Winter's Storm: Retribution (Winter's Saga #2) (24 page)

“
Ali, Maze was sniffing around on the trail where Creed told us he found Meg when she collapsed. He found something, Alik. Maze found the dart that poisoned Meg. Theo, Paulie and I are trying to decode the poison so we can make an antidote. Do you understand, me, Alik? I think we can use the original poison to create an antidote that will cure Meggie. If we can do this ourselves, we won’t need Williams.” Margo waited breathlessly for Alik to respond.

“
Oh, my God, mom! How soon can you create the antidote?”

Both Creed and Evan’s faces lit up with equal amounts of surprise and confusion as they watched Alik talk.

“
Well, that’s hard to say. I could really use Evan’s help with this. He’s faster at equations than any of us.”

Alik locked eyes with his little brother, his mind racing with all the new possibilities.

“
Ali, can you get the plane to turn around? You can’t go to Germany, Alik. I’m so scared that Meg will die there. Maze finding this needle on a mountainside is truly a gift from God. We need to get Meg home, now!”

“
We’re halfway across the Pacific Ocean now mom. We may have to land in California first to refuel, but we’ll get her home. I promise. I’ll bring her back to you, mom.”

Hearing this, Creed turned and hurried toward the cockpit. He needed to figure out what options they had with the remaining fuel. Even as he yanked the door open and stepped into the small, button-and-switch-filled compartment, he felt a surge of power that was wrapped in the bright light of hope. He was going to do whatever it took to get this family put back together.

“
Captain Jacobe,” Creed’s voice was commanding.

“
Um…sir, if you would please return to the cabin and press the red button, Missy will come help you.” The captain was unnerved enough what with the rough flight and now a passenger barges into his cockpit.

Ignoring him, Creed asked, “Does the plane have enough fuel to turn around?”

“
What?”

Trying to remain calm, Creed repeated himself, “Does the plane have enough fuel to turn around?”

“
Um,…” he stammered and looked over at his copilot. “Mr. Trainer, could you run that calculation, please?”

“
Yes, sir. Give me a moment. I’m going to have to recalculate with the flight planning system,” he said flustered. Glancing over his shoulder nervously at Creed, the copilot punched furiously at the keyboard in front of him.

“
Things are going to be different from the original plan because of the unexpected weather that caused us to change our altitude,” yammered Mr. Trainer anxiously. “I’m using our current longitude and latitude as the starting point for the system and asking it to work its way backward to the flight’s origin. Using that geographic waypoint, the system is calculating all the variables that would effect the fuel measurement. Payload, operating weight empty, zero fuel weight, ramp weight,…”

“
Mr. Trainer!” Creed couldn’t stand the man’s babbling. “Sir, I appreciate that you know all about flying this plane, but I really don’t have time for a class on the subject now.”

The copilot turned pale. “Of course not, sir.”

“
Don’t mind him,” Captain Jacobe chuckled nervously. “He’s a computer geek at heart.”

“
Okay, Mr. Young. The short answer is, yes, probably. We have enough fuel, but we will be using all our reserves.” He glanced over at Jacobe worriedly.

“
I’m afraid to ask what that means,” Creed ran his fingers through his hair in his typical anxious gesture.

“
He means if everything goes perfectly on our return trip, no turbulence, crosswinds, bad weather at the airport that would delay our landing—if everything goes perfectly, we’ll be okay to make it back.” It was Jacobe’s turn to look pale.

“
How many tons of fuel do we have to play with, Trainer?” Jacobe asked.

“
Um…the system says we would have an extra seven minutes of flight beyond the calculated plan.”

“
So, basically, none. We will be landing on fumes, literally.” He looked sick to his stomach.

“
You two are the pilots. You tell me. The girl back there is dying and they think they have created the antidote back on the island. Can we get her there safely?”

Mr. Jacobe looked at the small photograph he always taped to his control panel when he went on long flights. It showed a plump-faced little boy smiling with his arms stretched out beside him, like the wings of a plane—pretending to fly.

“
Yes, sir. We’ll get her back. Right, Trainer?” Jacobe’s face looked determined.

“
If you say so, sir. I’m going to keep working with the system planner to see if there’s any way I can reduce our fuel consumption.”

“
Great, you put your geek hat on; I’m going to turn this big-ass bird around.” He flipped a switch and spoke in his usual cocky-captain voice. “Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated immediately as we’re about to make an illegal U-turn. Jacobe, out!”

Creed grinned widely as he held on to the frame of the doorway. The plane banked hard left. Watching the skyline tip was awesome. He felt a wave of happiness at the thought of heading back to that sweet house on the beach and those kindhearted people.

Then reality kicked in when he remembered what else was waiting for him back on that island: One very pissed-off meta named Farrow.

45 A Significant Chunk of Sanity Just Crashed to the Floor

Things were looking up, and Dr. Williams was anxious to go share the good news with his beloved. In his boney hands he held a large bouquet of sunflowers already trimmed and on display in an equally large, some would say gaudy, pink vase. His little girl’s two favorite colors: pink and yellow. He adjusted the greenery slightly while waiting for the elevator.

Once it opened and he entered, he slipped his small silver key into the control panel, typed a code and pressed “B.” The only way that button would work was with the key and the code. Otherwise, someone could stand there and push that “B” button until they were blue in the face and nothing would happen. He smiled to himself at his clever security.
Nothing but the best for his June,
he chanted to himself with every step down the corridor toward her room.

With a quick tap, Dr. Williams opened the door to his daughter’s hospital room as he had hundreds of times before. But this time, he knew immediately something was wrong.

“
Esther?” he called.

Only silence came in response.

“
Esther?” he called again, looking toward the door leading to the private bathroom.

The lights were out.

He reached out to the wall switch right inside the doorway with one hand and balanced the heavy vase of flowers with the other.

Then the old man realized why he felt things were wrong the moment he opened the door. It was the silence. There was always the sound of her monitors beeping softly in the background. There was always a light on by her bedside, and Esther was always sitting right beside his daughter in that chair. None of these things were in place.

As the light burst on, the gruesome scene was exposed. There was his precious little girl lying motionless on the bed. Her chest did not rise and fall. Her face was a sickening bluish-gray.

And there on the floor beside her was Esther. The soldier he had given the most important assignment in the history of metas: to take care of his daughter. She lay motionless as well.

It took the old man a moment to wrap his head around what he was seeing. His feet wouldn’t move from that tiled spot. He stood there shocked long enough for the heavy vase to slip from his arms and smash to the floor.

People who had been on the first floor talked in whispers about the screaming they heard from the hospital’s mysterious basement. Some of the metas were sure it was the ghost of Mrs. Williams. Others believed they were torturing disobedient metas down there. And still others wondered aloud about what monsters the doctors in that hospital had created in an experiment gone wrong.

Well, truth be told, parts of each of those ideas was right. A monster was created in the basement that very day, and it was absolutely haunted by the deceased Mrs. Williams. All of this
did
happen because of experiments gone wrong, very wrong.

And the typed note found tucked in the front breast pocket of the impeccably uniformed meta, Esther, contained words that cut what sanity the grieving father may have maintained into slivers of glass.

Sir,

I could not stand seeing June suffer anymore. Watching her wasting away year after year waiting for you to save her was agonizing.

Keeping June locked away in the basement of your life was selfish and undisciplined.

I feel peace knowing I have been a true friend and protector to June and as such came to realize it was up to me to free her from your prison of shame.

Now, even you can move on and focus on your brilliant scientific work here at the Facility.

Esther

M402

46 U-Turns in the Sky

“
So that’s the plan.” Creed said, finally. He had returned from the pilot’s cockpit even as the plane was still angling the about-face to tell the others the good news.

The brothers sat quietly for a moment before Alik spoke. “Well, this was one heck of a way to prove your good intentions.” He allowed himself a half smile of appreciation.

“
Thank you for doing this, Creed.” Evan rubbed the emotion out of his eyes wishing desperately to change the subject.

Creed’s face blushed as he mumbled, “It’s the least I could do for her.” He was looking affectionately toward Meg.

Clearing his throat first, Evan asked, “Alik, tell me exactly what mom said.”

“
She said, ‘Maze was sniffing around on the trail where Creed told us he found Meg when she collapsed. He found something, Alik. Maze found the dart that poisoned Meg. Theo, Paulie and I are trying to decode the poison so we can make an antidote.’ Then when I asked her how soon she could have the antidote ready she said, ‘Well, that’s hard to say. I could really use Evan’s help with this. He’s faster at equations than any of us.’ ”

Evan continued to stare at his brother deep in thought.

“
Wow, how did you do that?” Creed said looking over at Alik with his head tilted a bit to the side like a curious puppy dog.

“
Do what?” Alik said absently. He was walking toward his sister and adjusting the straps holding the gurney safely to the cabin wall.

“
That sounded like exactly what Dr. Winter would have said—word for word!”

“
It was.” Evan stood and started pacing the aisle. He was much more worried about the implications of creating an antidote based on an unknown toxin and not having time to test it for accuracy or safety before his sister needed it.

“
Wow, that’s a cool trick.”

“
It’s not a ‘trick.’ It’s his gift. He’s got an eidetic memory.” Evan was only partially engaged in this conversation. His mind was whirling around thoughts of curing his sister.

“
What’s an ‘eidetic memory?’”

“
I can remember everything I see, hear or read, perfectly,” Alik answered for himself in a distracted monotone.

“
Everything?”

“
Yes.”

“
How far back?”

Alik shrugged. He was starting to feel a little uncomfortable talking about himself so much.

“
Can you remember your parents? I mean, your biological ones?” Creed asked.

“
Listen, Creed. We can talk about that some other time. Right now, I need to go check on the pilots. I might know of a way to ration our fuel.” He rubbed his hands on his jeans before standing and wedging past his brother who was still pacing the aisle.

“
Let me guess, he’s read a few books on how to fly a plane,” Creed mused to no one in particular as he watched the meta close the cockpit door behind him.

“
Undoubtedly.” Evan murmured.

“
You said it was his ‘gift?’ I remember Dr. Williams mentioning that each of you had something special about you. Each of you had an enhanced gift. I guess, Alik’s gift is his memory? It’s pretty clear you’re a medical genius and Meg—” his voice trailed off as he looked at her beautiful profile from where he sat. “Anyway, he said these were the ‘gifts’ he wanted back. I hadn’t really thought about what he meant by that until now.”

“
Right. Well, as you mentioned, Alik has the eidetic memory as well as ultrastrength. Meg is an empath. And I am not as much a ‘medical genius’ as an engineer, though lately I’m inventing, building and problem solving the mechanics of the human and meta bodies more than anything, so I can appreciate the assumption.” Evan shrugged modestly. “I just see everything as a puzzle to be solved.”

“
No wonder Williams wants all of you back,” Creed found himself looking at the younger male meta in front of him with a whole new sense of awe and respect.

“
You said Meg is an ‘empath?’ What is that, exactly?”