by Tonya Kuper
She was dropping her hand, anticipating the kickback. “Hang on,” I said. “Adjust your hand. Wrap it closer.”
“Huh?”
I glanced at Santos. His eyes twinkled—yes, twinkled. “Maybe you should show her what you mean, Reid.”
Could he be any more of an adolescent?
I approached Josie cautiously, and she awaited my instruction.
“Play nice, kids,” Santos said. “I’m out.”
He whistled as he strolled toward his room.
Josie’s hand dropped to her side, her knuckles white-gripping the gun, her brows furrowed.
“Here, let me.” I shifted her hands on the weapon and stood behind her to absorb some of the recoil. “Try it now.”
Her breathing changed a bit.
“You have to aim higher, to account for the distance and velocity.” Bullet trajectories, speed, accounting for gravity, all of those details should be right in her wheelhouse. I wrapped my arms around hers and raised her hands into the proper position. She shuddered.
I didn’t let go. I didn’t back away. “Josie.”
She leaned on me, just the barest of movements, but there was trust in that gesture. She would never forget or forgive me for what happened with Nick. I didn’t expect her to. But there was a measure of acceptance in how she allowed me to touch her. My lips brushed the top of her head too gently for her to feel.
“Ready?”
She nodded. We emptied that six-shooter, and then I instructed her to Push bullets into the chamber. She did. Seamlessly. As for her aim—decent. Maybe 70 percent accuracy, and for someone who’d never practiced with a gun before, that was considerable.
“Acquaint yourself with the rest.”
She walked to the table, putting the six-chamber next to an AK47. I watched her reach out and touch the automatic weapon, as if checking to see if it was real.
Rather than select the one from the table, she Pushed an AK47 into her hand. She examined it from all angles, then placed the weapon down on the table beside the original. “Reid, if…if I do lose my mind, if I turn…” Horror clouded her features. “You know what I’m capable of.”
“That won’t happen.” No way. No how.
“Promise me,” she said.
I knew what she was asking of me. Would I turn her in if she became a threat to innocent people? I’d like to think I could give her a yes, but the truth was, I couldn’t. I cared for her in a different capacity than I’d cared for Nick. I wouldn’t let it get to that point. Period.
“Won’t. Happen. You hear me? I won’t let it.”
“Okay,” she whispered, claiming the assault rifle and stepping up to the firing range.
My pep talk seemed to have helped, but things remained strained between us. I didn’t expect anything less.
We worked our way down the table through the various weapons. She held a grenade, crossbow, flamethrower, shotgun, standard-issue Glock, AK47, and everything in between. Over the course of the next couple of hours, she learned the basics of operating each, and how to reload or recharge the weapon as needed.
Josie examined the last weapon, a Taser, with a smile plastered on her face.
“Your excitement for the Taser worries me a little.”
An honest laugh burst out of her as she placed it back on the table.
I stepped in front of her, making her look at me. “Seriously, though…” I didn’t want to stop her laughter, but she had to know the reality of warfare. Her penchant for the Taser reminded me of the first attack in the park, less than a week ago. She’d felt sorry for her attacker. That sentiment would be her downfall. “If you’re ever in a situation where someone is after you, don’t Push one of these.” I held up the Taser. “Push something that will do the trick. Push something that will kill the person after you. And, Josie, don’t hesitate to pull the trigger.”
Josie
W
ell, I was supposed to continue with my previously planned week, so to the bonfire we went…with the guys in tow. Hannah was more than enthusiastic, excited about the chance to hang with Santos.
We rode in Hannah’s car, the guys in the back. We talked and laughed and listened to music like normal people our age. I wondered if this was what a real double-date thingy would feel like. I stuck my hand out the window and played with the flow velocity. The force of air tickled my palm and my body relaxed for the first time since learning Reid had orders to report me if I went berserk.
We pulled up to the beach lot. Hannah looped her arm through mine as we walked through the cars and bikes to the beach. I spotted a roaring fire.
Hannah pulled me a little closer and tilted her head toward me. The guys followed about ten feet behind us. She whispered, “He’s so into you.”
I shrugged. I mean, I couldn’t tell her our freaking confusing situation, that someone who I’d made out with and liked—and who liked me back, I thought—was also supposed to report me if I stepped out of line, which could result in my death. “We’ll see what happens.”
I inhaled the smell of the refreshing, salty ocean mixed with the earthy scent of the fire. Hope and energy rolled together. It was invigorating.
She totally side-eyed me. “What do you mean, ‘see what happens’? Make it happen. It’s in your ability to make anything happen.” I was dying inside at the irony of her statement. “Just sayin’.”
It was as if gravity increased. Hannah’s words weighted my body to the ground, making it difficult to pick my feet up and move them forward.
It’s in your ability to make anything happen.
That was one of the scariest statements I’d heard in my life. But also the most liberating.
We crossed the dunes onto the beach, kicking up sand behind us as we stepped. The cool ocean breeze lifted my hair and zapped across my skin like I was magnetized and my body was conducting a charge.
Hannah stayed close. “You should…” Santos ran up from behind us, roaring, his arms closed around Hannah, picking her up and whirling her around and around. They tumbled to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs and laughter.
Reid ambled up to my side and shouted at them. “You guys want some privacy?”
Santos looked up. “Yeah, go away.”
Reid shook his head. “Let’s go eat some s’mores.” He walked ahead of me.
“How do you know they have s’mo—” A plastic grocery bag appeared in his hand. I still wasn’t used to that, even after all I’d seen and done in the last few days. He glanced over his shoulder to me and grinned. I ran to catch up.
I Pushed long, cut twigs into my hand for the marshmallows before we reached the crowd around the bonfire.
Charles and Lauren waved. I was really going to miss my lunch mates.
I sat on a big log close to the fire, and Reid did the same. He pulled the s’mores sticks from my hand and placed them in the grocery bag next to him.
Reid stared into the fire, the light dancing in his clear eyes. That look—it was Cal, the Cal I remembered.
My hands were stuffed in my pockets—to avoid the chilly air, but also because I didn’t know what else to do with them, I had so many conflicting feelings for him. I knocked his knee with mine. He turned to me, and my words toppled out, unplanned. “I’m scared.”
He swung one of his legs around to straddle the log and faced me head-on. He nestled the bag of marshmallows between us. “I am, too.”
“You are?”
“Of course. But I also know it will be okay.”
“How do you know? What evidence suggests that? There are so many variables.”
He chuckled. “I feel it. In here.” He touched his stomach. “And in here.” His hand slid up to his chest. “And I think it in here.” He tapped a finger to his temple.
He shrugged and gave me a genuine smile.
Lauren and Charles came over to where we were sitting. Lauren held a s’mores to Reid. Guess we weren’t the only ones craving them tonight. “I’ve eaten so many, I’m going to be
sick. You can share with Josie.” Lauren peeked over her shoulder to me, smiling, and Charles pointed between Reid and me. Yeah, that was subtle.
I gave them a “did you really just do that?” look and they skittered away, giggling.
He eyed the treat in his hands for a second, then held the s’more toward me.
I laughed and grabbed it, placing my fingers over his and took a bite. So yum. He leaned forward and took a bite from the opposite side, my fingers still on his, only a graham cracker separating us. And, per usual, his eyes didn’t leave mine. Despite the cool breeze blowing off the Gulf, I thought I’d burst into flames.
We took turns eating the gooey treat until it was gone and our hands dropped away from each other. The corner of his mouth pulled up in a naughty grin. “You have a little chocolate…” he whispered. His hand came toward my face and his eyes fell to my mouth. The pad of his thumb landed on the corner of my lower lip and smoothed across. Feelings I couldn’t identify swirled around inside me. Strong feelings. Conflicting feelings.
Someone screamed.
I Pushed my shield. “Ow!” Reid yelped.
I didn’t know where my attention was needed. Reid seemed fine other than a funny, pained look on his face. The two girls who had screamed were on the opposite side of the fire. They screamed again a few times, pointing and squealing at a guy showing them something on his phone. I checked the tree line and glanced down the beach. Everything was fine. Obnoxious, but fine.
“Josie? Was that your shield?” Reid asked in a low voice. I nodded. “Y-you shocked me or something.” His face darkened, and he looked down at the log we were sitting on. I guess he hadn’t ever been close to me when I’d Pushed my shield before. I’d Pushed it with Hannah, and she hadn’t been zapped. I didn’t like Reid’s reaction. I hadn’t meant to hurt him.
Someone threw a bottle into the fire and flames blazed with a vigorous energy. Hollers and whoops followed.
Santos called out to us. “Reid. Take a walk along the water?”
Reid glanced at me to decide.
“Okay.”
He stood and helped me step over the log. I strode through the sand after Reid, toward the darkness, where the moon reflected over the surface of the ocean and the waves crashed against the shore. Santos and Hannah goofed around at the water’s edge, their dark figures just visible. I was almost to Reid when he stumbled and fell. He landed on his back in the sand and yelled, “Santos, you dick.”
Oculi games. Pushing and Retracting in the dark, close to Plancks. I didn’t know how I felt about that.
I approached Reid, offering him a hand up. I tripped on something—something that hadn’t been there moments before—and I fell.
I saw a flash of Reid’s hands out to catch me, but it all happened too fast. The next moment I was facedown, on top of him.
Giggles erupted from the beach. Santos and Hannah. “Santos,” I yelled into Reid’s shoulder. “You dick.”
Attempting to pull my trapped arm from between my body and Reid’s, I tried placing a knee on the ground to stabilize myself.
“Watch the knee.” Reid winced, shifting his hands to my arms and moving a leg underneath me to protect himself.
“Sorry.” I laughed into Reid’s shoulder. My face burned from embarrassment. I tried to breathe through it and ended up inhaling a lustful smell. Reid’s signature scent. I couldn’t get enough.
My cheek brushed his as I pulled my head off his shoulder, and I paused when my mouth hovered over his. His stare was like an entirely different universe, light-years away from our world—a safe place. I shook myself out of his trance.
In one fluid motion, Reid pushed my torso up and I slid my legs to one side of his body. My knees hit the sand and I sat back on my heels, thrusting my now-free hand out to Reid. He took it, anchored his feet in the sand, and we both pulled, using each other’s weight to help each other off the ground. Every movement in sync.
We stood face-to-face.
“Let’s go for that walk,” Reid said. As soon as we turned, Santos took a nosedive into the waves lapping up onto the shore. A string of inventive curses rushed out as he hoisted himself out of the water, soaked.
“Karma, man.” Reid headed for the hard-packed sand closer to the water, making it easier to walk. Santos and Hannah trailed close behind. Reid and I walked in a comfortable silence next to each other.
Santos jogged up behind us. “I need to change clothes, bro. You want us to go and come back?” I’d forgotten he couldn’t Push anything in front of Hannah.
Reid looked to me for an answer. “No. I think I’m ready to go home, actually.” Even though I didn’t want to say good-bye to Hannah, I needed to mentally prepare for the next day.
We piled back into the car, Santos shamelessly shucking his clothes in the parking lot and swapping into a fresh pair of shorts and a shirt, which he’d packed in a bag that Hannah “must not have noticed when he got into the car.” If she’d pondered that for more than a moment, the thought fled her mind once he dropped his jeans.
The drive back to Hannah’s house was the best fifteen minutes I could call to memory. Music, laughing. Sitting in the backseat with my head resting on Reid’s shoulder.
Reid was going to take me home. Hannah asked Santos to stay and hang out a while, but he used the wet clothes as his excuse to get home. They couldn’t start something even if Santos wanted to.
Hannah started for her door, completely unaware that I’d most likely leave town the next day. “Hey!” I ran across the yard, up the front stairs, and flung my arms around her.
“Aw. See you Monday. Good luck tomorrow.” She pulled back to see my face. “I’m so proud of you! Oh—and good luck tonight!” She wriggled her eyebrows.
My sinuses burned, holding back tears. “Thank you. For being my friend.” My only real friend. I let go of her before I lost it and hopped onto the bike behind Reid.
I’d just said good-bye, and she didn’t even know it.
22.
Reid
I
walked her to the door. “Mom,” she yelled as she stepped into the entryway. No answer.
I closed the door behind us. “If she’s not home, I need to sweep the house. Understand?” She Pushed her shield. I stood close enough that I could feel it sting my skin. “Good call.” I Pushed my shield and Glock into my hand. “Ready?”
Josie nodded and followed me into the living room. Nothing appeared amiss. But the house was eerily silent. The alarm hadn’t sounded when we entered—standard operating protocol was for Mrs. Harper to keep her high-tech security system armed at all times. I prayed the Consortium hadn’t breached this house. One glance at Josie and I saw my worry mirrored—and multiplied—on her face.
We swept through the hallway. I kept her behind me, clearing the rooms and aiming into the blind areas with the precision that had been hammered into me by countless drills and training exercises in the Hub. Cut, turn, sweep. I angled my gun up the main stairwell. Held Josie back when I took the corners.
Our last training exercise had suited her. When I glanced back at her again, she was suited in a Kevlar vest—which she also had Pushed on me at the first sign of danger—and armed to the gills. Assault rifle slung over a shoulder and .38 Special clasped in her hands.
As I checked the kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom, she pivoted, watching our flanks. Hell yeah. If I hadn’t already fallen for this girl, seeing her like this would’ve shot me straight over the edge.
We crept into the decoy lab.
“Reid!”
Her stare pinballed around the room. It had been ransacked. She didn’t touch anything or speak. Instead, she did a 180 and sprinted through the family room toward the stairs. I caught her around the waist.
“On my lead,” I hissed.
I took the stairs quickly, knowing if I didn’t, she’d bolt past me into whatever danger might lurk above. I would’ve argued for her to stay downstairs or to go outside, but I knew she wouldn’t listen. And
I couldn’t afford to leave her alone until I knew what we were up against. I should’ve shuffled her into that damn panic room and locked it down. Though she probably would’ve fought me on that, too.
Even if I could convince her to wait in her mom’s subterranean room, I didn’t like the idea of her being unguarded, no matter how secure that lab was purported to be. So for now, I’d keep her at my back, and I’d keep her safe. I Pushed on my infrared goggles. No movement on the upper floor. That was good news for the likelihood of bad guys; not so good news for discovering her brother or mother. Even the dead gave off a heat signature, at least for a couple of hours.
Josie stopped when I kicked the door to Eli’s bedroom. In three seconds flat, I’d cleared the room, checking beneath the bed and inside the closet. She rushed past me and touched Eli’s bed.
“What?”
“His pillow and stuffed animal are gone.”
“Maybe he’s at a sleepover.”
“We don’t do sleepovers.” She opened and closed drawers. Then she pivoted, shoved past me, and ran into her mom’s room.
“Damn it, Josie!”
When I reached the doorway, I paused. She was sweeping through the room like a hurricane, tearing open drawers, ripping through the closet, rifling through the items on the small corner desk. Without a word, she ducked under my arm and darted down the stairs. I trailed her as she opened the closet door and worked the security lock for the lab. No signs of forced entry on the hidden panel. That was good.
I peeked into the garage. Empty.
The security keypad beeped, signaling a successful entry. Pulling the door back, she slipped in, and I shut the closet door and followed. She lashed out blindly, banging into the walls. I still had on the goggles, so I grabbed her hand and took the lead.
“Easy,” I whispered.
Her fingers clamped down on my wrist and didn’t relent. I guided us to the end of the pitch-black hall. We dropped to our knees. She fumbled for a second to engage the panel, and the moment it slid back, she slapped her hand over the blue screen. We entered the elevator without speaking.
The door to the lab opened with a hiss.
