Child of Recklessness (Trials of Strength Book 2) (18 page)

I nodded.

‘
I’m sorry about your brother,
Anna,’ I whispered. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘
I know,’ she replied.
‘It’s scary how used to losing people we are. I’m just glad I was
there, even if he wasn’t.’

I wrapped her in my arms as silent
tear streaked her cheeks.

One day we will never have
to worry about losing people like that again. One day, I
promise.

*

We woke just as the sky turned orange,
and the sun started to set. Jessica was at the bottom of our bed,
Alex in her arms, a bottle to his lips. The child sucked hungrily
on the bottle.

‘
It’s about time you guys
got up,’ Jessica smiled. ‘I was ready for slapping the both of you.
Heck, I think I still might just for something to do.’

‘
Has anyone ever told you,
you are absolutely crazy,’ I grumbled.

‘
Yes,’ Jess said brightly,
‘and then I killed them.’

What she said was horrible, but the
way she said it actually made me laugh, which also made me feel
sick. Anna and I got changed and took over for Jessica.

‘
This baby is one of the
best little guys I’ve ever seen,’ Jessica said fondly as she
transferred Alex to Anna. ‘Never cried, just woke up and
smiled.’

‘
Do you think he’s
alright?’ I asked.

‘
If he’s got any of his Dad
in him,’ Anna replied, ‘then I think he’s fantastic.’

I laughed and sat beside Anna. Jessica
told us she was popping out to buy more baby stuff, and we thanked
her as she left. We fed, burped and changed Alex, Anna breaking
into a fit of laughter as he peed while being changed, all over me.
I laughed as well and little Alex let out a squeal of
delight.

Once I’d gotten more new clothes for
myself, we joined the rest of the group in the main room, Alex on
Anna’s shoulder. Brian rushed over with a smile, and demanded to
hold him. Chris hung back, but stared with sincere affection at us.
I noted again at Paul’s distance and deliberate ignorance, but
filed it in my brain as unimportant.

All of them were not long up
themselves, and during that time, they’d been going over Richard’s
notes, gleaning them for any more useful information. I grabbed a
spare laptop, transferred the files onto it, and helped out. There
were pages upon pages of information, mostly things we knew, but
also other stuff. I learned that the name for my father’s project
had been
Hercules,
for obvious reasons.

But I couldn’t shake the feeling that
everything in his files was deliberate. Something that gave us
useless information, enough new to keep us hooked and salivating,
but not too much that would take away my Dad’s knack for being one
step ahead.

Project
Hercules
as it turned out did not originate in
Greystone. When human testing began, it was on one of the floors at
Digilock; one of the three levels Richard Bishop was situated at.
That only piqued my interest. If
Hercules
wasn’t the project that the complex under
my hometown was used for then what was done there?

I was reading more about Bonnie Clyde, my
father’s little helper who hadn’t really been his helper at all. I
wondered absently if Jessica knew her when she walked through the
door, and her expression froze onto the screen.

‘
How do you know her?’ she
demanded with wide eyes.

I stuttered and she handed the bags in
her arms to Chris. She marched over and took the laptop from my
hands.

‘
How do you know her!?’
Jessica repeated.

Paul peered over her shoulder before
taking a stand beside Brian.

‘
That’s the bitch that
helped us then tried to kill Lucas back in Greystone,’ Paul
chuckled. ‘Thank God she’s dead.’

And thank God I had enhanced
abilities. Jessica chucked the laptop and threw herself forward,
her face ablaze with fury. She took the mug from Paul’s hand and
aimed it for his head. I was already moving, I crossed the distance
and grabbed Jessica’s arm before the cup shattered on Paul’s skull.
He stumbled back and fell.

‘
What the fuck!?’ he
screamed.

‘
Let go of me!’ Jessica
screamed. I had to wrap my arms around her to keep her still. ‘I’m
going to kill him.’

What the hell was
happening?

‘
Jess, stop it,’ I gasped.
‘Come on!’

Finally she stilled, and I let her go,
ready for anything. She tossed the glass to the floor and it
shattered into the silence. I watched with surprise.

So I guess Jessica does
know Bonnie.

I made a mental note to find out how,
but let Jessica storm off with Anna into our room. I let out my
breath, and looked over at Chris who shrugged with shock. Paul was
enraged, his face passing from red to purple in the sickening way
it did. Brian moved to help him up, but he shook him off and barged
out into the corridor, slamming the door behind him.

Anna slouched out from our room,
leaving Jessica with the baby. You’d think we’d be more hesitant
with an assassin, but Jessica had proved herself, and seemed to
have real soft spot for both Alex and Anna.

‘
Did she tell you
anything?’ I asked but Anna shook her head.

Loud bangs and cracks came from across
the corridor. Paul was screaming. Brian rushed from the room to
calm his Dad. Anna, Chris and I loitered around, made some food and
ate it in silence. Chris asked if I wanted to train, and I was more
than happy to go along. The tension coiling my body was making me
jittery, and we spent the next few hours relieving it through
fighting.

We returned, and I felt immensely
better. Anna and Jessica were talking to one another on the
couch.

‘
Who’s with Alex?’ I
asked.

‘
Brian and Paul took over,’
Anna replied. ‘Paul wanted to see the baby.’

I nodded and walked over to the door,
clasped the handle and opened it. And there was Paul, alone with my
son, who lay in his crib, a gun in Paul’s hand aimed at
him.

Shock thoroughly paralyzed me, and I
had to go over the scene again. I heard the flush in the bathroom,
and Brian emerged, the same thing happening to him as it did me
once he saw his father.

‘
Dad?’ Brian
gasped.

‘
I can’t,’ Paul choked. ‘I
can’t do this anymore. I can’t live like this.’

I took a hesitant step forward as fear
crawled up my spine.

‘
Paul,’ I
whispered.

‘
No!’ he screamed in return
and I jumped. ‘Stay the fuck back! Stay back or I’ll kill
him.’

I stopped.

‘
What the…
’ Anna said as she came through the
doorway. ‘Paul!’

Chris and Jessica flew in. The latter
bounced forward, but Chris grabbed her and held her back. We
couldn’t risk Alex.

‘
Paul,’ I repeated and
showed him my hands, ‘put the gun down and talk to us.’

Sweat layered his face, and he bounced
from one foot to the other as his teeth ground together.

‘
Dad, I can get you more if
that’s what you need,’ Brian pleaded.

Paul laughed.

‘
What I need is our lives
back,’ he whined. His eyes swarmed with tears. ‘What I need is to
feel safe again, for you to be safe again.’

His eyes narrowed at mine.

‘
You were supposed to make
it safe!’ Paul screamed. ‘This is your fault, and we brought you
here to make it safe! But you’re only making it worse!’

The gun in his hand trembled
dangerously, and my heart rate skyrocketed.

‘
Please,’ Anna
begged.

‘
They’re after you,’ Paul
said to me. ‘You and Alex! They don’t care about us, they just want
you.’

‘
You’re wrong,’ Jessica
growled.

Paul shook his head.

‘
No,’ he gasped. ‘It’s
their faults. Without them, we would be fine.’

‘
Paul,’ Chris
yelled.

‘
Please,’ Anna
repeated.

‘
Don’t,’ I
whispered.

‘
I’m sorry,’ Paul
replied.

A single gunshot reverberated around
the room.

The Sacrifice

I surged forward as soon as the
sound smacked my ears. I barrel
led into Paul with a roar as the room broke out in
screams. We hit the floor and I felt his ribs crack under my
weight. I raised my fist, ready to cave the
bastard
’
s skull in. It was then I noticed the
sharp cries of a child, and I looked over at Anna, who had Alex
wrapped in her arms, very much alive.

‘
Brian…
’
Anna
whispered.

I followed her teary eyes across
to where Brian stood in the bathroom doorway. His eyes were wide,
and the blood had drained from his face. In his hands, still aimed
at where Paul had been, was a gun, a thin trail of smoke spiraling
from it. The shot we
’
d heard hadn
’
t been
from Paul. Brian had killed his father. I looked down, and it was
confirmed. The side of Paul
’
s head
was dented and bloody, a hole where the bullet had entered was
evident. Paul
’
s eyes were closed, his face still and
peaceful, a look I
’
d never seen him wear.

Oh, God.

I clumsily got by to my feet,
and stumbled away from Paul
’
s
body.

‘
No. No. Nooo!
’
Brian
whined.

The gun in his hands clattered
to the ground, and Brian
’
s head
and face twisted with pain. His anguish filled the air with
agonising screams, and he dropped down beside his
father
’
s lifeless corpse. All of us watched in complete
shock. We barely took in air, and our hearts crushed under the
weight of Brian
’
s cries. He
’
d
killed his father to save Alex.

It was different,
Paul
’
s death. He may not have been
anyone
’
s favourite person, but he had been family. He had
been a father. It had also been a close call. The man had tried to
kill a child, an innocent baby; all because of the new world
we
’
d been thrown into. There was a new immediacy in
the air, a new threat. Our group was unraveling, and it would
continue to do so until my father was stopped, until the government
trying to have us killed and tested had been successfully
blackmailed to back off.

‘
Brian,
’
I
whispered.

I moved forward, my hand
outstretched as I tried to comfort Brian. His head snapped round
and his eyes glared with terrifying fury. They were slits, and his
face curled into a snarl I
’
d seen
many times on his father.

‘
Get out,
’
Brian
hissed before raising his voice,
‘
get
out! Go!
’

Even I jumped. No one moved
though, we wanted to be there for him, but he was having none of
it. He grabbed the gun he
’
d let
go of and waved it manically around in the air.

‘
Leave! Just
go!
’
he roared.

We nodded and tried to calm him
before we backed out of the room at a slow pace. Once
I
’
d closed the door, I sighed and almost pulled
every hair from my head. Things were out of control.

‘
You want me to rough the guy
up?
’
Jessica fumed.

I stared at her in complete
surprise. She was serious,
deadly
serious. The fists by her sides were clenched and
white, and her eyes stared unflinching at the door to
Brian.

‘
No,
’
I
gasped while I shook my head.
‘
He
didn
’
t do anything Jessica. He just saved Alex by
sacrificing his father.
’

‘
Yeah?
’
Jess
replied.
‘
Then what happens when
he
’
s consumed by grief and decides
he
’
s made a mistake? That he should have just let his
Dad do what he had planned. What happens if he tries to finish it
off?
’

I didn
’
t know
how to respond. What Jessica was implying was entirely
plausible.

‘
You
’
re
wrong,
’
Anna spoke up.
‘
Brian
won
’
t. I
’
ve known him for a long time. He
won
’
t.
’