Born to Darkness (68 page)

He used the pen that he’d taken from Goatee, and he drew an arrow and wrote right on the wall that the bathroom shared with the security control room,
This way to the people you want to kill and the equipment you want to destroy
.

Just in case he jokered.

And then—with the exact same sense of purpose that he’d felt the first time he’d jumped out of a plane—Shane took one of the Epi Pens filled with Destiny from his pocket, opened the plastic, and drove it hard into his leg.

Nika felt Joseph reaching out to her, checking in, but she was still too woozy and he retreated immediately.

She heard some kind of alarm going off, and she wished that he’d stayed long enough for her to tell him about it, although, on second thought, it was possible she was imagining the sound. “Can
anyone else hear that?” she asked the other girls, but the words came out all smooshed together and no one could understand her.

She didn’t think they heard it, though, because no one was crying, and it didn’t take much to set them off.

Except, then the door opened, and the crying started, but it wasn’t the scar-faced man—instead it was the unhappy old woman. And she came directly over to Nika’s bed, but then she stopped when she saw that Nika was looking back at her.

And she frowned and took out a fancy-looking cell phone. Whoever she called must’ve picked up right away, because she said, “And how am I supposed to get her ready to travel when the drug hasn’t fully taken effect?”

Travel?

“And I’m telling you she’s
not
fully unconscious—she’s right here, blinking at me. For all I know, she’s dangerous,” the woman said. “Maybe she’s built up a resistance. Just give her another squirt …”

No,
no
—if they gave her another dose of this sedative, it would be hours before Joseph could join her again. And she had to reach out to him now, to tell him they were getting her ready to
travel
.

So Nika closed her eyes and let her head loll back, even as she searched for him.
Joseph! They’re going to move me!

“Oh, wait, that’s better now,” the woman said. “Although why don’t you give her another squirt anyway—just to be safe?”

As the man with the horrible scar began shuffling his way over to Mac, Anna closed her eyes, and with all of her might, she attempted the impossible.
Joe, please, if you’re out there and you can hear me, please
, please
help us!

For a moment, she thought she felt him, felt the familiar warmth, the slight bump and polite hesitation before he entered her mind. But then it was gone, and she was left only with the sense that he was too far away. Because she was only a fraction, he needed to be closer to establish that kind of intimate telepathic contact.

Across the room, Mac was saying, “That’s right. Come on over here. Oh, yeah, right here …”

Somehow she was drawing the man toward her and away from Anna, and she couldn’t let her do that. “Mac, don’t. It’s not going to change—”

“Anna, be
silent
.” Mac smiled at the man. “I don’t bite. Unless you want me to …”

“It’s time to go into the building.” Bach was done waiting.

His integration spike may have been an anomaly—but it wasn’t truly a spike, either. Yes, he’d shot up, fast, and yes, his power was beginning to degrade, but that was happening slowly.

And while Bach would have liked to spend a day—or even just an hour—in the lab, testing his new limitations and abilities, it was go time.

Alarms were going off in the Washington Street building, yet the scanners and their source of power were still strong.

It seemed obvious that Shane Laughlin had tried—and failed.

Because the scanners were still running, the Organization would know—immediately—that the team from OI was coming in. So be it.

Jackie and her group of Thirties and Forties were ready but grim about the outcome as they headed toward the building. In a flash of inanity, as Bach walked with them, he wondered what they’d do if he suddenly sharply clapped his hands twice to get their attention, and then announced that they should pair up—quickly now—and find a nearby public restroom in which to engage in a little pre-battle coitus—in order to boost their integration levels.

How could he have been so wrong?

Of course, the answer came to him immediately. Because he’d wanted, desperately, to be wrong. Because, for decades now, he’d wanted no one but Annie. And since Annie was dead … 
No one
had been his chosen companion.

But now, Anna—this woman who was so different in appearance
from Annie, yet who shared a similar name and a beautifully similar spark of joy and hope and glorious
life
—had fallen into his world.

Bach’s enhanced powers allowed him to feel her in that building, not as clearly as he felt her powerful little sister, but enough to allow him to find exactly where the Organization was holding her.

“Brian, Katie, Laurel, Frank, Rashid—your goal is to get into that security control room and take out those scanners,” Jackie reminded her team. “Until that happens, each and every one of us is wearing a great big target on our backs. They’ll know where we are, and where we’re going.”

As she continued, rattling off her team-members’ names and missions—some were assigned to find Mac and Anna, some to try to locate Shane, with the majority seeking out Nika—Charlie, who was walking next to Bach, leaned close to say, “Sir, I think you should try, once more, before you go inside, to connect with Nika.”

It was a smart idea. So Bach reached out and found …

A looming wall of darkness. A frightening swirl of nightmares and unconscious fears as Nika fought—as she continued to fight—to stay present.

But she was fading fast. Too fast. Plus, she was being moved. And Bach knew, with a certainty that made him feel as if he had some prescient powers that were awakening, that if they didn’t move faster, the Organization was going to succeed in spiriting Nika away.

And he also knew he had to do it. He had to attempt to enter Nika’s mind and fight beside her—and risk also being taken down by the sedatives she’d been given.

This meant he had to stay behind as he’d originally planned, which was a far harder thing to do than he’d anticipated.

“Go,” he ordered Jackie. “Move!
Now!
”

And she led the team toward the building at a run.

“Charlie, get me back to the van,” Bach commanded as he closed his eyes and plunged into Nika’s nightmare.

Nika was lost.

She could hear Joseph calling her—or maybe that was just part of her bad dream. She could hear him, but she couldn’t reach him—she’d never reach him again.

She could feel herself moving—she was being rolled down the hall, faster and faster, and she couldn’t do anything to stop it.

Nikaaahhh …
Joseph’s voice was coming from farther away now.
Nikaaahhh …

It was amazing.

The rush was incredible.

It roared through Shane’s veins, spreading its power throughout his entire body, turning him into something … else. Something …

Greater-than.

He could feel the power tingling in his fingers and his toes, even in the tip of his dick, and he immediately recognized how dangerous this drug was—because he already wanted more. He didn’t want this feeling—this power—ever to end.

He could feel his body using the drug to make him stronger, healthier—to erase any fatigue he was feeling and to heal the scrapes and bruises he’d gotten when Mac went all Rambo on the Organization’s drug lab.

He had known there were no guarantees, when taking Destiny, as to what his skills and talents would be. But he was pretty sure one of his abilities involved both sex and Mac. Of course, maybe the drug heightened the effect her voodoo had on him—because he could sense her nearby.

Wherever she was being held, it wasn’t far from this bathroom. He was pretty sure all he’d have to do was follow the tug in his groin and he’d find her.

Which was good to know.

Because his plan, post blowing the shit out of the scanners and the power supply, involved him freeing her and taking her home to make love to her for one last time before letting Elliot stop his heart.

But right now, Shane had to get into that control room. And the best way to do that was still to go through that wall. He focused on putting a hole into the damn thing.

And the toilet flushed.

Okay, great.

Apparently, one of his new talents was an ability to flush a toilet without touching the handle.

Way to go.

Shane concentrated again, closing his eyes and …

Whatever he’d done, Goatee started thrashing and moaning, which seemed kind of odd, until Shane picked up the handgun, intending to tap him on the head again.

But he dropped the damn thing, because it burned his hand. Jesus, it was
hot
.

And when he turned Goatee over, he saw that the man was wearing a gold necklace that had burned a chain-print pattern into his skin. It was red and raw and completely circled his scrawny pale neck.

But okay. That was good—that was
good
. Shane could work with this talent—the ability to heat metal. He just needed to learn how to focus.