She sniffled. “Can you tell me where here is? Is this a Russian spy compound?”
Again with the Russian spies. He found a sliver of humor in the situation. “You and your obsession with the Russians. This is an American military base.”
“American?” She lifted her head slightly to peer at him and his heart lurched at seeing her look hurt and lost. “I guess I was confused because one of the men who trapped me here had an accent.”
“Oh, well, he is actually from the Soviet Union. Ukraine to be exact, but he defected before I was born.”
“Where is here? We’re not far from my house, are we? It was a fast ride in the car once they grabbed me.”
“Where did they find you?”
“At the movie theater. I was walking from my car to work.” She sniffled and tugged at her trapped hand.
“Shit. Sorry.” He felt like an ass because she was still tied to the side table, which was too heavy to move one-armed. For him, it was child’s play to lift the table and slide the metal handcuff loop off the leg to free her.
“Thanks,” she said, rubbing her wrist where he could see red chafed marks. He wanted to kiss the marks and then he wanted to kill the men who’d caused them.
“Don’t thank me. It’s my fault you’re in this situation.”
Her arms wrapped around her bent legs, with her feet flat on the sofa. “Peter, I’m scared. I don’t understand anything that’s happened.”
He found a seat on the sofa next to her but gave her space despite his desire to hold her on his lap and comfort her. “I’ll explain, but it’s a long story.”
She held up her wrist with the handcuff dangling, “Go ahead. We have time.”
He took a breath, not sure where to start. The beginning, he guessed. “Around twenty years ago, the US government started playing around with some genetic stuff. They were trying to cure certain diseases, but then they discovered something else. They were able to map a human’s genes and then predict which other set of DNA would best combine with them. Are you with me?”
She scrunched her nose. “Uh, no. Science was not my best subject in school.”
Hmm, how to explain it? The best way would be to get Paulson in here, but somehow he thought Allison would object. “The scientists figured out how to make stronger humans at the DNA level. They determined that every human has a perfect match for breeding purposes. And when those two people meet and combine DNA, the result is an enhanced human. The scientists also help the enhancement along when the baby is in utero by a little gene therapy. Make sense?”
She nodded then shook her head. “Let me get this straight. If two people are a good match…”
“At the DNA level,” he interjected.
“At the DNA level,” she repeated, “then they can have a baby and the baby would be like Superman or something?”
He nodded.
“And”—she visibly swallowed—“are you a super baby?”
Another nod.
“Oh,” she whispered and scooted back into the arm of the couch as far as she could manage.
“Please don’t be scared, Allison. You know me. I’m still Peter, the same guy who’s kissed you, made love to you, loves you.” He leaned in to touch her, but she inched back.
“Back off, Peter. You can’t drop a bomb like this and expect me to go on like normal.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. Would answering more questions help? Ask me anything.”
He felt both exhilarated and disappointed. Allison had never seen him as anything but a normal man, and now she was looking at him like the rest of the occupants of the Program. Like he was a freak. Yet now he could be himself around her. He didn’t have to hide his strength or the reason he didn’t know a lot about movies or popular music that she took for granted.
“Can you fly?” she finally asked.
He blinked at her then smiled. He hadn’t been expecting that question. “No. But that would be amazing.”
“Well, what can you do?”
“Not much more than you can do. I can run really fast, and I’m fairly strong. And I pretty much can memorize anything I read or see.”
“Like my phone number,” she remembered. “At the concert the first time we met. I didn’t believe you were going to call me. I thought you were faking about memorizing my number.”
Now he touched her cheek, and she let him. “I’d never lie about calling you.”
“Are there more of you?” she asked.
“I was the very first enhanced baby born on the Program campus, but now there’s about ten others. They’re all two or three years younger than I am. Sometimes I feel like a lab experiment,” he confessed. “Everyone watches me all the time, and they make me take tests to see how far they can push my body and my mind.”
“Oh, Peter,” she said, and for a hopeful second he thought she might reach and give him a hug, but she hung back. “Is this why you’re so weird sometimes?”
“Weird how?”
“Like how you’d never kissed a girl or seen a movie.”
“I’d never been allowed off campus until the day of the concert.”
“No way.” Her eyes were wide. “Basically they bred you and then made you stay in jail your whole life?”
He’d never thought of it in exactly those terms. In his mind, he’d had a normal upbringing. He had a mom and a dad and went to school. It was only as he aged toward adulthood he’d realized there was a whole world outside of the Program that he was missing. “Well, sort of, I guess. I’d started a campaign to let me off campus. I claimed it was strategic, that I needed to be able to operate in a public situation.”
“But?” she asked, obviously sensing there was more to the story.
“But mostly I wanted to meet a girl.” He smiled at her sheepishly.
“Well, you met one.” She held her hands out. “But I still don’t understand why I’m here now.”
“They think you’re my match,” he said and picked at a stray thread on the nubby sofa.
“Your what?”
He ran a hand through his hair, then wiped it over his mouth. He’d never wanted to tell her this in case it made her feel obligated to stay with him. She had dreams and he wouldn’t be responsible for quashing them. “My DNA match. Remember how every person has someone with whom they’d create a more perfect child? They think you would be that person for me.”
Her eyes widened then narrowed. “Do you…do you think that’s true?”
There was silence for a minute. “At first I didn’t know. It seemed too crazy that the first girl I’d meet would be my match, and also, I’d never met a girl before. I thought I was just…”
“Horny?” she suggested.
“Yeah.” They both laughed nervously.
“What do you think?” she asked. “Do you think I might be your match?”
“I don’t want to answer that.”
“Why not?”
“Because.”
“Not an answer, Peter.” But she smiled slightly as she chastised him.
“Yes. Okay? Yes, I think you might be my match.” He slapped a palm to his forehead. “Shit, I’m stupid. I thought I was being discreet, but they must’ve guessed something was up.”
“Did they know you were meeting me?”
“I thought I was being sneaky, but apparently, they’re sneakier. They must’ve followed me every time. I’m sorry, Allison. I led them right to you.”
She was quiet for a minute and stared at her fingernails. “What does it mean to be your match?” she asked.
“That we’re DNA—”
“Not that part,” she interrupted. “The logistics. Do we get married? Have babies?”
“Uh, I’m not really sure,” he said. “I’m the first of this generation to find his match. But I never planned on telling you.”
“Then what now?” she asked. “I think those people out there”—she pointed to the door—“will force me to stay and match you.”
Despite his w
ords about never trapping her here, her words killed something inside him. It hurt to know she saw staying here with him as something she’d have to be forced into. But his heart filled at her next words.
“I’m in love with you, Peter, but—”
“I know you can’t be trapped here. You have a family and other dreams,” he said, feeling a piece of his heart crumble.
“Is there no way we can stay together but not here on campus? Could you come with me to New York?”
“I don’t think so,” he said. “No one’s ever done that before.”
“Why not?”
“Well, first of all, I was bred to be a soldier for the US government. If other countries ever discovered that our country was enhancing humans, it’d get ugly. The Soviet Union would retaliate. Or they’d try to copy the science.”
She shivered. “Enhanced Soviet spies. Scary stuff.”
“Exactly.”
“Also, my family is here. I don’t always love living here, but it is my home. And what about our kids? They’d have to grow up here,” he said. “They wouldn’t fit in at a normal school. They’d be smarter and stronger than the teachers.”
“But you…”
“I what?”
“You hide it well,” she said. “I thought you were a little weird, but nothing too different.”
“But I am,” he said. “Remember when I fought those jerks in Annapolis?” he asked.
“Yeah. What about it? You kicked their butts.”
“I was holding back. I purposely didn’t break bones or kill them. I could’ve killed them in a heartbeat.” He watched her to see how she handled that revelation.
Allison held very still watching him carefully.
“It would take only a loss of temper,” he said. “Regular humans wouldn’t stand a chance. And getting into your house at night was a piece of cake. Any door, any window, any room. Nothing would’ve stopped me from getting in.”
“Peter, stop, you’re scaring me.”
“Sorry, but I want you to understand who I am, Allison.” He knew he was being harsh and a little scary, but he had to make her understand why she had to leave and pursue her dreams in New York. If she stayed, he’d have to watch her inner flame burn lower by inches year after year. It would kill something inside him.
Allison stared at the man she’d thought she loved, but now realized she didn’t know him at all. Her mind reeled with everything she’d learned tonight. To think that Peter was some kind of super human person. She’d had no idea. He was gentle and handsome and loving to her.
She’d planned on telling him she’d changed her mind about moving to New York the next time she’d seen him. She wasn’t giving up on her dream of becoming a rock star, but she didn’t want to leave Peter, and he’d been clear that he wouldn’t come to New York with her. Now she understood that he couldn’t.
“What do we do now?” she asked. “Are they your bosses?”
He nodded.
“Your bosses kidnapped me. Isn’t it illegal? I could call the cops or go screaming about this place to the news.”
He gave her a doubtful look. “How? You’re stuck here unless they let you go, and this place has more power than the police. And do you really think people would believe you? They’d think you’re crazy.”
He was probably right, but hearing him explain the facts scared her. “Are you like them, Peter? Are you going to make me stay?”
“No. I already told you. I won’t trap you here against your will. You have to leave.”
His words reminded her that he’d been mostly trapped here for twenty years. “Let’s run away,” she said. “Together. I’m not strong enough to break out on my own, but you are, right?”
“Well, yes…” he said slowly. “But I was bred for a purpose, Allison. They’d come after me. I’m one of the military’s strongest assets. I doubt they’d let me go easily.”
“What do your parents say?”
“About what?”
Was he purposely being dense? “About you being a soldier. My parents were pretty big hippies during Vietnam. They’d be upset if my brother joined the army.”
“My dad fought in Vietnam.”
“Oh, but I was wondering if your parents would be okay if you walked away from this place.”
He blinked at her. “My parents gave birth to me specifically so I could serve here. I can’t imagine them being okay with me abandoning it.”
She bit at a cuticle. The metal handcuffs hit her in the chin. “What do you want?”
“What I want isn’t a factor, because it can’t happen,” he said sounding a bit robotic. “I want you to stay here with me as my match, and I want you to be a famous singer. But it won’t happen.”
“Wow. Way to be encouraging.” She hugged her knees to her chest and watched him as intently as he watched her. “How long are they going to keep us in this room?” she finally asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know the process for initiating matches onto the campus.”
She snorted. “If this is the process, they have a lot to work on. It sucks.”
“I’m sorry you were taken. I’ll do everything I can to get you free.”
She grabbed his hand. “What if I don’t want to leave you?”
He froze with a look of hopefulness so endearing, but it nearly broke her heart when he said, “But you can’t stay here. You have to see your family again and be a singer. ” His stare met the carpet. “I have an idea. Follow along, okay?” He was whispering so quietly, she had to strain to hear him.
She trusted him enough to rise and hold his hand while he led her to the door. He called through it, “We’re done in here. You can let us out now.”
They both listened to the murmur of voices and finally the door to her makeshift jail cracked open. Peter wrapped an arm around her shoulders and slapped on a grin for the people facing them as they exited. “She agreed. Allison is going to be my match.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but Peter squeezed her arm hard, then was pulled away to be grabbed by an older man who looked enough like him that she guessed it was his dad. She was pulled into the arms of a woman who was kissing her cheek and welcoming her onto the campus. God, they must be his parents. Totally the opposite of her parents who wouldn’t be full of smiles and hugs if she announced she was getting married at eighteen. They’d want the name of the boy who knocked her up.
Did these people really expect that she’d be all smiles and happy about being kidnapped? She was eighteen, for crying out loud. She wanted to be out dancing at night. Not knitting booties for enhanced babies.
However, she hid her true feelings well enough for everyone to be fooled. She kept the fake smile plastered on her face as Peter led her to a brick three-story building. It was kind of like an apartment building, except everyone they passed was male and looked very military. “Peter,” she said, as he opened the door to the building for her and gestured that she should enter ahead of him. He’d said he had a plan, and she wanted to hear it. Now.
“Hang on,” he said in a low voice. “We’re nearly at my room. We can talk there.” It nettled, but she managed to keep her mouth shut as they walked down a long hallway that kind of reminded her of the dorm rooms on the campus where her parents taught.
Peter stopped at a door on the right and turned the knob without unlocking it. She entered and looked around curiously. It was exactly like a college dorm room except it was absent any of the personal touches that college students liked to add, like lava lamps or posters of Han Solo.
“Is this your room?” she asked.
He nodded and sat on the narrow bed. She bypassed a tall dresser, the other furniture in the room, and sat next to him on the bed. “Spill it, Peter. What’s your grand plan?”
“I had to let them think you accepted me or I don’t know what they would’ve done. I didn’t see them dropping you back off at your house with a friendly wave. You now know too much about the Program.”
“W
ould they have killed me?” She fisted her hand into the dark navy wool blanket under her thighs.
“No,” he said immediately. “Well, probably not. But I don’t think they would’ve let you return to your old life.”
“And you will? How? Now they know me, Peter. Won’t they come after me again?”
“I think they would, which is why I’m taking you to New York. It was your dream anyway, and now you’re ahead of schedule. Manhattan is big. You’ll have to lay low.”
Her heart drummed, but she couldn’t find words yet. Everything was moving too quickly, including his next question.
“Were you going be a singer under your real name?”
She shook her head. “No. I planned on my stage name being, Allie Peete.”
He smiled, and her heart lurched that he would do this for her. At the same time, her heart was breaking that she had to choose between the man she loved and the life she wanted to live. Staying here, even with Peter, was no kind of life. It would be a prison. She’d come to resent him if she stayed.
“When do we have to leave?” she asked, hoping he’d say right now, because the longer they stayed together, the harder it would be to part.
“Tomorrow morning.”
“That long?” She feared if they waited, she was going to break and accept what Peter’s bosses were offering. Every second with Peter was precious, and as the clock counted down their remaining time, she knew she could reset the clock by staying.
He nodded. “I’m going to tell them I’m going to sneak into your house while your parents are at work to get your clothes and other personal items. They won’t see anything out of the ordinary with that request.”
“What will I be doing?”
“You’re going to be hiding in the trunk of the car,” he said matter-of-factly, which was the opposite of how her stomach took the news that she’d be hiding in a dark trunk.
“Why can’t I sit in the car with you?”
“Me they’ll let leave. You’re still a wild card. I’m not sure they’ll let me off campus easily, but I’ve been coming and going frequently in the last month.”
First Match Page 5
