Given: Project Xol

by Amabel Daniels

  With her one swift move, the knife was thrust up and cut through the strap. The first strap was free.

  She released the knife and dropped to the floor, convulsing even more. “End her…Cassidy. End her…”

  I craned to retrieve the knife, pulling even harder in the stretch. Stings spread on my wrist until I thought I’d crack something, but finally, I fingered the hilt of the knife. Straining more, I watched Elena as she flopped in a seizure on the ground.

  One more push and…there. I felt the warm handle between my fingertips. Got it!

  I sat up, dizzy from leaning so low at such an awkward angle, and swiped the knife at my bindings. Nothing. Jesus. It was the same knife. Elena had just barely moved her hand. She possessed that much energy and force as she’d been weakening. Sawing back and forth, I made slow progress at the strap. Every other motion back and forth, I checked that Tami was lying still on the floor and Elena was still breathing, albeit trembling.

  “Hang on, Elena.” I got my other arm free. I whooshed out a breath of relief and hunched down to start on my legs. “Just hang on.”

  She’d stopped jerking as chaotically, shivering now. “I…I don’t want to. This is no way…to live…”

  No way to live. Her honesty tugged at my heartstrings and I pitied her fate. She was right. Being given the Last Time was nothing but a cruel yo-yo on the edge of life and death. With both my hands on the knife, I was able to double up on my efforts. I nearly had my leg free. “Thank you,” I told her.

  She wheezed hard breaths and I watched as she closed her eyes. “Use…the gun.”

  A gunshot wound wouldn’t stop a Xol for good. I knew some Xols could be ended. Vinh had died in the plane to Mexico, but there was no way to know how different of a mutant he was to Tami. Killing these freaks was something I hadn’t tested much yet.

  “The drug…gun…” she said.

  “The tranquilizer?”

  Her head bobbed slightly. “B—blue.”

  Blue tranq gun. Got it.

  “Used it…on me. When I woke up deranged… like this. It can…take them out for a bit.”

  All right. The blue tranq gun wasn’t Xol-proof. It was first on my list.

  I finally freed myself and stood fully, rubbing at my wrists. Blood smeared a sticky trail down to my elbow from the cut Elena had accidentally given me with her unsteady hands. I lowered to the floor and gripped her shoulder.

  “Find the blue gun. Don’t…take chances she won’t wake up.”

  I stood, understanding there wasn’t anything I could do for her. Anger sparked anew as I considered her fate. She was dying and then was rushed back to life. Now she’d linger in pain and rage without the chance for peace. There would be no end to her torment as her body would continuously refuse to surrender, regenerating at any injury.

  “Get…Rosa…” she whispered. “And get out of here.”

  Then she went slack.

  Chapter Nine

  Luke

  No one was downstairs on the utility floor.

  We walked into the building, carefully following hallways we’d studied earlier. If we hadn’t so thoroughly quizzed each other on the route, we would’ve been beyond lost. So many turns and forked hallways. From the exterior, the building didn’t seem too complex. Inside, though, everything was a much larger maze.

  While it was a help that no employees ambled on the basement floor, and there were no chances of someone asking what the contracted waste disposal people were doing away from the waste containers near the truck we’d parked, it was just as much a problem. We couldn’t get upstairs in these uniforms, which meant we needed to encounter at least a couple of staff members.

  Stealing—well, borrowing—others’ garments wasn’t something I enjoyed, but it had worked in duping the cartel and it’d been a success so far as Jonah and I posed as the waste pickup workers. We were going to stick with what worked.

  “Where is everyone?” Jonah asked in a whisper as we passed by what looked like a kitchen area.

  I shrugged. It was nighttime. I imagined the only people who’d come down to this floor were maintenance and auxiliary staff and they weren’t the sort to have projects this late.

  We couldn’t go upstairs until we had disguises to let us blend in with the Xol team here. The hiccup of searching for someone to get the outfits from irked me more than it should. Already, I was losing my focus and alert edge. For every step I took in the underbelly of this mad science show’s site, I couldn’t shake the urgency to get to Cassidy. She was here, somewhere—so far, yet so close, it messed with my mind.

  Jonah paused at a corner of the hallway, halting me from walking to the right. With his finger to his lips, I listened for what could have alerted him.

  Faint voices, their tones too low to be understood. A man and a woman? Maybe it was two men? I nodded at my brother to acknowledge his discovery.

  Without a sound, I removed the slim mask from my back pocket. It was a replica of the one Dale had brought with him to spring us from the police station in Oklahoma. Jonah removed one from his back pocket too, giving me a dubious side-eye. I understood his hesitation. As far as face protection went, these were very flexible and slim. By appearances only, it would seem they were too flimsy and cheap. I nodded again, encouraging him to put his on, and strapped mine to my face. Then I reached into my front pocket for one of the small gas discs that would knock people down.

  Jonah pulled the first strap over his head and let the device hang below his neck, still reluctant to put the top strap on as well. “Will that really work on people?” He pointed at the small, circular item in my hand.

  I nodded and then winced. Yes and no. All the police officers and personnel in the police station had dropped like flies. When my mask slipped off, I’d dozed instantly. Jolene, though, she hadn’t been affected at all. Then again, she was impervious to sedative gas and fire, so that made her less of a person and more of a mutant.

  “If they’re human, yes,” I reiterated. Dale and I had gone over this step earlier.

  “Everyone’s human.”

  I shook my head. “Xols are something more.”

  “So if they drop, they’re like us. If they aren’t bothered, they’re superfreaks.”

  I nodded again. We were hoping for the former. Normal humans would be easiest to knock out and tie up—they’d be on par with our strengths. If those voices we’d overheard belonged to Xol mutants, we didn’t have a true way to keep them down.

  That tranq did drop Michael, though… I couldn’t figure it out, how a simple sedative would have knocked down that beast of a monster. It must have been something different to work fast, even on Xol bodies, but it wasn’t lasting since he’d be gone by the time I’d returned to the refuge.

  Blinking quickly with his brows raised, Jonah sighed. He slid his mask on and met my gaze. I doubted he was convinced, but he was ready to face our risk. Besides, seeing was believing and all that.

  I turned the corner of the hallway and led my brother closer to the source of the quiet conversation. A doorway was wide open, and at the start of a window, I stopped. Inside were a couple of tables with chairs, a long countertop with a sink, drying mat holding upside-down coffee mugs, coffeemaker, and other lunchroom odds and ends.

  A staff breakroom? It seemed like it. I pressed the tab to the disc in my hand and launched it toward the open doorway. The circle spun like a top and a chair was pushed back.

  “What the—”

  A thud followed a moment after the man had tried to ask his question.

  I gave it thirty more seconds before I approached the room.

  Two men had been enjoying coffees and donuts. One mug had splashed out the black liquid when the taller guy’s head dropped to the table. On the floor lay the other lab-coated man. One of them snored lightly and we rushed to get to work.

  They were wearing khakis—like Jonah and I were—so we only took their button-down shirts and lab coats. Couldn’t forget their nametags and k
eycards attached to retractable lanyards. Disguising ourselves as human Xol workers didn’t take long, but once we stood and adjusted the clothing, I realized Jonah had the same issue as me.

  The shirts were like a second skin, the buttons damn-near ready to burst off.

  “Ready when you are,” Jonah said, wincing as he tried to tug his shirt sleeves down beneath the lab coat.

  “Up we go.”

  Dressed as the Xol staff, we didn’t walk quite as slowly as we had as the waste disposal guys. Side by side, we worked off memory and headed toward the elevators. It was still empty in the basement, and it was a brief relief that we’d trespassed this far without a snafu.

  Don’t think too far. Don’t…jinx it, dammit.

  Inside the elevator, Jonah used his stolen key fob to activate the car. He pressed the button for the third floor, where the blueprint had shown most of what seemed to be medical exam rooms. As we lifted, my stomach dropped, which didn’t help my rising anxiety.

  We’re here. We’ll find her and bolt. Not long now. I inhaled a deep breath.

  “We got this, man,” Jonah whispered, like he was too nervous to speak louder when it was just the two of us in here. Safe in the air of the car and well beyond the reach of the gas bomb I’d activated, we removed our masks and shoved them into our lab coat pockets.

  “Yeah.” I couldn’t speak more than that past the lump in my throat. As much as it tugged on my conscience for asking Jonah to put himself in harm’s way for me—for Cassidy—I was damned grateful he was there. Encouraging me, reassuring me he had my back. Jonah wasn’t a weak wuss or an ignorant fighter. He was brave, didn’t take shit, and happened to excel in martial arts.

  “Thanks,” I said to break the silence in what felt like the longest damn elevator ride ever.

  He raised his brows in question.

  “For being here. Helping me.”

  He huffed. “I’m still shocked you even asked me.”

  I allowed a nervous smile. “Maybe I finally realized you might not be a little boy anymore.”

  Rolling his eyes, he opened his mouth to speak. The elevator stopping and buoying in the suspension of the brakes cut him off. The doors swooshed open, presenting us a view of people working in what looked like a hospital floor. A wide hallway ran both ways, rooms sectioned off in equal, symmetrical intervals. Glass walls and door provided glimpses inside, showing hospital beds with men and women lying down. The thick shackles trapping many of them to the beds didn’t hint at much willingness.

  Xol patients? They had to be.

  I ground my teeth, squashing the fear that Cassidy would now be one of them. That she was no longer a mere human like me, but the beginning of a monster who wouldn’t be able to control her life or body. Stepping out of the elevator with Jonah, I roved my stare along the rooms that didn’t have curtains concealing the occupants.

  She could be hooked up to an IV, pumped up with God knows what—

  “I don’t care. Get the motherfucking vial one way or another.”

  I braced an arm over Jonah’s chest as soon as I heard that voice.

  Michael.

  Hell, no…

  He’d been walking to the elevator, talking on a cell phone. As I hadn’t moved out of the way of the elevator’s entrance, stunned at the amount of rooms housing Xol patients, he’d nearly plowed right into us.

  His eyes narrowed just before he ran toward us.

  Hell, yes, that’s the son of a bitch again. No doubt about it. My recurring nightmare really was right there, barreling into me.

  Jonah grunted as one of the two minions who’d been walking with Michael slammed him back into the elevator. Advantaged enough to see the bull of a man charging at me, I braced for the impact. He crashed into me, sending both of us into the elevator.

  I was no stranger to his tactics and strength. Fierce power and a preference to cut off my air.

  Still, I groaned at the full-bodied shove into the elevator’s wall. Four men, none of them small, fought in the confined square of the elevator. Jonah and I wrestled with our attackers, and in a blur of a glance with my peripheral vision, I saw the remaining man enter the elevator and press the button for the doors to close.

  I didn’t care where they were taking me, and I was certain we’d caught Michael by surprise, if the initial expression of his frown was any indicator. Wherever they wanted to take this fight was fine by me. Because it was going to be our last one. Pummeling my fists into his face and side, I threw all my rage into my assault. Defense. It was impossible to know who was winning at the moment. I was alive, so that meant we had to be somewhat evenly matched for now.

  The elevator dipped again. The distraction of the motion must have been the trick Jonah needed, because in the small space of the car, he jump-kicked the Xol freak and sent him crashing into the opposite wall.

  “Go back down there,” Jonah said as the second minion lunged for him.

  Michael held me in a headlock, so similar to how he’d tried to strangle me the very first time we met. The first minion shook his head and began to stand, so I pushed into Michael’s hold to jump up and kick both feet at the man’s chest. He went sprawling back again, I gasped for air, and Jonah continued to beat the other guy to no avail.

  “You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?” Michael gritted out. “All we want to do is advance the human race and you can’t stop interfering.”

  We? He had that much say in Xol missions? He was the Project’s very first patient to be called a success, but what else did he do here? Obviously, he was in security or law enforcement for the team to have come after Cassidy and the data, but his comment seemed to intimate.

  Jonah roared, the sound echoing loud in the tight space, nearly drowning out the deafening drum of my pulse in my ears. He spun and kicked at both of the minions, smacking one into Michael. It was just enough of a shift to the wall that I could twist my face to the side. I gasped in a breath and threw my head back to his.

  Shit. Stars danced in my eyes at the hard hit, but his arm dropped from my neck. Before I could even stand up straight and cease the dizziness of too little oxygen, I attacked him. It felt like an hour, but eventually, I had him pinned to the floor. Blood was splattered everywhere—his or mine, likely both.

  “What the hell do you want from us?” I seethed as he struggled to wrench my fingers away from his neck. “Why did you take Cassidy?”

  Down on the ground next to us was Jonah and one of the Xol men. The second guy was unconscious in a heap in the corner of the elevator. Jonah still fought hard, wrestling into a roll out of the elevator. I had to trust that he’d finish that freak. I couldn’t help him. I had to get answers to find Cassidy.

  “Tami needed her. To begin the reproduction of the next generation of Xol recruits.” He grinned at me despite the redness of his face proving he wasn’t having fun without proper air to his lungs. His eyes watered yet he still smiled. “And I’ve never failed to deliver for my woman.”

  His woman? He and Tami were together beyond the workplace? I scoffed, not calm enough to find amusement at this. What, he fell in love with her for giving him the first dose of human-tested Xol cure? And she’d kept him along as her guinea pig-turned-lover?

  How…pathetic.

  “Cassidy isn’t yours to use for anything,” I vowed. She was mine. She belonged with me and not to be manipulated by anything or anyone, least of all these people.

  “Too late,” he sneered as his lips began to turn blue.

  The hell it was too late. I was here, and I wasn’t leaving without her. “Where is she?” I demanded, choking him harder.

  He shifted his arm and I heard a click. “Code four,” he said.

  Without removing my hands from his neck, I glanced to the side.

  In his hand was a walkie-talkie he must have had in his pocket or on his belt.

  “Code four. Lockdown now.”

  The elevator door slid open and beyond was the hallway to the third floor again.
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br />   “Where is she?” I demanded again.

  He didn’t answer, his eyes rolling back. My fingers ached from the tension of gripping him so hard and I loosened them a fraction. Just as I removed one hand from him, alarms blared in the background.

  We were locked in—simple humans against monsters.

  And I still needed to find Cassidy.

  Shit.

  Chapter Ten

  Cassidy

  Blue tranq gun.

  Blue tranq gun.

  Blue tranq gun.

  I wanted whatever defense I could have before I got to Rosa. If I set foot outside this room, Jolene would probably be there, waiting for her master’s orders. I wouldn’t survive a second past her once she realized Tami lay on the floor, unconscious, yet somehow breathing.

  Scrambling away from Elena, I slipped on the blood on the floor. I gasped, fearing the noise of me smashing into the rollaway stool would wake up Tami. With a quick glance, I checked that she was out.

  On my hands and knees, I crawled toward her. Bile rose fast in my throat.

  So much…blood.

  I swallowed hard, willing myself not to faint. As I gingerly felt around in Tami’s lab coat pockets, I watched her head—to avoid looking at the wound on her chest and to be somewhat ready if she were to suddenly jerk upright like a wound-up deranged clown in a jack-in-the-box.

  Nothing was in there. No blue tranq gun. I scooted away from her and my hand brushed against something hard.

  The walkie-talkie. Its back case had fallen loose, and I jammed it together. Having communication outside the room could be a help, but no one out there would listen to me, the captive thing with coveted ova.

  It was still such a twisted thought, that this diabolical and insane woman sought me out to take my eggs. I ignored the return of disbelief and rushed to the counter. Cabinets hung on the wall above the computer monitor, but there were no blue tranq guns in there. I couldn’t find any drugs or weapons at all. Neither was there anything of help in the three drawers below the countertop’s surface.