Born to Darkness

by Suzanne Brockmann

  “Tried and failed,” she said. “I only got as far as an S and an O, before Rayonna came in and wiped it off.”

  “But it was up there for at least five minutes,” Bach confirmed, replaying her memory. “Rayonna is the pregnant girl,” he added for Anna and Diaz’s benefit.

  He jumped back in time, into Nika’s memory of the view out that window, the way she’d looked to see what type of building she was in, the glass and steel. As she looked down to the ground, he slowed the memory wa-a-ay down, and counted forty floors below them. She’d then looked up—again just a glance—and he counted, as best he could, fifteen above.

  “She’s in a building with about fifty-five floors,” he reported, “across the street from both a CoffeeBoy and a Burger Deluxe and a former Burlington Coat Factory, which was next to what looks like a now-defunct florist—called Maxie’s Best.”

  Although Nika hadn’t paid any attention at the time, Bach now made note of the angle of the sun in the sky. It was either morning or afternoon, which meant the window was facing either southeast or northwest and … He focused his attention on the horizon, where—there it was—a shimmer of water. It was morning, and southeast, because that was the harbor.

  “There was a Maxie’s Best on Washington Street,” Diaz reported from the comm-station. “And … up until about four years ago, a Burlington Coat Factory.”

  “Have Analysis check satellite footage,” Bach ordered, “from the past few days, from six to ten in the morning. I want to find and verify the building in which an S and an O appears on one of the windows, somewhere around the fortieth floor.”

  “I’ve already sent out the request,” Elliot said, after clicking on the speaker from the observation room, where he was watching.

  Bach turned to Anna, who was wide-eyed and nearly breathless with hope.

  “We found her,” he said, and she launched herself into his arms.

  Or maybe it was Nika she was hugging.

  You’re only going to have to hang on a little bit longer, he told Nika, as he felt the girl use his arms to hug her sister back, enthusiastically. As soon as we verify your location, we’re coming to get you out.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Shane woke up, alone in the bed. Mac wasn’t just out of the room—she’d left the apartment.

  It was possible that the near-silent click of the closing door had awakened him, so he rolled out of bed and ran to the door and opened it and …

  No one was out there. She’d been gone for a while.

  Shane retraced his steps into the bedroom, scanning the dining table and the kitchen counter for any sign of a note. Just stepped out for coffee or Went to get doughnuts …

  As unlikely as that was, it wasn’t until he checked the bed and the pillow she’d been sleeping on that he gave up hope.

  No note.

  Not that big of a surprise, considering how totally he’d failed.

  Shane took a leak and a quick shower, got dressed, pulling on an extra-extra-large T-shirt that he’d found in the closet advertising the long-dead Grateful Dead—no doubt the ghost of some giant fuck-buddy past.

  He made the bed and let himself out of the apartment, locking the door behind him.

  Shane stood on the building’s front steps in the pre-dawn of what was going to be a beautiful fresh spring day, and it occurred to him that now might be a good time to just cut his losses and walk away. He had forty dollars in his debit account—he’d already been paid, in advance, for his first week.

  He could take the T, not back out to the burbs and OI, but rather farther into Boston. To South Station where he could catch a train down to New York City. Maybe get another under-the-table job, driving a truck to Atlanta or Miami.

  Except now he’d wonder what the truck was carrying. He’d wonder if its cargo was Destiny.

  Shane stepped down to the sidewalk and headed into Kenmore Square, pretty certain that, whatever choice he made, he was going to lose.

  Joseph helped Nika find her way back to her physical self—to her body.

  She had no clue how he did it, but by now, her faith in him was so strong, she wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d been able to bring her to the moon.

  Still, as she felt herself return, felt the gnawing hunger and the restraints holding her in place, she was gripped by fear.

  Easy, Joseph said. Breathe. Keep breathing.

  The room she was in was dark, regardless of the fact that, outside, it was morning. And even though Nika kept breathing, she was still afraid. Please don’t leave me.

  I’m not going anywhere. Joseph’s promise filled her, warmed her, even before she’d gotten out most of her plea.

  Because she was no longer inside of Joseph’s head, she couldn’t see what he saw. But she could—somehow—hear what he heard. She wasn’t sure why or how, and he wasn’t able to explain it either.

  She was just glad that he was with her, despite those limits.

  He and hunky Stephen Diaz and the cute doctor—Elliot—had had an argument when they’d learned, from something called Analysis, the address of the building where Nika was being held.

  Elliot had called it impenetrable and Diaz had gotten grim, using words like fortress and army of guards. But Joseph? He’d insisted impenetrable only meant that they hadn’t yet figured out a way in—or out. He reminded them that all they had to do was break out.

  Joseph had told them to get working on a solution, and he’d pulled Nika away as she caught a whiff of thoughts he was trying to hide—something about keeping her far from that negative energy bullshit.

  Coming from the King of Zen, that was a clue that her easy rescue wasn’t going to be as easy as Joseph had hoped.

  Still, if anyone could get her free, it was Joseph and his team.

  I’m glad you have faith.

  Nika felt him, warm and solid in her mind, even as he turned to speak to Anna. “I’m staying with Nika until this is over,” he reassured her sister. “And now that I’m in her head without your help …”

  “You don’t need me anymore,” Anna said, and it was weird, the way Nika was lying there in the darkness, and yet able to hear Anna’s voice through Joseph’s ears. She sounded different. Her voice seemed richer. More melodic. But maybe that was just because Anna was tired.

  And Joseph said as much, too. “You must be exhausted. Why don’t you go get some sleep—or at least some breakfast.”

  Nika couldn’t see Anna, yet she knew, through Joseph, that her sister smiled. But it was forced and it made her appear even more worn-out, and Nika felt his concern and his …

  He felt … something, that she couldn’t identify. It was … not exactly affection. It was …

  “Isn’t there something I can do?” Anna asked. “Some way I can help?”

  “Yes, actually. Go remind Diaz and Elliot that they need to eat, too,” Joseph told her. “Tell them I said to go to the lounge with you, get some breakfast, and while you’re eating, I want them to explain to you—so that you understand clearly—the problem we’re up against, the challenges of trying to breach this particular building. Sometimes that helps us find solutions.”

  “Breaking it down into simple language for the unwashed fractions,” she said.

  “That’s not how I think of you.”

  “Sorry, I’m just tired. Can I bring you anything?”

  “No,” he said. “I’m good. But thank you. So much.”

  His words were super-polite, and with them came a hint—just a whisper—of a little extra reserve, as if he’d taken a step back, or was trying to verbalize the fact that he was keeping his distance, and with that Nika knew. Oh, my God! You have a crush on my sister!

  She felt Joseph sigh.

  You do! Oh, that’s … kinda creepy.

  It’s not creepy, he told her, laughing slightly, because it’s not true. Yes, I admire her. But I admire a lot of women. I admire you. I’m not a woman, she reminded him.

  Yeah, you are, he said. After all you’ve endured
with such courage? You are.

  But then Nika jumped and squeaked and was unable to suppress a surge of fear as the overhead lights smashed on, and the door to the room opened.

  Oh, my God, she told Bach. Here he comes. It’s the man with the scar, and no, God, he’s got that knife …

  I’m here, Joseph said, steady and warm and strong. I’m right here.

  But he wasn’t really there. He couldn’t really help her.

  Please, Nika begged him, I know you don’t want any negative energy bullshit, but if I don’t get out of here, if you can’t rescue me—

  Nika, we’re going to.

  I know, but if you don’t, she asked, will you promise me that you’ll take care of Anna? Will you make sure that she’s safe?

  I promise, he told her as the other girls in the room all started to scream, as the man with the scar came toward Nika and smiled.

  Anna took a bite of her omelet even though her stomach was churning while Elliot and Diaz—as Bach had ordered—were explaining what Analysis had discovered when they’d checked out the building where they’d verified Nika was being held.

  First of all, it was massive. And it was right in the city. It was, apparently, nothing like the little thousand-square-foot dilapidated semi-rural houses where Bach’s team from OI had gone in to rescue girls or liberate Destiny-cooking equipment in the past. They’d never encountered anything like this before.

  The fact that an illegal and underground group like the Organization should be in a location that was so blatantly aboveground and in-your-face was disturbing. Anna didn’t even want to think about what that meant in terms of the city government or police, although the phrase in their pocket flashed to mind.

  Second, part of the building was leased to innocent civilians. Thousands of tenants rented apartments on both the lower and higher floors, as did a number of nonprofits, including, ironically, the beleaguered international equal rights group, Women Now.

  Or maybe their presence there wasn’t ironic. Analysis had discovered that the building’s owner, a corporation called The Brite Group had made an in-kind donation of ten years’ rent to Women Now. Possibly in the spirit of keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. Of course, there was also the strategy of using both the nonprofit and the civilians as human shields.

  “So blasting a hole in the building,” Stephen Diaz told her as he dug into a bowl of fresh fruit, “isn’t an option.”

  “If Analysis knows which floors the Brite Group occupies,” Anna asked, tapping the schematic of the building’s floor plan that Elliot had called up on the table’s comm-station, “why not just walk in through the front door, grab Nika, and run?”

  “It’s not that easy,” Stephen said. “They’ve got a legion of heavily armed security specialists—”

  “Whose bullets will bounce off of you if you’re shielded,” Anna pointed out.

  “But we can’t shield Nika on their way back out,” Elliot said. “Neither Bach nor Stephen can shield more than one person—themselves. Also, that kind of protection is an energy-drain. Out of all of our Greater-Thans, only Bach and Stephen have the ability to access their other powers while they’re shielding—and even that’s limited—”

  “Ahlam can multi-shield,” Stephen said, looking at Elliot. “Maybe if we brought Ahlam …” He turned to Anna. “She’s one of our Thirties.”

  “I’ve met her,” Anna said.

  “You really want to bring Ahlam into a place like that?” Elliot wasn’t convinced. “Her abilities are erratic at best.”

  “I’m just thinking aloud,” Stephen said. “And you’re right, we shouldn’t bring Ahlam anywhere near that place. But maybe if we went in with a big enough group—made this the biggest full-on assault that we’ve ever attempted—”

  “Or if you came in from the outside, while Joseph shared possession of Nika’s body from the inside,” Anna said, “the way she did with him? Then he’s not physically there. He can use his powers to shield her but won’t have to shield himself.”

  “An intriguing idea,” Elliot said, “but Stephen and his team won’t even get past the lobby.” He explained to Anna, “Analysis reports that the Brite Group uses probes—illegal medical and jot scanners—as a big part of their security monitoring. They take continuous scans of their lobby, their basement, their roof, and every hallway. They’ve got their scanner calibrated to provide information about integration levels—which is interesting, and not in a good way.”

  Stephen could see that Anna wasn’t quite following, so he explained: “The study of integration levels isn’t accepted by the corporate government, even though more and more members of the scientific community are validating OI’s work. And the fact that a mega-corporation like the Brite Group has adjusted their scanners to include integration levels is both alarming and informative.”

  “See, they’re using this equipment to get personal medical information on every man, woman, and child who walks into their building,” Elliot broke it down for Anna even further. “They’ve got their equipment set not just to perform jot scans, but to automatically run full medical scans on everyone who stays still for long enough.”

  “That’s a huge violation of privacy rights.” Anna stated the obvious. “But … Why do they do it? What do they do with that information?”

  “Good question,” Elliot said. “We’re wondering the same thing. Are they using this to identify more of these little girls that they call fountains?”

  “Oh, my God,” Anna said.

  “Or are they using this information as security,” Stephen suggested. “But think about what that means. Any Greater-Than who sets foot in this building will immediately be identified. Our mere presence will set off alarms. Before this, we weren’t sure we were on the Organization’s radar. Even though we’ve gone in and shut down a number of Destiny-cooking labs, and rescued dozens of girls from what they call their farms …”

  “I think the fact that they scan for integration levels means that they know we’re here, and that we’re a threat to their operation,” Elliot agreed. “And that’s a little scary. That plus the size of this building where they’re holding Nika. We really had no idea how big the Organization was. We’re like a gnat trying to take out Godzilla.”

  Stephen nodded. “Personally, I prefer the Davy versus Goliath analogy.” He smiled at Elliot. “Or Ewoks versus the Empire.”

  Elliot laughed, but he sobered quickly. “This is what we’re up against,” he told Anna. “As soon as we try to get into the building, alarms will go off.”

  “So sneaking Nika out of there isn’t an option, either,” Stephen surmised. “Analysis reports that they’re not scanning in the holding rooms, but as soon as Dr. Bach walks Nika’s body out into the hall? With their combined integration levels? Alarm bells.”

  “But if Joseph can protect her …?”

  “To a limit,” Elliot said. “He’s powerful, that’s true, and the guards won’t be able to shoot Nika, because Bach can shield her from their bullets. But enough of them could overwhelm her. Remember, Bach’s going to be in her body, limited by her physical strength.”

  “She’ll be the baddest, most kickass thirteen-year-old in the world,” Stephen told Anna, “but not even Dr. Bach can make her invincible.”

  “So … that means we need to shut down their med scanners,” Anna concluded.

  “Analysis already rejected that,” Elliot said. “The scanners work off a wireless self-contained system that’s unhackable.”

  “Well, it’s probably hackable,” Stephen corrected him. “We just haven’t figured out how to do it.”

  “Which, for the sake of this discussion,” Elliot said, “makes it unhackable. I mean, we’re looking to get Nika out ASAP, not after seven months of research and experimentation, right?”

  “Then ignore the med scanners,” Anna suggested. “And the alarms. Let’s go back to the idea of sending in a big enough group of Greater-Thans to meet Bach and protect Nika.”

/>   “Just blow past ’em.” Stephen answered his own question by shaking his head, no.

  Elliot chimed in with, “Twenty-five Greater-Thans, marching up the Org’s ass? In theory, it’s beautiful. But the problem with that is we’re back to these alarms. The bad guys have ample warning—and all kinds of escape routes that are not on these plans. We’ll take out some of their guards and grunts, sure, and we’ll rescue some of their prisoners. But they’re going to take all of the girls like Nika—their fountains—and boogie out of Dodge.”

  “So we’re back to figuring out a way to shut down their med scanners,” Anna persisted.

  “Which can only be done from the inside,” Elliot said, making an adjustment to the computer screen, to show a mazelike layout of rooms and hallways. He pointed to one of the rooms. “Here’s where their scanning system is housed—smack in the middle of the main security floor.”

  They sat in silence for a moment, as Anna tried not to be overwhelmed by the apparent impossibility of the situation. She thought about Nika, who was really only marginally safer now that Bach was with her. Because, as Stephen and Elliot had made clear, there were limits to his ability to protect her.

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and then another, because she refused to accept that saving her sister was impossible. She thought of Bach’s calm and she embraced the techniques he’d used to try to teach Nika to achieve the control she’d needed to unlock the powers of her mind.

  And Anna could practically feel his warmth and power inside of her head again as, in a flash, she saw the answer.

  “I’ll go in,” she said, opening her eyes to look across the table. Stephen didn’t understand, but Elliot did—she could see both his surprise and then the glimmer of excited hope in his eyes, as she explained to Stephen, “I’m a fraction. I can go into the building, be scanned, and not set off a single alarm. Joseph can implant whatever knowledge I need directly into my head. He taught me self-defense that way. He can teach me how to breach their scanning system, the same way. He can teach me to climb up the elevator shaft if he has to.” She said it again. “So I’ll do it. I’ll go.”