Tested

by Stalder, Janelle

“With the people,” Roman said, voicing her own thoughts. “The soldiers can’t find the rebels, but the citizens can.”

  “And they’re actually giving in to him,” Pete said, rubbing a hand down his face. “This is a major problem.”

  “I’d say,” Sam said. “Who the hell can we trust, if our own people are willing to sell us out?”

  “How long until they find us here?” Bridgette added.

  “Christ, does it ever stop?” Seamus said, letting his head fall back on the couch. “So now we’re fighting to help people who have no problem throwing us to the wolves. Great. Just bloody great.”

  “Just because some of them did, doesn’t mean they all will,” Lake argued. “We all know there are plenty of people out there that are counting on us and supporting what we do. We can’t just give up because of a few.”

  “A few?” Sam said, her eyes burning. “It was the whole bloody street, Lake! That’s not a few. It’s easy for you to keep your faith when you weren’t the one who had to see Phoenix. They beat her bad, and would have killed her if we hadn’t intervened.”

  “How did you stop it?” asked Charlotte.

  Sam threw her arm around Pixie’s shoulders. “Our girl here set off quite a show while Trent went in and grabbed her.”

  The door opened again and Garrett walked in, his hair blown wildly from the wind. He froze as all heads turned toward him. “What?” he said, looking from face to face. “What’d I do?”

  “Where have you been?” Pete asked.

  “I went with them,” he said, motioning to the girls, “but I got lost coming back.”

  “Figures,” Seamus muttered.

  “Oy, what’s that supposed to mean?” Garrett said, stepping further into the room.

  “It means I’m surprised you make it down to the kitchen every morning, with your sense of direction,” he said, “or lack thereof.”

  Pete’s youngest brother shrugged it off. “Whatever. I learned some interesting news from that Cal guy Phoenix was talking about the other day,” he told them. “Turns out he saw another van going around and taking people off the street, but it’s not the same one as before.”

  “How does he know?” Roman asked.

  “Well, for one it was black. And for another, he tried following it, but said they went in the complete opposite direction as the other one.”

  “Fantastic,” Seamus said sarcastically. “More players on a board that is getting pretty crowded in my opinion.”

  “It could be the General still,” Pete said. “We have no proof that says otherwise, aside from the direction they were driving. Who else could it be?”

  “If Trent got Phoenix,” Bridgette said suddenly, “where are they?”

  “Sir?” Xavier called out, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dim lighting in Ludwig Tennebris’ office. The heavy drapes were pulled shut against the day, the only light provided by the large fire roaring in the hearth. The leader of the New World sat in front of the flames, his eyes staring unseeing into the orange glow.

  Ever since Weapon X had mysteriously disappeared, and then Roman Adamson soon afterward, their leader had retreated further and further into his own space. Some of the soldiers worried about him, noticing a difference in the usually charismatic leader. Others insisted there was nothing wrong with him.

  Few actually had the clearance to speak directly with him so they didn’t see him the way Xavier had been over the past few days. He was getting worse, Xavier decided. Orders were still being given, and things were slowly moving forward, but it was different than it had been before. Xavier missed Roman, and wished he was here to talk some sense into Ludwig. No one knew what had happened to him, but after the day he’d vanished from the hospital room, Ludwig hadn’t come out of his office until two days later stinking like alcohol, eyes bloodshot, heavy bags beneath them.

  Xavier had been doing his best to fill in the role Roman had disserted, but it was becoming increasingly difficult the less direction he received. The soldiers were focused on finding these rebels even more now that Sal, their main arms dealer, had left again and was no longer looking over all their shoulders. So far they hadn’t come up with much. Despite the fact that he’d grown up with most of the men they were hunting, Xavier knew that it was time for drastic measures, and enough of these little schemes to draw the resistance out.

  “Sir,” he called out again, moving closer.

  Slowly Ludwig’s head turned in his direction, his eyes blinking a few times as though he’d forgotten where he was.

  “What news?” he asked, his voice just as strong and focused as it always was. Xavier admired the way their leader could pull himself together so quickly. Or, at least, appeared to. There was still a slight gleam to his eye that seemed distant and removed.

  “We had one of the rebels from the gathering cornered this afternoon in the western ghetto,” he replied.

  Ludwig nodded. “So that is where they’re hiding,” he said, confirming their suspicions.

  “It would appear so, sir,” Xavier said.

  His leader rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his gaze looking over Xavier’s shoulder at the empty space there. “Which one was it?” he seemed to ask hesitantly.

  “She had bright red hair,” answered Xavier.

  “And she was alone?”

  He nodded.

  “Where is she now?”

  Xavier shifted uneasily, his mouth suddenly uncomfortably dry. “Well, that is the problem, sir. We lost her.”

  Ludwig’s gaze snapped back to him, one eyebrow raised in disbelief. “You lost her,” he repeated, more as a statement than a question.

  Xavier cleared his throat. “Yes, sir. Our men had her but they were distracted by a series of explosions. When they returned, she was gone.”

  “A series of explosions?” An incredulous laugh escaped him. He stood up, walking over to his desk, chuckling the entire time. “What’s next I wonder?” He looked up and Xavier saw the spark of anger in his expression now. It wasn’t something he liked to face and once more found himself wishing for Roman’s return. “These rebels so easily manipulate my men – my men! An army of trained men are being outwitted by a God damn group of girls!”

  Xavier took an unconscious step backward. “W-we don’t know for a fact that they are all women,” he argued uselessly.

  “It doesn’t matter!” he yelled. “I sent you out to retrieve one of them to bring back to me, and not only have you failed, but you’ve managed to allow a section of the ghetto to be destroyed without my consent. How do you think that makes me look to the rest of the citizens of the western ghetto? Their little band of heroes continue to get one up on the men of the NWO. If that keeps happening, who do you think they will put all their faith in?”

  He swallowed, keeping his gaze lowered in submission. There was nothing he could say to negate Ludwig’s argument. If he hadn’t already been feeling foolish when coming here to deliver the news, he did now. He hadn’t been there himself, but he felt just as responsible for their blunder as those who had been.

  Ludwig sat down heavily into the chair behind his desk, rubbing a hand down his face. He appeared marginally calmer when he looked back. “We need to start upping our game if they insist on blowing up their own city,” he said, voicing Xavier’s early thoughts.

  “Shall I arrange something for the western ghetto?”

  Ludwig hesitated, that same distant look filling his eyes before he blinked it away and shook his head. “No, leave that area for now,” he replied. “We’ll deal with them later. Let’s refocus on the General and get his group out of the way.”

  “So we turn our attention to the eastern ghetto again, sir?”

  Ludwig nodded. “They want to burn their city down? Then so be it. After all,” he said with a smile, “we always aim to please.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The tray of food flew through the air, splattering against the stark, white walls. Missy squeaked at the sudden movement. Remains of what had be
en given to them slowly dripped down the wall in the tense silence. Missy finally tore her gaze away from the mess to stare at Tyler in confusion.

  “What on earth was that for?” she said.

  Tyler’s face darkened, and Missy knew instantly he was incredibly angry.

  “They drugged our food,” he said, pointing at the now spattered remains.

  Missy’s eyes widened in shock as she looked back over to the disaster on the wall. “Drugged it with what?” she asked.

  “With the treatments. I told you, I can detect the scent now.”

  She gripped her chest, her legs giving out beneath her. She landed ungracefully on the edge of the cot. They were trying to give her Douglas Hatcher’s crazy drug treatments? She shuddered at the thought. What would she become if given such a thing? Who would she become? Would she lose her memory as well? It was a terrifying thought to even consider. If it hadn’t been for Tyler’s heightened sense of smell, she would never have known.

  Ironic, she thought, that the drugs she was petrified to take were the same ones that allowed Tyler to sense them and stop it from happening. She looked back up to find Tyler watching her carefully, his expression unreadable.

  They studied each other in silence before he spoke, “I will not let them turn you into something like me, I promise.”

  Guilt instantly washed over her, her stomach dropping as she deciphered the look on his face. He thought she was scared because of disgust for what he was. He’d even referred to himself as a ‘something’. She regretted her reaction, even though she had every reason to fear the treatments.

  Missy got up, approaching him slowly as he watched her guardedly. When she stood just in front of him, she reached out and gripped his arm, hoping the physical contact would show him she wasn’t disgusted or afraid of him like he assumed.

  “You’re not a something,” she said. “You’re a victim in this, just like everyone else. I would hate to ingest any of that drug and forget who I am, like you have. I’ve told you before that we know each other, and now it’s my job to help you remember who you are and what you stood for. If I forgot who I was too because of their drugs, we’d be lost forever. There are a lot of people counting on us to get out of here, Tyler. Any revulsion I feel for the people who run this place and their awful drugs is by no means a reflection of what I think about you. Understood?”

  He hesitated a second before nodding once.

  She wasn’t sure if he was being completely genuine, but there really wasn’t much else she could say to convince him. The best thing to do was to focus on trying to get his memory back, and escaping. The more time they spent together, the more she hoped he’d see that she truly wasn’t afraid of him – anymore.

  Letting her hand drop away from him, she looked back over at the ruined food and sighed. “Now what are we going to do about dinner?”

  “I will demand new food the next time they come around,” he said.

  She looked back at him. “That won’t be until breakfast!’

  He shook his head. “They always come back to collect the empty tray. Don’t worry, I will take care of you, lass.”

  As it turned out, they didn’t come back. Missy had the uneasy feeling that they were aware of what Tyler had done and were punishing them both for it. She wondered if there were cameras in their room. She couldn’t see any, but she really had no idea what to look for.

  Exhaustion and hunger had finally taken its toll on her. Tyler demanded she go to bed and he would wait to see if someone brought them something. They both knew that was unlikely, however she didn’t feel like arguing with him. She eyed the bed wondering how the heck they were both going to be able to sleep on it. She wasn’t exactly comfortable with the idea of sleeping in the same bed as Tyler, and this one guaranteed that they’d have to sleep even closer than she’d like.

  She also wasn’t sure how she was going to sleep with the bright fluorescent lights shining against her eyelids. She needed complete darkness to sleep. Then there was the possibility that someone might come in while she slept, which scared her the most.

  Tyler must have sensed her unease. He stepped up behind her, and in one quick swoop had her up in his arms, cradled against his hard chest.

  “What are you doing?” she asked as soon as she found her voice.

  “I’m putting you to bed,” he said simply.

  Missy sighed, letting him place her gently on the small mattress and pull the blankets up around her shoulders.

  “This is pointless,” she told him. “I’m not going to be able to sleep.”

  “Yes you will,” he said. She sucked in a breath when he joined her in the bed, his large hands forcing her to roll onto her side. His body was pressed against her back before she could even squeak out a protest, his left arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her back more tightly against him. His other arm wiggled beneath her head until it pillowed it comfortably. “Sleep,” he ordered.

  She wanted to argue, she really did, but the sudden warmth and feeling of safety surrounding her had her eyelids feeling heavier than they had a moment ago. She let them fall and was instantly unaware of anything else but the lull of sleep.

  Tyler waited until her breathing was even and he knew she’d finally fallen asleep. Moving slowly, he propped himself up so he could look down at her. Something inside him tightened at the peaceful, relaxed look on her face. The fact that the doctors had tried to give her drugs made him want to punch a hole through the wall.

  Rage so intense flowed through him, but looking down at her face, having her tucked against him, was helping to ease some of it. There was no way he was going to let them ruin any part of her. If they refused to give her clean food, he’d have no choice but to allow her to leave him.

  The idea made him want to growl. He swallowed the urge, not wanting to disturb her rest. He didn’t know very much about the woman, but there was just something about her that resonated with a need deep inside. He had to keep her safe, and the best way to do that was to keep her with him.

  There was no one here that he trusted. Even if he did let her leave, what was stopping one of the doctors or technicians from grabbing her and doing something awful? He thought about what she had told him earlier, and suddenly his rage was boiling through his veins again. How could any man hurt someone as beautiful and delicate at her? He couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

  Ever since he’d woken up in this room, strong feelings of anger had plagued him endlessly, but even in his red haze he knew enough to know not to hurt someone like Missy. Her name struck a note in his mind, a fuzzy memory teetering just on the edge of his consciousness. She’d said they knew each other, but he could remember nothing from before this place.

  Had they been lovers? His eyes drifted over her body slowly. He didn’t think so, but he had a strong feeling that he had wanted to. If he hadn’t, he was officially an idiot. Not anymore. His gaze went back to her slumbering face. When he took her, and he would, it would have to be gentle. Knowing what had been done to her gave him the extreme need to erase every bad memory, every violent touch, and replace it with pleasure and adoration. It was what she deserved.

  Lying back down, he scooped her closer, loving the way her body fit perfectly against his. He closed his eyes and let his breathing match hers until sleep finally took him as well.

  She was boiling. Missy moaned as her eyes opened to a blank, white surface. Something heavy lay across her abdomen, pinning her to the lumpy mattress beneath her. Heat surrounded her, causing beads of sweat on her neck and back. It took her a moment to remember where she was, but memory quickly returned as soon as she looked over her shoulder at a sleeping Tyler.

  Her eyes looked over his face, so different in sleep than in wake. She wanted to roll over, but was afraid she’d rouse him. How long had they been asleep? It was impossible to tell time in this room. No windows decorated the walls, or a clock of any kind. She couldn’t wait to get out of here.

  Deciding to risk it, she gently
rolled and shifted her body until she lay on her back, her head turned toward him. He didn’t wake, a soft growl escaping his parted lips as his eyes remained shut. She let herself simply lie there and enjoy the sight of him. She’d never really been able to do that before.

  When she’d first seen him, she’d recognized instantly how attractive he was. She didn’t want to think he was good looking, but there really was no denying it. However, she never really did get a good fill of simply staring at him, since as soon as he’d look back at her, feeling her gaze on him, she’d immediately look away. His eyes were too intense to hold.

  Now she could look all she wanted, for however long she wanted. She took in his strong brow, shaped perfectly over eyes that were fringed with eyelashes so dark and long any woman would be insanely jealous. Her eyes drifted lower to focus on his lips, surrounded by the beard that somehow made him even more attractive.

  She’d never really been one to like facial hair, but she couldn’t imagine Tyler without it. He murmured softly in his sleep, bringing a smile to her face. There was a childlike quality to him when he was like this. He shifted, burying his face into the crook of her neck, his nose sniffing at her hair. He groaned louder, the arm slung over her suddenly tightening, dragging her closer.

  “Missy?” he said, his voice muffled. “Why are you in bed with me?”

  The way he said it had her heart racing, a nervous excitement filling her chest. His voice sounded like it used to, that strange coldness that infused it since he was changed no longer there. Hope blossomed, her eyes filling with tears of relief.

  She turned her head, pulling it away from him so she could see his face better. His eyes were closed, a small, relaxed smile on his lips.

  “Tyler?” she said, stroking his cheek gently.

  His eyes popped open, the clear green of them immediately focusing on her. Hope rushed out of her as she saw the same look in those eyes that she’d been faced with since she’d found him.

  “Tyler?” she said again, her voice breaking on the lump of emotion clogged in her throat. She could have sworn he had sounded normal. She’d thought…a tear trickled down the side of her face. Had she just imagined it? She’d been so sure her Tyler was back, but she knew already, even though he hadn’t spoken yet, that nothing had changed.