 to hand to me. I was still staring at the rifle.
“Can I have that one?” I asked, pointing to the MK13.
Jake blinked at me but put the machine gun back and removed the rifle from the wall. As soon as I wrapped my free hand around it, I felt more confident than I had in days. Fantasies of lying in the woods, waiting for Parker to reveal himself so I could put a bullet through his brain, flooded my imagination. I’d never actually wanted to kill anyone before.
But I wanted Parker dead.
As my imaginary scenario played out and my finger squeezed the trigger, a sharp pain in my temples made me cry out in surprise and pain. I almost dropped the rifle Jake had just given me. I had to let go of Saige’s hand as I grabbed helplessly at my head.
“Drake?” she asked. Her voice sounded light-years away. “Drake, what’s wrong?”
I was vaguely aware Cade was asking me the same thing, but that pain was far worse than being shot or digging a microchip out of my arm or having a cracked rib. The only thing that could compare was being connected to Parker’s computer through that goddamn port. I set the rifle on the counter beside me and clutched the other side of my head. Saige’s arms wrapped around my shoulders as she begged me to talk to her. I could hear the panic in her voice, but I couldn’t speak.
I lowered myself to the ground, afraid I’d pass out but that pain wouldn’t stop.
“I can’t kill him,” I groaned. “He did something to me… I can’t kill him.”
Cade’s voice still seemed so far away, but I picked out the words. “Son of a bitch,” he spit out. “Drake, listen to me, buddy. Focus on something else. Think about your girlfriend.”
I wanted to, but all I seemed capable of focusing on anymore was the pain in my head.
Saige sat beside me and stroked her fingers through my hair. Even in my delirious, pain-induced state, the gesture was soothing and comforting and when she began to murmur softly to me, I held onto the sound of her voice.
“You’re stronger than him, Drake. We’re stronger than him. You can fight this.”
I wanted to believe her. I had to believe her.
A memory trickled through my mind of lying in bed with her, the muted music from the television we’d left on in the living room mixing with our laughter as we took turns trying to find each other’s limit on what odd combination of food we’d be willing to eat. It had started because I’d asked her if she really turned leftover macaroni and cheese into sandwiches, and she’d confessed it was completely true. And she’d offered to make me a sandwich. I’d told her only if she put ketchup on it. She lay on my chest and I wrapped my arms around her, the citrusy vanilla scent – her scent – turning me on yet again. She noticed, of course, and quit throwing hypothetical ingredients into her friend’s Panini press. She sat up and smiled at me, that sexy, sly smile, and straddled me. I sat up, too, and kissed her.
The pain in my head slowly receded. The memory of making love to Saige left me in a different difficult position: as the pain vanished and allowed me to feel other sensations, I realized it had made me horny. I sighed and dug the heels of my hands into my eyes.
“Dude,” Cade said, “can I help?”
I snickered and told him, “Yeah, keep talking.”
Saige was still running her fingers through my hair so I sighed again and asked her to stop and give me a few minutes. I heard Cade sigh, too, as he caught on as to why I’d told him to keep talking.
“I hate you,” he reminded me.
“Don’t blame you,” I reminded him.
“I sure as hell hope talking about bullets for your rifle doesn’t give you a hard on,” Cade teased.
“No, but it may not help,” I teased back.
Saige sighed, too. “That’s your problem now? I guess it’s better than whatever was hurting you.”
So I snickered again and told her to wait: I’d really only replaced one kind of pain with another.
Only Cade and Jake thought I was funny.
Jake gestured to Saige and asked, “You arming her?”
“Probably should,” Cade said. “What can you fire?”
“Fire?” Saige repeated. “The only thing I can fire is my intern.”
“Great,” Cade muttered. “Any chance you have a handful of microchips in your brain so you can become an expert marksman in fifteen minutes?”
“I’m a woman,” Saige snapped. “I only need ten.”
I laughed so Cade shot me his, “You’re an asshole,” look.
“Just give her the Beretta,” he told Jake. “And try not to shoot yourself or us,” he told Saige.
Saige squinted at him and retorted, “Don’t worry. Drake and I will be fine.”
I stood up and picked up my rifle again. “Can you two not hate each other? You’re the only people in the world I care about, and I’d rather not constantly be in the middle of your arguments.”
“Not really a problem since I doubt we’ll live through our ambush on the Project,” Cade said.
“Not helpful,” I retorted.
“I don’t hate him,” Saige added. “He saved my life. He’s just remarkably good at pissing me off.”
“He’s remarkably good at pissing everyone off,” I told her.
“Asshole,” he reminded me.
“Fine.” Saige pretended to acquiesce. “I won’t shoot him in the back.”
I nodded with just as much smartass agreement. “Much better to shoot him in the head.”
“You suck,” he told me.
“Do I really need to remind all of you that we probably have a hundred guys out there just waiting for us to open my door so they can shoot us?” Jake asked.
“In other words, just another day for us,” I remarked.
“I’m starting to hate you, too,” Jake said.
I shrugged and looked around his basement
. “Then how about you finish arming us so we can get the hell out of here? I guess I need the machine gun, too, but what else do you have?”
“How are we going to get out of here?” Saige asked. “Pretty sure you can’t drive the truck through his front door.”
Jake snorted and pointed to a row of metal lockers. “Nothing’s in there. It’s a door that opens to a short tunnel and another staircase to my garage out back. And we’re all leaving in my Hummer.”
“Of course you have a Hummer,” I said.
“When you’ve made a career out of selling weapons to pseudo-armies in third world countries, you buy yourself a Hummer,” Jake responded.
“You what?” I yelled. I scowled at Cade and that bastard just shrugged at me.
“Did you have any other sources for getting explosives and guns?” he asked.
“But you’ve indebted us to an arms dealer who could be supplying Boko Haram!” I shouted.
No way was I going to help recover cargo that would supply a terrorist group that kidnapped and raped girls and slaughtered entire villages. I’d rather walk outside and go back to the Project than be part of something like that.
But Jake waved me off. “I’m not arming them. There are hundreds of smaller insurgent groups, some of which are fighting those bastards in Nigeria. Give me some credit.”
I had absolutely no reason to believe him, but Cade didn’t let me pout about it any longer. “Look, Jake’s no saint. I’m not going to lie. He’s got a serious problem with Muslims though, so I’m positive he’s not arming Boko Haram. Whether or not he’s selling to other insurgent groups that are almost as bad… I don’t know and I’m not going to ask because we need his help.”
Jake grunted at him and shook his head in disgust. “You clearly didn’t spend enough time in the Middle East.”
“We spent more than enough time there to know innocent people never deserve to die,” I hissed. “And you’re willingness to condemn an entire religion…”
“We got it, Drake!” Cade yelled. “We both know I agree with you, and you should know there’s not a damn thing you can say that will change his mind. Let’s just get our shit and get out of here. Whatever we have to do in exchange for his help won’t change a goddamn thing about how this world operates, and you should know that by now, too. Who do you think stole his cargo? Where do you think it’s going to end up? This world is permanently fucked up, and some modern-day Frankenstein isn’t going to change that.”
“Stop calling him that,” Saige warned.
Jake pulled a few more guns from the rack then opened one of the metal lockers – one that apparently didn’t lead to a hidden tunnel and staircase – and filled a duffel bag with bullets for each of the guns he’d provided us with. He handed it off to Cade without turning around. He grabbed a second duffel bag and opened a different locker then filled it with explosives and fragmentation grenades then handed that bag to me.
“Let’s roll,” he said.
He didn’t wait for a response. He walked across the room and pulled the lock from what was apparently a door, holding it open for the three of us to go through first. I shot Cade a look that I hoped he interpreted as, “You’d better go first.” But then I quickly reconsidered as I realized that would mean Jake had to walk behind me. I grabbed Saige’s hand again and entered the dark tunnel.
Chapter 16
Even Cade hadn’t expected Jake to accompany us to the Project’s property. As soon as the SEALs who’d surrounded us this time realized we were escaping them, once again, in Jake’s Hummer, they’d pursued us, but I had to admit: Jake was one hell of a driver. He somehow managed to weave his ridiculously large vehicle through a forest without hitting a damn thing. By the time we neared the woods that surrounded The Genesis Project’s property, Saige had paled and looked like she was trying desperately not to throw up, I’d thought of three dozen ways to kick Cade’s ass, and Jake looked completely unfazed as if he did this sort of thing all the time.
I expected him to stop his Hummer, tell us to get out, and take off, but he actually killed the engine and unlocked his glove compartment then tossed Cade and me a key. “Spare keys for my Hummer. Just in case.”
He opened his door and climbed out, and I just sat there, flabbergasted and speechless.
“Huh,” Cade said. “Guess we’ve got help.”
Then he opened the passenger side door and climbed out, leaving Saige and me stupefied in the backseat.
“Should we follow them?” Saige whispered.
“Not sure we have a choice,” I whispered back.
“I was afraid you were going to say that,” she sighed.
I grabbed the duffel bag I’d been handed in Jake’s basement and quietly joined the two men waiting for us in the forest.
“They have security cameras this far out?” Jake asked me.
“Doesn’t matter,” I told him. “They can track me because of these chips in my brain, and there’s no cutting those out.”
“They can track you, but once we split up, they won’t know where the rest of us are unless there are cameras,” Jake pointed out.
I glanced at Saige and my heart squeezed painfully. “Split up?” I asked weakly.
“Let her stay with me,” Cade suggested. “You trusted me enough to send her to me in the first place, and we might annoy each other, but you know I won’t let anything happen to her.”
“Thank you, Cade,” Saige said before I could thank him myself. “And just for that, I’ll try to be nicer to you from now on.”
Cade snorted and shrugged. “You don’t have to. I give all of my friends a hard time, and since Drake is so in love with you, I’ve gotta break you in.”
I rolled my eyes, but at least he was admitting he was ready for a truce. And Saige was a strong, assertive woman. I knew she could handle herself. She just smiled at him and promised, “Well, don’t worry, soldier. I’ll be breaking you in soon enough.”
“That… would have actually turned me on if Drake wouldn’t kill me right now,” Cade admitted.
I pointed at him and warned, “I will, so start walking.”
Cade just smiled at me then turned toward the direction of the Project. “I’ll take Saige with me since they’ll know exactly where Drake is. We’ll head east toward the loading bay area since it won’t be as heavily guarded. Jake, the north entrance is where they’ll most likely be expecting Drake to come out so avoid that area. There are no entrances on the west side, so go around to the south side of the building and try to fight your way in there.”
Jake nodded and slung a rifle over his shoulder. He carried the machine gun he’d brought with him in his right hand and held the belt in his left, ready to open fire at any provocation. Saige gave me a hesitant glance before quickly kissing me then joining Cade so they could sneak through the woods toward what we hoped was still the least guarded side of the building. I watched Jake’s back until he disappeared among the trees of this forest then took a deep breath.
It was time for me to rise.
Drake, your presence here can’t be a surrender. You’re here to try to harm more people. This must stop. We’re here to help you, Drake. I want to help you.
I gritted my teeth as I stared at the main entrance to The Genesis Project’s building. The constant static in my mind had intensified again with the knowledge I had returned. Like some Prodigal Son, Parker kept trying to welcome me home.
I had no interest in entering his embrace. I wouldn’t be celebrating with a feast. I would either free myself from his tyranny or die.
Soldiers stood alert and ready near the doors, facing the direction where I waited but couldn’t hide. They knew I was out here, of course, but Parker still wasn’t willing to part with his investment, his life’s research. And he had no way of knowing two other men waited on the sidelines to cause a distraction that would allow me to get inside.
I heard the explosion in the back of the building followed quickly by a second one on the east side. The sol
diers out front turned around, giving me a brief moment to step out from behind the tree and fix one of them in the sights of my rifle. As he fell to the ground, the soldiers next to him scattered, shouting at one another, and the bullets began to bite into the bark of the pine tree I hid behind. Movement in the woods alerted me that I wasn’t alone out here.
I fished a grenade out of the bag and pulled the pin then threw it in the direction of the noise. Fragments of bark and branches and debris from the forest floor flew back toward me and I covered my face until the fallout settled to the ground. I didn’t wait to find out if I’d managed to kill whomever had tried to sneak up on me. I darted around the tree and fired at another guard near the door then ducked behind another tree.
Unless the rest of the soldiers guarding the front entrance decided to take cover, it would take me hours to get to the entrance. And Saige was out there with Cade. I didn’t have hours.
I slung my rifle over my shoulder and replaced it with the machine gun I still didn’t particularly like since I’d never had to fire one, but Parker had programmed me with the knowledge to use it. The belt was already fed into it and I waited behind the trunk of the tree for a few minutes to see if anyone would fire at me. Nobody did.
I stepped around it and opened fire.
Parker’s commands screamed in my head.
Goddamn it, Drake! This is madness! You’re massacring your own! STAND DOWN!
I didn’t release the trigger until the entire belt had been fed into the machine gun and I had to pull a new one from the bag. But there was no one left standing outside the front entrance.
Parker had wanted to create a monster, and he’d succeeded.
I walked out of the forest and into the open space between the safety of the woods and the horrors of The Genesis Project.
Drake, whatever you think you’re doing, please… let’s end this now. I personally guarantee you the girl will not be harmed.
I laughed out loud.
His promises meant nothing to me. I knew he would strap me to his table and attempt to erase my memories and turn my mind into a blank slate. He’d start all over. With the port in my arm destroyed, I didn’t know how he would do it, but I had no doubts he’d keep experimenting until he succeeded. And in the end, I wouldn’t care about Saige’s fate because I wouldn’t remember her. I wouldn’t remember Cade. And he was sick enough to program me to find them and kill them.
Genesis Rising (The Genesis Project Book 1) Page 13