The Catalyst: (Book One)

by Devi Mara

  Ilan gave him a long look, but finally nodded. “Lead on.”

  And have Ilan at his back. The thought was not pleasing, but to show fear was to lose all respect from the assassin. Addar straightened his spine and led the way to the elevators. As they rode the lift down to the ground floor, Addar could feel Ilan pressing at his mind. Searching for a way in.

  “Looking for something specific?” Addar growled, as he stepped off the elevator and turned to face the other man.

  “Curious.”

  “I have never known you to be…curious in the past.”

  Ilan smiled, showing more sharp teeth than necessary. “Perhaps, it is a new development.”

  Chapter Twenty

  The taxi dropped her just over a block from Renon. She walked from there. The street was quiet on the edge of the industrial district. The offices she passed had been emptied at five o’clock, when the business day ended. She walked quickly down the sidewalk, keeping her head down and her gaze on the driveway to the Renon labs.

  The lamps that usually lit the long lane were dark. Clearly, the night guards had forgotten to turn them on. Robin sighed. Their mistake would make her approach easier. If she was lucky, she could bypass them all together. She did not think she would be quite that lucky. But when she reached the front of the building without being stopped, she frowned.

  Robin glanced over her shoulder at the empty guard shack. Something very odd was going on. She tried the front door. Locked. So, the guards were gone, but the building was still secure. Maybe, they had gone to get something to eat nearby. It was a massive violation of policy, but with no one around to stop them…

  She slid her key into the lock and the lights flashed green. Very odd. Robin eased through the door and glanced around. Everything appeared to be intact. The front desk and lobby were still and silent. Robin continued across the large space, but the back of her neck began to prickle. She tried to ignore the feeling.

  The elevator let out a quiet beep and she stepped onto the lift. As the doors closed, she sniffed the air. It smelled off. Like burnt spices. Incense, maybe. She looked around the elevator for the source. The space was empty. She was still sniffing curiously when the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

  She walked with her head down until she was near the lab. Something shiny crushed under her tennis shoes. Robin raised her foot and knelt to pick up the rock. She held it in her palm and frowned. Not a rock. Glass. Her gaze slowly rose to take in the hallway ahead of her. The thin carpet was covered in thousands of shards of glass from the windows at the end of the hall.

  Robin gaped at the mess for a moment, before the pieces came together. The creature had escaped. She let the glass fall from her hand and raced for the door to the lab. There was only a piece of shredded metal where it had been. The lab was mostly intact, but the tank was destroyed.

  The power cords had been ripped from the wall and one side had been smashed, leaving the fluid to spill out onto the lab floor. She moved closer to the destruction to study the floor. There were footprints on the carpet. One set of bare feet and one in shoes of some kind. She followed them until they faded at the doorway.

  Someone had broken into the lab. No. Someone had broken the creature out of the lab. She turned to look at the door and narrowed her eyes. The lock had been forced and one of the hinges had been peeled apart, the remains left hanging in the doorjamb. The door was built to withstand the blast caused by the kind of volatile chemicals handled in the building. No human could have forced it open.

  Addar had been there. He had released the other creature, Ilan. The one he had told her was dangerous. Robin kicked herself for believing he had her best interests at heart. He had lied to her about everything else. Why had she even considered that he would destroy one of his own?

  Robin gave the room one last look and walked back to the elevator. She would have to call someone, otherwise her presence at the lab would look suspicious. She pulled her phone from her pocket, as the lift stopped on the ground floor. Just as she found Ken’s name in her phone, someone shouted from off to her left.

  She jerked her head up to see a young security guard pointing a gun at her. She dropped the phone.

  “Put your hands on your head!” he shouted.

  Robin hurried to obey. “I work here. I just needed to come in for—”

  “What are you doing here?” he demanded, advancing on her.

  “I work here,” she tried again.

  He did not seem to hear her. He approached, finally stopping just out of her reach. She watched the gun shake in his hand.

  “I-I’ve got to call someone. I’ve got to-got to…” he trailed off, searching through his pockets with his free hand.

  Robin kept her hands where he could see them, even as she watched the gun he had trained on her.

  “I’m Dr. Robin Kay. I have a key.”

  She started to reach for it and he immediately focused on her.

  “Keep your hands on your head, lady!”

  He did not take his eyes off of her after that. The guard managed to find his personal cell phone and place a call to the police. The wait, about twenty minutes, was harrowing. Every few minutes, he would shift the gun from one hand to the other when his hands got too sweaty to hold it properly. Each time, she was sure he would slip and shoot her.

  Finally, the lobby lit up with the flashing lights of the police cars outside. The guard kept the gun pointed at her, until two uniformed officers jogged into the building. They looked from Robin to the guard and back.

  “You called about a break in?”

  “I did,” the guard said, drawing their attention.

  “And you are?”

  “Jim Harrow, night guard.”

  One of the officers gave him a quick once over. “And you?” she asked, turning her gaze to Robin.

  “Dr. Robin Kay.”

  “You got some ID on you?”

  Robin let out a soft sigh and relaxed. “Right front pocket.”

  The officer carefully reached into her pocket, pulling out her driver’s license, a credit card, and a few twenty dollar bills.

  “Alright, Dr. Kay. I’m Officer Marshal and this is my partner, Officer Ricks.” She handed the cards and cash back to Robin. “You can put your hands down.”

  Robin gave her a small smile. “Thank you, Officer.”

  “Now, Dr. Kay,” the officer said. “Why are you here after hours?”

  “I came in for some paperwork. That’s when I noticed the break in.”

  “Break in?” The officer glanced over Robin’s shoulder toward the elevator. “Did you see anyone?”

  “No.”

  “How long have you been here?” the other officer asked, as he looked away from the shaken guard to look at Robin.

  “About ten minutes.”

  “Where were you?” he asked the guard.

  “Knocked out on the sidewalk.”

  “Did you see who hit you?” the female officer asked.

  The guard shook his head. “I just saw the one guy.”

  “I think the two of you should come down to the precinct.”

  Robin opened her mouth to argue, but the two officers had already turned away to whisper to each other.

  “You two have a seat over there,” the female officer said, gesturing to a row of seats along the lobby wall.

  Robin sighed, but moved to do as she was told. The guard did not seem any happier to be sitting near her. As the two of them sat, keeping about five seats between them, the male officer radioed the station to request more officers to search the building.

  …

  They walked until the only scents were of rats and stale air. The building Addar chose had been a theater at one time. The plush velvet seats had long since lost their richness, the fabric and foam left to mold and the hunger of rodents. Above the rows of theater seating, was a large balcony. They settled there. Ilan took the left hand side and Addar took the right.

  “One of the females car
ries your scent,” Ilan said after over an hour silence.

  Addar rose from his seat near the balcony railing.

  “Have you taken interest in one of the creatures?”

  “Have you ever known me to show interest in the indigenous population?” Addar demanded.

  Ilan stared at him silently.

  “Perhaps, your senses fail you.”

  Ilan’s black eyes narrowed. “No.”

  “Then, the scent was old.”

  The assassin’s expression turned interested. “Explain.”

  “One of the scientists is responsible for my incarnation.”

  “I see. One of the females.”

  Addar nodded.

  “It is so intelligent?”

  “Yes,” Addar answered, barely holding back a growl of annoyance.

  “I see. Could it not be useful, then?”

  “An irritant. Nothing more.”

  “If it is intelligent, does it not have knowledge of us? It could be dangerous.”

  Addar bared his teeth. “It is nothing. Of no worth or use. Leave it.”

  Ilan opened his mouth to argue and Addar cut him off with a snarl. The assassin fell silent.

  Addar watched Ilan until he went back to ripping theater seats out of the floor. Once he was sure the other man would not notice his absence, he slipped over the railing. His feet hit the ground with only a puff of dust and a sound soft enough to be masked by the noise Ilan was making. Addar left through the door behind the stage. It dumped him in a filthy alley.

  He travelled by foot for three blocks, heading away from Robin’s apartment, before catching a taxi to her building. Addar climbed the fire escape of the building across the street from hers and waited. The windows of her apartment stayed dark. Addar tipped his head back to look at the moon. It was nearly eleven according to its position. Robin should have been home long before eight.

  Addar started to climb down the fire escape when a lone police car pulled up in front of the building. The passenger side door opened and the doorman, Benny hurried to help the person out of the car. Addar frowned when he caught a glimpse of the passenger. Robin had turned him in to the authorities. He took a few steps back to hide himself in case she looked up. She did not.

  He watched her enter the building and vanish from sight. Even knowing how she felt, what she had said, part of him had never believed she wanted him dead. He was wrong. Addar slowly backed up until his back hit the door to the stairs. He stared unseeing at Robin’s building. He was a fool to care for her. She was just like the rest of her kind.

  His lips twisted into a snarl, as he watched the lights come on in her apartment. A commotion down on the street, jerked his attention away from her. He inched to the edge of the roof to look down at the front of her building. The police car was still there, but the officer was running into the building. So, they had finally found Marty.

  Robin would be blamed. If not immediately, then when all of the recent events came to light. He should leave her to it. After all, she wished him dead. In a government lab or worse. Addar turned away and climbed down the fire escape. He took his time returning to the abandoned theater.

  Ilan was sharpening a piece of metal when he stepped onto the balcony. He paused for a brief moment, then went back to his work without saying a word. Addar simply grunted and sat on his side of the balcony. They proceeded to ignore each other for the next seven hours.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Who is this man?” the detective demanded for the fifth time.

  “I don’t know,” Robin muttered.

  Her lips were dry from repeating the same lies over and over. She had been in the interrogation room so long she had lost track of time. The clock over the door was frozen on twelve o’clock.

  “Look, Ms. Kay—”

  “Dr. Kay,” Robin corrected automatically.

  The detective narrowed his eyes. “Dr. Kay. There are some pretty serious accusations against you.”

  “I have done nothing illegal.”

  “Lady! We have you on tape with this man right here.” He jabbed one of the photographs on the table. “The same man who broke into your lab at Renon.”

  “I’m not sure what that has to do with—”

  “You know him. We know you know him. And if you had anything to do with the theft of Renon’s property…” he trailed off.

  The door opened suddenly and a woman with a bright smile entered the room.

  “Dr. Kay? I’m Patricia McDonald. Renon sent me.”

  Robin stared at her in confusion.

  “Could I have a moment alone with Dr. Kay, detective?”

  The man clearly did not want to leave, but he did. Once the door and closed behind him, the lawyer took his chair. She gave Robin a wide smile.

  “Renon simply wants their property back. As well as the other.”

  Robin paused. The other. They meant Addar. She coughed lightly.

  “May I have some water?”

  “Certainly.”

  Robin watched the woman walk to the door and open it to talk to someone on the other side. As they waited, Robin’s mind spun. They knew about Addar and Ilan. Knew they were different. They had, perhaps, known since she began the experiment with Addar. All would be forgiven if she just gave them Addar.

  She would keep her position, her family need never know. It was perfect. And impossible. Renon thought nothing of cloning a human-like species. They would have no qualms about dissecting one for study. No. She could not give them Addar. But maybe she could give them Ilan. The beginnings of a plan in mind, she gave the lawyer a small smile when she returned to the table.

  “Your water.”

  Robin took the paper cup and took a sip. It was tap water and it was room temperature.

  “So, do you think we can work together on this?”

  Robin pretended to think about it. “And I can go home tonight?”

  “Within the hour.”

  “Alright. I will work with you.”

  “Wonderful.” The lawyer gave her another too bright smile. “Give me a few minutes.”

  She left the room and Robin sighed. After a few minutes went by and the lawyer did not return, she laid her head down on the table. It was probably close to midnight. She had left the university lab at five after she had destroyed all of the evidence of her experiments with Addar. The police had been at the front of her building waiting when she got home.

  Robin rolled her head to the side to look at the clock over the door. The second hand ticked in place. The same jerky movement over and over, never going anywhere. The door opened and the lawyer stuck her head through the gap to smile at her.

  “Dr. Kay?”

  Robin rose from the chair and followed the woman from the room and down the hallway. After signing a stack of forms, Robin was released into the woman’s custody.

  “May I leave, now?”

  The lawyer laughed, as if she had told a great joke. “Of course. I’ll give you a ride home.”

  Robin itched to say ‘no’, but she nodded. “Thank you.”

  The trip was short, but the woman’s unending chatter made it feel long. Robin was happy to get out of the car the moment it stopped.

  “Oh, Dr. Kay?”

  Robin paused in the process of closing the door. She bent down to look into the car.

  “I’ll expect a fulfillment of our agreement by this time tomorrow.” The smile was still bright, but it had a dangerous edge to it.

  “Of course,” Robin said.

  She closed the door and took a step back.

  The car drove away. Robin did not move from her place until the tail lights had completely faded into the night. Even then, a nagging uneasiness clung to her. She turned and walked into the building. Benny glanced at her, but did not greet her. A first. He was probably still rattled from seeing her placed in the back of a police car. She sighed.

  The clock in the lawyer’s car had proclaimed it just past three in the morning. With the deserted s
tate of the lobby and elevator, she was not surprised. She made it to her apartment without seeing anyone else and let herself in. The second the door shut, she knew she was not alone. The exotic, musky scent curled around her.

  “Addar,” she said softly.

  A low growl sounded from just behind her right ear. She could not help the shiver that rolled down her spine.

  “What are you doing here?” Robin asked, as she turned to face the dark room.

  “Where are they hiding?”

  Robin frowned into the darkness. “Who?”

  “The authorities,” Addar snarled, pressing forward until she could feel the heat of his body against hers.

  She could reach out and touch him. And suddenly, she wanted to.

  “They aren’t here. I told them I would give you to them by tomorrow night.”

  “But?” he demanded.

  “I don’t want to.”

  Addar fell silent and she could feel his breath on her neck, just short of panting.

  “I am going to give them Ilan.”

  “Why?”

  Robin licked her lips nervously, as she blinked into the darkness. When she found the outline of his body, she raised her hand to the side of his face.

  “I think I…” she trailed off and leaned into him.

  Addar let her get close enough to feel his lips graze hers, before he pulled back.

  “You what?”

  “I care…about you.”

  He let out a low rumble, more like a purr than a growl. “I see.”

  “Did you help Ilan escape?”

  “No. I intended to kill him.”

  Robin blinked at the honesty. “Oh.”

  “I am content to see him in the hands of science,” he said coldly.

  “Why were you going to kill him?”

  “As I said, he is dangerous.”

  Robin moved forward and pressed her lips against Addar’s. “Dangerous to whom?”

  “Humanity, the world, you.” The last was whispered against her lips.

  “Oh.”

  Robin started to kiss him again, when he went rigid.

  “What?”

  “There is something—”

  Addar did not get a chance to finish before the door smashed into Robin’s back. She gasped in pain, as what seemed like a dozen uniformed officers swarmed into her apartment. The light flipped on, momentarily blinding her. Squinting, she could only make out figures grappling. A hard shove behind sent her crashing into the table near the door. Yelling quickly turned to screaming in pain.