The Pandora Project (15 page)

John jumps from a branch he was perched on just behind my would
-be attacker. He brings the butt of his gun down on the man’s head and he drops like a sack. John stands above him for a few seconds, not even breathing heavily.

“Come on out, Paige.
I got them all,” he says in an extremely normal voice given the circumstances.

Unwilling to move, I remain tucked away until I fight back the overwhelming power surging through my veins.
Panting with the effort, it takes longer to calm down than it did to fire myself up.

When I am composed enough to speak, I ask,
“What does ‘got them all’ mean, exactly?” I haul myself up to a standing position, pull my gloves back on and go to stand over the body with him.

He turns his head to me but the darkness
throws shadows that makes it impossible for me to read his features. “It means I incapacitated three men who want to kill me but did not seriously injure any of them so they can kill me another day.”

Can’t say I love the sarcasm, but at least he did what I asked.
I want to thank him, but it won’t sound very sincere in response to his tone so I remain silent. He leans down and throws the man easily over his shoulder in a modified fireman carry. Without a glance in my direction, he turns back to the car, I don’t have any choice so I follow.

On the way back he picks up another man who he throws over his other shoulder.
His strength both impresses and scares me. If he is not all that he appears I have made my situation much worse, but for now it is working in my favor.

Right before the forest clears, John drops the men roughly to the ground beside the third and final assailant.
The headlights of both cars glare in our direction, throwing shadows I would rather not cast. We both crouch as low to the ground as possible, eager to be invisible. “Be right back,” John says and speeds off. The headlights fade to black and John is back amazingly fast. I hope the hostility and awkwardness between us fades quickly because I want to go back to admiring the incredible specimen he has become.

Bending down John starts roughly tying the men together.
He must have gotten rope from one of the cars. It better be strong. After a couple of minutes the men are secure and unless someone takes a knife to it, they will pay hell getting out. John digs through their pockets until he finds each of their phones. He throws the first one against a nearby tree. Instead of shattering, it lodges deep into the trunk.

He laughs, “I guess I don’t know my own strength,” he jokes as he walks to the tree.
He jumps lightly in the air and brings his foot down on the exposed part of the phone, breaking it clean in half. He continues his destruction of the phones as I just stand there, mouth slightly agape, feeling completely useless.

“Now that you are satisfied that they are still alive, are you opposed to me dragging them further into the woods, to make their inevitable escape a little harder?”
From the tone of his voice it is impossible to tell if he is being condescending or really asking for permission.

“Do whatever you think is right,” I respond.
He grabs the rope and hauls the adult men away, banging their legs on surrounding trees. The combined weight of three does seem to make the task slightly more difficult so at least he is not all powerful…is that good or bad?

On his way back, he jogs right past me and to their car.
Briefly surveying the trunk, he finds a crow bar, stabs each of tires with the wedged end and then takes care of the GPS as well. Whether out of frustration or just to be thorough, he also smashes the head and tail lights before walking to our car and throwing the crow bar in the backseat. Waiting outside the driver’s side door, he calls to me, “Are you coming?”

Have I always been this negligible?
Did he only need me for that brief touch? Of course I am coming, what else am I going to do? My feet are lead as I trudge heavily behind him. When I am safely buckled in, John carefully maneuvers us back on to the road and I am impressed with the endurance of our little get-away car. She still runs just fine.

“What now?” I ask, although I am really getting tired of being constantly at his mercy.

“Well, they think we are going east. I think the only thing we can do is go west.”

“Back the way we came?” I ask incredulously.
“We’ll waste thirteen hours of driving!”

“Paige, it is the last thing they will expect.
Plus, if they found us already we have to at least entertain the idea that maybe your parents didn’t get away either.”

Love isn’t blind because right now I am having a hard time even
tolerating him. “But if they did get away, they will be waiting on us! We have to go.” The only thing keeping me going is the knowledge that we are working our way toward them.

“If they did get away, and we continue on our current course
, we will only lead Dr. Cox straight to them. So we either walk into a trap or we bring an ambush with us. Either way we lose.”

By this point we are back on the highway heading west.
Given he is the one that can carry three grown men and is the driver, there is no way for me to win this argument. “Where are we going?”

He opens the glove box and pulls out an atlas, “What is the next big highway heading south?”

“Where are we?” I ask, embarrassed that I don’t even know where I am, when did I turn over my entire life to him?

“We are about
30 miles west of Joliet, Illinois.”

It takes me a couple of seconds to find it on the big map in the front of the atlas, “The next big road going south is I-39.”

“That is what I thought, we passed it about 40 miles ago, right?”

“Right.”

“What is the next big city on 39?”

“From the look of the map it is pretty desolate all along 39 until we hit Bloomington.
Then we will have to choose either I-55 or I-74. Where do you want to end up?”

He hesitates, like he knows I am not going to like what he has to say.
“Please don’t make me ask again…Where are we going?” I can’t keep the annoyance out of my voice.

“I agree that we can’t leave your parents waiting forever.
They are obviously super protective of you and who knows what they will do when we don’t show up.”

“Agreed, the sooner we get there the better.”

“But we also can’t go alone. Even with our unique set of abilities, we are bound to be hopelessly outmatched,” he pauses again and glances at me, but the look on my face gets him going again, “so we need back-up.”

“I take it you have someone in mind?” I ask, not liking where this is going.

“I do, and it won’t take us far out of our way, his dad is stationed at Fort Knox. We can pick him up, you can superpower him, and then we will go to your parents.” He rushes over the middle part, hoping I won’t notice.

“Excuse me, I don’t think I will be ‘super
powering’ anyone. If I were going to go around laying hands on people, it would only be people I know and trust, not someone I’ve never even seen!” The nerve of him, treating me like his own personal little hero maker!

“Someone you know and trust…whom would that be?” he asks, pretending to be pondering who it could possibly be.

“Lexi for starters, and probably Jake,” I answer immediately even though I know he is setting me up.

“Right,” I don’t like the condescending tone in his voice, “So you would be willing to put your best friend in a potentially dangerous situation that could very well get her killed and endanger everyone close to her?
You would do that just to have the say in who you touch?”

“No, it’s not like that…” But it is like that, ugh, I hate him right now.

John reaches for my hand. I don’t move away, I just don’t move at all. “Paige, I am sorry. I know you are mad at me, but it isn’t justified. I didn’t hurt those men, well at least not too badly, I’m sorry if I am not happy about it. I know you didn’t want to hear that about your folks, but do you want me to lie to you or treat you like a child? We have to be smart, because the people we are dealing with are very smart.”

I’m not ready to forgive him, but I do have
to see reason. “You are ready to endanger your friend? Would he even be willing to help us? He doesn’t know me from Adam.”

“I think it will be easy to find people to help you given what you have to offer in return, but this guy is special, you’ll like him.”

“Special how?” I ask moving my hand out from under his to fold my arms over my chest. “Special like us?”

John puts both hands on the steering wheel and shifts slightly in his seat.
“If you mean the product of a scientific madman like us, then no. If you mean smart and strong and loyal and kind like us, then yes. His dad and my dad were stationed together a lot throughout the years, we followed each other around since we were two. He is my best friend and I know I can count on him.”

But that still leaves the question of whether or not I can trust you
.
There is too much going on for me to harbor any indecision. While my head tells me anyone can be the enemy, my heart screams differently. “But isn’t that the reason you would want to keep him safe?”

He shrugs and looks a little sad, “He already knows about my dad.
If anyone found out he wouldn’t be safe anyway. Plus, his dad is a full bird Colonel.”

I look at him blankly, not having any idea what that means
.

He rolls his eyes at me, “Really high ranking?
You know, wears an eagle on his uniform, full bird Colonel? No?”

“Well, high ranking equals good, I get that,” I say sarcastically.

“Yeah, high ranking equals good and he would do anything for Asher. Not that we want him involved. Just Asher.”

“How far away is Fort Knox?
” I ask, knowing I am beaten.

He smiles, “Probably about six hours, give or take.
Look it up on the map.”

I do and he is right
; it is about 350 miles from here. “Fine, we’ll go meet Asher, but I’m not making any promises. Do you plan on driving straight through? Aren’t you exhausted?”

“Now that you mention it, I am pretty tired,” he stretches his back and shakes his head.

“Pull over, I’ll drive.” He starts to protest but I cut him off, “I got a nap, remember?” Even though that feels like it was days ago.

“Fine, but just for a couple of hours.”

Chapter 17

The shaky video filling the monitor angers Dr. Cox more than it frustrates him. It is dark, illuminated only by the built-in light of the phone carried by yet another nameless minion. The scene is neat and puzzling, three men knocked unconscious, bound with rope and drug into the woods.

These men went off grid three hours ago.
The length of time it took to get others to the location is further evidence of the incompetency of those he is forced to collaborate with. Clearly hit with such force they have yet to gain consciousness, yet allowed to live. Being a man with very little regard for human life, this is the puzzling part. Is it a message from the Sullivan boy? A weak display of loyalty by not killing his men?

Another scream rips through the house, impressive that there is still strength behind it after so many hours of torture.
Cox had long since grown tired of not receiving answers to his questions, but the magnitude of the spirit of his captives continued to intrigue him. Their powers on open exhibit gives him a taste of what he can create and keeps his attention on the hunt.

This one girl is the key, his very own Pandora.
Being so close makes him savor the moment, with all its questions and puzzles. The biggest question is what will she unlock with him?

Chapter 18

Jerking awake, John grab
s the arm rests, “Where are we?” he practically screams.

Giggling at his nervousness I answer, “We are about fifty miles north of Louisville, you didn’t miss anything…You didn’t sleep long, is that a new super power or something?”

“Not a superpower, more like extreme discomfort from sleeping in a car for the second night in a row.”

I know what he is talking about, my butt is killing me from being in one position for so long.
I try to put my discomfort aside because I know it means a lot longer in the car if we are ever going to get to my parents. Why did they have to choose a place so far away?

“Do you have any idea why my dad chose Cold Spring, New York?” I ask.

“He didn’t tell me why, but I have some ideas of my own.”

When it is clear he isn’t going to elaborate
I prompt, “And they are…”

“Have you heard of West Point?” he answers with a question of his own.

At least I know this much, “Sure, where the military academy is?”

“Yep.
Anyway, Cold Spring is right outside West Point. Any idea why your father would want
you
that close to about four thousand of the country’s best and brightest?”