by C. C. Bolick
Agent Lockhart stepped into the cell. Pade followed close behind, his gun trained on the prisoner with every step. Since Dad didn’t move, I stayed by his side.
The prisoner’s smile widened as Agent Lockhart stopped before him. Still holding the gun with one hand, Pade slid up the prisoner’s white sleeve with the other. The only sound was paper crinkling.
“Is he wearing paper?” I whispered to Dad.
“All of the prisoners wear an outfit like this. It’s a composite material recycled daily.”
Agent Lockhart dropped to one knee and reached for the prisoner’s arm. “I’m going to bring back your memory. For us the process will take thirty seconds. You, however, will have to relive the entire two years.”
No one said a word and Agent Lockhart lowered his head as if deep in thought. After thirty seconds, he released the prisoner’s arm and stood. The queen’s brother glanced around the room, taking in all of us.
Pade lowered his gun slightly. “Are you back Chadsworth? Do you remember the last two years?”
A grin crossed his face once more. Pade moved closer and the prisoner began to laugh.
“You know he hates that name,” the prisoner said, his voice laced with contempt. “If you think he wants to return to being that silly emotional boy, you’re wrong. He’s different now because of me. He’s accepted the fact we’re going to fix all the damage you’ve done to Golvern, that your queen has done. If you don’t believe me, bring her here and I’ll make sure she understands my plans for Golvern’s future.”
Next to me, Dad sighed. I barely caught the sound and couldn’t help but imagine he felt relief. But that didn’t seem right.
Pade’s hands shook. He looked as if he might be sick. Dad grabbed Agent Lockhart and pulled him back as Pade ran from the cell and Christian reactivated the energy field. The hum of power surged through the room.
“That should have worked,” Pade said. “Bringing back his memory was our only shot…” He took a deep breath. “I don’t know what else to do.”
Christian put a hand on Pade’s shoulder. “We’ll figure out a way to save him.”
“No,” Pade said. “We’re out of options.”
Pade and Christian led Agent Lockhart out of the room. Dad stood and held the prisoner’s gaze for a full moment before taking us out of there.
“Glad that’s over,” I said while trying to shake away the chill from his voice. The prisoner was taunting them and Agent Lockhart had wasted a trip.
“I want to show you something, Travis,” Dad said. “You want to know why I’ve spent the last eighteen years working for a man from Golvern.”
“On the ship you said you didn’t want to implicate me. What’s changed now?”
“Like you, I can see the future. When I was your age, I used my gift and hurt anyone necessary to get what I wanted. Many people hated me—still hate me—and many want to kill me. After I met your mother, everything changed.”
“Van said when you were found people would line up to take shots at you.”
He laughed without humor. “Van was once my greatest regret. I’m the reason he was captured and taken to Levendar. My brother helped him and in the beginning I couldn’t understand why. Now I see that Van has become an asset to our cause.”
“What cause?” I asked.
We reached the floor where the ship sat. “Why do you think we’re here?” His voice dropped so low, his tone so deadly, I shivered. “Why do you think I stayed away? Leaving you was not what I wanted.”
I wasn’t sure how to answer, but his words gave me hope.
Dad held out a hand. “Come with me. Not because I’m taking you by force, but because you want to see what I have to show you.”
I hesitated. Could I trust the man who’d been missing since I was nine? Who’d lied about his origins and left me alone to figure out my powers? For thirteen years I’d never stopped searching for him, even when other agents believed he must be dead.
Unlike them, I never lost faith he’d be found. There was no way Agent Noah Payne would’ve disappeared from New York unless he had a good reason. Finally, I knew the truth about what happened to him. Well, not the whole truth. I knew he was alive and now I had him back.
“Well?” he asked.
I reached for his hand. “I’m not sure if I trust you, but we’ve got to start somewhere.”
Dad smiled and the deadly tone disappeared. “Honesty is a good place to start. You’re a hell of a lot smarter than I was at your age.”
He took us back to the ship and we left the station. We circled the planet and he found a place in orbit to hold position. Dad teleported us to a cool, dark room. From the rock walls surrounding us, I decided this must be some sort of cave.
“We’re underground?” I asked.
“Follow me.” Dad waved his hand and a remote appeared. He led me down a hall with rock walls and typed a code into a keypad next to a door. The door opened and we entered another dark room. By pressing two buttons on the remote, dozens of bright white lights flooded the room. I squinted, trying to adjust to the light. The room made me think of the med-level with its stainless-steel equipment and antiseptic smell.
“We’re still underground?” I asked.
He waved a hand around the room and I realized what I thought was equipment was actually steel cylinders about the size of hospital beds. Row after row of shiny metal cylinders spread before me. Dozens of cylinders across five rows.
“What is this place?”
“You’ve heard the name Paleris.”
“He was the man who kidnapped Charlene.”
“He came to Earth and took her back by force. Her family’s power to shoot is legendary here. I tried to fight him, even Sylvia tried to fight him. We threw every resource the agency had at him but couldn’t keep him from taking her.”
I remembered the file. “What’s his connection to this room?”
“Paleris was obsessed with finding a way to live longer. Even though Golvern has completely eradicated many of the diseases that plague Earth, people still die here.”
“I’ve seen something like this in a space movie. Cryogenics—people were frozen for hundreds of years for a trip across space.”
“People from Golvern have been visiting Earth for hundreds of years. Just because you see an idea in a movie doesn’t mean it’s a new one.”
I approached the nearest cylinder. Curved glass revealed its contents. Inside, a man slept. Despite the fact his skin was a darker shade than mine, the frost on his face made him seem pale. A thick white mist surrounded him. “You’re saying these people are dead?”
“At the time of their deaths, the technology to revive them didn’t exist. Paleris constructed this facility and offered a select few the ability to preserve their loved ones until technology caught up. For a price.”
He waved me to another cylinder that held a woman, her face also frozen in time. “This was Paleris’s wife. He kept her in stasis while searching for a way to heal her.”
“This woman looks to be in her sixties at least.” I turned to Dad. “Where is Paleris?”
“Paleris wasn’t happy with the queen’s reforms to make humans equal. He hated humans and wanted to eradicate every human from this planet. But his health was beginning to fail.”
“I hope you’re about to say he died in a painful way.”
“There’s an old belief that through a heart transplant, the donor’s soul would follow the heart.”
I’d heard of weird stuff like that back on Earth. Transplant recipients inheriting memories or emotions. “So, he transplanted his heart in someone younger to live longer.”
Dad looked impressed. “You’re taking this better than I expected. Most people from Golvern would have trouble believing the soul could travel to another person. You were raised by humans.”
I stepped back from him and glanced around the room. While trapped in a coma, I’d talked to Rena’s mom. He’d probably think I was crazy. “I’m half-human in case you’ve
forgotten.”
“I’ve never forgotten. The best part of you is human.”
“Where is he now?”
“Paleris didn’t choose just any young person. He captured the queen’s brother and used him as a host. Now he’s next in line for the throne.”
I swore. “So, that maniac in the cell is not really the queen’s brother, but Paleris? That’s what she’s hiding?”
“We all have secrets.”
“Why bring Agent Lockhart here?”
“Before the transplant, Paleris wiped his memories so he wouldn’t understand what happened. The queen hoped restoring the last two years would give her brother a fighting chance. At least he would know what happened to him.”
“I don’t think it worked.”
Dad shook his head. “I understand her pain. Like us, she sees only flashes of the future.”
Since I rarely touched people, I rarely saw flashes of anyone’s future. Seeing Rena’s future, including my capture by the agency, had been a shock. I’d never figured out how to use the power. Dad should have been there to teach me.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“You left this planet, came to Earth, and lived as a human. Did Mom know what you were?”
“I loved Emily. There were no secrets between us.”
“Why did you leave me? I want the truth.”
“For two reasons. Without human blood, I couldn’t survive on Earth forever. Earth’s sun is deadly to people from Golvern.”
“Why not take me with you?”
“You had no problem surviving on Earth.”
“That’s not an answer.”
He sighed. “I owed Paleris a debt and he demanded I return and serve him.”
“What kind of debt?”
Dad walked between two rows of cylinders and stopped at one in the far corner. I followed, anger building with each step.
“This kind.” He pointed at the cylinder.
I stared at the face beyond the clear surface and my anger dissolved. The warmth of hope surged through me followed by panic.
Surrounded by the mist was my mother.
Chapter Eleven
Rena
Sylvia didn’t have a team ready when we reached Atlanta, but she assured me we were less than two hours away. As if she thought I didn’t believe her, Sylvia took me to her office and called the senator.
She placed the call on speaker. “Senator McCall, I have Miss Mason in my office.”
Her upbeat voice shocked me. “Hello, Senator.”
“Rena, Sylvia and I have agreed on the terms of your father’s extraction from Louis Castillo’s property.”
“And my brother.”
“Of course,” he said. “Sylvia, I understand your feelings on the matter and that Agent Mason agreed to certain dangers and a timeframe for an end to this mission if communication was not made.”
Dad agreed… “Are you saying my dad went as part of a mission? Why hasn’t someone told me this before?”
Sylvia spoke with patience. “If everyone here knew the details of all missions, we’d never keep innocent lives safe. Please continue, Senator.”
“Louis Castillo has made a fool of us more than enough times,” he said.
“We captured him before,” Sylvia said. “He escaped.”
“Send your best agents and make a statement he won’t forget. Rena?”
The whole time Dad was on a mission. He and Sylvia had planned this without me knowing. By going directly to the senator I’d blown his cover. The thought of getting him into trouble made me sick inside, not to mention how angry he’d be. “Yes?”
“I’ve stuck my neck out for you, Regina Mason,” he said. “You’ll do as I ask when I need a favor.”
My throat burned as I swallowed. What could the senator want from me?
“Do we have a deal or should I get Sylvia to call off the troops?”
Maybe I should have backed off, but I thought of what Louis might do to Dad and Alfie. Could Van be right about the bombs? Did this put my family in danger? “We have a deal. Whatever it takes to get my dad and brother back.”
“See Sylvia?” he said. “That’s how you keep your agents in line. Give a little, take a little. It’s all for the best, right?”
“I’ll call when we have news on Castillo,” Sylvia said.
“If I’m in a meeting, get one of my aides to let me know.”
“Understood.” Sylvia ended the call. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “Well played.”
“I screwed this up. Dad will hate me but I’ve got to get them back. Van thinks Louis is using alien technology for his bombs and I can’t let anything happen to them.”
“I don’t think Donald could ever hate you,” she said. “You’ve grown into a sharp young woman with quite a knack for the spy business.”
“I want no part of this business. As soon as I find Travis, I’m getting out of here.”
“And look over your shoulder for the rest of your life?”
“As long as it’s my life.”
She smiled. “I wanted out once, back when I was about your age. I got as far as a flight to Peru.”
“Why come back?”
“Because I realized out there I have no control over what happens in here. If I wanted to stop the corruption at this agency, I had to do it from the inside. Leaving only delayed the inevitable.”
“I don’t care about corruption,” I said. “I don’t care about what happens at this agency.”
Sylvia watched me until the clock near her desk chimed.
* * * * *
After Sylvia took another call and motioned for me to leave, I went to the med-level looking for Erin. One of the doctors told me where to find her office. I admired the gold nameplate with Dr. Erin Watts printed on it.
As I raised my hand to knock, she opened the door.
“Wow, it’s good to see you.” She pulled me into a hug. “The last twenty-four hours have been unreal.”
“I owe you an explanation.”
She pulled back. “For what?”
“You wanted to know how you got out of the base. I’ve got an idea.”
“I’m listening.”
“My mother died three years ago. She had the same power as me.”
“I’m sorry. Not for the power but because she died.”
“She took over the body of a person in a coma. I’ve talked to her.”
Erin’s eyes widened. “How can you be sure?”
“You remember when I told you my mother lied about my dad being my dad? I talked to her the day I left the base. I think while you were sleeping, she took over your body and helped you leave.”
“How did she get me past security?”
“She used to be an agent.”
“I’m not sure how I feel about this. My brain is so full right now I don’t think I can retain any more insanity.”
“A bit much?”
“Taking over someone’s body is wrong. What about the life she took away?”
Leave it to Erin to focus on moral implications for the coma patient and not the fact Mama was in her head. “It wasn’t permanent, but I do think she took over your body long enough to get you out of the base. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Erin stepped into the hall beside me. “I want you to meet someone.”
We walked to the end of the hall to a room filled with toys. A boy about Alfie’s age played at a table that barely reached my knees. He used Lego blocks to build some type of car on the table.
Erin knelt beside him. “Carlos? I want you to meet a friend of mine. This is Rena.” She looked at me. “Rena, this is Carlos.”
Carlos didn’t look up from the blocks. “No more friends.”
“More friends are always better,” she said with a smile. “I’ve got a secret to tell you.”
The boy looked up at her, his dark eyes full of mischief. She leaned close to his ear and whispered. When Erin pulled back, he turned
his attention to me. “You have a power?”
I nodded. Erin waved for me to continue and I raised my hands. I thought of the fear I felt for Alfie and tiny blue lights began to sparkle along my palms.
Carlos reached toward my hands but stopped before touching the blue lights. “What does your power do?”
“Makes things blow up.”
His eyes grew. “Like a bomb? You can make a bomb?”
“Or stop one,” I said. “I mostly try to stop the bombs, not start them.”
“Cool.” Carlos turned back to his blocks.
Erin stood; her lips stretched into a grin. “Guess your fifteen minutes of fame are over. Boy, that was quick.”
“Alfie is the same way,” I said. “Short attention span.” If only I could get Alfie back. I didn’t want another day to pass without seeing him.
“When I first met Carlos, he was hiding under a table. Now he’s ready to crawl out and help us fight.” Erin laughed as she patted his back. “What are you building?”
“A spaceship,” he said. “Too many mean people on this planet.”
Erin chuckled and left him to the blocks. I followed her out of the room. “Did they hurt him?”
“The gang beat him. They killed his parents and used his gift to fund their drug runs. There’s no telling how much paper he turned to money while they kept him in a cage.”
“Cage?” I asked. “They kept him in an actual cage?”
She nodded. “One of those tall cages people buy to keep birds in the house.”
“When you think you have it bad, remember someone else has it worse.” Sylvia caught up and walked with us to Erin’s office. “I appreciate how you helped the boy, Agent Watts.”
“I think I prefer Dr. Watts,” Erin said.
“I want you to think of yourself as part of our team,” Sylvia said. “You’ve earned a place here and I don’t want you to doubt your value.”
Erin touched her forehead. “I can’t believe we’re talking like you’re actually my boss.”
Sylvia smiled, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “I am your boss even if you’re not ready to admit it. I heard you figured out the source of the boy’s power.”
Erin walked into her office and lifted a file from her desk, which she brought outside and handed to Sylvia. “His skin secretes a type of acid which binds to the paper and changes the physical makeup. Members of the gang forced him to look at money and replicate the pattern.” She held up a twenty-dollar bill.
