Collide (25 page)

Crap.

“There’s no way out,” David says. “I’ve tried.”

I refuse to believe him. My eyes roll back and close. I imagine the door opening with my thoughts. It doesn’t budge.

“Let me help,” David says. He limps toward me, his body obviously still in pain. “Ready?”

We stare at the door. The wood creaks and groans, begins to wobble, and remains . . . locked.

Crap times two.

“Now what?” I say to no one in particular.

“We wait,” David says. “They’ll come for us eventually, and when they do, we’ll take them out.”

Yeah, waiting is so not my strong suit.

I scrutinize my surroundings, noting the heavy scent of fermenting grapes and oak in the air. “What is this place?” I ask.

“The old cellars. The house was used as a vineyard before. . .” David’s voice trails off.

“Before Dr. Crazy turned it into his own personal freak show.”

“Yeah.”

An uncomfortable silence settles in the air. I shudder, gooseflesh peeking through my suddenly thin-feeling t-shirt.

“Cold?”

I nod and David walks over and wraps me in a safe embrace. “Me too.”

More silence stretches between us as I think about the man that is my father. My body shudders and David pulls me closer still.

“You aren’t what he says you are,” David whispers.

“I’m
exactly
what he says I am.”

“No!” David pierces me with his stare. “You can choose
not
to kill. You have a choice Dakota.”

If only.

“Whatever.” I close off my heart. Detach the feelings too intense to endure.

David caresses my face. “Don’t.” His lips lightly touch my forehead.

“What?”

“Don’t cut yourself off because of Josh.” He trails more kisses down my face and jaw. “He understood every risk we took.”

His words unleash a fresh wave of anger and I pull back. “Why didn’t I, David? Why didn’t anyone tell me the truth?”

I feel small in this moment. I want him to tell me everything is going to be okay. I need him to give me hope, weave a fantasy I can lose myself in. Lie.

David does something better.

Wrapping his arms around me, he tells me the truth. “Josh said you weren’t ready.”

“Not ready? For what, exactly?” I push myself away from him. “To find out I’m some sort of assassin? To find out my nightmares were true?” I steady my trembling voice. “Yeah, you’re right. How could I ever be ready for
that
?”

David releases a heavy sigh and I instantly regret my words. “I’m sorry.”

“No need. You’re right.”

The pauses string together until a few minutes have passed in silence.

“David?”

“Yeah?” His voice is heavy with regret.

“Who did I kill?” I know the truth before I ask, the shame deep within each fear lodged under the surface of my skin, a jacket I can’t remove.

“Dakota, don’t,” David whispers. “No good can come from this. You have to forget.”

“Tell me.”

He grabs my trembling hand. “Please, don’t—.”

Several more seconds pass. The air grows thick between us. “Tell me,” I say again, willing his response.

“You killed Maya’s father.”

“On purpose,” I add.

Honesty carries its own weight, adding to the heaviness already present in the air.

“Dakota.”

My mind shifts, recalling my training. “I killed on command. No cause, no remorse.” I pull my hand from David’s and wrap my arms around my knees. “I liked it.”

Some people say truth, honest truth, is freeing.

They’re wrong.

“You’re more than what he made you to be, Dakota. So much more.”

It’s too late for David’s words.

“I’ll kill again, one day.” No sadness fills my voice, no regrets.

“Don’t ever say that!” He pulls me to him.

I push him away and walk to the other side of the room. “It’s who I am.”

“No! You are not a killer.” David uses his most convincing voice. “This was not your fault. That creep LeMercier’s to blame—him and his stupid experiments.”

A loud thud fills the hall outside of our prison. The doorknob rattles and turns as the lock’s tumbler moves.

David pulls me behind him, shielding me with his body. “Whatever happens, remember that you aren’t a killer. Don’t let him win, Dakota. Don’t.”

My skin prickles in anticipation.

The lock clicks.

The door flies open and chaos explodes.

CHILDREN, MANY YOUNGER THAN THIRTEEN, CRAM INTO THE ROOM IN DROVES
. They swirl dirt and gravel into mini cyclones, float objects into the air, anything to keep us contained.

“Recruits?” David asks.

“I think so. Try not to hurt them.” It isn’t their fault Dr. Crazy found them.

David pulses the air with a strong burst. The cyclones disperse as the children startle. I flick my wrist and they fall to the ground, eyes wide and filled with fear. “Let’s go,” I say.

They scramble to their feet and attack again. David collapses them all with a single wave. “So much for ending the training protocols,” David says.

“He’s building an army.” I say as another wave of children push into the room. “
His
army. I don’t think he’s working for the government anymore. Not since we left.”

David forces the new recruits into a state of sleep. It works for most of them. For the others, he shoves them aside, their bodies no match for his skill.

“Go to LeMercier’s office. Grab his tablet. It’s behind his desk, I think. If he keeps the kind of records your mother did, everything’s there.” David pushes more recruits away from him. “We can’t let him do this to anyone else. I’ll deal with them.” He nods to the children littering the ground.

“Be careful. Maya’s still here.”

“You be careful,” he says as he squeezes my hand. “Go.”

An older recruit, fifteen or sixteen by the looks of him, pushes through the door, stepping over the unconscious children blocking his path. His eyes are cold and calculating.

Just like mine.

“David,” I say, but not before the boy raises his hands.

David stumbles back, gags.

“No!” I shove David toward the stairs and spin to face the teen. I narrow my eyes, my sight only on him.

In moments, the boy raises his hands to his throat. His eyes widen as I press on his artery in my mind.

“Dakota!”

I don’t listen, my thoughts focused only on my enemy.

“Stop!” David’s voice cuts through my mind. “I’ll take care of this. Get the files.”

I turn toward David. “Go!” he says as I release my hold on the boy and he falls to his knees and coughs.

The younger recruits wake. David’s eyes roll back and I see the pictures he throws into their thoughts, the monsters they view us to be, the panic we instill. They run from the room, crowding the narrow hallway and stairs in an effort to escape. I push my way through the mob as David fights off the few who remain. We run down the hallway. In moments, we reach a narrow staircase that connects the cellar to the kitchen.

I climb the stairs slowly, careful to remain unseen. The rooms are thick with people. Some attack, others run. I have to find a way through the throng to LeMercier’s office while I still can.

I clear my thoughts and focus on the office and lab. In my mind I recreate the entire room: the desk, the chairs, the alcoves in the lab. The tablet is nestled between notebooks behind the desk. No one is there to stop me. Not yet.

I open my eyes and focus on my next move. My eyes roll back and a voice—my voice—rings throughout the house.

“New recruits,” I say. “You’ve been told you’re here to serve the greater good. You’re excited about your gifts, and you should be. There’re special. You’re special.

“But your leader lies. He does not train you to serve others. He trains you to enslave you. To be the bait used to catch me.

“I won’t be caught.”

I swallow hard. “Dr. LeMercier, if you’re listening, know this: you will not trap me. You will not hurt anyone else. I’m coming for you, doctor. And I won’t fail.”

My threat bothers even me as I run against the current and make my way toward my fate.

The children pour from the building like rats running from a fire. Fifty or more, all between the ages of six and sixteen. “He’s never stopped recruiting,” I say to no one. “The Solomon Experiments continued.”

I wonder if Maya knew
.

LeMercier’s office is empty when I arrive. I run to the desk and pull the tablet from between his notebooks. I turn it on. Doors bang open and closed down the hall. The sound comes closer and closer.

The tablet’s password protected. Crap. No time to make sure I’ve got the right one, no time for anything. I grab the tablet, stare at the lab and office and close my eyes.

Noises fill the space in the hall, each thud echoing a new threat.

I ignore it all, concentrating only on the room and lab. In moments, loose items begin to swirl around me. Lights pull from their plugs and pop. Computers flicker to life, only to explode a few moments later. Tables and chairs upend as a small fire sparks to life.

More sounds come from the corridor, moving faster and faster in time with my heartbeat.

I don’t have much time
, I think. I stare back at the tiny flames and grow them in my thoughts until fire fills the lab.

Alarms blare through the old building. Sprinklers come to life overhead.

I ready myself for the recruits and run to the door.

A body fills the doorway. “Oh, good. You’re here.”

Not recruits.

“Assassin.”

Maya
.

Maya slams into my thoughts. My scalp presses in on itself as sharp pain grips my head. Smoke swirls through my senses as the room gets hotter and hotter.

“Not. This. Time.” I grind my teeth, steeling myself against the pain. I search for her hold, her weakness. In moments, her grasp shifts. My thoughts reform. The agony passes.

“You’re stronger,” Maya says. “Not strong enough.”

“We’ll . . . see . . . about that.” I pull her legs out from under her with my mind. In seconds, I send the tablet skidding toward the door as her body is pinned beneath me. The flames blaze around us.

Maya flips me over, assaults my body with her fists, my mind with her thoughts.
You’ll pay for what you’ve done
.

I taste the vengeance in her words. The emotions mirror my own. I flip her over and slam her head into the ground seizing her throat in both hands. Flames creep from the lab to the office, consuming everything at a dizzying pace.

“Dakota!” David runs into the room.

His words are a blur. My eyes water and fill.

“Please!” he screams again.