Masked (26 page)

“So how did we get out of there?”
I asked.

“Well, like you, I have no memory
of getting out of the HUB. When I awoke, I was lying on a bed in a motel room
with Alex sitting next to me. Apparently, I’d been unconscious for almost two
days. Once I was back to a state of full consciousness, Alex explained what had
happened.

“Once Matthew and Batton realized
you were gone, they ordered the rest of them back into their rooms and left the
training area. Having realized you were going after me, Alex started to work on
his own way out.

“Even though they’d been ordered
to their rooms, there was nobody in the training area making sure they obeyed.
Alex began searching around for some way out. He said he figured out you must
have used the PTD to get past the main door, but Matthew and Batton had
confiscated theirs before they left.

“If you remember, the section of
the HUB housing our training area also had space for storage. Those doors were
always locked to us. At some point, Alex was next to one of those doors, the
one at the end of the short hallway towards the back end of the training hall,
when it clicked open. Surprised, he jumped back and a few seconds later a woman
he’d never seen before walked through; Laura.

“She told Alex that they didn’t
have much time and if he wanted to save his friends he would have to come with
her right then. Having no better option, he trusted her and went with her
through the door. It turns out Laura knew of a small access tunnel that ran underneath
the facility. As she and Alex headed through the tunnel she explained you had been
captured trying to get to me and we were being held in separate detention rooms
in the medical section.

“Laura used to work for Titan and
she still had contacts at the HUB. When she found out what they were going to
do with us, she came back to help. She had all the knowledge and access codes needed
to get us out. Since we were both unconscious, they each had to carry one of
us. Alex had me and Laura you.”

I raised my eyebrows at that.
Sara saw my expression and explained.

“She’s like us. She had no problem
carrying you out of there.”

I nodded. “How did she ever get
away in the first place? It doesn’t seem they would have made an exception for
her and just let her go.”

“Yeah, Alex and I have both asked
her that and she has never really given us an answer. She’s helped us so much
that we’ve never pushed her on it. I assume she has a good reason to not tell
us,” Sara explained and continued.

“Laura and Alex were able to get
us out of the facility but not before Titan noticed we were gone. Laura gave
Alex a GPS with coordinates to a truck parked just a few miles away. She had
another vehicle parked in a different location. The plan was to split up in
order to throw off any pursuit by Titan and meet back up at the second set of
coordinates in the GPS. Alex made it to the truck without any problem. He drove
us to the second set of coordinates, which was the motel, and waited.

“Laura wasn’t as fortunate. The
team Titan sent out only caught the trail of Laura. She was pursued through the
woods and realized she wasn’t going to make it to her vehicle and, while
carrying you, there wasn’t much she could do to defend either of you. She
decided to put you down under cover and out of sight from the search team. Once
she did that, she was able to draw them away from where you were hidden. It
took her a long time before she was able to shake them and come back to where
she’d left you, but you were gone.

“Alex and I waited and waited for
Laura to return with you. When she finally showed up she was alone. She
explained what happened and that she’d been searching the area ever since for
you.

“We could only see two
possibilities. Either the Titan team found you or you’d woken and wandered off
on your own. Before, it would have been easy for Laura to confirm whether or
not Titan had you again, but after helping us escape, the communication she had
with the inside was gone.

“We could only hope you had made
it away on your own and that we’d eventually find you. We never…” she paused.
“I never stopped looking for you. I’ve never stopped loving you.”

She moved in closer.

“I know,” I said and kissed her
forehead.

We laid for a few moments silent,
holding each other.

“So what have you been doing all
of this time? Have you been here in Seattle?” I asked.

“We’ve spent most of our time here
in the Seattle area. Laura has her hands in several business ventures and has
the resources to keep us hidden from Titan. She also has more personal pursuits
that we’ve been assisting her with.

“That seems like quite a heavy
plate for someone so young.”

“Yeah, I think she’s older than
she looks. I can’t say that for sure, but that’s the way she presents herself.”

Who was Laura? What was her game?

Sara continued “Laura explained
that for over thirty years Titan performed experiments involving the manipulation
of human DNA. Most of those experiments took place in doctors’ offices
scattered throughout the Pacific Northwest. During that time, they altered
thousands of children under the guise of normal prenatal procedures, while
still in the womb.

“The effects of the procedures began
emerging over the last several years, abilities seeming to manifest at some
point during puberty. When abilities manifest, these people have no idea why. In
most cases they feel isolated, different from everyone else. Without proper
guidance and help, their abilities can turn destructive to themselves and
others. You saw some of that with Peter and his followers. All of those he
controlled were looking for someone just like him to give them answers, a
purpose.

“Laura has devoted herself to
finding these people, people like us and helping them live life productively
with what they’ve been given. Alex and I along with others have been helping
her. She’s helped many kids to understand what they have and how to live with
it and there is so much more work left to go.

“The situation with Peter was the
worst we’ve seen so far. As you know, he had absolute control over them. I
can’t imagine how it will be for his followers to recover from an experience
like that, from doing the things he had them do. I just hope we can find those
poor people again and help them.”

I shuttered at the thought of my
short experience of being controlled by Peter.

“What did you do with Peter and
the two others?” I asked.

“They’re being held at a small
facility Laura owns on the outside of the city. Peter is being kept unconscious
and locked up and the others awake but in detainment rooms. Laura has people
keeping an eye on them.”

“So, you’ve been busy,” I said.

“You could say that. What about
you?”

I gave Sara the cliff notes
version of my past year. I found it hard to talk about. What I’d done was a
direct effect of how I thought I’d lost Sara. I was no more than a vigilante
bent on making wrong doers pay. I hadn’t been primarily driven by feelings of
concern for those needing my help but by the desire to punish those who would
hurt others, those like the people I’d thought killed Sara, Alex and the
others. The line was a fine one, but the truth was, I’d been walking on the
wrong side of it.

With everything that had happened
recently, the whole mess at the truck stop, my failure to Wally and officer
Raymond and having Sara back, the fog was lifted. I could see past the driving
force of darkness and self-possessed despair.

When I finished telling my tale,
Sara didn’t say anything, just kissed me. It was a good kiss. In that moment it
made everything better.

“Now what?” I asked.

“I’m not really sure. I guess I
thought you’d join us here.”

I thought about that. While I could
appreciate what Laura was doing and the work Alex and Sara were contributing, I
wasn’t sure it was what I wanted. It was selfish, but what I really wanted was
to take Sara away from all of that crap and live out the rest of our days in
peace, just a normal quiet life. Maybe travel, see the world. Was that even
possible though?

What I was sure about was
whatever I ended up doing; I wanted to be with Sara. I leaned down and kissed
her forehead. “If this is where you’ll be, so will I.”

She smiled and tried to move
herself up to a seated position, using my arm for support. It seemed her
strength was back as she was able to sit up on her own.

“Well, I think Alex had the right
idea when he headed downstairs. I’m starving,” I said.

“Me too,” Sara agreed.

As I started to get up, I realized
I didn’t feel very fresh and Sara was probably just been being polite in not
mentioning my odor. It had been a long dirty day and a shower sounded awesome.
I told Sara I wanted to shower before heading down stairs.

“I want to get cleaned up too,
but you can have the shower first. Before I decide to get too active, I want to
make sure I’m steady enough to not just fall over.”

“Ok, I’ll see you in a few
minutes,” I said and kissed her cheek as I got up.

The room had its own bathroom
attached and Laura had left me with a fresh change of clothes, jeans, blue
t-shirt and a pair of black and white All-stars. It was going to feel so good
to be clean. Eating was going to feel even better. When was the last time I’d eaten?
Maybe at the club the night before?

I stepped into the bathroom and
closed the door behind me. Compared to the other bathrooms I remembered seeing
in my life, this one was a palace. Straight ahead was a large glass garden
shower. I turned on the water and undressed while the temperature warmed. The
warm water melted over me when I stepped in and at that moment, I thought the
shower did win over eating. It felt so good, the sensation was so satisfying. I
proceeded languidly to the task of washing myself.

The water cleared the last of the
shampoo from my eyes after I rinsed my hair when I saw Sara standing there,
just on the other side of the glass. She was blurry at first and then focused as
my lashes whisked away the remaining water. I noticed not only was she standing
there, but she was standing there no longer wearing anything. Her perfect body
there for me to see. Before, when we were at the HUB, we’d been together, but
only in the dimly lit retreat we’d made for ourselves. I’d never seen her like
that, never so fully. I’d never seen anything so beautiful. I was speechless.

She smiled and with the flick of
her wrist, the glass door slowly creaked open.

“As it turns out I was feeling
better than I thought and since I needed a shower as well …” she didn’t finish
the words but stepped in and closed the door.

I decided I was wrong. I hadn’t
realized what I really needed. Hunger and the refreshing warmth of the water
were not as important anymore.

Our plan to join Alex in the
kitchen was delayed some, but Sara and I eventually made it downstairs. As we approached
the kitchen, I could hear the sound of crowds and over that an announcer.

Alex was sitting on the central
island work area with stacks of pizza boxes next to him, watching the large
flat screen mounted on the wall “Hey there,” he said, waving with a slice in
hand and his mouth full of pizza.

I counted the boxes on the
counter at fifteen.

“Is there any left?” I was kidding,
but wouldn’t have been too surprised if the answer was no.

Alex motioned towards two of the
stacks, each with five boxes.  “The cupboards and fridge were bare so I made a
pizza run. I guess Laura forgot to stock up.”

“Did you pick up any beer while
you were at it?” Sara asked.

”I brought the wrong ID. The
clerk wouldn’t sale me any. I picked up a case of Coke though. Look in the fridge.”

I went to the fridge “Do you want
another?

Alex drained the can he had. “Yep.”

I got cans for the three of us.

On one side of the kitchen island
was a bar with three stools. Sara was already sitting and I went to sit next to
her, giving Alex his Coke along the way.

“I haven’t had pizza in a while.
Good choice,” I said as I pulled the tab on my can.

I took a long pull, put it down
and dug into one of the boxes. Sara took her own box. I shoveled in slice after
slice. The more I ate the more hungry I realized I was.

“So did Sara get you up to speed
on everything?” Alex asked.

After making it through five of
the boxes himself, he seemed to have slowed down some.

“She did. Thanks for coming after
us at the HUB.”

“Of course, but I can’t take the
credit. It was Laura who got us out of there.” He paused and smiled. “Well, and
lost you.”

“Has she been back up here yet?”
Sara asked.

“No. I stopped in on my way out to
get the pizza. She was running tests on Rachael, James and the other guy, but
there was no change in status with any of them.”

“Does she think they’ll be okay?”
I asked.

“She says she’s still hopeful.
Their brain activity looks normal.”

Sara rose from her stool. “I’m
going to run down there and see if she needs a hand. You two catch up.” She leaned
over and kissed me.

She took a two of the untouched
pizza boxes. “I’ll bring a couple of these with me.”

Alex got up and headed back over
the refrigerator. “Want another?” he asked.

“Sounds great.”

Alex grabbed two more cans and came
over to sit on Sara’s vacant stool.

“You know. When we were all at
the HUB together, this pretty much was my dream,” I said.

Alex grinned. “Eating pizza and
drinking Coke? You’re pretty ambitious.”

“I just wanted to be out of there
doing something normal like eating pizza with friends.”

“I know what you mean, though the
reason we’re here is not what I’d call normal,” Alex said. “It’s good to have
you back man. I considered you a brother when we were at the HUB and I still
do.”

I nodded and raised my can to
that. I felt the same way. It was great to see him.

“So you read minds?” Alex asked conversationally.

The comment caught me off guard.
He must have read my confused expression.

Alex explained. “Sara told us
about your new ability when she first showed us hers. She said it started
developing the day she was taken. Have you noticed it doesn’t work around any
of us?”

I thought of trying to read Sara
before, feeling the guilt of trying. Sara never mentioned it and I took note to
apologize to her when I saw her again. “Yes I did actually.”

“Yeah, it’s a cool little thing
Laura taught us. What someone like you and that Peter bastard does is tap into
the brainwaves, for lack of a technical term, of those you choose to. This is
how you’re able to see others thoughts or how Peter was able to control the
minds of others. What Laura taught us when we started working with her, is how
to condition our minds to block such intrusions. At first it took some
concentration and effort to hold, but now it comes naturally.”

“So has everyone you’ve found had
some sort of extra ability, above the increased strength, speed and healing, I
mean?”

“So far yes, but it seems there’s
only one per person and as you know they vary. Laura’s theory is the
alterations to our genetic make-up have given us random access to unused parts
of the brain. People normally only use a fraction of their brain’s potential. Most
of the brain is never tapped into. We’ve been given access to the unused
portions. Each of us has access to different parts of the unused brain area,
which is why these new abilities are so varied.”

“So what’s yours?” I asked.

“It’s not something I can really
show you, but essentially I can project my consciousness away from my body. I
have to know exactly where I want to go and it takes a tremendous amount of
effort and concentration. If I tried right now, I could see what was going on
down in the boat house without ever leaving the kitchen. I could see what Sara
was saying about you.” He grinned at the last part.

I had a hard time imagining what
he was trying to describe but it sounded incredible. “So do you see where you
go clearly?”

“Not the same as standing here
using my eyes, but just as clear. It’s hard to explain.”

“How far can you go?”

“I’m not sure what the limit is
or if there even is a limit. The most I’ve tried is a few hundred yards and it
does take more effort the longer the distance I try to cover.”

“It sounds like a useful skill in
your work with Laura. What’s her ability?” I asked.

“She doesn’t have one or at least
she hasn’t discovered it yet, that or she’s not telling us.” Alex paused. “We
owe her everything. If she’s hiding it, I can grant her that privacy.”

I didn’t say anything to that. I could
understand their sense of gratitude towards Laura; I felt it too now I knew the
truth. She’d worked for Titan though and I, for one, was really tired of
secrets and blow offs. I didn’t think I could stay and work with someone I felt
was hiding something from me. She seemed to be a good person, but I wasn’t sure
if I could ever trust her. It was something I’d have to reconcile

I looked up at the TV and changed
the subject. “Are you a Mariners fan?”

Alex talked baseball while I
finished a few more boxes of pizza. I let him carry the conversation since I knew
nothing about the game. Alex on the other hand had found a love for America’s
pastime since he’d won his freedom from the HUB. We agreed that I needed to go
to a game with him some time soon. Before I was able to express my concern
about a game with sunlight he said Laura had a box at Safeco Field. After some
time we headed down to the boat house.

The path was covered, but the
protection wasn’t needed as the sun was already setting, the sky an inferno of
orange and red. It was quite beautiful to see at the lake’s edge. The scene reminded
me of a question I had from my encounter with the two who tried to kill me in
Idaho.

“Have you found any others with
our abilities but who not affected by sunlight like we are?”

“Actually, no one we’ve found has
the sun allergy like we do. Laura says there was an additional procedure
performed once at the HUB to cause the allergy, another way to control us.”

Adding a weakness seemed like an
odd way to control your super soldiers. Especially when the plan was to make us
mindless zombies. Titan really had raped us from our lives.

I followed Alex into the boat
house. The exterior gave no clue that inside was anything other than what would
normally be found in any other boat house on the lake. The sterile work area
outfitted with sophisticated equipment, hospital beds and medical supplies I’d seen
when I helped Laura bring them in earlier was probably not standard in any
other boat house.

The three beds were set at the
far end of the room, side by side with four feet in between. Rachael and her currently
unnamed friend were still lying on their respective beds, eyes closed. Sara and
Laura were standing on each side of the third bed and James was sitting
upright, awake.