An Army of One: The Extraordinary Series

by Eaton, Pam

  “Let’s hope Gregory can clear everything up,” Tiberius says.

  “Let’s hope that happens before another awful thing can occur. I can feel it coming; we don’t have much time,” I tell him.

  * * *

  We walk into the cafeteria, and just like every other time I’ve come back to headquarters, everyone turns and stares. It takes a moment, but all the other people Tony and I were recruited with stand up and walk over to us.

  “Hey, Tony.”

  “Tony, where’ve you been?”

  “Man, we missed you around here.”

  “Got some cool stories to tell?”

  Tony takes a step closer to me at the bombarding of questions—whether that’s a subconscious thing or not, I don’t know.

  “Give the guy some room,” I snap at the group.

  “Becca! Hey,” I hear from behind everyone.

  I push my way through and thankfully they part, and I’m greeted by Dex’s smiling face. As soon as he lays eyes on Tony he rushes forward and wraps his arms around him. Huh, didn’t know Dex was a hugger. And by the looks of it, Tony wasn’t prepared for that either.

  Dex steps back but leans in close to Tony. “I’m so glad they found you,” Dex says to him quietly, but it’s not quiet enough, because Mike immediately butts in.

  “Found you?” Mike asks, his eyes looking us all over.

  “I, uh, I was kidnapped,” Tony tells him, eyes looking anywhere but at the guy in front of him.

  Someone lets out a startled gasp, but my eyes stay glued to Tony.

  “Are you okay?” Mike asks carefully.

  Tony lets out a sad laugh. “Gettin’ there, man.”

  Mike looks him over, and I don’t know him well enough to understand that look. But he steps forward and Tony visibly deflates. “Let’s get some food into you. Your scrawny self needs some beefing up,” Mike tells him and throws an arm around him, leading Tony to the buffet.

  I watch them walk away, noticing Tony’s tense shoulders that I’m sure Mike feels. But he needs this. He can’t keep hiding.

  And apparently, I can’t either, because I’m suddenly engulfed in Dex’s hug. “Hey, Dex,” I say, my voice muffled by his chest.

  He steps back but keeps a hold of my shoulders. “Where the hell have you been? And what happened to your face?” he asks in all seriousness.

  I give his shoulder a little shove, and then gesture towards my face. “It’s fine. But, hey. How come Tony got a warm welcome and I got that?”

  “You up and disappeared off the face of the earth,” he says, his voice rough.

  I look down at my feet, trying to steady my breathing. It takes a moment, but I finally look up into his eyes. “After what happened to my grandparents…I had to run. I couldn’t deal. I couldn’t…I couldn’t be here.”

  “I missed you,” he tells me.

  A throat clears from beside me. “Oh, sorry. Dex, this is my…this is Tiberius,” I tell him. I don’t know why I hide the fact that he’s my uncle, but it feels right to keep that hidden for a bit.

  Dex side-eyes my stumble, but thankfully he ignores it. Tiberius extends his hand, and Dex clasps it in his. “Nice to meet you, Dex.”

  Dex’s eyes widen a bit, I’m guessing at the thick Russian accent. It’s even more pronounced than Ania’s Polish one.

  “We going to eat or what?” Xavier asks from over Tiberius’s shoulder.

  “Oh, yes, sorry. Would you guys like to join me?” Dex asks.

  “Sure. I want to hear what you’re cooking up in that lab now,” I tell him.

  He laughs and walks back to his table while we approach the buffets. Four different sections are lined up. The selection is always all over the place. But I guess that happens when you’ve got people from all over the world here. At least this place has good food.

  I grab a salad and some baked ziti. I look over my shoulder and scan the room until I find Tony. His body still seems pretty rigid, but he’s got a small smile playing on his lips. “It’ll take time, but he’ll learn to conquer this,” Tiberius says, leaning into me.

  “How are you so sure?” I turn and ask him.

  “Because I know,” he tells me.

  I open my mouth, but he waves his hand. “A story for another time. Let’s go and talk with this Dex friend of yours.”

  We take our trays and sit down at Dex’s table. “I thought you usually ate after everyone else?” I ask him before I dig into my food.

  “Mike said he saw Tony, and I was hoping that meant you were here too,” he says in between bites. “Are you guys back for good?”

  I look at Xavier and Tiberius. Everyone here needs to be on guard, and if Mr. Smith isn’t going to do something about it, I am. “There’s some bad stuff going on. More than you were even aware of. People are being kidnapped and experimented on.”

  “Geez, Becca. Not much of a lead-in,” Xavier says, sounding pissed, but I completely ignore him.

  “We found Gregory in a tomb in France. They had him in a medically induced coma. But we’ve also found children locked in cages. Tortured and DNA manipulation forced on them.”

  Dex’s fork drops from his hand, clattering to the table. His mouth hangs open and his eyes are wide.

  “Enough,” Xavier tries again with more force, and Tiberius grabs his arm, cutting him off.

  “No.” My voice is guttural—I barely recognize it—but I push on. “These people killed my grandparents. They beat me. They did horrible things to Tony for weeks. Keeping them secret helps no one.” I know my voice has risen. I can see everyone staring at us, but I don’t care anymore.

  “People from Project Lightning are behind this too. People we’ve trusted. They’re the ones who kidnapped those three agents’ kids that we rescued. They took Sariah’s grief over her mother and used that to lure her in. She’s now helping them. She helped them kidnap that little girl in England.”

  Xavier puts a hand on my arm, but I rip away and push to my feet. My heart feels like it’s pounding out of my chest. “I went into that burning house. I saw my murdered grandparents in their bed. And then I had to watch my home burn. I had to see the photos of them shooting Gregory in the head. I won’t be quiet anymore.” I point around the room. “They all need to know. Because they could be taken next.”

  Arms wrap around me from behind. I go to raise my leg to kick out, but Tony’s voice stops me. “We won’t let it keep happening,” he promises me. “We will stop this.”

  I sag against his chest. “We’ve rescued so many kids,” I say softly.

  “I know,” he tells me, still holding me tightly.

  “So many raids, and it’s like nothing we’ve done has helped,” I whisper my failure to him.

  He turns me around. “They’re getting desperate. They wouldn’t have done what they did to you in that underground room if they weren’t. We’re going to figure this out. Together this time.”

  I wrap my arms around him, soaking up some warmth. “But maybe next time when you tell everyone, let’s not do it when we’re eating. Let people enjoy their meal first, yeah?” He says it jokingly and I let out a bark of laughter.

  “Deal,” I tell him.

  I turn back to my table. Dex still has a shocked look on his face, and the awkwardness is so thick that I’ve got to get out of here. “I’m going to sit with Gregory for a bit if you guys need me. Xavier, can you help Tiberius find a place to sleep?”

  He nods.

  I squeeze Tony’s hand one last time and in a blink I’m back in the hospital room, causing one nurse to curse and another to throw her notes in the air.

  “Sorry,” I tell her, cringing at her scowl.

  Twenty-Four

  “Any change?” I ask completely nonchalantly, like I didn’t just appear out of thin air.

  One of the nurses bends over with her hands on her knees, taking deep breaths. The one that cursed just shakes her head.

  “Sorry,” I tell them again and walk over to Gregory.

  Hi
s body twitches, and a low, quiet moans escape past his lips, like he’s having a bad dream. “Has he been like this a lot?” I ask the nurse closest to me.

  She looks up from one of the machines attached to him. “Yeah, but it’s to be expected. Tomorrow should be a better day.”

  “Here’s hoping,” I say, more to myself than to her.

  I take the seat beside him and grab on to his hand. I wish he could wake up now and talk to us. He’s got to know who’s behind all of this. Even if he couldn’t read Chelsea’s mind, there must have been others around.

  I try talking with him again through our minds, but nothing. Maybe when he’s dreaming, he can’t. I lean forward and rest my head on my folded arms, still keeping a hold of his hand. I close my eyes, letting the constant exhaustion wash over me and drag me under.

  * * *

  Darkness surrounds me. My heart rate picks up. I reach out with my hands but it’s like a dark abyss. Where am I? I put my hands on the ground, feeling the gritty stone beneath my fingertips. I crawl across the floor, afraid to lose purchase of the only tangible thing I can feel.

  “Two more feet,” a voice I don’t recognize rasps out, and I barely hold in my scream.

  “Where are we?” I whisper.

  “My cell.”

  “Gregory?” I ask. Is it really him? What is going on?

  “Hey, baby.” Two words, but the way he says them are filled with such love and yet such sadness too.

  Emotions threaten to swallow me at the sound of his voice.

  “You’re going to have to come to me. I’m chained to the wall,” he says and my head drops.

  I take a breath and follow the sound of his voice, tears silently slipping down my cheeks.

  “Where are we?” I ask as I crawl closer.

  The chains scrape across the stone floor. “My cell. I think you’re stuck in my dream with me.”

  I reach out a hand and finally feel his leg. I grab it tightly and move closer to him. One of his arms hooks around me, dragging me up his body. He buries his face in my hair. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you.” His voice is rough, like he’s trying to keep himself from crying.

  I can’t see him, but I trace my hands up his arms until I’m cupping his face. “I thought you died,” I tell him, sounding as tortured as I felt.

  “I know. I’m so sorry. They thought if you believed I died, it’d make you vulnerable and easy to capture.”

  I wrap my arms around his neck. Hugging him as tightly as I can. “There’s so much I need to ask you. Do you know who’s behind all of this?”

  He starts to make a sound, but it’s cut off by the cell door crashing open, bathing our dark spot in harsh fluorescent light. Gregory gently grips my chin and lifts my face to meet his. “The dream is going to play out regardless. Saying or doing anything won’t change it. Believe me, I’ve tried. I’d rather you stay here or wake up, but I know you won’t.”

  Henderson saunters into the room. The light catches the cruel smirk on his face. “Ready to talk yet? Or do you need more…convincing?” The way he says that last word makes all the hairs on my arms stand up.

  Gregory’s lips stay firmly closed, but his grip on me tightens to the point of it being painful. His chest rises and falls quickly, and his breathing increases at a rapid pace.

  “Still not talking? Well, at least I know I can make you scream,” Henderson says with something akin to pride. My stomach bottoms out and a sick feeling fills my chest.

  I look back at Gregory. His eyes are locked in terror on the sadistic man approaching us. I put my palm on his face, my heart breaking even more at his flinch. “Keep looking at me,” I tell him. His eyes drift to mine. “Stay with me, okay?”

  Henderson walks through me like my body is smoke. “I’m really here,” I rush to tell Gregory, afraid he’ll think he just added me into his dreams. “You’re asleep in the hospital and I fell asleep beside your bed. I’m here. I promise you, I’m really here.”

  I watch him take some steadying breaths.

  “That’s good. Keep breathing. You aren’t alone.” I keep my voice steady, trying so hard to give him some calm.

  Henderson grabs Gregory’s tattered shirt in his meaty fist. “Guess we’ll have to be even more creative this time, huh?” He releases Gregory’s shirt and unlocks the heavy iron shackles I hadn’t even noticed on Gregory’s feet and one arm. What are we, in a freaking dungeon?

  Henderson grabs him by the arm that’s wrapped around me and starts to drag him by the arm towards the cell door. I watch Gregory’s face go completely blank. Why is he giving up? “Fight. Why aren’t you fighting?” I call after Gregory as I scramble off the floor and rush after them.

  “It doesn’t do anything. The dream keeps going,” he says, sounding utterly defeated. “The worst is I always knew what he planned. He’d make me listen to his thoughts before he followed through with them in reality.”

  I feel like a part of my soul breaks at his matter-of-fact confession. “Why can’t we just wake up?” I ask him, desperate for a way out for us.

  “I never get to wake up until I’m chained back up in my cell.” He says it’s just the way things are, and it causes a sick feeling to almost stop me in my tracks.

  I keep up with them, not wanting to leave Gregory alone for even a moment. We enter into a stone hallway, like we’re in some ancient castle’s dungeon. Are we in France? Has he been under this church the whole time?

  “Keep talking to me,” I beg him. “If it doesn’t matter what you do, talk to me.”

  I watch his face twist in agony. “You need to just go. I don’t want you watching this.”

  I shake my head and set my mouth in a firm line. “Not going to happen,” I tell him.

  “So stubborn,” he says, looking wistful until we reach an ancient-looking wooden door, and then it’s like he’s completely forgotten I’m here.

  Henderson drops him to the ground like discarded trash. He tugs on the door’s iron handle with both hands. A loud groaning fills the stone hallway as the door slowly opens. “Gregory,” I say, looking away from the door to his body on the floor.

  His face has gone stark white, and his breathing is fast and erratic. I squat down next to him and gently place my hand on his chest. “I’m right here,” I remind him.

  It takes so much not to burst into tears at his fear. I’ve never seen him like this. And I can’t imagine what’s happened on the other side of this door.

  Henderson pulls harder and the door opens fully. He grabs Gregory by his already torn shirt and drags him into the room. Bile rushes up my throat at the first glimpse of what’s on the other side of the door.

  It’s a medieval torture room, and it’s filled with the smell of fresh blood, which must have spilt recently.

  Twenty-Five

  I tried talking to him. I tried telling him stories. I told him about Luca and his teal scales, but I don’t think he heard a word I said. I was able to keep the tears at bay, but after the first sound of the whip hitting his back, I lost the battle. And after what felt like an eternity of Henderson’s continual questions and Gregory’s silence, aside from his screams of pain, I’ve been all-out bawling.

  How long did they do this to him before they put him in a coma? How long did this go on? How’s he going to come back from this?

  I keep trying to talk to him through my sobs and tears, but he’s gone somewhere in his mind that I can’t reach. I don’t know what’s worse, watching what they did to him, or knowing I can’t wake him up from this.

  I don’t know how long we’ve been in this room now. Or how many torture implements they’ve used on him. But Henderson grabs Gregory, now shirtless, and drags him back to his cell. He’s passed out now, either from blood loss or exhaustion. I didn’t know that one body could endure that much.

  I walk behind them, leaving a part of my heart back in that room. He tosses Gregory back against the wall and chains him back up. The cell door slams closed and we’re plun
ged back into complete darkness.

  I want to hold him in my arms, but I don’t know if that’ll hurt him. I keep forgetting we’re in a dream. Things are too real, too raw. The pain on his face could be echoes of memories, but either way, the terror I saw in his eyes was real. I run a hand over my face. We’re all going to need some serious therapy after this whole thing is said and done.

  I grab Gregory’s hand because that seems to be the only thing not hurt. I lean my head back against the stone wall and listen to his stilted breaths. I close my eyes and let myself drift, hoping that this will all be over soon.

  * * *

  “Becca. Becca, wake up,” someone says from beside me. As soon as a hand touches my shoulder, I throw a fist at the noise and then transport across the room.

  “Son of a…” Xavier says, holding his face. “What the hell was that for?”

  A nurse rushes over to him with some gauze and he presses it to his face. “I think you broke my nose,” he says, sounding shocked.

  I look across the room at Gregory. He’s still asleep. I back up until I’m against a wall, and then I slide down it, my butt hitting the ground. I bring my legs up and bury my face in my knees.

  “Becca?” Xavier asks, sounding lost.

  The tears pour out of me, and there’s nothing I can do to stop them. He walks closer to me, but I hold up a hand. “Where’s Tiberius?” I manage to get the question out through my tears and ragged breaths.

  “He’s in the room next to yours,” he says, inching closer like I’m a caged animal.

  I scramble farther away from him. He holds one hand up in surrender, because the other is still holding gauze against his face. I take one last look at Gregory’s sleeping face and transport out of there and to the door of my uncle’s room.

  I knock repeatedly until I hear him yell that he’s coming. As soon as the door opens, I fall into his arms. He maneuvers me into his room. Once the door is closed, he grabs me by the shoulders and pushes me back a bit to see my face. “What happened?” he asks, eyes frantically searching me.