Ionic Attraction

by D. R. Rosensteel

  “I don’t like ‘probably,’” Michael said. “LYDIA’s data is incomplete.”

  “It’s the only data we have,” Jane said. “It’s our only hope of finding the switch so Michael’s virus can destroy the Collider.”

  Michael turned to Nolan, and they stared at each other but never said a word. They both nodded at the same time then turned to Jane.

  “We’re doing this only because Zach would want us to,” Michael said.

  “He’ll kill us if anything happens to you,” Nolan added. “Don’t get lost.”

  “Call me the second you find him,” Michael said.

  Jane nodded. “I promise.”

  “Be careful.” Michael turned and disappeared into the dark corridor with Nolan trailing him. Soon, all Jane could see was the light from their headlamps.

  She looked at her watch. Zachary was close. Panic pierced her like a laser as the image of Zachary strapped to that chair flashed across her mind, but she blotted it out. Her plan was to move in without being seen and get him out. Then it would be a simple matter of navigating the tunnels with Michael and Nolan back to the caves and safety.

  If not, then Plan B.

  Untested Plan B. Would it work with so many?

  Best to put that out of her mind and concentrate on the mission.

  Jane listened carefully for voices. She heard none, so she moved ahead, stopping every few yards to listen. Nothing. She looked at her watch, hoping to see what Zachary saw, but it was dark. Only the tracking worked.

  Off in the distance, she heard strained voices. She cautiously rounded the corridor and peeked through an open door. Liquid nitrogen tanks, a bank of pumps obviously used for forcing frozen gas through various pipelines to cool something… The room must have been a laboratory of some sort. The only odd thing was the cage in the middle. It told Jane everything she needed to know. This was Benson’s laboratory.

  And there was Benson, and there was Zachary.

  The expression on Zachary’s face was murderous. Probably because Benson pointed a weapon at him. Suddenly they both saw her.

  “Jane!” Zachary’s eyes were wild. “What are you doing here?”

  “Rescuing you.” Then she saw it. The electrotherapy machine that Benson had strapped her to. She remembered the agony like it had just happened. Her heart palpitated and she had to catch her breath. Just when she thought things couldn’t get worse, she saw another machine in the cage—it had to be Darkside.

  “Hello, Jane,” Benson said. “I see you noticed my toys.”

  Jane calmed her mind. Benson’s weapon looked like a taser. Figured. He loved causing agony with electricity. She planted herself in front of Zachary to block Benson’s shot. “And I see you’re still torturing people.”

  “We can take up where we left off,” Benson said.

  Zachary glared at him. “Stay away from her.”

  “Oh, don’t worry.” Benson backed up a step. “I made the mistake of getting too close last time.” He rubbed his shoulder. “Won’t happen again.”

  “The police know we’re here,” Jane said, hoping he wouldn’t call her bluff. “Just let us go.”

  “You’ve never been a good liar.” Benson waved the taser. “If the police had been called, they would be here, not you. But you’d never call them, would you? They’d arrest your precious Zachary for parole violation.”

  Benson simply stared at her with that smug grin of his, and Jane felt her fear give way to a terrible urge to smack it off his face.

  “I knew you were into something, Jane. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been able to find this place. If you tell me the truth about the Mastermind Complex this time, we won’t have to go through that little ordeal again. I’m not buying the private school story. I want to know everything about you. What you do. Where you live. Your parents’ names. And this time, your battle skills won’t help you.”

  Jane inhaled sharply. She wanted to scream leave my father alone!

  Benson’s eyes narrowed. “You flinched when I mentioned parents. Sweet. I was planning to hurt you to make you talk, but I have a new toy.” He pointed to Darkside. “I can get into your head without causing any pain at all. I want you to walk away from here terrified but unharmed, knowing that I can get to them whenever I want. Wherever they are. I think that will hurt longer.”

  Dad! Jane’s heart was fluttering and her head pounded. Suddenly, she understood why her father had given her a different last name, made her change her hair. In that second, she felt his obsession with their secret. Because the thought of Benson torturing Dad made her furious. And terrified. The same way Dad had to feel, especially after Jane’s kidnapping, determined to never let it happen again. Jane finally got it. Dad had been right all along. He wasn’t angry with her. He was protecting her.

  She pulled herself together. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, you delusional mass of insecurity. You’re just jealous that I’m dating a hot genius instead of a hateful juvenile delinquent.”

  Benson’s face turned bright red. “Zachary Keen is the only juvenile delinquent here. And, since you have feelings for him, I think I’ll toss him into Darkside first. Maybe then you’ll talk.”

  Jane gasped. “No!”

  “I’m not going in that thing,” Zachary snarled. “I’ll die first.”

  “I don’t have a problem with that.” Benson turned a switch on the taser. “The thing about police-issue tasers is that the amperage is limited. All you can really do is disable someone. But I made a few modifications on this one. It has the same electrical configuration as the good old-fashioned electric chair. If I hit you with this, you’ll get your wish.”

  “Go ahead. There is nothing you can threaten me with that will get me inside that abomination.”

  Benson glared at Zachary. His eyes reminded Jane of a shark’s. Cold and analytical. Searching, hunting. He had the same expression when he was torturing her. She could almost hear his thoughts. He wasn’t letting anyone leave alive.

  “Have it your way,” Benson said, and pointed the taser at Jane. “She can go in Darkside. She has secrets I want.”

  Jane felt Zachary’s hands on her shoulders as he forced her behind him. “Stay away from her, Benson. I won’t tell you again.”

  “Thank you for making this easy. I wasn’t going to taser her. But you knew that, didn’t you, Jane? You have ten seconds to get in Darkside. Or I’ll kill him. You know I will.”

  “Don’t!” Jane moved out from behind Zachary. “I’ll go in.”

  “Jane, no. You don’t know what that thing will do to you. It’s worse than dying.” Zachary moved to shield her again, but Jane put her hand on his chest.

  “He’ll kill you, Zachary. There is nothing that Darkside can do to me that’s worse than that. I’m going in, but first I want you to know something.” She took his face in her hands, her eyes locked on his, and kissed him passionately, then slowly pulled away and backed toward Darkside. She stopped for an instant, smiled at him, and in that moment knew that no matter what happened, the ionic attraction between them could never be broken. Then she took a deep breath and turned to face Darkside.

  She shuddered. It looked different up close. Not at all like the bank vault she saw in the drawing. It reminded her of an open mausoleum.

  “Jane, no!” Zachary stepped toward Benson. He raised the taser and aimed it at Zachary’s heart.

  “Put that down, Benson,” Jane snapped. “Do it now. Or you’ll have to kill me, too. Then you won’t find out what I know.”

  Benson lowered the taser. “Tell your boyfriend not to be stupid while you’re in Darkside.”

  She turned and glared at him. “If you hurt Zachary, I’ll send you straight to hell.” Then she ducked and went inside.

  The last thing she heard was Zachary calling her name.

  Chapter Thirty-Three


  Zach

  “She can’t hear you,” Benson said. “But call her all you want. It’s amusing.”

  Zach looked on in horror at the terrified expression on Jane’s face as she stared out of Darkside. He knew that she could see him but wouldn’t be able to for long. When the walls charged, everything would fade, and Jane would taste the horror that Zach had suffered in prison.

  Jane’s eyes locked on Zach’s. Her lips pulled into a weak smile, and she mouthed the words, Bye, Zachary.

  His chest felt like a boulder had dropped on it, and he wanted to scream. Tears welled in his eyes. The ache was worse than anything Darkside had ever caused him. He had to do something. This was not happening.

  Benson stared intently at Jane, like Zach wasn’t even in the room. Zach saw red. He slowly crouched. Benson was too far away, but if he could move before Benson noticed… His year of fighting in juvie was about to be tested to the max. He had to get his hands on that taser—

  “Don’t even think about it,” Benson said, turning slowly toward Zach. “Peripheral vision is a wonderful thing, and mine is exceptional. How do you think I can concentrate on my machine’s controller and still savor what’s happening to my victim? Jane’s not out here to threaten me anymore. So let me tell you how it will be. You move again, and I’ll kill you. True, I’d rather enjoy the expression on your face while you watch Jane’s mind being torn apart, but I’m okay with simply putting you down like a sick dog.”

  Zach’s breath left his lungs. He felt totally empty. Benson had him. There was nothing he could do to save Jane from the horror of Darkside. If he moved, he’d be dead. If he didn’t, Jane would suffer as terribly as he had. Memories of his time inside sent chills through him. He couldn’t let her go through that.

  Not alone.

  He scowled at Benson. “Hey, genius, why didn’t you think to put both of us in there?”

  “Change of heart, lover boy? I thought there was nothing that could get you in there.” Benson spread a cocky grin. “Interesting. Absorbing both personalities at once. I’m game.”

  He waved his taser, motioning Zach to get in.

  “Move slowly,” Benson said. “Did I tell you we increased the absorption energy? Darkside is twice as powerful as what you’re used to. Have fun.”

  “Yeah. You told me.” Zach swallowed hard. Shivers went down his spine. He forced himself to duck down. Then he saw Jane’s face. His heart suddenly felt like it would break. Benson hadn’t even turned the power on, and Jane’s expression was already vacant. Her mouth was open in a silent scream. Anger burned in his chest like a solar flare. He turned to Benson. “When I get out of this thing, I’m coming for you. And this time, I will knock your teeth out.” Then he took a deep breath and dove in headlong.

  Zach’s back slammed against the wall of Darkside. He bounced off and landed on something soft. He realized it was Jane, but she disappeared, and his vision started to fade. The nothingness of Darkside was much more powerful than anything he had experienced in prison. Suddenly, the clicking started. Benson laughed outside. This time, though, the clicking didn’t fade. It got louder. It grew until there was nothing but a steady click blending with Benson’s laughter. Zach’s vision went first, and his sense of touch was quickly fading. The clicking slowly diminished, but Benson’s laugh remained. Then another sound caught Zach’s ear.

  Jane’s scream.

  He felt a tear slide down his cheek, because everything was going, then everything was gone, and Zach felt himself leaving with it. He knew deep in his heart that he would never return this time. His memories slipped, and the light went away, then the darkness went away, too. The tingling in his arms and legs was the last sensation he remembered. Then Zach was gone. There was nothing.

  No darkness.

  No light.

  No feeling.

  Zach slowly eroded into the walls of Darkside, but felt no panic, no fear.

  No Zach.

  Just an unrelenting, gray nothing.

  Nothing to feel.

  Nothing to be.

  Then…a tiny voice pierced the nothing.

  Zachary, help me.

  And suddenly there was Jane. Nothing but Jane.

  Her voice was so distant, but she was there. Zach fought his way back from the walls of Darkside. He reached toward her voice, clawing through the gray thickness of nothing. His hand struck Darkside’s wall, and his fingers disappeared inside. He pulled them back and reached again.

  Jane was out there.

  Nothing but Jane.

  He reached again but felt only the void of Darkside.

  Then his fingers touched hers. They wove together like the lights of the borealis bursting through the gray, and Zach felt her hand in his. All at once, he could feel the shadow of his arm. He pulled Jane toward him and he had two arms, and they wrapped around her. Jane’s hands touched his cheeks, cupped them tightly, and he could feel.

  Jane was real. He could feel her. Jane and nothing else.

  Inside Darkside, there was still nothing…absolutely nothing…but Zach and Jane. He felt her lips against his, and he saw her face. Jane was real, and there was nothing else.

  Jane was everything.

  His senses returned like an erupting solar flare. Zach could see and feel and hear, and the light from outside was blinding. His body was back and his mind was whole and he was inside Darkside and Jane was inside with him, wrapped in his arms, warm and soft. Where they belonged.

  “You came for me,” Jane said. Her voice was gentle.

  Zach kissed her. “I’ll always come for you.”

  “I know.”

  “We have to go,” he said to Jane. Her eyes were bright, and she touched his cheek. Zach could see that she was beginning to feel again. They crawled out of Darkside together, and Zach helped Jane to stand.

  Benson sat staring at them, confusion twisting his face.

  “That thing doesn’t work.” Piper was next to him.

  Zach ignored them. “Are you okay?” he asked Jane.

  Jane nodded, but the way she held onto him to stand, he could see she hadn’t fully recovered. He must have built resistance from all the time he spent in Darkside in prison.

  “Why are they moving?” Piper said. “Did you get any code from them?”

  Benson shrugged and reached for his taser. “I don’t know what happened. I’ll have to check it out and try again.”

  Before Benson could pick up the taser, Zach’s fist shot out and cracked into his shining mouth. Benson’s eyes rolled back in his head, but before he hit the floor, Zach shoved him through Darkside’s door.

  “That’s for what you did to Jane.” Zach glared at Benson, wincing as he rubbed his fist. He hit Darkside’s controller, and the clicking began. Then he turned to Jane. “I’m sorry, I know you don’t like the Neanderthal thing.”

  “Guards!” Piper screamed into her phone.

  Before Zach realized what she was doing, Jane’s eyes blazed with fury and she slammed her fist into Piper’s jaw. Piper flew into Darkside, landing on Benson.

  “Wow!” Zach’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “You recovered fast.”

  Jane stood in shock, the fury gone, staring at Piper. “I can’t believe I just did that.”

  The clicking grew louder, and both Benson and Piper stirred. They sat up but didn’t seem to realize they weren’t alone. Benson’s eyes grew wide, then he curled into the fetal position and lay on the floor whimpering.

  But Piper remained upright, sitting on Darkside’s floor. Her eyes had a strange look to them, and Zach could swear they were glowing. She tried to speak but abruptly stopped. Then she said, “For the greater good. For the greater good. For the greater good…”

  She kept repeating for the greater good like a broken record and sat extremely still.

  “What’s wrong?” Zach
asked. “That never happened to me when I was in Darkside.”

  Jane sighed. “I don’t believe it. She’s lost in an endless loop. Lack of feedback.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Piper is a Synthetic.”

  Zach gasped. “She built two of them?”

  “Dr. Reddington?” Jane asked.

  “How did you know?”

  “I’ve been busy. Who’s the other one?”

  I hate to interrupt, but the Large Hadron Collider’s fire sequence has just been activated. You have ten minutes.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Jane

  “I heard that,” Jane said, tapping her head.

  Zachary’s eyes widened. He pulled his watch out of his pocket and put it on. “Repeat.”

  The Large Hadron Collider’s fire sequence has just been activated. You have ten minutes.

  “It’s LYDIA. She must have connected to my watch. We have ten minutes until the particle accelerators are at speed.”

  “Michael wrote a virus to destroy the Collider,” Jane said. “But it’s not connected to the outside. Michael and Nolan are on their way to the east corridor to throw a switch.”

  “Well they’re looking in the wrong place.” Zachary pointed across the lab. “It’s right there.”

  “But LYDIA’s data said—” Oh no! She sent them the wrong way! “I have to tell them. They can meet us here.”

  “Will the virus destroy their mainframe?”

  “No, it’s meant to overheat the Collider.”

  Zachary took Jane’s hand. “Come with me.” He led her out into a brightly lit hallway. It opened into a labyrinth of passages and secret chambers. Zach counted quietly as they ran, making certain not to miss a turn. Suddenly they stopped.