Psion Omega (Psion series Book 5)

by Jacob Gowans

  “We need a Psion, Vivi. That’s always been the plan.”

  “I’m as good as any Psion. You know that.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Sammy sighed. The weariness went everywhere: his muscles, bones, brain, even his soul. It seemed as if the whole world weighed heavy on him.

  Vitoria rested her head on Sammy’s shoulder. “Please, Sammy. Let me do it. Spare Jeffie and let me.”

  “I can’t change the mission.”

  Vitoria got up and surveyed the hole, sniffing several times in succession. “Thirty meters, huh? We’re ahead of schedule.”

  “Thirty meters.” Sammy’s voice was lifeless. He didn’t want to look at the hole. The deeper the tunnel, the closer he came to his own grave. He closed his eyes and tried to push those thoughts away, but they had become part of him. Death had become part of him. Barring desertion and fleeing for his life, he was already dead.

  When Vitoria sat back down, she slipped her hand into his.

  Sammy pulled his away. “Please don’t, Vivi.”

  “Why? Because you love Jeffie?”

  “I—I don’t—it doesn’t matter how I feel.”

  “You won’t hold my hand because of the way you feel about her, and you won’t let me take her place so she can live. You have a skewed sense of morality, Sammy.”

  “She chose this. You think I wanted it? It was supposed to be—” He cut himself off before he said something he couldn’t take back, but he’d already said too much. Curse my stupid mouth.

  “Anna,” Vitoria finished. “It was supposed to be her, wasn’t it?”

  Sammy fidgeted with his ventilation mask. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It does. I killed Jeffie when I killed Anna. I just didn’t know it then.”

  “It wasn’t you.”

  Vitoria started to cry. This angered Sammy. What right did she have to shed tears? She wasn’t going to die. Sammy wanted to smack her across the face, and the instant the idea crossed his mind, Vitoria scooted away from him.

  “What?”

  “That look,” she said, scooting to her feet. “The look in your eyes! Stay away from me!”

  “Vivi—”

  She started to run away, but Sammy threw himself at her and snagged her foot before she got away, not an easy task given her Anomaly Fifteen. She scrambled, but he managed to get on top of her and pin her down. With strength that surprised him, she spun and brought her knee up into his thigh, barely missing his groin.

  “GET OFF ME!” she screamed.

  Sammy clamped a grimy, wet hand over her mouth. Her eyes widened and she pummeled his ribs with the viciousness of a boxer. Rage flared in him again, and the grip on her mouth tightened until he was squeezing her jaw with his larger hands. But the terror in her eyes helped him regain his sanity, and the fury dwindled and shrunk like a deflated balloon. He took the hand off her mouth and wrapped it around her head, hugging her even as she continued struggling.

  “I’m sorry, Vivi. I won’t hurt you. I’m sorry.”

  Vitoria cried harder. “You are all I have. Don’t you get it? I’ll kill myself before I let you die.”

  “No, you won’t,” Sammy said emphatically. His breath was hot and his lips were right next to hers. His ribs ached enough that he wondered if she had cracked them. “You won’t kill yourself because that would be a piss poor way of repaying me for what I’m trying to do!”

  Vitoria shook her head. “When the Aegis came for my family, Dad fought them. They killed him in front of us. They dragged Fabiana, my sister, away while she screamed. I didn’t give them any trouble because Mom snapped when she saw Dad die. She went blank and stiff. They carried her out like a mannequin. My mom …”

  Sammy held her tightly. “I’m sorry.”

  “I had nothing. I tried to kill myself when I was in the Aegis’ custody in the tower. When they put me in S.H.I.E.L.D. I had nothing left but hate. They beat me, raped me, humiliated me. Made me …” Vitoria put her hand over her mouth and stifled a shrill scream. “I’m a monster, Sammy!”

  “You’re not.”

  “I am. You don’t get it. I killed. I shot a boy in cold blood. Just because they told me to.” She sobbed and shook. “I’m a murderer.”

  “They messed with your brain. You didn’t have a choice.”

  “There’s always a choice. I could have let them kill me. I could have stopped myself from killing Anna and Croz and those others.”

  “People want to survive. They’ll do anything. You were terrified, lost, alone, empty. You had to grab onto something to make sense, so you accepted their brainwashing. You have nothing to feel guilty about.”

  “I don’t want to live.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  “I don’t want to live!” Her anguish echoed off the sewer walls, and Sammy pulled her to him to shush her. As he cradled her, he kept up a steady stream of encouragement about how things would get better, how she could go back to Rio, find her extended family, and rebuild her life. He held her until she calmed down. Then she put a hand on his face and turned his head toward her. The gold in her eyes flashed at him, and she drew in closer until her lips were a few centimeters away.

  “No,” he told her. “Please don’t.”

  She stopped and sighed, then pulled herself away from him. They sat in silence until Jeffie returned with the food. As they ate, the conversation stayed on the drilling. Sammy took little enjoyment in his meal. It had no flavor or smell. It was energy and sustenance. And when it was gone, the work resumed. The day finally ended when they were too tired to continue. Sammy called Justice and checked in via com, then fell asleep with the smell of rot and filth still clinging to his skin.

  * * * * *

  At 0213 the Queen’s com rang. She was staying in her mountain home in the Grand Tetons for the first time in months. Outside of the penthouse in Orlando she could relax and sleep. Being in her own home felt right. Before answering the com, she activated her voice disguiser. Then she saw it was Chad at the Hive. “What?”

  “We have something … I apologize for bothering you, but it doesn’t make sense.”

  The Queen cursed Chad silently and turned off the disguiser. “What is something?”

  “Diego has hundreds of these alerts set up all with different priority assignments. Some of them are instant, and some are daily, weekly … you get the idea. He has so many that it takes time for me to go through them all. I’ve just come across one for an alert in the sewers in Rio near the N Tower. Some kind of work going on down there and we have no record of work permit requests or prior authorization.”

  “Who is it?” the Queen growled. This is not worth my time. “What kind of work?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Call the city offices. Tell them you represent the N Corp’s security team. You’ve been alerted that someone is lurking in the sewers around your premises and want them to send someone to check it out. Let me know what you hear.”

  * * * * *

  The drill pushed deeper into the earth through concrete and steel. The second day passed without incident until the late afternoon when, during the hottest hour of the day, a man carrying a flashlight appeared. Vitoria signaled them to stop the drill and climb out of the hole, not an easy task given the tunnel’s stretching length and angle of descent. Sammy couldn’t get a good look at the newcomer, but he was prepared to blast if need be. The rays of the flashlight hit Sammy’s feet, then traveled up his legs until it stopped at his face, blinding him.

  “You three working down here?” the man asked in a thick Brazilian accent.

  “We are,” Sammy said, trying to make his voice as deep as he could without sounding phony. “Structural correction for J and G Construction. How can we help you?”

  When the flashlight finally pointed away, Sammy saw the man’s face. He had a bushy mustache and eyes that darted between Vitoria and Jeffie. “You’re a bunch of kids. What are you doing down here?”

  “Kids?” Sammy tried to la
ugh the comment away, but it ended up sounding small and nervous.

  “We told you … we’re working,” Jeffie said with much more authority than Sammy had been able to muster.

  “I’m with the commercial zoning board. I need to see your permits.”

  Sammy tried to think of a solution that didn’t involve incapacitating the man. He looked at Jeffie and Vitoria. “Which one of you has the permits?”

  “I do,” Vitoria said. And before Sammy could see what she had, Vitoria pulled a gun and shot the man three times in the chest.

  “NO!” Sammy shouted.

  Jeffie blasted Vitoria backward with her hands, but the damage was done. Sammy picked the man up and examined his wounds, but he was dead in seconds. Vitoria’s aim was impeccable. Jeffie jumped on her and pinned her down.

  “I’m sorry!” Vitoria cried. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She was crying again, hysterical and nearly hyperventilating. “He’s not dead, Sammy! He’s not dead!”

  Sammy had brought restraints in case Vitoria proved uncontrollable. He grabbed them from his pack and slipped them around Vitoria’s wrists and ankles. When they locked, Vitoria didn’t fight them. She only cried more. Once she was secure, Jeffie pulled Sammy away.

  “What are we going to do?” She had an edge to her voice that told Sammy she was barely keeping it together.

  “We have to keep working.”

  “She killed him!” Jeffie hissed.

  “And we can’t deal with that right now. We have a job. Let’s get it done.”

  “But—”

  “I don’t know how long we have before someone comes down here looking for that guy. Could be an hour, could be a week. But if that does happen, we have a bigger problem. So let’s drill.”

  Without Vitoria’s help, the drilling process slowed. Sammy had to be more careful because Jeffie wasn’t able to help him steady the drill, she had to stay back with the pump and its extensions. By the end of the day, they had reached a length of sixty meters. Sammy had hoped to be at seventy-five. The drill blades were slowly dulling, and they didn’t have replacements. It had been hard enough to procure just the one machine.

  When Sammy went to wake Jeffie early the morning of the next day, he paused before shaking her. Despite the grime and sweat and stench on her, Sammy noted how beautiful she was. He touched her cheek and ran his fingertips along her jawline. Vitoria lay next to Jeffie and watched Sammy with fresh tears running down her face, but closed her eyes when their gazes met. Her arms and legs were still bound.

  “I’m sorry we had to do that,” Sammy told her. “I’m sorry for everything you’ve had to go through.”

  Vitoria didn’t move and her eyes stayed closed.

  “If I give you some time to stretch your muscles, do you promise not to run?”

  Vitoria squirmed and nodded.

  Releasing her ankles first, Sammy helped her to her feet, his hand still clasped around her wrist restraints. He walked her away from Jeffie, away from the drilling site, into the darkness of the sewers. “You look tired,” he said.

  “So do you. I woke up almost screaming every half hour from muscle cramps. What’s your excuse?”

  “I’m sorry, Vivi,” he said, hurrying to release her hands. “I didn’t mean to—”

  When the bonds around her wrists fell away, her body tensed up as though she wanted to run. Sammy, in turn, tensed up too. “I’m not going to chase you.”

  She stared at him. “Yes you will.” And she took off.

  Sammy swore. “Jeffie, get up!”

  Jeffie’s eyes opened.

  “Vitoria ran!”

  Sammy sprinted after Vitoria. Despite his larger size, longer legs, and greater strength, he did not have her Anomaly Fifteen. By the time he reached the ladder to the streets of Rio and blasted up through the sewer hole, Vitoria was already thirty meters down the road. Thankfully it was still such an early hour that the streets were nearly bare. Sammy called her name as he ran.

  Vitoria peered over her shoulder and kept running. Sammy chased her to a park. When he reached her, she was on a swing, pumping her legs, arcing high into the air and back down. No smile adorned Vitoria’s face, but there was something different: a look of freedom or some small measure of peace. Each swing made her hair fan out behind her. Her eyes locked onto his and they watched each other for a while. Sammy felt in his soul that in a different world, a different life, he could have feelings for her like he had for Jeffie. She was beautiful and strong and real, despite being deconstructed and reassembled by the CAG.

  Sammy took the swing next to her and swung lightly. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d sat on one. It might have been ten years or even a lifetime ago. “We’re not going to reach the mark in time without your help,” he finally said. “And if we do, it will be from working night and day, wearing ourselves out. We won’t have anything left for the last stage …”

  “I know.” Her eyes had taken on that lifeless, dull quality again. Her face was stone.

  “But?”

  “If I help you, I lose you.”

  “You’ll be alive. And free. And we’ll have all but won the war.”

  “You love Jeffie, right?” Vitoria asked.

  “You’re not going down there with us. It’s me and Jeffie.”

  “Because you love her.” Vitoria spat the words.

  “I—”

  “Don’t know,” she finished for him. “How can you not know?”

  “I don’t know.” He gave her a tight grin. “To love someone is a really huge thing. It means a lot. I can’t just say I love someone when I don’t know.”

  Vitoria rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You love her. Still … you’d rather die with her and miss out on growing old together just so you can win? What if the NWG becomes just like the problem you’re fighting?”

  “Then other people will rise up to do what needs to be done.”

  “I don’t deserve to live. Jeffie does. You both do.”

  “What makes you say that?” The question hadn’t come from Sammy, but Jeffie, who was only a few steps away. Both Sammy and Vitoria turned at the sound of her voice. She took the swing on the opposite side of Vitoria. “I’m no better than you, Vivi.”

  “Yes you are. The things I’ve done …”

  “You know better,” Jeffie said. “We don’t have to keep telling you that they aren’t your fault.”

  “Who will I have when you two are gone?” Toad’s sister asked meekly.

  Jeffie’s voice cracked. “You’ll have your life. Do with it what you want.”

  “Vitoria …” Sammy said. “Please. We can’t do this without you.”

  Both Sammy and Jeffie watched her, waiting. Vitoria sighed, her eyes on the ground. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, splashing reds and golds into the sky on a palette of stray clouds. A hot breeze blew the girls’ hair and made the strands dance around their heads. Jeffie looked over at Sammy, indicating with her eyes that it was time to return to the sewers.

  “Vitoria?” Sammy repeated.

  She nodded. “All right. I’ll go back.”

  Progress on the hole picked up the third day. They worked from morning to evening, finally within centimeters of breaching the foundation’s service tunnels. Sammy and Jeffie stopped the drills and walked the long distance up the tunnel. When Vitoria saw them, she shut off the pump.

  “Stopping point?” she asked.

  Sammy nodded. They would not drill any deeper until early the next day. Instinctively, Sammy checked the time on his watch, it was nearly evening. “I’m hungry. You pick where we eat, Jeffie.”

  What he had meant as an act of kindness transformed into a moment of solemnity. Jeffie knew why he had offered her the choice: it would be their last meal. She shook her head. “You decide.”

  “I don’t care. I want you to choose.”

  Jeffie was not going to budge. So, they both turned to Vitoria. “Is there anything you
want?”

  Based on Vitoria’s recommendation, the three ended up eating at a pizza-tilla, which served hybrid Italian/Mexican food that neither Jeffie nor Sammy particularly cared for, but Vitoria devoured. For dessert, they ordered three bowls of fried ice cream.

  Sammy hadn’t taken more than five bites of dessert when through the street-side window of the restaurant he saw three men heading down into the sewers. They wore jackets similar to the one the man asking for Sammy’s permit had worn, but their cautious behavior—and the large, bulky duffel bag one of them toted—told him these weren’t city employees.

  “Check it out,” he said, directing Jeffie and Vivi’s attention to what he saw.

  “Aegis,” Vitoria said.

  “Let’s go,” Jeffie added.

  Vitoria jumped out of her seat, but Sammy grabbed her by the arm. “Are you going to stay in control? Follow orders?”

  “I’ll do what I was trained to do. Aegis killed my family.” Vitoria spun and grabbed his syshée from its concealed holster, but before Sammy could react, she was running for the exit. Sammy got up so fast he toppled the table, spilled ice cream in two directions, and drove the corner of the wood hard into Jeffie’s knee. Jeffie limped out the door behind him, running as best as she could.

  “Vitoria, stop!” Sammy shouted.

  She didn’t. Instead, she jumped feet first into the sewer hole. Seconds later, Sammy heard gunfire. Blasts ready, he followed. It was much darker below the street level, and it took time for his eyes to adjust. “Get behind me!” Sammy shouted to Vitoria. But he was too late. She had already killed all three Aegis, each with a shot to the head. Jeffie dropped in behind Sammy, panting, hissing, and grabbing her knee.

  Vitoria walked up to one of them and kicked him savagely in the head. “Coward called in for backup,” she reported. “They know we’re here.”

  21. Broken

  Sunday, June 1, 2053

  KATIE HID IN the hotel bathroom, huddled in the corner next to the toilet until her mother came and got her. She didn’t speak, she just sobbed in the back seat. Her mother cried too. The drive home lasted an eternity, and when they finally pulled into the driveway, Katie pushed past her parents, stumbled up the steps clutching her stomach, and locked her bedroom door. Sleep finally came hours later. Her dreams were macabre scenes of carnage and mayhem. Gruesome acts of violence filled her mind and played out in visions no one could see or hear but her. They were vivid down to the scent of the blood and the sounds of flesh bending to blades. She woke exhausted.