Riptide: Book Three of the Atlas Link Series

by Jessica Gunn

“Fantastic,” Josh got out through gritted teeth. His fists tensed around the arms of his chair. He was a big dude. If Josh reacted too poorly to her probing and got violent, would Valerie be able to get out of his way in time? Conventional wisdom said yes. But Josh had taken down Chelsea before. “Can you try to leave the ones prior to SeaSatellite5 intact please?”

  “Trying,” Valerie said. “Quiet now. Can’t concentrate.”

  The fire wire continued to flow and undulate for forever. It seemed like every other moment I was resisting the urge to check my radio and see how long it’d been since she started. Throughout the entire thing, Chelsea never once looked away. She may not have even blinked.

  Finally, the fire wire disappeared. Josh and Valerie both leaned forward in their seats, gasping for air. Weyland was at Josh’s side in seconds and I followed suit for Valerie.

  As soon as she realized I was there, she gripped hard on to my arm for support. “Too much,” she said. “It’s too much.”

  “Fuck,” Josh groaned, the heels of his palms digging into his eyes as if trying to scrub away what he’d seen. “God, why?”

  “Josh!” Mara exclaimed. She knelt in front of her cousin, rubbing his arm. “Josh, what happened? What did you see? What do you remember?”

  Valerie leaned all the way back in her chair, pale and panting. Her eyes were drawn. “I can’t believe he’d… oh, my god.” She slapped a hand over her mouth and scooted the chair backward on quick, clumsy feet.

  “All of it,” Josh groaned. Really, it was more of a whine. “God, Mara. We did it. We did all of it. Everything.” Josh looked at Mara, then lifted his gaze to Chelsea. “I’m sorry. So, so sorry. For everything he made us do. To you. To Weyland. To the super soldiers.”

  He stood abruptly and, before anyone could stop him, he spun and punched the concrete wall behind him. Once. Twice. Three times before Weyland and Valerie—those closest to him that could have done anything—gathered their wits and pulled him off the wall, bloody, broken knuckles and all.

  “Doctor,” the Captain called. “Mr. Turner, if you can’t control yourself I’m going to have you sedated.”

  Josh fought Weyland and Valerie’s hold, but I knew it wasn’t Weyland that Josh was fighting. It wasn’t the wall Josh wanted to punch.

  It was General Allen, on both accounts. Whatever he’d made them do… it’d been bad.

  Horrific.

  25

  Chelsea

  That look on Josh’s face—pure terror, shame—I’d seen it only once before in the short months we’d been together. It was the same look he had when we’d been told that Truman had died in the blast at the warehouse; a look that accompanied heartbreak and soul-wrenching guilt. Doubts. Questions about why and if.

  My heart shattered for him. Whatever they’d been forced to do was something unforgivable.

  I moved toward him, out of unfortunate habit, before thinking better of it. Would Trevor think I still had feelings for Josh? Did I? No. That I knew for sure. There were no romantic feelings. None after the things he’d done, regardless of the reasons why.

  A rush of warmth bloomed in my chest, a sense of love banging in the back of my throat. I loved Trevor the way you love your favorite song. It was always with you during both good and bad. And when nothing else worked or when everything went wrong, it was right there, being right, whenever you needed its power.

  I glanced up at Trevor. He didn’t take his eyes off the scene before us, but an echoed I know hung in the telepathic air between our minds as if he’d heard every word. I owed it to him to say the words aloud, but relief rushed through me knowing I didn’t have to speak the truth for him to know.

  Eric stood, finally reacting to Josh’s outburst and Mara’s failed attempts to comfort her cousin. “Can my team and I have a moment please?”

  Captain Marks shook his head. “I can’t do that. I’m sorry.”

  Eric’s pale face reddened to the shade of his hair in anger. “He remembered something horrific. Can’t you see his face?”

  “I can,” Captain Marks said. “After he shares it with the rest of us, who also need to know for the security of this station, then maybe. You need to remember, Eric, that you are still being held here as criminals.”

  I scoffed. These guys were no more criminals than I was a magician. I might walk the walk with powers, but that didn’t make me someone meant to be on a Vegas stage. Same thing with them. They’d been forced to do those things and they were innocent because of that. But those things had still happened, hence imprisonment. Hence my freak show still being a thing. I couldn’t rid myself of these powers any more than they could completely purge their minds of these memories.

  I hadn’t realized how powerful Valerie had become, or how versatile Lemurian abilities were. Teleportation, pyrokinesis, strength. Were they self-healing, too? How much of the super soldiers’ abilities had the Atlanteans modeled after their enemy? What else had Valerie learned?

  A hand squeezed mine. My gaze found Trevor’s rounded eyes. I nodded up at him. I’m okay.

  “Look, not that it’s really any of my business, never mind my place,” Valerie said, interrupting our moment. “But I think they really do need that minute or two, Captain. You might even want me to fix the other two’s minds first.” Her eyes cut to Weyland’s. “Yours too, if you want.”

  “I think we’ve had enough share-our-powers time for today,” Weyland said dryly. “I can wait.”

  My parents had been quiet since Valerie had started fixing Josh’s memory. They’d seemed friendly before when we’d been in the apartment alone. But ever since walking into this room, ever since Trevor revealed himself as a Lemurian, they’d been on edge. Why? They trusted Valerie, and she was probably one of the least trustworthy people in the room.

  She’s our friend, Trevor thought.

  Shh, stay out, I said, not actually annoyed.

  Think they’re hiding something? he asked.

  I shook my head in a small motion, hoping belatedly that no one noticed. Think they’re a bit old-fashioned. Atlanteans and Lemurians can’t date and all.

  Trevor smiled. A frown washed it away a moment later. I was worried about that. The way they look at Valerie and me…

  You’re the Lemurians most closely tied to this station. I paused.

  What? Trevor asked in my silence. What is it?

  I saw my father in my periphery, eyeing us wearily. Did he know we were telepathically linked? Shit—could he hear our conversation?

  I averted my eyes, too embarrassed to find out for sure.

  Later, I told Trevor. We might have eavesdroppers.

  His eyebrows bunched together. How is that even possible?

  Josh cleared his throat, stopping our conversation for now. “What happened is we were used to take out as many Atlantean super soldiers as possible.”

  Valerie’s lips tightened. So did Josh’s. There was something they both weren’t saying.

  “We already knew that,” I said, the first time I’d really spoken since coming within this many feet of Josh. “That’s why General Allen had me removed. He knew I wouldn’t do it, and that I wouldn’t help you guys take SeaSatellite5.”

  “Thing is,” Josh said to me in a biting tone, “that mission was carried out because he wanted to get his people onto SeaSat5. The White City ordered that mission, not him. The General saw an opportunity to take the station, and you and every other super soldier here, out at the same time.”

  My teeth gritted together. “So, you guys went along with it once you got here to, what, try and stop it?”

  “Yes, actually,” Mara snapped. “So back off. Not all of us can as easily get out of situations as you can, Chelsea.”

  “Okay, let’s back it up a bit guys,” Valerie said. “I thought I was the only one allowed to start shit on board.”

  “Josh is right, though,” Trevor said. “Every incident he’s orchestrated was done not with the aim to kill you or Weyland. In fact, he pushed you away from t
hat mission and I don’t think it was because your face is everywhere in the music industry right now.”

  “It’s because you’d be killed by the White City before setting foot on the station,” Josh said. “He used Phoenix and Lobster as the excuse, then had me do something terrible so you wouldn’t try and find us. So you’d hate us enough to try keeping us out. Evidently it wasn’t enough. The General doesn’t want the station to fall into the White City’s hands. I think he wants it for himself.”

  “But I did try to find you,” I said. “For months, Josh.”

  “Hence the threat at the ceremony,” Trevor offered.

  I rubbed my forehead with the heel of my palm. “There’s too many angles to this right now.”

  “Agreed,” said the Captain.

  “Fortunately for you, there’s only one angle that matters,” my father said. Everyone’s attention turned to him. “Whether you like it or not, this station is the center of the war. Because of my daughter. Because this Lemurian man she seems to have fallen in love with.” There was disdain in his voice. Guess old habits died hard. “And, most importantly, because this seems to be a beacon to many of the super soldiers in my daughter’s generation.”

  “I don’t know about that,” I cut in. “There’s only ever been three of us good ones on board that I know of. Me, Weyland, and Sophia. She’s elsewhere at the moment.”

  “There have been others,” my mother said, but her eyes were far away. Like something I’d said had brought her back to some memory. “I can feel the mark their presence has left on this Link Piece.”

  “Others?” Valerie asked. “Even when I worked for Thompson, he knew of only one.” She paused for a moment, tilting her head. “Now that I think about it, I’m not sure if our intel was about Chelsea or the Lieutenant. It’s possible he didn’t know about Weyland at all.”

  “Or he expected me and got her,” Weyland said.

  The fact there might have been another, or more than one, on board and we hadn’t even known it…

  “I’ve never cataloged another super soldier,” Dr. Gordon said from her corner. “Only Sophia and Chelsea. And now Lieutenant Weyland.”

  “Then someone was lying,” my father said. “Hiding in plain sight.”

  Flashes of my time here zoomed past my mind’s eye, in and out of focus like the Waterstar map did with artifacts and artworks. A moment here, a time there. People. Places. I didn’t recall ever feeling the buzz with anyone aboard the station that I felt with other super soldiers. Not even Weyland had registered on my radar until after his disclosure. Same with Sophia.

  “Oh god,” Trevor exclaimed, hand rushing to his mouth. “There’s no way.”

  “What?” I asked him. It took a ton of willpower not to search his mind for the words he couldn’t say.

  “There might have been someone.”

  “Who?” Valerie asked.

  “You know who,” was all Trevor said. He backed up until he found a wall, then he leaned against it. “If it’s true—if the super soldiers in Chelsea’s generation have been congregating around each other out of instinct or whatever reason…” Trevor’s eyes found mine. “There’s only one other person who died on SeaSat5 during the hijacking. He stepped up out of the blue to try stopping Thompson. He had somehow evaded capture long enough to launch missiles.”

  My stomach dropped. Michael. “No. No way.”

  “I don’t know,” Valerie said, face contorted in concentration as if she were trying to recall every detail of that twenty-four-hour window. “Thompson was pretty pissed off about that, and it wasn’t because it destroyed their only other way off SeaSat5. He was super rattled about something and even more ruthless about making sure Michael didn’t survive.”

  “It’s not possible,” I said. “He died from the same exact poison that didn’t kill me.”

  “None of that matters now,” Captain Marks said. “That was years ago, and there might never be a way to know for sure.”

  The Captain was right.

  “I’m calling today’s activities over for now,” Captain Marks continued. “I think we all need a break.” He turned to my parents and said, “I’ll escort you to the guest quarters if that is suitable for you.”

  My parents exchanged a worried look before my father said, “I think we’d like to stay with our daughter for a little while longer.”

  I closed my eyes and tried to reel in my frustration. “I need time. Please.” Time to take this all in.

  Trevor’s hand closed around mine, but he didn’t say anything.

  I didn’t need to see my parents’ eyes zero in on the contact. I could feel the disappointment with my eyes shut.

  “Okay,” my father said. “Come, Alacia.”

  My parents followed Captain Marks out the door. Trevor and I followed soon after, only we descended the stairs instead of climbing on to the Lift.

  “Apparently, they used the Amarna relief we found in the outpost to bring me here,” I told Trevor. “Not sure how something from Ancient Egypt got connected to the 90s, though.”

  Trevor’s fingers roamed through my hair. We were curled up on his bed, my head on his chest. His warm body cocooned mine. Every time he lifted his arm to reach for water or something on the table beside his bed, chills crept up my skin in his wake like I’d been perpetually cold without him. So opposite of how I thought about our relationship not weeks ago. But he’d always lit up my life, made me feel like a part of something bigger than myself. A part of him.

  And now he was mine again.

  “How are you taking it all?” he asked, his voice deep and thick with fatigue. I didn’t think either of us had slept well in days.

  “The part where Lexi and I reconciled, or the part where Valerie led me to biological parents I think I’ve always assumed existed after I discovered my powers, but whom I never expected to ever meet?”

  Trevor chuckled. The sound rumbled through his chest and vibrated against my ear. I didn’t want it to ever stop. His laugh grounded me, his smile gave me hope. His warmth and strength after all this time was the only thing reassuring me that maybe we’d get out of this alive, even if he wasn’t so sure of it himself.

  “The second one,” he said, unable to reiterate all that I’d word vomited.

  “Ah, that. It’s peachy.”

  He looked down at me. “You know that never works any time you say it, right?”

  “Uh-huh.” I circled my fingertip on his chest. “It’s sufficient enough for me, though.” If he thought the other sentence was word vomit, wait until the rest came out.

  “Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours?”

  I looked away from him and sighed. “Well, you know all those times I was worried because I suddenly became a water-controlling freak-show? Now I’m an Atlantis-born water-controlling freak-show.”

  He startled. “You haven’t called yourself that in years.”

  “I know. I’m trying to add some mockery here because honestly, I’m not handling this well at all.”

  He frowned, his fingers toying with the ends of my hair. “I know.”

  “Right, you can hear it.” How’d I forget?

  “That’s not what I mean. It’s written all over your face.”

  I wiggled out of his embrace and sat up. “It’s like—okay. That’s great Valerie found them and all, and it’s awesome they want to help out. But I’m an adult and they’re judging me like a child for the company I keep when really, I don’t trust them anymore than I trust General Allen. At least I know what his agenda is, even marginally.”

  Trevor pulled himself up, lips pressed together. “It’s not like they hate me or Valerie.”

  “Oh, I’m not so sure about that,” I said. “Valerie might have saved them—however the hell that happened—but you’re still Lemurian and they were still born at the height of the original war. I was whisked away the night the city fell for God’s sake.”

  I looked at him, measuring his reaction. Which, for once, he kep
t to himself.

  “Oh, come on,” I said. “You’ve gotta have something for me. We just found out I’m literally an Atlantean. I’m your enemy.” I poked his ribs. He recoiled, chuckling at my exasperation.

  He took my hand in his and held it up between us, fixing a theatrically serious mask onto his features. “Surrender now then, you terrible, horrible Atlantean scum.”

  I leveled him with a look. “Okay, okay. You’ve made your point. You’re as bad as my parents are.”

  He pulled me to him, wrapping me in his arms. “I love you. I cared about you back before I even knew who you were, much less that you were Atlantean. The Chelsea I fell in love with was the rock star, the one person who didn’t give a damn what people thought.”

  Except, I wasn’t sure the Chelsea he fell in love with still existed. The me on stage was definitely not the me off stage, that was true. And both of those versions of Chelsea Danning were becoming increasingly different than Super Soldier Chelsea Danning. “I care what people think.”

  “Not on stage you don’t,” he said. “You had this freedom about you that night. I see it even now.”

  I lowered my lips to his and kissed him. “I love you,” I said between kisses. “I’m sorry I ever said… differently.” His hand cupped my cheek, holding me closer like a silent acceptance of the apology. I didn’t want to let go. Not now, not ever. I loved his man.

  “You too,” he mumbled back.

  This kiss didn’t stop for a long time and, finally, I could think straight.

  26

  Trevor

  Chelsea and I left for TAO the next morning along with Commander Devins, Captain Marks’s Executive Officer. He stumbled out of today’s teleport, only holding on to my hand long enough to ensure he wouldn’t be lost in the blue void of time-travel.

  “Whoa, Commander,” Chelsea said, reaching out a hand to catch him. “It’s teleportation. I didn’t set you on fire or anything.”

  Commander Devins cleared his throat and adjusted the collar of his uniform. “Felt like it.”