Code, p.23
Code, page 23
“No. Please. You can’t.” I yanked, tugged, pulled with everything I had.
It can’t end like this. He can’t win. I’ve not come all this way to make no difference.
“Stop fidgeting.” Novak walked toward me. “It’s no use. You’ll love your new life. Goodnight, pumpkin.”
The lights flickered in the lab and something hot zapped on my skull, searing from my head and down to my toes as fast as lighting. Blazing pain, the same that Gene had inflicted on me with his gadget, seized me and I couldn’t move or scream.
Silver and blue electrical lights danced and sparked. Thin tendrils coiled around my body like a python. I couldn’t understand how I saw these lightning bolt lights.
Memories flashed through in a timeline that started when I’d been an infant. My mother and father. They adored me. They were so happy. I was just a toddler, but I felt their joy and love.
More memories, good and bad, rippled faster and faster. My foster father, Naomi, ISAN, Mitch, Brooke, Tamara, Ozzie, Reyna, Justine, and then Rhett.
Oh, God. Rhett.
Rhett leaped down the trash chute, and I ran the opposite way to give my team a chance to escape. If I had to do it all again, I promised myself I would never have left Rhett’s side. But I had. The reason why we were here.
This machine was taking my memories, or was trying to. I wouldn’t let it. I yanked and fought, shoving at whatever held me in place. I managed to escape the hold, as my body continued to convulse from the power of the machine. I shook out of the trance, indignation replacing my fear. I struggled to turn my head.
“Rhett. Look at me.” I found my voice through the rippling pain.
Blue and silver lights snaked around Rhett’s head and down his body. With his teeth clenched and back arched, sweat damping his forehead, he slowly craned his neck to me and said, “I. Love. You. Will. Never. Forget. You.”
The machine had not affected him yet. Good.
I felt his pain, his fear, and most of all, I felt his love.
Not today, Novak. You do not win today.
It was time to release myself. Helix rose from being buried deep within, and I called it to come out from a deep sleep. Helix that didn’t belong to ISAN or Novak. Helix belonged to me. And no one would claim me without my permission.
Heat rose into my veins. Helix came flooding through the broken dam. Instead of resisting the machine’s power, I soaked it like a sponge. Every last drop. Spark by spark, layer by layer. Pain by pain. I took it all in, the energy rippled through my bones and muscles.
All the colors of the rainbow streaked across space, then the electric rods undulated through me. The power fed me, building me into someone stronger. Someone unbreakable.
When I had enough of the fuel, I released myself and gave the machine back what it had given me. The cuffs on my head, wrists, and ankles released with a pop. Electrical lights exploded. Parts from the machine snapped apart.
Novak ran toward me, his features contorted in shock, but still determined to detain me.
“You asked for it, Father,” I seethed. “You want me. Come get me.” I extended my hand, tendrils of lightning energy shot toward him.
With wild eyes, he halted, but too late. The force of my power enclosed him with violent tremors and tossed him across the room. He slammed into the fourth cell’s glass barrier and dropped.
Roxy and her team were firing at me. I raised my hands and stopped the bullets in midair, then twirled my finger and directed my electric bolts to them. The tendrils took hold of three of them and shook them until their limbs flopped.
A couple of the assassins closest to me and Roxy went flying across the room and broke through the third cell’s barrier. Shards of glass exploded outward and dropped along with the girls.
Rhett. I have to get to him.
When I turned to Rhett, I saw myself in the reflection bouncing off the first cell’s glass barrier. I was beautiful. A lightning storm incarnate. Silver, blue, and purple wisps weaved through me, and coiled around my body.
My eyes—fantastical—flashing like electric bolts. Mesmerizing. Wondrous. Deadly. At my fingertips, power surged. If given a chance, I could bring down the entire facility by releasing the amount of energy I had stored within my being.
I snapped out of my own spellbinding gaze, picked up the Taser Roxy had dropped, and shoved it inside my front pocket. Then I ran to Rhett.
“Rhett. Rhett.” I unhooked the metal strap on his forehead, then those on his wrists and ankles.
“Ava.” Rhett groaned and his head slumped to the side, his eyes unfocused.
Relief washed through me. Rhett gasped suddenly, going rigid. Lights from my fingertips tangled around him and shocked him without my control.
I shook my hands as if that would release my pent-up energy and grabbed him again. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. We have to get out of here. This place is going to explode.”
Rhett chuckled, but I didn’t know if he understood. He could barely move.
Booms thundered somewhere inside the vicinity. The ground rocked. I stumbled sideways and righted myself by holding on to the strap.
I pulled Rhett out of his chair, draped his arm around my shoulder, and took him toward the exit.
Chapter Forty — Team Work
Justine
Justine’s crazy father had shot Lydia and Mitch. She wanted to scream. No, she had screamed. Screamed with ear-splitting agony she didn’t know she could feel.
These agents were her role models. They were the only family she had known. Justine wanted to help them, but she was so scared her father would shoot her too. The thought that he would kill his daughter should be the driving force to get out and yet she couldn’t.
Not loyalty, but out of fear.
How could her father shoot them?
You know why, a little voice inside her said. The voice that knew her father was insane, but she didn’t want to believe it.
People thought she was this bitch with an attitude. Okay, so she did act all prissy at times, but that was because she was insecure. She’d put up a front because she’d thought she wasn’t good enough to be on their team. They all had great abilities. If she could be honest with herself, she didn’t know how to talk to people. No brainer. Look who her father was.
None of her teammates knew she had a therapist who had diagnosed her with social anxiety. She tried to do better, but that had been when her team left her. Justine was furious. She’d blamed her team for her behavior, but in truth, she had only herself to blame. No one could make anyone do anything.
When Roxy and the guards took Ava and Rhett, Justine followed Gene down the hall, rounded the corner, and entered a room. Ava’s mom looked so scared, rocking in the corner. She wore a long summer dress. When she peered up, her eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying.
Justine felt sorry for her. She had no idea what the woman had been through, but from last night’s dinner, she knew there had been rough times. Mentally and emotionally, it seemed.
What had her father done to his wife? Had he experimented on her as well? Had he lobotomized her to make her compliant?
“Mother, we have to go.” Gene gripped her arm, but she yanked away.
“Baby. Ava. Baby. Ava.” She kept repeating, alternating those two words.
“Why does she keep saying that?” Justine asked.
Gene ignored her.
“Mother, we have to go. This place is going to go boom.” Gene seized her harder this time, dragging her out.
Ava’s mother acquiesced but continued to repeat her diatribe.
“Stop saying that.” Gene shouted at her. “The baby is gone.”
Ava’s mother made an animalistic growl and elbowed her son in the stomach. She bolted fast for someone her age, propelled by determination. Justine followed her into the lab where she had seen the CODE infant, but there was no sign of her.
Gene pointed. “You search over there and I’ll look here.”
Scowling, Justine went through the double doors. She had entered the opposite side from where the rebels were locked up. Ava’s mother wasn’t there, but what Justine saw had her immobile and speechless.
Brooke was inside a cell, her palm flat against the see-through barrier. Spider lines began to form on the glass. When she pushed her way through with her shoulder, shards of glass splintered on the ground.
Brooke ran to the next cell Tamara was in and placed a hand on the glass. A tiny crack formed with a pop. Brooke halted and craned her neck and gave Justine the hint of a smile, the kind that seemed to say “you’re my friend.”
Justine should stop her, but something inside her couldn’t, especially when she saw Tamara in her prison. Even though she couldn’t hear Tamara, she could read her lips. Tamara said Justine’s name and asked her to help Brooke.
I have a chance to do something right. Take it.
Too late. Gene came through the other door.
“Well, well, well.” Gene clapped. “Someone came back from the dead. Someone in your team has healing power.”
Brooke put her trembling hands to her side. Gene had told Justine what he had done to Brooke. No, he had gloated.
Justine had thought she would be happy about a traitor’s death, but she had been surprisingly saddened by the news. Even grieved Brooke until now, when her emotions had become confused.
Brooke inhaled a deep breath and held up her chin. “You talk too much.”
Gene’s nostrils flared. “Justine, what are you doing just standing there like an idiot? Go find my mother. I’m going to enjoy killing Brooke. Again.”
Justine flinched at Gene spitting orders. He wasn’t the boss of her. How dare he call her an idiot?
“Not if I kill you first.” Brooke flexed her fingers.
“Do as I say, Justine,” Gene barked and ran toward Brooke.
Brooke blocked a punch from Gene with her bent arm, but Gene being faster, jabbed her face with his other fist.
Ouch. That had to hurt.
Brooke came out of her daze and jumped on top of a table in the center of the room with TABs and monitors. When Gene attempted to do the same, Brooke kicked him in the face.
Gene growled, crimson dripping to the white tile from his cut lips. After he wiped his blood, his movements became faster. Blow after blow, Brooke tried to keep up, but Gene punched her ribcage. She went flying across space, smacking into Tamara’s cell.
Tamara banged on the glass, shouting at Brooke to get up. Even muffled by the enclosure, her panic resonated.
Brooke was taking too long to stand. Justine held her breath. She didn’t know if Brooke had any broken ribs from the force of the assault, but her former teammate winced and pulled herself up sluggishly.
Gene took his time, swaggering toward Brooke with a triumphant smirk. “Pathetic. Once broken, so easy to break.” He halted and snarled at Justine. “What are you doing here? For the last time, go find my mother. Be useful or you’ll end up like Brooke.”
Justine wasn’t scared of much, but the twisted malice on Gene’s face, the face of the devil, unnerved her. She ran out and the door closed behind her with a hiss.
Thump. Bang. Thud. Those sounds had her grimacing, her pulse skidding. Her imagination ran wild.
I don’t want to hear it.
He was going to kill Brooke, and this time, there would be no returning.
Did Justine want this to happen?
No, she didn’t. A week ago, she wouldn’t have cared. But damn it, she did care. Justine missed her team. She could finally admit that. No matter how many arguments and disagreements she had with Brooke, the fact that they had each other’s back, the trust they built in the field, bonded them in sisterhood whether Justine wanted it or not.
Whack. Crack.
Justine was a coward. Too cowardly to make the right decision. Too cowardly to make any difference. Too cowardly to disappoint her father. But what about her? What did she want?
Remember to do the right thing no matter how hard it is to do it. Can you remember that for me? Mitch’s words to her. Had he guessed their fate all along?
Mitch might be dead. He would be dead if he didn’t get out of here. Justine should help him, but that would mean betraying her father, betraying ISAN. She would be like Ava.
Justine couldn’t believe her fate. Damned if she did, and damned if she didn’t.
How do I do the right thing when I’m so scared, Mitch?
Ava. Brooke. Tamara. They had taken the leap to leave. They were the brave ones. For the first time, Justine wished she could be like them. How soon before her father decided she was expendable or disloyal? For these reasons, no matter the consequences, Justine made her decision to be brave.
Stronger in numbers. Do the right thing.
Justine pushed through the door with a new intensity and fury. Gene had Brooke pinned down on the ground by the table, his fingers like ropes around her vulnerable neck.
Brooke’s body was limp, her face white as the floor beneath her.
Please, don’t let me be too late.
“Get off my friend, asshole.” Justine gripped his shirt from behind and tossed him across the room. Effortless, light as a ragdoll. He skidded across the floor.
Sometimes, Justine loved her power.
“Brooke. Brooke. Are you okay?” She lightly patted Brooke’s face and kept one eye on Gene.
Justine felt for Brooke’s pulse and shook her a little. Thank God her eyes fluttered, color returning to her face. Brooke coughed relentlessly.
“Justine?” Brooke sounded surprised and she craned her neck to find Gene.
Gene snarled, standing. Any second now, he would charge toward them.
“I’ll hold him off. Help the others.” Justine rolled up her sleeves. “You have to hurry. This place is going to explode.”
“Okay, but let me have the last blow,” Brooke said, hoarse and still coughing.
Justine dodged a swing from Gene. He threw a second punch and missed. Justine delivered a roundhouse kick to his face, sending him soaring next to Tamara’s cell.
Tamara whooped and threw an air punch. Brooke was at the far end of the room, releasing Reyna.
“Is that all you’ve got, half brother?” Justine said to distract him, giving Reyna time to go around Gene.
He scoffed. “I’m just getting started, traitor. I don’t know what Father sees in you. He should have gotten rid of you. You’re just like the rest. Incompetent. Whiny. And such a girl. You have no business in ISAN. It’s a man’s world.”
Justine snarled. “Then you should leave. You’re not a man. Mark my words. ISAN will fall. And you are looking at all the women who will bring it down.”
Gene roared, the veins on his neck protruding. He sprang on Justine so fast she didn’t see his fist connect with her chin. She slid across the floor, her back burning from the friction and pain shooting down her spine.
Gene went for Brooke. He swung at her, but his fist froze in midair. Reyna had raised both of her hands and created an invisible barrier. While Gene was distracted, Justine knocked the TABs and monitors off the table with one fast swipe of her arm and threw the table at him. He dove over it, somersaulted, and landed on all fours.
Brooke slapped the ground with an open palm by Ozzie’s cell.
The ground splintered in a crooked line from Gene to where she stood, and the earth cracked open about twelve feet apart. It extended to Tamara’s cell, shattering the barrier. Justine leaped to avoid falling in and stood by scattered monitors.
Holy mother. Justine had never seen such power from Brooke.
“Finally.” Tamara jumped out and stood next to Brooke, who was working on getting Ozzie out.
“You’re going to stop me with your little tremor?” Gene barked a laugh.
Justine expected Brooke to say something, but she had cocked her head to listen to something, not from this room. There must have been an explosion. Brooke went to go help the others and ... Nina?
Justine had thought she was dead or had been captured by ... It dawned on her then that Mitch had helped Nina and Cora escape ISAN.
But where was Cora?
Boom! The ground rattled. Another explosion, closer and louder.
Brooke’s senses were incredible, especially her hearing, Justine believed Brooke had heard the blast before it happened because Brooke had halted a second before and turned to the direction the blast had come from.
“We need to get out of here,” Ozzie said. “This place is going to blow.”
“Watch out!” Reyna shouted.
Gene had withdrawn a gun from a secret storage compartment by the door and began shooting at them.
“You guys get out of here. I’ll be right behind you.” Brooke leaped over the table and jumped to Gene’s side.
“No. Brooke.” Ozzie reached for her, but too late.
“Just can’t stay away from me, can you?” Gene aimed the weapon at Brooke.
Brooke dodged every single bullet, moving toward him, occasionally twisting from her waist or arching her back to avoid the assault. Justine had expected her to punch his throat or do something physical, but instead, she wrung her fingers around the wrist that held the gun.
On contact, Gene froze like a marble statue. The only part of him that could move was his eyes, which darted frantically from left to right as he whimpered.
“Now you know how I felt,” Brooke said, her voice soothing, but so venomous. “As you broke all my ribs, I’m doing the same to you. Can you hear the cracks of your bones, snapping one by one? Do you feel the pain slicing through your muscles? It hurts like a mother, doesn’t it? This is for all the people you killed at the rebel base, for every bit of harm you did. Revenge is sweet, especially on someone like you.”
Gene whimpered again and tears trickled down his cheeks.
Justine thought, if given a chance, Brooke could blow up his body from the inside out. Such magnitude of power she held. Justine was never going to piss her off again.
“Brooke, let’s go,” Ozzie hollered. “He’s not worth it.”
Parts of the ceiling collapsed, falling into the gaping hole Brooke had created. It had widened after the explosions that shook the floor.
