Mikal (Second Wave Book 3) (3 page)

At first, Mikal had thought that his desire to speak to his baby brother created the illusion in his mind. It had taken a few years before he actually believed he could communicate with his normally non-verbal brother.

By the time Mikal had realized the gift he had, Grai and Tricia had already learned just how special the child was and found their own way of communicating with their son. Even when Tristan was finally able to reveal his true self to his parents, he and Mikal had silently agreed that these moments between them would remain private.

Tristan chuckled at his brother’s teasing and put an arm around Mikal’s shoulders as he sobered quickly.

“You are in for an amazing journey, my brother. I don’t know the details, but I know that what you are going into will be the greatest and most worthy challenge you have ever faced. And you must do it alone,” Tristan said solemnly, sending his brother loving energy and strength.

Mikal sighed and nodded his head.

“I know. I just wish I knew how to find her and make her believe that I want to help,” Mikal said.

Tristan stood and pulled his unique brother to his feet before he waved a hand and made the couch disappear.

“Grace is getting ready to awaken, and Mother needs some sleep, so I must go and care for our sister. Mikal, trust yourself. Tonight, you learned of the dream realm. Look inside of yourself and see what else you may be able to learn from meeting your female. You may be surprised at what you find,” Tristan said before giving his brother a warm, loving smile.

Mikal chuckled and pulled his winged brother into a bear hug.

“You could be a little less ambiguous you know. You sound like a bad sage from a fantasy movie,” Mikal teased as he hugged his brother close.

Tristan laughed. “But I leave a bigger impression,” he said as he shot his brother with a massive bolt of energy.

Mikal felt a jolt and then the frozen mountain shimmered in a golden light before it disappeared and he sat up in his motel bed with a start.

He grabbed his chest with his hand, feeling his brother’s golden energy pulsing strongly with his own. Mikal smiled at the unconditional love, support, and acceptance.

“Yes, you certainly do leave an impression, brother,” Mikal said with a smile as the tears welled in his eyes.

He sat on the bed for a moment, thinking about what Tristan had said, then sent his energy out around him to ensure that the perimeter was still quiet. It was then that he realized what Tristan had said about looking inside himself.

With a smile he turned his mind inward this time and did a check of his energy and the colored strands that ran through it. Mikal immediately focused on the strands he had always assumed were unused. The ones he had always thought were junk strands, leftover remnants of something else, not unlike the ones thought to be in the humans.

He could feel the different vibrations in several of the colored strands, ones that he hadn’t felt before he met the female. Mikal inspected the strands more closely, feeling the familiar pull of something . . . but what, he didn’t know.

With morning still hours away, Mikal took a deep breath and plunged himself into one of the strands.

*****

Alpha Two sat up in the bed and grunted in irritation.

Damn the man,
she thought.

With a sigh, she stood, got a bottle of water, and walked to the only window in the room. She took a sip as she looked out on the shimmering pool and the empty parking lot.

Two stared at the moonlight reflecting off of the water and it reminded her of the mist in the dream realm that Mikal had pulled her into. She shook her head and took another sip of water.

Why the hell can’t I stop thinking about him?
she wondered in irritation.

She looked at the clock and realized she only had another hour until the first of her missions began. Two started stretching, limbering up her body for what was to come. Ten minutes later she sat back on the bed and pulled out her laptop.

She carefully checked the directions twice to make sure she knew exactly where she was going, leaving no room for mistakes. She couldn’t afford any. Tonight was going to be her first strike, and it had to go flawlessly if her plan was going to work.

Two stood and with a touch, changed her clothes back to black. She put her laptop back into the backpack and slung it over her shoulder before she left, locking the door behind her. She quickly blended into the shadows until she was behind the motel, and she took to the skies.

Ten minutes later she dropped down into the clearing surrounding the abandoned cabin she’d found years ago while returning from a mission. Two sent her senses out and made sure that no one was around before she strode inside.

The place was so isolated that Two really didn’t expect anyone to stumble on it, but she couldn’t be too careful. Not where her sisters were concerned.

Once inside, she lit the lantern she kept by the door and waited until the glow brightened before she took off her backpack and hid it under a loose plank in the kitchen.

Two headed into one of the bedrooms and quickly changed into clothes more suitable for concealing the weapons she anticipated she would need. She finished lacing her boots before grabbing two black duffle bags out of the closet and putting them on the bed.

She carefully laid out the contents she’d hidden until the bed was covered with a wide variety of guns, rifles, and bladed weapons. Two put away her beloved haladie and started placing various knives and throwing stars in the multiple pockets in her pants. She completed her task by adding a 9mm to her ankle.

Just in case,
she thought.

Looking at her watch, she saw that it was almost time, and she sat on the bed and took a deep breath as she ran the plan over again in her mind. Unbidden images of the mysterious stranger popped into her mind, and she pushed them aside.

“Argh! Why can’t I forget him?” she whispered in frustration to the empty room before she stood and stretched her muscles.

Two pressed her palms together and centered her mind, visualizing her plan in action before she extinguished the lantern and walked out the front door, shutting it behind her.

She stood in front of the cabin and looked up at the dark sky littered with shimmering stars and raised her arms up.

“Alpha One, lend your energy and your spirit. Help me finish what you started,” she whispered to the darkness.

Two wasn’t sure what she had expected, but the absolute silence and lack of response made her head drop and her shoulders slump.

She closed her hands into fists and shook them at the sky.

“I won’t allow us to be abandoned like you did to Alpha One! I will fight!” she roared.

No matter the brave words, Two could feel the despair expanding inside of her. She was alone. The gods that Alpha One had believed in obviously didn’t believe in her-or her sisters-and wouldn’t be helping her any more than they had helped Alpha One.

Straightening her shoulders, Two remembered the faces, the innocence, and the love of her sisters. She closed her eyes and could feel the love she felt for them and allowed it to strengthen her resolve.

Two shot a dark look at the sky.

“I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone. I’ll do this alone. The way you left us,” she said before she took to the skies.

Chapter Three

Dr. Harold Mussberger looked around his living room and shook his head at all the security personnel running around his home like ants. It had only been three days since Alpha Two failed to complete her mission or return from it, and they were taking no chances that she was going rogue.

“Don’t worry, doc. We’ll capture her and then you can go back to . . .” the head of security said as he looked around the cluttered and dirty home. “whatever it is you do.”

Harold nodded his head absently.

“I need to get some work done,” he said as he left the room and headed down the hallway to his office.

Barry Morrison shook his head in disgust at the disheveled doctor as he shuffled down the hall. Working on some weird experiment wasn’t exactly what he had in mind when he’d taken the head of security job for an old military buddy, but it more than paid the bills and allowed him to feed his need for a particular kind of stimulation.

He turned to his well-armed and well-trained team.

“The same drill as the last two nights. Be ready for her!”

Barry made sure that each of his men acknowledged his order before he walked over to the sliding glass door in the back of the house and looked out at the unkempt backyard.

For such a smart guy, the doc is a damn pig
, he thought as he saw all the items strew haphazardly around the lawn.  

Barry had considered cleaning it all up, but thought it might be better to leave it where it was. If they could get the crazy creature into the yard, it would be easier for them to use the items to trip her up.

God knows we need all the help we can get
, he thought, remembering how deadly the creature had been in her training and the kills she’d made on her other missions.
Before she jumped on the crazy train and went missing.

He had warned them that they needed something more than the explosive charge in the creatures before they turned them loose. Barry had known that at some point one of them would find a way to discover and remove the device, and he’d been right-not that he felt like gloating about it when they were the ones who had to catch her or kill her.

Barry had a bad feeling, and his eyes swept over the backyard, looking for any sign that the creature had come. He’d been expecting her since she’d escaped and was surprised she hadn’t come here yet. If he’d been the one being held and treated the way she was, it was where he would come.

Dr. Harold Mussberger was the doctor who’d taken over the program from his predecessor and was the one who had expanded the original Destiny program. It was the doctor who had changed the training and other protocols associated with the creatures, and it was his decision to kill the original creature, Alpha One.

The doctor had felt that it had been a mistake for his predecessor to allow the creatures to socialize and interact with one another. When Dr. Mussberger took over the program and Alpha One had failed on his third mission, the doctor had terminated him as a lesson to the other creatures.

Barry cringed at the memory of what was done to the creature in front of the others.

Yeah, this is exactly where I would come if I were Alpha Two
, he thought.

*****

Alpha Two hovered over the area, studying the layout. She had known they would be expecting her but was still a little surprised at the number of security personnel she saw inside the house and around the outer perimeter.

Most of the security team members held automatic weapons and the dart guns that she knew would hold the drug cocktail to immobilize her. Two considered her options and sent out a wave of energy to ensure that she didn’t mistake the number of targets.

She confirmed her original calculation of 12, plus the doctor, and moved to the front of the house. She hovered over the two men patrolling the front yard, materialized behind one, and quickly slit his throat before catching the other one just as he was getting ready to yell a warning.

Two held her hand over his mouth as she plunged the dagger into his jugular and held him as he fought. Seconds later, she removed the dagger and allowed his lifeless body to drop to the ground before she took to the skies again and moved to the side yard.

She’d taken out five of the men outside the home before she dissolved into the air and slipped inside the house through a small opening in the bathroom window. She moved through the air in the upper part of the ceiling, hoping to remain undetected for as long as possible as she marked the locations of the targets inside.

There were only three bedrooms and one bathroom in the small, cluttered home, and a security member was in each one. Three more stood in the living room.

Including the head of security
, she noted with a frown. She hadn’t counted on him being here, but she wouldn’t allow it to affect her plans either.

Two headed into the back room first and easily slit the throat of the man in there before heading across the hall into the next bedroom and doing the same. She lowered the second man quietly to the floor when she heard Barry try to contact the men who’d been stationed outside the house.

Knowing she’d been discovered, Two rushed down the hallway and materialized behind the man in the kitchen, slitting his throat before she dissolved again.

“God damn it! She’s here! Get to the doctor!” Barry yelled as he watched Mark’s body drop to the floor in the kitchen, blood pouring from a wound in his neck.

Two waited for one of the men to run down the hallway towards the doctor before she materialized behind him. She was getting ready to slit his throat when Barry appeared at the end of the hallway.

She heard the door open behind her and knew the guard with the doctor had come out of the room and was pointing a weapon at her.

Most likely a dart gun, she thought
.

Two quickly calculated her options, and instead of slitting her captive’s neck, she plunged the knife into his throat and dissolved as he began choking and staggering towards the other guard.

With the second guard distracted by his dying buddy, Two headed down the hallway towards Barry just as the midnight skinned man appeared behind him with a large blade leveled across his throat.

“I suggest you drop your weapon,” Mikal said, growling into the armed man’s ear.

Two was startled long enough for the guard to get away from his dying team member, and she turned just as he leveled the dart gun at her. She dissolved instantly and reappeared behind him, using his body as a shield as she faced Mikal and his own hostage.

“Why are you here?” she yelled at him, her body trembling slightly from the adrenaline and fear running through her.

Mikal didn’t look up at her, his attention on the still-armed man that he was holding on to.

“I said, drop your weapon,” Mikal warned as he pulled his blade close enough to the man’s neck to draw some blood.

“Who the fuck are you?” Barry asked as he dropped the dart gun he had aimed at the female creature.

Mikal chuckled and removed his blade from the small cut he’d made on the man’s neck, but still held it close enough to finish him off if he had to.

“Who I am is none of your concern. Let’s just say I’m a friend. Obviously not one of yours,” Mikal said with a sneer before he looked up at the female version of himself.

“If you’re going to kill them, get it done now. I have a feeling they will have backup coming the moment they don’t hear from these fools,” Mikal warned her.

Alpha Two looked stunned and was a little unsure of what to do. She had no idea if she could trust the stranger with the head of security. If he let Barry go, the man could have them both drugged and helpless in seconds.

Two shook her head at him.

“You don’t understand! They are part of the lab! If you let him go, he’ll drug both of us, and we’ll both be caged again if not killed!” she said, trying to figure out what the stranger was doing.

Mikal sighed, wishing she wasn’t so stubborn. With a quick motion, he flipped Barry onto the floor, knocking the wind out of him. Mikal put a heavy boot in the center of his chest and stared down at the man.

“Tell the nice lady the truth. What am I?” he asked, wondering if the man did know.

Alpha Two looked on is shock as Barry’s eyes widened fearfully as he looked up at the beautiful man, his hands fighting against the large foot on his chest. When Barry didn’t answer, Mikal sighed and briefly pressed down harder on the man’s chest.

“I said, what am I?” he asked, his voice dangerously low.

Barry’s breath wheezed as he struggled against the stranger’s foot.

“I don’t know what you are! Where did you come from?” he asked in fear.

Barry knew there were males being kept in a separate lab, and he’d never seen one that unique color. He knew that his employers hadn’t created this one. He would have heard about it.

Two sifted Barry’s energy and knew that the fear and puzzlement he felt was real, and it only confused her more. If the lab’s head of security didn’t know who the stranger was, then there was only one other person who would know.

With a flick of her wrist, Two slit her captive’s throat and dissolved before sliding under the door into the room where the doctor was hiding under his desk.

It took only a few seconds to pull the man out from under the desk and stand him up just as the stranger pushed Barry through the door in front of him.

Two watched the doctor closely and was stunned when he looked at the dark stranger with open-mouthed amazement.

“Oh . . . my . . .” Dr. Mussberger said as he stared in awe at the dark creature in front of him.

Mikal chuckled at the surprise on the doctor’s face.

“I’m guessing you don’t know what I am either,” he said with a grin and a wink at Two.

The doctor reached out a hand as if to touch Mikal, but stopped when Alpha Two yanked on his neck.

“Where did you come from? How were you conceived?” the doctor asked Mikal in a shaky voice.

Two shook her head to clear it. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but why she went to the home. Stranger or not, she was going to do what she set out to do.

Keeping the doctor between her, the stranger, and the security guard, she pushed the doctor into a chair, turned it so his back was facing the stranger, and she leaned down to look at him.

“Tell me how to get in the lab,” she demanded.

When the doctor tried to turn his head around to look back at the stranger, Two grabbed him by the neck and lifted him several inches off the seat.

“Tell me or die; it is your choice,” she said with a cold, hard edge to her voice.

When the doctor just open and closed his mouth without sound, Two squeezed harder until he gasped for air.

“Tell me now,” she said before relaxing her grip on his neck so he could speak.

Barry struggled uselessly against the large stranger to no avail.

“Don’t tell them shit!” he yelled before Mikal clasped a hand around his throat and shook him into silence.

“Shhh, no one needs your opinion,” Mikal said as the man went limp in his hand.

Two tried to ignore the men and focus on the doctor and the answers that she needed.

“Tell me how to get inside!” she asked him again.

“I . . . I . . .” Dr. Mussberger muttered, his eyes trying to see the stranger behind him.

Mikal, seeing that the doctor was too distracted by him to pay attention to the female, decided to help. With one smooth move he easily knocked out the security man, dropping him to the floor before he vanished into the air and reappeared to the side of the female.

He stared down at the doctor with an evil grin.

“I am free born. Not that it will matter to you. Now tell her what she wants to know, or I will show you what I’ve learned of the cruelty in the world during my travels,” Mikal said, his anger rising at the man.

“Tell me how to get in!” Two yelled at the doctor again, shaking him.

The doctor looked between the two of them for a moment before swallowing hard.

“There is an outside air vent hidden half a mile away from the east entrance. It’s the fresh air supply for the facility,” he said with a heavy sigh before turning to Mikal.

“I know you will kill me, but please, before you do, tell me where you came from,” he asked, desperate to know.

Mikal just grinned as Two shook the doctor again.

“What have they done to my sisters? Are they still there?” she demanded, trying to refocus the doctor on what she wanted to know instead of his own curiosity.

Harold looked up at her in surprise.

“How did you get to know them well enough to call them sisters? You were kept separate, you were almost never together and certainly never alone,” he said, studying her to try and figure out what she’d meant.  

Mikal wanted to wring the doctor’s neck and make him talk, but he didn’t want to do anything else that would distract him from telling the female what she wanted to know. Besides, he really wanted to find out what the hell was going on, and he’d learned more in the last few minutes than he had from her in both of their encounters.