Damn it all.
She had a watch. A fancy Ironman watch
she used when she swam. She knew they were supposed to leave at noon. Was he going to have to find her again like yesterday? They didn’t have time for that.
He let out a ragged sigh, watching his breath plume in the cool fall air. Excitement drained to anger as he stomped back inside to drag on his coat. Shoving his hands into the coat pockets, he trudged back outside, nearly growling with each harsh step.
And stopped still.
His fingers jammed against something cold and hard inside the left pocket. An eerie sensation shivered through his hand and settled uneasily in his gut.
Before pulling it out, he knew exactly what it was.
Harper’s first gold medal. The medal she’d said she treasured over all others. The medal they’d found at Bobby’s. The medal he’d returned to her.
And now she’d given it back to him.
Rome sank to his knees in the wet gravel, the grainy mist shrouding his slumped form.
Harper was gone.
Clutching the medal against his bowed forehead, he knew.
She’d gone to bring Jeff down herself. She thought she was going to die anyway. It was a sacrifice she wanted to make. He thought he’d convinced her that they could do this together. That whatever was between them could keep her safe and alive until they found an antidote. She didn’t need to surrender her life to take Jeff’s.
Yet she had already made up her mind. Last night, he thought they had solidified a promise to see it through together. As she lay in his arms in the late hours of darkness, she’d said a breathless good night. But what she’d really said was good-bye.
The gold medal was covered with dull scratches and
beads of mist. It reminded him so much of Harper. At one time full of shine, now tarnished and changed forever. Yet like the gold, she still glowed under it all.
And like the cherished medal, she would endure. Even if she didn’t know it yet.
He had to stop her. Had to let her know she had a life worth fighting for. And a love worth giving a chance.
Shoving himself up, Rome raced into the cabin and got the things they had planned to take. Five minutes later, he was in the Bug speeding to stop her from making a horrible mistake.
He couldn’t blame Harper for doing what she thought she needed to do. But he was downright furious with her for thinking she could leave him behind so easily.
Damn it all.
He just hoped he could get to the compound in time to let her know she was going to have a lifetime to make it up to him.
It took longer than she thought for the guards to notice her as she walked inside the walls. She was near the courtyard grass, almost to the walkways before they turned their heads in her direction.
Idiots
.
They stared for a few seconds, then snapped out of their surprised trance and marched toward her, pulling their weapons around. She maintained her leisurely pace, steeling her body for the fight of her life.
Harper stopped halfway down the wet cement walkway just as the two guards slid to a halt, mere feet away from her, the barrels of their rifles pointed directly at her chest.
“Hello, boys.” Her voiced dripped with a menace that coursed through her entire being, welcome and rousing.
She raised her right hand and called upon her psi power. The rush of ice through her blood was instantly replaced by a swell of heat. Then a surge of energy shot from her mind to her hand and toward the two men, the near-invisible force propelling them off their feet to land far on the other side of the courtyard grass.
Two other men materialized from the building on the left, charging toward her at full speed. She brought her left hand up and flared another wave of energy at them with the same satisfying result.
She reveled in the addictive energy that pumped through her body and mind, just waiting, thirsting to unleash it again. A rustling of motion from above drew her attention to the roof of the building on the right. Guards on the roof. The load cracks of their rifles sounded. So much for her theory of their keeping her alive.
Harper whipped around and brought up both hands, palms out, creating an ethereal shield, freezing the bullets in midair as they shot toward her.
She pushed another wave of energy against the barely perceptible buffer, sending the bullets back at the shooters high above. Short screams reached her ears as her targets were hit by their own ammunition.
A group of men poured out of the main building and lumbered toward her, their boots kicking up splashes with every step. They had no weapons, but that didn’t keep them from looking dangerous.
No, they didn’t need guns. They were bio-enhanced. But not like her. She was stronger. Singular. Pure.
She grinned at her confidence. At the unparalleled power of her mind.
Two men shot a surge of energy at her. She could see the air displace as the cloudy wave swelled toward her like an oncoming flood.
She effortlessly met the surge with a clear one of her own. The space between Harper and her targets crackled like lightning as the crushing forces collided.
A handful of other men behind the two at the forefront added their power to the psionic fray. She met their energy as well with more than enough of her own. Her grin widened. Maybe she wasn’t suicidal. This was going to be easier than she thought. And fun.
More footsteps in the soggy grass of the courtyard behind her. She spared a quick glance over her shoulder
to see another group of brutes briskly approaching her position in the center of the quad. For crying out loud, did Jeff seriously have an entire army at his disposal?
Narrowing her eyes, she turned sideways and moved one arm behind her, launching powerful waves toward the newcomers to hold them off while she continued with the other arm to battle the men she’d already engaged.
Harper’s blood was on fire, sizzling through every fiber as her psi power raged like a ravenous caged beast inside her mind. Her body became a giant dynamo, radiating improbable power inside and out, searing her muscles and singeing her skin.
Closing her eyes, she saw red sparks flare behind her eyelids. The blazing heat threatened to overtake her, engulf her body in an unearthly inferno. If she could open her eyes right now, she wouldn’t be surprised to see her clothes in flames.
So she did. And her superior psionic power was wearing her adversaries down.
Incredible. Harper couldn’t help the heady sensation of invulnerability. Rather, she greeted the feeling as though it was finally coming home. If the psi power was going to kill her, what a way to go.
Focusing on the men in front of her, she decided to crank it up a notch. When she swam in a race, she had always been able to tap into her strength for a little extra boost when she’d needed it. She decided to use a trace of those reserves now, but also save some for later. If she’d even need it.
Reaching inside her mind with a fiery talon, she sent a shock wave down to her hand and willed her psi power to tear through the onslaught of pounding force the men were bringing from the front.
And it did. Cutting through their resisting murky energy like a razor to silk. Barraging through their bodies in a ghostly surge and dropping them as if they were rag dolls. Dead. For Bobby.
With a pleased smile, she turned to fully face the enemies behind her. Using both hands now, she centered her mind’s focus on their substantial attack. There were more of them than she’d just killed, maybe ten or twelve, but it was hard to discern through the heated fury coloring her sight.
Bringing her hands back toward her chest, she quickly pressed her open palms toward them, again and again, pushing the men back with swells of energy.
With each forceful thrust, she drove them farther and farther away, until she broke through their defense completely and hurled them through the air. Their limp bodies fell cruelly to the damp grass. Unmoving.
More spattering footsteps on the pavement trickled through her concentration. She whirled around to face the entrance of the complex once more. Four men walked toward her, but without the hostile intent of the others. They held guns, but they weren’t aiming them at her.
A greeting party? Finally.
Harper stepped forward to meet them, stopping when they halted about twenty paces away from her. Maybe they were giving up and this was some sort of parley. Somehow the thought disappointed her. She had so been looking forward to tearing through each and every one of them to get to Jeff Donovan and destroy the horror that he’d created.
“Enough,” she snarled. “Where’s Donovan?” She waited, half hoping they’d make the slightest move. Wanting to unleash more fury upon them.
“Ms. Kane.” They parted like a curtain, revealing the source of the strangely familiar voice.
The man from the lab. The man who had murdered her brother. The man who had ordered Rome to hunt her down.
Jeff Donovan.
She knew he’d be here. And she also knew he wouldn’t keep their bargain. That was okay. She hadn’t intended to keep it, either. There was no way she’d ever give this vile piece of filth her brother’s formula.
“Nice to finally meet you face-to-face,” he continued as he strolled forward to stand just in front of his four guardians. She noticed a large wooden crate behind the spot he’d just vacated. Probably for her. Because if she was out of the natural light, her powers would be useless. “An impersonal phone call just isn’t the same. Nor were you really in any condition to chat the last time I saw you.”
She just smiled in response, keeping a lid on her burgeoning hatred for him at the moment. It was more than satisfying to finally confront the mastermind behind all of this. She nearly twitched in anticipation of ending this once and for all.
“You’ve made quite a mess out here,” he said genially. She watched him leisurely glance around at the crowd of bodies that littered the courtyard like confetti.
“You’ve made quite a mess yourself,” she shot back, her gaze locked on him. The rain increased its pounding from the sky. Much like her psionic energy pounded against the walls of her mind. Itching to be set free.
“No, your brother did.” His voice turned cold and condemning. “Dr. Kane created a revolutionary formula. But instead of exploring its full potential, he hoarded it like a spoiled child.”
Harper seethed at his words and wondered why she wasn’t cutting him down right that very instant. Maybe she just wanted to hear why he’d done it. Why someone would choose to destroy the lives of others. Though in the end, it wouldn’t really matter.
Jeff would die. And so would she.
“Ms. Kane, you are the proof.” He sauntered toward her. His unhurried steps ate up half the distance that separated them before he stopped.
“Proof of what?” she couldn’t help asking as she shook violently inside, just waiting for the right moment to open the gates of her emotions and allow her fierce power to rip his world apart.
“That the formula has a higher purpose,” Jeff answered. He didn’t appear to be afraid of her. He should be.
“And what’s that?” Harper decided to humor him.
“Vengeance,” Jeff stated simply.
He had that right. She did plan to use it for vengeance. What higher purpose was there?
“You want to avenge your brother’s death,” he continued, holding her captive with his words. “He was an unfortunate casualty.”
“Casualty?” She fumed at the term, taking a threatening step forward. “He was gunned down in cold blood. I was there. I saw it.”
“It didn’t have to end up that way,” Jeff countered in a sensible tone. This man was insane. He acted as if Bobby had asked to die. “Your brother assumed the worst and pulled his research. He didn’t take the time to find out the real intent of my program. Instead of joining my team, he shunned it. His research was important for more than just his beloved plants.”
The man was talking in circles. Trying to confuse
her. Maybe trying to buy some time, because he knew he was running out of it. And yet, why was she allowing it? Why was she holding back?
“Get to the point,” she demanded, heat simmering just under her skin, tingling and ready.
“The point is, Ms. Kane, the serum you have inside your body can be used for more than just a trivial payback for a tragedy,” he said, taking another step forward.
Motion flickered in her peripheral vision. She chanced a brief glance to her right and saw a solid line of men form on the roof of the building. Weapons all trained on her. A look to her left revealed the same thing. If she looked behind her, she knew she’d see them, as well. She was surrounded.
“My intention is not to create monsters,” Jeff said, his hard voice commanding her attention. “My intention is to create a superior soldier.”
Harper’s eyes narrowed. She knew this. Knew what he was trying to do and the lethal experiments he administered. Knew their horrific results. She would be one of the failed statistics.
“Ms. Kane, you could be the ultimate weapon.” Jeff’s intense eyes bore into hers as his voice sank into her mind, unbidden and unwelcome.
What on earth was he talking about? She didn’t want to be a weapon. She wanted to be herself. She wanted her brother back. Her life back.
“You have an extraordinary power that can be used for good,” he said, pressing on, moving another pace closer. “An invincible power. Think of all the injustices of the world. You could seek vengeance globally. Right all the wrongs.” Jeff was now just a mere body length away from her.
Uncertainty flooded Harper’s mind, bringing with it
an unsettling rush of confusion. She had come here to right the wrong. To seek vengeance for the injustice. Precisely as he said.
“Just like your brother would have wanted.” Jeff’s words were quiet. But they thundered louder than a sonic boom.
Was he right? Harper searched deep inside herself, hoping to find the answer buried deep in her soul. Needing the answer.
Is that really what Bobby would have wanted?
No.
Bobby had given his life to stop this. To keep his precious formula secret. Whatever his reasons, her brother hadn’t wanted Jeff Donovan and his team to succeed.
That was enough for her.
Bobby had died to stop them. And she’d do no less to stop them, as well.
“No.” Harper’s voice was low and still. The quiet calm before the deadly storm. “That’s not what my brother wanted.”
She was going to kill them all. Starting with Jeff.
Chilling, bitter ice raced to her mind. Then in an instant, vibrant heat scorched her vision as she called upon all the hatred and resentment she felt for this man and what he’d done. Her body blazed unmercifully, her flesh barely able to contain the inferno that seared every fiber inside.
She grabbed his neck. Her grip a searing vise. Sizzling flames prickled in her muscles as her mind began to launch flares of energy through her arm, just waiting to unleash.
Through high-powered binoculars, Rome watched Harper face off against Jeff in the middle of the rainy
courtyard.
Damn it all.
She was supposed to wait for him. Lowering the glasses, he slammed his fist into the moist soil, the mud sucking at his fingers.
Damn it.
“That your girl?” someone to his right asked. “She’s quite a looker.”
Rome clenched his jaw and turned his head, narrowing his gaze at the trusted special forces operative to his right. Holding a similar pair of binoculars, he was watching the scene unfold, as well.
“She was supposed to wait,” Rome growled, shifting his attention back to Harper while he yanked his hand out of the muck with a muted
glorp.
The operative chuckled.
What the hell was Harper doing?
He, along with the planned reinforcements, had arrived precisely on time, only to find Harper not at their meeting point. He’d hoped to talk her out of her personal vendetta. But all they’d found were blaring cracks and heavy thuds that had drawn them to the sheltered hill above the courtyard, where they watched her use her powers to easily dispose of all comers. Rome’s team had been markedly shocked, but curious at the same time.
Upon meeting up with the trusted group at a more distant rendezvous point, Rome had explained the situation. But to see it in action…he knew that was a different story.
The special forces team had all been wholly impressed with the scientist’s noble creation and believed in the project and the universal environmental vision that accompanied it. They all wanted to be a part of assembling a worthy group to complete Bobby’s revolutionary work with plants.
It was exactly what Rome had wanted to hear. And he
had thought Harper would be more than thrilled to hear the team’s intentions.