Forbidden Fire (Forbidden #2)

by Kimberly Kinrade

  "Luke, I'm going to make a way for you. Get your night vision goggles on."

  Lucy killed the lights and lost all visual of her brother, but she could still hear him as he grabbed the scientist and pulled him into an empty room.

  "We have to leave here together. Don't try to fight me, because if they don't think they can use you, they will kill you."

  Lucy turned the lights back on, so everyone could evacuate safely. Luke popped his head through the wall to check the hall.

  Dr. Koslov gasped. "You're one of them. From the Organization."

  "Yeah, I'm one of them, and if you have any sense at all you'll do what I say. I wasn't kidding when I said they'd kill you. They'd kill us both. Now you and me are going to get out of here fast, got it?"

  The scientist shook with fear. "I cannot go out there with you. There are snipers trained to shoot any threat to the security of this facility—especially during an evacuation. We cannot allow scientists to leave with sensitive research. They will kill us faster than your people will, sadly."

  Luke looked into the nearest camera. "Can you get us out, Luce? And still get yourself out?"

  "Easy as pie."

  Lucy reviewed all the possible exits and gave them instructions about which one presented the fewest obstacles. Once they were at the door, Lucy instructed them to wait.

  "Guard patrol. Give it a sec. Now, go!"

  They ran.

  Someone knocked on the door of Lucy's office. To answer or hide. Always the question in moments like these. Today, I'm in the mood to answer. No time to hide and wait.

  She unlocked the door, swung it open, and before the guard knew what hit him, she hit him. Hard. And a lot. There was some kicking involved too. Like a ninja, Lucy rendered the guard unconscious and dragged him into the room before anyone noticed a thing.

  At least that's how she imagined it happening. In reality, the guard got in a few lucky hits before she was able to knock him out. Still, same results.

  She limped back over to the computer and found her brother and Dr. Koslov running from cover to cover on the path she'd given them.

  The scientist kept looking behind him in panic. "They are going to catch us. We will never make it. You do not know. You cannot imagine what they are planning. It goes so far beyond what they have done with you kids. So much bigger than that. The virus—"

  The scientist tripped and fell. A beam of light panned over them and stopped. The loud crack of a rifle sounded and the scientist slumped over, a pool of blood spreading in the snow around his head.

  Luke launched himself past the gate and behind a wall. "Lucy, you need to get out of there. I'm looping myself into the cameras with my computer. I'll find my own way out and meet you at the helicopter. Hurry! And be careful."

  "You too, Bro. And just for the record, this assignment sucks sweaty feet."

  Lucy packed up her equipment, secured her pack on her back, and retraced the hallways to where she'd first come in. Dammit! I didn't send Sam the information she needed. Good thing I planned a backup. Her heart pounded with fear and adrenaline. Must make it out alive became her mantra.

  As she passed the caged human mutants, one slammed his hand against the glass wall and sent her flying through her skin.

  "I sorry to scare you. I do not mean to frighten. I can see into you. You are not like the others, with tests and experiments. Your soul is pure and you have power, like me. We are kin, you and I. Will you free me?"

  "Um, yeah, I think I'll pass on that. Aren't you likely to kill me?" Dr. Koslov had said the mutants were dangerous.

  "There are secrets I can get you, secrets only I can find, in the room with the bad lights. It will help you. I will help you. Please."

  "Bad lights? You mean the radiation room?" Lucy pointed down the hall. "That room?"

  "Yes. Bad room. But powerful toy they keep in there."

  "Will you harm me in any way?"

  He stared deep into her eyes. "No. I not harm you ever."

  Lucy knew he spoke the truth, and she couldn't deny her own curiosity. This "toy" could be the key to what the Rent-A-Kid was up to, or it could help the Freedom Fighters in their quest. Either way, she had to know. She pulled out her computer and tapped into the security system, then located his cell and unlocked it remotely.

  She stood back, on the defensive, as the man-beast stepped out of his cage for the first time in who knows how long. He placed each foot in front of the other tentatively, as if testing to see if the floor would hold him.

  "I thank you, Girl, for freeing me."

  She nodded and let him take the lead so she could keep an eye on him. He hadn't lied to her, but that didn't mean she would let her guard down. Still, something about his eyes, his soul, pulled at her. He was more than he seemed, and her heart broke at the life he'd been forced to live.

  They reached the radiation room, and he stood before the door. "Stand back. I open it."

  She stood on the other side of the room. Just as she opened her mouth to protest that the door was too big for him to open alone—it must have weighed a ton, made of solid metal—he pushed the door in and closed it behind him.

  Within minutes, he returned with a small metal sphere in his hand. "I know not how it works, but much power in it. You take it to help you."

  She reached for it, but pulled back. "Is it safe? If it was in a room with radiation, will it hurt me?"

  "It safe. It protected."

  He spoke the truth. She paused, uncertain, and looked into his eyes. "Lie to me," she commanded.

  "I do not understand?" His bushy eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

  "Tell me something that isn't true, that, you know, is a lie."

  "I could not lie to you." Again, he held out the sphere.

  Her body burned to take it, to study it and know its secrets, but she had to be sure her powers were working. She had to be sure she could trust him.

  "I just need to test something. Please?"

  "Okay, if it make you feel better. A lie: I have been free my whole life, and happy."

  The lie washed into her mind like a poison and her head buzzed with it. Her powers worked, and she could trust him.

  She reached out and accepted the sphere from him. "Thank you." The cool metal tickled her skin and sent goosebumps running up her arm. She examined the sphere, but found no opening or button of any kind. Nothing about its appearance indicated its use, but it pulsed with an energy that warmed her.

  "What's your name?"

  "Name?"

  "Yes, what do they call you?"

  "I have no name. They give me number."

  Lucy slipped the device into her jacket pocket. "Well, I have to call you something. How about Adam? Do you like that name?"

  He smiled. "Yes. Adam. I Adam. I like."

  He grabbed a discarded lab coat to hide himself, and they headed through the long, vacant hall towards the nearest exit.

  "Luke, you around?"

  "I made it through and am waiting for you. Did you seriously free a mutant?"

  "You have to meet him. It's not what you think. Talk later, getting close to exit."

  Lucy pulled Adam behind a vending machine. "Crap. A guard at the exit door. If I fight him, it could alert others to where we are."

  "You not need to fight. You have power to compel. Truth and lies... all slip easily from tongues when you around. Talk to him. Tell him to lie. Tell him hard in your mind and with your lips."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "You see lies, yes? You can also make lies. Shadow power exists in everyone. Use it now."

  Luke shouted in her ear. "Don't do it, Luce! You don't even know this guy. He could get you killed."

  "Yes, but so could fighting the guard, or not leaving the building, or leaving the building. Honestly, my staying alive options are pretty slim. What else can I do?"

  Lucy left the relative safety of the vending machine and walked the last steps of the hall to the guard, nerves rattling around in her s
tomach like grenades about to go off.

  He saw her and raised his gun.

  Everything inside her screamed Run! But she forced her legs forward.

  Adam moved to fill the space next to her, a calming presence despite the potential danger.

  The sphere in her pocket hummed, and warm energy filled her.

  She held up her hand. "Excuse me, but you need to tell your buddies out there to let me and my friend through. Tell them we are staff who got stuck in a locked office and are just now finding our way out."

  He cocked his gun. "What the hell, lady? I'm radioing you in."

  He pulled out his radio. "Delta Leader, do you read me? I have...."

  Lucy held his eyes and with force of will repeated her instructions.

  His eyes glazed over. "...two staff who didn't make it out in the first sweep. Hold all fire. Repeat, hold all fire."

  Lucy and the mutant walked through the door, just inches from the guard. Lucy's skin crawled but she kept moving.

  Outside, the cold and darkness blanketed the landscape. She shivered, but didn't have time to let her eyes adjust. Instead, she relied on the surveillance lights to guide her way over the large field, towards the outside gate guard and past the snipers.

  They were almost there. Just a few more feet.

  She couldn't believe it had actually worked. She'd always wanted a more active power, and now she had one.

  Luke's shout turned her excitement to fear. "Lucy, get down!"

  Guns exploded around them. She and Adam dove into the nearest bushes, and placed as many trees between them and the bullets as they could.

  Luke's voice crackled in her ear, "I just heard over the radio, one of the snipers got a look at the mutant. Tell me where you are. I'll get you out of there."

  Lucy gave Luke their position and listened as he explained the path they should take.

  The cold Russian night bit into her skin as they scurried from tree to tree.

  They were ten feet from the gate. So close. A helicopter waited for them just past the hill.

  They ran as hard and fast as their legs could pump.

  But no one could outrun a bullet.

  Lucy prepared for the impact even as she ran. She fought the paralysis of fear. Unseen harbingers of death chased her, intent on cutting into her body and tearing her apart.

  Nothing happened.

  The air around her thickened and quieted into an eerie silence. She paused long enough to turn around. A bullet hovered mere centimeters from her left eye.

  Luke stood beyond the gate, his forehead wrinkled in concentration. "Get out. I'll protect you."

  Guards swarmed from the outlying buildings like hungry flies. A spray of bullets screamed towards them, the sound muted by the force field Luke had created. He blocked them all. It was as if the bullets were stuck in a thick plaster.

  "Luce, I can't hold on much longer. Too hard to keep them all away. Please, hurry."

  Lucy grabbed her friend's hand and tried to run with him through the gate.

  He stopped her. "Thank you, Girl, for freeing me. For those moments, I had air in lungs that was mine alone. Remember me as I will you."

  He leaned down to kiss her cheek, his floppy skin surprisingly soft, then ran towards the guards with a thunderous growl.

  The guards focused all their firepower on the mutant. Bullets hit him, but he did not fall.

  Lucy screamed and started chasing him, but Luke ran through the gate and dragged her away.

  She yelled at Luke and pushed him. "No, he needs us. We have to help him."

  "We can't, Luce. We'll all die if we go back."

  Adam's voice shook the field. "Go, Girl. Must go."

  A guard charged Adam and he tossed him aside like a ragdoll. They emptied their guns into him, to no avail. He ripped through their defensive lines, knocked them unconscious, twisted their guns like a clown with a balloon animal.

  His roar filled the dark night—part human, part beast.

  Lucy couldn't pull her eyes from the amazing creature.

  Finally, Luke's arm tugged at her, and she allowed him lead her to the landing pad outside the facility. She barely noticed the bullets still whizzing past their heads.

  The helicopter rested on an empty field over a hill.

  Luke buckled them both in. As the chopper lifted off, Lucy sobbed until she hiccupped, unable to stop.

  A few minutes later, the pilot handed Lucy a phone. She took a few deep breaths before answering. "Hello."

  "Did you get it?" Mr. Black growled.

  "Yes. But Dr. Koslov was killed. The data is useless."

  "You little bitch. You have no idea how royally you've messed up. I'll deal with you and your brother when you get back."

  Lucy handed the phone back to the pilot and slumped against Luke, who put his arm around her. "It's going to be all right, Sis. We'll figure it out."

  She slipped her hand into her jacket pocket and rubbed the smooth contours of the strange sphere. Another wave of tingling heat coursed through her.

  Maybe it would be all right after all.

  Chapter 17 – Sam

  My thoughts had finally calmed and my eyes had just closed, when Brad called to me from the living room. "Sam, check this out!"

  I sighed, pulled myself out of bed and went to him. "What's up?"

  He looked up at me from his computer at the dining room table. "Sorry, were you sleeping?"

  "Almost."

  He pointed to his computer screen. "I thought you'd want to see this right away."

  The email had been sent fourteen minutes ago from an account I'd never seen before.

  This message is for Sam and Drake. You aren't alone in your fight against the organization you call Rent-A-Kid. We can help. We will be in touch.

  No signature.

  "Can you trace where this came from or who sent it?"

  He looked at me as if I'd asked him to make his computer float. "Um, no. I'm a writer, not a computer hacker. I know how to type. That's about it."

  "We need Lucy. I haven't talked to them since they left on assignment. I hope they're okay. Have you received anything from them yet? She was supposed to email us information about the school and security?"

  "Not yet. I'll let you know as soon as I get something."

  "What do you make of this email? Who could it be?"

  "I really have no idea. In the morning, we can ask the professor. Maybe he'll know something from his research days." He shrugged and gave me a lopsided grin. "For now, we should go to bed. I didn't realize it's nearly 1 a.m."

  "Yeah, I'm wiped. Hey, have you seen Drake? He's not home yet and I can't reach him by cell."

  Brad dropped his eyes. "No, no idea."

  He was hiding something from me, but his mind opened up at the slightest touch: 'Can't believe he actually did it. Left without telling anyone. Where the hell does he think he's going?'

  My body coiled tighter than a snake ready to strike. "Drake left? What are you talking about? Where did he go?"

  Brad closed his laptop and turned to face me. "I'm sure it's nothing. It's just... earlier today he was worried and upset. He wanted to do something, to track the Seeker, but he didn't want to hurt you. He made an offhand remark that he should leave without telling you, but I didn't think he was serious."

  I balled my fists and paced the floor. "Oh my God. No, he wouldn't do this. He wouldn't go off on his own, would he?"

  Brad shrugged. "I honestly don't know. He's used to being a lone ranger. He might have."

  My stomach hit the floor. Rabbit-like palpitations clutched my heart. He can't be gone. It's just... no... not possible.

  Something pushed at my mind—an aggressive presence whose signature I recognized from the mind-jacking. I'd vowed not to be caught unaware again, and had wired my mind with a booby-trap I'd taught myself a long time ago. When anyone tried to connect with my mind, it triggered a wall that crashed down to protect me.

  I sent out tendrils of thought
to explore the presence lurking just outside my mind. Emotions and impressions swam through me.

  Vast. Powerful. Lonely. And... illness… death.

  A small surge of sympathy tempered my anger for a moment, but then the presence crashed into me again, cracking my walls and sending me to my knees. I used every ounce of power I had to fight it, and sent out a plea to Drake.

  A moment—or maybe an eternity—later, his strength flooded me. 'I'm here. I'll help.'

  Together, we sent a full frontal assault on my attacker. The pressure abated for a moment, but came back stronger, more powerful than ever. I grabbed my head and screamed.

  An unfamiliar voice swam in my mind, calling to me. 'Sam. Sam!'

  His voice trickled into my soul, seducing me.

  Drake howled. 'Leave her alone!'

  His power, his strength, surrounded me and protected me. I dug into the recesses of my powers and pulled out more, letting it build inside me until I had enough. With Drake's support I slammed into the Seeker's mind and pushed him out.

  Relief filled me.

  And Drake was gone.

  "Sam. Sam!" Brad's panic subsided. "Are you okay? What happened? That mind-jacking thing again?"

  "Yes. It's gone now, but it got through my walls. Just a bit, but... I don't know, he might have seen something. We should warn the professor."

  Brad ran to Bernard's room to wake him.

  I stumbled to the kitchen for a glass of water, and rested my head on the cool kitchen counter. "Drake, we need you. Come back."

  No answer.

  Loneliness swept through me, filling up every part of me with a wretched hopelessness. I couldn't do this without him. My ever-growing child kicked against my ribs and reminded me of how powerless I really was. I couldn't fight anyone alone, couldn't risk the baby.

  Fat, hot tears fell from my eyes and formed a puddle on the counter. Why keep fighting when I can never win?

  I searched my mind for what the Seeker might have siphoned from me. Did he know where we were now? Would he track us?

  Brad and the professor might be in danger because of me, and I didn't have time to wallow in my own grief.

  Bernard put his arms around me and guided me to the living room couch. "Sit. Rest. We'll figure out what to do."