“Are you ready?”
It hurt to speak. But if I didn’t—“Yes.”
“Tell me your full name.”
“Asia Lynne Burdette.”
“How old are you?”
“Um.” I thought. The knowledge was slow in coming. “Thirty. No. Thirty-one.”
“And what did you have for breakfast today, Asia?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. It had seemed like such an easy question earlier. In fact, I’d been answering the same damn question all fucking day. And now . . .
“Asia?”
My head rolled on the pillow, causing an explosion of pain. “What?”
“Answer the question, please.”
Confused, so fucking confused. Like I’d just woke up after a hundred years.
“What was the question again?”
“What did you have for breakfast this morning?”
I searched for the missing data in my mind like a six-year-old looking for an “A” in her alphabet soup. Only this can of Campbell’s had apparently been cooked up without that all-important first letter. The information just wasn’t there anymore. Did I have breakfast? Had there even been a morning to this day? The first thing I remembered was being in the classroom with Claussen. Telling him to fuck himself. Being threatened with what he eventually used on me anyway—the drugs, the machines. And now . . .
“What did you have for breakfast, Asia?”
I began to sweat. I pulled against the restraints—useless, I knew. I’d fought hard against them when he’d come at me with the needle a while ago. Had we only been at this a day? It was all so fuzzy now.
But damn it, I should be able to remember breakfast, shouldn’t I? Eggs, or pancakes, or bagels and cream cheese? Orange juice or coffee? Nothing seemed to make a connection. They were words, pictures in a magazine or a Denny’s menu. They weren’t memories, the taste and the smell and the texture adding up to a piece of something in my mind that made sense.
Tears burned in my eyes—damn it, I won’t cry! I won’t! But I did. Teardrops rolled down my face and pooled on the pink sheet of the examination table.
“Asia, what did you have for breakfast this morning?”
My voice was little more than a sob. “I don’t remember.”
Claussen smiled, triumphant. “Good. I think we’re done for today.”
I raised my head, though it felt like a sack full of glass shards. “Fuck you, Claussen. At least I remember I’m a human being.”
But he’d already turned away, drawn by a commotion at the door of the lab. We had visitors.
“Colonel Gordon. Dr. Park.” Was that fear in Claussen’s voice? “I didn’t expect you until tomorrow”
A short, muscular Asian man approached the examination table and frowned down at me. His eyes were cold, clinical.
“Is this the subject?”
Claussen and an older, taller man in uniform joined us. “Yes, that’s her. We’ve made some progress today.”
“We’re not pleased with the way you’ve handled this, Arthur.” The colonel stood off to the side, too occupied with upbraiding his subordinate to observe the “subject.” “The delays. And that business at the airport? Messy. We’ve had a lot of work to do cleaning up after you.”
“I apologize for that.” Claussen glared at me. “But I think Asia will be worth the trouble.”
“Yes. The preliminary information seems quite promising.” Dr. Park considered me like a specimen on a slide. “I have some ideas about how to proceed with the research.”
Terror squeezed my heart. Claussen had been bad enough. This bastard was clearly cold enough to slice open my brain while I was still breathing.
I made an effort to speak, and my voice emerged in a breathy rasp. “Fuck your research, Doc. I won’t cooperate.”
His gaze flicked briefly in my direction, dismissing me. “Your cooperation won’t be necessary.”
“We’re transferring her to the Greenbelt facility,” the colonel said. “We’ll let Park have a try.”
Claussen protested, his hands spread wide. “But, Colonel Gordon, I haven’t finished my testing.”
“Park will continue with the testing as he sees fit.” Gordon was a man who gave orders and expected them to be obeyed. “Why would this subject be any different from the others? You’ve gone outside our usual protocols and risked exposing this project over her and now you want to keep her to yourself? I suspected there was something special about her from the first report, and your behavior confirms it. Our agreement specifies full disclosure and cooperation, Doctor. She’s going with us.”
My gaze met Claussen’s. Jesus, he was looking at me with something like pity. My heart started a rapid-fire stutter. There was a scream deep in my chest—of horror, of rage, of frustration and helplessness—but I couldn’t find the breath to let it out. I could only watch as the end of my life unfolded in front of me.
The doctor turned to the others in the room. “I want her ready to move in fifteen minutes. Where are her records?”
The colonel placed his hand on Claussen’s shoulder and brought him closer. “You realize I had to call in some favors to pull your fat out of the fire this time, Arthur.”
The old man nodded feebly. “Yes, yes, I understand. And I appreciate that.”
You ass-kissing bastard.
“I wasn’t so inclined to help your friend.”
Oh, God. Ethan!
“He embarrassed my organization. And he knows too much. As soon as I get back to Greenbelt I’m issuing new orders for his termination.”
My blood turned to ice. All this was going to be for nothing. All the torment I’d put Ethan through. All the heartache and doubt I’d been through myself. All the torture. All the mind-ripping fear. All for nothing. I clenched my teeth and held back a howl.
Claussen spared me a glance, looked back at Gordon and nodded. “I understand.”
I shook as they unfastened the restraints and lifted me to my feet, but I refused to look at Claussen. I bit my tongue until I tasted blood, but I would not speak. I had made up my mind. They wouldn’t take me out of here without a fight. I would watch for the right time and try to make a move. For Ethan, if not for myself.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Hunched together in the back seat of the Explorer, Sam and Rayna stared at the screen on what looked like an ordinary laptop. Ethan watched them with growing impatience.
“Well?”
“She’s definitely there,” Rayna confirmed. “Her EM signature is clearly visible in one of the interior rooms.”
“Her what?”
“We all have a unique electromagnetic signature, sort of like a frequency at which we all vibrate. Some psychics believe they can detect it as an aura.” Rayna gave her lecture absently, distracted by what she was seeing on the screen.
Ethan shook his head. “Next you’ll be telling me ghosts are real, too.”
“Not really.” Rayna still didn’t look up from the screen. “Just leftover EM traces.”
Sam made some adjustments to the equipment and frowned at the screen. “We have Asia’s specific EM markers so we know what to look for. Good news is, she’s there, and she seems unharmed. Bad news is, there’s about a dozen other EM sigs in there, and we have no way of knowing whether those belong to your two-meter-tall muscle-men or curvaceous, blonde nurse-types.”
Ethan was no longer listening. He was on the far side of the seat and had a hand on the door handle before his companions noticed he’d moved. He hit the door lock and bolted from the vehicle toward the sidewalk in front of the Daystrom building.
He could hear their protests behind him, but he ignored them. His thought, his body, were directed like a missile launch at the man he’d seen exiting the building from a side door—Arthur Claussen.
The old man was busy entering text into a cell phone, his head bent over the device as he moved slowly along the sidewalk. Ethan ran silently toward him. At the last instant Claussen’s hea
d snapped up, and he gaped at his former protégé in wide-eyed astonishment. Ethan swung a fist into his jaw, knocking him backward. The old man tripped and landed heavily on the pavement, the phone flying out of his hand.
Ethan dropped on his chest, his hands clamped around his throat. “Where is she, you son of a bitch! If you’ve hurt her, I’ll fucking kill you!”
“Ethan, get off him! Now!” Strong hands grabbed him from behind and pulled him off Claussen’s still form. He struggled, but Sam held him firm.
“Buddy, believe me, I’m feeling you, but you can’t kill the fucker in broad daylight. Besides, we need him. Calm down before I have to hurt you.”
Ethan shook off Sam’s hold and dragged in a few breaths. He glared at Claussen.
“Asia. Where is she?”
Rayna knelt and put some sort of small pistol to Claussen’s temple. She spoke to him quietly.
“Get up. You’re taking us back inside.”
Claussen struggled to his feet, his eyes wild. “Ethan, who are these people?”
“Shut the hell up and walk.” Rayna moved the gun to his kidney.
“No.” He shook his head. “She’s not there.”
Ethan grabbed him with a growl, his rage hot and close to the surface. “What the hell are you talking about?”
The old man’s eyes darted from face to face. “They’re taking her to another facility. It’s out of my hands!”
“But they were just here.” Ethan snatched at Claussen’s throat. “Where? Where are they?”
“M-maybe they haven’t left yet.” The old man lifted a shaking hand to point. “The southwest wing of the building. There’s a loading dock.”
“Come on.” Sam was already dragging Claussen toward the Explorer. “We’ll take the vehicle. Ray will take the inside.”
Rayna pelted for the building while the three of them loaded up the SUV and peeled out of the front parking lot, racing for the southwest wing. They careened around the corner of the building, and Sam gunned it down a stretch of access road toward the far end of a second lot. To Ethan it seemed miles away, too great a distance to make up in too little time. They would be too late. And the most precious thing in the world to him would be gone.
“There!” he shouted. At the end of the building, a van sat in front of the loading dock.
Sam shot full-speed through the empty parking lot toward it. Grinning, he tossed a small pistol into Ethan’s lap. “It’s set for wide-beam stun. Just point and shoot.”
“What about Asia?” He couldn’t see her.
“She’ll wake up with a headache, just like the rest of them. Shoot!”
The men around the van were shouting and waving them off. But at least one of them had a gun. He raised it to fire.
Ethan leaned out the window as Sam swerved violently left to give him a target. Something ripped into his right shoulder, laying it open with blazing agony. He fought to hold on to the weapon as his hand went nerveless and slick with blood.
Sam was shouting his name, but Ethan could barely hear him. Gunfire erupted from several weapons near the van now. The Explorer spun and evaded. Bullets sprayed across the bumper and hood.
Sam brought the SUV around again, desperate to give Ethan a shot. His vision blurring, Ethan brought his good hand up to steady the pistol. He aimed in the direction of the van and did his best to squeeze the trigger. Then the Explorer lurched, and the pistol slipped from his numb grasp.
“Some idiot’s making a move to grab the woman.” The guard crouched at the door, looking for an opening. “Get her in the van—now!”
I could hear gunfire on the other side of the door and my heart kicked in my chest. Ethan! And the police? The two burly orderlies on either side of me tightened their grip and hustled me outside.
I stepped out the door and lightning hit the ground at my feet. A brilliant white flash lit the space around me, searing my vision, and for a moment it was as if the oxygen had been stolen out of the atmosphere. I gasped and fell to my knees, sucking in air.
One of the orderlies with me had fallen away. I couldn’t feel him. The one on my right had gone to the ground with me, but he seemed as disoriented as I was. I found my feet first, clapped my hands together, and took a swing in the direction of his jaw. I connected with a satisfying whump and heard the man curse. I sidestepped as he lunged for me and threw out a kick that caught him in the head. This time he went down for good.
My field of vision was still like bright sun reflecting off the ocean and there was a maddening buzz in my ears. But I knew this would be my only chance. I ran, stumbling over the asphalt, just trying to put distance between me and that horrible place.
Suddenly someone blocked my path—a uniform, a lab coat, several others. Hands grabbed me, held me, lifting me off my feet though I fought them with everything I had.
“Get off me!”
“Hold her while I get my bag.” Park. God, I hated him.
“No!” My elbow connected with a man’s face. He cursed and fell back, but another took his place.
Someone laughed—Gordon. “Damn! She’s a little spitfire, isn’t she?”
They wrestled me to the ground. Desperation had me scratching and kicking like a wildcat.
“Jesus Christ! Look out!”
The high-pitched whine of an engine on overdrive swept rapidly closer until it was nearly at my head. Tires squealed. Gravel crunched. The men holding me down scattered, shouting. I rolled to my knees and looked up.
And there, weighing into the crowd of guards, fists swinging, was Ethan. Another man fought beside him, bigger, a born brawler, and thank God for him, because Ethan was hurt. His right arm was torn open at the shoulder, streaming blood and nearly useless. Ethan flattened one guard with a brutal left, but two others plowed into him from behind and drove him to the ground. They pinned him there, fists slamming into his face, and his friend couldn’t get to him.
“No.” I tried to move. “Ethan.”
I felt cold steel at my neck, a hand like a vise on my biceps. “Get up.”
I stood, though my legs had no strength. I struggled to breathe, though my lungs had no air and my heart had stopped beating. Ethan was on the ground, motionless, and I stared at him, willing him to move.
Colonel Gordon snapped an order to his men. “That’s enough. Get them on their feet.” He kept his hold on me as he looked my two would-be rescuers over. “Ethan Roberts, I presume. Who’s your friend?”
Ethan said nothing. He hung in the grip of two guards, barely able to stand. He met my eyes, and my heart clenched in my chest. His despair, his longing were written so clearly in his battered face. I lifted my chin and tried to smile for him. He had nothing to be ashamed of.
The man who had fought with him turned his head and spat blood at the feet of one of the guards holding him. He shrugged when the guard glared at him.
The colonel laughed. “Well, you people are nothing if not amusing. Your girlfriend here is quite the little scrapper, too. And for a bunch of amateurs you’ve sure given us a run for our money for the last few weeks. That’s all over now. Asia’s going to use her abilities to serve her country, like she should have been doing all along. And you boys. Well.”
He turned and shoved me toward the van. “Let’s go.”
“No!” I twisted to look back at Ethan.
His brave, bloodied face and the love in his eyes were the last things I saw before the world went ice-white and I fell into a deep hole of unconsciousness.
The face that hovered over mine was familiar. Dark skin. Ebony eyes, now shadowed with worry. Short, tight curls framing a face that radiated humor and determination and uncompromising courage. This was someone I knew. But she couldn’t possibly be here.
“Dozen?”
The face broke into a huge grin. “You remember me?” She turned to gesture at the man next to her, the one who had been fighting at Ethan’s side. “Sam, she remembers me!”
She squeezed my shoulder. “Damn, Sphinx, they sa
id you were one of the most resistant cases they’d ever seen, but I had no idea you were that good!”
Confusion, disbelief, joy, delight, astonishment—all of these emotions and probably a few more I couldn’t name kept sweeping through me like a program in random access mode. I didn’t know what to feel, much less what to say, so I just grabbed Dozen and held on, tears streaming down my face.
“I thought you were dead.”
She pulled back and smiled at me, her own eyes wet. “I damn near was. But,” she took a deep breath, “six months in a rehab hospital and I was almost good as new! New femurs, new vertebrae, new pelvis—did you notice I’m almost two inches taller? Oh, and new name, too. Real name’s Rayna. Tacked Murphy on the end when I signed the contract with this guy. But enough about me—we’re here to take care of you, sweets.”
I sat up, the world spinning crazily around my aching head. “Where’s Ethan?”
“Here.”
I turned, and in a heartbeat I was in his arms. Ethan was there, whispering my name with a breath as warm and real as my own. He was holding me at last, when all I’d had to cling to under hours of assault was a fading dream. This was more than rescue; it was salvation.
“My beautiful Asia.” His arms tightened around me. “I’m so sorry. I’ll never forgive myself for letting Claussen take you.”
I buried my face in his chest and shook. It had been my fault—all of it. Ethan had nothing to be sorry for.
“Did they hurt you?” He growled out the words. “If they hurt you I’ll kill them myself.”
I pulled back to look at him, and it hit me that I knew something he didn’t yet know. I had learned something strapped to an exam table in a cold lab in the building behind me.
“No, Ethan. They didn’t hurt me. Claussen didn’t hurt me. I knew you’d come for me. And it didn’t matter what he did.” I stretched out a hand to touch his face. “I would have forgotten everything but you.”
“God, you break my heart, Asia. I’m so proud of you.” He gathered me in again, as if he couldn’t hold me close enough.
I just wanted to stay wrapped in his protective warmth, in his familiar comfort. But the man Rayna had introduced as her husband was standing by, shifting from foot to foot.
Unchained Memory (The Interstellar Rescue Series Book 1) Page 33
