“We’ve fitted EM sensors into the walls. Mr Gardiner wants us to measure the strength of the pulse you emit when you shift.”
“Why?” I ask, my concerns about Gardiner immediately resurfacing – is he thinking about trying to weaponise my ability? Perhaps my earlier suspicions about his intentions weren’t entirely unfounded.
I see Scott shoot me a look and remember my promise about trying to trust AbGen’s commander. I raise my hands in mock surrender before he can say anything.
“Just curious.”
“Sorry, Anna,” Toby says, oblivious as ever to the tension in the room. “You’d have to ask him; I just do what I’m told.”
I nod, resolving to do exactly that. First things first though, I have a theory to test. There’s a desk wedged in one corner of the room, and on top of it sits a single bottle of glucose tablets, next to a timer set for ten minutes. I shake out one of the pills and stare at it, trying to blot France from my memory.
“Are you alright, Anna?” Scott asks, quietly enough that Toby can’t hear him. I nod, not trusting myself to speak.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Yeah, I do,” I say, my voice a hoarse whisper. If I don’t do it now, I never will. I put the pill in my mouth and start to chew. As an afterthought, I shake out another and put it in my pocket, just in case. Scott puts his hand on my shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze, and I flash back to the night before last, curled up on the sofa together. He’ll keep me safe, I know he will.
Toby hits a button on the timer and it starts to count down.
“So run me through this theory again,” Toby says as Scott steers me firmly into the only seat in the room before I can start to pace, and my foot immediately starts tapping on the concrete flooring. I make a conscious effort to stop it and focus on Toby’s question.
“Okay, so every time I’ve shifted intentionally, I’ve made myself afraid until my ability kicks in, right? And every time I’ve accidentally shifted, I’ve been genuinely afraid. But there’s one thing that’s different about the very first time I shifted – I didn’t just want to escape, I wanted to be back safe at home. Every other time I’ve just wanted to get as far away as possible.”
“That’s why you ended up in France – because our pill let you go further?” I can hear the guilt in his voice as he puts it together. “Anna, I’m so–”
“Nope, don’t say it,” I cut him off, because this room is claustrophobic enough without making room for his guilt and my anxiety. “No more apologies, okay?” He nods but looks unhappy. After a moment he perks up again.
“So you’re just going to click your heels and think of home?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Then whenever you’re ready, Dorothy.”
I grimace – that had better not be my new nickname – and close my eyes. I let my awareness of the lab fall away and focus on the growing knot of fear inside me. It creeps up through my stomach and burns up through my lungs until it’s bubbling in my throat, threatening to drown me and I can’t think of anything else. All I know is I have to get out of here, I need to get home, I’ve got to–
*
“Sir, Anna,” Joe greets us as we step inside Langford House. He’d tried the whole ma’am thing with me at first, but it made me feel forty so I set him straight on that score. I mean, honestly, do I look like a ma’am?
“You’re never going to let that go, are you?” he asks with a smile, while Scott shoots a confused look in my direction, and I make a mental note to watch my thoughts around the mind reader. The overly-nosy mind reader, I add for Joe’s benefit.
“Hey, just making sure I stay sharp.”
He seems plenty sharp to me already.
“Why thank you, ma’am,” he says, a boyish grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. Seriously, you’d never believe his talent takes absolute concentration; he makes it look so natural. If he heard that, he makes no comment on it, but I know he can’t hold that level of focus for long.
Scott finishes checking in with Nora and we step into the lift.
“Canteen?” he suggests, his finger hovering over the control panel, and my stomach rumbles in response. I’m starting to suspect this man knows me a little too well. The shift went brilliantly. I ended up just two miles from home, and we’re going to need to check it on a map, but it looks like I travelled more or less in a straight line. It’s the first time I’ve felt like I’ve really had some control over my talent, and I like it. But as always, shifting has left me ravenous. I hope it uses a lot of calories, because otherwise these extra meals are going to start to show.
As the lift doors slide open, I reach a decision.
“Bathroom break. I’ll catch you up.”
It’s not that I don’t trust him – honestly, it’s not – but I don’t think he’d approve of what I have in mind, especially after our chat yesterday. The EM sensors in the training room have me on edge. There’s something not right there, and it’s like Toby said: if I want to know why they’re there, I need to speak to Gardiner. I’m not going back on my word about trusting him, not really. I mean, there’s nothing wrong in wanting to know what he’s got planned, right? I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for what he’s doing and why he didn’t bother to tell me. Yeah.
“Uh, Anna?” Scott’s voice interrupts my reverie. “The bathroom’s that way.”
He nods in the opposite direction to the one I’d been going in. I laugh awkwardly and head back past him. From the corner of my eye I see him shake his head and walk away. I push open the third door on the right and step into the ladies. The room is small and barren. There aren’t many restrooms that can make The Glasshouse’s look classy, but this is one of them. In fact, its sole redeeming feature is that right now it’s empty. I loiter and try to work out how long it’ll take Scott to get down the corridor and into the lift. After counting to thirty, I poke my head into the corridor and glance around cautiously. The coast is clear. I hurry back along it. I won’t have long before Scott starts wondering where I am, and this isn’t a conversation I want to have with him.
I step into the lift that leads to Gardiner’s elaborate office, tapping my foot as it makes its way oh so slowly to where I need to be. After what seems like an age the door opens and I step out, by which time I’ve already started to wonder if this is a good idea. Gardiner isn’t likely to take kindly to me questioning him and I don’t know what he’s capable of, not truly. But he saved Scott’s life and that’s got to count for something. I raise my hand and rap on his door before I can completely lose my nerve.
“Come,” a voice instructs from inside. As I swing the door open and cross the threshold, Gardiner looks up from behind his desk, pen in hand.
“Anna, what can I do for you?” he asks.
“Is… is this a good time?” I ask, my nerve deserting me the moment his reptilian eyes fix on my face.
“Of course. Please, sit,” he invites with a smile that makes me want to back away, whilst gesturing to the chair in front of his gargantuan desk. I sink into it, and shuffle awkwardly. This must be what it was like for kids at school who were summoned to see the headmaster. Except I’m the one who chose to be here, not the other way around.
“I notice you’ve fitted some sensors in the EM room,” I say, a little more bluntly than I’d intended. If Gardiner is surprised by my knowledge of this it doesn’t show, even though I’m scrutinising his face closely. But reading faces isn’t really my thing. Sure wouldn’t mind Joe’s talent right about now.
“I did,” he says with a slight nod, setting his pen aside.
“Toby says they’re there to measure the EMP I give off when I shift?”
“That’s correct.”
It looks like I’m going to have to do all of the leg work in this conversation if I want it to go anywhere.
“I was just wondering…” I start, and then pause. “Why is it you wanted to measure that?”
Instead of answering,
he presses a button on his intercom.
“Page Doctor Pearce to my office, please.”
I raise an eyebrow at him and wonder if he’s deliberately avoiding my question.
“He can help clarify,” he explains. I’m obviously not at Gardiner’s level when it comes to concealing my emotions. “But in the meantime, I’ll do my best. As I’m sure you’re aware, Anna, your EM Pulse can cause considerable damage to technology.”
I nod. Scott has already told me that on my first attempt in the lab I took all of Langford House’s computers offline, and my phone shuts down every time I shift. None of this makes me feel any better about where this conversation is going. Gardiner is scrutinising me closely though, so I try to make a better job of keeping my face blank.
“Have you ever stopped to think what that means?”
“It means I work in an EM shielded room,” I say, working to keep my voice even. “So that I don’t do any more damage to our equipment.”
“Well yes, that’s true,” he agrees. “But what if we weren’t just talking about our equipment?”
“I don’t–” I shake my head, trying to imagine any way this isn’t heading where I think it is.
“Have you ever lain awake wondering what would happen should one of our enemies in the Middle East acquire a nuclear warhead and decide to launch an attack against us? Or if North Korea launches an airstrike on the scale of the Blitz, only instead of archaic bombers, they utilised all of the technology at their disposal?”
The change of subject throws me and I’m not quite sure how to respond. While I’m groping for words, the door clicks open behind me and Walter Pearce steps unobtrusively into the room. Gardiner pays him no heed.
“No, I don’t suppose you have. You’re young, and the young are often short-sighted when they look to the future. But you see, I have, Ms Mason, and I am acutely aware of the fragility of our nation.”
Gardiner leans forward in his chair, his intense stare boring into me.
“Anna, the potential for what you can do to serve your country is incredible; perhaps greater than any one person who has ever been born to our nation. And what about your colleagues? If one of them were to be captured, you could save them simply by shifting and neutralising all of the enemy’s equipment. Is that not something you would want?”
He’s not wrong, but…
“You’re talking about weaponising my ability,” I state, finally verbalising my fear. Gardiner says nothing, watching me as I process this turn of events. Truth be told, it doesn’t take much processing. Ever since he recruited me, I’d expected something like this, dreaded something like this. I’d seen it in his eyes on that very first day.
“Yes, Anna,” he says at length. “I’m talking about weaponising your ability. But this isn’t something to fear: don’t you see the potential?”
All I see is an aging guy in a suit, staring at a weapon locked inside an inconvenient human form. I don’t like the idea of being a weapon. I don’t like the idea of being anything, other than a small-town waitress.
“I think it’s time for me to leave,” I say, my voice quivering. I push myself up from the chair, almost knocking it over in my haste. I reach the door and pull it open.
“Anna, please,” Gardiner says, a frown creasing his face. “Calm down. Let’s not make any hasty decisions. We can talk this through.”
I’m already shaking my head. I don’t want to talk this through, not with him. There’s only one person I want to speak to right now, and he’s waiting for me in the canteen. Or do I? The thought pulls me up. After all, he’s one of them, he’s the one who’s been working so hard to convince me to stay. In my confusion, I almost miss Gardiner nod over my shoulder at Walter. I turn in time to see the scientist looming over me.
“What…?” I say, staring at the syringe in his hand, rooted helplessly to the spot. He jabs it into my arm and presses the plunger before I can regain the use of my legs.
“Hey, get off me!” I try to twist away but his hand locks around my upper arm. I struggle against him with no effect, and Gardiner strides from behind his desk and closes the gap between us.
“What are you doing?” I demand, but my voice comes out closer to scared than indignant. “What was that?”
“That, Anna,” Gardiner says, calmly taking my other arm so I am completely trapped, “is a fast-acting insulin that will rapidly deplete any glucose in your system. I’ve just clipped your wings.”
“What? No, you can’t…!” I struggle harder, but his grip is biting into my upper arm and I can already feel the poison working its way through my system, slowing me down, making it hard to think straight. My limbs are sluggish and not reacting to my commands the way they should. I turn my hand over and stare at the outstretched fingers, blurred around the edges. I should fight back before they… because they... I need to…
Ow! I gasp, and air rasps along my throat. The burning in my head, my head is…. It hurts, and my stomach is twisting. I know this feeling, I’ve just shifted. No, someone’s holding me, he’s holding me, he’s a bad man. It burns, it’s getting worse. Hypoglycaemia. That’s what Toby said it was. Toby. My shining knight. He made me a magic pill. The pill. Something about the pill, the thought is dancing just out of reach, leaping away before I can catch it. The pill, the pill, the pill… It’s in my pocket! I grasp the thought with a moment of crystal clarity. My right arm is free, and Gardiner is… I don’t know, doing something at the wall. It doesn’t matter. I can get to the pill. I reach into my pocket as slowly as I dare – I don’t know how long this lucidity will last, but Pearce is still on my left – and my fingers curl around the pill. It’s smooth and oblong, it feels cool against my palm. So smooth, pretty bead. No, it’s a pill, the pill, I have to take it. My hand floats through the air and presses it through my lips. Lips. Soft and squishy, I run my finger across them.
“…get her into the lift before…”
“…lower dosage…”
The words float around me and then I’m moving forward towards the wall, my feet stumbling over each other but the hands stop me falling. Oh. There’s a hole in the wall. A room, a room behind the wall. Was that always there? We’re inside it now, the voices are still talking, and two sliding doors start to close. Through the gap I see Scott staring in at me, and then the doors press together and the room starts to move downwards.
“Where…?” I try to ask, but I don’t know if the words make it past my lips.
“We have a place for people like you.” It’s Gardiner’s voice, and I frown as I stare at his lips, trying to focus on his words. “People who need an… adjustment to their attitude.”
His words are getting easier to follow, and I feel the lift jolt to a stop with a loud buzz.
“Please… lemme go,” I mutter, letting my words slur and run together, and sagging in their arms.
“Oh no, Anna, it’s a bit late for that. And I’m afraid you’re not going to like what comes next.”
The doors slide open, and he’s not wrong. The stark lighting sends new bolts of fire screaming through my skull, and I want to screw my eyes shut against it, but I can’t bring myself to look away from the horror in front of me.
Archaic metal devices and chains line one of the walls; a telltale blood stain on the otherwise bare concrete leaves no ambiguity as to their purpose. The air is thick with the stench of pain and fear – even through this insulin-induced fog there is no mistaking it.
I don’t have time to get my bearings before they are dragging me from the lift and marching me across the room. Half a dozen cages line the other wall, with metal bars running from floor to ceiling. As we pass the first of them, I catch a glimpse of a figure watching us from inside. She’s curled up in the far corner, her arms wrapped around her knees, apparently resigned to her fate. Her dirty-blonde hair hangs around her pale face in dull, tangled waves. Her t-shirt is faded and her blue jeans stop just short of her bare feet, but it’s her eyes that make my stomach churn.
&n
bsp; A coldness creeps up my spine. If I don’t do something, that’s going to be me. I can still feel the insulin pumping through my veins; I’ve never shifted in this condition, I don’t even know if I can. I’m torn: try to shift now and take my chances, or wait for the pill to fully kick in and risk them discovering my deception.
“Marcus, activate the EM disruptor. We wouldn’t want Anna leaving us before she has a chance to sample our hospitality.”
“Yes, sir.”
I just catch myself from turning to follow the sound of the new voice – I hadn’t seen anyone else here when we got out of the lift. He comes from behind me and I watch from the corner of my eye as he approaches a small silver-grey cylindrical device and flicks a switch. Immediately a whirring starts up and a red light starts to flash on its display panel.
“It takes a little under two minutes to activate,” Pearce tells Gardiner. “I’ve tuned it specifically to Anna’s electro-magnetic frequency. Once it’s fully active she won’t be able to shift until you turn it off again.”
I stare in horror, rooted to the spot. I need to get out of here. Has the pill worked yet? I don’t know, but I’m out of time. If they put me in that cage, I’m never coming out again, not as me. I can’t let that happen. I’ve got to get away, I’ve need to get out of here, I’ve got to–
Chapter Sixteen
My legs crumple from beneath me, and pain surges through my head, crushing and burning and tearing all at once, hammering behind my eyes like it wants to pop them right out of my skull. I bite back a scream and grab at my head, my fingers tangling in my hair of their own accord and my every instinct is overwritten by the primal need to make… it… stop!
Breathe. I need to breathe. The realisation comes as a surprise. My lungs are burning and my chest feels like it’s being crushed by an iron band, though I’m barely aware of anything beyond the agony in my skull. I gasp the cool air and the pressure lessens. I suck in the air gratefully – I never knew air could taste so sweet – and focus on the sensation. Breathe in, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four, five. In, two, three, four…
Awakening (TalentBorn Book 1) Page 13
