Predominance (26 page)

“Easily!” Damian said, showing his hands. “I'm not armed… But I'll only surrender to Dr. Walker himself. Got it?”

The guards stopped in their tracks and looked at each other.

The voice of our nemesis emerged from the shadows of the warehouse. “It's all right, gentlemen. I'm sure we don't have anything to worry about.” Dr. Walker strolled out of the shadows and into the light. “I doubt that Mr. Black would put his wife's life in danger by trying to pull a fast one on us.” He smiled, stopping at the threshold of the enormous overhead door, two more guards behind him. “Well, well, well. It's good to see you again, Damian. How are those seizures of yours? Gone, I suppose. Along with those vicious headaches, am I right?” Damian stood quietly for a second, staring at him. “What? Don't I get a thank you?”

“Where is she?” Damian demanded.

“Of course.” Walker taunted. “The counselor wants to get straight to business, yes?” Dr. Walker signaled the guards to stand down. Damian lowered his hands. “Then I should ask you the same question, Damian. Where's the girl?” Walker's tone changed drastically with his last question, from jeering to grave.

Damian took a couple of steps forward. “I want to see my wife first!”

“How about this?” Dr. Walker countered. “You show me you really have Ms. Montgomery, and I'll let you see your wife. Deal?”

Damian hesitated for a moment, then looked back over his shoulder and signaled Yvette.

“No, no, no!” I whispered aloud. “That's not part of the plan!” Damian should've waited until his wife was in sight.

“What's happening?” Sarah asked, sounding worried. She could see them at this distance, but was unable to hear them like I could. She might as well been watching a silent movie, until my undivided attention to what was happening made her understand that it wasn't the same for me.

Yvette began to move slowly from behind the shed. Her body language showed all the uneasiness that she must have felt. Damian gestured for her to hurry. Soon, Yvette was standing under the somber yellow light I was supposed to destroy. Damian grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her closer to him.

“Good!” Walker smiled, pleased. “You brought her with you. That makes things a lot easier for me, Damian. Thank you.”

“All right,” Damian said, “she's here. Now, show me my wife.”

Walker signaled one of the guards behind him, who ran inside the warehouse and disappeared around a corner—but not before flipping a light switch that turned on a fluorescent light above Walker's head. The gloomy white glow gave us a dull view of the interior. The two-story warehouse contained countless crates with the logo R.C. Labs stamped on them; they were stacked all over and under frameworks of steel grating. On the right stood a large cylinder rack, stacked with oxygen tanks. I also noticed a fairly large collection of steel reinforcement bars, the kind that are tied in place prior to pouring a concrete floor. They were stacked in a rack behind Walker. Probably leftovers from the road work, I thought. I couldn't make out what was on the left side of the massive storeroom; the weak fluorescent light couldn't get past one of the huge crate-filled frameworks, which cast a large shadow over the room.

Walker turned back to Yvette and Damian and spoke. “At last! The final piece of the puzzle… How are you, my dear?” His eyes fixed on my Yvee, who was imprisoned by Damian's grip. “I'm so glad to have you back unharmed. It was rather unwise, the way Victor took you out of here. He could've gotten you killed.”

“What do you care?” Yvette snapped angrily. “You've been trying to kill us all ever since we arrived!”

“Oh, no,” he argued. “Not you, young lady!”

“Oh, really?” she jeered. “And what's so special about me?”

“You have yet to understand your importance, Yvette,” Walker said, almost gently. “Your new powers are the key to unraveling the greatest mystery of all. You and you alone can help me find the answers I've been looking for.”

“Powers?” Yvette scoffed in disbelief. “I didn't get any powers, you crazy old bastard! Victor and Damian are the ones whose lives you've ruined!”

“Ruined?” Walker protested. “Hardly! I merely awakened their minds to a larger world, a world in which power is not measured by limits but by desire.”

“Bullshit! What about the side effects? The dark energy that's turning them into something they're not?”

“Is it really?” Walker asked, “Or are they simply being suborned by their own personal desires? Regardless of what you think you know, this evil, as you call it, cannot enter their minds without an invitation. It's like a drug, you see? One you choose to take. One that you become more dependent upon the more you use it. And yet, it's still a matter of choice. The real problem here is that it's in our nature, as human beings, to crave power. The more we feel it, the more we want it. And Damian here has tasted this power, haven't you, Damian?”

Walker's gaze slid over to the lawyer, who seemed increasingly uneasy. “Yes…” Walker murmured, with an ominous smile on his face. “You have felt it!” His voice almost hissing, he continued, “The limitless power of this mysterious force that now dwells inside your mind… It makes you want to exceed all boundaries, doesn't it? All those petty social constructs like morality, guilt, and regret… It makes you feel free, doesn't it, counselor? I suspect you're craving your next taste even as we speak.”

Damian couldn't hide his feelings—the confusion on his face, the anger in his eyes, the anxiety in his breathing, all connected by an overpowering fear that was beginning to get the best of him.

“It's a trick!” I whispered hopelessly, knowing that my words couldn't reach his ears. “Don't fall for it, Damian! Just stay calm.”

Walker turned his attention back to Yvette. “I'll bet Victor is craving it too.” He smiled at her...and something, possibly her expression or just the way she moved, gave him pause. He narrowed his eyes and began to scan the meadow, as if looking for something—or someone. “Which reminds me… Where is that troublesome boyfriend of yours?”

“I took care of him!” Damian answered, shaking Yvette roughly by the arm. I knew it was just part of their role-playing. Walker needed to think that I was gone in order for this to work, and Damian was just telling Yvette to go along with it without actually saying it. She groaned, straining against his grasp. I didn't know my little ballerina could be such a good actress, but from what I could see of his expression and detect of his vitals, Walker was buying the whole thing!

“Well, I have to say I'm impressed, Damian,” Walker complimented him. “But you don't have to trouble yourself with her anymore.” He signaled the two guards in front of them to take Yvette.

“Back off!” Damian raised his hand in front of the guards. “The girl isn't going anywhere until I see my wife.” The two guards stopped again and swung their heads back toward Dr. Walker. He nodded immediately for them to stand down. “What are you going to do, Damian? Kill more of my men?” he sneered.

“Don't tempt me! You have no idea what I'm capable of.”

“On the contrary, counselor, I know exactly what you're capable of. Don't forget that it was I who made you what you are now.” Walker held Damian's eyes with a defiant glare.

“Stop!” Yvette cried, trying to calm the stressful situation. She knew as well as I did that if Damian lost his temper the whole plan would go down the drain, and many lives might be compromised. “No one is going to die because of me. I won't allow it!” She wrenched herself free of Damian's grip, but stayed by his side.

“Yvette!” Damian scolded her.

“I'm here, Dr. Walker!” Yvette gestured with opened arms. “I'm not going anywhere! Just let Damian's wife go and I'll come quietly… No one needs to get hurt.”

“I'm glad you feel that way, my dear.” Walker agreed, turning toward the dark side of the warehouse, where the guard who had left before was bringing someone out in a wheelchair. It was too dark to make out who, but we all assumed it was Damian's wife. The guard wheeled her toward Dr. Walker, who was standing before the shadow-casting steel framework. A cold shiver ran though my spine at that moment. I couldn't understand why, but all my senses grew cold and erratic, as if something awful were about to take place... and I knew there was nothing I could do to stop it.

And yet none of my newly acquired senses could have warned me or prepared me enough for what happened next.

Walker pushed the wheelchair out of the shadows and into the light, revealing a hooded woman handcuffed to the chair's armrests. She was barefoot and wearing a hospital gown similar to the one I'd worn during the procedure. Damian went ballistic the moment he saw her. Although he couldn't see her face under the black hood, he recognized the wedding band on the woman's ring finger. This was indeed Damian's wife. “Sonya!” he called. “It's me, baby. I'm right here. Everything's going to be okay now.”

But Sonya didn't respond.

Walker stepped hastily from behind the wheelchair. “All right,” he barked, “enough of this! It's time to hand over the girl, Damian.” Once more, Walker signaled the two guards to seize Yvette. They re-aimed their weapons and began their approach.

“All right, you!” one of them shouted. “Step away from the girl!”

“Back off!” Damian threw him a furious scowl, raising his hand toward the guards, but they didn't stop. No longer able to contain his anger, Damian finally unleashed his rage upon them. “I said back off!” he shouted, making a thrusting motion with his fist that send the two guards flying fifteen feet across the meadow, to land back first against a concrete wall. They dropped unconscious to the ground, cut and bleeding. The two behind Dr. Walker reacted immediately, raising their weapons and stepping in front of their boss, acting as human shields. They were just a second away from opening fire on Damian when a sharp order from Walker made them stop on the spot. “Hold your fire! I need the girl alive.”

Damian pulled Yvette violently in front of him, imprisoning her in his tight grip. He then pulled the concealed Glock 9mm from his waistband and held it against Yvette's head, ordering her not to move.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Yvette cried out, stunned and scared.

“My wife!” Damian demanded, “Or I'll blow your precious little science project's head off! And I believe you know that I don't lack the conviction to do so!”

“What the hell is he doing?” Sarah echoed Yvette, distressed as she watched the confusing scenario unfold.

“Bluffing,” I said quickly, remembering how Damian had purposely emptied that particular gun prior our arrival. I understood then why Damian hadn't said anything to anybody. He wanted this to look as real as possible, in order to intimidate Walker, and trick him into giving up his wife first. Damian now had a bargaining chip.

“Get ready to move this truck,” I alerted Sarah. “Floor it the moment I tell you to.”

Sarah propped her hand over the shifter and waited, her eyes fixed on the meadow.

“Why don't you just put the gun down, Damian?” Walker stepped forward from behind the guards. “Like the girl said, there's no need for anyone to get hurt.”

“Sonya!” Damian called, purposely ignoring Walker's attempt to persuade him. “Are you hurt, baby? Come on, talk to me!” He was becoming extremely anxious, and so was I. “What's wrong?” His angry eyes swung toward to Dr. Walker. “Come on! Take the hood off her.”

Walker hesitated. “NOW!” Damian demanded furiously, pressing the gun harder against Yvette's temple.

Walker stood next to Damian's wife and began to remove the hood. Damian waited anxiously to finally see the face of his beloved. Besides my own experience with Yvette, I've never known anyone as passionately in love as Damian. But his passion morphed into horror the moment the black hood was finally removed.

Sonya's head hung loosely to one side, exposing a large surgical scar on the side of her partially shaved head. The incision curved in a 'U' shape cicatrix that stretched from her left temple all the way up to her hairline. Her eyes, although opened, were fixed on nothing, and drool streaked her chin.

Damian's face paled at the sight of this travesty of the person he loved the most. His guard dropped, along with the 9mm he had pointed at Yvette's head. “Sonya?” he breathed in complete dismay, too shocked to respond or react. He dropped to his knees and began to sob. “What have you done to her, you bastard?” he cried.

“Oh, that, “Walker said unctuously, “I forgot to tell you. Your wife insisted on knowing what had happened to you, so I figured the only way that she'd truly understand was by letting her experience it for herself. Unfortunately, her brain absorbed too much dark energy, making her, well… far too difficult to control. I was forced to intervene surgically.” Walker gently stroked Sonya's head while Damian sobbed. “The procedure I performed on her makes her more obedient. She now responds only to my commands. Would you like to see?”

“You bastard!” Damian cursed between sobs, disheartened by the pain he was feeling—a pain that I was able to sense despite the space that separated us, like a thorn jabbing into my brain.

“Victor, what do we do?” Sarah whispered. I heard her, but I couldn't answer. I couldn't even swallow the knot that had suddenly built in my throat.

Dr. Walker leaned over the wheelchair, his lips inches away from Sonya's ear. “Sonya?” he called. “Won't you say hello to Damian?” Damian looked up and realized that Sonya was indeed responding to the sound of Dr. Walker's voice. She slowly lifted her head and began to look for him with bulging eyes. Another sharp shiver ran down my spine when I realized that her eyes didn't resemble the sparkling hazel that I remembered from her photograph, but the unnatural gray that had been haunting me in every mirror ever since I felt the evil change come upon me. Sonya had turned completely to the side of evil, and she was now under Walker's control—a combination far too grave for me to ignore. I needed to do something, and fast. I kept running the numbers in my head, but with every alternative I sought only one answer: Yvette. I needed to get her out of there.