Landlocked (Atlas Link Series Book 2)

by Jessica Gunn

  “Just because my parents screwed me where SeaSat5 was concerned,” I said, “and just because I made the mistake of not saying something when I could have two years ago, does not mean I’m at fault now. Dammit, Connor.”

  I had no time to apologize for use of his first name. My vision reduced to a pinprick of light and I fell to the floor.

  Major Pike was there when I woke up in the Infirmary. He sat in a chair near my bedside, a mission file propped in his hands. “It was a test,” were the first and only words he said when he noticed I’d awoken.

  “Screw you. All of you,” I responded. Coming on the heels of the anniversary of SeaSat5’s disappearance and of Valerie’s warnings, the accusations—even fake—burned too much.

  Pike shut the file in his hands and leaned in. “We had to know you weren’t working with them.”

  “Why the hell would I do that?” I wouldn’t. He knew that. General Holt did, too. But that wasn’t enough, I guess. “I’ll admit I’ve been working with Valerie. She’s not dead. She was the other Lemurian aboard SeaSatellite5 when it was hijacked. She’s the reason Thompson knew about the artifacts, yes, and yes, she helped him take the station. But when she realized Thompson would kill everyone on board to take the Link Piece cache, she acted against him. Then she disappeared.”

  I took a deep breath. I shouldn’t have to defend my actions to these guys. “I thought she might have some useful information on everything that’s been going on. So yes, I looked her up. Yes, I talked to her. But that’s it. No one else. I haven’t spoken to my family in over two years.”

  Major Pike’s only response to my explanation was a measured intake of breath.

  “Valerie’s gone now,” I said. “She said someone’s after her. I’ll likely never see her again, and if I do, it won’t be for a while. She’s not a threat.” To me, at least. And apparently not to Chelsea, either.

  “Chelsea needs to be made aware of this growing situation,” Pike said.

  I looked at him like he’d asked me to move the entire planet with a beach shovel. I touched a finger to my nose. “Not it.”

  She’d find out about Lexi and Valerie. And she’d find out about the plague. She’d also find out about our connection being abused once more. Someone else could act as the messenger this time. I was done playing that role.

  “Trevor.”

  “No way in hell. Sorry, Pike. I’m not doing it. Besides, I don’t want her knowing about me being sick anyway.”

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “Because knowing her, she’ll try to blame it on her not being there to stop it.” Even if she hated me, we were all we had left of SeaSat5. If I died while she was gone, she’d add me to the list of people whose deaths she blamed on herself. “Then whatever information she’s gathering on the Lemurians will be for nothing. She’ll stop getting that inside info and come back.”

  I simultaneously wanted her here and wanted her gone. I wanted to see if she cared I’d almost died, but didn’t want her to find out about Lexi. Though I’m sure Sarah told her. Most of all, I wanted her to know all of this information about the Lemurians and Link Pieces despite her coming back to TAO and jeopardizing anything she had her hands in right now.

  “You can’t hide it from her forever,” Pike said.

  “Sure I can. I’m already halfway to healthy.”

  Pike’s mouth set in a hard line. Obviously it was a lie. I’d passed out in Dr. Hill’s office because my reaction had triggered the Waterstar map, something I still hadn’t told them about. How could I? It was so strange. “Fine. She won’t learn about you getting sick, but the next time she’s got a minute, we’re filling her in on the Altern Device.”

  I closed my eyes, resigning myself to her finding out about Lexi. If Chelsea came back here and if our telepathy was still intact, she’d know in seconds. Then I’d be a dead man.

  Juxe.

  Shit. I couldn’t not show up to support the band. Sophia wanted to go, and it was in a few days. She’d question why I suddenly didn’t want to.

  Could I blame it on being sick? No. It’d land me right back here in the Infirmary.

  A frustrated groan escaped me. I wasn’t getting out of this, and Chelsea would see through me the moment she saw me.

  ichael.” His name rolled off my tongue as my body grew heavy again. Waking myself up from nightmares was a skill I’d mastered sometime after SeaSat5’s disappearance. Confusion clouded my vision as I chased the last remnants of the nightmare away. I was not in SeaSat5’s Artifact Room. Michael was not lying dead in front of me. I was not being held by Thompson.

  My shoulder ached. I shook it out, only to find the aching grew worse. I shrugged down the sleeve of my oversized sweatshirt and found a bruise already in the last stages of healing.

  This isn’t over.

  The air grew cold despite my face heating up. I’d let General Allen walk all over me.

  “You better be careful whose name comes rolling out of your mouth while you sleep.”

  I jumped off the couch and yanked my shirt over my shoulder. It was only Truman, fixing himself some coffee in the common room. He laughed at my reaction.

  I covered up my fleeting fear with a weak laugh. “I had a nightmare,” I said. “Michael was a friend on SeaSat5.”

  Truman frowned. “Oh, geez. Sorry, Chelsea. I was joking around.”

  I shrugged. “It’s fine. Make it up to me with a cup of coffee?”

  Truman reached up to a cabinet and pulled out a second mug. He poured me some coffee and I watched the steam rise. It reminded me of the smoke that’d risen from Thompson’s finger as he’d burned the Lemurian seal into me.

  Suddenly the coffee smelled like burning flesh. I set it down on the table in disgust.

  “Did you sleep here last night?” The corner of Truman’s mouth twitched. He probably thought Josh and I had our first couple’s fight or something.

  Great. What excuse could I possibly give him that he’d buy? I couldn’t tell Truman the truth, not when I wasn’t sure if General Allen was bluffing.

  “It’s quiet here,” I said. “Josh and Weyland’s apartment has neighbors on all sides. I must have fallen asleep right after.”

  Truman shrugged and sipped his coffee. “Are you going to the barbecue today?”

  “Barbecue?”

  “Out of town,” he thumbed in a general direction behind him. “We go out every month to the campsites.”

  I bit my lip. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.” Three seconds of anger hit me before I realized Josh might have told me about it if I’d actually gone home to see him last night. I started toward the door.

  “I should probably go figure out details with Josh. Thanks for letting me know.” I flashed him a smile. “See you tonight.”

  The morning air tasted like fire burning and sand as it passed through my nostrils. Each footfall became a breath, became a much-needed clarity while I ran. My body had recovered from the General’s assault, but not my mind. He knew. He knew the truth about SeaSat5, thought me or Trevor was to blame. Thought we were spies.

  I ducked beneath a cable that ran between one building on the TruGates complex and another. The early morning sun chased off the chills that’d plagued me since last night. If the General was now a threat, this whole “join TruGates to keep tabs on what Lemuria’s activities” plan needed rethinking. And what about Josh and other others? Did they know? Did they agree with General Allen?

  I swallowed hard, allowing the smell of burning wood to calm me. My eyes wandered the flat horizon beyond the TruGates complex as I ran. The smoke from campfires in the nearby national park had stretched all the way here, as far-reaching as General Allen’s power seemed to spread.

  If he came after me again, I’d have to act. Even thinking about it sent an ice-cold shiver down my spine, the super soldier part of me rising to the surface. I had to figure out what he knew, but I couldn’t risk my life to do it. It’d defeat the purpose of joining TruGates in the first
place.

  No, I needed to stop it from happening again or find something to hold over him. I had to figure out the extent of what he knew, and what that meant for the search for SeaSat5, and get out.

  That wasn’t the reason for me going on a run this morning. I’d decided to do so to stretch my muscles, to work out the leftover kinks from last night. But now that I was running, I couldn’t stop. Each lap around the TruGates complex brought a new insight I hadn’t previously gained. I didn’t know what was restricted, so I explored anyway. It was high-time I gathered more information about this group, and anything that shed light on General Allen would be time well spent.

  The complex consisted of the main building that held offices and the gym, the shooting range, and three other buildings. Little could be gleaned from casing the outside. Standard windows with blinds drawn over them, brick walls. It looked normal, like an office or business park.

  On the fourth loop I switched directions and ran through the complex instead of around, heading for the area behind the biggest of the three mystery buildings. Nothing looked sketchy or amiss. Just… business-park-like.

  “He knows how to hide,” I breathed, pausing to rest my hands on my hips. A bird chirped as it flew overhead. I hadn’t even gotten a “I’m a bad dude” vibe off the General until last night. The shift in him, it was so unexpected. So night and day.

  The sun caught something shiny as I looked over the area, a piece of metal in an otherwise brick and cement laced area. A door?

  I glanced around. There didn’t appear to be cameras, but even if there were, whoever might be watching already knew I was here. I approached the metal door anyway, which had been embedded into the third building’s wall. It was a squat construction, a Wonderland type door that rose only five feet in height.

  I let my fingers hover just above the metal, half-expecting it to be electrified or otherwise protected. It wasn’t. Had I hoped I’d find this?

  I tugged on the handle. Locked.

  Looking over my shoulder and seeing nothing, I pressed down hard. The metal twisted beneath my grip, giving away. Bending to my super strength. I forced open the door and stepped inside. A staircase downward met me immediately, and I took it, one step at a time. Slowly. Very slowly, until I came to a landing and opened the door at the bottom. A dark room awaited me on the other side.

  I roamed around the wall blindly with my fingers, searching for a light switch until my fingers flipped one on. Bright fluorescents assaulted my eyes and I slammed them shut. I reopened my eyes slowly, waiting for them to adjust and what they saw…

  The small chamber—and that’s what it was, all dark and dank—was brick-lined like the outside. A reflective film covered the walls. Soundproofing? Tile floor coated the area all the way to the other end, with rubber mats on the floor in front of tables. Lab tables, with beakers and test tubes and clipboards. I’d have thought it all normal except for the fact that TruGates was a paramilitary group, and this chamber seemed to be a secret.

  A literal secret lab. General, you cliché asshole.

  But that wasn’t the worst of it.

  My stomach dropped when my eyes connected with the giant tubes lining the middle throughway of the chamber. Bodies floated in some sort of purple solution in each tube, male and female, all appearing to be in their early thirties, give or take. I walked up to one and laid my fingers on the glass. A hissing whipped through the air, followed by a static shock that bolted up my arm straight to my head. I fell back, collapsing to the ground. My shoulders shook as I cursed and looked back up at the tube.

  Static and electricity zapped between the tube and the container next to it that was filled with a turquoise liquid. What was the General doing here?

  Despite my shaky legs, I stood and continued down the main aisle, determined to find out what else the General had hidden here. And maybe even figure out just what that something was. People in tubes with electricity? I had no idea what to think, but maybe…

  I found a wall of seven large cabinets lining the back wall. My heart sank, breathing becoming shallow, as my eyes roamed over them. No. These weren’t cabinets.

  My fingers closed around the handle of one, the cold metal freezing my hands, and I pulled the mortuary tray open. Slid it out. Bones sat there, nothing but a skeleton.

  I back peddled until I was nearly halfway down the aisle. What kind of sick, twisted project was the General running in here? The chill that hadn’t left my body became a full blizzard. Still shaking, I swallowed down the fear rising inside of me and closed in on the skeleton. Donned my archaeology hat. Took a closer look.

  “Just shake it off,” I said, hoping it would make this easier. Or at least less creepy. I started with the pelvis, and then moved to the skull. All I could tell on quick glance was that this skeleton belonged to a female. I moved on to the next cabinet over and performed the same quick assessment. Male.

  Three females, two males, two empty trays. Plus four more tubes with floating bodies.

  A sickening feeling rotted my stomach. I coughed, choking on bile as it worked its way up my throat. I closed the cabinets and returned to the tubes, searching around for a view that showed the victims’ wrists.

  There it was. The same twisty tattoo Dave had had. The one that claimed him a Lemurian, one with powers. The one that had convinced Trevor two years ago that my attacker behind the Franklin was related to his family. The mark Trevor didn’t have because he’d never come into his abilities.

  General Allen wasn’t just sending his people to hunt Lemurians.

  He was capturing them. Experimenting on them.

  Collecting them.

  Was I next?

  Weyland threw an empty beer can my way. I tossed the can off me, grimacing as some of the leftover beer leaked out onto my sweatshirt. Truman laughed heartedly, and I chucked my can at him. Being this happy and carefree after my discovery earlier today made my stomach roil. But I couldn’t help the way my heart warmed when I looked at them. I’d finally belonged to something.

  Something that could be taken away so easily.

  Those experiments. A chill crept down my spine and I shuddered.

  Josh wrapped an arm around my shoulder, drawing me into him until my head rested on his chest. Every time he laughed the sound vibrated against my ear. I smiled despite my dark thoughts. His heart beat steadily, whispering reassurances he didn’t know he was giving, or needed to. I maneuvered my arms so I hugged him back. If this wasn’t home, I wasn’t sure I’d ever know what was.

  My cell phone vibrated to life in my pocket. Josh loosened his arms so I could shift my hand and pull it out. Sarah’s name and picture flashed across the screen.

  Strange.

  I stood and walked until the laughter and loud music grew almost out of earshot, and slid my finger across the screen of my phone. “Hey, Sarah. What’s up?”

  “I need to tell you something,” she spit out. No pretenses, no greeting—nothing.

  My heart dropped down to my feet. That was so unlike her. “What happened? Are Mom and Dad okay? Are you okay?” Had Allen known I found his secret lab and did something to my family in retaliation? My heart jumped into my throat, choking me.

  “We’re all fine,” Sarah said.

  I didn’t believe her. Maybe it wasn’t Allen, but there was an angry edge in her voice that made me want to beat whoever hurt her. That had to be what this was about. I let out a sigh, glad that Allen didn’t know about my earlier excursion and hadn’t harmed my family.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. What did her boyfriend do? It had to be something regarding him. And where was Logan that he couldn’t take care of it for me?

  “Look.” Her voice was low. “Trevor was here last night, at Kris’.”

  “Excuse me?” I moved even farther away from the party behind me, attempting to hide the volume with which I asked, “What the hell did you say?”

  “Kris…” She paused. “Kris had a party last night. Trevor was at the Franklin
during our show. I ran into him, well…”

  “Sarah!”

  What the hell was Trevor doing in Boston?

  “He looked pretty down, okay? I felt bad. So I said that if he was staying in town for a while, he should come to the party to perk up a little bit, you know?”

  “No,” I ground out through gritted teeth. “I don’t know.”

  Sarah sucked in a long breath. “Chelsea, it was a mistake. I’m sorry.”

  “What happened? What did he do?”

  “I didn’t know he was such a light-weight,” rushed out of her mouth, “so I handed him some whiskey and—”

  “Since when does Trevor drink whiskey?” I asked her. He could barely finish a whole beer before I left.

  “Apparently never. Two drinks in, he was having the time of his life—”

  “Good for him,” I interrupted. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  A pregnant pause filled the conversation, long enough and dead enough that the lack of Sarah’s breathing sounds through the phone deposited dread in my stomach and filled my head with worst case scenarios. “Is he okay?”

  “Trevor?” she sounded surprised. “More or less. Logan might try to kill him, though.”

  “Wait—he’s not hurt or in the hospital?” Then what the hell happened!

  “Why would he be in the hospital?” she asked.

  Another voice interrupted the conversation. “Who’s in the hospital, Chelsea?”

  I spun to find Josh standing there. I held up a finger, asking him to wait a second. “Sarah?”

  “God—no, Chelsea! Trevor walked out of here a-okay. It’s who he walked out of the basement with that’s a problem.” She squeaked, like the information shouldn’t have come out that way.

  I listened as she spoke again, trying to go back on her words and rearrange them so it wouldn’t hurt so badly. It didn’t help. My blood ran so cold I was momentarily convinced I’d turned to ice. “Who?” Not that it mattered much because here I was, sleeping with Josh. Trevor and I weren’t together anymore. But the way Sarah had gone about this whole conversation said he’d slept with someone he shouldn’t have. And if it wasn’t Sarah…