Power Trip: Double Helix, Book 1 (17 page)

She shook her head.

He shrugged and took it out of her hand. She watched him place it in a drawer, thinking he did look a little green. “So where’s the enhancer?” she asked.

The mannequin across the room stood naked, and there was no leather or wire in sight.

“I refined the design,” Cal said, with a wicked grin. “Your demonstration yesterday gave me ideas.”

She arched an eyebrow, wondering what the smirk on his face meant. He opened another drawer and pulled out what looked like a black spandex bikini top.

“Oh, hell no.” she said.

His grin widened. “And that’s not all. Leather collar and cuffs complete the circuit.”

She shook her head and he held up a hand. “Your brother and I have used kink to camouflage our abilities for years…humor me.”

But she didn’t live in their world and never would. If he wanted to help her blend in, he should have wired the bio-enhancer into a unisex lab coat.

“C’mon, give it a try.” The appeal in his eyes made her sigh and pull her T-shirt over her head.

Cal pulled on a pair of gloves, and his touch was impersonal as he fastened the back of the bikini top and fit the collar around her neck. He looped the trailing wires around her arms. With a few deft motions, he clipped them off and cinched the cuffs around her wrists.

“I feel ridiculous,” she said.

“You look hot,” he countered, pulling her in front of a reflective metal cabinet. “See?”

She examined her reflection. The stretchy halter top held her breasts front and center, giving a whole new meaning to the concept of underwire. More wire spiraled around her arms from the collar to the thick wrist cuffs. She had to admit it was an eye-catching ensemble, but it wasn’t her style at all. She felt like an imposter, a lab rat masquerading as a Dominatrix, but she didn’t have the heart to tell him, not if he liked what he saw.

“Here’s the conductor.” He placed the same gun from yesterday in her hand and snapped the wire to the cuff. “Ready?” he asked.

She nodded.

He led her over to the firing range and touched the back of her neck. She heard a click. This time he didn’t guide her hand. She touched the tip of the gun to the top of the battery and pulled the trigger.

Blue fire sizzled. “Holy shit,” she gasped, letting go.

She pulled the trigger again and they both watched the needle climb toward the red.

“Stop.” His eyes glowed. “I think we’ve got a weapon for you.”

Chapter Thirteen

“Déjà vu,” Jake said, as they walked toward Genecorp. “Only last time we were kidnapping dead mice instead of a live human.”

“We’re not kidnapping, we’re rescuing,” she said.

“What if your super kid doesn’t see it that way?”

“He will. How could he not? They’ve been keeping him in a basement. Besides, that’s what you’re for—he’s coming with us whether he wants to or not.”

Jake shot a sideways look at Cal. “Two days with you and now she’s a kinky kidnapper?”

She elbowed Jake, ignoring his mocking glance at her clothing. She’d known the minute she pulled Cal’s smallest black leather jacket over her jeans and the bio-enhancer that she was going to catch flak from her brother. She was wearing more clothing than most of the girls she’d seen at Jake’s club, but still less than she had ever worn in public in her life. She felt more ridiculous with every minute that passed. She didn’t belong in leather, and it wasn’t a matter of getting used to it. She couldn’t live up to Cal’s vision of her, and as soon as this was over she’d stop trying. The disappointment she had felt waking up alone this morning should have clued her in to how different their needs were.

Jake rang the bell.

The same guard from the other night answered the door. Jake ordered him back to his station while she and Cal headed for the elevator. The door shut behind them and the bottom dropped out of her stomach as the elevator began to move. She was glad it hadn’t taken Jake long to figure out how to override the system because her nerves were already screaming.

Every second felt like an hour as they descended.

Ding
. The doors opened.

Silence. Eerie stillness. Cautiously, Audrey stepped out into a bright hallway. There was nothing on the walls. No art. No signs. Nothing to tell her which way to go. She pictured the floors above and decided to go left, toward where the labs would be.

“Hang on—do you know where the stairs are?” Cal asked.

She shook her head, realizing she’d never seen any staircases that led down from the ground floor. Were they keeping him down here without an emergency exit? Horror flooded through her.

Cal shucked his leather coat and rolled it into a ball. He placed it between the elevator doors. The doors shut, bounced, opened. “Better than nothing,” he said. “I’d prefer not to get trapped down here.”

“Let’s go.” It smelled like a hospital, sterile, too clean for a basement, but doubts crowded her mind. In spite of her hunch, he might not be here at all. The files hadn’t divulged the location—Genecorp could be conducting their experiment anywhere.

There was only one door in the short hall and her breath hissed out of her lungs as they reached it. A plaque on the wall matched the name of the file on the flash drive. “He’s in there,” she breathed.

She flipped the switch at the back of her neck and slipped her hand into her pocket, gripping the handle of the bio-enhancer. She raised her other hand and knocked on the door. Dread and anticipation tightened her nerves as she heard movement inside the room.

The door opened.

She gasped, recognizing the mugger from the other night.

Audrey stared at him, mind reeling. He looked like a typical teenager in jeans and a hoodie sweatshirt. Across the room, a huge flat-screen TV showed a martial arts game in freeze-frame, and she could see a controller on the couch.

“Come in,” he said, stepping back from the door.

She ignored the prickling sensation along her scalp. Her limbs felt light, as if she were instinctively preparing for a fight. Or flight. She stepped forward into the room. Cal followed her.

The door shut swiftly behind them.

“Sorry about the arm,” the boy said to Cal. “I didn’t have a choice.” His voice was deeper than she would have expected from someone with such a small frame and he looked at them intently. She believed him.

Cal stepped forward to stand beside her and she glanced to the side. His eyes were glowing, so she put a hand on his arm. “No hard feelings, right?” she said.

Cal’s glance shifted to the right. She followed his gaze and saw Peter step into the doorway of a small, dark kitchen. The silver weapon in his hand was pointing straight at them. Red light arced through the air. Cal shoved her to the side and raised his hands.

Blue surrounded Cal, a nimbus of pure energy that turned purple around the edges when the red light hit it. Cal crumpled to the ground. Audrey started to pull the bio-enhancer out of her pocket, but then hesitated. She couldn’t compete with Cal’s energy and he’d just lost that bout.

Peter pointed the silver rod at her and grinned. “Nice outfit.”

She ignored the heat in her cheeks and considered her options. She didn’t expect a hook kick to work again—Peter would never let her get that close. Could she dive and roll? She couldn’t move faster than a beam of light, but she might make it behind the couch and give herself some time. Her best option was the door behind her, but she wasn’t leaving Cal.

Peter stepped forward, blocking her path to the couch. The silver rod pointed at her chest.

“I’m sorry,” the boy whispered under his breath, edging away from her.

“Me too,” she said, making her decision. She grabbed him, holding him securely in front of her as she reached into her pocket.

Peter chuckled. “Perfect.”

Then red light hit them and her world froze.

Cal struggled to breathe. As consciousness returned, fury energized him. He lifted his head.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Peter Woodrow stepped away from Audrey, tied on the floor next to him. Cal felt like he was coated in cement but with effort, he managed to move his fingers enough to explore the knot at his wrists. Woodrow might have high-tech weaponry but he clearly knew nothing about bondage. He hoped the knots at his ankles were as elementary.

“I’ve been doing research on you,” Woodrow informed him. The kid who had mugged them the other night sat on the couch, facing the television, but Cal could see from the reflection in the glass entertainment center that he was watching them.

Cal looked at Audrey. Her eyes were shut. Fear made his electrons riot, slowly burning through the thick red haze in his brain. Could he get some energy into her?

“An electrical talent, huh? We don’t have one of those yet. Did my proton weapon short you out?”

Understanding bloomed in his sluggish brain. No wonder that thing had such an effect on him. The positive charge was opposite to his very nature. Clearly, in this case opposites did not attract. Cal pretended to struggle, being careful not to tighten the knots, as he inched closer to Audrey. He got his hand on her bare skin and sent a short blast into her before Woodrow kicked him away.

Her eyelids fluttered but stayed shut.

Woodrow stood over him. “Aw, that’s sweet. Did you give her a little energy shot?”

“Not like the one I’m going to give you.”

“Keep dreaming, Sparky,” Woodrow jeered. “The Imp’s going to keep an eye on you while I get your room ready. Gotta remove all the fire hazards, you know.”

“The Imp?” Cal asked.

Woodrow jerked a thumb at the kid. “It’s a nickname. He’s impervious to physical harm, just like Audrey is immune to talent. He’s also freakishly strong. Their gene combination will be invincible.”

Cal’s vision blued. “Over my dead body.”

“Probably.” Woodrow gave him a cold smile and left the room.

The Imp turned away from the television.

“This is your chance to redeem yourself,” Cal said. “There’s a big wide world out there. You can have a better life than this if you help us.”

The boy watched him wrestle with the simple knots at his wrists. “How do I know you aren’t worse than them?”

“Faith.” Cal slipped out of the ropes and pulled himself toward Audrey. The boy might not help them, but it didn’t seem like he was going to hinder them, either. He grabbed Audrey’s fingers and let his electrons fly.

Slowly, her eyes opened. “Cal, what the hell? I can barely move.”

He squeezed her hand and felt the faint pressure of her fingers in return. “Listen—Woodrow is coming back,” he whispered urgently. “Get the conductor ready and lie still. Be ready to squeeze the trigger. If I get your hands untied, can you raise your arm?”

“Maybe.”

Cal reached for her ropes. A sound outside the door made him abandon his plan of undoing the knots with his fingers. “Sorry,” he said and torched them. She didn’t flinch.

He saw her grit her teeth as she reached into her pocket for the conductor. There wasn’t time to untie their feet, so he put his hands behind him again, as if he were still restrained. Maybe that would buy her another few seconds to recover.

The door opened. The Imp turned back to the television.

Woodrow was talking on his cell phone as he entered the room, and Cal was glad for the distraction. How long would she wait? He held his breath, knowing Audrey would only have one shot.

She raised her arm. A line of blue fire shot from the tip of the conductor. It arced toward Woodrow but curved to the floor before it reached him. The carpet at his feet caught fire.

“Impressive,” he taunted, stamping out the flames. He dropped the phone on a chair and pulled the silver rod out of his back pocket.

Cal cursed. With their feet tied, neither one of them would be able to incapacitate him before he fired on them again. Audrey’s arm dipped, the line of blue flame intensified, then stuttered out. After filling the battery in the lab, she didn’t have enough power to use nichrome as a conductor.

But he did.

Cal reached for her hand. She’d handled fifty thousand amps and been just fine. Two million hadn’t fazed her either. They wouldn’t need that much power to stop Woodrow. He poured energy into her and the bio-enhancer responded. Blue flame met red as Woodrow fired too.

Cal fought to become the focus of their link, but the enhancer gave her the advantage, taking his energy and multiplying it by ten, then a thousand, in an endless circuit of synergistic power. He felt himself getting pulled into the vortex, no longer giving energy but having it taken from him. Audrey’s eyes began to glow blue and her skin, wet with sweat, began to spark.

Cal felt his nerves fry. He fought, controlled a surge, lost, doubled his efforts, lost again. Thunder shook the room and the smell of ozone filled the air.

Something flickered in his periphery. Through the smoky blue haze, Cal saw the Imp move toward them. Audrey howled and pulled more energy from Cal, pouring it through the circuit. This was his power, yet not his to command. He couldn’t let go of her hand.