Payback (9 page)

“Who was that?” Yana asked.

Eggar got up and shut the blinds. “You don’t need any distractions,” he told her.

“I need a break. That’s what I need,” Yana said.

“If you are serious about discovering the depth and range of your powers, you-”

Eggar was interrupted by the door swinging open. A woman in a suit that screamed money, money, money stepped inside. Ins tantly Eggar stood, gathered his notes, and left. The woman sat down across the table from Yana and smiled. “Is Eggar treating you al right?” she asked.

“He’s okay,” Yana said.

“Good, good,” the woman answered. “Did you sleep wel last night? Is there anything I can get you? Change of clothes? Some food you’ve got a craving for? I get a serious craving for biscotti right around this time of day. The ones that have been dipped in chocolate.”

Oh, so you’re going to be the good government agent. You act all concerned about me, and then I’ll do whatever you want,
right?
Yana thought.
Well, I’m not that easy.

“Who are you?” Yana asked.

“Sil y me.” The woman smoothed her deep red hair away from her face with her perfectly manicured nails. “I’m Layla Cascone.

I’m the administrator of this facility. We’re al very glad you found your way to us. I know we can help you reach your maximum po tential.”

And then what will you have me do with it?
Yana wondered. That was the mil ion-dol ar question. She didn’t ask it, though. She just nodded.

“I have a quick question for you, then I think you can cal it a day. You look wiped out,” Cascone said. “I was wondering how you were able to find us.”

Yana definitely wasn’t going to tel Cascone that Rae had brought her here. In fact, she’d do whatever it took to protect Rae from these government goons.

Yeah, and she’ll really appreciate that,
Yana thought.
She’ll appreciate how loyal you were to her and forget all about how
you tried to, what was it? Oh, right
-
kill her.

“My power-” Yana began.

“Wouldn’t give you that kind of information,” Cascone finished for her. “I real y must have a satisfactory answer.” She picked up the electrode that had been taped to Yana’s head and twiddled it between her fingers. “And I’d much rather have you tel it to me than have to go digging for it.” She set the electrode down in front of Yana.

Threat received,
Yana thought. Cascone could be bluffing. There might be no possible way to shock the info out of her brain.

And she’d learned over time that she even had the ability to block her thoughts from others. Rae had never been able to read a single fingerprint of hers. But why risk it? Yana had an answer she thought would work.

“A guy named Aiden Matthews told me where to come,” Yana answered.

Anthony headed into the gym. He didn’t want to be going to footbal practice. He wanted to be out hunting Yana down. But if he skipped practice, he’d get the coach angry. And if the coach got too angry, Anthony’d be shipped out of Sanderson Prep and back to Fil more High. Which meant he wouldn’t be at school with Rae, and he wouldn’t have the tiniest shot in the world of not turning out a supreme loser. That couldn’t happen.

He hitched his backpack higher up on his shoulder and headed down the row of lockers. “I can’t believe you screwed me over,”

a voice said from behind him. Before Anthony could turn around, somebody gave him a vicious shove. He stumbled backward, hit the bench behind him, and went down. Before he could shove himself back up, Marcus Salkow was on top of him, one of his knees pressing on Anthony’s chest.

“You knew how I felt about Rae, and the second we split up, you’re al over her,” Marcus yel ed.

“Get off him, Salkow,” McHugh ordered Marcus. He hauled Marcus up, and Anthony scrambled to his feet. “The coach is going to show any second.”

“You know what this liar did to me?” Marcus demanded, glaring at Anthony.

“You ask me, he did you a favor,” McHugh answered. “Rae’s psycho. She could snap at any second. If you’d stayed with her, you could’ve ended up without a head.”

“
Yo u
could end up without a head if you’re not careful,” Marcus told McHugh.

Sanders joined the group, already in his sweats. “Ease off, Marcus. You know you didn’t want her anymore. You said yourself that you-”

“Shut up, Sanders,” Marcus cut him off.

Anthony took a step closer to Marcus. “You didn’t deserve her.”

“And you do?” Marcus asked. “You’re a lowlife. You can barely read. You wear clothes from Kmart. And you’ve decided you’re better than me?” He moved in on Anthony, getting so close that they bumped chests.

“She chose me, didn’t she?” Anthony asked. It was al he could say. Everything Marcus had spewed out was true. He locked eyes with Marcus and didn’t blink until Marcus looked away. Then Anthony turned and walked over to his locker, going plenty slow enough to show Marcus that he wasn’t running away.

Anthony heard the guys calming Marcus down. Tel ing him Rae wasn’t worth it. Anthony wasn’t worth it. He tried not to listen, changing into his workout clothes as fast as he could. He wanted to be out on the field. He could only pray that Marcus was on the other side during the scrimmage. It would feel so good to take that smug jerk down.

He slammed his locker shut, clicked the lock in place, then headed to the double doors leading to the gym where they always warmed up. The guys were silent as he passed them.
Guess I won’t be going partying with the team anymore,
he thought. Not that he’d want to after today.

Anthony reached for the door handle, and his eyes went to the pay phone next to the door. He decided to give Aiden a quick cal . He didn’t have a cel phone, so Aiden wouldn’t be able to cal him until tonight. That was too long to wait for an update.

Quickly he dropped some change into the phone and dialed Aiden’s number. He’d memorized it as soon as he’d gotten it. “It’s me,” he said as soon as Aiden picked up.

“You got my message. Good.” Anthony didn’t interrupt to say he hadn’t gotten any message. “I know where Yana is. She’s with the-”

Anthony heard the sound of plastic hitting wood. The phone went flying, he realized. Then he heard a muffled scream, so high and long, it made al the hair on his arms stand straight up.

“Aiden, what happened?” he shouted, praying the guy could hear him. “Are you okay? What happened?”

The only answer was silence.

Rae set her cel down on the dashboard after about the fiftieth time she’d tried Aiden since Anthony’d picked her up. “No ans wer,” she told Anthony.

“We’re almost there,” Anthony said. His voice was calm, but he had a death grip on the steering wheel. “See that dentist’s offi ce up on the left? That’s it.”

There was no ambulance parked outside. No groups of rubberneckers. Nothing out of the ordinary on the street. Rae wasn’t su re if that was a good sign or a bad one.
Aiden’s okay,
she told herself.
He’s been trained to take care of himself. Maybe he
just… fell and knocked himself out, and that’s why he isn’t answering the phone.

Anthony pul ed into the dentist’s office parking lot and parked in the spot right in front of the door. Rae was out of the car before he had a chance to get the key out of the ignition. She raced to the entrance and twisted the doorknob. Locked. Rae twisted the knob harder, using al her strength, ignoring the burst of static that pushed through her head-noise with no clear thoughts. Nothing that could help her. She had to get inside. Now, now, now!

“Aiden, are you in there?” Anthony yel ed. He stepped up behind Rae and pounded on the door. “Aiden, come on! Answer us!”

Rae and Anthony both listened hard. But there was no answer from inside. No sound of movement. “Let’s try the back.” Anthony sprinted around the building, Rae right behind him. Her heart cramped as she saw the back door hanging from one hinge. Some body’d broken in.

Anthony jerked to a stop. He held up one hand, signaling Rae not to go any farther. “We don’t know if whoever did this is stil in there,” he whispered.

“If they are, they must have heard us pounding on the front door,” Rae whispered back. “But we have to risk it. We have to get in there.”

Anthony nodded, then he crept toward the open door. Rae twisted her hands in the back of his T-shirt and fol owed. Just inside the doorway, Anthony paused. Rae listened hard. But she didn’t hear anything except her own harsh breaths.

Anthony took another step. Then another. Rae’s breaths came faster each time they moved forward.
Get a grip,
she ordered herself.
You hyperventilate, you faint. And you’re not going to be able to help Aiden if you’re sprawled out on the floor.
She fo cused on pul ing in a long, slow breath and then calmly letting it out. In. And out. In.

Rae’s fingers tightened on Anthony’s shirt. “Do you smel that?” she asked, her nose automatical y wrinkling in disgust at the put rid stench.

“It’s urine,” Anthony replied, no emotion in his voice. He took another step into the hal way.

Yeah, that was it. The smel of urine. But there was another smel mixed in. Metal ic. Thick. It brought up a taste in the back of her mouth-warm and salty.

Blood. That was the other smel -blood. “Aiden!” Rae screamed, not able to hold the cry back.

There was no answer.

Rae let go of Anthony and bolted down the hal . “Aiiiden!” she screeched again, so loud, she felt the soft tissue inside her throat begin to fray.

“It’s-he’s in here,” Anthony cal ed. Rae spun around and saw Anthony standing in the doorway of a room she’d run right past.

The expression on his face made her body feel like it was fil ed with slush-cold, gray, dirty. It was only about ten steps back to Ant hony, but it felt like there were miles and miles between them.
Get back there,
Rae ordered herself.
Get back there, now! Aiden
needs you.

Except, if there was anything to do for Aiden, Anthony wouldn’t be standing there looking at me,
a little voice inside Rae mut tered. Rae ignored it. She concentrated on crossing the distance between her and Anthony. Between her and the room where Aiden was.

“Don’t.” Anthony grabbed her arm when she reached the doorway. “You don’t need to see it. Him.”

“He needs help,” Rae insisted. She pul ed free from him and rushed into the room before he could stop her. Aiden… Aiden lay on the ground, stil , so stil , his head turned away from her. Rae dropped to her knees next to him. CPR. That’s what he needed.

CPR. Why was Anthony just standing there? Didn’t he have a clue?

Rae took Aiden’s head in her hands and turned his head until he was looking up at the ceiling. Now what? Now what?

The answer came to her almost immediately. She’d practiced this over and over on a big plastic dol when she took first aid last year. Tap the shoulder. Cal his name.

Rae slammed her fist down on Aiden’s shoulder. “Aiden!” she shouted. “Can you hear me?”

No response. Now what?

“Stop it, Rae,” Anthony said. But he sounded far away. Rae didn’t bother to answer him. He didn’t understand what she was do ing. He didn’t know how important it was.

Now what? she asked herself again. Tilt the head. That was it. Rae pul ed up on Aiden’s chin and pressed down on his forehe ad until his head was in the correct position for CPR. It was hard. His neck was hard to flex. But she did it. Next. What next?

“Rae, come on.” Rae felt Anthony’s hands on her shoulders. She didn’t look up at him. She was trying to think.
What next?

Clear the airway. That meant open the mouth. Anthony started to pul on her shoulders. “He needs CPR,” she snapped. She used both hands to pry Aiden’s mouth open.

There was something in there. Something blocking the air. No wonder he wasn’t breathing.

Rae gingerly reached into Aiden’s mouth and latched onto the object. She gave a tug and pul ed it free. It was… paper. A bal of paper.

“Can I see that?” Anthony asked.

Rae didn’t answer. She had to continue the CPR. Every second was crucial.
Do I start pressing on the chest or do mouth-to-mouth?
She couldn’t believe she couldn’t remember. What was the point of learning this if you couldn’t remember it in an emer gency?

Just do something,
she told herself. She lowered her mouth to Aiden’s. Before their lips could meet, Anthony hauled her to her feet and turned her to face him. “Aiden’s dead, Rae,” he told her. “He’s dead. There’s nothing you can do. Nothing anybody can do.”

Rae twisted around and looked at Aiden’s body. His
corpse.
How could she have thought for one second he was alive? He was already getting stiff. She should have realized that as soon as she touched him. And the blood, there was so much blood. It was on her hands now, on the legs of her khakis.

“You okay?” Anthony asked.

“Yeah,” Rae answered, stil staring at Aiden’s body. “Yeah,” she repeated, forcing herself to turn her gaze back to Anthony. “I gu ess I… I just wanted him to be alive.” She had to push the words out through a salty lump of unshed tears.

“I know.” Anthony reached for her hand. “Can I see that paper?”

Rae involuntarily tightened her fist. “Let me do it,” she answered. She wil ed her fingers to loosen, then uncrumpled the bal of paper. It was a note. A note to her.

Black dots exploded in front of Rae’s eyes. She blinked rapidly until they disappeared, then read the words on the damp, wrink led paper.

Rae, forget about us. Or die.

Anthony sat on Rae’s bed, waiting for her to get out of the shower. She’d been in there awhile. With the amount of blood she’d gotten on her, it made sense. Yeah, it must al be washed off by now. But he bet she could stil feel it.

He got a memory flash of her, crouched over Aiden’s body, her hands on his face, his dead eyes staring up at her. He should ha ve tried harder to keep her out of that room. She didn’t need to have a vision of Aiden’s corpse locked in her head for the rest of her life.

“Penny for your thoughts.” Anthony jerked his head toward the bathroom door. Rae stood there, her hair stil damp from the sho wer, feet bare, a strained smile on her face. “I guess I’d be wasting my money, though. I already know what you’re thinking about.