by C. C. Bolick
* * * * *
Behind a deserted gas station, I sat next to Erin in the backseat of the SUV. In my lap was an envelope with the money from Travis. Skip sat in the driver’s seat and opened a new phone he’d bought. He typed on the keypad and got the phone ready for use.
Next to him, Angel finished talking with Agent Lockhart and hung up her phone. “That was weird.”
“What?” I asked.
“He didn’t mention you being gone.”
“Was my dad there?” My throat burned as I thought of what he’d say about me leaving. Then I thought of Alfie and my eyes watered. I looked out the window, at the green pasture that stretched for miles.
“Probably,” Angel said. “The only thing he wanted to know was how soon we’d be back.”
Skip turned around in his seat. “What did Travis say before they captured him?”
“He left me a note,” I said. “The day before they captured him, Travis showed me a secret code for the elevator out of the base. He also showed me where he parked his car and asked if I could find it again. At the time, I had no idea Travis planned for me to run.” I looked at Angel. “Do you remember how I touched his arm by accident?”
She nodded. “He burned your fingers and insisted they keep you on the med-level. That’s when you told us about Travis leaving the base to meet Van.”
“When I touched Travis, he saw my future.” I waited as everyone digested my words and their faces twisted with shock.
“Your boyfriend has the power to see the future?” Erin asked.
“Travis told me to leave the base and take you with me. I think he worried about me trying to escape the base alone.”
“He planned all of this.” Skip nodded with approval. “Tyler always told me Travis was a top-notch agent, but I had my doubts.” Angel raised her eyebrows and he grinned.
Erin sucked in her breath. “Tell me about Tyler.”
No one said a word.
“Tyler never told me he had a younger brother,” Erin said, almost in a whisper.
“Because he didn’t know about me,” Skip said. “Our mother got pregnant in high school and our grandfather insisted she let him raise Tyler. Tyler didn’t know who she was until he turned eighteen. That’s when he showed up on our doorstep and I realized I had an older brother.”
“You never knew?” I asked.
“Never,” Skip said.
“You have the same mother,” Erin said. “That answers my next question.”
With a sigh, Skip said, “We have the same mom and dad.”
“Why didn’t they get Tyler back?” I asked.
Skip glanced at Erin. “You know about his gift, right? How he can go into power mode and fight with super-human strength and speed?”
Erin nodded. “He saved my life the night we went to prom.”
Again, Skip sighed, this time with frustration. “I hated you for leaving him.”
She wiped a tear that slid down her cheek. “I’m sure he moved on after high school.”
“Tyler never moved on,” Skip said. “He used to go to Chicago and sit outside the hospital where you worked just to see you.”
More tears streamed down her face. “He wanted to be normal. I promised to find a way to help him. That’s why I studied genetics.” Erin smeared the tears that resonated in her voice. “I was told he died in Afghanistan.”
“If you still cared about him,” Skip said, “you deserved to think he was dead.”
Angel reached for Skip’s hand, which gripped the steering wheel. “You never talk to people like this. If Tyler loved Erin, doesn’t she deserve better?”
Erin’s voice trembled. “When I found out about Tyler’s power, I was terrified. After high school he went into the Army and I had a grant for med school. You probably think I’m crazy, but I never stopped loving him.”
Angel and Skip exchanged a glance. “We don’t think you’re crazy,” Angel said.
The emotions inside the SUV were choking me. I reached into the pocket behind Skip’s seat and found a stack of napkins, which I handed to Erin. “When did Tyler go to work for the agency?”
“After they faked his death in Afghanistan,” Skip said. “He really is a hero, by the way. He used his power to save his entire team.”
Sniffling, Erin wiped her eyes. “Did Sylvia force Tyler to work for the agency?”
“Sort of,” Skip said.
“And you?” she asked. “I’m starting to think Sylvia isn’t a person I’d ever want to work for.”
“It’s not all bad,” Skip said.
Angel rolled her eyes. “Skip didn’t have a choice. Neither one of us had a choice. There’s no safe place in the world for people like us.”
“I guess I’m the only normal person in this car,” she said.
I pulled the handle beside me and cracked my door. The cool air burned my lungs but at least I could breathe.
Skip handed me the new phone. “The two of you need to disappear. We’ll get you another car and then you’re gone. Understand?”
Reaching for the phone felt surreal. Dad never bought me a phone this expensive. I always got the cheesy no-contract flip phone since he spent years living off the government’s radar. “I don’t think Travis left us enough money for a car.”
“We’ll deal with the car situation.” Skip shot Angel a glance. “Money is not an issue.”
I took a deep breath of the cold air. “Is everyone at the agency rich?”
“Travis has his own money,” Angel said. “Trust me, if I could give him some I would.”
“How rich are you?” I asked.
“My real father accrued millions during his four hundred years. Left it all to me. The agency is still trying to figure out how much money I have. Rachelle’s mom works in that department.”
Rachelle. Could there be a way for us to reach her now? “You know she’s gone, right? Sylvia sent Rachelle to the South Pole.”
Angel frowned. “Sylvia made the threat, but I didn’t realize she went through with it.”
“Rachelle left with her parents, Hannah, and Agent Dallas.”
“Bet that was an interesting trip.” Angel’s eyes began to glow a faint purple and Erin moved closer to me. This was Angel’s response when she felt anger. “I wonder if Hannah found a way out of that base yet.”
Skip squeezed Angel’s arm. “Sylvia kept us out of the loop completely. This isn’t going to be a good trip back for us. Too bad Travis isn’t here to zap us to the base.”
“We’ll have a long talk with Sylvia when we arrive,” Angel said.
“I think I’ll leave the talking up to you,” Skip said.
“Are you afraid of Sylvia?” Erin asked.
“I don’t know if fear is the right word.” Skip fired the engine. “Tyler is the only one who was able to keep her out of his business.”
“Or not,” Angel said. “Sylvia went to Chicago and recruited Erin. Why would she do that if she was staying out of his business?”
Skip glanced back at Erin. “Did Sylvia ask you anything about Tyler?”
Erin stared at the floor as she considered. “She told me this assignment required me going in deep. She wanted to know who in my life would care if I disappeared. I told her no one.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “That had to be a tough conversation.”
She slid a hand into mine. “Sylvia insisted there had to be someone special in my life. She told me everyone had ties back home that could be a liability… friends, family, old boyfriends…”
“That’s it.” Skip shifted the SUV into gear and aimed us for the street. “You see what Sylvia did there.”
“I didn’t catch on then,” she said. “Sylvia seemed methodical to the point I didn’t realize she knew anything about me other than details from the report in her hand. I told her I had a boyfriend in high school who died in Afghanistan—a roadside bomb. She wanted to know why I got into the genetics field. I told her about Tyler saving my life. She never asked for hi
s name.”
“She didn’t need to,” Angel said.
“You think she chose me?” Erin asked, with a mixture of aggravation and surprise. “From what Rena said, I wasn’t going to get the job.”
I turned to her. “Sylvia insisted I meet all of the doctors but she had a special interest in you. That night at the restaurant, she wanted me and Travis to talk with you. Travis wasn’t convinced you were the right choice for the job—”
“Which is probably why I didn’t like him,” she said.
“Travis wanted a doctor who could figure out how to make him normal,” I said. “I overheard Sylvia tell him she was looking for the right person.”
Skip laughed. “You think Sylvia brought Erin to the base with the hope of making her part of the team? After sending my brother away?”
“Tell me why he left,” Erin said.
Skip glanced at Angel and she pointed toward the ceiling. “He was involved in a bad deal. Some gold was stolen and people think he betrayed the agency. Sylvia insisted he leave the planet to keep from being captured and tried as a traitor.”
“I didn’t think anything else could surprise me.” Erin turned away, again with tears in her eyes. “Is Tyler okay?”
“Yes,” Skip said. “He came back a few weeks ago. He’s working for them now.”
“Wow,” Erin said, in a painful voice. “I never thought much about if aliens existed.”
“Can you help Travis?” I asked.
“We’ll try.” Angel reached for my hand. Her cold skin made me shiver. “I’ll do whatever I can to convince Sylvia to release Travis. If she won’t…” Angel stole a glance at Skip. “We’ll find a way to break him out.”
“What about you?” Skip asked me. “We need a plan for the two of you.”
I pulled the card from my pocket. “Van gave me a number to call.”
“My best friend was one of them,” Skip said. “He gave me a card like that.”
“Your best friend was an alien?” I asked.
“Our home town was full of freaks like us,” Skip said. “People with powers, aliens…”
“Vampires,” Angel added. “And whatever you decided to call Rachelle.”
“Popsicle.” Skip tried hard not to grin. “After he disappeared, I called for weeks and no one ever answered.”
“Maybe Rena will have more luck,” Angel said. “Van seemed pretty insistent about talking to her again.”
I dialed all twenty-two of the numbers but the only answer was a strange beeping noise. I hung up the phone and tried again. The beeping greeted me.
“I was afraid of that,” Skip said.
Erin wiped the tears from her eyes. “What do we do now?”
“The two of you run,” Angel said. “Avoid people, especially law enforcement, and stay out of sight. Don’t call us or anyone at the agency. We’ll call you when we have information.”
“Got it.” I slid the phone in my pocket along with the card.
“Never thought I’d be on the run from a government agency,” Erin said. “Especially one that doesn’t officially exist.”
“You wanted a fresh start,” I said. She frowned and I laughed, which seemed to upset her more. Explaining was pointless. No one would understand why I found our situation hilarious.
In a matter of days, I’d turn eighteen. But Dr. Greene had insisted I’d never be free. Until I either found a way to get rid of my power or died, I was on the agency’s radar. Sylvia had no choice but to keep me for my power.
I wondered if Travis still slept on the isolation floor. Hopefully his dreams were peaceful.
For some reason, I felt my nightmare was just beginning.
Chapter Two
Travis
“Travis.”
The voice sounded familiar, but it couldn’t be her. She wasn’t calling my name; this had to be a dream.
“Travis,” the voice said again.
I opened my eyes to a face surrounded by a bright light. Blinking, I realized the light was sunshine on the horizon.
She smiled, her green eyes shining with laughter. The same green eyes that looked back at me from a mirror. “You can’t sleep all day. Get up and enjoy the sunset.”
Sunset? I didn’t want to watch a sunset when I could stare at her. She slid me off her lap and onto a cold iron bench in the park where we always played. I reached for her arm and gripped so tight the laughter disappeared from her eyes.
“Our time is short,” said another voice. On a sidewalk near the bench stood my father with a camera in his hand.
“Did you get a good picture?” my mother asked.
He nodded. “I won’t know which until the film is developed, but one of these pictures will stand the test of time.”
“You would know,” she said in a teasing voice.
I looked around at the bushes to my right and heard kids screaming on a playground down the hill behind us. When was the last time I’d seen this park?
My head felt foggy, like time was all wrong. Her voice felt real yet I knew this had to be an illusion. Maybe real from my memories but she’d died when I was a kid, long before Dad disappeared. I barely remembered her face except for the pictures I had of her; the one with the two of us on this park bench always sat on my dresser.
I glanced down at my hands and feet, at the Velcro shoes she’d bought for my birthday. How could I feel every detail as if this scene played out in real-time, when I knew she’d been dead for eighteen years?
Laughter sounded in the distance, along with the roaring of a motor. The air smelled sweet but thick with pollen. People rode by us on bikes, including a kid with a horn that gave a high-pitched screech. My father reached down to catch the girl only seconds before she hit a crack in the sidewalk and crashed to the ground.
Mom slid her hand in mine and I smiled, content to be with her again. In a voice that sounded like a song, she and my father talked about the future.
“Travis will find happiness,” he said. “Like me, he’ll find the love of his life when he least expects it.”
“You sound sure of yourself,” she said with a laugh. “Are you sure you can see that far into the future? Maybe you’re making this up.”
“I’d never lie to you,” he said. “Maybe everyone else in the world but never you.” Leaning down, he slid onto the bench beside her and kissed her with the setting sun at their backs. It was a magical picture I wanted to keep in my mind forever.
“I wish we had more time,” she said.
“We’ll find more time.” He pulled back and reached across her to ruffle my hair. “We’ll all be together again one day. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
I closed my eyes and swore the memory would stay with me. When I opened my eyes, I sat in my bed at the base. The missing warmth of her hand reminded me she’d been stolen away and I’d never hear her voice again.
This bedroom was at the agency’s original location, before they commissioned the underground network of rooms at the airport. Shelves on the surrounding walls were filled with model airplanes Dad and I built together, along with two experimental drones no kid could buy in the store. On the dresser sat the picture of me and Mom on the park bench.
Before I could rise and reach for the picture, the door opened and Dad walked inside. “You didn’t go to sleep yet?”
“No,” I heard myself say.
“Good.” He sat on the bed next to me and pulled a quarter from his pocket. Dad flipped the coin over his fingers and the quarter disappeared.
It was the classic magic trick he’d been showing me for years. Laughing, I gripped his hand and begged him to tell me how he made the quarter vanish.
“You’ll figure out my trick one of these days,” he said.
If I had control of my mouth, I’d tell him how much I hated the fact he hid the truth about our powers. At thirteen, I’d teleported myself out of a car and then had to figure out how to get back. I was shocked to learn he wasn’t from Earth.
Not to mention the
fact I had no one to tell this secret.
“Are you going on a mission?” I asked, still unable to control my words.
He ruffled my hair like he had at the park. “Always a mission, but I won’t leave until after you’re asleep.”
“You’re going to find Agent Mason, aren’t you?”
The humor in his eyes faded. “Donald is no longer an agent. We’ve had this talk.”
“Isn’t he your friend?”
“Yes, but he also has a life. Donald needed some time off. He had other problems to deal with than fighting terrorists and I knew better than to stand in his way.”
“Who would want to take time off from being an agent?”
“Working for this agency takes a toll on people. You’re too young to understand, but not everyone is made to be an agent.”
“Donald’s a great agent.”
“We agree on that, but some things in life are more important than saving the world.”
I laid back on the bed and he pulled the blanket over me. “Where are you going?”
“Can’t say—it’s a secret mission. For now, I thought we could read one of your favorite books.”
“You haven’t read to me in years.”
He raised an eyebrow. “It hasn’t been that long, has it?” With a laugh, he stood and selected a book from one of the shelves. When he sat on the bed and showed me the book about dinosaurs, I realized this would be our last night together. I was nine and when I woke up, he’d be gone on a mission to New York City. Almost thirteen years later, no one had seen him since.
“That’s for kids,” I said.
Dad smiled and laid on the bed beside me. “You’ll always be my kid.” When he finished the story, he closed the book and watched me.
At nine, I had no idea why he’d be sad. At twenty-one, I realized Dad knew he wasn’t coming back. I wanted to say so many things to him. Instead, I yawned and closed my eyes. “See you tomorrow.”
“I love you, son.” He cleared his throat. “I want you to promise me something.”
“What?”
“If anything happens to me—”
