Resistance (The Variant Series #2) (39 page)

I’m afraid, however,
the Director continued,
that in order to properly assess your ability for control, we’ll need to throw one more curveball your way.

Curveball?

We need to see how you’ll react to an unexpected emotional stimuli while under duress,
she said.
Something like
this
, for example.

A single image was projected into Alex’s thoughts—and the moment she saw it, an anguished cry ripped from her throat.

In the image, Nathaniel was handcuffed and dangling by his wrists from a meat hook suspended from the ceiling of a darkened room, the toes of his black shoes barely skimming the concrete floor.

His white dress shirt was hanging open, his undershirt stained crimson with blood flowing from the multiple lacerations across his chest.

His lip was busted.

His cheek was bruised.

His forehead had been split just above his left eye, pouring a stream of red down the side of his face.

His shoulder appeared to be dislocated.

And he wasn’t moving.

With his eyes closed, Alex couldn’t be certain if he was just unconscious, or already dead.

As she registered what must have happened—what Nathaniel must have been subjected to in the hours since his disappearance—Alex’s heart turned to ice in her chest.

“
What have you done to him
?” she demanded, climbing slowly—purposefully
—
to her feet.

The image of Nathaniel’s suffering was permanently seared into the landscape of her thoughts. It was an image that would visit her nightmares in the years to come. And it was one she was certain would never,
could
never, forget.

Alex locked eyes with the Director, and the older woman’s expression went slack.

In that moment, Director Carter realized the severity of her mistake. She’d intended to incite panic in Alex. To throw her off balance as a result of her concern for her friend. To goad her into losing control.

Instead, she’d found the one thing on this earth capable of unlocking the full scope of power that normally lay dormant inside Alex Parker’s mind.

She’d threatened her family
.

Alex narrowed her eyes.

Screw the test. The Director had crossed a line and now she needed to pay.

The bitch was going down.

A circular rift formed in the earth around Alex, raising her up so that she stood on a precipice a good twenty feet above the runway, giving her a bird’s eye view of her surroundings.

Focusing on the gravel beneath her friends feet, she easily shifted it another fifty feet closer to the shore, creating a massive patch of fresh earth between herself and her friends, and permanently reshaping the island’s geography in the process.

They needed to be safe and out of the way for what was to come.

Alex had no intention of holding back this time.

“It is this world that should fear
you
…”

And so it would.

By invoking the power of the oceans surrounding the atoll, Alex summoned a terrifying wave of saltwater and sent it barreling across the runway toward the Director.

The shields were only barely able to counter the force of it. A heavy spray of ocean water rained down upon the Agency’s group.

A dart connected with her shoulder. Another with her lower back.

She swayed on her feet, but refused to lose focus.

Alex hoped that the healing ability she’d borrowed from Holly would help to buy her some time.

She wouldn’t be able to fight the effects of the tranquilizers forever, but maybe she could fight them for
just long enough…

Reaching out, Alex could feel the weight of the two sniper’s bodies upon the surface of the earth, where they lay, concealed in the overgrowth to either side of the runway. Opening up the earth beneath each of them, she tugged both men down into pits just deep enough that they wouldn’t be able to climb out on their own.

Rage coursed through her veins like fire through a desiccated field, consuming her, body and soul. Blood dripped from her nose and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. There would be no room for weakness now. She could do this.

She
had
to do this.

For Nathaniel.

For herself.

For everyone.

A flame emerged from a rift in the ground beside the airstrip, rising upward from a pool of molten lava buried deep beneath the island.

She’d asked for a flame.

The earth was kind enough to oblige.

As she readied her next attack, a third dart hit her in the side. And then another. And another. The shields had produced tranq guns of their own and were now taking aim.

Alex held tight to the fiery substance suspended above her palm, trying valiantly to maintain her concentration. To fight off the creeping dark that threatened to overtake her.

In the end, it was no use.

The orb of molten fire fell from Alex’s hands.

Unable to resist the hypnotic lure of the wave spreading through the recesses of her mind, she gave in—and collapsed.

It was over.

Alex had just failed the Agency’s test.

— 30 —

T
he first thing Alex Parker did when she woke up in Agency custody three days later, was roll onto her side and grip tightly to the plastic railing of her hospital bed.

The second thing she did, was vomit the contents of her stomach onto the sparkling blue laminate floor.

Someone standing at the other side of the bed tugged her hair back and out of the way.

Incredibly helpful, since the churning in Alex’s stomach showed no immediate signs of stopping—and since her right wrist was currently handcuffed to the bedrail.

“Shit,” said a woman’s voice. “Ames, did you
not see
the Zofran order on her chart, or what?”

“I administered the antiemetic at the same time as everything else, Foster,” said a deeper, masculine voice tinged with an accent Alex couldn’t place.

She could only assume that the speaker was Ames. She couldn’t exactly turn around to look.

He huffed. “You try getting shot with six Sleeper Cocktails at one time and then we’ll see how
you
feel when you wake up. All the Zofran on the planet won’t stop her system from purging those chemicals.”

A plastic bucket was placed gently in Alex’s lap, just in time for round two.

Six tranqs? And she thought a three-dart whammy was bad.

“How long has she been conscious?” asked a new voice.

“Oh, Dr. Li. Welcome back,” said Foster in a saccharine sweet voice.

Well, at least Alex knew
one
thing about this woman she’d yet to lay eyes on—she was a terrible suck-up. Either that, or someone had a crush. 

Another wave of nausea washed over Alex and she found herself gripping the bucket so tightly with her free arm that one of the sides caved in.

“And might I add,
excellent
timing
,” Foster added.

Jesus, woman
, Alex thought.
I’m dying over here and you’re
flirting
.

“She regained consciousness only a few moments ago,” said Ames. “As you can see, she’s ah…” He trailed off. “Well, she’s still suffering the effects of the tranquilizers.”

“Yes, Mr. Ames, I
can
see that. The counteragent doesn’t appear to be working very well at all. We’ll need to increase the dosage. Oh, and Foster? Find a mop or something, will you? Get this mess cleaned up?”

Foster’s reply was less enthusiastic that time, but Alex heard her shuffling out of the room nonetheless. The sound was closely followed by the rustling noise of someone flipping through the pages of her chart.

Alex raised her head and stole a glance at the two men who remained.

Dr. Li was an attractive man of Asian decent, probably in his early to mid-thirties. Ames was dressed in scrubs and was—somewhat unexpectedly—a paunchy young man with brown hair and a pleasant face.

Odd.

She’d expected her captors to be more menacing.

A far more unpleasant sensation replaced the fleeting thought. Alex gripped the bucket in her lap even tighter.

“Ames,” said Li. “Go and check on the status of her latest blood work, will you? Those samples that were supposed to have been taken two hours ago—the results seem to be missing.”

“Sure thing, Dr. Li.”

Ames left. Alex heard a door closing behind him.

Her sickness had transformed into painful, dry heaves. Tears slipped down her cheeks.

Please, God, just make it
stop
… Let it be over. I can’t take much more of this.

“Alright, Alex, it’s alright. You’re going to be just fine,” Dr. Li’s voice was quiet, soothing as he sidled up beside her bed and pumped a syringe full of something clear into her IV.

Almost immediately, the nausea dulled to manageable levels.

Her entire body aching, Alex lowered herself back onto the pillows. Someone had raised the back of the bed up so that she didn’t have far to go—she was still essentially sitting up.

“On top of the tranquilizers, I’m afraid it was also necessary to keep you under heavy sedation until the effects of your borrowed abilities faded,” Li explained. “Makes for a less than pleasant return to the waking world, I know—and you have my sincerest apologies.”

He took the bucket out of her lap and set it aside.

Alex’s thoughts slowed to a crawl and became disorganized.

Li must have given her some sort of sedative.

He placed a cold, wet cloth in her hand and she used it to wipe her face and mouth. Afterward, she traded the cloth for a small cup of water.

“Only sip it, for now,” the doctor warned. “Too much could make you sick again.”

“Where is he?” asked Alex. Even with water to soothe her aching throat, her voice still emerged in a rasp. “Where are you keeping Nathaniel? And what have you done to him? Is he even
alive
?”

Her voice broke on the last word.

Li regarded her with a curious expression. “Most people in your situation would be far more concerned about
themselves
, right now. Do you know where you are? Are you aware of what’s happened to you?”

Alex stared straight ahead, focusing in on the white wall opposite the bed.

“I failed my test,” she said. “I’ve been taken. But that’s stuff I already know. Stuff I can’t change. So, please. Answer me.
Where is Nathaniel
?”

“I can’t tell you,” said Li. “Not because I don’t want to, but because I don’t have the answers you’re looking for. Your friend arrived at this facility six days ago, but that is the extent of my knowledge. I cannot tell you anything more than that.”

Alex refused to look him in the eye.

“But I
can
tell you this, Alex Parker.” The doctor leaned closer in order to whisper the following words, “I am the man who hired Aaron Gale and sent him to Bay View—and I
will
help you to get out of this mess alive. You have my word.”

That caught her attention.

“You’re lying,” she said.

Li shook his head. “I’m not. And I’ll
prove
it to you in six hours time when the night shift breaks for their evening meal. In the meantime, say nothing to anyone who might come into this room. Ask no questions, and refuse to answer theirs. Fake sleep, if at all possible. It will buy us some time. Give me the chance to prove my claims, Alex. I only wish to help you.”

Before Alex could say more, the door opened and a short, blonde woman appeared pushing a mop bucket.

Li straightened. “Thank you, Foster. When Ames returns with those results, make sure he runs a copy by my office.”

“Sure thing, Dr. Li,” said Foster, smiling. As soon as Li left the room, her cheerful demeanor evaporated.

Alex closed her eyes and pretended to sleep. The charade only lasted for a few minutes. After that, Alex really did drift off, unable to fight the effects of the sedative.

She jerked back to wakefulness hours later to find that the lights in the room had been lowered and that the IV was gone from her left arm.

Li was in the process of unlocking the metal handcuffs that chained her to the bed’s railing.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“Better,” she said.

And she did.

Whatever drugs they’d pumped into her system while she’d been unconscious appeared to have finally taken affect.

After her first experience with the tranquilizers, the symptoms of nausea and headaches had lasted for
days
.

Despite the nasty shock of waking up sick as a dog earlier, the only lingering effects she could sense were exhaustion and a bit of a headache.

And those she could easily handle.

The cuffs fell away. Alex had a sudden vision of herself overpowering Li and running headlong into the hallway, but then what?

She had no way of knowing where she was being held within the facility—or the route she ought to take if she wanted to escape.

No abilities remained in her system.

Alex was exhausted and defenseless and dressed in a paper gown. How far would she get if she made a break for it
now
?

She sighed. Li had begged her to hear him out. And if he really
was
Aaron’s employer, then maybe he would be in a position to get her out of here at some point.

Even though she couldn’t yet discern his motives, it seemed clear that Li was working against the Agency.

For now, the enemy of her enemy was pretty much her only potential friend.

Li approached her once more with the cuffs. “I’m sorry, Alex, but if anyone sees you roaming the halls without restraints it’s going to raise an immediate red flag.”

With a sigh, Alex nodded and allowed Li to handcuff her wrists together.

Li positioned a wheelchair, beside the bed.

When she stared at him quizzically, he shrugged.