She pulled the sheet tighter around her shoulders. Cold sweat rolled down her back as she forced her numb legs to walk. She closed her eyes and reached out with her telepathy, in the hope that she might hear the guard. She’d practiced picking up thoughts from people inside the room when she could. But in Maine, she’d picked up thoughts from people she couldn’t see. Of course, Alec had been there in Maine, somehow making her telepathy more powerful.
“They said she might be sick from some of the drugs. That must be it.”
Yes. She’d reached the guard. She wanted to jump for joy but her numb legs prevented it. Keep watching, she thought, you’ll see more. She dropped to her knees in front of the toilet and brought the hand with the IV attached close to her chest, to hide it from the cameras. She mimed throwing up, complete with the nastiest sounds she could make. She heard the faint voice think, “Gross.”
For good measure, she cleared her throat and spit saliva into the toilet. Dizzy, she almost banged her head on the porcelain. She tugged the linen sheet over her head grabbed the IV tube and put it into her mouth.
Here goes nothing.
She bit down hard on the cold plastic. The drugs stopped flowing. She forced herself to count to sixty, to see if stopping the drugs would do anything for her lethargy. Drool dripped down her chin. No difference. It probably would take time but she didn’t have any damn time. She twisted some of the tubing around her fingers, clenched down hard with her teeth, and pulled.
At first, the tubing seemed to stretch. She pulled harder. Her teeth felt like they were being dragged out by the roots and her fingers ached. No good. What the hell did they make this stuff from, anyway? All she’d done was put teeth marks on the plastic.
That left pulling the needle out. But not here. The closer she was to the door and escape when the guard rushed in, the better.
“She looks bad. Should I check on her?”
“Yes,” she thought, “you should.” She bit down on the tubing again and started to walk to the door. She smiled, thinking of how Philip would have liked her ingenuity. She kept the sheet over her head like a cowl and settled next to the door. Her limbs felt less heavy, her head less dizzy. Maybe stopping the flow of drugs had helped.
She braced her shoulder against the wall.
“What the hell is she stumbling around for now?”
“For this,” she thought. She braced the hand with the IV against her chest, peeled off the tape and pulled the needle out of her hand with a swift jerk.
“Damn!” Red blood gushed out of her hand as the needle came free. She looked at the blood, spots appeared before her eyes and pain wound up her arm like a snake.
Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look. Her hand throbbed. She wrapped a corner of the sheet around her hand to stop the bleeding and grabbed the steel IV holder. Blood seeped out from under the sheet, coating the metal, making it slippery and hard to hold.
The door opened.
A uniformed guard stepped through the doorway. She straightened and swung the steel holder at his head. It smashed into the side of his skull, just above his ear. He toppled over and landed on his back with a cry of pain.
Huh. That had actually worked.
She jammed her bare foot in the door to prevent it from closing, wincing when the weight slammed against her toes.
The guard rose, cursing. The IV holder slipped from her hands, too coated with blood for her to grip it any longer. He was too close—she’d never get out the door before he grabbed her.
“Stop, stop, stop.”
Miraculously, he did, just like Lansing had done the day they’d watched Alec together, though she hadn’t intended this result either time.
My God. What am I?
“What the hell are you doing?” The guard looked down at his feet.
“Getting out,” she said. “Stay here. Do not move. Do not call for help.”
He blinked again and remained stuck in a weird half-hunched pose. She shot through the door and it swung shut behind her.
Freedom!
She took a step and something tugged at her. She turned and saw the trailing edge of the sheet was stuck under the door. She wrapped her hands in the sheet and pulled hard. The sheet was stuck tight. She dropped it in disgust. Great. Now she had to run around this place naked.
She tucked her bleeding hand against her chest and began running. The guard had come from left, so she went left. Her head seemed clearer and her legs no longer felt like lead, though her smashed toes ached. Even without the sheet, she was warmer.
Her feet slapped against the linoleum as she ran, a noise that seemed far too loud to her ears. Somebody would notice it, soon.
“Oh, God, she’ll get past my station and out into the main complex. Lansing will kill me.”
He really did think Lansing would kill him. The guard’s fear came through so loud that it was like a scream inside her head. With the scream came a mental image of his guard station, including the image of a door that led to the outer complex. If she could get into the main part of the Resource, she might escape, or at least find Alec.
She skidded to a stop at a turn. Her trail of blood drops gave her away like a blinking neon sign. She had to bandage the hand, somehow. She looked around the corridor in front of her. It seemed just the same as the last one, all white walls and fluorescent lighting, but there was a half-open door at the far end that looked exactly like the image in the guard’s thoughts.
She dashed into the guard station and shut the door behind her. If nothing else, she could barricade herself in here for a while and try to use the telepathy to reach Alec.
Monitors covered one wall. On the desk below sat several computers and other electronic equipment. On one of the monitors, the one that received images from the camera in her room, the guard banged on the door, yelling for help. Damn. Her command had worn off fast.
There was a red light blinking above the monitors. That couldn’t be good. She flexed her hand and winced but the pain was not as bad as before. She could have laughed. She was lost somewhere in this complex, she was naked, her hand throbbed and yet she felt more alive than in years. No wonder Alec got a charge out of running into battle.
She turned around and noticed a heavy green jacket hanging on the back of the chair in front of a second group of monitors. She snagged it with greedy hands and slipped it on. It was too big, it was made from some scratchy synthetic blend, and it was an awful shade of puke green but it was warm, the sleeves covered her bloody hand, and it was so big that it went down past her butt.
I’ll take it.
Now if only she get into the rest of the complex without bleeding all over the place. She walked around the corner at the end of the station and found another door with a small window cut in the middle. She went up on tiptoes and peered through it. The corridors seemed bigger out there and the ceilings higher. She pushed down on the door handle. It didn’t move. Locked. She settled back on her feet and saw an electronic code box on the wall to the right. It would need a code that she didn’t have.
She pounded the wall. What a stupid way to be stopped.
She walked back to the monitor, staring at the guard in her room. He’d given away the location of his station by his thoughts a few minutes ago. He might think about the alarm code she needed. She closed her eyes.
At first, she heard nothing but her heart pounding in her ears and the quiet hum of the computers. Then semi-incoherent rage started to come through. When the guard’s words made sense, she knew she’d been right.
“She’ll never get out, she can’t get out, she doesn’t know the code. I know the code. 1078. She’ll never get it, they’ll trap her in there soon.”
Not only had he given away the code, he’d also thought about the exit from this floor out to the grounds. Now she knew which direction to go. She blew a kiss to the monitor.
She ran back to the alarm box, punched in 1078, took a deep breath and hit enter. This time, when she turned the handle, the door swung
open.
She ran down the corridor. Just before an intersection with a second hallway, she heard quiet footsteps. She stopped and flattened herself against the wall, like they did in movies. Maybe it would work. She closed her eyes and tried to listen. The telepathy seemed to work better if she closed her eyes.
“I am going to rip Lansing to shreds if I don’t find her soon. Let’s see him heal that.”
“Philip!”
He came around the corner. She threw herself into his arms with a quiet squeal. Her bare cheek scraped against his scruffy chin. He hugged her back so hard that she was hardly able to breathe. “Thank God. Beth. Daughter. Beth.”
“Smart girl, to save us the trouble of finding you.” His eyes were full of tears.
Tears sprang to her own eyes. She felt his relief and joy inside her head. But underneath that was something else: pain. His shoulder was on fire, pain flowing from it in never-ending waves. How was he even standing?
She backed away, easing the pressure against his arm sling. He held her a few inches from him and smiled, which brought some life to his haggard face. He cleared his throat and wiped away the tears with a sleeve. There were dark circles under his eyes and his jaw seemed permanently clenched, either in pain or anger. She hugged him again, not so hard this time. He kissed the top of her head. “I love you, daughter.”
“I love you too.” She swallowed, a lump in her throat.
He blinked. “I think that might take a little getting used to.” He studied her. “What are you wearing?”
“It’s a guard’s jacket.”
He took her wrist and exposed the bloody hand. “What happened?”
She raised it to him. “I pulled out an IV needle. I’m okay.” Compared to his shoulder agony, her hand was a paper cut. “But I think I set off an alarm when I escaped.”
He looked down at her feet. “Do you want my shoes?”
“They’re too big.”
“All right. Then we should move.” He pointed down the left hallway. “Stay close.”
She followed, trying to ignore the pain he was broadcasting and instead listen for anyone else who might be close. Footsteps sounded behind them. Philip spun around, gun ready, and pushed her behind him. Whatever the pain, he was clearly able to ignore it. Though for how long?
She shivered. All the euphoria from her escape vanished. Someone appeared at the opposite end of the hallway. The thoughts, loud as a scream, blasted at her.
“Beth!”
“Alec.”
She put her hand on Philip’s shoulder. “It’s Alec.”
Philip lowered his gun. Alec skidded to a halt. He scooped her up in his arms and twirled her around, hugging her close, tighter than Philip had held her, squeezing the breath from her. He smelled of cigarette smoke and alcohol, though he seemed completely sober.
“Beth, Beth, Beth, Drake told the truth, Lansing lied, he had you, but you’re safe now. I’ll keep you safe. Beth, Beth, Beth.”
“I’m getting dizzy. Stop!”
She closed her eyes and covered her ears. He was so loud, much louder than Philip or the guard, like a continuous high-volume stereo. And Philip’s thoughts mixed in now too, intruding with his wariness of Alec, worry about them, worry about escape and more of that pounding pain. She dropped to one knee. Loud, so loud.
“Beth?” Philip put a hand on her shoulder.
She took her hands off her ears and stared at Alec, who’d lost his grin. “What the hell is wrong, Beth?”
“You’re thinking so loud it hurts. Think softer.”
“How do I do that?”
“I don’t know! Think like you whisper.”
“Okay.”
That did feel much more like a whisper than a scream.
Philip helped her to her feet. He stared at Alec. Philip hadn’t put away his gun.
“I’m okay. Alec is setting off my telepathy. I can’t control it. It hurts.”
Alec reached out to touch her and stopped when she waved his hand away.
“Not having control sucks. Are you okay?”
“I will be when I’m out of here.”
“Follow me,” Philip said. “And, you—” he pointed at Alec, “—don’t touch her again.”
They fell in behind Philip. “Where are your clothes?” Alec asked.
“This is the best I could find.” She swallowed. Even talking seemed to cause difficulty. She’d hit overload.
Philip started back down the corridor. She stayed a step behind them. Damn, all those sexy dreams she’d had about Alec to distract her from what the scientists were doing and now she couldn’t even touch him.
“Alec, I am glad to see you. Really, really glad.”
“I’m sorry, I should have figured out you were here sooner. You were trying to talk to me, weren’t you?”
“You heard me? Good. I tried. I thought I wasn’t getting through because of the drugs.”
“Lansing drugged you? I’ll kill him.”
“Let’s just get out of here.”
At the end of the corridor, they stopped at the bottom of a metal stairwell that led to an oversized metal door with locks at the top and bottom. “It leads to the ground floor,” Philip said.
“Can we get through it?” she asked.
“The door is not the problem,” Philip said. “The question is what’s on the other side. I don’t want to walk into an ambush. You said you set off an alarm?”
She turned around. “There was a red blinking light in the guard station.”
“It might be a localized alarm,” Alec said. “Anyway, I can take care of whatever or whoever is on the other side.”
“Like you did in Maine? I don’t think so,” Philip said.
“You didn’t do any better.”
“Tone it down,” she said. Their angry thoughts felt like hornets buzzing in her head. She stepped between them. “We have to get out, so we have to go through the door.”
Philip nodded. He pulled a small revolver from inside his sling and handed it to her. “Point and shoot. It’s a close-range weapon. You may need it. And stay behind your firestarter. He can stop bullets.”
She nodded, her throat dry, and slipped the gun into the pocket of the guard’s jacket. No, definitely not fun anymore.
“I told you, I can take care of her,” Alec said.
“Oh, you’ve done a lovely job so far,” Philip said.
“Hello. I got myself out.”
Philip started up the steps. “Stay behind me. And if we’re separated, you both do whatever you have to do to get out of here.”
“I’m not leaving you, Philip.”
“You may have to. I’m not healing as fast as I should. I should not be in this much pain.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not healing right. I must be getting old.”
She closed her eyes for a second against his frustration and the agony centered on his shoulder.
“If her power’s out of control, that’s got to be awful. I’ll show her, I’ll work on it with her, we’ll fix that.”
Alec’s thoughts crowded out Philip. So very Alec too. No worries, just go forward and fix whatever was wrong. But if he was contributing to the problem, if she couldn’t even touch him, how could she fix it?
The metal mesh on the steps cut into her feet. It was just as well that they were almost numb from the cold. Alec’s thoughts kept running a mile a minute, worried about her, worried about what was at the top of the steps, anger with Lansing, worry that Daz wouldn’t hold up his end.
“Daz is helping you? He’s the one who took me in Maine, Alec.”
“I know. And that’s eating at him. He thought you messed me up. Now he doesn’t.”
“Just that simple?”
“I think so. We’re team. A unit.”
“I don’t understand that, Alec.”
“I do. At least, I hope I do.”
Meaning that Alec wasn’t sure of Daz. Fantastic. Philip stopped at the top of the stai
rs and spun around.
“There’s a crowd coming.” He pointed in the direction where they’d just come.
She heard the now-familiar thud of military boots. Alec put his arm around her shoulders. Everything got loud again. Not only from Alec and Philip but from the men running toward them.
“Alec, I can hear who’s coming. It’s Daz. And please get your arm off me. Every time you do that, I hear everything all at once.”
He removed his arm. “That should be cool.”
“Would you like a crowd screaming at you all at once?”
“No. Sorry.”
She grabbed the stair rail for balance. Philip slipped an arm around her waist. “Stay the hell away from her and go make sure your team isn’t going to turn on us.” He pointed to the soldiers now visible in the corridor.
Alec bounded down the steps.
“Easy,” Philip whispered to her. “Stay on guard.”
“You don’t trust Alec’s team?”
“Beth, I don’t trust Alec. That’s why I’m here…”
“…which may have been a mistake if I can’t stay on my feet.”
“Oh.”
She didn’t think that Philip had wanted her to hear that last part. She reached out past him to hear Alec instead. She expected his thoughts to center on F-Team. Instead, his thoughts were a running commentary on her legs and her breasts and her butt. At least it was complimentary. Men.
“Thank you.”
He glanced up at her in response. “I didn’t know you could hear all that.”
Alec tensed and raised a hand as the soldiers drew closer. Marshalling his TK or fire, she thought. Daz was carrying a big rifle and there was a handgun holstered at his side. He was flanked by a soldier she didn’t know and by a tall man who was so skinny that he almost seemed like a scarecrow. Gabe, she remembered, the electronics specialist, the second in command of the unit. The one who’d played sniper during the drill and had nearly been burnt up for the effort.
“We got her,” Alec said.
Phoenix Rising Page 20
