Landlocked (Atlas Link Series Book 2)

by Jessica Gunn

  I put a hand on his arm, urging him to listen to me. “Josh, General Allen isn’t telling you everything. I found this door while jogging one day. It led to a secret chamber underneath one of the buildings out back, and it was filled with Lemurian bodies and—”

  His face screwed up, disgust and confusion taking over his pained features. Good. Maybe I’d gotten through to him. “I don’t know what you’re— That’s ridiculous. He wouldn’t hide something like that from us.”

  “You mean like how he totally didn’t hide from you that all the TruGates teams were assassinating and capturing Lemurians all along? Or that he was threatening me?”

  His jaw worked hard, sliding right then left. A chill ran down my spine. His eyes tightened with suspicion—but not for General Allen. For me. What was wrong with him?

  “Look, Chelsea, that’s ridiculous.”

  How could he not believe me? How could he believe in General Allen more than me? Was there something more that kept Josh from seeing just how bad Allen was? Maybe the general was blackmailing the team or something. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d used manipulation.

  “Josh, what—” I didn’t get the words out before he plowed on, his own thoughts tumbling out of him.

  “Look, I don’t know what General Allen has planned, but… I love you. And I just need you to know that because it’s true. Probably one of the truest things that I do know. I didn’t think—I didn’t think I’d be able to after everything I’ve done. Or that it could happen so fast, but you’ve got this fire. It draws me in and begs me to stay. Lights up my life again.”

  Like a moth to flame. The pit in my stomach sank lower.

  He brought the back of his hand to my cheek and caressed me gently. I turned my face into his hand, savoring his sandalwood scent. “I love you, too.” Even though I was pretty sure I’d just lost him to General Allen for good. Whatever hold he had on his teams, blackmail or maybe just plain old loyalty that he’d garnered before the events of the last month or whatever, it was apparently thicker than the truth.

  I can’t tell Josh about my telekinesis.

  My heart plummeted, guilt rotting out a nest and making a home for itself. I wanted to tell Josh everything, to talk about this new part of me with someone. Anyone.

  But the last thing General Allen needed was more ammo against me, and I didn’t know if I could trust Josh with that anymore.

  y head spun wildly. Ever since we made the transfer back, my illness had picked up in intensity. I managed to make it through the briefing and down the hall to the Infirmary, but I collapsed on the first open bed. The damn Waterstar map took over my mindscape. Everywhere I looked the cobalt lines and dates scattered across my vision like a bad video game, saturating everything in ocean colors and waves that made my stomach roil and my head spin. It hadn’t been this bad before. How did that time-travel bout make it so much worse?

  Dr. Gordon had found me and checked me in. She laid a hand on my shoulder while flashing a bright light into my eyes. “Trevor?”

  I batted her hand away, ridding my eyes of their torturer. “Call Sophia down here.”

  “Why?”

  I shook my head and readied to tell her, but vertigo struck like a Mac truck. I held my head in both hands, leaning between my knees. “Just call her, dammit.”

  Dr. Gordon disappeared. I must have lost track of time because the next thing I knew, Sophia stood before me, her fingers pressed to my temples.

  “It started again?” she asked.

  “Gotten worse,” I muttered. Everything swayed. Everything in the room had a line attached to it. I hated the world right now. I hated Chelsea for inducing this. I hated everything.

  “What happened?” Sophia asked.

  “We time-traveled,” I said dryly.

  No one said anything for a few moments, or I blacked out. I wasn’t sure.

  Sophia turned to Dr. Gordon. “Helen, can you please leave us for a moment?”

  “I shouldn’t,” Helen said.

  “There is nothing you can do for him right now,” she said. “Please.”

  I blacked out again and Helen was gone. Sophia pulled up a chair across from me and asked, “Has it been like this since Chelsea’s been back?”

  “No,” I said. “Just now. Was feeling crappy before. I took that medicine from Valerie before we left. It’s not helping.”

  “Should I go get some for you now?”

  I shrugged as best I could. “I don’t know that it’ll do anything.”

  Sophia’s lips pressed together in a firm line. “It could have been a combination of Link Travel and exertion. Helen can give you something to sleep this wave off.”

  “Just make the world stop spinning. Please.”

  A small smile appeared on her lips. Sophia was pretty. She should smile more.

  “I’ll go get Helen,” she said.

  The next thing I knew, I was out cold.

  I awoke sometime later to a throbbing headache and some residual dizziness, which subsided within minutes. Sophia was there, waiting for me, and offered me a glass of water. I took it and chugged the whole thing.

  “I want to kill whoever infected me with this,” I groaned. And since I had a pretty good idea of who it was and what he’d done, I might be tempted to follow through with it. The General had to pay somehow.

  Sophia nodded. “As do I.”

  Note: do not tell Sophia about General Allen.

  “How are you feeling?”

  I shrugged. “All right I guess.”

  “Do you want to be there when they interrogate Lieutenant James?” she asked.

  I sat up. “Dave’s interrogation? Yeah, I’m definitely good to go for that.” I wanted to know how he knew the Atlanteans took SeaSatellite5, and how Dave knew where they were being kept. And also how he was able to show Chelsea the way through the compound to get to SeaSatellite5.

  Sophia walked with me to the Briefing Room and sat beside me at the large wooden table. Dave sat alone at one end, away from everybody else. Three guns were trained on him, Weyland holding one of them. They’d been buddies—we’d all been friends with Dave—and no one had seen his betrayal coming. Everyone had been too focused on Valerie.

  Chelsea leaned against a wall on the other side of the room. Josh was nowhere in sight, which made sense. Josh wasn’t on SeaSat5 when it disappeared, and his wannabe organization of ex-military misfits had no reason to be here anymore. Some, like he and Mara, had helped with restoration efforts on the Engineering deck, but Eric had spent most of his time talking about who knew what with Major Pike. We’d gotten SeaSat5 back. They could leave, and I didn’t understand why they hadn’t yet.

  “Let’s start off with who you really are,” Commander Devins said.

  Dave lifted his cuffed hands. “My name really is David James, although the Atlanteans spell it differently.”

  “You’re Atlantean?” Chelsea asked.

  He looked to her. “Yes. And yes, I knew what you were when you first teleported on board. I felt you appear on the station. That’s how I knew where to find you in an otherwise random storage closet.”

  Chelsea looked taken aback. Dave was too open, too honest.

  His eyes darted to mine and I shifted, uncomfortable under his scrutiny. “I have nothing left to hide from you.”

  “You’re telepathic?” I asked.

  “No more than you and Chelsea,” he said. “Which is to say I wasn’t born with telepathy, but given the ability so I could run my mission. I’m also not connected to any one person, but can sometimes hear the thoughts of others.”

  “And that mission was what exactly?” Captain Marks asked.

  “The same as Trevor’s,” Dave said. “Trevor was meant to report any possible Link Piece finds to his employers, and I was to do the same.”

  “But you’re Atlantean,” I said. “Why would Thompson hire and place you here as a Lemurian spy?”

  “Because he was under the mistaken assumption I was from Lemuria,
not Atlantis.”

  Understanding hit me like a gong, ringing out across the room from the point of impact. “You’re a double agent.”

  Dave’s lips split into a smile. “Now you’re catching on. Still not quite there yet, though.”

  Dr. Hill laughed from his chair next to Major Pike. “You’re a triple agent, aren’t you?”

  Triple would imply a reigning body beyond Lemuria and Atlantis. “La Ciudad Blanca,” I said.

  Dave’s smile became a full grin, reaching from ear to ear. “That’s the real question, isn’t it? Too bad that’s the one thing I won’t give you. Just know I’m on your side.”

  “Funny thing is we already know about the White City,” I told him.

  Dave’s poker face faltered. “Interesting.”

  “So,” Chelsea interrupted. “Whoever you work for didn’t want SeaSatellite5 in Atlantean hands.” She pushed off from the wall. “This makes me wonder about your intentions overall. You’re not Lemurian, but you’re not siding with Atlantis, either. So what’s your aim?”

  Dave’s gaze settled on Chelsea. She tried her best to hide her reaction, but I knew memories of the night he attacked her outside the Franklin swarmed about her head. I could see them.

  “My employers don’t know you’re the super soldier,” Dave said. “Just that one was on board when SeaSatellite5 was taken. I needed to keep my bargaining chips in place, so you don’t need to worry about your own safety. They still don’t know it’s you. All you need to know is your secret is safe with me, and we don’t want SeaSatellite5 in Atlantean hands, or Lemurian.”

  “Me being on board places the station in Atlantean hands,” Chelsea growled. “So what the hell do you want with it?”

  Dave leaned back, smugness encircling his face. “It’s a Link Piece.”

  “We know that,” Dr. Hill said. “Who wants it, and where does it lead to?”

  “You’ll find out in time,” Dave said.

  “Or now,” Weyland demanded. “Why is SeaSat5 so important?”

  “Nope. Sorry, Weyland,” Dave said. “That’s one secret worth taking to the grave.”

  What could SeaSat5 possibly lead to that’s worth his life? My guess was Atlantis itself. That’s what Thompson had been after in the long run. But why make a Link Piece that’d bring you to your own city, and then make it so valuable everybody knew what it was and how to get it?

  Assuming the Atlanteans made SeaSatellite5 a Link Piece in the first place… if it was manufactured at all. If SeaSat5 was a natural Piece, then only someone around when it was built or someone who’d sailed on her could have forged the Link. But why? No one here was connected enough to both the city and the station.

  My eyes cut across the room to Chelsea. Except her. And maybe Dr. Gordon and Sophia. Even then that was a bit too far a stretch for me. Something was missing from this puzzle.

  “Something the Atlanteans want hidden,” Chelsea said. “Something the Lemurians also know about but, in all their Link Piece knowledge, can’t figure out how to make happen. Something the Atlanteans might be able to replicate, given the Altern Device.”

  Dave chuckled. “The Altern Device isn’t Atlantean. I don’t know who gave you that idea, but they played you.”

  Chelsea and I exchanged a look, followed shortly by Dr. Hill’s chair screeching.

  He stood and pointed at Dave. “It’s not Lemurian.” I didn’t blame Dr. Hill for his anger with Dave. He said he’d give us all the answers we wanted, not tease us with bits of information he didn’t intend on explaining.

  “No,” Dave said. “It’s not.” His words were forced out, like no air made its way into his lungs for him to form words.

  During the silence that stretched out before us, Dave’s face grew red, then blue and purple. He tried to stand up and struggled. Chelsea’s head perked up and she held a hand out to him, like she was trying to hold him there with her newfound telekinesis, but frowned. Not like she had control over it.

  Then, without warning, a turquoise light ripped him out of his chair. Gone, straight from the Briefing Room like he’d strapped a rocket onto his teleportation ability.

  Chelsea and Weyland moved instantly, scouring the seat Dave just occupied.

  Captain Marks stood. “What happened?”

  “It looked like he teleported out,” Chelsea said. “And not of his own free will. He was forced to teleport by someone else.”

  “Is the device turned on?” Captain Marks asked Weyland.

  Weyland reached under the chair and pulled out the device we’d used on the Bridge to block Dave’s powers. He gave it a once-over. “It is, sir.”

  I fell back against my chair. It was the Atlanteans, using this as a way to get revenge for us taking back SeaSatellite5. We get the station, they get our informant.

  “Shit,” I said as my head hit the headrest on the table. Shit. “Now what?”

  Chelsea sighed heavily and placed her hands on her hips. “Now we investigate the only other source we have for La Ciudad Blanca.”

  My eyes cut to hers. “You can’t be serious?” Chelsea was willing to go back to General Allen. “Can you even touch him? Drag him here for us to question?”

  She shot me a glare that tore through my very soul, courtesy of our connection. “Once again—you have no idea what happened there.”

  “He drugged you, plain and simple,” I spat.

  I felt it again, rising in my veins. Her anger at me for bringing it up, my anger for not being there to save her from General Allen. Our rage and guilt swam together, but this time we both noticed it.

  She stepped back from me. “Screw you, Trevor. Stay out of this.”

  “Guys,” Weyland said, marching between us.

  “Stay out of it?” I asked her. How the hell could I stay out of it when it was my family that had started this mess? If they hadn’t targeted SeaSat5, if they hadn’t placed me there, if Valerie hadn’t wished to be part of the war… “I’m the very reason you’re a part of it.” I intended the words to come out angry, but they sounded sad. Pathetic and empty.

  “What the hell does that mean?” she snapped. The rage swimming between us was all hers. Mine left my body when I realized this was exactly how I’d felt while I waited for her to wake up from surgery two years ago.

  No words came to voice the thoughts swirling around inside my head.

  “Ugh!” she said, waving her arms. Had she heard my thoughts, my explanation? “I’m done. So freaking done. Call me if anyone figures something out.”

  Chelsea rushed out the door without another word, leaving the rest of us in stunned silence.

  My fist slammed into the punching bag so hard I thought maybe I’d broken something. I kinda wished I had.

  Dave was probably now dead, killed by whoever owned those damn turquoise lights. Dr. Hill thought it was the third party in all of this, probably the people from La Ciudad Blanca, hence Valerie’s fear of them. But were they on our side, or were they an enemy?

  Maybe the Atlanteans took Dave for payback. Whatever.

  Again and again my fists hit the bag, until every punch hurt like bones had shattered. If Dave had finished his sentence, we might have had a way to end the war. And now… Nothing. We had nothing. And Chelsea was ripping pissed at me again.

  I’d never been as angry as I was with Chelsea when we fought before the rescue mission. I never wanted to be that enraged again. It scared me, being honest. Our telepathy fused our emotions together, tumbling and amplifying them to the max. Then it happened again a few hours ago. I wasn’t sure what I felt anymore because of it, like somehow parts of her remained inside me after every conversation. I knew I was pissed at her. At Josh. At that stupid son of a bitch for stealing her from me like it was the easiest thing in the world. And maybe it was.

  Another punch into the bag. I just wanted her to be happy again, like she was on SeaSatellite5 in the days before the hijacking. She’d been her true self then, happy and doing archaeology and prepping for shows with
her band. And if Josh could help her get that back, who was I to stand in the way?

  I was her ex, that’s who. And that fucking tore a hole through the core of everything that I was.

  Someone caught my fist as it sailed toward the bag again. Their grip was so strong I could barely move. My eyes darted up to the owner.

  Freddy stared back at me with one raised eyebrow. He pulled my arm until it was outright, then, with his other hand, inspected mine. “At least you were smart enough to wrap them first. When did you start throwing punches?”

  “When Chelsea’s verbal assaults started hitting below the belt.” I ripped my fist out of his grasp. “Chelsea and I are telepathically connected. Thoughts. Images. And apparently emotions, too.”

  He leaned back against the wall, a foot against it and arms crossed. “Guess that argument had a little more juice behind it than everyone thought.”

  My jaw slid left and right. “Everyone’s heard about that?”

  Freddy shrugged. “You two weren’t exactly quiet, and this isn’t exactly a small station. Thin walls and all. And we were all there.”

  I rolled my eyes and turned back to the bag. I didn’t care what they thought.

  Freddy caught my arm again. “You were hyped up from Dave’s interrogation and what I can only assume was a rigorous mission planning phase,” he said. “You guys came into a compound swarming with Atlanteans to save us.”

  “And look how easy that was,” I said. “Oh—and we fought before the mission. Worse than earlier. Open-palm slaps and all.”

  He winced like he could feel the slap himself. “Still.”

  I shook my head. “You’ve been gone for two years, Freddy. Things have changed. We’ve changed, and Chelsea and I aren’t a compatible combination anymore.”

  He tilted his head to one side. “You sure about that? Because the way I see it, you’re exactly where you were after the hijacking. She’s pissed and off on some self-centered vendetta to fix herself and everything else, taking prisoners as she goes. Because that’s what Chelsea does and most of the time, it’s okay. But the reason you’re less inclined to let her slide this time is because instead of alcohol to help her along, she’s got a guy. A good guy. And here you are, pissed and shocked and confused as to what the hell’s going to happen next. Welcome to life, my friend. It’s not fair and it’s not always right, but here it is. You can’t wallow in this forever though. Live your life, with or without her.”