The Revenger (29 page)

“I won’t stop helping.” Teresa disentangled herself from Toby as more men came into the room. She knew her actions would be judged. Fortunately, they all believed keeping Toby close was part of her job. But they didn’t know she would walk away from everything they’d worked for all these years in order to keep him safe.

Silver

Savvy woke up disoriented late the next morning at Sagan’s laughably “rustic” house. Trooper greeted her with excited hand licks. In a few seconds she knew what had woken her: someone was cooking bacon.

Boston. That was right; Boston was here. And Sagan wasn’t. She took the blanket she’d been wrapped in on the couch and used it like a robe. In the kitchen, Boston had her plate dished up, and he set a glass of orange juice next to it when he saw her.

She shared a slice of bacon with Trooper, and she and Boston ate in silence. She didn’t realize how hungry she’d been until she looked up at Boston’s smirk. He moved his plate away protectively. Savvy rolled her eyes and smiled.

Then in an instant, his face went white, and he dropped his fork. She looked over her shoulder and saw nothing, then checked the dog, who looked at her and started growling.

Heat traveled up her spine, and she braced herself against the table. Something was happening. Something was happening inside her.

Boston crawled over the table and held her face. “Savvy, you in there? Savvy?”

It was as if her eyes had changed purpose; the colors and shapes in front of her faded out, and instead she only saw rage. His red-gold aura became unbearable. Like a fever, like a supernatural force, she felt the will to destroy surge through her. It now controlled her, instead of the other way around.

Trooper’s growling and barking cut through her angry haze.

“Get away,” she managed, but it didn’t sound like her voice. It was raspy, demented.

Boston let her go and backed away, calling the dog. But Trooper wouldn’t give up. He continued growling like something was attacking Savvy. And inside her, it was.

Her clenched hands went through the wooden table like butter. The cracking of the planks startled her. They popped like gunshots. She concentrated on the fact that
she
was the danger in the room. She focused on her hot spine and thought about cooling it. It took every bit of her energy to douse the fire that had begun inside.

Finally, finally she could see shapes again. Trooper noticed first and broke away from Boston, army crawling to her. She slipped to the floor, looking at the legs of the chairs and table, splinters everywhere. She stroked Trooper’s head.

Boston spoke from a distance. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’ve got it. Sorry. I didn’t know that was coming.”

Soon he helped her off the ground and looked at her hands, but there were no injuries. Then he looked in her eyes and his own widened again.

“You sure you’re cool?” He looked extremely suspicious.

“Yeah. Why?”

Boston led her to the mirror over the living room mantel. He held her shoulders and faced her toward her reflection. Something was wrong, but it took her a second to find it. She stepped closer and touched the glass, then her own face. Her pupils had changed from black into two tiny, round mirrors.

“Is this possible?” She blinked over and over, and while she watched, they faded back to normal. She looked at Boston in the mirror. “What the hell was that?”

He shook his head. “Your whole eye was like that, and your skin was, like, glowing.”

She nodded. “It’s poison—the compound inside me. Makes sense. It’s altered everything about my body. Now it’s doing something else.” She walked to the couch she’d slept on and sat down. Trooper nudged his head under her hand.

Boston was terrified; she could tell by looking at his face. His hands shook.

“Let me guess? If I die, so does your brother?” she asked. “No matter the reason?”

“No, ma’am. I’m employed by Mr. Sagan, and my brother is safe.”

But as he spoke the words, he nodded. She had guessed correctly.

“I’ve got to burn the energy. Am I allowed to take a walk?”

“Just around the house here. Let me get my piece, and I’ll come with you.”

She leashed Trooper and walked out to the front lawn. Boston met her, scanning the surrounding area.

“What just happened to me?” she asked once he’d given her the nod.

“I don’t know. I can get the chemist over here. Actually, I’m betting Sagan will walk in the door with him. He’ll have overheard the whole thing. It probably sounded scarier than it actually was, and that’s saying something.”

She touched his arm. “That strength? It took control. I couldn’t see. It was really hard to make a choice. Everything in me wanted to destroy. The only thing that kept you alive was the gold in your aura mixed with Trooper’s, I think.”

He clenched his jaw. “Damn it. Fucking damn it to fucking hell.”

“Go. Go get your brother. I’ll hold off Sagan. Get off the grid before this takes over me again. I’ll bet they can’t stop it…Jesus.” She touched his shoulder.

Boston pulled her behind a large evergreen, out of view of the house. His gold glowed bright, surrounding them, making the red seem far away. “No. Never. Damn it, Savvy. I want you both. I want to save you both.”

She didn’t pull away when Boston kissed her. He needed saving too.

*~*~*~*

After completing his trip in reverse, Silas rolled into the driveway at his rustic, off-the-grid house where he’d left Savannah. He wanted to run inside, but instead he did his best to saunter. He’d been getting updates, and he knew his chemist was in trying to get blood samples from her. She’d collapsed, and something strange had happened with her eyes.

He used his key to gain access and found Savannah pressed against the kitchen counter with Boston between her and the scientist. The dog barked at him as he entered. But when she snapped her fingers, and the dog trotted back to her.

He waited for an explanation.

None came, just silence. The chemist looked extremely stressed.

“Boston?”

He sighed. “Well, he said he was here to collect blood. You told me that’s what he was supposed to do.”

“And I did that.” The chemist seemed agitated.

“And then he tried to inject her with something, and that hadn’t been part of the plan communicated to me. I didn’t want to let anything happen that wasn’t preapproved by you.”

Boston spoke to him but looked menacingly at the chemist.

“What are you trying to do?” Silas asked. What Boston didn’t know was that the scientist would cut off his own head before hurting Savannah because of the damage that would rain down on his loved ones.

“I wanted to inject a tiny bit of this fluid I’ve been working on and immediately withdraw it. It wouldn’t actually be in her system.”

“Boston, take her upstairs with the dog. He and I need to speak in private.”

“By all means, speak in private about my body. Go for it.” Savannah shook her head and breezed by him. He could smell her conditioner, and he watched her go.

The fire in her eyes, the anger in her sashay…he bit his lip.

Boston trotted upstairs after her, and Silas called, “Make sure she can’t hear.”

After a moment the TV upstairs came on, loudly.

He gestured to the table. “Update.”

The chemist folded his hands. “I have a new theory that Compound E is drawn to more of itself, like it has its own gravitational pull. I think it’s like mercury. I concentrated a sample of her blood cells, which have bonded with the compound in her body, and I thought if I injected it for just a moment it might act like a sponge, drawing more of the compound-bonded cells to itself. Then when I withdraw it, I would have just a hint more Compound E. I still don’t have a means of extracting it all while leaving her intact, but eventually, in a perfect world, I might eventually be able to develop something. And in the meantime, this would give me a slightly larger sample to work with for your weapons project.”

Silas nodded again, his mind racing.

“I have her concentrated blood in here.” The chemist held up a cooler. “But as you saw, I was not able to inject her with it.”

“When did you come up with this theory? Why not just tell me what you wanted to do?”

“It was something I thought of on the way here.” The chemist put his shaking hands flat on the table and began tapping his foot. “I didn’t know when you’d return. Time is of the essence. You know that. I know that. You want more Compound E. I’m getting closer to being able to provide that for you.”

Silas looked down at his hands. “Her survival has become somewhat…important to me.”

The chemist’s eyes widened. “Sir, I just don’t think…” He trailed off.

“Speak.” Instead of a command it was more of a whisper.

“Her
episode,
for lack of a better term, has given me renewed cause for concern. Bugs did some digging into her treatment a year or so ago following the accident, and it seems a researcher attempted to recreate her condition in the lab. Mice exposed to Compound E followed a path similar to that of the human subject in question so far—enhanced senses and strength, but increasing volatility.”

The chemist pulled out an iPad and tapped on the screen a few times. Silas found himself unable to breathe, let alone speak.

“This is enough to raise concern for your safety and the safety of others around her, but you should also know…” He paused for a moment, seeming to look for an exit. “The mice all died, and rather violently. The compound’s energy, combined with its effects as it settled into their organs and cells, eventually became too much for them to withstand.” The chemist stood. “For everyone’s safety, as well as if you want to have any of the compound left to work with, she needs to be deactivated, or at the very least confined to a lab, and soon.”

Silas clenched his jaw. Savannah was becoming some sort of bomb? His stomach dropped, and he found his voice. “Fix it. Fix her! You are unparalleled in your field. That makes you a god. Fix her!”

“Sir, I don’t think you get it. The compound is part of her now—bound to her cells, settled and hardening in her organs. Extracting it from her without destroying her tissue just isn’t in any of the paradigms I’ve been able to work out. And I’ve tried. This new idea, which I didn’t even get to attempt, was really just a long shot. I’m not a murderer.” The chemist paled.

“Ahh, but I am,” Silas countered. “So you best learn how to do what I’m asking. Soon.” He pointed the man toward the door. “I built you a perfectly serviceable lab here. I suggest you go use it. And no, you may not take Savannah with you.”

*~*~*~*

Boston held her with one arm and pulled the earbuds out of their ears.

He’d set up a small wire in the kitchen, and they’d listened to the whole conversation standing near the bedroom door.

In three quick motions he disappeared the whole setup and moved to sit in the plush chair. She wiped her eyes and sat on the bed. While they listened to Sagan’s footsteps ascend the staircase, they looked at each other. He saw resignation in her expression, and determination too, hidden just underneath.

When he’d kissed her outside, she’d not pulled away. But she hardly reciprocated. Boston had touched her shoulders when he broke the kiss, searching her eyes.

“In another life, you are a choice I would make,” she’d told him, gently touching his cheeks. “And it would be a good choice. But where I’m going? I don’t need to hurt you too.”

He’d wanted to ask what the hell she meant, but instead the crackle of the tires on the driveway had separated them, followed by the arrival of the chemist.

And now, as he looked at her, Sagan appeared in the doorway and ordered him and Trooper out of the house.

He couldn’t give her hug and tell her it would be okay. She’d just found out she was likely a time bomb, and she just had to take it.

He had to yank on Trooper’s collar to get him to leave.

Savvy’s brother was dead, and he knew now that he had to tell her. Her body was poisoned, and she had to bear that alone. He had to stop picking his brother’s safety over the things this woman deserved.

Professionally Evil

Savvy waited until Boston and Trooper were gone before looking Sagan full in the face.

“You okay?” he asked.

The irony got to her. He didn’t know she’d just learned her fate. Death would come, she knew it now. She swallowed the bubble of fear that filled her. After all this time desperate to take her last breath, she now had confirmation, but she also had a mission. Her brother’s safety depended on her keeping this unstable body working, and a lot of other people’s lives might depend on her accomplishing even more than that.

“What is that chemist trying to do? If you remove the compound from my system, can my brother go free?” She put her hands on her hips to keep from wringing them.

He looked her up and down. “That’s not our deal.”

It was hard to hear his words over the faint screaming of his aura, present now despite the ring. But she also just wished he was saying something different. “We don’t have a deal. We have blackmail that you’re in charge of.”

He was wearing a suit again. He looked like the cold, professionally evil Sagan she was used to hating. And yet. And yet she knew the only way out of the whole fucking thing for so many people was to make him give a damn.

“Come downstairs,” he said after a moment. “We both need a glass in our hand for this conversation.” He walked past her.

She followed him to the kitchen and stood near him as he made their drinks. They took sips instead of exchanging toasts.

“Did you fix whatever you left to take care of?” She missed her dog. She thought about Boston’s gentle kiss.

“For now.” He took another swallow. “It never really stops anyway. When you’re on top, people are always trying to knock you off balance. Makes me wonder why I fought so hard to be here.”

“You’re reaching for the wrong things.” It was obvious to her, and she stated it plainly.

“And what are the right things?” He set his glass down and lifted his chin like he was expecting a fight.