The Order of Omega (The Alpha Drive Book 2)

by Kristen Martin

  the hotel, dragging his feet along the pavement as he began the lonely journey back to his apartment.

  15

  Things sure were easier when Theo had been around. Victor toyed with the remote, watching on the monitor as he made the most powerful man in the world walk in circles around his desk. He chortled, a deep bellow echoing in the empty space around him. Things had gone smoothly—almost too smoothly—up until the point he’d finally met Emery face-to-face.

  Victor slid the desk chair over to the control station, his eyes fixed on the alpha and omega symbols that were embedded into the metal. He ran his hand along the dented surface, methodically tracing each symbol with the tip of his finger. He reached into his inner coat pocket, his fingers searching the fabric until he found the alpha ring, then placed it in the shallow curve. Tiny green lights lit up one by one around the ring as the machine acknowledged its presence. With a single beep, it locked into place. The omega indentation sat idly by, dejected and unused.

  You’ll be next.

  As he ejected the alpha ring and stuffed it back into his inner coat pocket, his thoughts momentarily flickered to Dormance. If Emery found her way back, she’d surely get closer to finding out the truth about Alpha One, about Dormance, about everything. And that was something he couldn’t have happen.

  The control station beeped as a holographic image of Naia’s contact information appeared before him. The image blinked as the lines tried to connect, but he was met with silence. Frustrated, Victor slammed his fists on the control station, his half-full coffee mug rattling violently. Traitor or not, Naia was the only one who could reopen the portal and, of course, she wasn’t answering. If Emery found a way in before he did, his dreams would surely die along with the initiative.

  Victor gazed down at his remote. There were millions more microchips at his disposal, however, he couldn’t retrieve them unless he found a way back into Dormance. Theo was the one who had advised him to keep the microchips hidden there. Victor scowled at the thought. I’m an idiot for listening to him.

  If only he’d gone with his original plan, he’d have already deployed the devices by now, seized the pendant, and moved forward with the initiative. But, because of Theo, there were now two things standing in his way instead of just one. Two steps forward, one step back. Seemed to be the way things were going as of late.

  Come to think of it, it had been a while since Victor had laid eyes on his spectacular creations. Excitement thrummed through his fingertips as he opened a file on the control station monitor. A blueprint appeared before him, shining like the brightest star in the sky.

  The blueprint was for a microchip, similar to the ones Emery and her father had, except the mechanism in the blueprint was far more advanced. At first glance, it appeared to be just a microchip, but once activated, tiny legs would protrude from the sides, and a pair of neatly clipped wings would expand. He’d developed it to have the capability to release lethargum into the host’s bloodstream, causing them to fall seamlessly into Dormance. The final step was to program the chips, and they’d fly off into the sunset to become one with their hosts. No embedment machine needed. The remainder of mankind, sans those already in Dormance, would slip into unconsciousness and into Victor’s control.

  Each chip was set to be programmed so that each person would have a proper function in society, and if a certain individual didn’t add value, the chip would simply be deactivated, leaving them lifeless and nonexistent. In other words, it was a way to weed out the weak. Free will would be a thing of the past and he’d finally get the society he’d always dreamed of. One where he controlled everything and reaped all of the rewards. Oh, how he’d waited for this day. Ten years of waiting. He was so very close. But, as always, there was something standing in his way. And her name was Emery.

  Not this time. This time, I will win. This time, the world is mine.

  16

  A loud knock on the door stirred Emery from her daydreams. Half dressed, she slid her chair back from the hotel desk, her feet barely touching the cool marble floor. “Just a second!” she yelled as she searched for her jeans and t-shirt.

  A robotic voice sounded from outside the door. “Housekeeping!”

  “Impatient one, aren’t you?” she muttered as she pulled a shirt over her head. On her way to the door, she noticed that the couch was no longer occupied. Odd. Perhaps Mason had gone to grab them breakfast?

  She stifled a yawn as she opened the door, but there was no one there. She gazed down the hallway in both directions, but there wasn’t a soul in sight.

  Empty.

  With a shrug, she let go of the door and wandered back into the room, but just as the door was about to shut, something rolled inside. Emery gasped as the object collided with her foot. She bent down to examine the circular device, noticing it resembled a vacuum similar to the one that her family had used in Dormance, except this one had no cords, no wires. And it could talk.

  “Permission to enter?” the robot-like vacuum requested.

  “Well, seeing as you’re already here, permission granted,” she muttered, watching as the robot housekeeper entered her room and started vacuuming. Situated on top of the robot was a nametag that read “CHI”, and underneath that “Clean Hotel Initiative”.

  She continued to stand by the door until the vacuuming was complete, then watched miraculously as CHI grew arms and legs and transformed into something almost human-like. CHI’s arms extended to make the bed, fluffing the pillows just as a normal housekeeper would do.

  “Neat,” she breathed, mesmerized by the sight. As CHI started on the bathroom, Emery broke out of her trance and walked over to the nightstand. The events from the most recent flashback flooded her mind. I need to tell Mason. He needs to know that Naia was on our side the whole time. She grabbed her phone and sent a quick text to ask him where he was.

  Another thought entered her mind, but this one wasn’t as pleasant. Torin’s a part of 7S and so is Naia. Which means that he knew all along! He knew this whole time that Naia was on our side. And he didn’t bother to tell me!

  She hastily typed a message to Torin and pressed send. Not even two seconds later, her phone pinged. It was from Torin: Meet me at 7S Headquarters.

  She rolled her eyes and quickly typed another message. Why? And tell me you aren’t going to ignore my last text.

  To which he replied: Hurry!

  As much as Emery wanted to rebel after learning this juicy little bit of information, she knew it probably wasn’t in her best interest. There was just too much at stake. “This better be good,” she mumbled to herself as she walked out the door and down the hallway to the nearest platform.

  Five seconds after speaking her destination to the machine, she found herself standing in the middle of downtown Chicago, right in front of 7S Headquarters. As if on cue, Torin came bursting through the sliding glass doors. From the look on his face, something had him in a tizzy, and she wondered what had gotten him so out of sorts.

  Before she could even open her mouth, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the side of the building. “What took you so long?” he panted.

  Emery shook her head. “I got here literally two minutes after you sent your text.” And then, in a more serious tone, “I have a bone to pick with you.”

  Worry lines creased his forehead. “What do you mean?”

  “How come you never told me about Naia?” she asked as she paced back and forth in front of him. “How could you not tell me that she was on our side this whole time?”

  “Emery . . .”

  “You knew! You knew the entire time and you didn’t tell me.” She stopped pacing and crossed her arms with a grunt. “Why would you keep something like that from me? After everything we’ve been through? I thought you trusted me; that we trusted each other.”

  Torin heaved a loud sigh. “Look, I wanted to tell you and I’m sorry I didn’t. I tried to tell you when Naia called a few weeks ago, but you
didn’t want to hear what I had to say. You had your plan to go back to your house and search for clues and what not, so I just kept my mouth shut and didn’t bring it up again.” He looked down at his feet and then back at her. “Wait, how did you find out? Did you talk to Naia? Did she reach out to you again?”

  Emery shook her head. “No, although that would be the more believable scenario.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Emery pulled the pendant out from underneath her shirt. “I don’t really know how to explain it, but this pendant has abilities. Like, time-traveling abilities.”

  Torin’s jaw dropped. “You’ve been able to travel back in time? And you didn’t think to tell me?”

  She knew he was mocking her, so she gave him a pointed stare before rolling her eyes.

  “When? How many times?”

  “It’s hard to explain. It was more like I was in a flashback, seeing things from certain people’s point of views.” She hesitated, suddenly feeling self-conscious that she sounded like a lunatic.

  “And?” he pressed. “Keep going.”

  “And . . . I don’t know. Somehow I was able to see things from Naia’s point of view. I saw that she was the one helping me all along, in the trainings, before deployment. Everything.”

  “Seriously? That’s . . . incredible.” He ran his fingers along the side of his jaw. “I wonder how it works.”

  Emery gazed down at the pendant. “I really don’t know, but it also flashed me back to some childhood memories. Regardless, it’s definitely worth protecting.”

  “Well, if that isn’t enough excitement for one day, there’s something I need to tell you, too.”

  Emery’s ears perked up. “Which is?”

  He puffed his chest out as if he were about to win an Oscar for best male performance. “The portal to Dormance—it’s been reopened.”

  She looked him square in the eye, trying to discern whether or not he was joking. His voice didn’t have its usual “Torin flair”, so she could only assume that he was being serious. “Are you sure?” she asked in disbelief. “Where did you hear this?”

  He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Actually, Mason was the one who called me and told me about it last night. He needed my help to get back there because he wasn’t sure how—”

  “Wait,” she interrupted, “Mason called you last night asking for help to reenter Dormance? Why am I just now hearing about this?”

  He sighed. “I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, Em. He told me some sob story about how you’d finally opened up to him and told him about leaving the alpha ring behind, so he wanted to go look for it and help out. He said that it was the closest he’s felt to you in weeks . . .” he trailed off, his cheeks flushing a deep shade of burgundy.

  His last comment hung thick in the air. She wasn’t sure how to feel. Part of her was angry at Mason for revealing the details of their personal relationship to Torin; yet part of her was relieved that he knew and she didn’t have to explain herself. It was what it was, and Torin was too polite to press any further.

  Emery looked down at her feet, hoping she could find the words to break the uncomfortable silence that now lingered between them. “Okay. So I’m guessing you helped him?”

  Torin shrugged. “Of course I helped him. I figured if he could find it, it’d be a win-win for everyone.”

  “And? Did he?”

  He shook his head, his long brown hair covering one of his eyes. “Unfortunately, no. He did find the pink silk pouch that you kept it in, but the ring wasn’t in there.”

  Emery took a few steps forward, her finger tapping her chin. “You’re sure it wasn’t in there?”

  “That’s what Mason said.”

  “You know what this means, right?”

  He sighed, already knowing what she was about to say. “You have to go back?”

  “As per usual, you hit the nail on the head,” she said with a grin as she jogged over to the platform.

  “Emery, the ring isn’t there. Trust me, we checked. We searched your dorm room inside and out. Not to mention, your room looked like it had been ransacked. Someone must have taken it.”

  “No, no, I get that,” she said, waving a hand dismissively in the air. “I want to go back because maybe, just maybe, there’s a clue hiding somewhere in my house. Since there wasn’t a clue in this world, maybe there’s one waiting for me in Dormance.”

  A shadow of doubt crossed Torin’s face. “Don’t you ever feel like giving up on this sometimes? Wouldn’t life be easier if we just forgot about it and moved forward?”

  Emery stumbled backward and gasped as if she’d just been shoved and had the wind knocked out of her. “You’re joking, right?”

  His silence told her he was not.

  “How can we just ‘forget’ about all of this? Our livelihood is at stake here. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

  “I mean, of course it does.” He cracked his knuckles as he shifted his stance. “I guess I just don’t understand why you feel the need to do it all. It’s not your responsibility.”

  His words hit her like a punch in the gut. Not my responsibility. Is he kidding? “It may not be an ‘official’ responsibility, but I have ties to this that you wouldn’t even begin to understand.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? Like what?”

  “My family,” she blurted out without thinking. “I think my family is somehow connected to all of this. And it’s my job to figure it out. I have to figure this out.”

  Another heavy silence fell between them.

  After a minute of not speaking, Torin finally nodded his head. He pulled out his phone, his fingers tapping away on the holoscreen. “Okay, then, if that’s what you want, let’s send you back. Ready?”

  “Thank you,” she said quietly. “And Torin?”

  He kept his eyes glued to his phone. “Just go. I’ll see you when you get back.”

  Before she could respond, she found herself standing in the middle of the common room in the Federal Commonwealth’s underground headquarters. “I’m here,” she said, taking a deep breath as she surveyed the area before her. She half expected to see Naia standing at the door with a tray and a glass of chilled sparkling water.

  When she realized that this wasn’t the case, she couldn’t help but feel a little disheartened. “Okay, I’m heading to my dorm room.” She waited a few seconds for Torin to answer. When he didn’t, her heart picked up speed. “Torin? Are you there?”

  Crackled sounds and broken sentences were the only response. She checked the connection. It was weak, but still there. “I can’t hear a word you’re saying, but at least we’re still connected.” More crackling.

  Great, looks like I’m on my own.

  She tiptoed across the room until she reached the doorway. The door locked in place behind her as she continued her journey along the hallway to the elevator. Up, up, up she climbed. The doors opened to the lobby of Rosemary Hall just like they always had, but she could immediately sense that something wasn’t right.

  Everything was just as she’d left it.

  It wasn’t the time on the clock that sent warning bells ringing throughout her head, but the date.

  May 12, 2055.

  That was the same day she’d found out she’d passed her training. The same day she’d been deployed to the 7S world.

  Emery rubbed her eyes, hoping that maybe her contact lenses were blurry, but when she looked back up at the clock, the date remained the same. She pressed a button on her phone, sighing as the current date appeared: June 12, 2055. The clock hadn’t changed for an entire month. Thirty whole days. It crossed her mind that perhaps the batteries hadn’t been changed, but she knew better.

  Instead of heading to her dorm room, Emery rushed out the double doors to the grassy lawn where she and Rhea had bumped into Mason for the very first time. Her heart swelled as an image of Rhea’s face drifted across her mind. The ima
ge was quickly replaced with a less pleasant one: Rhea lying in her hospital bed, and then, even worse, an image of her fallen roommate just after she’d shot her square in the chest.

  Emery blinked back a tear, taking a deep inhale as she tried to refocus. She couldn’t help but gasp at the sight before her. People were scattered about the lawn, which was seemingly normal, but they were completely immobile. Not moving.

  Cars were stopped in the middle of the street, as if they were still driving, yet they were motionless. She jogged over to one of the cars that had the passenger-side window rolled down and peered in. A man sat in the driver’s seat, eyes mid-blink, mouth open, cell phone glued to his ear. It appeared he’d been mid-sentence when, suddenly, everything had stopped.

  What in the world?

  She walked back to the lawn, over to a group of four girls, two of which were sitting on the grass, cups of coffee in hand, the other two leaning into each other and sharing a pastry. Same phenomenon. One of the girl’s mouths was open, as if just when she was about to take a bite, the world stopped on its axis. Lifeless statues of people who once were surrounded her. She stumbled backward, trying to make sense of what her eyes were seeing. Everything’s been frozen in time.

  Without a second thought, she ran back to the lobby and came to a screeching halt at the receptionist’s desk. She had to find a way back to her house but, of course, she didn’t have the keys to her dorm room or to her car. She rifled through the desk drawers, searching for a spare key labeled 319. It was easier to find than she’d expected.

  She grabbed the key from the back drawer and bolted up the three grueling flights of stairs. Stopping only briefly to catch her breath, she jogged down the hallway until she reached her room, hands fumbling to put the key in the lock. The door creaked open. It was clear that someone had been there from the pile of clothing items strewn about on the floor. The pink silk pouch lay in the middle of the pile, looking violated and abandoned. If Torin hadn’t told her that Mason had just been there, she definitely would have assumed someone had broken in.