Helix

by Mary Ting

  My words seemed to have passed through Frank’s one ear and out the other. He kept staring at my hand, indicating he wasn’t going to back down.

  “I’m going to remove my hand, but if you touch the button, or so much as flinch, I’ll blow your hand off, and your head might be next. Do you understand, Frank?”

  He scowled and straightened his spine.

  I rose out of my seat. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Zen tried to shove me back down, but I barely budged.

  Knowing he would try again, I had tightened my muscles. “It’s Mitch.”

  I had an urgent question for Mitch. When Ava had said Mitch put a gun to her head, I needed clarification, needed Mitch’s reasoning. He also wouldn’t have risked being here unless he had to give me dire information.

  Ozzie jumped up and readied his Taser. “I’m coming with you.”

  Reyna arched her eyebrows. “Punch him in the face for me.”

  Zen and I made eye contact. He nodded, giving me permission to leave. I tapped the release pad and the door opened. Ozzie and I stepped out. I shivered in the frosty air, a cloudy mist puffing out of my mouth.

  Mitch came out of the shadow of the glider’s wings but stayed away from the light.

  “What if I was an ISAN guard? I could have shot you.” Mitch’s attention went to Ozzie. “Put your Taser down. I’m not going to force you to come with me. I have no one to trade for. Well, technically you have Ava. That’s not going to be good for me.”

  Mitch and Ozzie had always butted heads. Mitch, well, he was quite a character, and Ozzie didn’t trust Mitch—not like me. Just because he was family didn’t mean squat. But I couldn’t help thinking that having the same blood would mean loyalty would prevail above all. At least I hoped.

  His cocky voice aggravated me. “Shut the hell up. Why did you come after us? And why did you come back?”

  “Is that the way to greet your brother? After all, I did let you take Ava with you.”

  “Half.”

  “Rhett ...”

  Ozzie said my name as if I were a dog to tame. He knew me well, but his plea would not stop me today.

  “I don’t care you’re my brother. Don’t mess with me right now. My team didn’t trust you, but Ava and I did. So, you better have a good explanation why you held a gun to Ava’s head.” I took a step closer, my fists flexing and unflexing, vexation building, pumping through my veins. When Mitch refused to meet my gaze, I continued. “You told Mr. Novak our plan, didn’t you, to save your ass? You snitched, didn’t you? I trusted you.” The hurt in my tone was palpable.

  When he looked at me, his eyes rounded in shock and he backed away a few steps. “You’ve got this all wrong. I would never put all those kids in jeopardy. You were supposed to be out by the time I got there. I had to give them something. You should have run faster. So, of course I had to bring in Ava. ISAN guards were with me. I had no choice.”

  Every cell in my body urged me to pound him with my fist, over and over. Ozzie stepped beside me, calling my name, sounding distant in the roar in my ear. It eased my wrath somewhat, but not enough.

  My chest heaved, and my jaw ached from grinding my teeth. “I should’ve listened to Reyna. She warned me you would betray us to save your own ass, but I didn’t listen. I stuck up for you.”

  “I didn’t betray anyone. It had to be done.” He craned his neck to the side, as if in shame.

  I yanked his collar and forced him to look at me. “Do you know how many of our friends died that day? Do you have any idea what you did?”

  Mitch raised his hands. “Listen. Roger found out first, and he was going to tell Mr. Novak. I had no choice. Do you hear me? I’m no traitor. Circumstances changed. I had to adapt. I’ve been loyal. Not once have I given away your hideout.”

  I scowled. “That’s because you have no idea where it is. But what about the bombing in the Abandoned City?”

  “Again, I had to give them something. I didn’t think anyone was there.”

  I nodded, feeling myself soften. He had it tough, I understood that. It couldn’t be easy to be a double agent. But I wasn’t going to let him off easy. I needed to know he was still on our side. Staying in ISAN could have swayed his decisions, especially when he was under the gun.

  I rubbed my knuckles until they ached. “You need to find out where Ava’s father and her twin are located and fast. Ava is going to be pissed I took her again. If I can give her any solid evidence where they are, she might forgive me.”

  “You’re doing the right thing. Mr. Novak already suspects Ava knows more than she’s willing to say. And what the hell is wrong with you for exposing her in the Abandoned City?”

  “I didn’t know they were going to be there.” I shoved my fingers through my hair, feeling like an idiot.

  “Ava had an earpiece tracker. She wasn’t told it was a tracker. I forgot she had it on until it was too late. You had already taken her. When you appeared in the Abandoned City, the tracker transmitted her whereabouts.”

  I squared my shoulders. “What do you want? Why did you come back?”

  “To warn you. I found out when we parted ways.”

  “About what?”

  “ISAN is preparing to attack another rebel base.”

  I massaged my skull from a sudden headache. “Where?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Frank came to mind. He was the only other person I knew from the other rebel base. I almost grabbed Mitch to demand an answer, but common sense won. Not my common sense, but Ava’s voice in my head.

  Steady the anger, Rhett. It will only get you in trouble.

  She was always with me. My sense of reason.

  “Then what do you know?” My voice calmer. “I need something, Mitch. Do you know how many rebels are out there?”

  “I don’t know how many and neither does ISAN. I wanted to give you something while I had the chance. I’ll keep digging. I’ll swing by you know where in a few days, but I can’t promise I’ll know any more than I do now. Meet me at noon. They’re still watching me closely. I need to get going.”

  “Tell it to the dead rebels then.” I kicked the pebbles underneath my feet. “Find something before it’s too late.”

  Pushing Mitch wouldn’t get the answer any faster, but I needed to give him a deadline. Now that I knew of a possible attack, I had to act on it. I couldn’t just let it go. People’s lives depended on us both.

  “You’re asking me to do the impossible.” He backed away toward his glider. “It could get me killed.”

  “You volunteered to stay behind, remember?” I raised an eyebrow. “You love danger, Mitch. It’s your downfall.”

  “Maybe.” He shrugged. “And Ava’s yours.”

  I didn’t deny it. I would do anything for her, even sacrifice my own life. She was my everything. And I was going to be there for her every step of the way.

  “One day you’ll get it, when you love someone much as I love Ava.”

  “Whatever. See you later, Ozzie.” Mitch raised a hand. “Still quiet as a mouse, I see.”

  Ozzie growled, his finger twitching on the Taser trigger.

  “Ignore him, Oz. Let’s go.” As I veered back to the glider in my childhood playground, my mind wandered to my life before ISAN.

  Eighteen Months Ago

  Standing in the middle of my room in utter darkness, I pointed to a lifelike villain created by the meteor. It was human shaped with glowing lava rocks embedded inside the body, giving it superpower abilities of fire and strength.

  I shot. He collapsed.

  I zapped fifty villains in less than five minutes. A new record for me.

  Another scene appeared—somewhere in the forest. So lifelike. I shivered from the cool damp mist. I posed to shoot, one leg bent and arms extended. Target, aim, and ...

  “What the hell?” I switched off my war game. I blinked to adjust to the light in my room. “I told you never to enter without my
permission.”

  When Mitch’s attention shifted from my eyes to my fists, I uncurled my fingers slowly. The urge to punch him came strong and I almost gave in to it.

  My impulse action would have satisfied me, but my father wouldn’t have appreciated the hostility, especially since my mother had left me here a year ago and never came back.

  My father, Amos, had searched for her at the hospital, at Remnant Council guard headquarters, and even reported her as a missing person. Nothing. A year later, still nothing.

  I, on the other hand, went out looking for her every day. I’d searched for her for a month, on every corner, in every alley, and every place we had been together ... until Amos told me to stop. Still, no Mom, as if she never existed.

  Mitch’s mom had found out about the affair and left. Though it happened fifteen years ago, seeing me dumped at her front door had been too much, I guess. Though Mitch never said it out loud, I was sure he blamed me for his parents’ split.

  I understood. Mitch not only lost his mother, he gained a half-brother who meant nothing to him. And from being an only child, he now had to share. But it wasn’t my fault. I hadn’t asked to be born into this situation.

  Sometimes Mitch and I got along, even train together with Amos, basic self-defense and how to use various weapons. We went to the Abandoned City in the West and released our energy by practicing shooting at scraps with Tasers.

  “My house. That makes it my room. I do what I want.” He crossed his arms and spread his legs a foot apart, like a soldier, like his father, who had once been a Remnant Council guard.

  I furrowed my brow and let him bully me. In my father’s domain, I would be a perfect child. But outside, Mitch would get what was coming to him if he taunted me. There were no rules on the outside.

  “Did you get the memo?” he asked, as if I were his best friend and I was supposed to forget I was furious.

  I gazed down at my chipped hand and then met his eyes with a smirk. “Tons from your girlfriend.”

  His nostrils flared and his chest heaved, but he didn’t retort. “Looks like my father signed both of us up to some program called ISAN.”

  I waved my hand over the adjacent wall. When my mattress slid out, I plopped onto it. “Yeah, it stands for International Sensory Assassin Network. Supposedly a secret agency. I’m not interested. Not only do they want us to sign a contract, they want us to relocate to the East.”

  I flinched when Mitch sat beside me.

  “What do you mean you’re not interested? You’re perfect. You have awesome aim. Your record is pretty impressive on the Meteor War game.”

  Squaring my shoulders, I gave him a pointed look. “You checked my score? You need to get a life. You’re obsessed with me. It’s no wonder your girlfriend messages me.”

  He shoved at my shoulder, but I only budged a little. “Shut up. Besides, Cassie and I broke up.”

  I stiffened. Mitch and I might not get along, but I still had a heart.

  “Sorry, man.”

  “It’s all good. She was too possessive anyway. It’s good timing, though. I replied back and said I would go to their first training next week. Why don’t you come with me? I’m sure there’ll be lots of girls there.”

  I shoved his face with my palm.

  “What the hell was that for?” Mitch jerked away.

  I shrugged, laughing. The irony of all this. I got to be shipped off again. “Just making sure you’re real, that’s all. I don’t know why you would want me to come. I’m just going to steal all the pretty girls from you.”

  What girl in their right mind would want to sign up for a secretive assassin network unless they had absolutely no alternative?

  “I’d like to see you try.” He raised his chin with a hint of a smile. “Why don’t we speak to my father—” He cleared his throat. “To our father about it.”

  I looked at him intensely. It was the first time he’d acknowledged we had the same father. It had always been his father in our conversations.

  “What?” he drawled. “It took me a year to come to terms that I have a half-brother and now I have to share all Dad’s assets. It doesn’t mean I have to be nice about it.”

  I wondered how I would have reacted. “I don’t want a penny from your father.”

  “I’d like to have that signed and sent to my chip.” He chuckled. “I know I’m not easy to get along with, but I think this will be good for the both of us.”

  I cocked my eyebrow, still mystified by his friendliness. Sure, I had nothing to lose by training with ISAN. My future was uncertain with no goals. I’d thought about applying to be a pilot since I loved to fly, but Mom’s disappearance haunted me, and I couldn’t shake it off.

  Perhaps I would find answers in ISAN.

  Present Day

  Amos never came home that day, nor the day after, or the day after that. Just like my mom, he vanished. How convenient for ISAN.

  Perhaps this network had nothing to do with their disappearances. But that didn’t explain why Amos had sent a private message to us a week before—an address. Mitch and I called this place “you know where.” Each of us received an access code to a different account, but the same amount of 4Qs. Tons of it.

  Enlisting in ISAN might have been the worst mistake of my life, but finding Ava made it all worth it.

  When Mitch and I had joined, we’d met the others, Roger and Jayden. I didn’t know what happened to them after the escape and I didn’t care. According to Mitch, Roger ratted us out.

  Roger’s and Jayden’s fathers had been Remnant Council guards at some point. Coincidence? I didn’t care. I had gone there to find answers.

  Now, it was all about helping Ava destroy ISAN.

  Ava

  My dream shifted into reality when I opened my eyes and the images of Chelsea and Vince and their teams’ bloody bodies came back. I had seen many deaths, some by my own hand, but when it was people I worked and trained beside, that was a problem.

  My insides caved in and bile rose to my throat. I pushed the images away so I could focus on now.

  Rhett.

  I was going to kill Rhett. Well, not actually kill him, but give him a piece of my mind. And my fists.

  Yes, I planned to pummel him not just once, but multiple times. That’s if I could get to him. Most of the time, he blocked my blows.

  How dare he kidnap me twice? I was more pissed off at myself for allowing it to happen, for falling into his trap. Again.

  Click. Click.

  Click. Click-click.

  Carefully, slowly, I craned my neck in the direction of that annoying noise. An unfamiliar girl with red hair had her back to me. She stared at a screen and clicked on a stupid pen to a rhythm of her own.

  Click. Click.

  Click-click. Click.

  I sighed in irritation.

  My training urged me to observe my surroundings. It was a room with a high-tech TAB and monitors. A metal desk sat to my left. A lightly tinted window, as long as the wall to my right. Not Rhett’s place. And I was on a cot with a blanket over me.

  Click. Click. Click-click.

  I wanted to lie there and wait for Rhett to return, but the girl, the pen clicking again and again ... I had enough.

  “Do you mind?”

  The redhead whipped around. The stool she sat on scraped on the floor before it thumped on the ground. Her eyes round as the moon, she flung her hands backward to steady herself on the desk, as if she needed something to hold onto.

  “You ... you’re awake.”

  “Who the hell are you?”

  She flinched as if expecting an attack.

  I kicked up my legs and planted my feet on the uneven, pebbled ground. Oh freakin’ hell. My back burned and pain screamed at me. I had forgotten I had hurt my back.

  The walls had crashed in Mr. San’s room, and I had gotten clipped by one of them. Had I not moved fast enough, I would have been ... I didn’t want to think about it.

  If I were at ISAN, Dr. Machin
e would have fixed me, no scars and definitely pain free. Better here than ISAN, pain and all, but I was not happy about my predicament.

  I stretched my hand over my shoulder. No blood, I assumed. I’d felt worse. I would live. No big deal.

  It dawned on me. Redhead. Pretty face. Beautiful eyes. Batting eyelashes and smiling too fondly at Rhett. Hands on Rhett’s arm. Hands on Rhett’s ... where else? Jealousy spiked. My fingernails dug into the blanket and my muscles twitched.

  Calm down, Ava. You have no right to assume.

  The redhead cleared her throat and raised her chin to meet my gaze after silence stretched between us. Timid and scared a second ago, she’d transformed into someone bolder.

  “My name is—”

  She might act tough, but I would show her I took no crap from anyone.

  “Cleo. I know who you are. I was there at your bakery shop, but you didn’t see me. I was inside the last truck.”

  “Oh.” Her eyes rounded, her pitch higher than before.

  I guessed Rhett hadn’t told her I was there.

  A sassy part of me was glad she didn’t know. Rhett had wanted to protect my identity, not to mention keep me out of sight of any possible cameras and ISAN guards.

  I leaned back on my hands. “So, are you going to tell Rhett I’m awake? I assume I’m to stay here. He likes to keep me locked up.”

  I mentally slapped myself. I didn’t know her. She helped Rhett, and I should be thankful she was there for him. But my mind made up stories and images of them kissing or having sex. The possibility drove me insane.

  Stop thinking like a jealous girlfriend. Lives are at stake.

  “I’m not your keeper.” Cleo hiked an eyebrow. “You can go as you please. I was making sure you stay alive. After you were dosed with sleeping serum—”

  “I’m fine.” I immediately regretted sounding ungrateful. For all I knew, I could have had a heart attack and she’d saved me.

  She pursed her lips, her nostrils growing bigger, but said nothing.

  The door slid open, and Rhett stepped in with his easy smile, then stopped. His gaze set on me first, then extended to an exasperated, angry Cleo, who looked like she could set Rhett on fire with her glare.