I’m not in handcuffs but I might as well be as Will leads me toward the exit. We pass my office when a flash of green catches my gaze. It’s Ferngully, her stem a bright green and budding new leaves forming. It feels cruel to understand that she will continue to thrive without me.
Just like everything else I care about.
William brings me to a car that looks just like the one he gifted Lincoln. I numbly fall into the passenger seat. My body is disassociated from my mind. I’m watching this happen like it’s a bad dream—the sort of dream where the tsunami wave is coming and I can’t do anything about it. I lower my head to the window, defeated, as he drives off the base. I went from having a family and friends like I always dreamed of, only to lose it all. And who do I have to blame but myself?
I chose to stay.
Don’t go pitying yourself.
Grandma’s Sue voice comes through so loud and clear, I sit upright. It’s enough to get the blood flowing again, shake off the numbing sadness. It’s enough to get me to pay attention to what is happening.
That’s when I realize that we’ve left town. He must have driven past the police station a mile back and I missed it. We’re heading up the mountain.
And I’m in more danger than I ever imagined.
29
Nathaniel
I stare as the woman of my dreams is escorted away by the monster of my nightmares.
“Well. Let’s hope we can put all this behind us now,” Ken says.
I turn slowly to him. I imagine my face is twisted with rage based on his flinch.
“Julia had nothing to do with any of this,” I say. But she might blame herself. She was already convinced she was an affliction. I could easily see her twisting the facts to assign herself the guilt. We had made so much progress and yet in one fell swoop my father has shaken her confidence.
“We know, man,” Jared says.
I turn to him. “What?”
“I can’t speak for everyone, but I was skeptical the moment that guy walked in that room. William Moore isn’t even associated with our contract. Then he just walks in to drop this bomb?”
“Sounds like BS,” Dylan says. “We know Julia. She wouldn’t do any of this.”
I collapse to the chair in relief. I didn’t realize how badly I needed to hear this.
“Will threatened us to get you to do his bidding. Tried to pit us against you. But even if we were kicked off the base and lost our clearances, it wouldn’t have mattered.” Jared’s left leg bounces and he stares at me with gravity. “It was never about the tech or the glory or the contract.”
“It’s always been about you, Nathaniel. Where you go, we will follow,” Kate says.
The others murmur agreement.
“You give us space to grow,” Dylan says.
“You support us,” Febin adds.
“You bring us doughnuts.” Jared grins.
I rub a hand through my hair. The emotion in the room tightens my throat. I feel more loved than I ever thought possible. How did I earn the love of this team? Of Julia? Despite all that my father has ever said, I know that means something. I am worthy of being loved. I swallow as I realize even more how he has played me, knowing exactly how to cut me.
“Julia is one of us now. You trust her and so do we. I was really about to lose my cool when he accused her of attacking some guy probably twice her size. Come on,” Jared says.
“Heh. Yeah.” I scratch the back of my neck. “Julia would never do anything to screw up this project.”
“Duh,” Dylan says. They still have their knees tucked to their chin, picking at the rip in the knees.
“We know what this is all about.” Jared crosses his arms. “Don’t forget we know all about Julia’s illness.” He holds my gaze, sending a look of understanding.
I look to each of my teammates. Their shared looks tell me I’ve grossly underestimated their observation skills, and greatly overestimated my own sneakiness.
“We just didn’t want to say anything else in front of William. We don’t trust him,” Kate said. “I just wish that Julia knew we trust her. And we don’t care about her … illness.”
“We’re all a little odd in this group and she’s always accepted us as we are.” Febin shrugs his thin shoulder. Then his head tilts in thought. “I don’t understand the point of all this,” Febin says. His mustache twitches side to side. “What could Will get out of any of this?”
“Have her take the fall,” Kate says. “He must have been sabotaging the tests somehow.”
I shake my head. “No. He wouldn’t get his hands dirty.” I think of the thugs that he sent after Julia. “Not his style.”
“Are you all quite done?” Ken’s forehead is shiny with sweat as he tosses out an arm. I had honestly forgotten that he was even here. My full focus on him as he speaks causes him to flinch back. “She just admitted to it. She really did a number on you all.”
Kate crosses her arms and tilts her head at Ken. “You’re really eager to let her take the blame when you never even worked with her.”
Ken doesn’t miss a beat. “I just haven’t been fooled. I can see her for what she is. She herself admitted she was dangerous. She brought a bat to bash the laser. She has mental issues. She needs help.”
Jared stands up. He has a solid few inches on Ken which is made more apparent as he steps closer to the sweaty man. Jared’s knuckles pop as he flexes them into fists. “You know, the report didn’t say anything about a bat being used.”
“In fact, only Jared, Nathaniel, and I saw the testing room. We only listed the equipment on the damage reports for insurance purposes—not how it was broken.” Kate stands next to Jared, effectively blocking Ken from the door. She’s not as physically imposing but nobody would ever think to cross her with the look burning out of her eyes.
Ken starts to speak but I cut him off as it all starts to makes sense. I remember what Julia told me. About overhearing Will and Ken talking that one day and then the cryptic comments he made to her.
“Someone else has access to that room,” I say as pieces fall into place. “And far as I know it’s just us three”—I gesture to Kate and Jared—“and the lab liaison.” I jab a finger at him.
I’m so mad he’s lucky I don’t take a swing. It’s not my style but a man can only take so much.
Ken starts to sputter an excuse, but Dylan doesn’t let him speak.
“The weird thing about all those test failings,” Dylan says as they and Febin join the team circling Ken. “They were always so random. No rhyme or reason, just a little off. Like somebody went in and physically changed the calibration. It’s the darnedest thing.”
A flush spreads up Ken’s neck. “Look at how she’s tricked you.”
“We aren’t the ones being played, Ken.” I keep my voice calm. “I just don’t understand what my father has on you.”
I feel the others still. Ken goes a little white. “What? Your father—”
“Did Will not tell you that when he convinced you to mess with Lite-Brite? What promises did he make to you to get you to ruin my livelihood? I can’t blame you. You aren’t the first victim of William Moore. After all, ‘where there’s a Will, there’s a way,’ right?”
Ken shakes his head. “No. Why would your father—”
“He doesn’t like when I get too big for my britches. When I try to take things that are his.” I glance to my friends by my side.
“We didn’t know, man. I’m sorry,” Jared says.
Kate is studying the ground and I think I have just confirmed suspicions she already had.
“I didn’t want people to know I was related to him,” I admit. “He’s evil and uses people to get what he wants. Whatever it takes. He’s a master manipulator. And now he’s got Julia.”
Ken’s face falls. “He—he told me she was evil. He showed me the footage of her attacking that guy. He made me believe she had powers. Sh-she’s dangerous.”
“Oh sure,” Dylan says. “She’s a regul
ar superhero working here at our lab.”
“Yeah,” Kate adds. “I bet she can shoot webs from her wrist and fly around the planet in less than a minute.”
“No, you don’t understand. I saw it. On the tape.” But his brow is furrowing.
“You can’t trust anything you see these days,” I say coolly. “Will would say or do whatever to get you to do his bidding. You suggested messing with the tests, didn’t you? He made it seem like your idea?”
Ken’s eyes flicker back behind my head, replaying events through a new lens. He swallows audibly as he loosens his tie.
“I bet you didn’t want to break the equipment though, did you?” I soften my voice.
“It was too much.” His shaking hand wipes his forehead with a handkerchief pulled from his lapel. “All that wasted money. I couldn’t risk my career, but when I refused he brought up things. Things from a past life that I didn’t want to get out. You have to understand, I was just as much a victim as you all.”
The team is not amused by this.
“I shouldn’t have let her go with him.” I run my hands through my hair. Every second I’m here is another moment he could hurt her.
“Why go after her to get to you? Why not just frame you?” Jared asks.
I know the answer and my blood goes cold. Why go after her? What if this isn’t about me after all. He sent the goons after her. He knows about her powers. I’ve been so stupid.
“Because he knows—” I hesitate. “How much she means to me.”
“Well, go after her!” Kate gestures to the door.
“We’ll take care of Ken,” Jared says.
“I didn’t know,” Ken starts. His face is drained of color now.
I turn toward him one last time. “I vowed to be nothing like my father. You should be very thankful for that at this moment. If anything happens to Julia, I will break that vow.”
Ken swallows, eyes wide. The team behind me is silent.
“Well, I haven’t made any promises like that,” is the last thing I hear from Jared as I close the door and leave my friends to deal with Ken.
Now it’s time I dealt with my father once and for all.
30
Julia
I try to keep my voice calm as I ask, “Where are you taking me?”
William remains silent. His face is serene as he drives up the winding road, like we are taking a happy road trip. A few times he even smiles and waves at a local. It makes me want to scream. Maybe I can scream for help? Or jump out of the car.
Or I can use my powers and end his control once and for all.
I will wait until we are higher up the mountain. There are too many people down here. But when we get closer … If I blast him just right, maybe he will crash and I can get away. Whatever happens, it will be worth it to stop him. Heat starts to gather in my palms. I let the bright sun streaming through the dashboard fill me up. I discreetly glance at my hands growing white with my anger. I double-check that my seatbelt is secure.
He laughs a quick huff. “Before you try anything you may regret, you should know I brought a backup plan to ensure your cooperation.” He nods his chin toward the back seat.
Fear grips me as I turn expecting the man from the Quickstop. I could take this whole car down. Burn them both to the ground.
But what I find is much worse. Despair sets deep into my bones.
Lincoln, all of his almost six feet, is curled behind the driver’s seat, tucked awkwardly, covered by a blanket. But he isn’t the eight-year-old boy that tried to run away with Nathaniel anymore. His long limbs hardly fit and in his haste, he barely covered himself. Unconscious, his head lolls back and he’s pale.
“No,” I gasp.
“I found him trying to sneak on base with me this morning. Must have been suspicious when I wanted to take his car. Nosy little shit. Listen, I don’t want to have to do these things, but I also understand sacrifices must be made.”
I unbuckle to reach around for Lincoln. I’m relieved to find him warm, a steady pulse on his neck.
“Get your filthy hands off him.” There’s a vehemence in William’s voice that I’ve never heard.
I’m slammed back into the passenger seat. I gape at the man whose hatred goes deeper than we ever thought. I can’t tell if I’m more surprised by his random hatred of me or the fact that he must care about his son on some level to show such protectiveness.
“You really are a monster,” I say.
He glances over at me and then the road ahead, his lip curled in disgust. “People like you are weak and predictable. The truth is you want the choice taken away from you. You would rather play the victim than have to make hard choices.”
He doesn’t try to hide his disgust for me anymore. I grind my teeth. Nothing about the choice I made today was weakness. It is the hardest thing I have ever done. But people like him will never understand that.
Wherever I’m being taken, I may never return. I just pray that Lincoln does.
He turns off a familiar hidden road. “The abandoned factory?” I ask in surprise.
“You think your little trips up the mountain went unnoticed?”
The tips of my fingers go icy. I brought all this on myself. Before Nathaniel and the Lite-Brite machine, before I was even moved to his team. I have been coming up here since I moved to El Lugar.
“You’ve been watching me?”
“You aren’t exactly subtle.”
“So the mines aren’t abandoned? The ones the old factory ran off,” I ask casually.
“The mines are abandoned but they’re connected to the labs that are built into the side of the mountain.”
I’m surprised at how easily he tells me these things. In his mind, he’s already won.
“I always thought those labs in the mountain were urban legend.”
“Nope. They make for good bunkers. A place for people like you.”
My head shoots to him. “What?”
“You think you’re the only one?”
Despite the situation, a dangerous hope curls in my chest. “Is that where you’re taking me?”
“There’s a facility. Where you and others like you can get the help you need.”
“Why didn’t you say that before? In front of the others?” I ask.
“And spill your dirty little secret? You two were trying so hard to keep it.”
“So all this—all the tests and the broken equipment—was all you? Just a way to get to me?”
“With the added bonus of destroying my son’s futile career.” He says it so casually. He really believes in what he’s doing.
“Why not just take me?” But as soon as I say it, I realize I’m an idiot. “You tried.”
“Those men were weak. They let themselves be bested by you. Your powers are more out of control than I thought.”
There’s nothing I can say.
“My son has no clue. I saved him from himself. I had a weakness for a freak like you once. And I see the weakness passed to the product of that mistake.”
I drop my head to my hands, absorbing the bombardment of information. There are others like me? Nathaniel always suspected … His own mother. My head is spinning. I have so many questions, but as William seems rather chatty, I have to keep him going.
“Tell me about the facility,” I say. “How many are there like me?”
I glance at him again. His face remains unchanged. “Sixty-five, last I counted.”
“Wow, really? And are they all like me? With uh, the light?”
“No. We’ve yet to meet any of your kind.” His tone is laced in disgust.
“Who’s ‘we’? Who is funding this? Is it a private or public sector thing? What about—”
“That’s enough for now.” His voice is eerily calm but the message is clear enough.
End of discussion.
All too soon we pull up to the abandoned factory. The area is a little more worn than where I typically park when I come up here to go off. A few crushed beer ca
ns litter the ground around the charred remnants of a campfire. A metal guardrail signals the end of the road, a NO TRESPASSING sign decorated with graffiti bolted to it.
“Get out of the car and stay where I can see you. If you move, I’ll hurt Lincoln. Do you understand?” He pulls a gun out of his suit coat.
My body starts to shake all over. “You would shoot your own son?”
“If I have to.”
William extends his long legs out of the car, his hands gripping the sides like a spider crawling out of a drainpipe.
Abruptly, he tugs open the back door. Lincoln falls out and sprawls to the ground, the action waking him. I don’t have time to react. Lincoln scrambles to his feet but having his long legs tucked under him must have caused them to fall asleep. He stumbles and leans against the car.
“Don’t go with him,” Lincoln says. His voice is strong, but he won’t look at his father. He’s putting on such a brave face. I want nothing more than to run to him and hug him but I have to get this monster away from him.
William rubs a thumb between his eyebrows. “This complicates things a bit.”
He paces two steps away and then back. My heart slams against my chest. “Well, there’s nothing to be done.” In a series of events faster than I can even follow, William takes two strides back to his son. At the same time, he pulls back the handgun and without even the slightest hesitation, swings the butt of the gun at his son’s temple.
I scream as Lincoln dodges, but just barely. His leg sweeps out and kicks his father in the stomach in one swift movement that reveals hours of practice. William makes an oomph sound as he crumples. The gun flies out of his hand and falls a few feet away. Father and son stare at each other, both in shock at the other’s action. But just for a moment.
“Run!” Lincoln yells to me.
All three of us lunge for the gun instead. It’s too far from me. Too close to William. He grabs it first and immediately points the gun straight at Lincoln’s head. The horror at such an action causes my power to flare up, blinding him.
The Untouched: THE UNSEEN SERIES, #2 Page 24
