by Jus Accardo
Karl faltered then took a step back, shaking his head as if to clear away cobwebs—or more likely, thoughts of murder. If he had even the slightest inkling of what I was capable of, he’d put a knife through my chest right now. “And you’re all right? Stable?”
“I have my moments, sir.” Why lie? These people didn’t deserve to be locked away with a loaded gun. They’d seen enough trouble; I had no intention of adding to it. Maybe at one point in my life I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But things were different now. I was different now. My stay at Infinity, meeting Sera, meeting Cade… These things changed me dramatically, and it was only in the last few days that I’d come to realize just how drastic that change was. “The truth is, the serum never fully activated in my system. I never got… I guess you could say, worked up enough.”
“To trigger the full effects,” Rabbit said with a nod. Sounded to me like he knew a bit more about the thing than simple theory, but who the hell was I to judge?
“Basically,” I said. “But make no mistake, I’m still dangerous. I don’t want to hurt anyone, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.” When he didn’t say anything else, I decided to throw in my pitch. They were either going to see me as an asset or stick me in a box and bury it. One way or the other, I had to know where I stood. I flexed my fingers and rolled my neck. “You seem to have a pretty good idea of what Cora did to me. You’ve got a pretty good idea of what I can do…”
Rabbit squinted, staring at me like he was trying to see through my damn skull. “I don’t understand how you’re so calm. So docile.”
“I’m not. It’s a constant battle to stay in control. Cora’s theory was that because I never gave in to the madness, not really letting go, I’ve managed to maintain my humanity.” I glanced at Sera, then quickly looked away. “Because of her.”
Anderson frowned. “And to defeat her guard? To take down this Yancy? Are you prepared to lose yourself?”
“Lose yourself?” Sera was beside me in an instant. “What does that mean?”
I ignored her, focusing first on Anderson, and then settling on Dylan. He gave me a knowing nod then let his gaze fall to the ground. “Yeah,” I said finally. “Yeah I am.”
…
Dylan had contacted Cora an hour ago. Her line had turned green almost immediately, and she’d phoned. He’d given her instructions on where to meet—the back end of a park—and we’d come to wait.
Dylan pulled his jacket tighter and glared at me. “Shouldn’t you go skulk off into the bushes with the others?”
“Aren’t you going to try and escape?” I countered, knowing full well that any attempt on his part to cut and run would result in a near-fatal electrical shock to his system, thanks to the cuff Rabbit had shackled around his ankle. Still, a guy could hope.
The others were waiting, scattered around the surrounding area. Anderson had his best men—his words, not mine—ready and waiting to pounce. I’d tried to get Sera to stay behind, but she, as well as Dylan, argued that it would look more convincing to Cora if she was with Dylan, considering what was at stake. As far as the bitch knew, Sera still thought there was a life-threatening chip in her head, so it made sense. If Cora believed we’d learned otherwise, it might jeopardize things.
Still, I didn’t like it.
“He’s right, G,” she said, taking my hand and squeezing hard. “You should hide. She could be here any minute.”
I hesitated, hating the idea of leaving her here with him. Leaving her as a sitting duck for Cora…
“Like I’d let anything happen to her?”
I glared at him, mentally counting to five in order to keep from smashing his face in. “I think you’ll do whatever it takes to get what you want.”
“Which is her safety,” he replied. Our eyes met, and his lip twitched with a grin. One I’d seen in the mirror a thousand times before. “After everything I’ve been through, do you really think I’d let her die?”
“You were willing to walk away from her before. When you thought the chip would kill her, you left her with me. So, yeah. I do.”
“I think we both know I would have never let her die. What would you do to keep her alive?”
I grabbed the front of his shirt, and Sera gasped. “I’d rip the world apart for her.”
Dylan smirked then dislodged my grip. “Then we’re on the same damn page.” He gently pushed me back and straightened his shirt. “Like it or not, you and me…? We’re the same damn person. Different circumstances, but the same. We’re the monster, G. Not the devil. Remember that because it’s pretty damn important.”
He was right—but he was also wrong. We weren’t the same. I could see that now. I was a monster. That much was true. But my days of hurting people, innocent people, were over. Dylan? He was the monster and the devil.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sera
I’d held my breath as G walked back to the tree line. His gait was stiff, tension evident in every step he took. He’d refused to tell me what Karl had meant when he said lose yourself. I still didn’t know much about the mysterious Alpha project G had been a part of, other than the fact that they’d essentially tortured him. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to change right now.
“You ready for this?”
Dylan had changed from his jumpsuit back into the blue jeans and black button down I’d become accustomed to. His eyes moved constantly, surveying the area over and over, and I wondered what was going through his head. He’d agreed to help us in exchange for jail time instead of execution, should Cora not keep her end of the deal and return him to Ava. He’d serve a life sentence—that wasn’t up for discussion—but he’d be allowed to live. Maybe he thought Cade would help him escape again. Maybe he didn’t believe they’d actually go through with it. Who knew? It was possible he truly thought Cora would keep her word. If it’d been me? I would have chosen execution. Sixty-five years or so confined to a cell? Been there. Done that. Never, ever going back.
There’d been a lot of debate on the subject. On one hand, no one thought he deserved to get what he wanted. If Cora kept her promise to him, and nothing went wrong, he would get Ava back. But, on the other hand, if that happened, it would be like none of the carnage occurred. They still weren’t 100 percent sure what would happen with other worlds—and people from them, like Ash, Kori and me—but if Dylan went back and saved Ava, then this world’s Kori would still be alive. Rabbit’s theory was that it would only affect those with this world’s frequency, so nothing should change for the rest of us.
I hoped he was right.
I sighed. “I’ll never be ready for it. Seeing that woman makes my skin crawl.” There was something I needed to say, and since Karl was on his way over, it was now or never. “You were right.”
He quirked a brow.
“What you said about me—about her. How she was able to see past your flaws to the person underneath. I understand now.”
His gaze flickered to the tree line. “Other me isn’t a saint, eh? I could have told you that. I bet he’s just as bad—if not worse—than I am.”
“Not even close.”
He lost his grin. “The right person, the perfect person, will see through all of life’s bullshit,” he said. “They’re the ones who forgive you when you can’t forgive yourself.”
“I know.” And it was dead-on. G wasn’t able to forgive himself right now. He would, though. It might take a long time, but I knew he’d get there. I could forgive him for the both of us, for the time being, because I could see the parts of him that he couldn’t. The bits of brightest light peeking out from beneath the dark.
“She was that for me,” Dylan said. He grinned, and for the first time since I’d met him, it was a genuine smile. “She was the only one who saw me. If you’re really that for him, don’t let go, because without you… Without you, he’ll just become me.”
I still believed there was something wrong with Dylan on a fundamental level. Heartbreak and tragedy were part of
human life. How you chose to deal with them defined you. Dylan had chosen the bloody path. Still, Ava must have seen him. She had to have understood what he was on a basic level—and she’d loved him regardless. When you stripped all the carnage away, all the pain, it was beautiful. That kind of love was pure.
“Clear on what to do?” Karl stopped a few feet from us and sank to the ground.
I rolled my eyes. He’d only asked us a thousand times already. “Yeah. Nothing. Act like the chip is in my head, and that I’m still worried it’s going to kill me.”
He was wearing the closest thing to a pinstripe suit we could scrounge up, but I didn’t think it would matter much. The other version would have had to change clothes, right? To fit in on different worlds? As long as it looked pricey—which Karl assured us that it was—we should be okay.
He handed Dylan the flash drive and said, “No funny business.”
“We’re past that now,” Dylan replied, sullen.
Karl nodded and laid his head down, closing his eyes. I was impressed by how his breathing evened out, and with the stillness he maintained. Though, I supposed that was why he was a solider and I wasn’t.
We didn’t have to wait long before Cora and her crew appeared. They walked through the back gates like they owned the world, her men all in deep purple and led by Yancy, and Cora wearing her signature white. Instead of being dressed to the nines, though, she wore simple pants and a knit sweater with flats.
“See?” she said, coming to a stop a few feet from where we stood. “How hard was that? Now we can all get what we want.” Hand thrust out, she wiggled her fingers greedily. “Where’s my flash drive?”
Dylan shook his head. “Yeah. Like I’m that stupid?” He nudged Karl with the tip of his boot. “Here’s your traitor. Give us what we want, and then I’ll fork over the drive.”
Cora laughed. Behind her, Yancy kept a straight face, but it was impossible not to notice the way his gaze raked over the scene, searching for…what? A betrayal? The others? Did she know this was a trap, or was the guy just paranoid? “Do I detect mistrust?”
“Damn right you do.” Dylan jabbed a finger in my direction. “Fix the chip in her head.”
“Gladly. Simply hand over my flash drive.” When Dylan didn’t move, Cora sighed. “You realize I can make this extremely difficult.”
“Dylan, just give her the drive,” I snapped. Then, to her, I said, “After everything that you’ve done to me, you better keep your word…”
Dylan hesitated. I had to give him credit. His acting chops were dead-on. His face was the perfect mix of anger and frustration mingled with distrust and impatience. He dug the drive from his pocket, then rolled it around in his fingers for a minute.
He made a move to hand it to her, then jerked back at the last moment, grinning. Gripping it between both hands, he said, “Second thought, hold up your end. You fix her chip, and I’ll hand it over. If not, I’ll snap it in half.”
Yancy made a move to come forward, but Cora held him back, face pale. “Fine. I will deactivate the chip. Then you will give me my flash drive.”
“And you’ll send me to Ava.”
“That’s what I promised.” There was something about the way she said it that sent goose bumps popping up all over my skin. She pulled something from her pocket—a small black rod with a flashing red light—and motioned for me to come forward.
Closer to Cora Anderson was the last place I wanted to be—especially since I knew there was no chip in my head—but I had to play along to keep this thing going. It had to seem like we still needed her. She braced her hand against my head, and I suppressed a shudder as, with the other, she pressed the metal tube against my temple. “Stand very still, dear. One sudden move and it’s an instant lobotomy.”
I so badly wanted to call bullshit, but instead bit down hard on the inside of my cheek. She kept it going for a few minutes, pressing the thing painfully into the side of my head. When she was done, she was grinning.
I tentatively touched my temples. “It’s deactivated?”
“You won’t die from a chip in the brain,” she replied, a little too cheerfully.
“Now me,” Dylan said, snapping his fingers in front of her face. He held out the flash drive and she took it. “You promised you’d bring me back to Ava.”
Cora’s grin grew wider. “I’m a woman of my word.” She stepped aside and Yancy came forward, gun trained on him.
“What the hell is this?”
“I’m reuniting you with Ava, of course,” she said with a snicker. “You really thought I could send you back in time?”
Dylan stared at her.
“The pretty ones aren’t always the sharpest, are they? There’s no such thing as time travel.” She waved a hand in the air above her head. “At least not yet. Give me time, though.”
Dylan seethed. I knew that look all too well. “Yeah? I’m the idiot? I’m not the one walking around with an empty flash drive.”
Her amusement lingered for a moment, just until what he’d said sank in. She looked down at the small chunk of plastic in her hand, then turned her head up to glare at him. “What are you saying?”
Dylan laughed. “Your flash drive is long gone. Destroyed. Tiny bits and pieces.”
Damn it! We should have planned for this. A Dylan contingency. Maybe we should have filled him in completely. If we’d told him what had been on the flash, then maybe he wouldn’t have poked her. Or, maybe he would. This was Dylan we were talking about. She’d crushed him by telling him there was no way to get back to Ava, and he’d reciprocated by telling her she couldn’t have what she wanted. Plan be damned.
Cora let out a howl, and Yancy bounded forward. I heard the snap as he released the safety, and I just reacted. Forget that if I’d had time to think about it, I probably wouldn’t have tried to save him. Despite the reasons behind his pain, he was still a murderer. But he was also a human. Another version of G.
I stepped sideways and brought my arm up as hard as I could. It connected with the barrel of Yancy’s gun just as he fired, and the shot deflected and bounced off the nearby trees with a horrible wail.
I made a move to scamper away, but Cora was faster than I was. She grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked back hard. The move disrupted my balance and sent me teetering backward until gravity won and I landed on a heap in the grass.
From there everything got a little hazy. I heard him before I saw anything—the distinct roar I knew had to come from G as he launched himself from his hiding spot and into the fray. I saw what I assumed was his blur fly by, straight for Yancy, as Cora barked out orders to the remaining guards. Karl was on his feet and swinging as well, and from the corner of my eye, I saw more movement from the tree line as the others rushed in to help.
Two sets of arms hauled me to my feet, one on either side, and before I could scream, before I could cry out for G, everything went dark.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
G
The blows kept coming. From my right. My left. The soldiers launched themselves at me, one grabbing hold from behind and pulling backward. My momentum shifted, and I flailed, but I caught myself by grabbing the guy in front of me. I brought his head down as my knee came up. There was a sickening—yet satisfying—crack, and his body went limp.
One by one they came. One by one they fell. Knowing what their weakness was—and where it was located—was the only thing that spared us from massive casualties. I’d made sure to go over it with the others, and Karl proved to be a quick study. He took down two of his own by delivering a perfectly aimed punch at the center of their breastbone. Pods broken, they fell like dead weight. Several got away, not counting the few that dragged Sera off. But I’d deal with them. First, I had to deal with him.
“Have to be honest,” Yancy said as we circled each other. Karl and Cade both made a move to come forward, but I held up a hand to stop them. This was my fight. Win or lose, I swore I’d have my day with this bastard. “I was hoping it would co
me down to this.”
“Makes two of us,” I replied, feeling my lips tilt upward with an involuntary smile. The others had gathered around the edge of the fray.
“We’ve had a lot of fun, you and I.”
“I owe you for each and every bit of fun.”
“Think you can take me?” The bastard laughed. “You’ve had ample opportunity. What makes you think this will be any different?”
I could feel myself inching toward the line. That invisible fence I’d been trying so hard not to cross. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I did. Cora had pushed me without mercy, desperate for me to give in. I used to be scared of it. I’d lay awake at night after they’d dropped me back in my cell and worry what I would become if I finally let go, if I finally gave in.
Time after time and test after test, I’d managed to keep myself grounded. In the beginning, it was stubbornness. She wanted me to lose control, so I refused, if only to piss her the hell off. Then later, it was Sera who kept me rooted. The idea that I’d turn into something else, something darker than the person I already was, terrified me. I couldn’t let that happen. Not when I was the only one she had. But she wasn’t alone now. She had people who would help her—and defeating Yancy wasn’t going to happen unless I gave it my all. How many times had Cora locked me in a room with him in hopes that the serum would activate? Each time the beating got more violent until I could no longer retain consciousness.
That all ended now.
“You’re wrong,” I said. “It was never about not being able to beat you. It was about me choosing not to. I’ve had a change of heart.”
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, searching for that spark, that fire Cora lit when she injected me with the Alpha serum. It was always there, always singeing my nerve endings and begging to be set free. It wasn’t hard to find. In my mind’s eye it was like a tiny black bubble. Over time the walls of that bubble had gotten thinner and thinner, and to break through now, all I would have to do was…
I opened my eyes, and everything was sharper. Colors were more vivid, details were more focused. I heard my own breath echoing as it moved in and out of my lungs, heard the faint rustle of the nearby trees and the soft whistle of the breeze as it blew. I was still dying. I felt the virus from my dissolving pod still moving through my body. But the activation of the serum deadened most of the pain. It jacked up my senses and offered an edge I wouldn’t have had.
