"Kat?"
She stays silent as she attempts to block out everything.
"Say something." Jarred says comfortingly. "Let me know you're okay."
"I can't do it, Jarred."
"Don't talk like that. You have to stay strong."
"Okay. I'll try."
"You're bleeding on the chair. I think he cut you."
She only shuts her eyes tighter. "Don't talk about it, please."
"Oh my God. I swear I'm going to kill him. This is bad, Kat. He adamantly believes we know something that we don't. We could lie."
"But then he'd get pissed when they don't find them."
"True, but if you need a break from this, you let me know." Jarred says. "I don't want him to break you. I saw what that can do to people. You never recover. If he goes too far and you can't take any more, stomp your foot twice and I'll tell him a fake location. That should get him off our backs for a while at least."
"He'll only end up hurting us more."
"That's why I'll be the one telling the lie. Then when he gets mad, he'll take it out on me. I'll take it all for you. I'm a lot stronger so I can deal with more pain."
"Are you sure?" Katarina asks.
"Positive. When cowards like him hurt defenseless women and children, I want nothing more than to rip their heads off and watch them bleed."
"So what happens when they don't find the ring and code?"
"Then Zach continues torturing us until he realizes we don't know anything or he kills us."
"That's your plan?" Katarina asks. "I thought you've been in situations like this all the time."
"There was always a loophole or some crazy story I could tell to talk my way out of it, but I don't see any way out of this one."
* * *
The next man down the stairs is in silver power armor with a golden cape and long white hair. He smiles a bright smile and waves as he comes up behind Katarina to unlock her handcuffs. He's followed by Velex who has a laser pistol in one hand and Zach's hammer in the other. His shirt is spotted in blood, but he seems to be fine.
Velex releases Jarred and helps him to stand. "Your injuries will be treated once we get to the ship. We don't have much time."
"My hand is broken. I know that much. What about Kat?"
Apollo removes his cape and wraps her in it before lifting her up in his arms with ease. "Her wounds appear to be superficial, but we can't know for sure until we get her to a medic."
"So you two are working together now?"
"Desperation creates the strongest alliances." Velex starts towards the stairs, but Apollo calls after him.
"Stop. We can't go up there. My nanobots are eating anything with flesh."
"Then how are we getting out?"
"I'm scanning the building now." Apollo holds up his hand and walks to the far wall. "This wall goes to the outside." With a sudden light appearing on the cinderblocks, the entire wall crumbles and vanishes in plain sight.
Despite Jarred's initial shock at what he just saw, he knows he can't go with them. "We can't leave yet."
"Why not?"
"They have Nova." Jarred says, already looking around the room for some way to get to her.
"Nova is on the ship already being examined by medics." Apollo says. "You're coming with us, Jarred."
Katarina slides out of Apollo's arms to stand on her own. "What about Zach? Is he dead?"
"We . . . we'll talk about that later."
Jarred points at Velex. "No. You tell me now."
"It's complicated and we don't need you breaking down right now. Let's go."
"Why would I break down?" Jarred asks.
"It has to do with Jayce."
"Tell me!"
"I can't." Velex says. "You know about the T.I.M.E.s not bleeding anymore, right?"
"So you're not covered in your own blood?"
"No. It's from some guard. Anyway, it basically boils down to the T.I.M.E.s can't die as long as Jayce is alive. We have to get out of here. I'll explain more later."
* * *
The medics bandage Jarred's hand and tend to Katarina's wounds on the bed next to him. He gives her a thumbs-up and she returns the gesture with a smile. They survived. She doesn't appear to be too banged up. That's good news. He had gotten worried when he saw the blood trickling down her legs. But seeing her smile and that spark of life still in her purple eyes makes everything better.
Velex sits next to Jarred and pats his shoulder. "Hey."
"Tell me good news."
"Nova is fine. We did a full analysis and it looks like no one even touched her. Zach was just saying that stuff to mess with you."
"Thank God. Can I see her?" Jarred asks.
"She's asleep right now. Some crewmembers are mothers and they're taking care of her. She's in good hands."
"Can you send the medics away? We need to have a talk."
"Sure. Everyone out. Give us some time alone." Velex orders and they leave. "What is it?"
"What the hell is going on?" Jarred asks.
"I . . ."
Jarred isn't taking no for an answer, not this time. "I don't care if you can't tell us. Look at us. We got beat up because of this shit so I think it's far past time that we get answers. Whose side are you on?"
"I killed Dressler."
"So you were behind the attack on Himmel?"
"Not true. It was never supposed to go that far." Velex says. "I'll come clean. I'm a Shadow Spy and I have been for years. Kazimir knows. Well . . . I've been trying to overthrow Dressler, but things never lined up right. I was recently approached by a Blood Force agent who defected and joined the IGR military shortly after I was removed from my command. He had a ton of information about Clark's activities so I believed him. If he was willing to give up that kind of information, then he must have been sincere, right? I was so very wrong. When Gabriel showed up and gave that silver disk to Kazimir, we sat down and went over the files contained on it. Everything completely contradicted what that informant had told me. So then I had a spy to catch. Normally that wouldn't be as hard as it sounds. The problem arose when he had joined the Shadows Spies without my knowledge. Due to the secrecy and anonymity of the organization, not even members know the identities of other members. The more people I asked, the greater a rift formed between me and the other spies who didn't like one of their members interrogating people to get that kind of information. Unbeknownst to me, the Shadow Spies decided to turn against Kazimir, their founder, and instead join forces with Clark. So imagine my surprise when a bunch of them and I assassinated Dressler only to find myself cornered by the people who helped me do it. That's when the Blood Force showed up. I was forced to watch every inquisitor be stabbed or shot down as they tried to help Dressler. I managed to run for my life and hide while the Blood Force laid waste to the city. What could I do? If I had still been the admiral, I could have at least scrambled some fighters to defend the airspace or something. Then I came back to find the destruction at the laboratory."
"So what about Jayce?" Jarred asks.
"If I tell you, you can't break down."
"I won't."
"Clark's programs transfer all of the pain and weakness into Jayce instead, but since he's connected to the Paradise security network, he is being kept alive and even empowered by the pain. Now that the new program has been created and integrated with the rest of the workings of Paradise, Jayce is more powerful than ever, but also completely at Clark's mercy. It's barbaric, but it's what works, I guess."
"So they're turning him into some kind of super weapon?"
"Not just a super weapon, but a super weapon to manipulate and control all of the T.I.M.E.s as well as Paradise. All of Paradise is an enormous space carrier equipped with its own cyborg and robot army that Clark is going to take into space and wage war on the IGR as well as Olympus. That is what the Paradise Awakened Project has always been about. Ever since Kazimir got the nanotechnology from the Nymphs back in 1985, things have been escalating at unco
ntrollable rates."
"So that's how Kazimir was able to invent so much." Katarina says.
"Exactly. Without the help from the Nymphs who visited him in secret down on Earth so long ago, none of this would exist. There would probably not be any androids, cyborgs, T.I.M.E.s, or M.A.G.E.s. Of course, he kept it a secret until recently."
"How do you know so much about the Paradise Awakened Project?" Katarina asks.
"Because I was one of the original members on the space station when we were still developing T.I.M.E. technology and discovering what all it could do."
"No, you weren't." Katarina says. "Kazimir showed me one time. Your name isn't anywhere on the files."
"Does the name Clara Lifestone mean anything to you?" Velex asks.
She gives a small gasp. "My mother? What does she have to do with this?"
"Everything. On those records, you will find a member by the name of Anton Lifestone. That's me. Clara Lifestone was my great granddaughter."
Katarina has to sit back down on the bed. How? No, this isn't right. "You're lying."
"Why does this surprise you so much? You are related to both me and Kazimir. Welcome to our insane family. None of this has been accidental. I'm surprised you hadn't caught on until now. Every single even surrounding your conception, birth, and life, has been planned in advance. Did you actually think that Clara and Isidore would have been a couple if their physical characteristics didn't match up well enough to create you? We had a plan in place with exact specifications to ensure you would have the best possibility of finishing what we had unintentionally started. We found many of those traits in my great granddaughter. From that point, we needed a suitable father. Since the remaining qualities would come strictly from the father, we had to find the perfect man."
"So you found my father?" She asks.
"No. We made your father. When no suitable male was found, we created one. Isidore was tailored genetically to meet our qualifications. We knew you would exist years before Isidore was created. Even before the first Paradise was created, we knew you would eventually have to be born."
Katarina secures her hair back in a clip. "Why? Why do you need me?"
"You're a failsafe. Well, not yet. You will be."
"For what?"
"T.I.M.E. technology." Velex says. "It's gone too far, gotten out of control, and no matter what we try to do to regulate it, it is being used for heinous purposes. When it was first created, we knew this was a very real possibility so we started formulating a plan to end everything and shut down all the T.I.M.E.s forever. What Clark is doing to Jayce is the ultimate evil that we were trying to avoid. That kind of control and manipulation was never what we intended the technology to be used for, but all technology has the capability of being abused in the hands of humans. T.I.M.E.s were not meant to be slaves or personal computers, but Vladimir Evans took a beautiful thing and twisted it to meet his own selfish goals."
"It had to do with Blice, didn't it?" Jarred asks.
"How observant. Evans rebelled against all of us and stole Isidore. For twelve years, Isidore suffered at the hands of scientists and inquisitors who beat him and kept him locked up with almost no human interaction. Once he matured to what Evans thought was appropriate, Isidore was given to Blice to be his slave. It was beyond twisted. Isidore wanted nothing but love. Instead, he got two men who starved him, beat him, and abused him. Due to the programs in Isidore's mind, he was easily manipulated."
"I have a feeling this all ties together somehow."
Velex grins. "We knew things were going to be rough on Isidore so Kazimir founded the Shadow Spies on Himmel as Isidore's personal protectors. We would bring a couple to Earth every so often so they could ensure he stayed alive. They couldn't intervene unless his life was in danger. We couldn't risk Evans discovering their existence. When Isidore faced the first firing squad in Rubble City, he would have died if the Shadow Spies hadn't sneaked into the city and kept him alive long enough for Blice to get there. Even before that, the Shadow Spies kept Inquisitor Allen from removing his microchip. Vladimir Evans, in disguise as his alias Damien Montgomery, was able to save Isidore after a Shadow Spy alerted a guard to the occurrence. That one was a close call. We didn't know that Evans had disguised himself and was living a double life. Anyway, every close call that Isidore lived through was because the Shadow Spies saved him. That is why they have an idol of him. They became so attached to Isidore that they view it as a way to honor him. When the Shadow spies found out about Isidore's death, some of them vowed to get revenge. Not on Clark, but on you and everyone who was there when it happened. That's when the rift first began to form."
"I have one question." Jarred says.
"What's that?"
"Why did you knock us out with a metal pipe? Usually people don't do that to allies."
"Because before Zach attacked me and we were all taken, I was going to take you two to meet with one of my contacts in an extremely secret location."
"Aren't there better ways to keep a person from seeing where they're going?"
"I did what I could." Velex says plainly.
"I don't believe you."
"You don't have to. If I wanted you two dead, would I have helped to rescue you from Zach?"
"I guess not."
Velex checks some data on his watch. "And then we come to Jayce."
"What do you think you know about my husband?"
"Everything."
"No. You're not going to tell me that Jayce has been a part of this craziness." Jarred says.
"Of course not. Aside from his creator, you are the only person who has ever been close to him. Jayce has never lied to you about that. I only know the following information because of what was on that disk Gabriel gave to Kazimir. I . . . I really don't know how to tell you this. We now know the full extent of Clark's plans. I wasn't exaggerating earlier. If we don't get someone to take Jayce's place, he will die. Without the others, we have one person who could do it. That's Katarina, but we need her for the T.I.M.E. failsafe in case something goes wrong."
"Don't you think things have already gone wrong?" Jarred asks.
"We don't activate the failsafe until we're out of options."
"I wouldn't let Kat take his place anyway."
"So then I guess we have to rescue the others and get a plan together. Luckily, I have Kazimir's little black button that can kill all the original archons in a safe location so we don't have to worry about Clark getting that."
"What else do you know about Jayce?" Jarred asks. "There's something you aren't telling me."
"Did you ever wonder why he came up to you at that android auction when you were fourteen and gave himself to you? Out of everyone, you were the first person in his life that he spoke to aside from his creator."
"I'm a bit of a romantic, so I thought that fate had brought us together and it was love at first sight."
"That may be what it turned into, but the reason Jayce sought you out was because a certain Shadow Spy told him to."
No way. "No. You?"
"Yep. You're welcome." Velex pats his arm. "It just so happened that Jayce got caught up in all of this. You know that was never my intention. I wasn't even aware at that time that you were Byron's grandson. Even I had no idea that tiny teenage boy with the long black hair was your husband until the things Clark had recorded from interrogating him. Jayce told him everything. I figured you already knew most of it except for this."
"Amazing. Well, I guess I have to say thank you."
"Not a problem. I remember the look on his face back then. He looked lost and scared so I told him to go to you and you'd take care of him. I guess he took that literally. I saw you were working security and I figured you would be able to help him. I guess to Jayce that meant that you were to be his new owner. I'm glad you both found happiness in each other."
Katarina watches the tears swell in his eyes. "Velex?"
"I'm fine. This just makes me hate Clark that much more. If something ha
ppens to Jayce, I will personally slaughter Clark in cold blood. I'll make him suffer."
"If I have my way, it's not going to end like that." Jarred says with confidence and determination in his voice. "It can't end like that. We're inseparable. It's always been Jarred and Jayce and it will always be Jarred and Jayce. Without him, I have nothing."
"You have Zodiac and Nova." Velex says. "You can't simply give up on everything if something does happen. Your children need you."
"Zodiac needs his other father too. And I'm telling both of you that if I lose Jayce, I won't be in any condition to take care of children."
"Then we can't let anything happen to him." Katarina comes up behind him and puts her arms around his shoulders then kisses the back of his neck. "We'll get him out of there."
"That's right." Apollo enters the room and joins them on the foot of the bed. "Once you get Kazimir and Velex to King Menelaus, the Nymphs will use whatever means necessary to release your husband. That was the deal, after all."
Velex looks between Jarred and Apollo. "You told the Nymphs that I would work for them?"
Jarred rubs his neck nervously. "I . . . hadn't told you yet. I'm sorry, Velex."
"No, it's okay. If it means saving Jayce, then I'll do it. It's a noble cause, as Apollo has told me."
"Thank you."
Velex shrugs his shoulders and stretches out on the bed. "What else do I have to do with myself now?"
"We're all about to have a lot to do once we arrive on Friedhof. Hope you packed warm clothes."
"We didn't have anything-" Katarina starts to say, but is interrupted.
"I'm joking. We have clothes for you already. But in all honesty, it is extremely cold on Friedhof. We were able to recover both of your rifles from the laboratory before rescuing you."
"Only Kat needs hers. I can't shoot anymore." Jarred says.
"Why not?" Velex asks.
"Did Zach not tell you? It's called NOIS or something."
"Oh. That explains your tremors."
"Nanobot overdose intolerance syndrome?" Apollo asks. "You're a Nymph. It shouldn't be affecting you."
Paradise Awakened Trilogy Page 57
