Landlocked (Atlas Link Series Book 2) (27 page)

“It’s clear I know more than you think I do,” General Allen said, gripping ever harder onto my shoulder. It was sure to bruise, maybe break. “But let me give you a preview of how much.”

He spun my chair so I faced him. I glared so hard I thought my eyeballs might pop out. But the spinning set off some equilibrium issues my head couldn’t handle, and the world tilted on its axis. I gripped the chair handle with one hand and cradled my face with the other.

“I know there was a second spy on board SeaSatellite5. You’ll tell me who that person was, and you’re going to keep this exchange a secret…” The air between us hung heavy as he took his sweet, sick time delivering his ultimatum. “Or I kill one of them.”

One of them, who? Josh? Weyland? Or the SeaSat5 crew no one could find?

“There wasn’t a second spy.” My protest came through gritted teeth.
Oh my GOD, please make the world stop spinning.
Vomit slicked my mouth, but I swallowed it backed down. I didn’t want to know what he’d do if I puked on him if this was how he reacted to simple statements of fact. Where did this assault come from, anyway?

“You and I both know that’s a lie.”

But it wasn’t. Dave was the only mole.
He
sabotaged SeaSat5. Unless he meant Valerie, who’d disappeared before TAO got there to retake the station.

A black pit formed in my stomach, pulling me deeper into sickness. If Valerie counted as a spy, so did Trevor. So which two did the General know about?

General Allen fished a vial out of his pocket. “This is the cure. Time will lessen the poison’s effects and return your powers, but this is instantaneous. Tell me who the second mole aboard SeaSat5 was, and I’ll let you go.”

My jaw clenched. I wouldn’t speak a single word, wouldn’t dare sell Trevor or Valerie out. Even though we weren’t dating, Trevor was still my friend. And Valerie… Well, she’d done the right thing in the end, I supposed. Didn’t matter either way.

General Allen raised an eyebrow. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

My mouth was cotton and nasty with the taste of bile. “What makes you… think… that?”

He chuckled and let go of my shoulder, pushing off of me so hard the chair spun again. “Your refusal to speak, for starters. Also the fact you appeared there and were hired within weeks of the hijacking. Did you know you’re the only new crewmember they hired after setting sail?”

“Yes,” I admitted. I
had
known that. That particular fact was one of the biggest that’d made Trevor question my appearance on SeaSat5. Still, it wasn’t a lie and it was easily verifiable, so there wasn’t a point in hiding the truth.

“Did you ever question that?” he asked. “Because I did. But I know things you don’t, soldier.”

His use of the word “soldier” sent pinpricks over every part of me. “How do you…”

He leaned forward and slammed his hands over mine on the chair’s armrests. “Because I know how many of you came over from Atlantis. I know who your parents are. I
know
.”

My head spun wildly. My parents? What’d they have to do with this? “Touch them or my sister and I’ll kill you in the slowest way I can find,” I growled.

General Allen barked a severe laugh. “Your ignorance is the best entertainment.”

Ignorance?
“I’m serious.”

“As am I, Ms. Danning. Now I’ll ask again, why did you sell the SeaSatellite5 crew out to the Lemurians?”

Now I was made to pay for Valerie’s mistakes at the cost of threats to my family?

Don’t do it. Don’t admit anything
. When the world stopped spinning, I could think. And if I could think, I could process why and how General Allen knew what he knew, and if I wanted to let Valerie’s secrets spill. If I wanted to risk Trevor’s life to save the lives of others.

“I didn’t,” I said.

“What was so worth it?” he yelled in my face.

Don’t stay a damned word
. But his question snapped Michael’s face into my mind. What was worth it? Evidently not Michael’s life. Not the entire crews’ lives. Just as I refused to speak of Atlantis to Thompson, I did so now. General Allen may know about the Lemurians, but he’d never get to know why they were after SeaSatellite5. If he knew I was an Atlantean super soldier though, he must also know about the outpost, right?

Tears streamed down my face. Nothing made sense. TruGates didn’t make sense. Trevor. Protecting Trevor was the only thing I’d ever understood.

“Please,” I said. I needed reprieve. Time and space to think.

“Just tell me and you can have the cure and go free.”

My head slid from side to side.
No chance in hell
.

Someone knocked on the door. “General, Eric Talmont is here to see you.”

Eric!
He could save me. He could stop this madness.

General Allen leaned in closer. “Speak of this to anyone, and not only will their lives be on the line, so will yours. And your sister’s. This isn’t over. I
will
know what happened on SeaSatellite5.” He backed away. “Compose yourself as best you can and leave. The drug will wear off in time.”

It took every ounce of normal, human strength within me to get up out of that chair, to walk toward the door as I fixed my expression into something halfway normal. To march out of that office like my world hadn’t been completely upturned.

General Allen had made two mistakes today. He’d threatened my friends and family, and he’d taken my powers away. That never ended well for my enemies. And as soon as I figured out how to take him down, I would. But the ache in my shoulder from General Allen’s grip told me that this fight would be harder than I thought.

I made it past Eric and down the hallway before moving too much caused everything around me to sway like a bad day on SeaSat5. A common room was at the end of the hall. I stumbled down the hallway toward it, thankfully not running into so much as a single janitor.

Inside the common room, I shut the door, then fell on the leather couch with a
thud
.

even dwarfs pounded away at some imaginary mining operation in my head. I rubbed my face with my right hand. The other was unresponsive. After several long moments spent sloshing through the all-encompassing heavy fog in my head, I realized my hand wasn’t unresponsive. No, it was trapped beneath the lithe form of someone with bright blonde hair and definitely no clothes on underneath this blanket cocooning us both.

I shifted away and pulled my arm out from beneath her. My boxers—and the rest of my clothes, for that matter— couldn’t be seen from the couch. I climbed my way out without waking her up. My boxers had been tossed without care onto a ceramic cat statue. I relieved the cat of its inappropriate headgear and pulled them on before daring to look at the girl’s face.

I didn’t know her, and that stung every way I looked at it.

What did I do last night?

I collected the rest of my clothing and climbed upstairs on wobbly legs. Freaking plague. Stupid alcohol. Bad decisions all around. Apparently in the process of trying to enjoy the party, I’d ended up in a basement with a girl I’d never met. Evidently Chelsea’s lifestyle has rubbed off on me more than I thought.

Entering the world of the living didn’t help things. As soon as I opened the basement door, sunlight slammed into my eyes, blinding me in searing pain. Why did I ever think drinking that much after contracting the bubonic plague was a great idea? Answer: I was an idiot.

“Oh. My. God.”

I spun to see who was so offended, but more sunlight blinded me.

“What the
hell
did you do?” the person continued. The voice was familiar enough to give them away despite the blinding sun.
Sarah
. “I saw Lexi go down there with someone, but when Danny told me it was you, I didn’t believe him. I didn’t think you’d be this stupid.”

She charged me, and an open palm stung my face before I could register what was about to happen. The slap sent stars across my vision. I reached out to the wall behind me to stabilize myself.

“Are you completely stupid?” she accused.

“What! What did I do?” I asked. It must have been bad if it sent Sarah into a Chelsea-like angry streak.

“I brought you here to have a good time,” she said. “It was the least I could do after what Chelsea did to you. But dammit Trevor, I didn’t expect you to completely burn that bridge with her.” She shoved me against the wall. “You are the most
moronic
person I’ve ever met, and I grew up with Chelsea.”

As if on cue, the basement door opened and the blonde girl emerged fully dressed and with a grin as evil as they come.

Sarah’s face contorted into pure rage. “You better get the hell out of here before anyone else wakes up.”

The blonde girl, who looked more familiar than ever wearing that sinister grin, shrugged nonchalantly. “I was on my way out, anyway.”

“Keep walking, slut,” Sarah spat.

The blonde girl left.

The blonde girl. The
same
blonde girl I saw during the
“Grand Summer Shit-Show.” The same night the blonde girl tried to get Chelsea to throw a punch for the tabloids.

Lexi
.

The front door slammed shut as the relationship hell-gods decided my fate.

I slammed my head against the wall. “Fucking. Stupid.”

“Oh yeah,” Sarah said. “Have fun explaining that one to Chelsea, you asshat. Leave before Logan shows up to clean up this mess. Happy hangover.”

That was all the motivation I needed.