The Deviant Underground (Time Bandit) (31 page)

“Are you ready?” Susan asked, extending her hand.

“Yep.” Kathryn took it and teleported them back to the fortress. The building looked even more foreboding at night. Spotlights illuminated the courtyard, but with few windows, the rest of the building stood eerily dark. Kathryn saw no one. The guard and the dog were not in sight.

“So where are you going to go?” Susan whispered. Talking softly seemed to be appropriate, even though there was no one around.

Kathryn looked at the huge building. “I guess I should take it floor by floor, room by room. Methodically, so I don't miss anything.”

Susan nodding in the moonlight. “Okay.” She threw her arms around Kathryn. “Please be careful.”

“I will.” Kathryn held her close. “Don't worry.” She then let Susan go and teleported to the building. She decided to start on the left side of the building on the first floor. The first few rooms that she entered were clearly offices. The cubicles were now empty, and the computer screens were dark and silent. Kathryn zigzagged her way across the entire first floor, entering bathrooms, janitorial closets, hallways, meeting rooms, and even a small auditorium. She then went up to the second floor, still without rematerializing. This floor was full of labs, some brightly lit with people busily working. Many wore stark white coats, face masks, and gloves as they worked on equipment and peered into microscopes. Charge was nowhere to be seen. Her exploration of the second floor complete, Kathryn headed to the third floor. This floor resembled a hospital ward. She rapidly flew through the rooms, trying to quickly note what she was looking at. Many of the rooms were full. Some patients were hooked up to machines in brightly lit rooms, others were asleep in their darkened quarters. Kathryn thought she saw someone handcuffed to the bed, but she passed by too fast to really get a good look. Her primary focus was on the patients' faces. As she zoomed by invisibly, she searched desperately for Charge. His massive frame would have been easy to spot, but in room after room, Kathryn saw strangers. She even passed through one operating room where doctors with bloody gloves stood over a comatose patient.

Discouraged, Kathryn headed up to the fourth and final floor. This floor was the only one with a few windows. Those windows were part of offices, only these were not the cubicle-style offices she saw on the first floor. Instead, these were plush, carpeted offices with wood furniture, couches, and bookcases full of family photos and knickknacks. Only one of those offices was lit, and a grey-haired man sat working on his computer at his desk.

Disappointed, Kathryn headed back to Susan. She materialized next to her, and Susan looked at her in anticipation. Kathryn slowly and sadly shook her head. “No. No Charge.”

“Really?” Susan seemed crestfallen. “What did you see?”

Kathryn ticked off the floors on her fingers. “First floor, cubicle offices. Second floor, labs. Third floor, hospital. Fourth floor, more offices, but like executive-level, nice offices.”

“That's it?”

“Yeah, that's it.”

Susan turned to look at the spotlighted building. “What about the basement?”

“Basement?” Kathryn frowned. “I didn't check the basement. How do you know it even has one?”

“Buildings like this one always have a basement.” Susan turned back to Kathryn, her eyes flashing with anticipation. “Go check.”

“Okay,” Kathryn said and disappeared again. This time, she went into the first floor and then headed down. She was shocked at two things. First, Susan was right; second, the basement was a prison. As Kathryn zoomed at lightning speed through the underground chambers, she went through wall after wall of metal cells. Most didn’t have bars around them; instead, the walls were made of pure, solid steel. Each room was only illuminated by a single, dim light bulb that sent a wan glow that barely penetrated the darkness. Not all of the cells were occupied, but in the ones where Kathryn could see people, she could only see bodies huddled on metal beds or curled up in corners. She tried to get close to the people as she passed by undetected, looking for the outline of Charge's powerful form. No one fit his profile—they were either too tall, too short, too thin, too fat, or female.

Kathryn passed through the last of the horrifying chambers and was about to return to Susan to give her the news, but before she did, she decided to check to see if the building went down one more level. As she passed through the floor of an empty cell, she entered what struck her as an interrogation chamber. It was a dimly lit room that only had a small metal desk and a metal chair in it. It was empty. She passed through row after row of identical rooms before entering one that made her heart stop cold.

Chapter Thirty Two

“Come here, baby.” His mother's strong brown arms reached for him. She was sitting on the bed in her room. He heard the shuffle of his footed pajamas as he traipsed across the carpet. The smell of electrical current filled the room. “Let me see your hand.” He extended his fingers. She took his small hand in hers and turned it around, examining both sides of it thoroughly. “That didn't hurt you, baby?”

“No, Mama.” He turned and looked behind him. The electrical socket was still smoking.

Her brown eyes looked deep into his, her face lined with worry. She reached over to the light by her bed, removed the shade, and unscrewed the light bulb. “Here.” She held it out to him. “I want you to try to do something for me. Can you make this glow?” He took the bulb. “Hold it like this.” She moved his fingers down to the base.

He sent some electricity into it. The light was dim at first, but it slowly grew in brightness. In its illumination, he could see his mother's face glowing as well. “Oh my baby,” she whispered. “You are special.”

“Mama!”

The sound of Marlon's voice behind him startled him, and he sent a jolt so powerful that the bulb popped, scattering pieces onto the floor. He turned to see Marlon glaring. “Freak!” Marlon spat out and then disappeared, slamming the door behind him.

Charge felt the tears welling up in his eyes, but his mother wrapped her arms around him and drew him close. “You ain't no freak, baby. You're special.” She rocked him back and forth. “Mama's very special boy.”

Charge gasped as the emotions overwhelmed him. Images, snippets of conversation, and smells flipped through his mind like pages in a book, making him dizzy.

“I saw Damon with your girl last night.”

He stopped tying his cleat and looked up. “No way, man.”

“For real, dude.” Tony slammed the locker door shut with a loud clang. “I didn't want to tell you, but I figured you might want to know.”

“Doing what?”

“Standing by the front door of her dorm room.” Tony picked up his shoulder pads. “Now I'm not sayin' that anything scandalous is going on, but I'm just sayin' . . .” He raised his eyebrows and headed out of the locker room. Charge picked up his own pads and followed him onto the field. There, by the fence, he saw them. Jasmine's body leaning into him. Damon's hand on her ass.

“Get the fuck away from my girl, man!” A hard shove.

“She ain't your girl no more, man.” A smug smile plastered on his face.

He couldn't stop himself. The electricity flowed around him and through him, energizing his blood and enflaming his temper. Another shove—this time, with thousands of volts behind it that knocked Damon off his feet and left him seizing on the ground. Later, the doctors were puzzled at the strange, localized electric shock. Damon was lucky that all he lost was his hearing.

“Stop,” Charge whispered. The black pools drew him in further. Ice stabbed him in the brain.

“Oh, no. This is getting good.”

“I wish you'd go back and finish, baby.”

“I can't go back, Mama.”

“Why not, baby?”

“School's just not for me. I gotta go. I'll be late. Don't wait up.”

The hip hop music swirled around him, making it hard for him to hear. He shined the flashlight onto the ID card and looked up at the overly-painted woman standing in front of him. He handed it back to her. “Ten bucks.” She gave him the money, and he waved her through. “Next.” He took the ID held up in front of him. The flashlight revealed that it belonged to a middle-aged white guy. Not the club's usual clientele, but it takes all ki—

“Are you Charge?”

He handed him back the ID. “Yeah.”

“My name's Jonathan.” He extended his hand. “I've been looking for you.”

His mother's voice. The smell of his favorite fried catfish dish. The feeling of his body waking up the first time he kissed a girl.

“Who do you want me to be this time?” Susan's breath was hot in his ear. He groaned as she grabbed his dick and pulled him to her.

“Mm. Choices. Choices.” He massaged her full breasts and smiled as she let out a groan of her own. “How about you do that doubling trick for me again.”

“Okay.” She pressed her wet mouth against his. From behind him, another hand touched his shoulder and a second mouth planted kisses on the back of his neck. He sighed as he turned to kiss that Susan as well, and four hands roamed up and down his body.

A sharp pain jolted through his brain. “No!” He grunted.

“I really had a great time playing basketball with you. You are quite a surprising woman.”

“That’s me. Full of surprises.”

“Hmm. I’m sure.” He took the bottle out of her hand and set it down on the table. She was so beautiful, and he had to have her. “Come here.”

Her kisses were even better than he remembered. So delicious. Her tongue danced over his, and he needed more of her. Please don't stop me this time. She grabbed the front of his pants, and he groaned. Yes. He slipped his hands up her shirt, found her bra and unhooked it. The warmth of her skin and the feeling of her nipples growing hard under his fingertips ignited his desire for her. His erection was painful as it strained against his jeans, and he kissed her deeply. She sighed.

“Bedroom.”

Yes.

Being inside her was heaven. Warm. Wet. Inviting. The look of sheer desire on her face as he worked himself deeper and deeper was consuming. Pleasure. I want to give you sheer pleasure. He knew just the right amount of electricity to send through her. Just a tiny bit. He could see her orgasm approaching as the tingles overtook her. She exploded underneath him, screaming and writhing while clutching his back. He kept up his steady rhythm until her fever pitch began to die down.

My turn.

The tears burned hot as they slid down his cheeks.

Damn. Never met anyone like her.

Balls of electricity, sheets of metal, pipes, bolts, screws. All suspended in the air.

Froze Susan. Gave her a hard shove. “Damn, girl.” Her grin made his heart sing.

Here one second. Over there the next. Underneath him one second. On top of him the next. Riding him. “You are so bad.”

She winked. “I know.”

Powerful Kathryn.

Beautiful Kathryn.

His Kathryn.

I love you, Kathryn.

She removed her hand, and the images stopped. Her black eyes were just a few inches from his. The thin mouth upturned into a slight sneer. “Thank you.” She turned, and Charge dropped his head, relieved to be released from her gaze.

Everything throbbed. He closed his eyes tightly in an attempt to shield himself from the pain. His body shook with emotion, and he swam in and out of consciousness. “Charge, the information you’ve provided has been invaluable.” Her voice came from far away. “I really do appreciate it.” Faintly, he heard the metal door sliding open. “Kill him.”

Chapter Thirty Three

It was Charge. At least, Kathryn could tell by looking at his body, not his face. One eye was swollen shut, his nose looked broken, and his lip was bloody. In the microsecond that Kathryn was in the room, she took note of several things. Charge was sitting slumped over in a chair, his hands behind his back. The chair itself looked different from all the others she had seen. Exactly what the difference was, she couldn't tell. In the room were three people, two men and a woman. The men were standing to the sides of Charge, and the woman was standing in front of him. Kathryn couldn't see their faces or hear what they were saying as she flashed by, but their body language was menacing. As she passed through the room and headed out to Susan, she was struck by a strange impression. In the instant between entering and leaving the interrogation room, Kathryn thought she saw the woman slightly cock her head in surprise. That small movement left Kathryn with the distinct impression that she knew Kathryn was there.

When she reappeared next to Susan, she felt overwhelmed with emotion. Susan tapped into it immediately. “What?”

“He's there!” The lump in her throat reappeared. This time, she couldn't stop the tears from falling. The words came pouring out. “He's there! I saw him! And he's hurt. He's really hurt.” She frantically wiped away the tears, but they were quickly replaced with new ones. “And there's people there, and they hurt him. And he seems unconscious. We have to get him, Susan. We have to get him out now!”

“Okay, okay.” Kathryn collapsed in Susan's arms, angry at her loss of control. Susan stroked her hair silently for a moment. “It's okay. We'll get him,” she said softly. “We'll get him.”