The Valkyrie_Genesis

by LK Walker

  “How's the future?” JT casually asks Ryan.

  “Same as when you left it. You can unplug now.” He gives him the thumbs up.

  “How can you see?” I ask JT.

  “With my eyes.” Pure sarcasm.

  “I mean without your primary, Kane. Wait, how am I seeing?” My words are for Indigo. With Zander not around my unplugged vision should be different.

  “We’re providing the updating feeds,” Indigo says, tapping the back of her neck.

  “Where’s the pretty boy,” JT asks.

  “Off on a social visit.” There's an edge of annoyance in my voice. JT raises his eyebrows to let me know he heard it. Thankfully he says nothing.

  “I talked to my cop mate,” JT tells me.

  “And?”

  “He reckons it’s a big ask and that I'll owe him, but it wouldn't be hurting anyone so he'll remove any reference to you as long as you sign off on it. Expect a call in the next couple of days.”

  For a change, Indigo and Ryan have uncomprehending looks on their faces.

  “We've tried to wipe the slate clean,” I say, before explaining to them what exactly we’ve pulled off.

  “So, if anyone was to look for the kidnapping, say twenty-six years in the future, it would appear as if nothing happened.” Ryan gives me a grin. “Impressive.”

  “We aim to please.” JT returns his smile with a wink. “Now how are we celebrating?”

  “Well, you can't go outside, there's no point in giving you alcohol, and we have nothing nice to eat in the house.” Indigo is counting out our misery on her fingers.

  “And we can't subject them to any future tech,” Ryan adds in.

  “You could spin around and around on the spot until you can't stand up anymore,” Indigo suggests. “Get a head spin.”

  “What a farce.” JT lies back on the bed, abruptly. It creaks under his weight.

  “I'm kidding. We're set up and ready to bring you guys forward. As soon as you’re through we can take you out on the town.” Indigo’s looking excited by the possibility.

  “We could do it right this second. The sooner the better.” Ryan has a sparkle in his eye.

  JT focusses on me. “What do you think, Cara?”

  Everyone is now staring, waiting for my reaction. JT is giving me the final say.

  “I can't.” I watch the smiles dissolve as the words cross my lips. “Not yet, anyway. I’m one harsh word away from a complete meltdown. After all that's happened, I need to be with Jack for a bit. Get a bit of stability before I launch myself into this life.”

  “I guess I can understand that.” It surprises me that Ryan is the one who is offering reassurance. “You need to be at your best when you come through. There’s going to be enough to deal with when you get here.”

  “Thank you. Anyway, Zander promised he’d be here for it.” I meet Ryan’s eyes and he gives me an unconvincing smile.

  “How long do you need?” Indigo asks.

  “One week. Give me a week. I need to say goodbye to my life.”

  “There’ll never be a perfect time to leave it. You know that, aye?” JT says.

  “I know. Give me a week and I'll be ready to go, no matter what happens.”

  “One week,” JT confirms. I can tell he’s frustrated and I wonder how he’ll fill his time while he waits for me to be ready.

  “We won't reconnect with you until then,” Ryan says, “to make sure we’re not tracked down before we bring you through.”

  “Zander will be back by then, won’t he?” I ask.

  “He should be,” Indigo says, but she busies herself with her shirt sleeve giving me a sense of unease.

  “Remind him he promised.”

  There is a shared sentiment of disappointment in the room. I choose not to stick around and instead, ask them to send me back to my own dreams. I need a good night’s sleep to overcome my exhaustion.

  “See you in seven days,” JT says before Ryan pulls my feed.

  Chapter 32

  Under orders from Maree, I have a couple of days off before I’m needed back at work. Maybe everybody thinks I’m fragile. Only JT has noticed my new resilience. I hope Jack will see it too, but it’s not such a surprise he doesn’t just yet. We have established a pattern over the last few months and it involves him picking up the pieces.

  There are only six more days until I say goodbye to this life. Jack has taken a day off work to keep me company and we’ve made the couch our sanctuary. It gives us a view of the garden and we watch as the sun tracks across it, the ever-changing mix of light and shadow soothes me, mends my torn nerves.

  We sit and talk about nothing between phone calls from friends and from Dad, and I tell my saga, repeatedly. I have told it so often, the same story each time, draining it of the emotion it once held. The actual story might cause a different reaction, but my lies, like my callers, are reassuring.

  As night falls, Jack stands up to cook dinner and I realize he has had his arm around me all day. I feel his loss already. At any other time in my life, I would reprimand myself for being clingy. Today, it’s all I want. After a couple of minutes of sitting alone, I follow him into the kitchen. He’s standing with his back to me at the sink. My hands trail up his shirt, gliding along the skin of his back and around until they are resting on his chest. My head lies on his right shoulder blade. The potato he was peeling drops into the sink before he pivots in my arms.

  “You alright babe?” he asks, with a look of concern on his face.

  “I’ve come to help make dinner,” I reply.

  “This isn’t helping.” He sweeps the hair from my face leaving a streak of moisture, and the faint smell of potato, where he’s touched.

  “Then I’ve come to distract you.”

  His smile warms me to my very soul before his mouth is crushing mine. His face is moving erratically from side to side and I break apart from him to see what he’s doing. His hands are bunched in his pants, wiping away any remains of the potato. A second later he picks me up in his arms, sweeping my legs around him, one on either side of his waist, and he carries me to the bedroom.

  “Dinner’s going to be late,” Jack murmurs into my mouth.

  Chapter 33

  Terror racks my body, as I’m ripped from sleep. Panic from being kidnapped is sitting just below the surface of my consciousness and has come out to haunt my dreams. I wait for my nightmare to dissolve before I can recognize what has woken me.

  My phone is playing its melodious tune from the nightstand next to the bed. A quick glance tells me it is Maree calling. The display also shows it’s 0100 hours. No good news can come from your boss at that time. Jack grumbles beside me and flicks on his bedside light.

  “Who is it?” He doesn’t appear to be alarmed. His face is screwed up and his eyes squint. “It’s rude to call at this time in the morning.”

  “It’s Maree,” I tell him. His eyes open wider and he blinks hard a couple of times to keep them that way. Dragging myself up into a sitting position, I answer the call.

  “Maree?”

  “Cara, hello.” She sounds as though she might have been crying. There is a lot of noise in the background, clanging metal and chatter, making it hard to hear her voice clearly. “Sorry to wake you.” She’s clearer now. The noise recedes. She must be walking away from whoever was talking.

  “What’s going on?” I don’t use any of my usual pleasantries.

  “I’m at the hospital. There was a break in at the office tonight.”

  “Are you alright?”

  “It’s not me, Cara, it's Elijah. He was there at the time. The intruders set off the alarm when they broke in, but by the time security arrived they were already gone. They found Elijah unconscious. Whoever broke in, hit him with something. I’m told there was a substantial amount of blood seeping out of a wound on his head.”

  “Is he okay?” Jack has shifted as close as he can to the phone to hear both sides of the call. His hand is on my leg giving me the only sup
port he can right now.

  “The doctor who stitched him up didn’t believe it was a serious injury but they’ll check to make sure. I only saw Elijah for a minute before he was wheeled away for a scan. He looks a bit shaken, that’s all. He asked me to call you before I left.”

  Jack is up and dressed by the time Maree gives me the name of the hospital. She’s going back to the office to see the damage for herself. I’m not sure how many times she says she’s sorry. It’s the first time I’ve heard so much emotion from her, so much worry. It’s not in keeping with her hard personality. I reassure her it wasn’t her fault.

  Once I have my hands free, I move as fast as Jack did, getting dressed. He thinks it will be safer if he drives and disappears into the hallway in search of my keys. I wait for him next to the car bouncing up and down on my toes, unsure whether it’s nerves or the cold night air that is making me shiver.

  Thankfully it isn’t a long wait.

  “Slow down.” Jack isn’t doing any better at driving than I would’ve. His foot keeps on creeping up on the accelerator. We seem to encounter an endless run of amber lights, none of which Jack attempts to slow for. By the time we arrive at the hospital, my nerves are as frayed as my favorite knitted jumper.

  I don’t hesitate at the hospital’s threshold, this time, I only slow slightly to let the automatic door open enough to give me access. The frequency of my visits to hospitals has spiked in the last two days. It’s like having emersion therapy. I hate the smell, but its influence is lessening. The hallway is dimly lit and quiet. Our feet thump along the vinyl floor, the noise echoing around us as we run. Everything but the floor is colored pale peach or pink. The vinyl is gray flecks on gray, bland and boring. The smell of disinfectant is strong and increases in intensity the further in we go.

  “Elijah Sullivan?” I ask the nurse sitting behind the desk. Her head is down and she’s writing on a sheet of paper, attached to a clipboard. There’s no way she didn’t hear us coming. Still, she takes her time to give us her full attention. When she finally does, it’s with a thatched brow. She’s not dissimilar to an old teacher I had at school, one who wasn’t too fond of me. “I’m his sister. Which room is he in?” She looks at me expectantly. “Please?” I add.

  Apparently satisfied, she runs her perfectly manicured nails down a list. It seems like delaying us is her form of control. She finally directs us to room 156.

  “Mr. Sullivan is fine. There’s no need to dash around. Be quiet as you go. Other patients are trying to sleep.”

  “Thank you,” I call out as I turn on my heels and take off down the hall. No doubt she is scowling at my back. It’s impertinent of me, but I don’t care about anyone right now except Eli.

  I rush into his room but before I can launch at him he holds his hand out, his eyes closed.

  “Go easy.” One eye pops open to look at me.

  “How did you know it was me.”

  “Nurses don’t sprint into a healthy person’s room for no reason. You, on the other hand, do.”

  “Hey, mate,” Jack calls out from behind me. He hadn’t been in such a hurry to get here. “You alright?”

  “Only a headache,” Eli replies.

  Jack flops into the dark pink chair at the foot of Eli’s bed.

  I swat Eli’s hand away so I can hug him, careful not to cause him any further pain.

  He holds me by my upper arms and unlatches me. “You can stop looking at me with those sad eyes, Cara. I’m fine.”

  I slump into the chair next to Eli’s head. The weight of fear is subsiding at the sight of him sitting up and talking without any apparent pain.

  “Did you think we were having a competition—to see which of us can be beaten up the worst?”

  “Did I win?”

  I ignore Eli’s poor attempt at humor. “What happened?” I ask earnestly.

  His jaw tightens. “I don’t know. I was in the lab and…”

  “Why were you at work that late?” I interrupt.

  “I was working on the S.I. chips and time got away on me. I was finishing up when the alarm went off. I called the security company to let them know I was in the building. And they said they’d send someone out to check it. I hung up and kept on working. Not long after that the bastards turned up in the lab. Apparently, they had a keycard and walked straight in as if they knew the place. They were loaded up with equipment, I assume, to break into the safe. They must have been happy to see me, it saved them the hassle. One of them walked up to me and put out his hand and asked for the chips.”

  “But they were in the safe.”

  “Most of them were. I had two with me.”

  “I take it you didn’t hand them over, as asked.”

  Eli gives a shrug. “We had a scuffle.”

  “Eli.” I warn him. I don’t like him pretending it was less dangerous than it was.

  “I tried to stab him with a mini screwdriver.” He makes the motions, so I don’t have to imagine much.

  Jack starts to giggle. “That’s the best you could do?”

  “I work on exceptionally small components. The screwdriver was all I had. The thief was next to my computer. He smashed me over the head with the keyboard, before shoving me. I fell down—whacked my head on the table and was knocked out cold.”

  Eli leans forward and turns his head so I can see the stitches on his scalp, mostly obscured by his hair. I pull the hair up so I can get a better look. There are clumps of dried blood sticking sections of hair together but, by the size of the cut, there would have been a lot more when he arrived.

  “Nurses cleaned me up pretty good.”

  “Did the intruders get the chips?”

  “I don’t know. Maree’s gone to check. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Eli...” My brain is working overtime. It feels as if there are dots to connect here but I can’t work out where the lines should go. My frown is giving me a headache. I rub my forehead trying to ease it.

  “What?” Eli asks.

  “How unlucky is it that they came this week. The security firm is coming to install improvements in a couple of days.

  “Remarkably unlucky,” he agrees.

  “And you said they arrived at the lab soon after the alarms went off?”

  “I’d guess it was under a minute.”

  “As if they knew which floor to go to?” I suggest. From the look on Eli’s face, I’m not stumbling on any new theory, only catching up to his thoughts. “And they used an access card?” I add.

  “I can’t work out who would give them one.” Eli is scowling. “When I attacked the guy, his accomplice yelled at him to be careful. I don’t think they wanted to hurt me.”

  “You don’t think the thieves had something to do with whatever was stinking up the lab vent last week?”

  “That was a dead rat. They found it Friday afternoon after you were kidnapped. That’s why the security firm weren’t worried about the call-out, they thought it was probably another rat setting off the alarm.”

  “I’ll go to work tomorrow and see what I can find out,” I reassure Eli.

  “Thanks, Cara. I didn’t want to ask. But who else can I trust?”

  “Wait,” Jack doesn’t sound happy. “Cara, you’re supposed to be resting. You’ve already been through enough. Let the police sort it.”

  “I’ll only go for a few hours.” I try to allay his fears.

  “And then she can visit me.” Eli’s put on his nicest smile for Jack. He really wants me to follow this up.

  “Okay?” I ask Jack.

  “Like I have a choice.” He rolls his eyes.

  Our conversation is silenced by a nurse walking in. To my relief, it isn’t the one from the front desk. She says Eli’s scan is clear. He is to stay in overnight for observation but should be cleared by the doctor tomorrow morning and allowed to go home.

  The news gives Eli a renewed vigor. He’s about as fond of hospitals as I am.

  “It’s time we went and let you get some
sleep. I’ll come by after work to take you home.”

  “Cara.” He calls me back. “Look for a necklace on my workbench.”

  “A necklace?” I must have heard wrong. Eli isn’t exactly into his jewelry.

  “It has blue and gray stones. Look carefully for it. If it’s there, bring it with you. And there was a chip lying in the middle of my bench. If it’s still there, Maree’s probably found it already, but have a look anyway.”

  “I thought you had two out.”

  “Just look for those things. None of the other gear is important.”

  I leave Eli lying in the hospital bed with a grim look on his face. My curiosity is peaked. The only jewelry I can recall Eli ever wearing would be his dog tags. I wonder if he has a girlfriend I don’t know about.

  Chapter 34

  There’s a security guard stationed outside the front door to my work. He’s holding a tablet in his left hand. As I walk up, he asks my name. When I tell him I’m Cara Sullivan, he gives me a strange look.

  He checks my face against the one in the database, before allowing me access. “Your family is having one hell of a week.” His voice is too loud. If there is anyone who doesn’t know what has happened, I’d like them to stay ignorant.

  “Hell of a week.” I hear his voice whisper to no one as I use my swipe card to open the front door.

  Nothing is out of place here, no sign of forced entry. I take the stairs. Eli reckons they came this way and I follow their trail. The stairwell is all concrete and metal railings, it’s not possible for anything to be out of place. I stop to look around on the landing of the seventh floor and to catch my breath. The fire door has black dust all over it, the police looking for prints. I hope they get lucky.

  Instead of slogging up one more floor to the lab, I leave the stairs here and head towards my office. It would be rude of me to go snooping without checking in with Maree first. That’s if she’s here. She was up late last night checking in on Eli and its only 0745.

  I can hear people chatting. This is my first day back since I got nabbed outside the building. My mind was so focused on the break-in, I’d let that slip my memory. I’m glad I’ve come in early, before most people arrive, but already there are three others on my floor. They swamp me with questions as soon as they glimpse me walking past. I give them the edited version, which must sound rehearsed by now. These people have become my friends over the short time I’ve worked here and I don’t want to push them away but, I want to keep moving and they are only delaying me. I give them a few more minutes before I make my excuses, promising I’ll catch up soon.