Rogue (Book 2) (The Omega Group) (16 page)

Gina paced the length of her and Kell’s cell. The ten-foot
square space was enclosed by three walls and a row of iron bars, and had no windows.
The view through the bars, a plain white hallway with a single door, shed no
light on where they were being held. She’d awoken over an hour ago with a
raging headache from whatever drug she’d been given and was quickly running out
of patience. “Where the hell is everyone?”

Kell sat casually on the floor, leaning against the back
wall. “I suspect they’re getting ready for company.”

Gina turned to face her roommate. “What are you talking
about?”

Kell stood and stretched. “I don’t know about you, but I’m
a nobody
. There is absolutely nothing about me that would
make me a target for kidnapping. The only logical explanation, then, is that
we’re bait for whatever they’re really after. My guess would be Han and Carter
and the rest of their group.”

“So, what do we do?”

Kell smiled. “We wait. Something tells me it won’t be long.”

She was right. The door to the hallway outside their cell
opened a few minutes later, and everyone she’d been with earlier in the hotel room
walked through, guarded by several soldiers with rifles. Carter pushed his way
through the crowd to the other side of the bars.

“Are you guys okay?” he asked as he reached through the bars
to grab her hand.

“We’re fine. You shouldn’t have come, Carter. It’s you and
your friends that they wanted.”

He gave her a smile that melted her heart. “I know what they
want, but I couldn’t just leave you. Not again. Seven years ago I was an idiot
to walk away from you. But now those years feel like minutes. I have no excuse
for what I did. I felt like my back was against the wall. I wasn’t ready then,
but I am now. I only hope you are, too.”

Gina stared into the eyes of the man she’d never stopped
loving. “I am.” She pulled him close and planted a long kiss on his lips
through the bars.

“Be safe.” Carter’s gaze held hers for a moment more, before
he turned and left the room with the others. Once again, Gina and Kell were on
their own.

“That was kind of sweet,” Kell said with a grin. “You guys
must have quite the history.”

“We do. I’ll tell you about it someday. For now, though, we
need to get ready.”

Kell looked confused. “For what?”

“Something’s going to happen in exactly seven minutes. I’m
not sure what, but I think we need to get our backs against the wall before it
does.”

Carter eyed his watch as they were herded into what looked
like a procedure room. Dr. Powell, who was seated at a computer when they
entered, jumped to his feet to greet them. “I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve got
everything ready for you.” He gestured toward a row of examination tables and
actually looked confused when they didn’t respond. “You have nothing to worry
about. This is standard procedure.”

“You call this standard procedure? Kidnapping two of our
friends and forcing us to be a part of your Frankenstein program?” Carter was
angry and didn’t mind letting it show.

Dr. Powell glanced to the general, looking for support. When
none was given, he continued. “I agree that the circumstances are unusual, but
I think, over time, you’ll come to understand just how important the work we do
here is. You’ll be providing an invaluable service to our soldiers.”

“You have got to be kidding. You don’t know the first thing
about us, yet you expect us to allow you to do whatever it is you plan on doing?
No way.” Carter looked at his watch, then at his team.

General Persaud strode confidently to the doctor’s side.
“You can stop looking at your watch, Mr. Mockta.” He gestured to a soldier who
held up one of the explosives they’d planted. “Mr. Li, you are very talented,
but my men were onto you. There will be no detonation, and there will be no
escape. Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear earlier. If any of you put up any
kind of resistance, one of your friends dies. If there’s any further trouble,
the other one dies. I can keep bringing people that you care about here as long
as I need to. Now, I know you all have abilities. I’ve seen some of them, but
I’m aware that there are more that I haven’t. That’s why Captain Hancock is
standing right outside your friends’ cell. He can hear everything that’s
happening in this room and has orders to shoot if necessary. I do hope it won’t
be necessary.” With that, the general walked out of the room, leaving his
soldiers to guard them.

Carter clenched his jaw at the thought of a rifle pointed at
Gina. Their plan had just acquired a new wrinkle.

********

Gina eyed the soldier
standing outside their cell. He was tall and muscular, with blond hair and blue
eyes that almost seemed friendly. He looked more like a man from a recruiting
poster than someone that would kill two innocent women.

“You’re the guy from the
falls yesterday. You saved our lives.” Kell took a step away from the wall as
she spoke, then stopped, as though remembering Carter’s coded message. “How can
you be involved in something like this?”

The soldier didn’t
answer, but he did glance at Kell like he remembered her.

“Captain Hancock, right?
I understand that you’re following orders, but we’re being held against our
will by your boss. I don’t know what he wants with our friends, but it can’t be
legal, or ethical. On some level, you have to know that.”

Still no answer, but Gina
thought she caught a glimpse of something in the man’s eyes. Uncertainty?
Confusion? Maybe it was just wishful thinking on her part, but they only had a
few seconds left before whatever Carter had planned happened, and she didn’t
want their escape to end with a bullet. “You wouldn’t really shoot us, would
you? I’m sure you’ve been given orders to do that, but I can’t imagine a man
like you following them. Do you have family? Do they know the kinds of things
you’re being asked to do?”

Captain Hancock raised
his gaze to meet Gina’s, then Kell’s. He opened his mouth to say something but
was cut off by a sudden explosion. The blast emanated from the lock on the
iron gate
to their cell and shot flames and molten metal in
all directions.

Captain Hancock staggered
backward as he was pelted by red-hot shards from the disfigured locking mechanism.
The smell of burning flesh filled the room as his face and arms were torched by
the shrapnel. His once kind eyes took on a terrifying look of fury as he swiped
away the burning bits of metal, taking off small chunks of skin with each
stroke.

Gina no longer saw the
recruitment poster image. Instead, only a monster remained. When he raised his
rifle she didn’t even try to talk him down. She simply closed her eyes and
waited for the inevitable.

Carter once again looked at his watch. Although the general
removed the explosive from the entrance, there was still a chance the other one
remained intact. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing right
now. With every passing second, all the things that could go wrong played out in
his mind like some mini disaster movie. Over and over again, he imagined Gina
being shot by Captain Hancock when the device he’d slipped into their cell’s
lock detonated.

“Let’s get started, shall we?” Dr. Powell held up one of the
needles and pointed to Mirissa. “Have a seat on the table, please.”

As she moved to the table, Steve stepped in front of her.
“I’ll go first.”

One of the guards reacted to the unexpected movement and
took his place beside the doctor. “No, our orders are for her to go first.”

Carter wasn’t surprised. The general knew she was capable of
tearing the place apart without lifting a finger. He’d want Mirissa rendered
unconscious first, given the choice.

But they weren’t planning on giving him the choice. They
just needed to buy a little more time.

“What’s in that needle, Doc?” Carter asked.

Dr. Powell looked shocked at the question. “It’s not
dangerous. Just something to help ease the process a little. You really needn’t
worry. I’d never—”

The blast echoed down the hall, causing the delicate
equipment in the room to topple to the floor. Glass vials holding indeterminate
liquids shattered on their shelves, filling the room with a smell Carter didn’t
recognize. Alarms blared through unseen speakers, and the doctor’s eyes widened
as the gravity of the situation weighed down on him.

Mirissa raised her hands to unleash God-only-knew-what on
their captors, but was interrupted by the guard jabbing the needle he’d taken
from the doctor into her neck. Steve grabbed the man’s hand, but it was too late.
The plunger was already down.

With one sweep of her arm, Mirissa ripped the rifles out of
the soldiers’ grasps. Another sweep and the men were flung against the wall.
The one who injected her seemed to hit exceptionally hard. With her hand
raised, holding them in place, she turned to the doctor. “Where are the
tranquilizer guns? I know you have some.”

Powell stammered through his answer, having to yell to be
heard over the sirens. The team slung the hijacked rifles over their shoulders,
and strapped the tranquilizer guns to their belts. With no explosion to open
the entrance door, the tribes would be stranded outside. Carter and the rest of
the team would have to deal with the super soldiers on their own.

Carter helped hogtie the men with zip ties to keep them out
of the fight, then turned to Myrine. “Six down, twenty more to go. I’m going to
get the girls.”

Myrine nodded. “Take Han and Jackie with you.” She grabbed
the walkie-talkies from the soldiers and handed them out. “Turn these to
channel four and keep in touch. We’ll find the general and his other captives.”

Carter inclined his head to their leader before heading down
the hallway with Han and Jackie. He only hoped they weren’t too late.

********

Taking a deep breath,
Mirissa leaned against the examination table. She was more winded than usual
after using her telekinesis and needed a moment to regroup.

“Are you feeling okay,
sweetheart?” Her father placed his hands on her cheeks and looked into her
eyes.

“Yeah, just a little
weak.” That was an understatement. Mirissa felt as though she’d crumple to the
floor without the table’s support, but she didn’t want to worry her father.
“Once the sedative he gave me wears off, I’ll be right as rain.”

Her dad stared at her for
a moment longer, as though trying to decide whether or not he believed what she
was saying, then nodded. “All right. You stay with your mother and me. Don’t
use your powers unless you absolutely have to. Understand?”

“Got it.” Another deep
breath and Mirissa was ready to move. “Let’s get the bastard.”

“Watch your language,”
her dad said with a smile.

Myrick, Ken, and Asteria
split off to find the kidnapped tribe members, leaving them to find the
general. Mirissa concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other as she followed
her parents out of the room. Whatever was in that syringe was playing havoc
with her system. Although her supercharged metabolism kept drugs from having
the same effect on her that they did on regular people, she wasn’t completely
immune to them. The aftermath of the injection would be lessened, and her body
would work it out of her system quickly, but until that time came she wasn’t
going to be much help.

Greco grabbed her hand.
“Can you still call on your ring?”

Mirissa should have known
she wouldn’t be able to hide her condition from him. They’d only been a couple
for a few days, but in the year he’d been her guardian, she’d never
successfully kept anything from him. Sometimes she thought he knew her better
than she knew herself. “I’m not sure. I’m feeling… disconnected.” That was the
only word she could think of to describe what was happening to her. It wasn’t
entirely accurate, and didn’t encompass everything she felt, but it was the
best her brain could come up with at the time.

“Try to bring out your
blade,” Greco said.

Blocking out the alarms
as best she could, Mirissa focused on her ring. The tingling sensation in her
finger told her she’d connected, but the blade didn’t come forth. “I don’t
understand. I was able to use my telekinesis on the soldiers, I should be able
to do this.”

“That was before the drug
had a chance to work. Now that it’s spread through your system, you’re going to
have difficulty doing even the simplest things. I think we should get you
somewhere safe until it wears off.”

A small, metal cylinder
rolled down the hallway toward them. Mirissa watched it make its way to their
feet, bouncing over the uneven floor. In the back of her mind she sensed
danger, but couldn’t reconcile the random threads of thought. She saw her father’s
face contort as he yelled “Flash Bang!” and grabbed her mother, pushing her
through an open door. Greco tried to do the same with Mirissa, but was too
late.

Blinding light seared her
retinas as she squeezed her eyelids shut. The concussive blast knocked her
against the wall and, in an instant, the only sound she could hear was a dull
ringing. When she opened her eyes, a burst of pain shot through her head and
she fell to her knees. Mirissa felt strong arms wrap around her and pull her
up.
Greco
. She instinctively leaned into his chest, craving even the
illusion of safety.

“Mirissa!” Greco’s voice
sounded like it was travelling through a wall of water. The urgency in it,
however, wasn’t muted. Her ring began its familiar tingling sensation as she
was pulled down the hall. She didn’t remember calling upon it but was relieved
when she felt the snake grow and curl around her arm. Either the drug was
wearing off, or her ring had decided to act on its own again. When the snake’s
head took its place under her shoulder, a jolt of electricity scorched through
her.

Greco’s arms squeezed
tighter as she stumbled, the only thing keeping her upright under this new
assault of pain. She grabbed her head and wailed as a wave of heat spread
through her veins. Her vision cleared and the ringing in her ears abated. The
fog that had enveloped her brain immediately receded, and the events of the
last moments became clear.

She grasped the hand
around her waist, felt its empty ring finger, and spun away from its hold. Her
natural instinct to drive her ring’s blade through the soldier’s heart took
over, but at the last moment she diverted her thrust toward his clavicle. The
injury would be painful, but not life threatening. To her dismay, it also
didn’t slow him down.

His rifle was raised and
aimed at her chest before her hand even reached the tranquilizer gun at her
waist. She saw the corners of the soldier’s mouth curl into a cruel smile as
his finger squeezed the trigger.

“No!” Her father’s voice
was the last thing Mirissa heard before everything went black.