Twelve Shades of Midnight:

by Liliana Hart

  “You will. Most people with concussions get their memory back within twenty-four to forty-eight hours.” He held his hand over the techno-gadget resembling a battery and sparks went back and forth between them. “What’s your favorite color?”

  “It used to be red. Not anymore.”

  “Gray it is.” His hand started that eerie glow again, then small traces of lightning traveled in a grid across the surface of the vehicle. The color of the paint changed from white to medium gray. “This color’s probably best for concealment now that the sun is going down.”

  She stared in disbelief. “I thought color-changing paint was a myth. That it was just some computer tutorial everyone freaked over on the Net.”

  “Manufacturers have been experimenting with it for years. A few succeeded. The government likes to keep the newest technology for itself, and keep it out of the hands of criminals for as long as they can.”

  “We’re criminals now,” she said. “Or we will be when they find the man I shot.”

  “There’s nothing left to find,” Alex said, his tone flat. “But, make no mistake, we are fugitives. And we’re probably being framed. We need to find some answers as to what’s going on or we’ll be behind bars for a very long time.”

  “Unless they kill us first,” she said. “After all, an ‘armed and dangerous, shoot on sight’ order would solve a lot of their problems. No messy trial or uncomfortable questions.”

  “Yeah, I figured I wouldn’t bring that up, but that’s the most likely scenario.”

  He put the SUV in gear and went down another tunnel that emptied at a small out building mostly hidden by trees. Fortunately, there were no killers lurking there.

  Ten minutes later, they turned onto a snowy rural highway that led to the interstate. They were alone on the icy road. The snow fell so fast and heavy now that not even the natives braved the dangerous weather.

  The SUV skidded on black ice, and Alex wrestled the car back under control. “The wind is picking up and there’s going to be another blizzard. We need to head south, out of the mountains.

  “That works.” Samantha shivered and huddled beneath the silver blanket again, her weapon concealed but ready. Her temples throbbed and she let out a soft groan. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the seat.

  “You okay?”

  “I feel like someone drove an icepick into my brain.” She said, then sat up straight. “Oh, God, my father really is dead.”

  Alex frowned. “Are you remembering something?”

  She pressed the heel of her hands to her eyes. “People told me they were sorry he died. There was a funeral, but no body. They said…my father died in a lab explosion. The one in Coronado.”

  “My lab explosion,” Alex said. “But, the last time I saw your father, the guards pulled him out of the room before it went up.”

  “Then you think he’s alive?” Samantha grabbed Alex’s hand.

  “Yeah, I think he’s alive. For now.”

  She rubbed the nape of her neck. “If we can find him, he might be able to fix us.”

  “Or he’ll kill us,” Alex said. He turned on Samantha. “Don’t you get it? Everything that’s happening to me…and to you, is the result of something your father created.”

  “Then he might be the only one who can help us,” she said.

  “Seriously, why would he want to? He’s making super-soldiers.” Alex said. “Probably for the money.”

  “Look, I don’t remember everything, but I do know my father isn’t like that. He’s never cared about money. Healing? Yes. Tampering with DNA to make super heroes and villains? Not his style. There has to be another explanation.”

  Alex said nothing and Samantha looked out the side window. He stuck to the shelter of the trees for the most part, and every so often listened for helicopters when they reached open space.

  Every hour or so, when they reached a tunnel, or a place they could park, hidden from view for a while, Alex tampered with the color grid and transformed the vehicle again to whatever blended in best with the new surroundings.

  Samantha leaned over and cranked up the heat more. “Sorry, I’m still freezing. How did you react to the serums at first?”

  “I had fire inside me and acid eating away at my veins, plus I had severe burns. Not my favorite forty-eight hours.”

  “Good thing you have rapid healing powers,” Samantha said.

  “You, too. Hopefully the healing part is all you get.”

  “With how cold I am, I would bet making fire isn’t my thing.” She peered out the windshield. The wipers barely kept up with the snow. “Maybe I’m a Snow Queen and called this crazy storm.”

  “Somehow, I doubt that unless you colluded with the weathermen who predicted it days ago.”

  She bit her lip. “I hope that I don’t have any more effects.”

  “Me, too. None of my men were that lucky.”

  “What happened to them?”

  “From what I’ve been able to figure out since I went off the grid, the serums seemed to strengthen their basic traits, good and bad. If someone was slightly paranoid, he’d see conspiracies everywhere. Ambition became a hunger for power, no matter what the cost. Once a trait took hold, there was no stopping it.” Alex went quiet.

  “So is someone making super-soldiers with no conscience?” she asked.

  Alex stared at her. “If that’s what we’re up against, we’re in trouble. This experiment was intentional mental and physical sabotage of my team. All SEALs undergo intensive training. It’s grueling, but there’s a point to it. We don’t break easily, if at all.”

  Alex’s grip tightened on the wheel. “If someone could influence my men’s thoughts and convince them to do things they’d never considered acceptable before, then these drugs are some of the most dangerous weapons in existence.”

  Samantha shook her head. “My father couldn’t have done this.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Whatever healed my wounds is healing my brain. My memory is coming back and I’m almost certain that the only serum he developed for the government was one meant for healing on the battlefield. He tried to save my mother with it. She had a fatal genetic disease, but she was too far gone when he administered the vaccine. But, he tested on my aunt, my mother’s twin. She survived. It works.”

  She could see the turmoil on Alex’s face. “Look, I understand you hate my father, but the changes I sense manifesting in my body are not natural. I don’t know what kind of freak I’ll turn out to be, but he may be our only hope to reverse these effects.”

  Alex didn’t speak for a while and the tension in the SUV grew. The storm coating the windows and the windshield between wiper swipes, essentially closed them off from the world, magnifying the unease. “Do you know where your father is?”

  Samantha hesitated. “You’ll give him a chance and listen to his explanation?”

  “I can’t promise anything.”

  “Then drop me off at a hotel, because I am not telling you anything.”

  Alex pulled over to the side of the road. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Fine. I’ll listen to his explanation.” Right before I pay him back for what happened to my team.

  Samantha twisted in her seat. “He sent me two sets of coordinates. One for the silo. The second is for a desert area southwest of here. Hopefully, he’s at that location, and still alive.”

  “Do I get more info that that?”

  “Not yet.” She looked out the car window again. “I know you still want to kill him.”

  “Can’t argue with your logic. Southwest it is.”

  Chapter Seven

  With dread icing his veins, Lieutenant Commander Roger Carleton yanked out his cell and dialed the Admiral’s secret number.

  Seconds later, his gruff voice answered. “Have you found Winters and the woman yet?”

  Carleton swallowed hard. “Negative, sir.”

  The sound of glass breaking came through the phone.

>   “I need her, dammit,” Admiral Midnight roared. “The doctor won’t cooperate. That idiot is willing to die to protect his daughter. I have to discover what she knows, or I need her killed. If she notifies anyone of our plans, we all go down. You included.”

  “Yes, sir.” The soldier went silent, hoping to end the call.

  The Admiral’s deadly silence dispelled the notion. Finally, he asked, “How many men did you lose attacking the missile silo?”

  Carleton took in a shaky breath. “Eight in the first assault. Seven in the next. Winters had bombs and booby traps everywhere.”

  “He’s a damn demolitions expert. You were his second in command. What did you expect?”

  Truly, Carleton had expected he’d be dead by now. One way or the other.

  The Admiral didn’t tolerate mistakes. Maybe having fifteen, mind-controlled super soldiers wiped out, left the bastard too short-handed to kill off another one.

  Carleton was worried. There were three more SEAL team members, besides the Ice Man, whose remains hadn’t been found among the laboratory ruins. Two were in chains at the compound. Based on what he’d seen of them, if Winters and Begay survived that inferno, they would be more powerful than any creation of the Admiral’s.

  Carleton’s own sorry ass included.

  And not one of those men would forgive him for betraying their SEAL team.

  Dawn broke as Samantha came to, shivering uncontrollably, cradled in Alex’s arms. As he climbed up the side of a sandstone colored mesa, he wasn’t even breathing hard. The landscape looked similar to parts of Monument Valley, or parts of Utah, near Bryce or Zion Canyons.

  “Where are we?” she said, rubbing her eyes.

  “A safe place.”

  “You drove all night?”

  “Yeah, and you snored all night.”

  “I do not snore.”

  “If you say so.”

  He carried her as if she weighed nothing at all. She knew she wasn’t a lightweight. She worked out all the time and definitely had heft, but it didn’t seem to bother him. That felt kind of nice.

  She should insist on getting down, but he was so warm and she craved his body heat like a drug. How embarrassing.

  “Don’t be embarrassed. It feels good to me, too.”

  “I thought we were going to stop doing that.”

  “Hey, I was just carrying you, minding my own business, when your thoughts popped into my head. If you can’t stop thinking about me, it’s not my fault.”

  “Dream on.” Suddenly, she considered something terrible. “Oh, no. You don’t have access to my mind while I’m sleeping, do you?”

  She might not remember much of her dreams, but they involved two naked bodies enjoying themselves with abandon.

  He cleared his throat. “I’ll never tell.”

  The way he smiled made her worry even more. Samantha ducked her head against his shirt.

  Near the summit, he turned sideways and carried her through a narrow opening. Inside, the cave widened into a small room. The peach, orange and white colors in the rock swirled in a beautiful pattern, flowing into a water-carved fissure at the back that went deep into the mesa. Further in, petroglyphs of animals and people lined the walls and ceiling.

  “Look at those pictographs in there.” Samantha pointed to the next room. “My old college roommate would go crazy over them. Sienna is an archeologist and she’s always at some dig, preserving historic relics for posterity. I think she’s in Alaska now, or she’s going there.”

  Samantha turned her head to talk to him. He’d bent down to listen to what she said. His mouth was only inches from her. Her heart did this weird flippy thing in her chest.

  Flustered, she looked away. She shouldn’t be acting like this. She’d finally remembered being an FBI agent. Agents didn’t do the flippy thing.

  “So,” Alex said, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. “Did you ever consider archaeology?”

  She focused on a button on his sweater. “I visited a dig Sienna was working on once, but between the dirt, the spiders, the scorpions and the snakes, I didn’t think it was a job I’d enjoy. It takes a special person to do what she does. Pictures on a cave wall I can handle. You don’t have to squat down all day and dig with a tiny shovel and a brush to find them.”

  “So you decided to live the calm life of an FBI agent instead?”

  “Yes.” Her smile disappeared. “I assume that life is over.”

  “I wish I could tell you differently. I don’t know. My military career seems to be.”

  Alex put Samantha gently on her feet inside the cave. She missed the warmth of his heat against her immediately, but an instant later, another sensation hit her even harder.

  The place felt menacing, even though it didn’t look that way. “Where exactly are we?”

  “On the Navajo Reservation near Four Corners.” Alex put together a pile of jackets and blankets, then urged her to sit and wrap up again. “Sorry. The cave isn’t very warm this time of year.”

  Samantha looked at the swirling designs that water had carved into the rock centuries before. She admired their beauty, but all her danger instincts were on high alert.

  She peered into the fissure where light intermittently broke through to shine down like spotlights on an artist’s work. She went to enter the room when an angry whisper came to her and goose bumps rippled up her arm. She halted at the entrance. “Alex, are you sure we’re alone here?”

  He’d been scrounging through one of the duffel bags. He looked up in surprise. “Yes. I reconnoitered the cave and the surrounding area before unpacking the SUV. Why?”

  “I’m not sure. The cave is beautiful, but something about it creeps me out.”

  “Hmmm, That’s interesting. The Navajo, or Diné as they like to be called, don’t come to this cave because people died violently here. Fear of their chindi, or the spirits the dead leave behind, keep the Diné away.”

  A wave of cold air swept over her, chilling her to the bone. She pulled the blanket tighter. “You mean those stories about people deserting their hogans after someone in the family dies in their home, are true?”

  “Yes. This cave is not quite the same, but a lot of bad things happened in and near here, so it’s a forbidden place for them now.”

  She scanned the area again, confused by the turmoil building inside her. “My gut says someone is watching us. I keep hearing faint voices.”

  Alex stilled, listening. “From which direction?”

  Samantha concentrated. “All over the cave, but mostly from outside. I can’t quite make out what they’re saying.”

  He reached for a sniper rifle. “Sounds travel a long distance in these canyons. Maybe someone has found us.”

  Weapon in hand, Alex crept to the mouth of the cave. He’d changed into desert fatigues to blend in better with the sandstone around them. He scoped out the landscape for a long time. “I don’t see anyone.”

  She moved up beside him. Far below, she caught a glimpse of one corner of the SUV, now a burnt sienna color, much like the rocks hiding it. A ledge shaded the vehicle. Alex must have powered up the battery, because normally the car turned white when shut off.

  Samantha listened again. “You really can’t hear those voices?”

  “No, but being a demolitions expert and living through the lab explosion may have affected my hearing.” He didn’t look happy about that possibility.

  She listened again. “The voices aren’t as strong now.” She hesitated. “Alex, this is going to sound weird, but I think the reason I can’t understand the words is because they’re in a different language. I also get the distinct feeling that whoever is speaking, is not happy that we’ve trespassed here.”

  “Well, there’s no one nearby, Samantha.”

  “What if my head is more damaged than we thought?” Samantha sat huddled in the blankets. She felt as cold in this cave as when she’d been face down in the snow.

  “Well, we can’t move during daylight.” Alex went b
ack to unpacking. “Let me know if you hear anything again.”

  What was she supposed to say? The whisper of voices never stopped, and he obviously couldn’t hear them. The scary part was she felt like the voices were in the cave with them, or in the fissures just behind.

  An hour later, after having asked Alex to check outside several times, she rubbed her temples in frustration. “Am I going crazy? Hearing people who aren’t here?

  Alex hesitated. “There is another option. Maybe you’re sensitive to those spirits.”

  “You really believe in ghosts?” she said, incredulously.

  “Who am I to say? Four months ago, if anyone told me there was a man in existence who could shoot lightning bolts and fire from his hands, I would have thought he’d totally lost it. Yet, here I am.” He gestured with his arms wide. Tiny flames appeared above his palms.

  “I see your point.” She peered around. “What happened here that was so terrible?”

  “Originally, some Navajo hid in this cave, trying to escape the soldiers rounding up people for the Long March. Elders and small children wouldn’t survive the trip, so many were hidden away in places like this. The people here were found and—” Alex stopped.

  “The soldiers killed them?” she asked. “Children, too?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. Diné believe that if a Navajo enters this cave, they will die soon after, or be possessed by the spirit of one who died earlier. That’s why no one comes here anymore, even though the cave has impressive petroglyphs that should be studied and preserved. This place does not appear on any tour.”

  Samantha rubbed the goose bumps that rose on her arms. “So what are we doing here?”

  Alex sighed. “One of my best team members, a Navajo SEAL named Gabriel Begay, liked to take point on our missions because he often knew things would happen before they did. He’d warn us and, if possible, we’d change the outcome he’d seen.”

  “So he was pre-cognitive?”

  Alex moved back from the opening. “Begay called them gut instincts. Every soldier has those. None of us had full-on color visions like him.”

  Samantha wrapped herself tighter in the silvery blanket. “And you believed him?”