Flawed (23 page)

“And is that all?”

“In exchange for the better living conditions, I will answer questions about Ellyssa as long as you understand I will not, no matter what, divulge any information that might compromise the Resistance. And I won’t answer anything until new clothes show up on the backs of my friends.”

Commandant Baer swiveled in his chair and stared out the window; his arms folded across his chest. For several long minutes, the man said nothing, and the nerves started to bundle in Mathew’s stomach, giving rise to nausea again. He hoped he hadn’t blown his chance to help his fellow inmates, to stop them from dying, but he meant what he had said—he wouldn’t give.

Finally, the Commandant turned around, his face hard as stone, and the hope Mathew held on to plummeted.

“Fine,” he said.

Mathew felt his eyes bug. He really hadn’t expected the man to agree. Deep down, he had assumed he would be walking back to the barracks, his bargaining chips revoked.

“Let me make something perfectly clear to you,” Commandant Baer continued. “No one is to know about our…arrangement. If any word leaks out, everyone will visit the chamber. Yourself included. To hell with the consequences.”

“I understand,” Mathew said, somehow keeping his voice steady.

He opened a drawer and pulled out blueprints. “I have need for a recreation center for my men. Your people will build it. It gives an excuse for the extra clothes and food. Of course, I would want them healthy until the work was completed.”

“We wouldn’t want your reputation tainted.”

He folded his hands across his midsection again. “It seems I have found a reason to keep you filthy Renegades alive for a bit longer.”

Mathew let the insult roll off his back. It wasn’t like they were friends now. Each of them was working for his own agenda, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be on the same side of the fence. “One more thing.”

“I’m sure that is all you are going to get from me. That was the deal.”

Mathew shook his head. “I’m not asking for anything. Just some information for my benefit.” He readjusted in his seat, leaning forward. “Why? Why are you so interested in Ellyssa?”

Commandant Baer moved his hands to under his chin, his fingers lacing together. “That is none of your business.”

“But I think it is,” Mathew stated. “And I think you know it.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend
. Weren’t those the words you used?”

The Commandant glared at him through slitted lids. “I think we’re done for now.”

Aalexis turned the fine focus, bringing the DNA into sharper view. The restriction enzyme had attacked the sequence and produced a double-stranded cut. It was there she would combine Xaver’s and Ellyssa’s DNA with her own.

She’d performed the experiment time and time again, and with each test, the attachment had been successful. She’d already had several partial combinations with her and Xaver’s DNA frozen.

Besides the return of her sister, what Aalexis really needed was a lab with a medical facility so that she could conduct the somatic cell transfer and implant the blastocyst into the surrogate. The complications of the procedure had grown past the use of the temporary lab.

The door opened and Xaver stepped into the sally port to be disinfected. She watched his tall frame as he slipped on the white surgical coveralls, shoe covers and mask. When he was dressed, he pushed through the heavy plastic flaps and proceeded inside the lab.

“What progress have you made?” he asked as he approached her, his blue eyes peeking at her from above the mask.

Even with the strong odor of disinfectant and the surgical attire covering him from head to foot, Xaver’s unique scent still cut through, all clean and male. She pushed the mask tighter around her nose and turned away.

“As we already have discussed,” Aalexis stated, “we need Ellyssa. With her, we can finish combining the DNA and start the replicating sequence inside a cell.”

Xaver sidled up next to her and his heat penetrated through to Aalexis’ skin, as if she stood by a roaring fire. His scent invaded her nose again. Tingles surged where his hand dangled closest to hers and her heart responded. She felt the blood pulse through her veins. Too aware of Xaver’s presence, Aalexis felt an urge to escape. Taking the petri dish, she moved toward the freezer where the other specimens were contained.

“The contact led the police right to her,” Xaver said following behind her. His heat radiated from him in waves.

Did he know? Was he torturing her on purpose?

“But she escaped, of course.” she said, somehow maintaining a steady monotonous note. Aalexis opened the freezer, using the steel door to block him from sight. Cold air rushed out, brushing against her skin.

“As predicted.”

“I assumed as much. The information about the Renegades has reached her.”

“It seems a Captain Dyllon Jones is missing. The same one who aided the detective during her search. He is either dead or an informant.”

“Perfect. If they are incapable of capturing her within the next few days, we will have to go back to Amarufoss and wait for her. The people in charge are imprudent.”

“I agree. I have also contacted the Commandant and instructed him to reinforce his patrols of the area, in case they happen to bypass the roadblocks.”

“As I am sure they will.”

Aalexis placed the dish inside the freezer and closed the door. When she turned around, Xaver stood right behind her. Surprised, her eyes widened minutely. Not enough that an average human could have registered, but Xaver was not average. Ignoring him, she pushed past, her destination the door.

“I have something I want to discuss with you.” He was following her again.

“What?” she asked on her way to the decontamination port. All she wanted to do was go to the gym and think about what was happening to her. She wondered if Ellyssa had experienced the same symptoms.

“Would you stop for a moment?”

“I want to work out.”

“Aalexis. Stop,” Xaver commanded, his voice deep.

The muscles of her neck constricting, she halted her progress, her escape route just within reach. “When will the lab be completed?”

“In less than three weeks. But that is not what I want to talk to you about.”

Turning, their gazes met. Xaver’s mask was pulled down and his blue eyes, shelved over his angular cheekbones, glimmered. A lock of platinum hair escaped from the hood of his coveralls and hung on his prominent forehead. A strange fluttering tickled the inside of Aalexis’ stomach and rushed to her chest. Fighting to maintain her composure, she swallowed.

“When Micah returned after he had located Ellyssa,” he started. With magnetic force, Aalexis’ gaze was pulled to the movement of Xaver’s full lips. “He told me some things that at the time had meant nothing, but now I wonder.”

“Wonder?” she stated, her voice dead.

He took a step toward her. “It concerns Ellyssa and the emotions Micah sensed through the music box. They were so strong that he actually felt them.”

Aalexis stepped back. Whatever foreign affliction she had been feeling she shoved down. She would not be like her sister. Anger forged forward. “I do not wish to talk about Ellyssa’s breakdown,” she said, the deadpan tone no longer a fight to maintain.

“I think we should. I have developed a theory.”

Taking another step back, Aalexis shook her head. “What theory? Emotions weaken. There is nothing to theorize. Now, if you will excuse me, brother, I have training exercises.” She spun on her heel and escaped through the flap. Without looking at Xaver, she removed her coveralls and shoe guards. Her hair fell around her shoulders in blonde waves. She pulled it back into a bun.

“If you care to join me,” Aalexis said, her hand on the knob, “you may. I feel a need for a worthy opponent.”

Aalexis walked out into the evening and inhaled, welcoming the cold that sharpened and focused her mind. Whatever she had felt would not control her. She would not succumb.

What had Xaver meant when he said Micah felt the sensations?
Aalexis shrugged off the uncomfortable thought. It didn’t matter. What mattered was seeing her father’s plans come to fruition.

To the right, a bright round moon hung directly over The Center—
her
Center. Rat-a-tat noise and machinery sounds drifted on the Lake Michigan breeze. Beams of yellow light spotlighted the three-story building. Bricks and concrete climbed up the skeletal frame in colors of grey and red. The building wasn’t as tall as her father’s had been, but she didn’t have to hide behind false training schools and eugenics used for more conventional means. Nor would she hide her experiments down in the basement for training purposes.

Aalexis was meant for more.

The rocking motion wasn’t soft, but it was hypnotizing. Sleep pulled at Rein’s eyelids, but he couldn’t grab hold of the bliss to lull him under. Instead, his eyes remained wide open, alert, as he amazingly stayed still. A metal latch poked relentlessly at his back, but he refused to move. Ellyssa rested in the crook of his arm, her head on his chest.

Except for the dash lights and a full moon grinning from above, darkness clung in the back of the van. Woody was driving, his hands aligned at the two and ten positions, his back ramrod straight. Red from the dash lights reflected off his hair. Next to him, curled in the passenger seat, Trista slept, her head leaning against the vibrating window. Dyllon leaned against her seat, his eyes closed, and soft snores pushed from between his lips.

Rein still didn’t like the man, even with all of Ellyssa’s reassurances. He just couldn’t get past the fact that Dyllon had helped the detective, which had led to a pain he’d never forget. As the fire had licked through his veins with just Aalexis’ thought, it’d also burned into Rein’s long-term memory. But he thought, at least with all that had happened, he might be able to tolerate Dyllon. He seemed to really care for Trista, and Ellyssa had confirmed his devotion.

“How are you doing?” Rein asked Woody.

“I’m pretty wired right now. The nap I took earlier helped.”

“Do you know where we’re at?”

“I’m thinking we’re somewhere close to the Oklahoma border. Hopefully past it. I know we slipped into Kansas, but it’s hard to judge.”

“Mmmhmm,” Rein mumbled, closing his eyes.

The van jolted back and forth. The tires scraped across degrading pavement. Mesmerizing. The prospect of sleep was finally catching up.

“You know,” Woody said, his voice soft, “she’s special.”

Rein’s lids fluttered open. Although he never acknowledged it, Rein was pretty certain he knew how Woody felt about Ellyssa. Something a little more than friendship? At the very least, a big-brother syndrome. How could he not? Woody had been there for a fundamental awakening in Ellyssa, a transformation to an extent, when Jordan had passed away. At that point, Woody had seen through the soldiering exterior, the danger she imposed, and into the innocence of Ellyssa’s heart. Rein never vocalized it, but jealousy flared on occasion when he thought about Ellyssa opening up to Woody. Regardless of the connection between his friend and the woman he would die for, Rein knew what he and Ellyssa shared was something much more.

With heavy lids, Rein looked down at Ellyssa, her pale hair under his nose, her scent tantalizing. With every rise and fall of her chest, her even breaths, the twitching muscles in her sleep, his love for her grew. He felt the expansion in his chest, like his heart would burst.

“I know,” he answered.

“If I only had the insight.”

“Not all of us can be winners.”

Woody peered at him in the rearview mirror, a light mischievous grin on his face. “You’re lucky I didn’t.”

“Whatever.”

Ellyssa mumbled. Her hand twisted in his shirt. Lightly, he placed his lips against the top of her head and inhaled. Nuzzling against his chest, she relaxed again, sleep reclaiming her.

Leaning his head back against the metal, Rein said, “A lot has changed.”

“Yeah.”

“Promise me something.”

“What?”

“If something happens to me, you will take care of Ellyssa.”

Woody didn’t reply, his eyes remaining focused ahead. As the seconds swept into minutes, Rein began to wonder if his friend was going to answer at all. After a while, he didn’t care. He felt himself teetering on the edge of the slumber abyss, only to be savagely yanked from the edge when Woody answered.

“Don’t talk like that. Nothing’s going to happen.”

“If it does.”

“With my life.”

Rein settled back again, his lids sliding shut. The next thing he knew, a blazing light pierced through the dark, blinding him. The sleep that had tried to seal his lids scrambled away.

“Shit,” Woody said, applying the brake. “We have company.”

Life sizzled in the van. Trista bolted upright, as did Dyllon. The light haloed around the passenger seat, making his wide eyes seem sunken like a skull’s. Ellyssa’s head jerked up, but that was the only move she made. Her breath stayed even and, except for a cold flash within her blue eyes, her face became an emotionless mask. Rein wondered if she could feel the pounding inside his chest. He certainly could.