Titanium (Bionics) (13 page)

Everyone is gathered and waiting in the meeting room in the Professor’s quarters when Blythe and I arrive. The Professor is at the head of the table, his characteristically messy brown hair like a bird’s nest around his head, his clothing rumpled and unkempt. Jenica sits at his right side in a fresh, black flight suit, her hands folded on the table. Gage is at the foot of the table, slouching with one foot resting on the opposite thigh. As Blythe and I take our seats, I am acutely aware of the fact that Olivia’s chair, across from Jenica, is empty. A cold fist knots in my stomach as I notice the video panels pulled up on either side of the professor, each depicting scenes from Stonehead. I blink and look away from the one showing Olivia’s battered and bruised face.

Once Blythe and I are seated,
Jenica stands and begins the meeting.

“I trust that you all have seen this footage. It’s been all over the news since Olivia was captured at
Stonehead.”

Everyone nods silently and
Jenica continues.

“Olivia—and the others imprisoned at
Stonehead—are scheduled for execution at 9:00 o’clock a.m. eastern time. That only gives us a few hours and a very narrow window of opportunity. Our last attack was well planned, but we did not anticipate that our EMP would be targeted.”

My eyes swivel to Gage as I realize that no one has explained yet how things went wrong at
Stonehead. Agata’s EMP was supposed to knock out the M.P.s weapons, but it’s obvious from the footage that this is not what happened.

“They knew about
Agata,” Gage says in answer to my unspoken question. “I don’t know how, but they did. They had some kind of device, something that emitted a high-pitched frequency that only Agata could hear. It rendered her unable to do what we brought her to do.”

“Is she okay?” Blythe asked.

Gage nods. “She’s got a little headache, but it’s nothing a good night’s sleep won’t cure.”

“I am working on trying to figure out how they knew about
Agata,” Jenica says, “but we all know that the most pressing matter is getting back into Stonehead and getting Olivia and the other prisoners out alive.”

“I hate to sound negative, but how the hell do you propose we do that?” asks Blythe.

“With these.”

Jenica
reaches behind the panel and comes out with two M.P. helmets. She drops them onto the table with a ‘clunk’, their black, gleaming faces turned toward us. I can see myself in the reflection of one of them.

“
Sayer Strom from Alpha team was thoughtful enough to strip two of the stunned M.P.s of their armor and identification last night. We’re going in covertly this time. Two of you will pose as Military Police escorting in a group of prisoners. With these ID tags, you will have access to even the most secure levels of Stonehead. Olivia will be in maximum security lockup and will be the hardest to get to. Luckily, one of these guys is an officer and his credentials will get you two in.”

“Wait a minute?” I
ask, my mind racing as I try to wrap my mind around Jenica’s plan. “Those officers were stunned, not killed. Surely by now they’ve reported back and had their old IDs voided.”

A hint of a smile pulls at
Jenica’s lips. “Strom took care of that for us by chaining the officers together and dropping them down into a ditch. If we’re lucky they won’t be found for days and by then it won’t matter. If the credentials are rejected, the prisoners that you’re bringing in will trump all else. Or I should say, the main prisoner. They won’t be able to resist letting you in with this guy as bait.”

“Who’s the bait
?” Gage asks. I can tell he’s as intrigued by this plan as I am.

The P
rofessor stands and speaks for the first time since the meeting began. He removes his glasses and I can see that tears have pooled in his eyes. He is afraid, not for us but for Olivia. I know he sees her like a daughter. We are all like his children.

“I am.”

Gage Bronson and
Dax Janner

Restoration Resistance Headquarters Science and Medical Building

August 18, 4010

9:00 pm

I am afraid.

It is not something I would admit to a lot of people and if anyone asks I’d rather die than let them know the truth: I’ve been afraid since the day I arrived at Restoration Resistance Headquarters. I am afraid that the secrets I’ve kept will get me in hot water with the people I think are beginning to trust and accept me. I am afraid for Agata and I worry that she will someday come to resent me for the decisions I’ve had to make for her. Will she ever understand that I am only acting in my sister’s stead; doing the things for her that Trista could never do?

More than anything, I am afraid of being exposed for hiding the truth about my past to the only person whose trust I care about keeping. She’s watching me as I pull the M.P.s armor on over a black flight suit provided by
Jenica. The armor is a perfect fit and all that is left to put on is the helmet. Blythe approaches from where she’s been leaning against the wall, the helmet clutched between her slender fingers. Her eyes are filled with fear, the same fear that I feel. I am grateful for her presence. It calms me, but also reminds me that it’s okay to be afraid. We have every reason to be.

“I don’t like this,” she says as I take the helmet from h
er and drop it on the cot beside me. The pristine, white exam room where I was escorted for changing is right up the hall from my final stop before boarding a craft headed for Washington D.C. “You could be killed, you and Dax, if they find out who you really are.”

“If the Professor is willing to risk his life to save those people at
Stonehead, then I'm willing to risk mine too,” I answer, realizing that it’s the truth. I have never felt right about the way our government treats the people that were saved from the results of the nuclear fallout by their own inventions. “I kind of wish you would listen to me and just stay behind on this one,” I add as I step forward to cup her face in my hands. Her skin is so incredibly smooth at my fingertips and all I want to do is trail my hands lower to explore more of the same. “I don’t want what’s happened to Olivia to happen to you.”

“I’m going,” she says firmly, and I know there’s no arguing with her. Fortunately,
Jenica put Blythe’s assertion that she pose as one of the M.P.s to rest. Even with the DNA altering serum that will be injected into my and Dax’s blood in a few moments, Blythe cannot be transformed into a male and we need two men to pose as officers. We were able to talk Blythe into posing as a prisoner along with Jenica, Professor Hinkley, Laura Rosenberg and Sayer Strom. While the Professor and Jenica are the big prizes, Blythe and Sayer are an added treat for the enemy.

“Then we’ll just have to promise to look out for each other, won’t we?” I tease, tweaking her nose playfully. “I won’t let anything happen to you, as long as I live. Do you understand?”

Through the glass behind her I can see Dax walking by, suited up in the same armor I am wearing. I can feel his dark eyes boring through me with intense dislike, but I ignore him. This moment is about me and Blythe, and I won’t allow it to be cut short because of some prick’s jealous tendencies. Blythe submits to my kiss and for a few seconds I experience heaven. Her lips are soft and she tastes like vanilla and cinnamon … or perhaps it’s her scent invading my senses and influencing my sense of taste. Surely, no woman could taste this sweet. Somehow, Blythe does, and her pliant lips urge me to take more. She doesn’t resist when I wrap my arms around her and hold her close, savoring the moment for as long as she’ll let me. When it’s over, I find confusion in her eyes—the same confusion I know she feels over Dax.

“I’m sorry,” I say, a lie. I am not the least bit sorry
for stealing a kiss with the girl who’s slowly stealing my heart.

“It’s okay, I think,” she says, her eyes lowered. “I’m sorry, Gage, I just—”

“Hey,” I interject, raising her chin so that she’ll look at me. “I understand. There’s so much going on right now and you and I barely know each other. Then there’s Dax …”

I trail off and Blythe rolls her eyes. “He can be such a jerk sometimes.”

I laugh. “Yeah, but he’s your jerk. If I were him, I would be protective of you too. I wouldn’t be too fond of the new guy making eyes at you from across the cafeteria or kissing you in the middle of the night in your bedroom. He has every reason not to like me. Can’t say I’m all that fond of him either.”

Blythe laughs too, a sound she hardly makes but when she does, it’s musical. “Thank you … for understanding.”

How could I not understand? She’s just as mixed up as I am, as everyone else is here. These are pivotal times, for both our lives and the history of our country, and tensions are high. Nothing is simple and nothing is cut and dry. How can I, in good conscience, ask Blythe to give me her heart, when I can’t even tell her the truth about myself? The last thing I want is to see those dark, velvety eyes of hers filled with disgust and disappointment. Both are probably inevitable and that hurts me more than the thought of possibly dying tonight.

At some point, I vow to tell her the truth, but now is not that time.

The room is silent, accept for the beeping of the heart monitors attached to both Dax and I. We are lying on cold slabs of steel, strapped down and slightly elevated as nurses in white scrubs and lab coats move about the room, preparing things for our departure. Our disguises will go much deeper than what we’re wearing on the outside, Jenica explained to us earlier. The DNA Cloaking serum that Professor Neville invented just a few months ago, has never been used, making me and Dax the test dummies.

“Explain to me how this works again?”
Dax asks the nurse as she removes the armor on his left arm and peels back the sleeve of his flight suit. He sounds nervous, as nervous as I am.

The nurse smiles at him and patiently explains. “Professor
Hinkley found hair and skin fibers in the suits you are wearing and was able to extract the DNA of the officers wearing them. These syringes here contain the DNA of Captain Jack Knightly and Sergeant Grayson Barnes, along with the serum that will connect their DNA to yours temporarily. The bond lasts for twenty-four hours. Once you are injected, their DNA will latch onto yours, temporarily changing your appearance to match theirs. Should the guards at Stonehead decide to do a DNA swab, your blood or saliva will pass for theirs. No one will have any way of knowing your true identities.”

“Sounds simple enough,”
Dax says with a shrug. “Does it hurt?”

The nurse’s smile gets a bit tight, but she keeps it plastered to her face in that way nurses do when they want to reassure a patient.

“We are not sure, but the Professor’s research indicates that the transformation could be a bit … jarring.”

Dax
nods grimly. “Great. Sounds like fun, let’s do it.”

The nurse visibly relaxes. “Wonderful. I will just step out of the room for a moment, and return shortly with another nurse to assist me.”

Her steps are noiseless as she leaves the room, the sliding door swishing shut behind her. A few moments of tense silence pass before I finally turn to Dax.

“Look,” I say, deciding to get right down to business. “I know you don’t really like me, and I’m okay with that. To tell you to truth, I’m not fond of you either for reasons that have nothing to do with Blythe, and some that do. But you and I made a pretty good team
out there today and in the end, we both want the same outcome for the Resistance. Can we just agree to put that aside and work together without it getting weird?”