Erased (Altered)

by Jennifer Rush

  Slowly, stupidly, I returned the hug and Dani trembled in my arms. “I can’t believe it’s you,” she said. “I’ve been searching for so long.”

  She sobbed harder.

  I didn’t know how to comfort her.

  Dani finally pulled away, put her hands on either side of my face. She was taller than me by a few inches, skinnier by at least ten pounds.

  “Are you okay?” she asked. “Are you—” She looked over my shoulder at who I could only guess was Sam. Her eyes welled again and she stepped around me to wrap Sam in a hug with the same ferocity as the hug she’d given me.

  “You found her. Thank you. Thank you for keeping her safe.”

  She pulled away and kissed him gently on the cheek. Sam immediately flicked his attention to me, checking my reaction.

  I dodged his stare.

  “We should get out of here,” I said.

  For once, Nick backed me up. “They’ll send another team as soon as this one misses their check-in.”

  Cas started plucking things off the dead men and women. Mostly guns. Some clips.

  “We taking these guys?” Nick asked, nodding at the three boys we’d released from their cells.

  “For now,” Sam answered. “At least long enough for them to adjust.”

  And for us to question them.

  Cas appeared at my side. “Here,” he said, handing me a black leather jacket. “Looks like you took a dip, huh?”

  I frowned. “Not by choice.” I took the offering and examined it. “Any bullet holes or blood?”

  “Not that I could find.”

  The fact that I was stealing clothing off dead people was too ludicrous for me to process. I tried not to even think about it as I tore off my soaked jacket and slipped into the leather one. It was fleece-lined right down to the sleeve cuffs, and cropped at the waist. A thick, oversized hood hung down my back. The overwhelming scent of leather mixed with the sweet, crisp scent of perfume, and I wondered what kind of woman had worn this coat, had spritzed herself with perfume today not realizing that she’d lie dead in a basement by sunrise.

  The red-haired boy stepped forward. “What about Thomas?”

  It took us a second to realize he was referring to the handler. After opening Dani’s cell, Thomas had made himself as small and inconspicuous as he could. He was pressed into the far corner, hands up.

  “He nice to you?” Sam asked.

  The boy shrugged. “I guess. He didn’t hurt us, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  Sam gestured to Cas. “Put him in one of the cells.”

  Thomas, the handler, willingly entered the fourth cell. “Thank you for sparing me,” he said as Sam hit the button to lock him inside.

  “Don’t thank us yet,” Sam said. “Hard telling what Riley will do to you once he finds out you lost the units.”

  Thomas deflated as the realization settled in. Riley wasn’t the forgiving type.

  “Let’s go,” Sam said.

  I looked over my shoulder at the woman whose coat I now wore. I’d come to terms with taking the life of anyone associated with the Branch. They knew what they were getting into when they signed up for the job. But that didn’t mean I didn’t feel remorse.

  Before we escaped Branch headquarters, I’d killed the man in charge. Connor. Killing him at the time had been easy. It was what came after that tormented me the most.

  I still saw his face in my head almost every day. I wondered how long I would see that woman’s face, too.

  Maybe forever.

  I thought about saying a prayer, or some final words to send the woman’s spirit off or whatever it was you were supposed to do to respect the dead. But all I could come up with was Thanks for the jacket, and I whispered it as I filed out the door.

  12

  I’D GOTTEN USED TO STAYING IN AN actual house, so I wasn’t exactly thrilled about having to rent a motel room. The décor was garish. The sheets were stained. And the windows were painted shut. When I’d pointed this out to Sam, that we had zero alternate exits, he’d grumbled something about it only being temporary.

  He split us between two rooms, with him, Dani, the red-haired boy, and me in the first room. Cas, Nick, and the other two boys, Jimmy and Matt, were in the second.

  The red-haired boy, whose name was Greg, sat in the chair in the corner. Dani sat on the edge of the bed, across from Sam and me.

  “Tell us everything,” Sam said.

  Dani worried at her lower lip. “I thought you were dead. Both of you. For a very long time, that’s what I believed.” She inhaled, leveled her shoulders. “I’ve been in hiding ever since you were captured,” she said to Sam. “I was shot, and the Branch left me in a field, probably assuming I’d bleed out. But I survived. And Anna…” She blinked, and several tears escaped her eyes. She swiped them away quickly with delicate finger. “I thought you were killed with our parents. And then I heard a couple of months ago, from one of my old contacts in the Branch, that you two had popped back up, that you’d escaped some top secret facility in New York.

  “So I did some digging into a few old Branch contacts and got a couple of leads. I went looking for you, but Riley found me first. I think they were planning to use me as bait.”

  “Makes sense,” Sam said.

  She nodded and smiled. “Thankfully you found me before they could set their plan in motion.”

  I scooted closer to Sam. I desperately wanted to take his hand in mine, if only for the comfort, but I knew it wasn’t the right time. If Dani didn’t know about Sam and me being together, there was no telling how she’d take the news.

  “So… what did they do to you?” Dani asked me. “While you were in that lab?”

  That was a long story, and one I didn’t feel like telling right now.

  “Well, I just learned about you a few months ago,” I said. “I didn’t know I had a sister until then.”

  “They altered your memories.” She shook her head, closed her eyes. “I’m so sorry.” She scrubbed at her face, and when she dropped her hands, she was staring right at me. “So you really don’t know me from a complete stranger, do you?”

  I wasn’t sure how much to tell. I had flashes every now and then, but I hadn’t told Sam yet, and I didn’t even know how reliable they were.

  “Not really.”

  She pursed her lips, then said, “They’ll come back eventually. I can help fill in whatever blanks you have, if you want.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re next,” Sam said, nodding at Greg, who’d been silent nearly the whole drive there. “You remember anything before that lab?”

  Greg shook his head. “None of us do.”

  “How long have you been there?”

  “Six months.”

  That wasn’t very much time compared to how long we’d been in the farmhouse.

  “Anything else? Anything that might be useful?”

  Greg folded his hands across his midsection as he thought. He was extremely fit, but then, almost everyone associated with the Branch was.

  “Nothing I can think of,” he answered. “I wish I could help, man. I owe you big for getting us out.” He sat forward, propping his elbows on his knees. “You’re one of us, aren’t you? The Branch gave you the Altered drug?”

  Sam nodded. “Did they tell you why you were here?”

  “They said we had to be quarantined because we’d reacted badly to the drug. Said we’d signed up for the program back before we lost our memories. Said that our heads were empty because of the treatments.”

  “You believe that now?” Sam asked.

  “No. You’re locked up long enough, you start asking questions. And when those questions go unanswered, you lose faith that you’re being told the truth.”

  “The Branch doesn’t know the meaning of the word,” I said, and the bed squeaked as I shifted. “If you want my advice, don’t believe anything the Branch has told you. It’s all a lie.”

  I looked across the space between Dani an
d me. The Branch had told me she’d died, but if I knew Riley and Connor at all, I suspected they’d known for a while that she was alive.

  Which meant they’d been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use her against Sam and me. Play her like a pawn.

  But she was safe now.

  The Branch had failed.

  Nick met Sam and me outside while Cas stood watch over the other boys.

  “So, what do you think?” Nick asked, shoving his hands in his coat pockets. “They a threat to us?”

  Sam scanned the parking lot. There weren’t a lot of people checked in to Nuva Boulevard Motel. Only one other vehicle was parked in the lot.

  “If they’ve been genetically altered like us,” Sam answered, “then yes, they pose a threat. But that depends on whose side they’re on. So far it seems like they’re grateful we helped them escape.”

  Nick snorted. “We didn’t help them escape. We did all the goddamn work.”

  “You know what I mean, Nick.”

  I stepped between them. “We need to focus on where we go next. We can’t cart the others around with us. It’s too many people to deal with.”

  “Agreed,” Nick said. The wind kicked up, and a curl of dark hair fell across his forehead.

  “We can’t just cut them loose,” Sam argued. “They’re trained assassins with no memories. And who knows what else the Branch was doing to them.”

  “You think they have a programmed commander?” I asked.

  All of us went silent as we considered the possibilities.

  “If Riley is the commander…” Nick said, and trailed off.

  “Then having them around is a huge risk.”

  “What about Dani?” Nick said.

  “What about her?” I asked.

  “She was in the lab. Who knows what they could have done to her in that amount of time. Or maybe this was their plan all along. Maybe there’s a tracking device on her.”

  “Then I’ll check her,” I said.

  Sam sighed, the collar of his jacket shielding his face, catching his breath before it hit the frigid air. He turned to Nick. “Dani isn’t up for discussion. We’ll check all of them for tracking devices, and in the morning, we’ll send the boys on their way.”

  “Fine,” Nick said, though his tone of voice said it was anything but.

  13

  WHILE SAM, NICK, AND CAS CHECKED the boys for tracking devices in the other motel room, I checked Dani.

  I shut and locked the door. Dani stood fidgeting near the beds. “So, where do we start?”

  Here, in the bright fluorescent lights, her hair almost looked fire red. Her eyes, a soft shade of green, were more vibrant.

  She was real. My only sister.

  But thinking it didn’t make it feel truer. There was still a huge disconnect between what I knew and what I felt. I knew I had a sister, but that didn’t mean I knew what it felt like to have one. I didn’t love her, not the way a little sister should, because I couldn’t remember her.

  “Let’s start above the waist. Do you mind taking your shirt off?” I asked carefully.

  She laughed. “No, I don’t mind. You’ve seen me naked before.”

  She grasped her tank top at the hem and tugged it over her head. She was wearing a simple black racerback bra beneath. Her stomach was flat, the muscles clearly defined. Where there wasn’t muscle, there were bones jutting out beneath the skin.

  She tossed me her shirt. I ran my fingers along the hems, then worked over the fabric, looking for something that felt out of place. I found nothing.

  Dani lifted the straps of her bra, checking the material. “Good here.”

  “Let’s look for implants, then.” I went to her side, and she turned around, baring her back. I started in her hair like Sam had instructed, feeling with two fingers for anything that shouldn’t be there beneath the skin. I tried to work quickly, feeling the onset of nervousness. Sweat was beading on my forehead.

  “Sam still looks the same,” Dani said after I asked her to lift her arms.

  “That’s the alterations. They age at a slower rate than everyone else.” I paused. “Your files said you were given the anti-aging drug, too. Did you know?”

  “Yes. I meant… Sam hasn’t changed as a person. He still keeps his hair short. Still more comfortable in jeans and a plain jacket than anything else. No badass agent-wear for him.”

  My throat tightened and my heart sped up as I thought about asking her all the things I’d wanted to ask someone when it came to Sam.

  “Did he laugh back then?”

  She shrugged as I ran my hands down her sides. “If you mean was he happy, no. Not really. Or if he was, he didn’t show it often. Sam’s always been very guarded.”

  After she checked her chest, we moved on to her pants. When we found nothing, I started at her toes.

  “You and Sam are together, aren’t you?”

  I looked up at her. Sadness was pinched in the space between her eyebrows.

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Call it sister’s intuition. Plus…” She glanced away, and her expression softened. “He orbits you.”

  I stood up. Dani had called Sam a boyfriend once. I didn’t know where that left us.

  “Do you still love him?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  My throat narrowed. “I didn’t know… until it was too late, that you and he had been together.”

  “You don’t have to apologize.” She hung her head, and a lock of hair fell in front of her face. “I came to terms with losing him a long time ago.” She looked up and smiled. “At least I know he’s in good hands.” She took a step toward me. “I have no intention of coming between you and Sam. I hope you know that.”

  I nodded. “Thank you.”

  She smiled. “Now, we should probably finish up before Sam freaks out.” She laughed, and the sound stirred something old, something forgotten.

  My vision teetered.

  “Anna?” Dani ducked to look at me straight on. “You okay?”

  I blinked but couldn’t seem to focus on her. Everything on the edges was blurry, and everything in the center of my vision was smattered with flecks of white light.

  “What’s wrong? Do you want me to get Sam?”

  “No,” I said, but the word came out too breathy, too quiet.

  Was it another flashback? Why here? Why now?

  “I’m getting Sam,” Dani said and started for the door.

  I tried to stop her but stumbled, pitching forward.

  The sound of paper scraping against paper.

  The sound of a voice.

  “How long are you here?”

  The question echoed in my head. It was my voice asking it.

  “Just tonight,” Dani answered.

  The flashback took hold of me, and the motel room faded away, the smell of cleaner and iron disappearing, replaced with the smell of pine and flowers and something smoky.

  We were in a bedroom. Mine, I thought. From my old house. My old life.

  I sat cross-legged on the bed, and Dani sat next to me.

  I must have pouted, because she laughed and pushed the hair behind my ear. “Don’t be sad, bird.”

  “I don’t like it when you’re gone. Dad is mean, and Mom doesn’t say or do anything. I’m so bored.”

  Dani stiffened. “How is Dad mean?”

  “I don’t know. He yells a lot.”

  “Has he…” Her voice cracked. “Did he hit you again? I mean, when you get in trouble? Or when he yells?”

  I frowned. I couldn’t remember him hitting me ever, so I said, “No. I don’t think so.”

  Dani relaxed and blew out a breath. She curled her index finger and thumb, cupping my chin. “I’ll come back for you. I swear it. You just have to be patient.”

  “I don’t want to be patient.”

  “It won’t be much longer now. Sam’s gonna help me get you out. It’ll be an adventure.”

  I brightened. “Will Nick go with us?” />
  Dani rolled her eyes. “Why would you ever want that crabby pants to come with us?”

  “I don’t know.” I picked at the blanket spread out beneath us. “He’s nice to me. He showed me how to make these.” I held up a piece of paper that was folded into a bird. “He said his mom showed him how.”

  Dani held the bird by its sharp, pointed tail. “Did he, now? Well, in that case, maybe we should bring him along. Maybe he can fold us a boat out of paper and we can sail across the ocean.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That’s dumb. It would sink.”

  She laughed again and smoothed down my hair. “You never know. Anything is possible, bird, if you wish for it hard enough.”

  My head thunked against something solid. I opened my eyes, saw Sam peering down at me. It was his knee I’d hit. My head was cradled in his lap. “Hey,” he said.

  “What happened?” I asked groggily.

  “You passed out.” He looked across the room. I sat up just enough to see Dani and the others. Suspicion creased the lines around Sam’s mouth.

  I shook my head, silently telling him that Dani hadn’t hurt me.

  Cas sat next to me on the bed and put his hand on my leg. “I offered to give you mouth-to-mouth, but Sam vetoed. I don’t know why. I said I wouldn’t use tongue.”

  I snickered. Sam frowned and pried Cas’s hand away by the fingers. “I’m sure she appreciates your concern,” he said, “but she was breathing just fine.”

  Cas shrugged. “Minor detail.”

  I eyed the new boys, wondering if they saw me as weak now. I would hate it if they did. But the two assigned to Cas and Nick’s room weren’t even looking at me. They were perusing a magazine that had a race car on the cover with a barely clothed woman on the hood.

  Greg was telling Dani something about his sudden craving for hamburgers.

  If they thought me weak or deserving of pity, they weren’t showing it. At least not yet.

  “You need anything?” Sam asked.

  “I don’t know.” I rubbed at my temple. “I have a pounding headache. Maybe some—”