Wilde Storm

by S. E. Babin

  “Follow me,” I blurted and rushed back to the elevator. I pulled out the key I’d taken from the guard the first time I was here, slapped it on, and the elevator lurched down to the secret floor. The doors slid open again and we were assailed by the sight of blood and gore.

  “Whoa,” I said. It was a little different in the heat of the moment when you were trying to save your own skin. It was quite another thing to see the carnage you left behind. Especially since I was about to do something worse. “Do you have a knife?” I asked Aaron.

  His brows flew so far together, his entire forehead looked like a Shar Pei puppy. And there his mind went…right down in the gutter where mine lived most days. “Please tell me you aren’t—”

  I waggled my fingers. From his front pocket, he produced a sharp folding knife. I wasn’t sure it would do what I needed, but we could try.

  Twenty minutes later, Aaron was retching several feet away and I was still trying in vain to separate a dead man’s hand from his wrist.

  It was not going well. I was covered in blood, gore, and various other fluids I would probably never want to discuss again. The knife he’d produced had been sharp, but bone is difficult to cut through.

  “Fuck!” I tossed the knife down in frustration. It landed with a soft thump on top of the chest of another dead guard. And then I began to wonder…

  Turned out the biometrics in Irene Adler’s building were tuned to both fingerprints and retina scans. Aaron was positively green as I held up the detached eyeball and was rewarded with a swoosh and the doors opening. I turned to him with a maniacal smile and fist pumped the hand holding the eyeball. Aaron rewarded our victory by throwing up on my shoes.

  I was a little surprised at myself, but I needed this serum and to figure out the lady who’d swept my father away. I felt ill about what I had done, but…these people had attacked us. They were dead and no longer using their hands or eyes. And I needed to get into her labs.

  So I thought about them doing me a final service to make up for the fact that they’d almost killed us all.

  I was pretty good at justifying weird shit when I needed to and if I ever wanted to sleep again, I’d need to believe it.

  I stepped in and left Aaron outside to empty the rest of his stomach. The room was much larger than I’d thought and wasn’t really a room at all. I couldn’t see the end of it, so it was almost like another wing. There was a small sitting area and reception desk, but there were no people here. I swept through the first area and came to a locked office. I used the retina scan again and the door swung open. Good to know she trusted her guards.

  Jackpot. A framed picture of Irene shaking hands with an older, handsome gentleman greeted me on the opposite wall. Various awards and degrees were hung neatly beside it.

  I’d found Irene’s office.

  I plunked the eyeball down with a squishy thunk, gagged a little bit, and wiped my hands down the front of my pants. The lock on her file cabinet was simple enough. She’d assumed the retinal scan would be enough to keep visitors and intruders out of her offices, so she’d skimped on security inside. I jimmied the lock with a letter opener I’d found in her desk and started going through all her files.

  Not much of it made any sense. Waterstone focused on cutting edge medical technology and anti-aging products. They weren’t a cosmetic company exactly, more of a device company catered toward the very rich and very vain. It wasn’t anything too interesting until I reached a file toward the back of the first drawer labeled “Wilde, Maggie”.

  I snatched the file out and tucked it in the back of my pants. I didn’t have the time I needed to go through it right now and Irene wouldn’t miss it for a while.

  I opened the second and third drawers and couldn’t find anything of interest. I turned to her desk and opened the middle drawer. Nothing but pens and miscellaneous crap. I felt around the bottom of the drawer and grinned as I heard a soft snick. A small, hidden drawer slid open. I crawled underneath the dresser and tried to peer in to the drawer, but the angle was weird. Hesitantly, I put my hand in and felt a smooth metal container. I pulled it out and studied it. It looked like a tube of lipstick encased in chrome. I tried to pull it apart and couldn’t. Whatever it was, it was important to her, so I crawled out from underneath and shoved it into my pocket.

  A shout from Aaron had me running out the door, but not before I cracked it open. The eyeball was rapidly deteriorating and I wasn’t sure how many more uses I could get out of it. How Aaron had gotten in, I wasn’t sure, but I was a little jealous he didn’t have to cut someone’s eye out. They must have left it unsecured in their haste to vacate.

  I found him in a large open area full of medical equipment. He held up a bottle of something silvery and shimmery. My breath caught at his grin. “You found it?”

  A nod. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “Wait. Let me look for a little bit more.”

  He shook his head. “Not wise. We’ve been extremely lucky so far, but we shouldn’t be stupid.”

  “Two more minutes. I’ll be quick.”

  Aaron shoved the vial into his pants pocket and zipped it so it was secure. “Two. That’s all.”

  I immediately went to the cabinets lining the back wall and opened them, thumbing through everything I could find—nothing.

  It wasn’t until Aaron was hounding me to hurry up that I hit pay dirt. In one of the last cabinets, I found a false backing. One quick punch and it collapsed. I reached in to the dark cavern and pulled out a large unlabeled, locked box. I didn’t know what it was, but my heart sped up and I felt like something momentous had just happened. Whatever this was, it was important to her.

  “Let’s go,” I said to him.

  Aaron went straight back to his rooms with barely a word to me. Perhaps the eyeball thing was still bugging him. I could see why it would. I regretted nothing, though. If I hadn’t done it, we’d still be sitting outside those doors with our thumbs up our noses. We’d gotten what we came for and then some.

  Once I was safely back in my room, I double latched the door and set the box down on my bed. As boxes go, it was fairly innocuous, although I could tell it was fireproofed. I knew it was locked because I couldn’t see any way to open it, but I didn’t know how it locked. There was merely a seam on three sides—a seam too close for me to pry open with my fingers. I shook it, tried to use a knife, and tried fire.

  Nothing magic happened. The box lay inert. And worst of all, unopened.

  Hmmm…

  I took the chrome vial out of my pocket and opened it. This one wasn’t locked, but it was securely packaged. Once I’d removed the chrome, I had to unwrap a soft chamois cloth around it. I was left with a dram sized bottle with a shimmery silver substance.

  In shock, I fumbled the bottle and scrambled to catch it. Was this my father’s serum? Or was it something else? It looked just like it, but Aaron’s resembled it closely, too. Labeling it would have been way too easy and my life had never unfolded like that. If it weren’t a sample of my father’s, I’d probably have to do a quest to Narnia or something to figure out what the hell it was.

  I’d have my mother see if a heavy duty microscope could be sent to my room so I could compare the two serums. That would provide a quick answer for me.

  But something was niggling at me. Why would Irene have something so precious hidden outside the lab? Was it a new addition or did she not want anyone else to know about it? I couldn’t say. I carefully rewrapped the vial, placed it back in the chrome tube, and carried it and the mysterious box to my closet. I flipped the light on in there and rummaged through my shoes before I found a pair of wedge heels I rarely wore. I’d left them tossed around carelessly, but they were in fact precious to me.

  I picked up the right heel and tapped it once, twice, and two more times in quick succession. With a slight swooshing, the middle of the heel opened and I tucked the vial carefully inside right next to the vial my mother had given me.

  Men didn’t un
derstand women’s shoes. It was the safest spot I could put them in a place like this. I could still walk in those shoes if I needed to. I tested it out multiple times before I’d created the hiding place. Once I had, I’d turned two more pairs into hiding spots. The box was a different story. I had no idea where I could safely stash it. Plus, I thought I was going to need additional help to figure that puzzle out. I hid it in a loose board in the back of my closet. It would be safe for now. I could always move it later if I needed to.

  I’d just shut the door to my bedroom when there was a knock on my door. I opened it only to see Masters standing there. He was up, walking, and he looked great. I grinned at him. “Glad to see you back in the land of the living!”

  He winced.

  I cringed as I realized I was still covered in blood. Again.

  “I’ll come back,” he said.

  “Is it important? I can wash my hands.”

  Masters chuckled in genuine amusement. “I think you need a pressure washer.”

  “Sorry. I guess I should be a little more careful running around like this in the compound. People are going to talk.”

  Masters shook his head. “Going to talk?”

  My lips twisted to the side. “I’ll go shower.”

  “Do that. I’ll come back in thirty.”

  I shut the door and scrubbed myself from head to toe. When had I gotten so cavalier about blood and body parts? I didn’t think this was supposed to be part of the job, but I wasn’t really sure what the job was. My dad had taken me out of training and essentially separated me from the rest of the compound’s population, so if I weren’t a pariah before, I was definitely one now. And to come home twice in less than a week covered in someone else’s blood? Yikes.

  Twenty minutes later, I was clean, my hair was brushed, I was presentable, and I was freaking exhausted. I shut my eyes for a moment and the next thing I knew, someone was knocking on my door.

  I blinked awake with a jerk, rolled off the bed, and rushed into my living room. I flung the door open only to see Masters standing there. To the side of him was a little girl in a wheelchair. My hand flew up to my mouth. “Oh!”

  “Can we come in?” Masters asked.

  “Of course!” I opened the door as wide as I could and stood to the side as his daughter eased the chair in. I motioned for him to sit down. His daughter settled herself next to him as best she could. My apartment hadn’t been set up to accommodate a wheelchair, but I could move some things around if I needed to.

  I sat opposite him and pulled my knees up to my chest, a little conscious now of my bare feet and still wet hair.

  “Hello,” I said to her.

  She was adorable. Blonde curly hair and big blue eyes. I could tell she was rocking two dimples, so I hoped to coax a smile or two out of her soon. But it was obvious she was ill. Her head was beginning to tilt at an odd angle and there were deep shadows under her eyes.

  She mumbled a hello and I waited for her father to speak. I wasn’t expecting her to be here so soon, but from her presence in my rooms, Masters was tired of waiting.

  “If you haven’t already guessed, this is my daughter, Alanna.” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “I was hoping you could accommodate her for a little while. After…everything that happened over the last couple days, I just wanted her near me.”

  Oh, Masters. Near death would do that to you. I didn’t think of any of the issues surrounding the situation, nor did I stop to wonder what my father would think. “Of course.”

  I’d have to approach Watson to see where we could place her, or if we could move Masters somewhere so they could share a space. I still hadn’t explored this place enough to know exactly what kind of living areas it had. I knew there was plenty of dormitory space, but I wasn’t going to place a young girl in a dorm.

  “Aaron and I just made it back from Waterstone.”

  He nodded. “That’s part of the reason why I’m here. I’m assuming it’s only a matter of time now?”

  I hated to say it like that because it wasn’t like I was a wizard. We were getting there, but that was the thing about research—it took time, effort, and failure. I slowly nodded. “We have some ideas, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up right away. It may be a little while.”

  Alanna didn’t express any hope or dismay. She just looked tired. Her body was wearing down. Masters and I both knew it. I stared into his dark blue gaze. “But I can assure you we will do our absolute best to help her. And if we can’t, you and I will discuss other options.”

  We both knew what those other options were. It was a last resort, but I would do it for him if it came down to that and he knew I would. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll take her into my rooms for now. We can figure other arrangements out later.”

  “I’ll take care of it. Just get her settled in for now. We’ll make accommodations for both of you, okay?”

  He rose. “Thank you, Penelope.”

  I smiled softly. “Of course.”

  Alanna watched me with wide blue eyes.

  “I’ll see you later,” I said to her.

  One tiny dimple peeked out from her cheek and I grinned. She was super adorable. I waggled my fingers and watched her maneuver the chair out the door.

  When they were gone, I collapsed on to the couch. No freaking pressure. We could do this. I knew we could. It was just when—when could we do this?

  I went to bed that evening without dinner, my thoughts lost in the serums and how we were going to help a sick little girl.

  16

  I had the dream again. The one where Watson was watching me from my closet. I woke up unnerved. I needed to talk to him about it to see if I were crazy or having memory dreams. Strange they would only kick in now.

  I dressed and padded down to Watson’s room. He wasn’t in, so I headed over to the cafeteria, but he was absent from there too. After a fruitless search, I wound up close to my mother’s quarters, so I knocked on her door. She opened the door and surprise flickered over her face.

  “Penelope!” She held the door open and I went in. “What a nice surprise.”

  Watson sat on her couch, holding a cup of tea. He wore a sheepish expression.

  One of my eyebrows rose. My gaze didn’t leave him as I spoke to my mother. “Hey, Mom. Just wanted to pop in to see how you were.” Before I could even finish my words, I noticed the suitcases sitting on the floor overflowing with clothes and small knick knacks she’d brought from her home.

  “Oh,” I said faintly. “Well…I guess I can see exactly how you are.”

  My mother shoved a cup of hot tea in my hands. “Sit down.”

  I sat away from Watson, still curious as to why he was here.

  “You’re leaving.” That was me, captain of the obvious.

  She nodded. “I told you I would be.”

  “I’m not sure you came right out and said it like that, nor did I realize it would be so soon.”

  “You know I have to.”

  “I know I don’t want you to.”

  She gave me a patient smile. “Honey, you’re a grown woman. There’s nothing I can do for you that you can’t do for yourself.”

  I begged to differ. If it hadn’t been for her, Masters would be dead. But while I had them both here, it was a golden opportunity to address the dreams I’d been having. I’d never seen the two together, especially not having tea.

  “Regardless of all that, I’m glad you’re both here.”

  Watson’s gaze flickered with interest. He sipped his tea and I forced down the unbidden giggle. He looked ridiculous.

  “I’ve been having these…dreams. Except they don’t feel like dreams. They feel like memories.”

  Interestingly, my mother’s expression became guarded. Watson’s hand stilled as he was about to take another sip. “Oh?” he said, his tone one of mild interest, but I could read between the lines.

  “Mmmhmm. I thought you two could help me sort them out.”

  My mother laughed lightly. “I�
��m sure they’re just strange dreams. Your father told you some strange things would be happening over the next few months.”

  “I dreamed Watson used to come visit me. He would watch me from afar. And one time, he stole one of my drawings.”

  Watson’s tea cup clattered into its saucer.

  I sat back and watched as the two of them tried to come up with some explanation of what was happening without making anything seem even weirder than it already was. “And based upon your weird reactions, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

  My mother focused on folding a bundle of shirts piled next to her suitcase. “I am really quite busy, Penelope. Perhaps we can talk about this later?”

  I crossed my arms. “Nope.”

  “Penelope!” My mother used her no nonsense, don’t-argue-with-me voice, but I was a twenty-five-year-old woman and I knew she was lying.

  “I am not leaving here until you two spill it. Why am I having these dreams?”

  Watson gave my mom a long look. Some form of unspoken communication occurred between the two until he set his cup and saucer down. “You’re right. They are memories. Suppressed memories coming out when your waking conscious is unaware.”

  “Why would they be suppressed?” The whole thing was strange. I remembered the days. I just never remembered Watson being a part of them.

  My mother dropped the shirts she was trying to fold and sat down beside Watson, her hands folded primly across her lap.

  “There was an…incident when you were a little girl.” Both looked extremely uncomfortable.

  “An incident?” I repeated.

  At their non-response, I snorted in frustration. “Spit it out. Whatever it is couldn’t be that bad.”

  Could it? Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. Pretty much everything since I met my father had been downright crazy town.

  “A Time Soldier stumbled upon our location and alerted your father to our whereabouts.” My mother’s gaze slid to Watson.