by Jenn Nixon
“Is my future memory,” Dina said, frowning.
“Correct,” Liam said, squeezing her shoulder gently. “Within that memory and what we heard after are the biggest clues of all. We were warned Gardner is alive and involved with Project Phoenix, but more importantly, Dina’s future counterpart wanted me to listen to and believe Sandee.”
“About Marjorie missing?” Sanjeeta asked.
Liam nodded.
“I’ve tried, again, to locate her after learning of her Cartuilan genes. I’m afraid I was unsuccessful,” Caelum added with a sigh.
“I’m glad you tried, I was going to mention it, actually,” Duncan said.
“We’ve worked Marjorie’s case and hit another dead end,” Liam announced, watching everyone’s face fall. “Our next option was investigating the unit, per the memory, and we decided to bring Connor in, to find out how and why they had her DNA on record.”
“They found her through the deepnet group. But she’s not psychic so they vetted her and moved on. Connor sent us her file, another dead end,” Bates added.
“Which brings us to the memory and sphere,” Liam said, glancing over to Theo, hoping he’d be more objective than Dina. The Cartuilan shared a look with Casey, who nodded to him.
“Sometime in the next eighteen months, something happens and…” Theo began, rubbing a hand down his face as he sighed. “It results in several deaths. From what we’ve seen and heard, Dina contracts a virus, possibly a direct result of Project Phoenix. She and Jazara set a plan in motion to come back to warn us, telling us to keep searching. We thought the experiments were over and Gardner is dead. They’re not.”
“What exactly are the experiments?” Sanjeeta asked.
Casey quickly explained her father’s connection to the psychic chip and Jazara’s family involvement in the experiments and message fiasco. “Turned out Zila knew Gardner, but he twisted her mind so badly she thought the psychics were using visitor blood to power themselves and get rid of us.”
Jazara nodded. “And Caelum confirmed her mental gaps, she believes he’s dead.”
“He’s not,” Dina said, staring at the floor shaking.
“Dina,” Caelum’s voice warned.
“Sweet pea, don’t,” Valtor said, whipping his head toward the front of the base. Liam gazed down to see the beginnings of her eye glow brighten her skin.
“We have to find him,” she whispered.
Liam knelt beside her, taking her hands. “Look at me, gorgeous.”
“I wasn’t the first one infected,” she gasped and winced, jerking her hands away. “Stop it. Stop!”
His jaw tightened when the Enhancer appeared behind Dina. Tension spilled into the room. Half of the group was on their feet including Casey, who seemed to be less angry and more worried now.
“Relax, Dina,” Caelum said, tilting his head to the side. Dina sighed and breathed in deeply. “We should make another attempt soon.”
“Whatever,” she snapped, staring at the floor again.
“Agreed. Using more of Dina’s memories is not an option, what we know is all we’re going to know,” Valtor said, forcefully. “It will have to suffice.”
“If this…future memory came right before I did and said to believe me, then Marjorie’s disappearance has got to be directly related to Project Phoenix. Did Gardner abduct her? Is he using her…blood?” Sanjeeta asked as her eyes filled with terror.
“That’s our biggest fear,” Theo answered in his stead since Liam wasn’t taking his eyes off Dina.
“How’d he find her?” she continued her questions. “If Caelum can’t find people on a whim, how did a regular human do it?”
Casey sighed. “In my father’s case, the man responsible saw visitor abilities firsthand and created a powered human who could basically get information out of any mind.”
“Which still doesn’t explain Marjorie if you think about it,” Duncan added. “She’s just a kid on the internet looking for answers about psionics.”
“The unit,” Kim gasped.
Liam’s pulse jumped. Whenever Kim had a revelation, it always led to a clue. With her ability to remember everything, she was usually first at putting all the complex clues together. He and everyone else including Dina glanced over. “What are you thinking?”
“Go back, twenty five years. Reich, knowing visitors are in our military, recruits Theo, probably others to ‘keep an eye on the psychics’ with his newly created unit, aware they’d eventually come across visitors. He probably hoped people like you’d kept their class secret, which you did with Duncan, others.” Kim’s fingers wiggled slowly as if she were still piecing it together. “Casey’s father and Zalu have their run in with Cogers, who was financed by Gardner, making them both aware there are more than psychics on Earth. They have a method of creating powered humans with blood, but it never lasts long without a fresh supply. Jaabrek’s theory of strengthened abilities gets on Gardner and Reich’s radar, who sends the message, which made Jaabrek and Zalu think the message is part of the experiments so they try to stop it. But Cogers gets the upper hand on Jaabrek then goes underground following his crazy conspiracies. Years later, he resurfaces, but we take him down. Gardner’s been watching or involved this whole time and takes over, recruits Zila to help him find visitors by spinning a different feasible theory blaming the psychics. He perfects Cogers’ barainum laced injection—”
“Turning it into an aerosol weapon.” Theo gasped.
“And a virus,” Dina groaned.
“Hollis was recording the event, most likely for Gardner to see how well his weapons worked,” Valtor added, rubbing his temple.
“Keep going, Kim.” Duncan nodded.
“We follow every lead. Come up with nothing. Then Sanjeeta shows up…asking for help finding Marjorie, and her only confirmed connection to this entire mess is the unit. I doubt Gardner’s wasting time on the internet trolling for possible psychics. Connor and the others don’t find a psychic gene so they move on because they haven’t mapped visitor DNA yet, but her information is still in the—”
“Database, Christ,” Duncan said.
“Fuck. Gardner has someone inside the unit…” Theo grunted.
“Or access to it,” Bates sighed.
“This is good, isn’t it?” Hinta said. “We know where to focus now.”
“The unit is two hundred agents strong now, it would take months for a proper investigation,” Liam frowned, hating the path they were on. He felt time slipping through his fingers the more they unraveled the unbelievable tale.
“Set a trap,” Sanjeeta said, breaking the silence.
“What do you mean?” Caelum asked, as everyone looked her way.
“Give the unit a visitor DNA sample and tag it so you can see who accesses it,” she replied, winking over at Caelum. “They do it in the movies all the time, you guys have to be even better than that.”
“It would be possible,” Liam mused, glancing over to Lexa. “Something only we could track?”
“Easy peasy, but…will it work? Someone wiped this dude off the entire internet. I’m not sure you know how much work that takes. So he’s not going to be that easy to find, trace or not. I would’ve found him by now.”
“Use me as bait,” Valtor said, rising from his seat and moving toward Liam. “My DNA will surely intrigue anyone Gardner has working for him. Only Connor in the unit knows my face. If he’s using their database to find visitors, someone will come after me. We let them.”
“No,” Dina said, shaking her head.
“It’s not a bad idea,” Duncan replied. “We can ask for Connor’s help, to get the info on the database, but it’d have to be perfect.”
“I can create an entire fake background for you—” Lexa began.
“I know of a safe house not tied to us that you can use as the mouse trap,” Hinta said, glancing over at Jazara. “That weird 70s apartment, it’s perfect. Secluded and easy to monitor.”
“No,” Dina said again, loud
er.
“Sweet pea?” Valtor approached his daughter. She gazed up with teary eyes. “It’s a good plan.”
“Don’t do it, Pop.” Dina winced, grabbing her head again. Liam’s heart dropped and he shot a look over at Caelum.
“You should come with me, Dina,” Caelum said softly.
“No,” she shouted, rising, the strange green glow filling her eyes.
“Forgive me.” The Enhancer appeared in front of Dina and tapped his finger to her forehead. In the next moment, she was in his arms passed out.
“Christ,” Duncan spat.
“Was that necessary?” Theo growled.
“Yes,” Liam said, covering his eyes, trying to keep it together. “She was starting to fall into the memories again.”
“Sanjeeta, please come with me,” Caelum said, walking toward the back of the base. Liam watched them go, praying he had the will power to stay away.
“If you need me, let me know,” Lexa called after.
“I know it may only confuse the issue…but I am more than willing to—” Jazara began.
“Last resort, Jaz,” Casey said, while Theo and Hinta lifted a brow at her slightly amused. “I pay attention. And I know what happens when you work too many angles at once, you lose sight of the real issue. Right now, it’s still the experiments and Gardner.”
“Pop?” Duncan called from his station.
Valtor, standing in front of the screen, nodded his head. “Set up the profile, Lexa. Liam, you have my records on your computer, we’re going to need them. Theo, Hinta, set up external security on the safe house. Casey, keep working Gardner. Duncan, speak to Connor, ask him if he will help. Do not tell him the truth yet. He is not ready.”
“Pop,” the younger Ranger said again with bite.
“Jazara, you and I need to speak with your mother.”
“Me?”
“I am sorry, yes. I think she will be completely forthcoming if you are present, there is still something she knows regardless of what Caelum has seen. I’m certain she can provide a clue.” Valtor bobbed his head. “Yes, this can work.”
“Pop!”
“Duncan, please…do as I ask,” he said, turning around and meeting the eyes of the rest of the group and settling on his son’s. A lump formed in Liam’s stomach. One look into Valtor’s eyes and he knew. The father was ready to give his life for his twins. “She will be without us, most of us for forty years, Duncan. If we don’t stop Gardner, she’ll suffer the same fate and then give her life in vain just to come back and warn us again. Every action, every word fills me with dread. She told us to trust Sanjeeta, believe her. I will. We must find who took Marjorie. She is a defenseless child, we are not. We take the same steps. We follow the same path. Only this time, I plan to have the upper hand.”
“What does that mean, Val?” Liam asked, sensing the determination coming off the elder Shrian worrying about the lengths he may go.
“You’re going to spike me.”
“No,” Liam said while Duncan and Hinta both paled.
“Humans are unable to scan for the technology, it’s less obvious than the wristbands, and you can track me. I don’t expect you to actually turn on the inhibitor, Liam,” Valtor said lightly, trying to play off the truth of what he was asking. The pain the twins’ father carried from his time under Tolk’s control via the suppression device was not something anyone took lightly. Simply putting the device back into Valtor’s body could trigger his PTSD again. He didn’t want that responsibility.
Liam sighed. “Val…”
“Theo?” Valtor glanced toward the hub. “Must I beg? Or remind you what we stand to lose. Forty years…”
“Let’s take a breather, make sure we think this completely through before we spike you, Pop. Maybe we can find a better way,” Duncan said, defusing the situation when he pulled his father into a hug. “We’re going to stop this.”
Without a better plan, Liam had no choice to go along with Valtor. After all the man had sacrificed and missed trying to protect Dina and Duncan, there was little anyone could say to stop him. Aware no one else would argue either, Liam went to the hub, eyeing the shut door of the medlab, sensing the tension in the room.
“So…are we really going to try this?” Lexa said, “I got a great program on my tablet at home, but it’s going to take me a while to make this look legit.”
“Are you sure, Pop?”
“It’s the only viable plan at present,” he replied in similar Shrian fashion, highly perceptive. “Every precaution you require, I will abide.”
“You mean it?”
“Every one, Duncan.” Valtor nodded.
Liam’s brother by any other name glanced across the base. “You’re the smartest dude I know.”
“Unless something else miraculously falls into our lap, I see no other path,” Liam reluctantly replied.
“Then let’s get to work.”
Liam nodded and the group dispersed. He climbed the stairs and neared Hinta and Theo on the hub while Valtor and Jazara went to the exit after Bates and Lexa vanished. Although the base crackled with nervous energy, they were all focused on one task, a rarity as of late.
Beyond grateful to each of them, Liam joined in the conversation between the two men about the security measure they wanted to use at the safe house. He set all the worry aside, for now, taking each moment as it came, trying not to rush through the day, unsure how many more they truly had left.
Chapter Nineteen
Caelum set Dina down on the medbed, adjusted the lights, shut the door, and called two glasses of water to the nearby table before Sanjeeta entered the medlab. Words buzzed through her mind as she tried to understand everything the team threw at her, his name, however, remained at the forefront, drawing him to her, pulling his focus, tempting the raging desires boiling beneath his skin.
To her credit and vast intelligence, she stayed silent and moved beside him. Before he lifted his hand to her, her fingertips fell to his shoulder. They breathed in together, absorbing one another. Her eyes filled with silver, and lingered.
Sanjeeta, he called softly, to gain her attention and make the silver fade. How do you feel?
I’m okay…you’re not giving off much yet.
That will soon change, are you ready?
I’m ready.
Caelum opened his mind, lowered his blocks, allowing the link to form fully and strengthen between them. The Millions grew quiet. The vibrations of the universe calmed. If he wanted, he could almost shut everything down and simply be…
He shook his head. Caelum flipped his vision and stared down at Dina. The chaos in her mind was more manageable this time and he seemed to have less to sift through.
Aware the feisty hybrid would be angry with him when she woke, he worked furiously to sequester as many future memories as he could find, shortening his search by looking for images of her with longer hair as Theo mentioned.
His focus narrowed.
He honed in on a short clip of an older Theo and Dina dancing in a club, Caelum moved it beyond the wall. Another came of her and Elexanji speaking about him in the past tense in Rivia’s ship, he blasted it through the wall. Dina held her dead brother, his pale eyes staring upward while she screamed. The blue shield surrounding her began tearing the interior of the base apart. Caelum collected Sanjeeta’s hand, curling his fingers around hers, drawing strength to shove the memory through the wall.
The excitement and heat pouring off Sanjeeta was the only thing strong enough to distract him, allowing him to go deeper into the memories without lingering on the images. He found several more and tucked them away, and sensed a change in Dina’s mind. She was starting to wake. He didn’t have much time left.
As he rushed to secure the memories, he felt Sanjeeta probe his mind with a focus she’d yet to display during their link. It gave him a few moments of clarity to finish the sequester before Dina woke.
I am almost through, she will only need one more session after this. He called to
Sanjeeta’s mind. She didn’t speak, instead weaved through his thoughts, filling him with her presence and pushing everything else to the far corners of his brain. You’ve grown stronger.
I think you’re right. I can see all these different things in your mind.
He smirked, shifting more future memories to the side. There is much to view, a whole planet’s worth in fact.
I only want to see what you’ve seen, Caelum. Sanjeeta’s mental brush heated his body as much as her touch. You…
Oh, please tell me, Sanjeeta.
You’ve barely touched me and I already know…we are fated, Caelum. Her hand slid down his arm. His entire body hardened. The air sizzled with energy and heat. She was taking over all of his senses.
Sanjeeta…
Dina’s eyes fluttered. Caelum retracted his hand from its position above her head.
Sanjeeta’s fingers threaded through his, intensifying the link and every emotion coursing through him, which at present were only those she created. She pressed her exquisite body to him, arousing him even more when she brushed knowingly against his erection. Her free hand fell to his chest. Everything else ceased to exist.
A perfect moment.
He didn’t want to ruin it by kissing her and subjecting to her the remaining turmoil that plagued his mind.
“I want to know. I need to know,” she said aloud. “I’m starting to hear them.”
Caelum blinked as she answered his question before it formed.
“There’s a lot to get through before your thoughts become…clear if that makes sense.”
“It does.” When she touched his cheek, lifting his desires to the surface, he secured his arm around her, shifted them into the techroom, and sealed the door. His eyes went silver. She gasped as everything that remained flooded the link. The silver ring of the Conduit began to form around her iris. He gathered her face between his hands. Not yet, little star.
Sanjeeta blinked and it faded, but when she quivered and brushed her fingertip along his bottom lip, he knew he’d found someone extraordinary. Caelum would keep his promise, but not before adding a condition of his own. As he stared into her eyes, a smile formed on her tempting mouth, obviously hearing his thoughts more easily through the link.
