Psion Delta (42 page)

“Not
babies. We use accelerated mammalian growth hormone. It’s completely synthetic
and speeds up the aging process to prime, but has a very significant side
effect of leukemia in one hundred percent of the subjects. That’s why most true
cloning labs don’t touch it. But we do, it suits our needs nicely. Check.”

Sammy
glanced at the board and made his move. He had no interest in the game, only in
watching the fox.

“However,
in our anomaly-clones, the accelerated growth process has even stranger side
effects. Our clones only live for two to three years. Then. . . . ” The fox
whipped his thumb across his throat. “It’s an amazing process. They’re born as
infants and need constant feeding. Within eight months, they’re fully grown
males—we use only males because we haven’t found a female code sample.”

“Where
do you do this work?”

“Here.
About thirty floors down and in some other buildings I own. We’ve created lots
of spin-off technology that funds the initiative. Like I said, it’s all for the
betterment of mankind. It is here that my story reaches its point, I think. We
can clone anyone with these anomalies now, but I wanted something better.
Eventually our research turned to combining them, but we found ourselves stuck.
No matter which combination we tried—Fourteen/Ten, Thirteen/Eleven,
Thirteen/Ten, we tried them all—none survived. We went through the genetic
codes again and again but nothing seemed to work.”

Sammy
waited for the fox to go on, but the fox’s focus turned to the game. They both
had only kings and pawns remaining, three apiece. Several minutes passed in
silence until Sammy forfeited his last pawn, forcing the fox to take it so
Sammy could take his. Stalemate.

“Well
played. Shall we start again?” Though this was an invitation, Sammy understood
that it was not one he could refuse. After helping him set up the pieces, the
fox again gave Sammy the choice of hands to pick. This time Sammy chose gold.
“I shall start, it appears.”

The
fox was very eager, but Sammy was interested to hear more about his research.

“So
why couldn’t you make clones with double anomalies?”

The
fox stared at the board much longer before making his first move, then spoke,
“What do you know about Anomaly Twelve?”

“It
puts those who have it into a coma as soon as their bodies hit puberty and
begin producing higher levels of sex hormones.”

The
fox nodded and rubbed his earlobe thoughtfully. “Yes, we never considered
looking into it because of its . . . dull effects, if you understand. We were
mostly interested in creating thirteen/fourteen hybrids to beef up our
military.
No standing armies.
That’s a part of the constitution that we
carried over from the NWG. Life is very sacred. Your turn.”

Sammy
moved.

“After
much futility, we started looking into Anomaly Twelves out of curiosity. I’m
proud to say it was my own idea. You know what we found? All Anomaly Twelves
are actually double anomalies. They are persons with both Fourteen and Eleven.
Not Thirteen, not Fifteen, only Eleven and Fourteen. We have never found any
other combination existing in the population. Isn’t that strange?”

Sammy
momentarily forgot about the chess match and gave the fox his full attention.

“You
see, the combination of those two particular anomalies is too much for the
brain. At some point during puberty, the excessive neural excitement overloads
the cerebellum and it shuts down. Permanently.”

“But—”

“But
what about
you
?”

Sammy’s
throat became dry as he nodded, and the fox’s water bottles started to look
very tempting. “Does the NWG know about this?”

The
fox’s gaze met Sammy’s. “They do. Their own independent research has brought
them to the same conclusion, and they don’t know what to do about it.” Again,
Sammy felt the truth in the fox’s words. “Initially, they believed Anomaly
Twelve was caused by an autoimmune response to—”

“An
extra enzyme created at the neural junction and stimulated by sex hormones.”
Sammy had learned all about the different anomalies in his instructions. “But
if that were true, they could treat it with an enzyme inhibitor.”

The
fox nodded. “So you see the flaw. Good. They perpetuated the myth because it
was better than trying to explain to parents that persons with Anomaly Twelve
actually suffer from having too much ‘superpower.’ The real truth, Sammy, is
that this is the fate of all double anomalies.”

* * *
* *

Kaden
drew the Aegis to him like pigs to slop. Blasting with one hand, he took down
the first Aegis immediately and a second one fell soon after. Somewhere down
the way, an Aegis yelled for backup.

“Stay
down and shield, Antonio!” Kaden yelled when Antonio moved to get up.

The
Aegis dropped back quickly, still firing on Kaden and Antonio. Clearly they had
no idea how many Psions were in the garage and decided prudence was a better
strategy than an all-out assault. Kaden put down more suppressive fire for
Antonio.

“Now!
Go now!”

Antonio
was slow to move. He used one hand to shield, the other to assist his badly
wounded leg.

“You
can do it, Antonio! Get back behind cover!”

Antonio
turned to dive behind the cement pillar where Kaden had come from, and in doing
so, dropped his shield.

“NO!”
Kaden shouted.

It
was too late. Bullet after bullet struck Antonio in the back. His last motion
was to turn to shield once more, but the bullets kept coming. Jeffie clamped
her hand over her mouth and felt her eyes well up with tears. Brickert covered
his face with one hand and muttered to himself. Antonio was dead before his
body collapsed onto the floor. Kaden dropped back to his cover and looked over
at Jeffie. “Go. Go. I’ll draw them off.”

Jeffie
would have protested, but Kaden made the decision for her. He left his pillar,
shielded his flank, and ran back the way they came to the previous cover spot.
Jeffie and Brickert sprinted to their next point, behind a large truck. Levu,
Kawai, and Natalia were still there.

“Was
that Antonio?” Levu asked.

“Is
he—?” Natalia couldn’t bring herself to say the words.

“Antonio
died,” Brickert said. “Kaden’s gone back the other direction to pull the Aegis
that way.”

On
cue, Kaden fired two more shots. The Aegis returned fire in his direction.

“Li’s
waiting three cover points down,” Kawai said. “Three dumpsters all in a row. He
wants us to regroup with him there.”

“We
can make that,” Jeffie said. “Right? We can do that.”

Levu’s
group of girls went first. Jeffie let them get two cover points ahead before
she and Brickert moved out. Every time they left cover, she saw Antonio being
riddled by bullets and struggled to keep her composure.

“I
can’t do this, Brick. I can’t go out there!” she moaned right as they were to
leave for the dumpsters.

“Do
it or die, Jeffie. Those are our choices.” He took off. Jeffie had no choice
but to follow.

Li
came over to them as soon as they arrived. “What’s going on?” he asked in a
hushed tone. “Antonio’s dead? Where’s Kaden?”

“Yes,
Antonio’s dead. Kaden ran back. He ran back to draw the Aegis away from us.”

“What?”
Kobe hissed. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“I’m
not. He ran back at least one cover point. I’m not sure where he is anymore.”

Three
shots were fired back where Jeffie had come from, two more shots were returned.

“Here,
Brickert.” Kobe thrust his weapon into Brickert’s hands.

“What
are you doing?” Li asked. “You have to stay with us.”

“What
the heck do you think I’m doing?” Kobe said as he leaned around the edge of the
farthest dumpster. “I’m going to save my idiot brother.”

* * *
* *

Sammy
stopped thinking about chess while questions buzzed around his brain. “You’re
saying I’m—I’m going to—to—”

“No.
You’re not.” The fox’s answer sounded so confident that Sammy was instantly
reassured. He didn’t know why he so easily believed the fox, but he did.
Turning his attention back to the chessboard, Sammy moved his pawn one square
forward, uncovering an attack by his bishop on the fox’s king.

“Check.”

The
fox spent several seconds staring at the board before moving his knight with a
fixed, fierce expression, as though he were a god looking down on a world of
his creation with mild displeasure. He left his hand on his knight for several
seconds. Sammy watched his opponent while also thinking of his next move.

“During
their comatose state, all Anomaly Twelves suffer life-ending cerebrovascular
accidents before their twenty-first year of life. The increased brain activity
puts stress on the blood vessels. You, on the other hand, have every reason to
expect to live a normal, healthy life.”

Sammy
moved his knight forward and to the right. He sensed that the fox was watching
him curiously as he did this, but he kept his attention on the board. “Why am I
different?”

“We
would never have known if not for Victor Wrobel. He sent us a copy of your
mapped genome and a sample of your DNA as soon as word came down that a
‘dangerous Psion’ was being admitted to your headquarters. We knew right away
that you were the key to our problem. There you were, already fourteen years old,
and you’d shown signs of Anomaly Eleven and Anomaly Fourteen without becoming
comatose. All the other Anomaly Twelves have been the opposite. As far as we
know, you are the only one alive who naturally exhibited such a phenomenon. The
results of the tests astounded us. A triple.”

“A
triple? No, that’s not right. By—my commander told me that I’m a double.”

“You
were going to say Byron’s name? It’s okay. I am quite aware of him. He lied to
you. I don’t know why. To protect you, I think.” The fox paused for another sip
of water. “But the truth is you have three anomalies. Four . . . if you count
Anomaly Twelve, although I’ve revealed to you that Twelve is not a
true
anomaly.”

“What?”
Sammy’s tone was challenging. “What is the third anomaly?”

The
fox pushed his own pawn forward. “You already know. You’re very, very smart.
Think about it.”

“Tell
me!”

The
fox stared at him, smiling. “Check.”

13.
Garage

Monday
September 2, 2086

Kobe
left Li’s
group before anyone had a chance to change his mind. Li
shook his head in disappointment. “Two Aegis are down, there’s got to be at
least ten back there by our car looking for Kaden. We can easily manage the
rest. Have faith in your shields. They aren’t any different here than in the
sims. We’ll get close to the exit, take out whoever’s down there, and then help
Kobe and Kaden get rid of the rest.”

Between
the dumpsters, where Li’s group was hiding, and the ramp back up to the second
level of the garage, they had a long stretch of turf to cross with no cover.
Making matters worse, the closer they moved to the ramp, the brighter the
garage became. Li encouraged everyone to keep low, move quickly, stay close to
the wall, and always shield their exposed flank. Always shield. The teams
switched a little. Li went in front with Miguel and Parley. Levu went next with
Rosa. Brickert went with Natalia. Kawai and Jeffie were at the back.

Sporadic
gunfire told Jeffie that Kobe and Kaden weren’t dead. She felt better knowing
that they were together. The two always fought well as a pair.
It must be a
twin thing
, she figured.

As
the garage grew lighter, Jeffie counted nine Aegis near them. Li gathered his
team again behind a small sports car and used hand signals to assign targets to
each shooter. Jeffie waited for his mark.

I
can do this. I’m an accurate shooter. I can do this.

3
. . . 2 . . . 1. . . .

They
opened fire on the Aegis. Jeffie had two targets, one on each side of a door
with a large STAIRS sign posted next to it. Two shots took down the first. The
second dropped, rolled into a crouch, and returned fire. She double-tapped
again, missing on the first shot and clipping him on the second. She turned to
check on Brickert’s targets. He’d hit one in the leg, but the other was under
solid cover. Jeffie put the injured one out of his misery with a clean
headshot.

By
her count, they’d taken down five of the nine Aegis and suffered one casualty,
Antonio. In return, they’d given away their position. More gunfire erupted from
the dark end of the garage. Aegis came running from that direction. Two of them
were mowed down from behind. Screams were heard from the twins’ direction. Two
young men’s screams.

Jeffie’s
heart skipped a beat.
Oh no. They’re dead.

Then
she heard a familiar voice yell, “Die, you sons of—”

Kaden
and Kobe were running down the garage shielding themselves as they ran. Aegis
turned to fire at them, one emerging from cover. The twins dove behind a lone
car while Jeffie took aim. The Aegis went down. The others fell back, slinking
into the shadows, disappearing through doors.

“We
did it, Brickert!” Jeffie cried. “We won!”

Kobe
and Kaden raised their fists and cheered with her. Levu and Natalia joined in.

Around
the garage, more doors opened. An elevator dinged. From the door Jeffie had
just cleared, a woman emerged wearing the telltale red-melting-into-black
uniform, the jagged number 13 emblazoned on her chest. She was tall with long
raven hair, and stunningly gorgeous. Jeffie thought she belonged on a magazine cover,
not in a dank garage like this. Then she remembered Sammy talking about a
beautiful Thirteen—one that scared him. How many people could possibly fit that
description? With her came more Thirteens. Ten from the stairs, more from the
elevator, even more from down at the dark end of the garage. Jeffie heard their
boots hitting the pavement before she saw them come.

“Get
back in the shadows!” Li told them. “Get back!”

Jeffie
aimed at the nearest Thirteen and fired. Her aim was true, she knew it as soon
as she’d pulled the trigger. But the Thirteen raised his bare hand and blasted
the bullets away.

* * *
* *

It
took all of Sammy’s self-control to stay calm.
Control your emotions,
Samuel.
His fingers gripped the arms of his chair until they ached for release.
“I’m not a Thirteen. I know that. So enough of your mind games.”

The
fox’s expression was no longer a smile. “I am not asserting that you’re some
sociopathic, cannibalistic murderer. I don’t think you’re going to rush out and
mar your face and dye your eyes. The potential is in you. The leaders of Psion
Command, as Victor Wrobel informed us, feared they might make a monster out of
you—turn you into their own worst nightmare. Fortunately for you, someone
constantly spoke on your behalf to keep you there.”

“You
could be making all this up. I have no way of knowing.”

The
fox moved his queen forward three spaces. “Computer, access and display video
file from Rio de Janeiro, camera twenty-six, cross-linked with Samuel Harris
Berhane, Jr. Date November 19, 2085.”

The
wall to the left blinked to life, displaying footage of the battle that had
raged on in the bowels of the Rio factory ten months ago. The Thirteens had
closed around Sammy and Kobe, who had already taken a bullet to the arm. There
was no sound, but Sammy watched for several minutes as a captivated audience.
It boggled his mind how rarely he thought of this now.

“Here
it comes.” The fox sounded as if he was pointing out his favorite scene in a
film he had watched dozens of times. “Right . . .
now
.”

On
the screen, Sammy defended himself and Kobe, who’d just been shot a second time
and fell. Sammy remembered now how clearly he had
seen
in that moment.
It had been one of those instances, rare and beautiful, where his body had
responded to his mind with perfect, fluid-like obedience.

That’s
all it was
, he told himself,
a moment of pure clarity
. Yet
even as he thought this, he saw what the fox saw, and it was hard to believe
how fast he moved on the tape.

“Have
you ever seen how fast you move?”
Brickert had once said to him
during their training sessions.
“I can’t do all that. I can’t fight like
you.”

“You’re
speeding up the film,” Sammy realized.

“I’m
not. You know that I’m not.”

“Maybe
I have Fifteen! Huh? Maybe I’m an Ultra!”

“They
are much faster and more accurate.”

“I’m
not a Thirteen,” he told the fox. He heard the desperate edge in his own voice.
“I feel fear and pain. Lots of pain.”

“Your
Anomaly Eleven counteracts the pain-reducing effects of Thirteen.”

“I
don’t kill for pleasure. I’m not a—”

“You
are, Sammy. You are. The world is not as black and white as you think it is.
It’s a lesson we all learn one day. It’s a lesson I had to learn. More than
once.” The fox’s eyes left Sammy’s and returned to the chessboard. “That’s why
my chessboard is gold and silver. Because there are only choices and better
choices.” His left hand held his water while his right hand rested near the
board ready to move. “Just because you have their anomaly does not mean you are
like them.”

Sammy
looked down at his hands resting on the table by the chessboard. He remembered
the darkness inside him that he’d felt multiple times, the fits of rage he’d
experienced where he had struggled to control himself, the decision he’d made
to kill Thirteens even after subduing them in Akureyri. He thought of his
overwhelming desire to kill Katie Carpenter and Stripe, how it—not the rescue
of his parents—had influenced him to fly to Orlando tonight.

The
idea that he had anything in common with her. . . . It polluted him. Everything
that he’d accomplished as a Psion was because of anomalies. Tainted. Not of his
own merit. The biggest concern on his mind remained unanswered.
Why didn’t
someone tell me about this? Not Byron, not Rosmir, not Tawhiri, not anyone.

Control
your emotions
, Byron had urged him.

Is
this why that was your last advice to me, Byron? Have you known all along?

His
eyes stung, but he would not become emotional.
I’m tired. That’s all it is.
He glanced around the room.
Where are you, Ludwig? Jeffie?
He hoped
again that he hadn’t led his friends to their deaths chasing stupid holograms.

“What
do you want?” he finally asked the fox. “Did you really do all this because you
wanted to play a couple games of chess?”

The
fox looked up from the chessboard and his eyes flashed dangerously. The
intelligence in his eyes made Sammy wonder what this man was capable of, and
since he really had no idea, he thought it best to let go of his anger for now.

“Yes.
To play chess with you. I see a lot of potential in you, Sammy.”

“You
tried to kill me. The Rio sabotage was for me. You sent Katie after me. Do
you—do you have a hobby of killing off potential?”

“Check,”
the fox said. His mouth made a weird grin where his lips pursed and his cheeks
puffed out slightly. An eerily soft tone crept into his voice. “I am not prone
to mistakes. Neither are you.”

Sammy
squirmed in his seat as he moved his king out of check. He noticed that the fox
now only glanced at the board before each move.

“Wrobel
helped us set up Rio just for you. Just to kill you. You are a threat to what
we’re building here. Our grand project. Naturally, I wanted you removed, but
you didn’t die in our trap. We unknowingly captured you in my building in Rio.
We tortured you for two months, still not knowing it was you, but you didn’t
die then, either. Wrobel was supposed to kill you the instant you were back in
your—your little headquarters place, but he went nuts and kidnapped you instead
because of a personal vendetta. And even then—tied up and beaten and facing my
best soldier—you didn’t die. That was when I knew we had to meet.”

“Why?”

“I
want to show you what I am doing here. I want you to understand how I am
changing the world. Your move.”

* * *
* *

Jeffie
was on the verge of panicking like Antonio when she watched Li reach into his
pocket and pull something out. It blinked red. His lips moved without speaking.
He was counting down. Then he swung his arm as if he’d thrown a baseball.

“Get
down!”

An
explosion torched the air and caused the car they were hiding behind to rock on
its wheels. Several Thirteens shrieked. Jeffie peered out and saw several
bodies on the ground and the elevator doors blown inward. The Thirteens were in
disarray. A dark, smoky haze filled their section of the garage.

“Go
for the ramp,” Li ordered. “Go now!”

“Wait—”
Jeffie said, but it was too late. Her team had taken off. Kobe and Kaden
hurried to catch up. Jeffie had no choice but to follow. The ramp was still
over twenty meters away and the Thirteens were quick to regroup. Shrieks
followed the Psions as they ran along the east wall at a full sprint. Jeffie
looked back to spot the female Thirteen—the one Sammy had said he was afraid
of—but couldn’t find her. Whether that was a good or bad omen, she didn’t know.

Gunfire
erupted as they ran.

“Blast
shields!” Li cried.

The
ramp grew closer. Shielding their exposed left flanks, Kobe and Kaden caught
up. When the group reached the steep slope, Li gave new orders. “Walk up the
slope backwards. If you don’t have a gun, shield for those who do. Those with
guns use sporadic fire to hold them back. Parley, run up ahead and keep a
lookout.”

The
journey up the ramp was slow and awkward. The tarmac was slick, and Jeffie had
to be extra careful about her footing. Brickert was in front and doing a great
job, perfectly spacing his hands for maximum protection. As Jeffie moved, she
watched the Thirteens cautiously push forward using their own blasts as a
defense. The better she could see them, the more disturbed she became.