Sleeper Cells

by Sandra Y. Desjardins

  Kat interrupted him with a passionate kiss. She was glad he didn’t seem bothered by finding her in their bedroom with Andrew. And with Vanessa there, Jason had a reason to stay with her all night. Kat definitely wasn’t going to waste that precious time talking. She led them toward the bed and tried to pull him down beside her. He stood his ground.

  “You’re mom really pissed me off,” he tucked her hair behind her ear. “But she’s right about us maintaining a no-touching policy.”

  “Jason—”

  “Kat, there is a scary amount of energy that starts up the second we touch. And now yours starts right up in response to mine…I know you feel it and want to pretend that it’s fine—”

  “It will be—”

  “Shh,” he placed his finger gently over her lips. “I’m glad that you invited Vanessa to stay the night so that we can sleep in our room together.” He sat beside her and kissed her cheek, “Because I really miss this.”

  “Me too,” she scooted closer to him.

  “How’s about we forget about everything and just enjoy the rest of the night cuddled up together watching a movie?”

  “Sure,” she sighed. She could think of more entertaining things they could do, but she didn’t want to be overly pushy and scare him away. She watched as he put the movie on.

  “Let me get out of my jumpsuit and into my pj’s—”

  “I can help with that,” she smiled mischievously as she got up on her knees.

  “Where’s that belt of yours? Whoa,” he chuckled when she pulled him toward her and he lost his balance. “I’m sorry, weren’t you just listening? I said no touching,” he teased.

  “Haven’t you noticed that I don’t follow directions very well?” She helped him out of his costume.

  After kissing entirely too long, he disappeared and came back several minutes later with popcorn. He stopped long enough to pick her belt up from the floor.

  “Do you think you can behave yourself?” He teased as he got into bed, “Because if you can’t contain those naughty thoughts, I may just have to use these.”

  “I’ll try my best.” She frowned as she looked at the television. Trying to hide her disappointment, Kat snuggled up against him happy that, at the very least, she was able to do that.

  He went to restart the movie, but she insisted it was fine. She had no intention of watching of it and he had already seen the Elvis movie a hundred times over. He explained the storyline so she would be able to follow along, which she listened to half-heartedly, because at the moment, all she cared about was cuddling against him as he played with her hair. Kat was hopeful that the rest would come soon; all she had to do was figure out how to convince him that his no-touching policy sucked.

  Chapter Eleven Just Another Day at the Office

  “Do we have to go in?” Kat stretched then cuddled against Jason.

  “Yeah,” Jason whispered against her hair.

  “Wouldn’t it be nice to be normal?”

  “Yeah,” he kissed the top of her head then moved her so he could sit up. “I wish we could just follow that dream and buy some land. I’d love to build a house and work regular jobs.”

  “And have two point five kids,” she smiled.

  “Yeah, with your red hair—”

  “And your blue eyes.”

  “No way, I want them to have your beautiful green eyes,” he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. “Don’t,” he moaned when she pulled him toward her for another kiss. “Don’t do that because I’m never gonna wanna leave and we have to.” He gave her another quick peck on the cheek, and then headed toward the bathroom.

  She sat up and tossed the covers back. She hated the weekends. She had assumed that once she got out of high school and was living among her fellow Hybrids, it would get easier to go in for training on the weekends. It hadn’t. She hated going in now more than ever before.

  Even though they had training seven days a week, the lightest load was on the weekdays, so they could get all of their human stuff done. Weekday training was usually pleasant and brief, usually taking up less than an hour in the evening. Acting and dancing lessons were fun. Linguistics and combat training weren’t the crowd favorite, but it was better than weekends.

  Weapons’ training was Kat’s favorite, which was why she was the best sniper, so she never complained when they had to go to the shooting range. Most Hybrids dreaded days out on the range, but everyone complained about the weekends. The Agency demanded the most crucial training then, so unless they had a more pressing engagement, or there was a mission, they went in to work.

  “Maybe it won’t be so bad since it’s just us,” he said as he came back into the room.

  “Maybe,” she shrugged.

  “Don’t sound so hopeful,” he teased. He pulled his black, long-sleeved shirt over his head.

  “What about Vanessa and Jeremy?”

  “Just leave them a note saying we went running errands and that you’ll call them later.”

  She bit her lip as she watched him disappear into the bathroom with his black uniform pants in hand. Seeing him in his boxers always left her winded. She got out of bed, pulled her training outfit from the closet, got dressed, and then headed to the kitchen. Jason had a cup of coffee and a protein bar waiting for her. They sat on the back porch and skimmed the newspaper.

  They teleported to the training facility and were greeted by Elder Jay. They took seats at the briefing table and opened their booklets. Kat looked up when the door opened and hoped that she managed to conceal the shock of seeing Ariel and David walking through the door to join them, Lauren and Wyatt not far behind.

  “Okay,” Elder Jay said. “We’re doing team training today. Katarina, Ariel and Wyatt will be team one. Katarina, you’re communication. Ariel is your sniper and Wyatt is your foot detail. Jason, you’re communication. Lauren is your sniper. David is on foot detail, any questions?”

  “No, sir,” they all said.

  “Good. The objective is to get through the building and be the first to detonate the missile. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” they all said.

  “Good, grab your gear. I’ll see you on the other side.”

  They stood and headed to the equipment room. It had never been so hard for Kat to keep her mouth shut, but the fact that her team was there was so surprising, she almost couldn’t stop herself from blurting out all the questions that kept popping into her head. She caught a glimpse of Jason and his eyebrow went up slightly, his curiosity piqued as well.

  They entered the warehouse together because they had to set up communications. With their earpieces were already in place, they exchanged odd glances and shrugged because neither was able to figure out what the team was doing back. Kat took her place on one side of the warehouse, while Jason went to the opposite end of the warehouse. She pulled up the blueprints and scanned through each room trying to find the weapon. Lauren chirped in her ear that she was ready and needed to know where to go.

  Kat turned on the infrared and picked up heat signatures in one room on the far end of the warehouse. She located the missile in the basement. It was directly below the room where all of the ghost humans were gathered—computer-generated opponents who registered as heat signatures to their equipment. She directed Lauren to a ledge just above the room and watched as a blinking light started flashing to indicate her life signs. The communicator on her wrist activated as Lauren moved into position.

  Wyatt joined Kat in the control room, they went over the blueprints, then came up with the best route for him to take. She was sure that Jason was going to send his team in through the rear entrance, so Wyatt needed to enter through the front. They took their positions, and she hit the indicator light to show that her team was ready. Jason’s light flashed. The warehouse darkened, the lights dimming to give it an eerie glow.

  As Wyatt moved into position and made his way down the hallway, Kat scanned the warehouse for Jason’s team. Wyatt tripped a sensor that set off a siren, which
caused the ghost humans to start moving in teams down the hallways. She radioed their positions to Wyatt, as she simultaneously chirped a warning to Lauren, and continued scanning for Jason’s team. She hated being on comm detail.

  Wyatt screamed, then a loud wailing filled the air indicating that he had been killed. Wyatt joined her at the communication center while Lauren took the lead. Kat pinpointed David from Wyatt’s last position and radioed Lauren directions to the missile. Her mission was now to avoid as many people as possible and complete their objective.

  Kat scanned each room before Lauren got near and located Ariel’s heat signature from the infrared. She was tucked in a corner that Kat directed Lauren away from. Unfortunately, Lauren didn’t want to follow orders, so Kat got a taste of how frustrating Jason’s job was when people deviated from a well-laid plan.

  After killing Ariel, Lauren made it to the missile and their team scored a point. She watched as the training center’s layout transformed, and then studied the new blueprints. The teams rotated after each completed mission, so Kat huddled up with Lauren and David. She was disappointed when not a second was spared for her to get any idea of what had gone down the night before. After moving out, Lauren and David killed Wyatt then Ariel. They proceeded to kill all of the ghost humans, and then went into the attic to detonate the missile together.

  When they switched off, so that it was girls versus guys, Kat’s team won again. It was technically by default because a friendly fire incident occurred that had David firing a shot that killed Wyatt. Left alone, David managed to kill Ariel just before a ghost human took him out. Kat laughed because she was sure Jason was having a fit over that one.

  After hours of training against each other, they got to go in as a six-man team with everyone in their usual positions. The computer generated several difficult courses that never bested them, but definitely gave them a run for their money.

  Ariel stripped as she walked into the locker room. It was unisex because they weren’t supposed to be self-conscious. But for as long as Kat started working on teams, she and Lauren would disappear into the female stalls to change. Those were at least separated from the urinals and locker room.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Kat asked the second the door closed behind them.

  “You are not gonna believe—”

  “Look at what you did,” Ariel pushed through the door and held up her bloody thigh. “It’s simulated combat, Lauren, not the real thing,” she snapped as she propped her leg onto the sink and rinsed it.

  “That last simulation was pretty intense,” Kat pulled her hair into a ponytail so she could rinse off her face. “It was just an accident, Ariel,” Kat said as she wiped her face off with a towel. She stole a glimpse at her best friend who continued to sit silently on the bench.

  “I’m gonna need stitches,” Ariel said after examining the wound. “I’m gonna head to the house and hop in the regenerator before the debriefing starts. I’ll meet you two in the conference room.”

  “I’ll come to your house the second we get done,” Lauren whispered when the door closed.

  “Okay, you better, because we thought you guys were going to be there all weekend.”

  “I did too, but the guys tagged along, which had David setting up all the equipment in record time and cutting the weekend short.”

  “Are you ladies ready?” Wyatt asked, stepping into the room. “They’re waiting for us in the conference room.”

  “Yeah,” they both said as they gathered their stuff and shoved it into their bags.

  They walked to the conference room and took their seats. The debriefing was so boring that Kat considered slitting her wrist with her pen. She was finally excused to get ready for her dinner party, but everyone else remained because a last minute assignment had come up that they were going on without her.

  She teleported back to her house and walked through to make sure that Vanessa and Jeremy were gone. They, thankfully, were long gone. She went up to the regenerator and closed her eyes as the energy flowed through her and healed the cuts and bruises she had received in training.

  “So they sent the guys in,” Lauren pulled the lid open when it was done.

  “Hey!”

  “I don’t have much time; I have to get going on a mission.”

  “Okay,” Kat stood. “So spill fast.”

  “They sent them in because we have this job to do tonight. Jason’s setting up comm for our run and apparently yours, he said he had to head to Cali first.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t have to be there until midnight.”

  “But he’s coming with us.”

  “Okay, I’ll talk to him about it when we’re driving to dinner, so you spill, did you get to do anything? Did you have fun?”

  “Kat,” she squealed as she pulled her into a bear hug then leaned back. “It was amazing!”

  “Lauren, I’m so happy for you!”

  “I wish more than anything that I could fill you in on everything.”

  “You better,” she scoffed. “I know you have to run but I want to hear every dirty detail!”

  “And I tapped into my powers—”

  “What?” Kat asked, “Lauren, how?”

  “I guess that intense emotional surge brought it on. What an amazing feeling, Kat! To be with someone you’ve always loved.”

  “Lauren, what did he do? How did he react? I mean, could he figure out that we’re Hybrids? And abnormal ones at that?”

  “No, Kat, no, he didn’t...” She sighed. “I’m totally in love,” she whispered. “Can you be happy for me?”

  “Of course,” she said quickly. “You know I’m happy for you, but I’m just scared that he’ll find out and expose—”

  “He won’t,” she squeezed her hands. “He won’t ever, I promise, so don’t worry.”

  “But, Lauren, a human getting that weird power surge, that’s not normal, and he had to wonder…” She bit her lip. “Describe it to me, was it the way I described me and Jason?”

  “It was, well, maybe not so intense…” She looked away.

  “So you didn’t kill him when you touched him?” Kat teased so Lauren knew she was okay.

  “No.” Lauren studied her for a second then laughed. “It wasn’t that powerful, but it was wow,” she hugged her. “Kat, it was amazing.”

  “Quit beating around the bush!” Kat leaned back. “Tell me about it, come on!” She shook her a little. “Tell me all the juicy details.”

  “Okay, okay, okay. I was a little annoyed…” Lauren drifted off for a second and looked away, then looked back at Kat, “But he made me laugh with one of those random silly things that he always says...”

  “You’re killing me,” Kat dragged her to the couch in the corner of the room.

  “Then he kissed me,” she smiled. “And it was the sweetest and most romantic kiss even though he was scared.”

  “Scared?”

  “I mean he was just...” She sighed. “I guess after all the talk and build up it was even more nerve-wracking for him,” she shrugged as she spun the heart shaped ring on her left ring finger that matched Kat’s.

  “He’s like a hundred years old and has been cheating on his wife since before they were married!”

  “He’s fifty-three.” Lauren giggled. “And I’m sure that with my being so evasive, he was confused by my lack of interest.”

  “Oh. My. God.” Kat pulled Lauren’s hands apart and held them in hers. “What the hell is up with you? Give me all the details!”

  “Kat,” she smiled at her. “It was—”

  “Amazing, I so got that part, Laurel! So give me the juicy stuff!”

  “Well, after the kiss…” She bit her lip and looked away for a second. “Anyway, I guess it was awkward for a second, but he kissed me again, and I was like a maniac.” She giggled.

  “What? What does that mean?” Kat begged. “It just means I started ripping his clothes off—”

  “There you are,” Jason stepped into the
room.

  “Babe!” Kat shouted in surprise. “Can you give us a few, please?”

  “Yeah,” he looked at her curiously but backed out of the room.

  “No,” Lauren stood. “I gotta go before Mr. Square Peg starts wondering why it’s taking me so long in the shower.”

  “You told him you were showering?”

  “I had to think of something quick,” she kissed her cheek and hugged her. “I’ll tell you the rest tomorrow, be safe tonight.”

  “I will,” Kat said. “You too, where are you guys going?” She followed behind her.

  “We have to kill a defective,” Lauren said as she got in place of the beams.

  “Oh.” Was all Kat could think to say in response to that.

  “I’ll meet you at Ariel’s,” Jason said to Lauren.

  “‘Kay,” Lauren lifted her hand. “I love you, Hardy.”

  “Love you, Laurel.” Kat said holding up a hand.

  “Really?” Jason asked when she vanished, “Laurel and Hardy?”

  “Yeah, Brian gave us that nickname when we met during our freshman year,” she turned and wrapped her arms around his waist. “He kinda has a thing for them and said we play off each other like a comic routine.”

  “I like it,” he kissed her cheek. “So what’s with the big secret? You’ve never rushed me out of the room before?”

  “She and Vlad…”

  “She and Vlad what? Didn’t the guys go with them? And why are they back?”

  “I guess because you guys are going out tonight, so David had everything in place fast enough to cut it short.”

  “But not so short that she couldn’t get her personal mission accomplished?”