“Not going to happen, Lisa,” I wheezed through clenched lips as I tried to get my hands underneath me, but as I did so, she struck me hard in the side and stars flashed across my eyes.
“You know. I don’t need you, anyway. I can just waltz in there and take over. The flit has given me access to everything in their system. I don’t even need you. It would just be easier.” Lisa sighed and stood up. “You always want to do everything the hard way, don’t you, Abby?”
I stared up at her as she loomed over me, tapping her chin with one stubby finger. She was still angry, but not as angry as she’d been only a moment before. That wasn’t good. A calm Lisa was a smart Lisa… and I wasn’t sure I could beat a calm Lisa. Especially since she was willing to kick the crap out of me, and I wasn’t really willing to do the same to her…
As soon as I started to get to my feet, Lisa nudged me with the toe of her tennis shoe. “Don’t,” she said, still studying me. “I haven’t decided what to do with you. Part of me thinks you’ll come around, but most of me knows you won’t. Leaving you alive and in control of this.” She waved her arms at the room. “Seems unnecessarily foolish. But still…”
“Are you thinking of killing me, Lisa? Is that what you’re trying to decide?” I asked and couldn’t keep the tremor out of my voice. Lisa was supposed to be my best friend. She’d been holding my hand a few minutes ago and now? Now, she was contemplating putting me down like a naughty puppy. “We’re supposed to be friends.”
“Not in quite so many words, but yes.” She huffed out a little sigh as she knelt down next to me and touched my cheek with her fingers. Her skin was like ice. “The flit doesn’t want me to do it if it makes you feel better. I think he likes you.” She smirked. “All the boys always seem to like you, Abby. Well, now that you’re ‘special,’ anyway. First Stephen, now the flit.” She shook her head. “I’m rambling now. I guess. I know boys don’t really like you. They like Shelley back home. I was just trying to make you feel bad, and to be honest, I’m not sure why.” She ran a hand through her hair, tucking it behind her ears. “God school seems like so long ago.”
Lisa stared at me for a long time, and as the silence stretched between us, I wondered if she was waiting for me to respond to her special brand of crazy. When I didn’t, she let out another sigh. “It must feel like it has been even longer for you. Can you imagine going back now knowing what you know? How mundane it would all be.” She gestured at the computer. “How mundane life in general will be.”
She stood. “Because we’re friends I’m going to let you live. Please don’t try to stop me. If you do, I will end you. Just let this one go, Abby. Someone’s got to do the dirty work and get rid of the Agency. Otherwise, well otherwise, they’ll win. You don’t fight a disease by letting some of it live because it’s playing nice. No, you eradicate the whole thing.” She grinned at me. “Besides, someone’s got to be the bad guy. I’m fine with that role.”
“Lisa, please don’t… we can find another way,” I said, and this time she let me sit up, which I suppose was nice of her.
“I don’t need to find another way. I like my way.” She shrugged. “Besides, I’m smarter than you. How could you possibly think of something I couldn’t?”
I wasn’t sure if she was genuinely asking me or not, but to be fair, I hadn’t exactly come up with a better idea. Hell, her idea had been my idea just a few hours before. That felt so long ago… and besides, maybe she was right. Maybe I should just let her take out the Agency even if it meant a little collateral damage… No. I pushed the thought away. There had to be another way, right?
“I can see from your eyes you believe I’m right too.” Lisa smiled so broadly I wondered if it hurt her mouth. “I’m glad you agree, but I still don’t trust you not to try to stop me.” Her knee shot out, catching me on the side of the head with a horrible crunch. I fell, my vision spinning as I struck the floor, though I don’t actually remember hitting it. Lisa’s blurry form stood over me as she reared back and kicked me in the face. Everything after that was blackness.
18
“Abby, wake up!” The world swayed as I opened my eyes and blinked away the haze. Roberto was kneeling over me, one hand cradling my head in his lap while the other gently stroked my face. He smiled as he came into focus and let out a sigh of relief.
“Hi,” I murmured, trying to smile back at him, but it hurt too much. That was a little odd. It shouldn’t hurt to smile, right? I tried to move, to get up, but the movement made the world spin out from under me. I reached out, grabbing him by the arm to steady myself even though I was lying down. So why was the world moving?
“Be careful,” Roberto said, rubbing his calloused thumb on my forehead. “You might have a concussion or worse…” His dark eyes filled with concern. “I’m going to try to get you to the infirmary. I didn’t want to move you until you woke up. I remembered reading something about not moving people with neck injuries…”
“Do I have a neck injury?” I whispered through clenched teeth. I didn’t remember hurting my neck, but who knew what happened after Lisa went psycho on me.
“I’m not sure. I only got here a few minutes ago. I woke up on the floor of the cavern. It looks like Lisa and Tom ditched us. Do you know why?” he asked, getting slowly to his feet, and pulling me along with him as though I was weightless.
“Yeah,” I murmured as I took a step that was like trying to walk on legs made of jelly. I sighed. This was going to be a long trip.
Roberto must have thought the same thing because he swept me into his arms and hoisted me against his chest. He was so warm I had to resist the urge to nuzzle against him like a cat. I wanted to shake away the notion, but I was worried that would make the world spin again. I wasn’t quite sure my sloshing stomach could take it anyway, and to be honest, I was pretty proud of myself for not throwing up all over him, though it wouldn’t have been the first time that’d happened.
“So why did we get ditched, Abby?” he asked, reaching for the elevator and pressing the button with his thumb. He must have been stronger than I’d thought because holding me against his chest with one arm didn’t even make him breathe hard or grunt or anything. It made me immensely glad the flit hadn’t been able to take him over.
“The agency attacked us and blew up Lisa’s foster parents. Well, I think they did. I couldn’t exactly confirm they were in the city block they destroyed.”
“Why did they do that?” Roberto asked. He wasn’t upset about it, more inquisitive, and I had to remind myself he was a soulless killer like the rest of them. Just because I was his offspring didn’t negate the fact he had been Gabriella’s number two. I was pretty sure you didn’t get that high up in a terrorist organization by playing with bunnies and kissing babies. No, Roberto was bad news, and I couldn’t afford to forget that.
“Because they were trying to get me to trade myself for them, and I took too long, I guess.”
He stared at me for a long time. “Obviously it didn’t work since you’re still here, albeit unconscious and broken.” The elevator opened, and he stepped inside and leaned against the wall.
“Yeah, well… I didn’t go out there because Tom armed a missile Lisa shot into the recovery team. They were right outside the door, and I guess technically they still are, but now they’re in paste form.”
Roberto crinkled his nose at my analogy. “That doesn’t explain why I found you unconscious, or why Lisa and Tom are gone.”
“Well after that, Lisa tried to launch missiles at all the bases in the world, and I stopped her. She somehow harnessed the flit and kicked my ass. Fortunately, Gabriella’s system locked her out.” I tried to smile, but it must not have been pleasant because Roberto scowled at me.
“So let me guess,” he said as the elevator beeped and opened up to reveal a room with a single bed and a weird tank filled with purple liquid. At least I think it was liquid. It looked a lot more like raspberry jam. “They left to go infiltrate one of the bases and kill everyone?”<
br />
“Pretty much,” I said as Roberto set me on the bed and moved to one of the computers by the wall. Instead of being fancy, it resembled an oblong black box with a dial and three green buttons. He turned the dial, and the tank began to whir. Bubbles shot up through the liquid before popping on the surface reminding me of swamp gas and mud.
“It figures. I knew Tom wanted revenge after Mimi was killed last year, but this is ballsy for him. He’s more of a lab guy…” Roberto turned and gestured at me. “Abby, take off your clothes please.”
“Um… not happening,” I replied. He looked at me like I’d just sprouted a second head. He had just told me to undress in front of him, and somehow, that made me the weird one?
“Do you need help?” he asked, raising one bushy eyebrow. That’s where he was going with this? Seriously?
“No…” I trailed off, and he sighed.
“You can’t go in the tank with your clothes on. You need to take them off, first.” He shook his head and rubbed his face with one hand. “If you don’t go in the tank, I won’t be able to have the healing crystals that power the tank fix you. We don’t have time for you to heal from whatever injury you have naturally.”
“Oh,” I replied, a blush spreading across my face as I started pulling at my boots. It was a little hard because the laces were stuck together with Troy’s blood. Man, I was getting desensitized fast. How long had I been wandering around in bloody clothes without it being a big deal?
“You can keep your underwear on if you like. I’d kind of prefer that, actually,” he said, turning away from me. I nodded even though he couldn’t see it and pulled off my sticky shirt.
When I was down to my skivvies, Roberto grabbed me under the armpits and hoisted me into the tank. The gel slid over my flesh like bathwater, strangely warm and soothing. When I was submerged up to my neck, Roberto handed me a mask. It sort of looked like something a snorkeler would wear, only the top of the snorkel attached to some kind of tube that led to a mechanism at the bottom of the tank.
“I’m going under, aren’t I?” I asked, taking the mask from him and staring at it.
“Of course, you’re going under,” Roberto said, somewhat snarkily. I really could have done without his attitude. Yup, I was ready for a snark free day.
Instead of telling him that, I put the mask on my face. It snapped into place on its own, sealing itself over my mouth and nose with a wet sounding squelch that made my stomach twist itself into a pretzel. I sucked in a breath that tasted like cherry bubblegum. Tension eased out of my muscles as I drifted languidly in the tank. I almost didn’t mind when the liquid flowed over the top of my head, and the lid above me slid shut, sealing me inside.
Roberto’s obscured form stared at me from the other side of the tank’s wall. He smiled, sat down in a small metal folding chair, and pulled out a novel with a strapping, half-naked man on it. A half-snort half-squeal caught in my throat as a yawn exploded from my lips, fogging the mask so I couldn’t see. I moved my hand to wipe it away, but I was so warm and so tired… I shook my head, trying to stay awake, but my movement made the world lurch sideways. I shut my eyes and took a deep, calming breath.
The low thrum of white noise filled my ears as I cracked my eyes open and looked around. Was this how fish felt? A soft sigh escaped me as my eyes drifted shut again. I tried to open them, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember how.
A loud knock startled me what felt like a second later, and I looked around frantically, my heart hammering in my chest. Roberto was standing outside the tank, his knuckles resting on the glass in front of my face. The tank was half drained, the greyish fluid seeping through a grate in the floor. I was still half-submerged in the goop, my body bobbing lazily. I maneuvered my legs beneath me, planting them on the grate and stood. I stretched, a yawn peeling from my throat as the lid opened above me with a hiss. I pulled my mask off and clambered up the rungs on the side.
Part of me had expected to feel disgusting, or sticky, or even just wet and cold, but I felt pristine and dry. I rubbed my hands together. Even the callouses on my fingers were gone. Whatever that stuff was, I needed the home use kit. Roberto reached out and helped me down. As I stepped onto the cold metal floor, I realized I felt better than I had, well, ever.
I dropped down to the ground and stretched once more. Roberto held a white towel out to me. That was pretty much when I realized I was standing in front of him in soaking wet undergarments. Fire leapt across my cheeks as I spun around so he couldn’t see me. Granted he was my father, so he wasn’t supposed to be interested in looking at me, but that didn’t mean I wanted him to look at me with my bra and panties plastered to my body.
“I’m going to put your clothes on the bed. I’ll wait outside until you’re dressed,” he said after a moment. I heard him shuffle around. A door behind me opened and closed with a whoosh. After a few more seconds, I turned and looked around the room. I hadn’t even noticed the door he’d used before.
I shook off the eerie feeling I was being watched and picked up the towel he’d laid out on the folding chair. I stripped and dried myself the best I could and moved toward the bed. My new clothing consisted of another pair of camouflage pants and some kind of tank top, but instead of being done in the normal jungle green style, these were the color of fallen snow, all grey and white.
I dropped the towel and pulled on the underwear and sports bra he’d left. I wasn’t quite sure where he’d gotten them from, but I was glad he had. For a moment, I had been worried I was going to be going commando in more ways than one.
Once I was dressed, I padded barefoot to the door and knocked once. The metal was surprisingly warm. Well that was odd…
“I’m ready…” I paused for a moment as my insides squinched up. “Thanks for the clothes… dad.” Yeah, the word sounded weird to me too. Truthfully, I didn’t know why I’d decided to say it. Part of it was because I wanted to endear myself to him, but another very small, very annoying part was overjoyed at the idea of actually having a father.
It was silly, I know, but there it was. I might have been raised by Esmeralda, and for the most part, I still thought of her as my mom, but I’d never had a dad. Understandably, Esmeralda hadn’t talked about my father, and she hadn’t exactly dated. Folsom was weird that way. There were no weird custody battles there. Your parents were either together or one didn’t seem to exist. It was a little weird, now that I thought about it.
I know being a sperm donor to a test tube baby didn’t exactly qualify for him the job, but I was sort of hoping he would wind up taking it, anyway. It was probably naïve of me, especially given my current situation and my horrible track record for bio-parents, but part of me was fantasizing about doing father-daughter activities. Though I’ll admit, I wasn’t quite sure what those would be…
A blush spread across my cheeks as I pushed the thought away. The door opened, pulling itself up into the ceiling with a gasp of compressed air. Roberto stood there, looking at me for a long while.
“You don’t have to call me dad.” He shrugged, pink coloring his cheeks. “I haven’t earned that… yet.” He held out a pair of black combat boots. “But I’m going to try.” He smiled, and I swear the only things I saw in his eyes were rainbows and dandelions.
19
We were standing in the giant cavern we’d entered originally, only this time Tom’s super-semi was nowhere to be found which made sense. I glanced around, looking for some kind of transportation, but when I didn’t see any, I huffed indignantly.
“Why did you take us down here?” I asked, glancing up at Roberto. He wasn’t paying attention to me though. He was staring at the pile of crates to our left. “There are no vehicles in sight.”
He waved his hand dismissively and began clomping off toward the wooden boxes. When he reached the first one, he grabbed ahold of the lid and pushed it up. It came loose with a snap, and he flung it to the ground. It hit the floor hard enough to have made old me jump, but just made the new me roll
my eyes at him. What was with the show of strength anyway, was he trying to impress me?
“My, what big muscles you have,” I said as I sauntered over to him. He tossed me a glance that was half-annoyance and half-amusement.
“Stand back, Abby,” he replied and waited until I moved back a few paces before gripping the front of the box in his meaty paws. He took a step backward, pulling so hard the muscles in his humongous arms corded with the effort. The crack of snapping wood shot through the air like a gunshot as the side panel tore free of the container. Roberto wobbled, stumbling backward with a chunk of box in his hands.
Inside the crate was a motorcycle, but not just any motorcycle. This one had huge fat wheels and was bright neon blue. It sort of looked like something a user might ride in a video game, only way more awesome.
Roberto steadied himself and tossed his chunk of box to the floor. He grinned at me. “We don’t need a tanker truck,” he said, voice filled with glee. “We have the TRM-7A!” He smirked and pulled the motorcycle free by its black handlebars.
“Cool name,” I said, taking a step toward him and running my hand over the sleek gunmetal tank. It was cool to the touch, but still it managed to send shivers running along my spine. Was I going to get to ride this? For real?
“It stands for Totally-Rad-Motorcycle version 7A,” he said, still grinning as he grabbed a helmet off a hook on the side and tossed it to me.
“That isn’t really what it’s called, is it?” I asked, not sure if he was making a joke. I caught the helmet in my hands. It was heavier than I expected.
“No, but it should be. I forget what TRM stands for, something technical.” He shrugged and moved to the next crate. In moments, he had ripped it apart to reveal another motorcycle, only this one was yellow where the first one was blue. He grabbed the helmet and put it on his head before sitting down on the bike.
“Put your helmet on, Abby. We’re going for a ride, and no daughter of mine is going to be riding a motorcycle without a helmet.” He was about to say more, but instead, he narrowed his eyes at me and fixed me with one of those parent gazes. Wow, he learned fast. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but you’ll need to be careful. If the TRM overheats, it will explode, so don’t do anything crazy, okay?”
The Magic Within: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Found Magic Book 2) Page 14
