The Atlantis Girl

by S. A. Beck

  With trembling hands, she held up the phone and started snapping pictures. She photographed the humanoid hybrid creatures floating in the vats. She photographed the rows and rows of drawers, most of them unlabeled but a few with bodies housing the undead, the comatose—for what reason, she had no clue.

  She took as many pictures as she could in the few minutes she dared linger. Then, she raced from the room and scurried up the hall, away from the scene of her break-in. She hurried to her office and didn’t stop briskly walking until she was safely behind the glass doors with Yuhle. He looked up from his computer, his gray eyes solemn. “Did you do it?” he whispered, his lips barely moving.

  Akiko nodded. “After work. Meet me at the coffee shop.” An employee in a lab coat walked past the window and glanced in, and Akiko jumped, clutching her chest. “Yuhle, we have to get out of here. I don’t know how, but we have to.”

  Yuhle hopped up from his desk and tucked his arm around his mentor. “Listen to me. We will. Okay? I’ll get us out of here. Just… we have to do what we have to, to stay under the radar. Do you understand?”

  She cried, nodding her head and burying her face in Yuhle’s neck. “What have I gotten us into?”

  * * *

  APRIL 11, 2016, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

  5:35 PM

  “You’re starting to become a bore, dogface,” Lizzie hissed menacingly.

  Jaxon looked up from her magazine, startled by the sound of her nemesis behind her. She whipped around in the overstuffed armchair and glared. “Didn’t I tell you to stay away from me? Lizzie, this is getting old.” Her nails dug crescents into her palms as she balled her fists. A quick glance around showed her they were alone in the great room.

  Lizzie sneered, her coral-red lips twisting over the mouthful of metal. With a different attitude, she would be a pretty girl. Her auburn hair flowed around her face in feathery layers that accentuated the slant of her cheeks. Her large, doe-like eyes were squeezed in a scowl. She looked Jaxon up and down.

  “He’s just not that into you, girl. Why don’t you stop making yourself look easy? If you throw yourself at Anthony any harder, you’ll break something.”

  Jaxon rose to her full height, a little under five feet. Her eyes were at Lizzie’s mouth level. “If you’re that desperate for attention from him, then why don’t you stop yapping and throw the first punch.”

  “You think I won’t?” Lizzie took a threatening step forward, rage written plainly on her face. She was fed up with what she thought were Jaxon’s attempts at stealing her crush. The girl was delusional. Dr. Hollis was far too mature to get tangled up with a foolish teenage girl. Jaxon suppressed a sigh and refrained from once again stating the obvious.

  “You’re not worth the FW points,” she said, shaking her head. Jaxon grabbed her magazine to leave the great room. Class time had ended an hour ago, and most of the other residents were wrapped up in extracurricular activities. Soon enough, Jaxon would have something to do in the evenings, too, once Dr. Hollis made arrangements for her to get in the greenhouse, but until then, she planned to avoid the girl who just couldn’t seem to leave her alone.

  Lizzie grabbed her shoulder and snatched her around to face her. Jaxon angrily chopped her wrist and broke the painful grip. Lizzie was taller and bigger than she was, but she wasn’t intimidated. “That was your last warning,” Jaxon growled.

  “I saw you out in the greenhouse with him. You were supposed to be in your room. Wait until everyone hears what a slu—”

  “Problem, ladies?”

  The boys’ resident assistant saved Lizzie from getting her braces prematurely readjusted. Both girls turned to the entry archway where Otto Heike casually peered into the room. The athletic eighteen-year-old had his arms lifted, fingers hooked in the molding of the arch. His muscular torso was elongated, and his white T-shirt stretched taut against his sweaty chest. His piercing gray eyes darted from Lizzie’s face to Jaxon’s as he swung back and forth on the tips of his toes. He dropped to the floor and crossed his arms.

  Dr. Hollis had pulled him aside during lunch. He had asked Otto to keep an eye on the new student and find out who was giving her a hard time. His lips curved upward in one corner. It didn’t take much looking around to see that the resident mean girl was involved.

  Lizzie pasted on a sweet smile and clasped her hands behind her back. “Not at all, Otto. We were just having a friendly girl chat. I’m keeping the newbie in line.” She threw an arm around Jaxon and dragged her close. Jaxon shook off the arm and stepped away.

  Otto’s dark brows lowered over his watchful eyes. “Thanks, Lizzie. But Loren is the girls’ RA. If there’s anything Jaxon needs to know, you can direct her to Lo next time. And aren’t you supposed to be with the art class out on the patio for your extracurricular?” Lizzie sulked, her full lips pouty. Otto pointed to the door, and Lizzie stamped from the room, leaving Jaxon to face him alone.

  She had seen the authoritative youth around the residence during the three and a half weeks she had been there, but she’d never had reason to speak with him. Seeing him up close and personal, she realized why half the girls at Forever Welcome considered Otto Heike the hottest boy on campus.

  He had sun-kissed brown hair with deep copper natural highlights, a tousled array of wayward curls spilling across his forehead. He had a sharp, straight nose above a sensually carved mouth. Jaxon hitched in a breath as she studied his strikingly handsome face. He had a square chin and the slightest dark brown fuzz of a beard.

  He wore a T-shirt and gym shorts since his extracurricular was the fitness team. In the basement of Forever Welcome was a makeshift gym packed with hand-me-down fitness equipment, and Otto and a few friends pumped iron and slap boxed after classes. He looked the pipsqueak up and down. He had seen her around but never really paid her any attention. Jaxon Andersen kept to herself.

  His smoke-gray eyes searched her face to make sure she was okay. She looked mad as a rattlesnake in a box, but she didn’t appear too shaken up. “What’s your extracurricular?” he asked.

  “I don’t have one yet.”

  “Oh, really? You want to come downstairs and hang out with my crew? We do some weightlifting, stuff like that. I mean, you don’t have to do anything. Just to get you out of the target zone. I know how Lizzie can be. She likes to give the new girls trouble, but she’s all talk, harmless.”

  “Yeah, I figured.” Jaxon sighed. She crossed her arms, trying to tamp down her oversized temper. “You said you guys lift weights?”

  He lifted and dropped his shoulders. “We got ellipticals and a stationary bike, too. Yoga mats. All that crap is collecting dust. You can bust it out. Come on. Let me show you.” He waved her over, a smile on his lips. She looked as if she was trying to come up with an excuse to turn him down, but Otto wasn’t having that. Jaxon Andersen wasn’t the type to invite a second glance, but if someone did look twice, they’d see something that made it hard to look away. The more Otto stared at her, the more he wanted to get to know her.

  Besides, she was little. He had heard she was sixteen, but she looked closer to twelve. Maybe she could use some toughening up, and working out with the fitness group would help her gain some confidence.

  He jogged into the foyer, and she dragged her feet, but she followed. She hadn’t been in the basement, though she had seen nearly all the other main areas of the house. She enjoyed the game room upstairs, which was equipped with video game consoles, laptops, and flat screens. Like the attic, the basement had an open, airy floor plan and bright walls to give the illusion of spaciousness. She trudged down the stairs in Otto’s wake and peeked in down below. They stepped down on the foam-covered floor.

  There were three elliptical exercise machines and a stationary bike, with teens of all ages using the equipment and chatting companionably as they worked out. The atmosphere was more relaxed than she would’ve imagined. They looked as if they were having fun. There were weight benches, and free weights were stacked on a shelf beside
a floor-to-ceiling mirror. Most of the older guys were using them. A section of floor was squared off and covered with yoga mats that weren’t getting much use.

  Jaxon’s gaze went straight to the boxing bag standing in a corner where a ponytailed blonde was throwing hard blows against the battered, beaten leather. A smile lit Jaxon’s face. “This place is awesome,” she gushed.

  Otto nodded, surprised it was her speed. “You like it? Get in where you fit in. I can help you put together a routine right quick if you want to. Was thinking maybe you wanted to run through some self-defense maneuvers… bet you get picked on a lot for being so little.” His voice had a teasing lilt, and he tugged playfully at a strand of her jet-black hair.

  Jaxon swatted away his hand, grinning. “I can handle myself, trust me.”

  Otto bounced around on his toes, hands up. He threw a few feints, which she easily avoided. “Uh-oh, you look like you got some moves. Hang on. I got mitts.” He led her over to the boxing area and put mitts on his hands to let her practice some punches.

  Jaxon blushed, laughing. She covered her face and shook her head. “Challenge!” The blonde, Loren, pulled off the boxing gloves and handed them to her. “Nice to see you finally mingling, Jax.”

  Jax wrinkled her nose with a tight, nervous smile. They weren’t letting her refuse. Delaney, the pest, spoke up for her. “I bet she can put you on your ass, Otto.” She grinned, looking around in surprise at the crowd that was gathering. It was weird. They weren’t taunting her or picking on her or cheering for somebody to beat her up. They were rallying around her. It was almost as if she was a part of the fun instead of the butt of a joke.

  “Okay,” she said uncertainly.

  She put on the boxing gloves and punched out with her right hand. Jaxon allowed her wrist to weakly curve downward. She didn’t want to hit him with her full force. Jax was well aware she could knock the buff Otto Heike into tomorrow. She would have to pull her punches.

  “That was pretty good. Put a little more power behind it,” he coaxed.

  Loren stepped up behind her and positioned her arms correctly. “It’s all about form. Ever been in a fight before?” Jaxon shrugged. The residents didn’t know her history just as she didn’t know theirs. It was considered impolite at Forever Welcome to pry into another person’s background. Loren put a hand beneath Jaxon’s spaghetti arms and thrust them up so her fists were at face level. Lo kicked Jaxon’s feet so she would spread her legs a little wider. “Stay nimble,” she directed.

  “Hit him, Jax!” Delaney cheered for her.

  Jaxon bit her lip and punched a little harder. Otto backed up a step with the blow. “Dang, girl! That’s a mean right hook.” Otto chuckled, holding up his mitts and beckoning for her to come again. She took a few more swings, keeping the force behind the punches at the same intensity or a little less.

  “All right, all right!” Jaxon feigned breathlessly and pulled off the gloves. “Let someone else go.”

  She was smiling as she stepped back to root for the next person. She was amazed and in disbelief—they wanted to hang out with her. The boxing practice went on for another hour until the participants drifted off to other pursuits in the gym, and Jaxon studied her options. She moved around to an elliptical and stepped up, noticing that signs on each piece of equipment let residents know what age level the machines served.

  “Look at me, Jaxon!” a thirteen-year-old boy on the stationary bike called out. “Want me to show you how fast I can ride?”

  Otto strolled past the kid and ruffled his straight brown hair. “Show off, Hinkly,” he said with a laugh.

  “I’m not a show-off,” Hinkly protested. “I just want to talk to her, that’s all.”

  Jaxon giggled as Otto made his way to her side and hopped on the elliptical next to her. “Look out, Jaxon. I think you have a secret admirer,” he whispered dramatically. Jaxon blushed and waved playfully at the kid. She set the pace on her machine to match Otto’s. “Hinkly wants to know if you have a boyfriend.”

  Jaxon gave Otto a sideways glance. “Does Hinkly want to know or does someone else want to know?” Was he flirting with her?

  Otto pumped his arms up and down, staring straight ahead, as he walked on the machine. “Inquiring minds want to know.”

  “No, I don’t have a boyfriend.” She ducked her head to hide her grin and kept walking. “Do either of the RAs have a significant other?” There were only two, one for the boys and one for the girls, and she wanted to know the answer for only one of them. She wasn’t bold enough to ask Otto outright, though.

  “One of them does,” he answered.

  She asked, “Which one?”

  “Not me, obviously,” he said, chuckling. “If I did, my girlfriend would definitely be jealous about me talking to a beautiful woman like you.”

  Their eyes connected, and his magnetism was impossible to miss. She couldn’t drag her gaze away. Otto licked his lips and bit the bottom one, and Jaxon followed the swipe of his tongue with her eyes. She chuckled nervously.

  Later in the night, she lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about the boy with the smoke-gray eyes. She’d never really been interested in a guy before, probably because she was rarely in one place for long. She closed her eyes, wondering what tomorrow would bring. She had been at the group home for nearly a month, and she was starting to feel as if she fit in somewhere. The evening was proof, wasn’t it? The same kids she had avoided getting to know had accepted her. Sure, there were Lizzie and her cohorts to deal with, but Jaxon was determined to make the best of her two-year sentence… especially if it meant she had more time to get to know Otto Heike.

  Chapter 8

  APRIL 11, 2016, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

  7:00 PM

  They met after work, in a coffee shop on the other side of the unfamiliar city. Akiko had a condominium lease as part of her agreement to work on the project. She chose a meeting location as far away from home as possible.

  The night was starless. The city streets were nearly empty as she drove her white BMW, guided by her GPS. She parallel parked and looked up to see Yuhle waiting for her by the coffee shop entrance. A baseball cap covered his sandy-brown hair, and he wore blue jeans. It was odd to see him out of his lab coat. He looked like anybody—or nobody.

  Akiko turned off the engine and tried to shake the sense of impending doom. Meade could have someone tailing her just to keep an eye on what she was doing away from the research facility. She knew he worked with the NSA. He could have her phone tapped or her emails under surveillance. She felt scrutinized and in danger, but she couldn’t help that. She had made a deal with the devil, and it came with the contract.

  “And even if they’re watching,” she mumbled to herself, “is it a crime to meet with a friend? I have to act naturally.” She mustered her courage and climbed out. She hit the remote control to lock the doors and set the alarm and hurried up to Yuhle. Akiko had a soft smile on her thin lips and swiped her hair out of her face, trying to appear normal.

  “I thought you weren’t going to show.”

  “I couldn’t call you. It’s not safe,” she said. “Come on inside.”

  He followed her into the dimly lit interior of the coffee shop where the amber lighting gave the illusion of intimacy. The yellow ocher walls were warm and inviting. One wall of the room boasted floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and a comfortable faded green sofa was cattycorner near the front of the coffee shop, a teenage girl curled up with a book. It was nearing seven o’clock, and there weren’t many patrons.

  The duo nervously made their way to the counter where Akiko ordered chai latte while Yuhle opted for a macchiato. They waited wordlessly for their orders to be filled. When the cups hit the countertop, the weary scientists grabbed them gratefully and hurried to a table near the back of the coffee shop so Akiko could watch the door.

  “I know what I must do, and you’re not going to like it, but I have to do it. I need to get closer to the general.” She said the
last over Yuhle’s protests. “He’s the only one who can tell us what he’s doing.”

  “No, no, Akiko. I’ve thought this through. Tomorrow morning, you need to give them your resignation, and I’ll give them mine.”

  “We can’t. We need to keep going as we are. It’s the only way.”

  He slammed the coffee cup down on the table and yanked off his baseball cap. Yuhle ran his shaking fingers through his hair, considering her suggestion and quickly discarding it with a shake of his head. “What we need to do is cut ties, okay? They don’t own us. We’re under no obligation to continue to take part in this.”

  “Think about what you’re saying, Yuhle. Do you really think General Meade is just going to let me walk away from everything?” She kept her voice level and low. There was no point in attracting anyone’s attention. Akiko glanced around the nearly empty shop to see who might be eavesdropping.

  Yuhle huffed, chest heaving. She was right. Everyone knew Dr. Yamazaki was a priceless asset. No one else had the Atlantis gene copy to compare with the test subjects, and no one else understood the research process well enough to get accurate results. The general would probably resort to keeping her around by any means necessary—even against her will.

  “At least if I cozy up to him, he won’t suspect I’m working against him. Which brings me to the next part of the process. I’m going to start keeping two sets of files. The official reports we send to them will make it seem like we’re having trouble finding more matches. We can’t let any more people fall victim to what happened to Zion.”

  Akiko rifled through her oversized handbag and dug out her cell phone. She had already printed the pictures and made digital copies, and she would erase the device as soon as Yuhle had a look. She slid the phone across the table. His eyes looked haunted by what he saw. Yuhle put a hand to his mouth as he scrolled through image after image, the color leaving his face.