Apparent Power: DiaZem Trilogy Book One

by Dacia M Arnold

  “Lay back, Valerie,” the voice demanded. He sounded angry, almost frustrated. “Tie her down.”

  Major erupted at the command, and there was loud arguing between the warm, familiar voice and Major.

  “The minute you have M.D. behind your name is the moment you can question my judgment, sir.”

  Valerie stirred again, coming closer and closer to consciousness. She winced at a sharp pinch on her right arm and soon felt the IV fluid in her veins. Moments later, she was asleep again.

  Her next flash of awareness came in some vehicle. The ride was smoother than a car, and from the sensation in her stomach, she guessed they were moving fast. She tried to roll to her side to vomit, but they had tied her to whatever contraption she was on.

  “Hyk—”

  A plastic bag appeared at the side of her mouth and Hyka did her best to hold steady to not make a mess.

  “Water,” Valerie requested when she finished heaving.

  “No water. We have to get you into surgery.” The warm, familiar voice was back but still sounded angry. She tried to focus on the tone and pin down how she knew him. There was little light in the vehicle to see his face, but she wanted to reach for him.

  “Scott?” she questioned again, unable to pin down her affection to the voice.

  “Valerie, I’m Dr. August Wilkes. We met a week ago when the incident happened, and I let you go. I shouldn’t have. You’ve caused so much destruction.”

  Valerie cried from frustration, too tired to correct him or fight to maintain her honor.

  They rode in silence for the rest of the short trip. When the vehicle stopped, doors slid open to allow her to be unloaded and wheeled into a nearby elevator. She had been on a train. The movement made her sick again, this time with no one to help her. She turned the best she could to reach her head over the edge.

  “Stop moving so much. The catheter will come out of your chest again,” August instructed her.

  “Hyka? Jack?” Valerie was terrified. They had left her alone with a man she wanted to trust, but could not, in a place she had fought so hard to avoid. She was out of control.

  “Your friends were taken to In-Processing. If they play nice, they’ll be back to see you after surgery.” August seemed annoyed at her questions. He treated her with such disdain and did not once look at her when he spoke.

  He walked with her as she was wheeled on a gurney down a hallway to another elevator, taking them down even further. She tried to memorize the way, but her head was spinning. She did not dare close her eyes again for fear she would be sick. So, she watched him. She could feel the warmth radiating from his body, hear his heartbeat, and sense the way his body moved. All primal sensations.

  “Are you a DiaZem?” she asked. She could feel the flutter of his heartbeat and the clench in his jaw.

  He had rescued her because he had the ability to power the train, and was an emergency doctor. The situation called for his expertise, not Lucas’.

  “You can heal me.”

  He looked ahead, lowering his brow at her statement.

  “I’ll do what I can to patch you up, then I’m off to San Francisco. You and Luke are free to rule here. He has a background in internal medicine and can manage your recovery.” August’s tone was mocking. He almost spit when he made mention of them together.

  The thought of August leaving her hurt. She wanted him to stay and help her, and to stop treating her with such disgust. Valerie knew her feelings were nothing more than the polar attraction of their nature. Knowing she would foster the same feelings for Lucas made her skin crawl. She cried.

  They exited the elevator and went down a stark white hallway. Every turn looked like the room her father and brother were in during the video conference with Lucas. They stopped outside a set of swinging double doors.

  “I’m going to scrub in. I’ll see you inside.” August looked into her eyes.

  He stood there for a few moments, and she felt she would die if he stopped looking at her even for the few seconds required to see her in the next room. His expression hardened, and he looked away. He exhaled and pushed through a door just to the left of the double doors she was being pushed through.

  Surgical lights blinded her, and she became more anxious as they untied her restraints. People in surgical gowns with masks over their mouths removed a blanket used in transport and directed her to hug her arms over her chest while they moved her onto the operating table. It was then she realized she was naked. No one else seemed to notice as they all continued with their assigned tasks. Her arms were pulled straight out from her sides and strapped down to the bed. A young Asian woman sat next to her head and placed an oxygen mask over Valerie’s mouth and nose.

  “Take deep breaths and count backward from ten,” the woman said.

  Valerie took the breaths and could feel the narcotics taking effect. She could also feel when August entered the room.

  “STOP!”

  His command was the last thing she heard before drifting off to sleep.

  She woke up, free from restraints and in a hospital bed. A once connected IV pump stood on one side of the bed, and her vitals were displayed on a monitor on the opposite side, all reading standard for a healthy person. Valerie looked around for anyone to explain what had happened or where she was. A beep came from an overhead speaker.

  “Stay calm, Ms. Burton. Dr. Wilkes will be in to see you in a moment,” a woman’s voice said from the speaker.

  As promised, there was a soft tapping before the door opened. To her relief, August walked in.

  “We did not do the surgery.” August was still fighting not to make eye contact with her. “Luckily, once you could rest, your wounds repaired themselves. But, umm.” He rubbed his brow with two of his fingers, the other two clenched a small piece of paper. He reached for her hand and pushed the writing into her palm, his warm hands lingering.

  “I hope you feel better soon.” August looked her in the eyes, and she could feel his heart breaking with hers.

  She shook her head in a feeble protest, but he had already stood and turned to the door. The sound of the door closing broke her. She began to cry, and her loneliness became palpable. She covered her head with the blanket, leaving enough light to read what was on the paper.

  “You’re pregnant.”

  The raw, empty hole of her husband’s passing ripped itself open and threatened to swallow her again. She felt stupid for not having put the pieces together herself. All the signs were there. She had brushed off her morning sickness and fainting as anxiety over her newly-awakened gene. Scott would never know their child was growing inside of her. Their son was only two years old. What memory he could hold of his father, she would have to fortify with stories of how much he loved them. Scott had lived through two wars, but her love for him was what led to his early demise. Lucas Jarrett wanted nothing more than to rid the world of his competition, but Valerie would hold on to her husband’s memory until her dying breath. For the man she loved, continuing their bond was the least she could do.

  She resented her title, her genetics, and her involuntary attraction to the doctor. She hated herself for what had happened. She hated being drawn to another man while mourning the loss of her lover. In her delirium, she had even thought August was Scott in the ambulance. The way his voice filled her heart with warmth, the familiarity of his touch. How just his presence had revitalized her. She wished her husband had returned somehow from the clutches of death to be with her. Fight with her.

  But Valerie was now a widow. A single mother of not one, but soon-to-be two children. She could not protect the one she had, and she struggled to see a happy future for the one she carried. Being so hopeless, if just for a second, she hoped the child would not grow. Her selfishness turned into shame, and she wished to fall asleep and never wake up. Scott had been her strength, and he was gone. Her will was gone.

  She held her breath to stop the sobs from being audible. She could feel the pressure build in her head. Then s
omeone knocked at the door. Her heart fluttered. Maybe August had come back. The thought brought back her shame and anger until the door opened, and Hyka peeked in before opening the door the rest of the way. She wore all white. Her pants, long-sleeved shirt, and tennis shoes were bright white, a sharp contrast to her tan skin and black hair. Valerie had never seen her wear so many clothes. Behind Hyka, at thigh height, a boy peeked into the room, just as Hyka did before her entry.

  Valerie released the breath she held and the tears she had fought to conceal. She tried to smile as she reached her arms out to her son, but her face just twisted with a mix of emotion. The boy pushed past Hyka. Valerie’s father and brother filed into the room after him.

  She wrapped her arms around her son. She knew she would never let him go. Caleb would never leave her side again. She would protect him and keep him safe as long as she had air in her lungs and her heart continued to beat. Valerie rocked him. He let her, nestling his face into her neck as she kissed his head.

  Mike Burton crossed the room and sat at the end of her bed.

  “I didn’t do what he said I did. He lied.” Valerie’s voice broke, and tears streamed down her face into Caleb’s hair.

  The boy did not seem to notice nor care. Mike nodded to his daughter in understanding, but Kevin stayed tight-lipped next to Hyka. Valerie could not look at them without breaking down again.

  “Where is he?” Valerie asked moving herself to the edge of the bed still holding the boy. “This is going to end now.”

  Hyka clicked her tongue and jerked her head to a glass ball on the ceiling. A camera.

  “I don’t care. I am not going to let him take anything else from me.” The rage balling up inside of her was a sharp contrast to the tenderness of her son’s embrace. She wanted to scream, break everything within reach. But instead, she cried and kissed Caleb’s head.

  “Are you sad?” he questioned. Caleb lifted his head to face hers. He used his finger to trace down the tear streaks on her face. “Don’t have a sad face. Have a happy face.”

  Caleb smiled as big as he could, and Valerie tried to mimic his expression.

  “It’s okay, Sweetie-Petey. I just—I missed you so very, very much. Did you have fun with Grandpa?”

  “Uh-huh, and Uncle Kev! We played Pac-Man.”

  Valerie smiled, cupped the boy’s face, and pulled him in for a kiss. She hugged him again and through tears mouthed the words “thank you” to Mike and Kevin. Hyka cleared her throat to get the room’s attention.

  “Duke needs us to take you to In-Processing so they can issue you a badge.” Hyka held up a card attached to a lanyard around her neck. “This is how we get around this place, and how they track where we are.” Hyka released the card, the badge snapped back into its reel.

  Even her son had one. She held the card up to examine it. It was white with a blue border and had his cute little face in the middle. At the bottom: Caleb Burton, Level 10 Access, Minor.

  “Duke, what? And why, for the love of everything, do they refuse to use my name? I haven’t been Valerie Burton for over a decade. What do these do? What are the colors? Levels?” Valerie held up the card to her father.

  “We’re all here now. Max, Duke. Everyone but Major. The badges come in levels. Level ten means he needs an escort everywhere since he’s just a little tyke. I have a level seven. I think because we’re still considered an inside threat. Everyone else in the facility, depending on their profession, ranges from three to five. Level six, I think, is for teenagers who are considered adults but not quite at their peak age. Levels eight and nine are younger kids but older than Pac-Man here. The blue around our badges is the second-highest class so to speak. Lucas and his henchmen have a green border. I imagine yours will look like theirs,” Mike explained.

  She knew there was much more, but the little information he offered made her nauseous.

  “I have to do all of this now? I just. . .” She glanced at the camera and decided her family would have to wait to hear the news she had just received. “I’m just tired. A man attacked me. Lucas told people I caused the bad thing to happen.” She chose her words, not wanting to subject Caleb to too much, too soon. She still had no idea how she would explain where his father was.

  Hyka pressed a finger to her ear and rolled her eyes, sighing, “They are bringing a wheelchair for you.”

  Another knock came at the door. A young man, dressed in all white, pushed a wheelchair into the room. He apologized for interrupting and explained that he would assist Valerie to In-Processing.

  “I’ll take her.” Kevin snatched the chair away from the young man who was far too intimidated by Valerie’s brother to argue. “We can manage, thank you.”

  Valerie helped her son off the bed before swinging her legs over the edge. The small movement brought on another wave of nausea. She reached for a designated blue bag on the side table just in case. Mike and Kevin held her hands and supported her as she transitioned from the bed to the chair, which rolled back away from her. Hyka caught the chair and repositioned the seat under Valerie before she crashed to the ground.

  “Seriously?” Hyka looked at the men.

  Valerie grabbed Caleb under his arms and set him on her lap.

  “Faster! Faster!” he squealed before they were even into the hallway.

  Valerie tried to memorize the hallways they went down, but again they were all the same. Not until they reached the elevators did she notice anything distinct from her arrival.

  “There are no windows. Where are we? How long have I been here?” Valerie asked while they waited for the elevator to arrive. She was not lying when she said she was tired. If anything, she had downplayed her exhaustion. She could guess the time was either early afternoon or late evening by how much Caleb let her snuggle him, close to his nap time or bedtime.

  “We are underground, about six floors. In-Processing is on the first sub-level of the airport. The second level is the subway, which stretches all the way to downtown Denver. This place would be like if Beijing were underground. Every family has the equivalent of a hotel suite to live in. They built a city with the capacity for millions right under our noses,” Kevin explained. This was the most he had spoken. Even though he came off as impressed by their arrangements, there was still an underlying bitterness in his words.

  “We’ve been here thirteen hours,” Hyka answered the one question Kevin omitted. “It’s 11 a.m. We’ll go eat after you get your badge.”

  The elevator opened and let a few people off. They stared at Valerie as they passed.

  “Hurry up,” Hyka told someone who was lingering too long and stood in the way of the chair.

  Kevin caught the door and forced the elevator to stay open. He stepped in first and continued holding. Once everyone was in, he moved his arm and touched his badge to a black box. A small red light turned green, and he pushed the button for Sublevel 1 until the number lit up. The movement of the elevator caught Valerie’s stomach off guard, but she was able to maintain its contents.

  Soon enough the doors slid open again; they had arrived at the In-Processing floor. Dozens of blue-clad, weapon-bearing young men and women guarded entrances, exits, check stations, and even the bathrooms. What unnerved Valerie most was how suffocated she felt. She knew the people filing through were conductors, but something about the room counteracted their ability to pull energy. Mike, who walked ahead of her, shuddered.

  “You know the feeling when your ears pop because of the elevation? Some sort of advanced technology lines the walls to temporarily mute the gene, but not completely. While we don’t draw energy, they can still test us,” Hyka explained.

  Hyka was right. The atmosphere on Sublevel 1 was stifling, but there was also something else. Valerie could feel him watching her, like a small breeze offering relief in a hot furnace. Her ability was, indeed, muted but she could still feel her attraction to him. She searched the faces of the people in white, but he was not there. Hyka continued to push the wheelchair behind Mike as h
e led them to the first station.

  “Ms. Burton, if you could look right here into this lens, we will take your photo for your access badge.”

  “Be sure it reads ‘Valerie Russell.’ My name is Russell, not Burton.”

  “Uh-huh,” the young man answered.

  She set Caleb on the ground to free her face from obstruction, but she did not let go of his hand, and she did not smile. The photographer took the picture regardless. She scooped Caleb back into her lap and hugged him. As they passed to another station, she noticed the In-Processing staff wore earpieces. She looked behind her at Hyka.

  “You have an earpiece, too?”

  “Yeah, I’m your personal assistant. Want some coffee?” Hyka asked.

  “No, thank you. I’m fine,” Valerie laughed.

  They reached the second station: Occupational Assignment.

  “She’s the boss,” Hyka told the person at the desk. They looked at Valerie with indifference and motioned to the next station. Medical was written on the subsequent banner. She could still feel him watching her, but the feeling did not grow as she moved forward. It was not him at the medical station, but an olive-skinned young woman who glared at her when she approached. She wore a white lab coat over her white outfit. Valerie remembered her pregnancy. Her heart pounded when she watched the woman pull out the same wand O’Connell had used on her at the checkpoint.

  “Ma’am, you’ll need to put the boy down so we can scan you.”

  Terrified they would find her out, Valerie did not protest but set Caleb down.

  “Stand with Grandpa, Little Man.” She kissed his forehead and released his hand. She whispered a prayer for the separation to be short.

  The woman pointed the wand at her and pushed the button. The center of the rod exploded from the inside, splitting in half. Valerie jumped, but the woman’s hateful expression did not change.

  “I would appreciate if you didn’t attack me, ma’am,” she said through her teeth.

  “Excuse me? I didn’t do anything. I’m just sitting here!”

  The woman rolled her eyes and walked through a door behind the desk. Valerie could not hear what was said, but the woman was furious. Kevin leaned down to Valerie’s ear.