Alpha

by Jus Accardo

  G.

  I broke through again and managed to keep myself up just long enough to fill my lungs and dive.

  Everything was blurry, but I made out G’s form, sinking farther down. I kicked hard, arm extended. My fingertips brushed his shoulder, but I couldn’t get a hold. He slipped farther out of my reach.

  I let out a frustrated howl and pumped my legs for the surface. Lungs filled once more, I dove again. Harder. More frantic. This time I was able to grab a handful of material. I tried kicking for the surface, but he was too heavy, and the current had increased.

  My options were limited. Let go and kick for the surface and take the chance that he’d slip too far away, or try and activate his chip and hope like hell that our timer had run its course. There wasn’t a choice. Option B was the only thing I could live with. If the timer wasn’t ready, then we were both going to die. I refused to sacrifice him for myself.

  I jabbed his wrist and woke the chip. Mimicking what I’d seen Dylan do a hundred times, I pressed the R button, which I hoped meant we’d skip to a random version of Wells—and out of here.

  There was a rushing sound, and I was weightless once again. Not my favorite feeling in the world, but way better than drowning any day of the week. A blast of wind hit me just before my body slammed hard into the ground. Squealing tires and the scent of burned rubber assaulted my senses. Everything hurt, and I was pretty sure I was bleeding. The inside of my mouth was slick, and the tip of my tongue had a foul, coppery taste…

  But I was alive and on dry land.

  I pushed myself up onto my elbows, then sloshed the still-dripping hair from my eyes. We’d landed in the middle of the road—more specifically, in the middle of traffic. It was a miracle we hadn’t been smooshed.

  G was a few feet away, just inches from the front wheels of an SUV. I scrambled onto my knees and went to him as a crowd gathered on the sidewalk. My head fell to his chest, and I stilled, blowing out slowly when I heard the soft, rhythmic thumping and the sound of even breathing.

  Brushing a clump of wet hair from his face, I leaned in closer. Just because there was air moving through his lungs didn’t mean he was okay. “G? Please open your eyes.”

  He coughed and groaned, fingers going to the wide, bleeding gash on the left side of his head.

  I lay my hand flush against his cheek, thumb gently stroking the hollow just beneath his eye. There was a faint scar there, and I wondered if he’d had it before coming to Infinity. “Please,” I begged, only vaguely aware of the growing crowd. “Please just open your eyes.”

  He was kind enough to oblige.

  His body went rigid, and his eyes popped open. The color visibly drained from his skin as he let out a horrible sound. One moment I was leaning over him, terrified that he wouldn’t wake up, the next I was flat on my back, bits of concrete and gravel digging into my skin as I fought for air.

  “I’ll kill you,” he said with a growl. His fingers tightened around my neck, and no matter how hard I tried to pry them off, they didn’t budge. His grip was like iron.

  “Stop,” I managed to choke out. “Sera…it’s… You’re safe. We—” Air was quickly becoming an issue, and the edges of my vision grew watery. His eyes glazed over, and his expression was haunted. He had no idea where he was—or who I was. I didn’t think it was possible, but in that moment, I was terrified of him. “G—stop. You have to—”

  There was a loud pop, and his eyes went wide. A second later, the pressure on my windpipe lessened, then disappeared altogether as G’s body convulsed and slumped to the ground beside me.

  I coughed and gagged, and when I finally managed to suck in a lungful of air, I saw three men in black standing a few feet away. The tallest of the group had an odd-looking gun trained on me. I held up my hand to surrender, but he fired anyway. I felt something imbed itself into my left shoulder, and a moment later, everything went dark.

  …

  The first thing I noticed when I came to was the smell. A disgusting mix of urine and mothballs with an underlying hint of rotten eggs. I forced my eyes open and shifted positions, stretching to relieve the kink in my back. Concrete. I was on the floor…

  “Sera?”

  I turned in the direction of G’s voice—and instantly regretted it. Everything swam, and a series of sharp pangs shot down my neck and shoulders. “Can we agree to never do that again?” I stretched my hand and braced myself against the wall to stand. I was in a cell. And so was G. There was an empty one between us.

  A wave of panic, white-hot and paralyzing, rolled over me. It stole my breath and made my heart do double time. I backed away from the bars. “No… Oh my God, NO!”

  “Easy,” G said. His voice was soft and soothing as he pressed himself closer to the bars, closer to me. “Easy, Sera. It’s not what you think. We’re not back in that place. The locals picked us up. We’re at a police department.”

  I blinked and took a closer look at my surroundings. Different cells. Much cleaner than the ones we’d come from. Ambient chatter in the distance. He was right. This wasn’t Infinity. It was, however, still a cell. “Police. We got arrested?”

  He frowned. “From what I’ve gathered, violence of any kind is a crime here.”

  Of course it was.

  “Did you explain that it was just a misunderstanding? That I startled you?”

  He lifted the hem of his shirt. Just below his ribs was an angry looking burn mark. “I tried. They wouldn’t listen, and things escalated. I got angry, and we both know how that goes. They Tased me again and dropped us in here.”

  I fell back against the wall and slid to the floor. We really didn’t have time for this. “That’s not good.”

  “It’s really not,” a new voice said. “The punishment for violence of any kind here is generally death.” Standing between our two cells, wearing a black suit and bright yellow tie, was Karl Anderson. He turned to the guard beside him and nodded once, and the officer went back the way he came. The newcomer chuckled. “Ironic when you think about it.”

  “You…” I moved to the front of the cell. Karl Anderson stood on the other side, beaming like the sun. What were the chances that this was the Karl Anderson we were looking for and not this world’s version of him? That would take coincidence to a whole new level. “Who are you?”

  “Who am I?” The man winked. The grin on his face said it all. “At the moment? I’m your lawyer. After that? I suppose we’ll see.”

  G let out a growl, and I actually took a step away from the bars. “You’re—”

  “Here at the moment to help you. As I said, we’ll see what happens next.” He leaned in a little closer. “I would suggest you play along…for your own sakes.”

  I glanced to G, who was checking the chip. He held up his forearm. Karl’s PATH line was bright green.

  I narrowed my eyes. “And why, exactly, would you be helping us? After what you put us through—” Cora had been the one in charge, but her husband, Karl, had taken part in his fair share of the atrocities.

  He waggled a finger at me. “Technically I didn’t put you through anything. Cora is the scientist. Any experimentation, as well as your removal from your home world, was all her.”

  “You did nothing to stop it.” The venom in G’s voice made me cringe. I was actually thankful for the bars.

  Karl shrugged. “Nothing personal. It was simply business.”

  G rushed the bars and thrust a hand through, trying to grab hold of the older man. “I’ll show you business.”

  Karl laughed, but he did take another step away from G’s cell. He gave up and refocused on me. “Now then. I can get you out.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because I believe we can help each other.”

  G slammed a hand against the wall and snorted. “Like we’re gonna believe a word of what you say.”

  Karl frowned. “You should. They’re preparing your funeral pyres now. So unless you plan on skipping alone—seeing as how you can’t physic
ally touch Miss Fielding from all the way over there—you have one way out of this. Trust me. Listen to what I have to say. If you don’t like my proposal, then we’ll go our separate ways.” He smiled. “Before you make alternate plans, however, know that I’m well aware that you’ve been…shall we say, commissioned by my wife. But I believe I can offer you something better.”

  G mumbled something I didn’t quite catch then pushed off the bars and began to pace. Me? I just stared at Karl. I hated him, but not nearly as much as I hated Cora. As far as I was concerned, he was just as trustworthy. But he obviously knew he was in danger. He’d been a man of limitless resources back on his world, but that had all come from his money. Money he no longer had.

  Cora was relentless. No one knew that better than G and I did. She’d never give up trying to find him. He had to know that. He had to be desperate.

  Desperate people were easier to manipulate. I knew that firsthand.

  “Fine,” I said, gripping the bars until my knuckles turned white. “Do it. Get us out of here, and then we’ll talk.”

  Chapter Twelve

  G

  I was able to stay quiet as they unlocked our cells and led us through the building. I managed to keep my cool as Anderson bantered with the desk clerk, a pretty brunette with thick glasses who kept batting her overdone lashes at him. And as we exited the building, my fingers twitching to curl themselves around the bastard’s neck, I focused on Sera and the apology I owed her for what I’d done.

  But when he led us around to the side of the building, to a waiting car with tinted windows? That’s when I lost my shit. I pushed him back against the vehicle and grabbed a fistful of his graying hair. Using the leverage, I pinned him to the hood. “What’s your game, Anderson?”

  Had to give the old dog credit. He kept his cool, twisting to find Sera. “If you’ll kindly instruct him to let me up…”

  She laughed. “Instruct him? You’ve met him. Multiple times. No one instructs him to do anything.”

  God was she wrong. One word from her and I’d crawl naked over broken glass.

  “But if we wanna know what he’s selling, you have to let him up, G.”

  Against my better judgment, I released him and took a step back. He made a show of adjusting his jacket and dusting off some speck of imaginary dirt from his shoulder before clearing his throat. “So, I suppose my wife offered you something in return for finding me, yes?”

  “I guess that’s technically correct,” Sera said. She kept her expression neutral. “Though she made the offer while I was still with Dylan.”

  “Might I ask what she offered you?”

  “A chance to survive.” She tapped the side of her head. “Apparently the chip you crammed in here is going to kill me if she doesn’t fix it.”

  “Interesting…” He turned to me. “And you? What did Cora offer you?”

  “Nothing,” I ground out. From one point of view, we were offering Anderson too much information. But in the back of my mind, a part of me hoped that maybe he could fix Sera. That maybe we didn’t need to rely on Cora’s word. “She was kind enough to give Dylan my kill switch, though.” Maybe he knew where there was an extra vial of the cure hanging around.

  “Which he’s activated,” Sera added.

  “Ah. So you don’t have a lot of time left, do you?”

  “Before you write us off, we’re not the only ones you have to worry about. Dylan is looking for you, too—and he’s perfectly healthy.”

  “Who could forget about Mr. Granger? What did she offer him?”

  “She told him there was a way to get Ava back. His Ava.”

  “Again, interesting… And in return, I assume she wants the flash drive I stole. Correct?”

  “Which I have to wonder,” I said, glancing over at Sera, “why are we not just taking it?”

  She folded her arms. “Ya know, I’m really not clear on that.”

  “You could try, but obviously I don’t have it on me. How stupid would that be? Besides, this is much bigger than you realize.”

  Sera sighed. “What is it you want?”

  “I simply want to be left alone. You find a way to keep them from tracking me, and I will gladly fix the chip myself.”

  “Fix the chip yourself,” she repeated. “You?”

  “I’m no scientist, but I do know a little about my wife’s work. I imagine that the chip in your head simply needs to be neutralized. Is that what Cora told you?”

  I looked from Sera to Karl. “Even if we believed you—how the fuck are we supposed to find a way to hide you from them?”

  Anderson shrugged. “I’m sure the technology exists in one of these worlds. You simply have to find it.”

  “Oh. Is that all?” We had to wrap this up or there was a good chance I’d go for his throat again. I felt my control ebbing.

  His grin widened. “I’ll even give you a little something up front. A retainer of sorts.” His gaze found me. “If you think Cora is going to let her go, you need to think again. She made that deal while Sera was still with Dylan, correct? Still in what she considered a somewhat controlled environment. Now that the two of you are together, it will become another matter entirely.”

  “You’re saying they’ll still come after me?” There was a twinge of defeat in her voice, and I hated it.

  “I’m saying that you’re far too important to her to be allowed to walk away. She won’t want you alone with this version of Dylan.”

  “Don’t call me that.” I made a move to grab him again, but Sera took my hand.

  “Wait—why?” She glanced from me to Anderson. “What is she afraid of?”

  “He can be a bit…unstable.” Anderson’s grin morphed into a mock frown. “You’re too important to her to lose to one of his random violent outbursts. And should the serum she administered him kick in…”

  “I would never hurt Sera.”

  Karl laughed and spread his arms wide. With a nod toward the building, he said, “Except, you did, didn’t you?”

  My fists tightened, fingers twitching, but I didn’t correct him because he was right. He was right, and I fucking hated him—and myself—for it.

  “Cora’s personal security are all early members of a project called Alpha—an earlier trial. You are the newest version.”

  “What is Alpha?” Sera nearly pushed me aside to get to Anderson. She grabbed him by the lapels and gave an impressive shake for someone so small. The last thing I wanted was for her to hear any of this, but short of dragging her away—which would look suspicious—I was stuck. “What is it that they did to him?”

  “Alpha was Cora’s attempt to score Infinity a government contract by creating better soldiers. The first batch weren’t impressive enough for the muckety-mucks, so my wife went back to the drawing board.” He flicked a finger at me. “That’s where you came in. You were part of the improved project. It went better than the first, results-wise, but had some, um, undesirable side effects.”

  “The mood swings and amped emotion,” Sera said.

  “That, and Cora insisted she would be able to control the subjects. Your boy here proved her very wrong—which is impressive, considering the serum didn’t technically work.” He dislodged himself from Sera and straightened his coat.

  “What do you mean, it didn’t work?” She glanced at me, then quickly back to Anderson.

  “In order to activate the serum, the test subject needs to reach a certain level of stress. This triggers an enzyme that then attacks part of the brain—namely the hippocampus. There are synapse issues and neural connection problems—it’s all very boring, I assure you. My point is, G here fought it. He has yet to allow himself to slip over that edge.” Anderson leaned in close and winked at me. “Quite impressive considering the physical stress they put you through in that lab.”

  I lifted my arm to strike him, but he rushed on.

  “Bonus tidbit—every test subject, as well as each member of my wife’s personal guard, has a termination pod.” He tapped
his chest dead center. “Right here. Get hit there, and it’s all over in a matter of minutes. A hard enough blow would shatter the pod and release the poison instantly—unlike the slow disintegration of yours.”

  At least now we knew how to deal with Yancy if he came sniffing around.

  “So, that’s my pitch. Do we have a deal or not?”

  Sera didn’t hesitate. “Deal—on one condition—you tell me where we can find another antidote for the Alpha poison.”

  He shook his head. “I’m sorry. As far as I know, there was only one vial of it left—and you said Dylan has it.”

  “Then how do we make more?”

  “You don’t. The ingredients are a bit hard to track down at the moment, not to mention the recipe is unattainable. You’re going to have to settle for what I offered you. Nothing more. Nothing less. Deal?”

  “Deal,” I said before he changed his mind. I had no idea how we were going to do it, but it was another shot at saving Sera. I wasn’t ruling any option out. Either we took down Anderson, and Cora made good—or we got the bastard what he wanted, and he fixed her chip. No matter what, Sera was not going to die.

  …

  “You’ve been unusually quiet,” she said. We’d run our timer to cooldown and were currently tucked away in the back corner of an all-night diner. The first world, the one where we’d encountered Anderson, was a no-go. We both agreed that staying to sniff around was a bad idea after what had happened with the police. The second place we landed was a bust. That version of Wells was stuck in an era where they still used horses for travel. Their technological advances had topped out at the invention of the light bulb. We called it and moved on to our current stop.

  “Trying to figure out what the fuck we’re supposed to do.” I slammed my empty cup down. “I mean, where do we even start? I doubt we’ll be able to walk into a store and ask for a cloaking device for realm-traveling assholes.”