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Maya begins to choke.

Her eyes bulge. . .

Just like Josh
.

Her face goes white. . .

You must pay
.

“Don’t do this,” David yells from someplace far away. “Josh wouldn’t want this.”

My grasp loosens. The smoke thickens around us.

“You’re not his assassin. Remember.”

That’s the problem, I do.

Maya twists and kicks. Suddenly, she has me pinned again. Her mind enters my own. Blurry images collide in a nonstop procession, unfocused and confused.

Flames fill the room and pour into the hall. Why aren’t we burning? My eyes dart to David, the tablet, the room. A shield. David is shielding us from the worst of the heat.

Maya pulls back my attention and unleashes ten years of hatred through every punch; I release ten years of regret. She shoves me back as a tear escapes her eyes. “Time for you to feel my pain.” She pulls a knife from her boots, grabs David from behind and levels the edge tight against his throat. The shield against the fire begins to collapse.

I freeze. “Let him go. You’re issues are with me, not him.” Every word is measured and controlled. Flames lick our clothes. I wave my hand the fire retreats, a shield again in place.

“You think you can do anything you want without consequences. You always have.”

“I never meant to hurt you.” Even as I say the words, I know they are a lie.

“You killed my father.”

“Yes.”

“You were my best friend. I trusted you.” Maya digs the knife into David’s skin. “I trusted all of you.”

“I know.” Tears well in my eyes as I remember our friendship. How did everything get so screwed up?

“He never did anything to you.”

Water spills onto my cheeks. “I was following—”

“Shut-up,” Maya yells. “Don’t blame your orders.”

“Why not? You do. For Josh.”

Maya’s hands begin to shake. I watch her pupils dilate.

Flames lick the invisible barrier. I can’t hold it much longer.

“You had a choice,” she whispers. “You could have walked away.”

“So could you.”

MAYA PRESSED THE KNIFE FURTHER INTO DAVID’S SKIN
. Dakota flinched but remained silent.

David’s death won’t bring your father back.” Dakota took a step back. “And it won’t make LeMercier respect you.

So smug
.

“You need to suffer as I have, Assassin.”

“I do.”

Maya’s rage exploded on her tongue. “You’ve got no idea what it means to lose everything. But you will. Tonight.”

Maya plowed into the Assassin’s thoughts again, attacking her from inside.

The Assassin screamed. She grabbed her scalp with both hands, agony etched in every expression. Flames broke through the invisible shield, threatening to ignite them all.

A smile played on Maya’s lips. She imagined the Assassin’s tiny brain cells expanding. More screams filled the room.

“Stop!” David squirmed against Maya’s hold, unable to free himself. His eyes rolled back in his head. The fire pushed away from them.

Dakota gasped. Her hand dropped to her sides.
Get. Out
. Dakota’s voice permeated Maya’s mind. In moments, Maya was stripped from Dakota’s thoughts.

Maya dropped to her knees, her legs unable, unwilling, to hold her.

Dakota shoved David out of the room. “Get out,” Dakota said again.

Maya lunged, the knife barely missing David as he fell out of the room. Flames again danced around them, dangerously close.

David stood in the hall, the tablet clutched tightly in his hands. The fire had not spread past the office yet. “Dakota, come on. Now!”

Maya inhaled, desperate to taste the Assassin’s pain. “Josh was too weak to fight me, you know. Weak and cowardly.”

The office began to shake, the floor trembled. Pictures flew off the walls in every direction. Papers and books shot across the room. Flames consumed the items and poured into the corridor. David backed away, his eyes still focused on the Assassin.

Objects circled and twirled around her, woven together with flames.

“Dakota, no!”

The fiery cyclone sailed toward Maya with a whoosh. Maya blocked and countered. Faster and faster the objects flew. Maya struggled to push them away. She spun them toward the Assassin, but Dakota was unmatched now.

She had released the monster at last.

“This ends now,” Dakota said in a half crazed voice.

Maya smiled and created a new cyclone aimed for Dakota. “After you.”

Dakota and Maya raised their hands in unison. Their energy joined and surged throughout the space. Both bodies trembled and shook. Both faces contorted with pain and rage. The room exploded, sending fire in every direction.

“No!” David pulled Dakota into the corridor as the room collapsed. “You aren’t like her, Dakota. Don’t do this.”

The walls cracked. Glass shattered.

Maya walked through the flames toward them.

David pushed Dakota down the hall as the building collapsed around them. Ceiling plaster rattled and fell.

“They’d want you to stop.” David grabbed a hold of a door as more objects rattled and flew.

“It’s who I am,” Dakota said. She jolted a pulse of energy into Maya. “Everything I was created to be.”

Maya fell backward, unable to recover before Dakota was on her again. The Assassin unleashed another burst of energy.

“No!” David screamed. He yanked Dakota off of Maya.

She stood. Retaliated with her own flash of power. “You won’t win this time, Dakota,” she said as she wielded her energy and jolted it toward David. “It’s my turn. I’m the best. I’m his assassin. Only me.”

David sailed down the corridor with a flash of light and landed with a heavy
thud
. A large gash spilled David’s crimson heat onto the wooden floor

“No!” The Assassin spun to face Maya.

“That wasn’t me,” she said.

Maya tuned her mind to the house, searching. Fire continued to send the recruits running in every direction. The walls continued to shake and crack.

“Creator,” she whispered.
I can do this
, she said, reaching for him
. Let me show you how strong you’ve made me. I’m ready to be your Assassin. I’m ready
.

Silence.

Maya forced fresh images into Dakota’s mind, pictures of Josh’s death.

“No!” Dakota screamed.

“Use your anger, Assassin.” The Creator’s voiced bounced through the house. “Harness your rage.”

Maya hesitated, searched for him.

“Now!” The Creator commanded. “Unleash your might. Kill her. Prove to me that you are still my Assassin!”

Maya forced more memories into Dakota’s thoughts.

Stand down
, the Creator screamed through Maya’s mind.
This fight is not yours to win
.

Tears pricked behind her eyes.

Serve the Order, Architect. Sacrifice yourself for me. Feed her with your pain.

Maya couldn’t obey. She held tightly to the tether of her control.

“Run!” David’s voice surprised Maya. Flames moved through the rest of the house, consuming everything in their path.

Maya glanced at David as the Creator again filled her mind.
Acquiesce
. Maya’s eyes widened. Her body began to shake. She couldn’t hold on to Dakota’s thoughts.

Dakota wobbled, fell. David rushed to her side as Maya’s vision darkened.

Maya’s mouth turned to metallic ash. Blood trickled from her lips, coating her chin and neck.

She fell to her knees and slowly raised her gaze to meet Dakota’s. “Run.” The word scraped against Maya’s throat. “Run . . .”

Maya fell and her world faded away.

Project Stargate 2.0

The Solomon Experiments

Dr. Jennings’ Personal Journal –

Dec 31, 2002

Day 185:

The Solomon experiments are a failure. The recruits cannot be controlled. Dr. LeMercier cannot be trusted. Bombings and accidents around the globe, all caused by the recruits and blamed on foreign terrorists. How did we allow this to happen? We were blind.

I found the list of targets LeMercier plans to assassinate using the recruits. Many of the world’ leaders are on the list. LeMercier wasn’t planning to protect the United States, he planned to establish a dictatorship. The recruits may be highly skilled soldiers now, but they are still children. I need to believe we can undo the training and allow them to live as children once more.

Christyn understands the task ahead. She’s committed to my plan. We need time to modify the recruits’ memories, establish safe houses and execute an escape. We risk everything with this plan, even our lives. But there’s no other choice. Once the killings begin, we won’t be able to stop them.

We must get the children out.

Before it’s too late, and everything we dreamed of is destroyed.

MAYA’S EYES STARE LIFELESSLY INTO MINE
. Blood still flows from her mouth. Her last word rings through my thoughts.

Run
.

“Come on,” I say to David.

“Wait. We need the files.” David bends over and pants. He grabs his ribs, his face ashen. “Otherwise, everything was a waste.”

I scan what’s left of the room. “I can’t find it.”

David points to a small black item in the corner of the room. I grab it, praying it works. With a quick click, the tablet whirls to life. Satisfied, I tuck it under my arm and go back to David. “Come on,” I say as I wrap my arm around his waist and help him out of the room and down the hall.

Chaos whirls around us. Recruits flee. Guards shoot at anything that moves.

Too many screams.

Too much anarchy.

“We have to destroy the lab, this place,” David says. He examines the chaos. “Everything.”

I nod, understanding his intent.

We stumble to the stairwell. “Get out!” I say. My voice comes from the walls, the air. “Get out now.”

You can’t run from me, Assassin
. LeMercier’s thoughts refuse to abate.
I will always find you
.

“What about my father?” I spit the word out like poison.

David knows my intentions before my words. “There isn’t time. We need to get out of here now.”

“But—”

David cuts off my words with his glare. We descend the stairs by twos until we reach the bottom. The main floor is crammed with people—some running, some screaming, some shooting.

We push through the masses.

“Ready?” David says when we reach the door.