Serpent's Sacrifice (The Vigilantes Book 1)

by Trish Heinrich

  He turned toward her, his face tense even though he was smiling. “Lionel wants to know if blue is alright instead of green.”

  Alice frowned in confusion until she remembered why Lionel might be asking a question like that.

  “Yes, it’s fine.”

  Marco nodded and relayed the message.

  There was a very long minute after Marco hung up the phone where neither of them spoke. Alice wasn’t sure what to think of what had just happened. Had Marco noticed what she was about to do? How could he miss it? And what did he think of it, of her? What would this do to them?

  She chanced a look at him. He’d put his shirt back on and was staring out the window, hands in his pockets. While his back was to her, Alice took a good long look at her best friend.

  Same lanky, broad shoulders, same thick dark brown hair. Same soul that had always known hers at a glance. But now, in a moment, everything was different.

  But do I want it to be? Does he?

  So much had happened in the last few weeks. The world had tilted and things that had felt solid were now shaky. Alice wasn’t sure she wanted one more thing to change, especially not if it would cost her Marco’s friendship.

  “Well,” she said. “I should get cleaned up.”

  He turned around, the smile on his thin lips looked forced. “Yeah. Are you excited? The Elliot...it’s a pretty big deal.”

  “I know he’s trying to help, but to be honest, I wish he’d picked a different night. I’m not sure it’s what I want.”

  “You could tell him that.”

  She shook her head and smiled. “He was so excited. And Lionel isn’t the type to just sit with me and read, anyway.”

  Not like you would.

  The thought brought a new rush of heat to her cheeks and she turned away to hide it.

  “Well,” Marco said, opening the door. “Try to have a good time.”

  “I will. Whatever you’re doing tonight, be safe, please?”

  His smile this time was genuine.

  “I promise.”

  Alice had just managed a quick shower when a knock sounded on her door.

  “If that’s Uncle Logan checking on me...”

  She flung the door open to see Rose standing there, a bag full of notebooks hanging from her shoulder.

  “I’m finished,” she said, stepping inside, her brown skin dotted with sweat. “And I was going to wait, but I thought you’d want to know what I’ve found.”

  “Yes, please. Do you want something to drink?”

  “Water?” Rose said, taking out the notebooks and setting them on the coffee table.

  Alice felt her stomach drop as she looked at Rose’s deep frown.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I just...I’m not sure you’re going to like this.”

  “Okay...why don’t you just, you know. Out with it?”

  Rose nodded.

  “Well, you may have already figured this out, but Hercules was a strength enhancement experiment, similar to the super soldier programs that were rampant during the second world war. Sea Breeze was an experiment which would allow an army to subdue an enemy target without a shot being fired, kind of like...well, taking away all the aggression from an enemy, making them a kitten instead of a tiger. But, in each instance, the test subjects became more violent and unpredictable.”

  Alice nodded.

  “At first glance, it looks like Tony was in charge of all the experiments right up until the end, but...well, here.”

  Rose handed Alice one of the notebooks. She read the three pages twice, her stomach knotting up, hands shaking as she did.

  “That’s not possible,” she said after a moment.

  “It is, Alice.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Rose nodded.

  “I checked it three times. The first few equations in the file that Marco found at the warehouse and the equations in the last two files of the army experiments are identical. As are the behavioral notes.”

  Alice sank onto the couch, face in her hands. After a moment, she felt the couch shift as Rose sat next to her.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t want it to be true either. But...I don’t think the Syndicate would’ve killed Tony if he were supplying them with this enhancement drug. And...” Rose took a deep breath. “...and it sounded like this Phantasm was the one in charge of the experiments at the warehouse. If that’s true—”

  Alice shook her head.

  “You can’t really think that Victoria is Phantasm?”

  “She could be.”

  “But she...I mean, how do you know she’d even know how to do this? If she was an assistant that doesn’t mean she would know how to duplicate the experiments, would it?”

  Rose looked through the pile of notebooks and pulled another one out.

  “These later equations are far more elegant than Tony Veran’s earlier work. And this one,” Rose pointed to a complex string of numbers and letters, “is especially strange. What he’s doing at the very beginning of the experiment doesn’t feel like the natural progression of thought when looking at all his attempts together. And the last two, even the notes aren’t in the same voice as the previous reports.”

  “And let me guess whose name is on those.”

  Rose nodded. “V.G. Muller.”

  Alice sighed and leaned back.

  “So, Victoria, if that is her, was doing the work later on.”

  “Not just later on. V.G. Muller doesn’t show up until after the first three months. During that time, six test subjects had died. But when Muller shows up, the experiments begin to change. The men don’t die, though they do experience adverse effects. I think...I think Muller was really the lead, and the only reason to keep that secret would be if—”

  “Muller was a woman and Tony’s wife,” Alice said. “Any indication that either experiment could be Fantasy?”

  Rose shook her head.

  “And, just for good measure, I had Mrs. Frost check out the other lab assistants. Apart from Muller, every other one is either dead or working in a different job, far away from Jet City. No one knows where Muller is. And,” Rose opened two file folders, holding them side by side, “I know you can’t read this, but the equations from the file that Marco found are definitely a continuation of the Hercules experiment. It looks like they’re trying to make it last longer than the earlier experiments with the Army. Back then, the effects would wear off after a few hours, not to mention that psychosis would develop after more than six doses.”

  “What about addiction? The man I saw in the warehouse, if he was on this, was definitely addicted to it.”

  “It’s possible. This is altering body chemistry in a significant way. But what’s clear is that someone who knows what they’re doing, someone who isn’t just making this up from whole cloth, is behind what you saw at the warehouse and with Percy Marsh.”

  Alice felt as if someone had kicked her in the gut. She’d wanted to get Phantasm and bring the Syndicate down, more than anything. But if it meant going against Victoria...

  And what does that say about who killed Aunt Diana? If Victoria is involved with the Syndicate, if she is Phantasm, did she order it? And what about last night? She tortured me.

  The thought made bile rise to Alice’s throat. Her aunt and Victoria been friends, colleagues. They’d also been the two people Alice had looked up to most in her life. She had trusted Victoria, and the woman had forced her to see brutal images, had weakened her.

  Alice glanced at her punching bag, wishing she hadn’t showered already. All the peace she’d found in sparring with Marco earlier was gone. Her muscles tensed, her hands clenched into fists and released.

  I have to calm down. This isn’t definite proof — right? I mean, why would she do this?

  “There’s one more thing.” Rose handed her a file folder. “Look at the date.”

  Alice gasped.

  “It’s a week after the accident.”

  Rose nodd
ed.

  “Tony was in critical condition after that accident and the lab was supposedly destroyed. Yet there’s one last experiment dated a week later.”

  “It’s for Hercules...and it says that the test was a success, but doesn’t mention a test subject.”

  “And look whose name is on it.”

  Alice didn’t have to, she could guess.

  “Muller.”

  “I think that Victoria, if that’s really her, injected herself with the Hercules serum.”

  That would explain why Phantasm was so strong last night...if she’s really...

  “Wouldn’t the Army have seen this and done something?” Alice asked.

  “That wasn’t with the Army records. It was with the files from the Warehouse.”

  Alice threw the file down and paced between the coffee table and the window.

  “Why would she do this? Why?”

  When Alice had finally stopped pacing, she stared out the huge windows. Everything looked so normal, so peaceful on the streets below. People walking to and from work, meeting friends, cars honking, impatiently waiting their turn in the ever-growing traffic. For a moment, Alice wished she was still just one of them, going about her life, her only worry what books to order for the shop or what to wear on a date.

  And I’d be bored out of my mind.

  Rose came up beside her and squeezed Alice’s hand.

  “I’m sorry. I know this has to be so hard for you.”

  “Thanks, it’s not your fault. You found what I asked you to. It’s just — I never thought being Serpent would be so complicated.”

  “You thought it would just be punching crooks and getting your name in the paper?”

  “When you put it like that it makes me sound quite vain.”

  Rose laughed.

  “You’re the furthest thing. I admire what you do, night after night.”

  “I couldn’t do it without you.”

  “I don’t know about that.”

  “I do. You have an amazing gift. I wish you could use it more.”

  Rose shrugged.

  “I’m happy, at least for now. Maybe someday...but who knows?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Alice had to admire Lionel’s taste. The dress was the perfect robin’s egg blue to make her cobalt eyes shine and her pale skin glow. It was styled to be form-fitting, hugging every sensuous curve as the skirt fell in a straight line to just above her feet. A knee-high slit on the side exposed her calves when she walked. It had only one shoulder strap where a small, dark blue brooch clasped a silvery sheer fabric that trailed behind her. The shoes were silver, ankle-strap heels that didn’t pinch her feet or make her feel as if she were walking on stilts.

  She’d managed to have her hair reset earlier that day, the dark, bobbed curls shining perfectly, making Alice feel a little like Elizabeth Taylor. It had been a while since she’d had any reason to wear makeup more substantial than the basics, but she’d managed to remember how to highlight her eyes and make her lips look luscious.

  Checking her reflection one last time, Alice was trying to calm her nerves when Lionel knocked at the door. He never knocked, even though it wasn’t his house, and so she had to smile at the formality of it.

  When she opened the door, he was in a dark gray suit with a blue tie, holding a bouquet of gorgeous white roses.

  “They’re beautiful,” she said.

  He laughed, his gaze moving up and down her body.

  “I was going to say the same about you.”

  She could feel a deep flush in her cheeks and motioned him inside. His eyes followed her, a hungry glint in them that made Alice feel a little uncomfortable, as if she were the prey and he the hunter.

  “Should we go?” she asked, once the flowers were in a vase.

  He walked slowly over to her. For a moment, Alice wondered what Marco would look like in a suit like Lionel’s. What would it be like to have him give her flowers and take her out?

  Alice forced a wider smile on her lips.

  She wasn’t here with Marco, she was here with Lionel. He was the one she’d wanted since they were children. He was the one she fantasized about.

  Lionel opened his mouth to say something, and then stopped. His lips set in a crooked grin. She took his arm and pushed thoughts of Marco away.

  Lionel’s car was waiting for them, shining silver in the lamplight. As the engine purred to life, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” by the Shirelles poured out of the radio.

  Warm summer air drifted into the car through the open windows as Lionel took a slower than usual speed through the streets of Jet City. She could feel his eyes keep sliding over to her and couldn’t help glancing at him in the same way.

  Then, for no reason, a giggle escaped from the back of her throat.

  “What?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “But for the first time I can remember, I think you’re nervous around a girl. And that girl is me!”

  A flush of red tinted Lionel’s skin. “Well this is kind of new territory for us.”

  Alice’s breath caught. She had wondered, hoped even, that this might signal more than just a kind gesture after what she’d been through.

  But before she could explore it more with him, they were stopping in front of the brightly light restaurant.

  The Elliot was in the newly-renovated part of the waterfront and sat halfway over the water, supported by great, sunken pillars, like a pier would be. The walls were almost entirely made of windows so every table had a view of the water. On sunny afternoons, the patio was stuffed with socialites sipping cocktails.

  As they stepped through the door, a man in a tuxedo took her shawl, while another led them through the restaurant. The floor was a shining, dark wood off-set beautifully by crisp white table cloths. The lighting was low and intimate, but enough for the crystal glasses to frost the room with a subtle glitter.

  Lionel had timed their dinner for that perfect moment just before the sun dipped below the water, lighting the sky and water with a fiery glow. Their table was secluded, shielded from the other dinners by a screen. A bottle of wine chilled in a sweating bucket by the table, the china shining gold and orange.

  A waiter in a tuxedo handed her a menu on thick cream-colored paper, beautifully bound in a crimson book. Lionel kept peeking at her from the top of his menu, making her laugh. Alice was trying her best to relax. After all, no matter the trappings, it was just Lionel.

  “I can’t decide, everything looks so good!” Alice finally said.

  “May I?”

  Alice nodded. “Sure. If you think you can get it right.”

  He whistled. “A dare! Alright, missy.”

  Lionel rattled off three courses of food that Alice had only ever seen eaten in books. She hoped they tasted as good as they sounded.

  As the waiter walked away, Lionel stared at her, admiration shining in his eyes.

  “I know I said it at the loft, but...you look stunning.”

  “Part of that is the dress. You have a good eye.”

  “I’ve dressed enough women...” He paused, realizing what he had just said. “I mean—”

  “It’s okay. I’m not ignorant of your past.”

  He frowned.

  “Even so, I don’t want you to think you’re just one of many. You’re — Alice. You’re unique.”

  “I’m just stunned at this place,” she said, suddenly wanting to divert the conversation. “It’s so beautiful; I never imagined.”

  “My step-father knows the owners,” Lionel said, his voice hardening a little. “But I’ve never actually been here before.”

  “Really? Why not?”

  Lionel shrugged, his eyes holding hers.

  “No one I wanted to bring here.”

  She took a deep, shaky breath.

  If I don’t say something, these nerves are going to keep intruding. I have to know what he’s thinking.

  “Lionel...I’m confused. What is this? What are we�
��”

  “We’re having dinner, and talking about something other than ‘work’.”

  “Is that...all?”

  “For now,” he said, his voice low and a little unsure. “Is that okay?”

  Alice smiled. “Yes, it’s perfect.”

  He let out a breath of relief and smiled.

  Dinner couldn’t have been better and they laughed with an ease they hadn’t experienced in a while. A few times Alice could swear that when Lionel looked at her, there was a vulnerability in his gaze that she’d always wanted to see.

  “It’s nice on this part of the waterfront, we could go for a walk,” he said when they’d finished eating. “Unless you’re too tired.”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  He smiled at her and she slipped her hand under his arm. If she hadn’t been wearing such high heels she would’ve felt like a child next to him, but as it was, possibly for the first time ever, she felt appealingly small.

  They walked in the opposite direction from the massive construction going on, where old rotting buildings had been torn down to make way for new arcades, curiosity shops, and other tourist traps.

  The Elliot sat at the beginning of the finished part of the water front — not to mention, the richer part. With a luxury hotel, small boutiques, and, of course, the crown jewel: The Foundation for Scientific Discovery.

  Lionel paused by the site where The Foundation was being built. Towering skeletons of steel stood before them, the beginnings of the buildings that would house some of the greatest scientific minds in the country.

  At least they will if Victoria has her way.

  One of the buildings was further along than the others, it’s lower floors already enclosed with walls, and Alice could see the faintest hint of lights as well. In the center of what would someday be three different buildings, sat the beginnings of a smaller structure that looked to Alice like a twisted collection of steel bars. She frowned at it in confusion before noticing that the foundation for the entire complex was set deep into the ground.

  “They just released sketches of this place. It’s amazing,” Lionel’s words tumbled out, eyes shining. “Two towering buildings for science experiments, and then in the middle is supposed to be a building made out of four interconnected spheres representing — something — I can’t remember.”