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WINTER’S STORMRetribution

Book 2 of Winter’s Saga

ByKaren Luellen

Winter’s Storm—RetributionBy Karen Luellen

Published by Karen LuellenCopyright 2011 Karen Luellen

License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If youwould like to share this book with anotherperson, please purchase an additional copy

for each recipient. If you’re reading this bookand did not purchase it, or it was not pur-

chased for your use only, then please returnto the author and purchase your own copy.Thank you for respecting the hard work of

this author.

Growling.An angry, guttural growl echoed from

the darkened hospital room.Glowing yellow eyes only a few yards

away locked on Farrow Schone and in thatinstant, she knew it could smell her blood,hear her heart racing, and see the pulse inher exposed neck.

Farrow had never felt more like a pieceof meat than she did right then.

Oh, crap! She thought and began back-ing slowly away from the opening of thedoor, but as she did, the creature crouchedlow and coiled its legs tightly under its mus-cular body, ready to spring.

Farrow could see now it was some kindof wild dog—a wolf or coyote, maybe.

…whatever it was, it was huge, andpissed-off.

Its piercing eyes were mesmerizing,hypnotic.

Its snarling muzzle exposed flesh-tearingteeth glistening wet with saliva.

There was no way she was going to be al-lowed anywhere near the people in thatroom.

Not wanting to cause a scene or getmauled, Farrow made a hasty exit.

Her orders were only to put eyes on theWinters and determine who was alive andwho wasn’t. Dr. Williams was going to be liv-id to know they all survived. Farrow was alsoto collect Gavil and catch a flight back toGermany where she had no doubt all hellwas going to break loose.

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Part 1Germany’s Creed

One week after the rescue ofDr. Margo Winter

Location:Dr. Kenneth Williams’ training

camp called “The Facility” in Furth,Germany

1 Creed

October 10th

Black laces, measured perfectly, slippedlike silk through the metal holes of his milit-ary boots. Practiced fingers gripped eachcross section and worked their way up thetongue until the top most position when bothends were tugged taught. He wrapped themonce around, tied a quick double knottedbow and tucked the excess lace into the topof the boot.

Creed Young stood and swept his largehands over the wrinkles that had quicklyformed in his freshly pressed military fa-tigues. His olive green T-shirt stretchedtightly across his wide chest, barely contain-ing his massive physique. His chiseled face

was stoic, marble and expressionless as hereached to retrieve his beret.

This was the day for which he had beentrained. This was the day of his Retribution.In all the years he lived at the Facility, he hadwatched many Retribution Matches.Watched the two metas sent into the arenatogether and ordered to “Kill, or be killed.”The battles were brutal. Even for the audi-ence filled with hard-core metahumanstrained to believe weakness needed to bestomped out. The Matches brought out theprimal, vicious and evil. This wasn’t just afriendly competition to see who would comeout on top. This was survival of the fittest inits most primitive sense. This was Darwin-ism deformed, but it was Creed’s way of life;all he’d ever known. And today was his day.

From outside he heard the roar of thebloodthirsty crowd. His opponent must behearing this, too. He wondered who waschosen to enter the arena with him. What

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was he thinking? How did he feel about theterms of the battle? How determined was heto win? When it came down to it, Creedwondered if he would be able to kill his op-ponent, as required by the rules of the event.

In the mirror, the eighteen-year-oldstared at his reflection and tightened his jaw.Creed struggled with this part of his discip-line. He struggled simply obeying an orderjust because it had been handed down. Everyother meta just did as they were told. Theywere unquestioning, unthinking and unin-hibited by their thoughts.

Creed was different from the others, andhe knew it. The hard part was making sureno one else knew it. He was skilled at dis-guising his thoughts and feelings with an ex-pressionless face. He knew the consequencesof being different. Over the years he wit-nessed several cases where perfectly viablemetahumans were removed from the Facilityfor lesser infractions than individual

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mindedness. And they were never seenagain.

But Creed made sure that didn’t happento him. He kept his thoughts to himself. Out-wardly, he looked like the perfect meta speci-men. He stood six feet, two inches andweighed in at two hundred fifty pounds. Hecould bench press nine hundred fiftypounds. He was solid muscle, responsive, ac-curate and a highly trained martial artist andweapons expert. More than just physicalagility, he also had mental agility. To callCreed “intelligent” would be an understate-ment. To call him “deadly” would beaccurate.

The crowd’s roars echoed louder off thecement walls of the locker room in whichCreed stood. It was time to begin; time forRetribution.

One deep breath was all he allowed him-self before he turned toward the door and

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marched across the room, opened it andjogged down the hall.

Stepping into the arena was mind-blow-ing. This was the first time he had seen itfrom this point of view. Previously, he was inthe stands where the rowdy crowd stoodnow. Life was very different from this vant-age point. It was terrifying, surreal and eerilyenergizing. He stood bracing himself againstthe blaring lights, the deafening crowd andthe vibrations of adrenaline cutting his bodylike ice.

Then he saw his opponent.Oh no...no, no, no is all he kept thinking

as realization sunk in. There, across thearena, stood his own flesh and blood. He hadbeen pitted against his brother, Gavil.

Memories flooded Creed as he watchedhis brother’s mouth twitch slightly in whatwas most definitely a smile. Powerfulmemories of his brother’s numerous“lessons” that left Creed bloody and broken

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on the ground, ripped through his body.Time and again the two boys, who had beentold they came from the same donor parents,had come to blows. Nothing Creed ever didwas good enough for Gavil.

Then, as puberty sneaked up, it wasCreed whose body transformed so dramatic-ally. Creed, who had grown up as his olderbrother’s punching bag, was taller, stronger,faster and smarter than Gavil now.

Gavil would have none of it, though. Hecontinued to torment Creed with viciousbeatings until the day a year ago when Creedhad enough. It was a taunting like any other.Gavil was snickering as he covered Creed’sdinner in sand and laughed and ridiculedhim, just as he had countless times before.But something was different that night.

Something snapped inside Creed. He at-tacked Gavil and beat him to a whimpering,bloody pulp.

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The boys had not spoken since andseemed to mutually work to avoid each otheron the campus. Their paths didn’t usuallycross because Gavil was two years older thanCreed and slept in a different part of themen’s dormitory.

Creed felt avenged and empty at thesame time. He knew nothing of his life out-side The Facility. Gavil was his only connec-tion to the world beyond the compound. Heonly knew they were born overseas, in theAmericas. All Creed remembered, though,was life here in their German compound.

But Gavil was two years older and hadmore memories of when they were broughthere. Creed always wanted to know whathappened. Who were their parents? Why didthey give the brothers up? Did they have afamily somewhere? He wanted a brother tolove, instead he had Gavil and he couldn’tstop himself from feeling only hatred forhim.

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These thoughts churned through Creed’smind as he watched his brother casuallystretch as if preparing himself for an easyrun. A deep, bellowing horn blew, sucking allthe noise from the crowd as if in a vacuum.Commander Oldham’s familiar voice echoedaround the silent faces.

“Welcome! We’re here to witness theRetribution of two worthy metas. Twenty-year-old Gavil Young is defender andeighteen-year-old Creed Young is the new-comer. As some of you may know, this Retri-bution is especially interesting because notonly are the two opponents similarlymatched in abilities, but they are also bloodbrothers,” Commander Oldham’s voice roseappropriately for the juicy announcementand the audience responded. Screams of wildexcitement crashed like waves over Creed.

“It’s time to begin. Retribution-ers, youknow the rules. This is hand-to-hand combat

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only. No weapons, no reprieve, no mercy. Tothe death! Begin!”

Creed hadn’t taken his eyes off his broth-er since the moment he first saw him. So, itcame as no surprise when Gavil ran to attackeven before Commander Oldham’s order to“begin.” The younger brother stood in theready position and calculated his response.One quick movement to the side and Creedstood watching his brother fly by, trying tostop his momentum, before crashing into thewall of the fighter’s pit.

Gavil face was pale with rage. Hestopped for a moment and shook his hands,rolled his neck and sneered, “Hey there babybrother. I was kinda hoping it would be youin here with me. Seems like a good day foryou to die,” Gavil curled his thin lips at hisbrother. “Well, as good as any other.”

“Gavil, we don’t have to do this. Wecould both concede and walk away with our

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lives.” Creed’s mind was racing with possibleoptions.

“Concede!” Gavil spat the word like itwas venom on his tongue. “You want me toconcede to you? Maybe I hit you one toomany times in the head, boy. Why don’t youjust lay down right here on the ground? I’llmake this quick for you, for old time’s sake.”He was inching toward Creed. Slippingsnake-like closer to his little brother until theYoung men stood an arm’s length from eachother. The crowd was shrieking wildly in an-ticipation. “You better take my offer. It’s theonly mercy you’re gonna get.”

“Gavil, don’t do this,” urged Creed. “Youknow what happened last time we fought.We don’t have to…”

But he didn’t have time to finish his sen-tence before Gavil’s hand flashed up and un-der Creed’s jaw, stabbing his pressure pointswith deliberate skill and malice. Creed’snerves shot pain into his ears and pierced his

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brain. Instinctively, he slapped his brother’shand away and leaped back, recuperatingfrom the excruciating jolt. Gavil smirked,loving how easy it was to trick his sucker of abrother.

“Are you ready to fight now, BleedyCreedy?” Gavil sneered, throwing out thathurtful nickname he’d given his little brotherfor all the injuries he caused him throughoutthe years.

“So be it.” Creed locked his jaw and ranfull-speed not at his brother, but at the arenawall beside him. Curiosity and surprise werethe only two facial expressions Gavil hadtime to register before he realized whatCreed was doing. He ran straight up the wall,used the momentum to flip backward andcaught Gavil by the neck with his legs on hisway down. Creed landed on top of his broth-er, knee at his throat.

The audience gasped in wild admiration.

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Gavil glared up at his brother, spatphlegm into his face and rolled out from un-der his knee. He jumped to his feet andcharged, head down shoving Creed againstthe wall and though it looked like a kind ofbrotherly embrace, there was nothing tenderabout this. Instead, there was something sin-ister about the way Gavil’s hand slipped tohis boot.

Still locked together in a powerfulstruggle, Creed began punching his brotherin the stomach. Each time, Gavil was liftedoff the ground with the velocity of impact.

Audience members facing his backwould later swear they saw it; just glints oflight reflecting off a slice of metal that Gavilhad retrieved from his boot. Angered mur-murs rose in surprise and disapproval.Though they had been taught to feed off theweak, they had some semblance of warpedintegrity.

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No one ever brought weapons to a Retri-bution Match. It was supposed to be hand-to-hand combat, to the death. Heck, even amonkey could be taught to use a weapon.Metas were different—above, more. Andthough bloody and vicious, their society wasbuilt on very strict rules of conduct.

Creed’s anger was ice as he punched hisbrother. Not even the sound of the crowdroaring with frenzied excitement reachedCreed’s ears.

Then it happened.Gavil pushed himself away from his

brother just long enough to reposition themetal in his hand, and delivered a strategicand powerful punch into his brother’s kid-ney, burying the shard deep into the tenderskin below the ribs.

Creed wailed in shock and anguish asGavil continued to beat that same piercedspot with blow after blow. All the years offury and hatred for his perfect little brother,

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his archrival, came spilling through clenchedteeth as he hammered Creed cutting himdeeper and deeper.

Creed slipped to the floor and curled intofetal position. Pain traced the lines of his facejust as much from the metallic shard as fromhis brother’s vicious and absolute betrayal.

It was in that moment that everythingbecame crisp and clear. The crowd roaring,the scent of his own blood—sweet and cop-pery, grainy dirt from the arena’s floor cak-ing to his sweat soaked skin, a deep scuff onhis brother’s black boot inches away from hisface—everything. And in that moment Creeddiscovered something about himself.

He could separate himself from his pain.As he lay there, he no longer felt the

weapon embedded in his side. He didn’t feelwinded or strained at all.

He felt—nothing.

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As though he found a light switch in thedark, Creed simply reached out and turnedoff the pain.

Gavil was more interested in the crowd’scheers than his dying brother, so he stoodwith his back to Creed, arms raised in tri-umph. It was only the gasps of the audiencethat made him turn to see his opponentcoolly stand, and assume the ready, fightingposition.

What the hell? Gavil’s mind screamed.His eyes shot a look at his brother’s shirt

and confirmed what he already knew: Hestabbed his brother and beat the weapon intohis skin. Blood soaked the entire side of hisfatigues and even was seeping down to thewaistline of his pants.

What the hell was going on? I won thisfight! He shouldn’t be standing! Hell, heshouldn’t even be breathing!

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“You are no longer my brother, Gavil,”Creed growled softly enough to be heard onlyby his intended recipient.

Stunned silence was all Gavil could givein retort but it didn’t really matter, Creedwas on him with the speed and determina-tion of a panther on its prey.

The crowd seemed to have lost theirthirst for blood as they sat in shocked silencewatching the bloody figure of a meta deliver-ing strike after furious strike.

Within seconds, Gavil was face down inthe dirt, screaming as his arms were yankedimpossibly back and behind him. Creedstood holding the helpless appendages andplaced his foot strategically on his brother’shead. One stomp and Gavil’s neck wouldsnap like a twig.

“Finish him!” boomed a voice over theloud speaker. It was Commander Oldham.He ran the Facility with an iron fist. Hisword was law.

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A hushed rumble radiated from the awe-struck metahumans watching the dramaunfold.

Creed didn’t move.“Creed Young, you know the rules. ‘Kill,

or be killed!’ Finish him, now!”With one quick motion, Creed let go of

Gavil’s arms and stepped away.“No, sir!” His voice had no hint of fear or

pain. Instead, there was strength and absolu-tion. “I will not kill him, and he cannot killme.”

The anxious audience waited to see whatwould happen next. This had neverhappened. Never had someone refused to fi-nalize victory.

“Guards, escort the Young brothers todetention immediately! They will be dealtwith there.” Commander Oldham’s voice wasfull of anger. The spectators were very surethis was the last they would see of the twofighters.

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Friendships were few and far between inthe Facility, but Creed had a loyal followingand many more who admired him from adistance. It was these metas who stood in thecrowd and started clapping a slow and syn-chronized clap. Others joined in, until nearlythe entire arena boomed in unison.

Six armed meta guards entered thearena. Two of them dragged Gavil’s limp,beaten body away, and the other four sur-rounded Creed motioning him to move.Creed glanced up at the crowd’s obvious dis-play of support and allowed a quick smile.No matter what, he knew he’d done the rightthing.

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2 Consequences

He fully expected to be killed for hisdisobedience.

But he wasn’t.Instead, he was taken to the Facility’s

surgeons who tended to his injuries; themost serious was the damage to his kidney.

He vaguely remembered lying on the op-erating table and hearing the weapon clinkinto a metallic specimen bowl after the sur-geon removed it from his kidney. He re-membered wondering why they were bother-ing fixing him up if they were just going tokill him anyway.

Even as he lay in recovery, staring at thesterile white curtain surrounding his bed, hewondered about his fate. Not that he wasscared. Not at all. Instead, he felt numb anddistant. This was all feeling like it was

happening to someone else and he was juststanding in the back of the room aware of theevents, but unaffected by them.

He remembered wondering if they had amedic taking care of Gavil, too. And if so,was he in a room nearby?

Or, and this thought made him want tovomit, had Gavil been killed? An anguishedball of emotion churned in the pit of hisstomach at the thought. Had they just killedGavil? Was he completely alone in the worldnow? Having a brother who hated him wasbetter than not having a brother at all, wasn’tit?

Halfway through the second day in re-covery, the flimsy white curtain encirclinghis bed was yanked back sharply. The sud-den movement jolted Creed from his discon-nected daze. Commander Oldham himselfstood there staring with unconcealed hatredcreasing his leathery face. He was there todeliver a message, he said.

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The Director of the Facility, Dr. KennethWilliams, was visiting from the Americas. Hewitnessed the match and wanted to havewords with Creed. He was ordered to reportto the Director’s office at oh-eight-hundredtomorrow. A car and an escort would retrievehim for the meeting.

Creed tried to ask about Gavil’s condi-tion, but Commander Oldham, obviouslydisgusted to be in his presence, turned andwalked out of the room as soon as he fin-ished his message.

The next morning, at oh-seven-forty-five, Creed was dressed and waiting for hisescort. Thankfully, the three days of recoveryand his rapid metahuman healing had af-forded him the ability to walk, thoughgingerly. He would be damned to show up tothis meeting in a wheelchair.

There was an abrupt knock at his hospit-al room door. He remembered looking up

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just in time to see the door swinging open,and that’s when he saw her.

“Creed Young?”“Yes, ma’am.”“I’m Farrow Schone, Dr. Williams’ per-

sonal assistant. I’ve been ordered to escortyou to headquarters for your meeting.”

“I won’t need that,” he said defiantly mo-tioning toward the wheelchair she waspushing.

“As you wish,” she responded coollypushing the chair aside. “The car is waiting.Follow me.”

She walked like a soldier, but even withall her training and the unflattering fatigues,she couldn’t hide her definite femininity. Herdark hair was cut boyishly short, but her fulllips and smattering of freckles across hernose screamed of beauty. She looked to be alittle younger than himself, but it was hard totell—she had an agelessness about her. Creedcouldn’t remember seeing before. Inwardly,

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he shrugged. As the Director’s personal as-sistant, she probably didn’t mix with regularmetas like him.

Creed noticed she discreetly slowed herpace for him.

Unusual, he thought to himself.Metas, were trained not to be concerned

for the weak or injured any more than neces-sary to complete their objective. That is, un-less they had been trained to work as a team.In which case, the objective was to use everymember as efficiently as possible. He wasnoticing the concern she showed was thekind usually reserved for a team member.

Curiosity got the best of him so he asked,“Why did the Director choose you to escortme?”

She stiffened a bit then just as quicklyrelaxed her shoulders. “Why wouldn’t he?”

Creed and Farrow walked in silence untilarriving at the black car waiting curbside.The driver was standing beside the open

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door. Farrow climbed in the back seat andslid over to make room. Another courtesy henoticed while wincing with the effort to lowerhimself to the seat. He had to hold the frameof the door to maintain his balance. She waswatching him carefully enough to see thepain flash across his face.

“Recovery still takes time, even for ameta like you,” she whispered so the driverwouldn’t hear.

Still breathing hard from the pain, Creedshot back, “What do you mean, ‘like me?’”

Their eyes locked for a moment beforethe driver put the car in gear and beganpulling away from the hospital. For the firsttime, he noticed her large doe eyes. The in-tensity of her observation made him feel awave of dizziness he wanted to attribute tothe overexertion. They turned away andstayed silent the rest of the short ride toheadquarters.

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The building, though only three storiestall, was meant to be impressive. Black gran-ite with black windows and rounded edgesgave a contrasting modern feel to the oldEuropean countryside on which it stood.Flags representing the country and the com-pany whipped in the breeze to the right andleft of the entrance.

A circled driveway left room for an artsyfountain in the center island. It showcasedlarge, marbled, geometric shapes and cours-ing sheets of water slipping intentionallydown at impossible angles until they disap-peared under the pond at the base.

The driver pulled around the fountainand right up to the front. Farrow opened herdoor and walked around to help Creed out.Defiantly, he pushed opened the door him-self and shot her a pale but determinedglance as he slowly rose from the backseat.The driver nodded once to Farrow andpulled the car away from the building.

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“This way, please,” she said turning towalk toward the doors.

If it weren’t for the pain, these eventswould feel dreadfully surreal, dreamlike.Creed followed his escort and wonderedwhat lay behind the black doors ahead.

When Creed stepped off the elevator onthe third floor, an older man wearing athree-piece suit came rushing forward allsmiles and handshakes to greet them. Un-sure of whom this man was, Creed playedalong and let the stranger have his theatrics.

“My dear boy, it is so good to see you upand around. I was just sure you wouldn’t bewalking so soon after your injuries, but lookat you! Here you are a striking example ofwhat all metahumans should be! I’m im-pressed, Creed. Very impressed. And I’m notafraid to tell you I was very worried there fora while—the way that brother of yours at-tacked you with a weapon.”

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The aging man shook his head and madetisk-ing sounds with his tongue as if reprim-anding a child for getting caught with theirhand in a cookie jar.

“There are strict rules in those Retribu-tion Matches. It was very unsportsmanlikebehavior to have done what he did to you.And that he’s your brother, too!” The gentle-man was still holding Creed’s hand as hespoke while gently leading him down thehallway.

“Oh, my apologies, my dear Farrow,” hesaid looking back over his shoulder at the es-cort affectionately, “how rude of me. Thankyou for retrieving our Creed. You’re free togo wait for us down in the lobby. I’ll have youcalled up when we’re done with our talk.”When he smiled, it looked like it hurt his faceto make it twist up at the corners. Weird.Creed was getting a bad feeling in the pit ofhis stomach about this guy.

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“As you wish, Dr. Williams.” And withthat, Farrow bowed slightly and walkedbackward a few steps before turning towardthe elevators.

This guy was Dr. Williams? This small,fragile, unassuming weakling of an old manin this tailored civilian suit was the Directorof this military-run facility crawling with themost highly trained and deadly soldiers inthe world?

“Oh, my dear boy, we have so much todiscuss,” the man was gushing as he openedthe mahogany doors to what was un-doubtedly his office.

“First, have a seat. You must be ex-hausted. I mean, it wasn’t but a few days agowhen you were forced to put on a very viol-ent display of brotherly love. How are youfeeling?” And for the first time, Dr. Williamsstopped talking and waited for his guest tospeak.

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“I’m fine, thanks to the medical care,sir.” Creed chose his words carefully; still un-sure of what was happening.

“Yes, well, when Commander Oldhamand I saw what happened in the pit that day,I told him to have you brought immediatelyto my personal surgeon.” The yellow of theold man’s teeth stood in stark contrast to theglowing white that was the color palette ofhis office.

“He wasn’t very happy with my decision.He insisted that you both be terminated im-mediately, but I put him right in his place. Itold him I had plans for such a strong-minded meta.”

Creed wondered if he was referring tohimself or his brother. Some would havecause to believe strong-mindedness wasn’tnecessarily a virtue. Gavil had a strong mind.Evil, but definitely strong.

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“Sir, where is Gavil?” Creed asked theone question that was weighing more heavilyon his mind than his own welfare.

“Gavil, your brother, is not of your con-cern any longer,” Dr. Williams saidcryptically.

“Dead?” Creed asked.“To you, he’s dead. Isn’t that what you

said to him on the field of battle just beforeyou overtook him?” A wicked grin slippedacross his old face.

Creed was sure he had whispered thosewords on the battlefield. No one could haveoverheard them—so, Gavil must have beenalive long enough to tell someone about theirexchange.

“Enough about him; I want very much totalk about you. How did you do it, CreedYoung?” The Director came and sat next tohim on the white leather couch as though hewere about to lean in to hear a secret of greatimportance.

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“How did I do what, sir?” Creed askedconfused and still thinking about his brotherand that day at the match.

“You were down. Gavil beat you withthat weapon into your side. You were on theground, curled up and dying. I saw you withmy own eyes. Then, suddenly you werestanding, and not just standing, but chargingand attacking with a fury I’ve never seen be-fore! If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, Iwouldn’t have believed it. So what I want toknow, my boy, is how did you do that?”

Creed weighted the moment carefully.How should he respond to this question? Ifhe told the old man he was able to turn offhis pain like flipping off a light switch, wouldhe believe him? Would he somehow use itagainst him? Does his life depend on how heanswers what felt like a very loadedquestion?

“I remember the match, sir. I’ve been re-living it over and over, but I can’t tell you

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what happened to give me the ability to getup and fight at that point. I really don’t knowhow I did it.” Creed stared stone faced at theDirector working hard to maintain his stoicexpression so as not to give away his innerpanic.

Dr. Williams’ eyes narrowed skepticallyand he stayed quiet a little too long. “Maybeit’ll come to you, over time,” he finally said.

“Now, as I mentioned before, Command-er Oldham is pretty upset that you disobeyeda direct order: To kill your brother, as therules of the Retribution Match so clearlystates. He insists you be made an example offor the other Metahumans so they see whatwould happen to them should they ever tryto defy orders.

“He offered two suggestions that would,in his mind, make things right. One, you areto be publicly tortured in the same pit wherethe defiance took place. Or two, to be pub-licly hanged, again in the same pit where the

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defiance took place. He was fine with eitherone and wanted to leave the final choice upto me.”

Creed’s eyes widened and he swallowedhard. Pain or no pain…he didn’t want to die!In a colossal effort to maintain his compos-ure Creed had to ask, “And what did you de-cide, sir?”

“I decided it was up to you what wouldhappen, but that I would add one more op-tion for you.” The Director stood from hisplace inches away from Creed and walked tohis huge marble encrusted desk. He pickedup what looked like a file and walked slowlyback to where Creed sat as still as stone.

“One more option, sir?” Creed’s voicewavered, but only slightly.

“Yes, one more. That is, if you’re inter-ested,” he stopped, put the folder to his sideand looked up expectantly at Creed.

“I—I am interested, sir,” Creedstammered.

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The old man smiled ruefully and finishedwalking the distance back to the white sofa.As he sat, his wrinkled hand passed Creedthe folder.

“This is your third option, Creed Young.”“What is it, sir?”“An old score that needs settling.”“Pardon?”“The woman in the picture there,” he

said motioning to a slightly yellowing photo-graph, “stole three very precious assets fromme. I want her dead, and I want the assetsreturned to me.”

“What did she steal, sir?”“Turn the page, son.”On the next page there were pictures of

two small children and a baby. Beneath eachpicture was an M-Case number. Creed recog-nized the number immediately because allmetahumans were given M-Case numbers.His own was M429. Only these numbers

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were much smaller: M57, M61 and M74.They must have been some of the first metas.

“These children are metas,” Creed said,thinking out loud.

“Yes, they are.” Dr. Williams was givingCreed time to scan the documents followingthe pictures.

“They were test subjects some twelveyears ago at The Institute for Neurobiologic-al Studies in the Americas? I wasn’t awarethat there was another training facility, sir.”

“Why would you be aware? But no, it wasnot a training facility like this one. It was thebirthplace of the metahuman. It was at thatInstitute that the first serums were tested onhuman subjects and the results, all theseyears later, are magnificent soldiers likeyou.” The director was smiling proudly atCreed.

“These meta children are the ‘assets’ thiswoman stole from you?” Creed was putting ittogether now.

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“Yes.”“And you want these children back?”“Precisely.”“But they’re not children anymore. They

must be teenagers by now.”“They are.”“Where are they?”“In the Americas.”“Are they still with the thief?”“They are.”“Will they come willingly?”“No doubt that woman has worked to

turn them against me; turn them away fromwho and what they truly are. They may needsome convincing, but once the woman iskilled, they’ll be much easier to manipulate.”

The doctor was watching Creed’s facecarefully and loved what he saw. He knew hehad chosen the right brother. Gavil was tooevil, beautifully evil to be sure, but for thisassignment he needed a strong-minded,

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gentle hand, and Creed fit the profileperfectly.

“Excuse me, sir. But may I ask if there isany way to ‘settle the score’ that doesn’t in-volve killing someone?”

Dr. Williams glared at Creed and saidnothing to ease the silent anger that wasclearly his response.

“It’s just that, I don’t feel right aboutkilling anyone. Not my brother, nor a thief.Could I just bring her back with the chil-dren?” Creed asked hopefully.

“Let me make myself perfectly clear, son.The assignment, should you choose to acceptit, is to terminate the woman and retrieve thethree metas. Period. If you do not accept theterms of Option 3, there are still two otheroptions you have from which to choose.” Thevenom in the doctor’s voice was potent. Histhree-piece suit looked even more intimidat-ing than a five-star general. This man hadpower and he knew how to wield it.

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With a slow deep breath in an obviouseffort to calm himself, Dr. Williams contin-ued, “However, I can appreciate a man ofprinciples. I, myself, live by a strict code ofconduct in my personal and business affairs.You do not feel comfortable taking a life. Butsometimes we have to make a trade. Some-times the ends do justify the means. So letme put one more thing on the table to helpyou make your decision. You have grown uphere at the Facility, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”“The only family you ever knew of was

Gavil Young, and he wasn’t much of a family.Have I assessed that accurately?”

“Yes, sir.”“Have you ever wondered where your

parents were? What they were like? Maybewondered why they gave you and your broth-er up to the Facility instead of keeping youwith them?”

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Creed had no idea where the old manwas going with this line of questions, but hedid know it was making his stomach feel likeit contained boiling acid.

“What would you do to find them, giventhe chance? Or more pointedly, whatwouldn’t you do?” If the devil himself had aface, it looked like Kenneth Williams’. Hewas nearly giggling with joy over the painfuldilemma he saw in the young man sittingnext to him.

“Sir, are you saying you know where myparents are?” Creed’s voice came out in awhisper.

“I am.”“And you’ll tell me where to find them if

I complete option three just as you say?”“Now you’re getting the idea, my boy,”

beamed Williams.“And if I don’t agree to this

assignment…”

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“Then there are always the death optionsfrom which to choose. Oh, and you’d die nev-er having known your family.”

Watching the conflict in Creed’s eyes wassheer pleasure to Williams. “Take a few mo-ments to think about it, Creed Young. Weighthe rights and wrongs in your own mind. I’mgoing to step out and grab a cup of coffee.Would you care for a cup?”

“No, thank you, sir,” Creed mumbleddeep in thought.

“All right, I’ll be back in a few minutes.And Creed, that’s all the think time you’regoing to get, so use it wisely.”

The old doctor stood up with a grace heshouldn’t have been able to manage, andwalked purposefully toward the large ma-hogany doors, opened them and closed themquietly behind himself.

Creed hadn’t moved the entire time hehad been in Williams’ presence. What was hegoing to do? Could he live with himself if he

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killed this woman, no matter what hercrimes? If he didn’t kill her, then he wouldn’thave long to regret it because CommanderOldham would have his head on a silver plat-ter for all the Facility’s metas to see.

Look at what individuality and disobedi-ence gets you, everyone! You get dead, that’swhat you get.

So, he takes a rifle and tags the thiefright between the eyes long range. He wouldmake it a fast and clean kill. She wouldn’tfeel pain, and he wouldn’t have to hear thethump of the bullet hitting her skull. Hecould completely distance himself from thewhole thing.

Then all he’d have to do is coral the metachildren and bring them here. Heck, hecould shoot them with tranquilizers if he hadto. That’s not a lot of work in comparison tothe reward of finding his parents.

He’d been dreaming of them for the lastfifteen years. What did they look like? Did

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one of them have his blue eyes? Did he looklike his father? Was his mother beautiful?Did she cry for him often and wish thingshad turned out differently? Were they nicepeople? Artistic? Musical? Athletic? Therewere so many questions Creed was aching tohave answered.

So all he had to do was this one little as-signment and then the rest of his life couldbegin. Maybe the doctor was right. Some-times the ends do justify the means.

Williams returned with a steaming cupof coffee in one hand and a newspaper in theother. “Well, son? What is your decision?”

“I’m in. What are the logistics of the as-signment, sir?” Creed’s mouth formed thewords and his mind tried to grasp the mean-ing of what he had just chosen. His hearttightened in his chest. He was trying to con-vince himself that this was justifiablehomicide.

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“Excellent choice, Creed.” The doctorwas beaming with satisfaction. “But there isplenty of time to discuss logistics. You stillneed to rest. Recover completely before youtake on this assignment. I’ve waited twelveyears for payback, I can wait another week orso.”

The doctor walked to his desk and liftedthe black phone to his ear. “Please send MissSchone up to retrieve our guest.”

Creed’s body ached miserably. His sup-ply of adrenaline that had run like a faucetmoments before felt completely cut off nowand it left him emotionally and physicallydrained. Now all he wanted to do was curl upunder the covers of his hospital bed and for-get everything he just agreed to do.

Farrow arrived with a quick knock at thedoor. To her credit, she had with her awheelchair. Without a word she wheeled it toCreed and positioned it right beside the ex-hausted and pain-filled young man. She held

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it stable while he tried to ease himself upfrom the couch and then down into it. Creedfelt a wave of gratitude for her thoughtful-ness and discretion.

He wanted so badly to turn off his pain,but he didn’t dare do that in front of Dr. Wil-liams. He needed to be believably hurt, andhe didn’t know if he was that good an actor.So, he forced himself to suffer.

“We’ll be in touch, my boy. You just fo-cus on recovery for now. Goodbye.” The doc-tor shook Creed’s hand and stared into hiseyes.

“Thank you, sir,” the young metamumbled and withdrew his hand instinct-ively, a bit sooner than was sociallyacceptable.

The doctor didn’t seem to notice.“Goodbye.”And with that, Farrow wheeled him out

into the hallway, down the elevators and up

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to the black car waiting to return him to thehospital.

Dr. Williams leaned against the edge ofhis custom made, hand-carved, mahoganydesk and took a sip of his coffee as hewatched Farrow wheel Creed Young out ofhis office. Once the doors shut behind them,he slowly set the mug down on a greenmarbled coaster, and reached unthinking in-to his front suit pocket. His fingers found thefamiliar metallic spheres.

The thought of what it would be like tohave Margo Winter killed made him smilewith anticipation. He nearly began salivatingat the idea of having the three children backso he could continue his research using theirblood. To recreate their unique abilities,those that were above and beyond even themost trained meta at the Facility, that wasenough for him to walk away from the deskwith a slight skip in his step.

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3 Justified

The wind cut against his face, bitterlycold and constant. With each breath he feltthe cold invade his lungs, splash against theheat his core created and come out as a cloudof hot vapors. His legs hit that rhythm easily.His feet were pounding the gravel as consist-ently as a metronome.

It had been one week since his Retribu-tion Match and though he had been able toreturn to simple everyday physical tasks, hisdoctor refused to allow him to push himselfto exercise until today. He had been clearedto “take a slow walk” around the pond, buthis body was literally aching to get stretchedand used.

Despite doctor’s orders, today he was de-termined to get out on the path and run atleast one mile. That should be completely

doable. Before the stabbing, running twelvemiles in under an hour was no big deal at all.So, though he was still sporting a few dozenstitches internal and external, one mileshould be fine. Besides, he was about to gocrazy cooped up in that hospital room; today,he was getting some fresh air.

With temperatures hovering in the teens,most of the trail’s usual occupants had optedfor warmer, indoor exercise instead. He ig-nored the handful of cadets he did see andchose instead to pull his hoodie up, obscur-ing their view of him. Never one to feel com-fortable in the spotlight, the last thing Creedwanted was attention.

Lost in his own thoughts, Creed didn’tnotice right away that there was someonerunning close behind him. Once he did real-ize it, he studied the sound of the gravelcrunching under the other runner’s feet anddecided it must be a female meta. Ordinarily,he would have picked up his pace to pull

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further away from her, but he knew he wasalready over doing it physically, so he optedto slow down to let her pass him.

She didn’t.She matched his stride and ran right be-

side him; their feet making unison crunchingsounds into the path. Frustrated with the in-trusion, Creed stopped running all together.He leaned over, and forced himself tobreathe slow, deep breaths—not from overexertion, but because he had just felt the skinon his side pop open. Instinctively, hecovered it with his hand.

Shit.The other runner stopped and watched

him for a moment. “You okay?” He heard hersay.

“Fine. Great. I just don’t need an audi-ence.” Creed was talking through hisclenched teeth a little afraid to look at thedamage he was pretty sure he’d done tohimself.

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Ignoring that last statement, the girl kepttalking, “I think you over did it.”

Creed spun around to silence the annoy-ing meta when he realized who she was. “Oh,it’s you.”

Farrow smiled beautifully and said,“Nice to see you too, Creed Young.”

“Are you following me?” Creed asked,more to change the subject than anything.

“I’m following orders,” she said flatly.“Dr. Williams wanted me to see if you werefit for duty and judging by the blood on yourshirt, I’m thinking, not.”

“I just popped a couple stitches. No bigdeal.” Creed tried to say casually. Inside hewas fuming with embarrassment.

“I think it’s a big deal, especially sincewe’re going to be partners. I don’t want tohave to carry your weight.” She parked herhands on her hips and glowered at hisnonchalance.

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“Wait, what? Hold on. Did you say‘partners’?”

“Dr. Williams wants us to travel to theAmericas, locate Dr. Winter, terminate herand retrieve the assets—you know, the as-signment you agreed to?”

“So soon?”“He’s not known to be a patient man.”“Right. Okay, let me just get this taken

care of back at the hospital. When does hewant us to leave?” Creed asked worried thiswas happening too fast and that he hadn’thad time to process everything.

“I’ll contact you tomorrow morning withspecifics, but just in case, be ready to leavebefore lunch.” She looked again at the largeblood red stain on the hoodie Creed washolding protectively and shook her head.

“You’d better not screw this up, CreedYoung. I have a perfect record with Dr. Willi-ams, and I’m not going to allow you to ruinmy career with your macho-bullshit.” She

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turned and ran back down the trail towardheadquarters.

“Oh, no. Of course not, your highness. Iwouldn’t dare do anything to soil yourpristine reputation as an ass-kisser!” Creedmumbled the thoughts to himself.

“Oh, hey, and don’t worry about me. Yougo on back to Daddy Williams. I have severalother pints of blood I could lose before I passout right here in the dirt,” he continued.

Truth be told, he wasn’t mad at Farrow.He was disgusted with himself for being Dr.Williams’ henchmen. No matter how hetried, he hated knowing he had sold his soulto that devil, but he couldn’t back out of itnow. Morality had a new name and it wasJustifiable.

With nowhere else to go, Creed limpedslowly back toward the yellow lights of themedical building.

So much for doing the right thing, hesighed to himself.

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Damn it.61/581

Part 2

Winters in Kansas

Two weeks after the rescue of Dr.Margo Winter

Location:Dr. Theo Andrew’s hospital in

Olathe, Kansas

4 The Sentries

Maze may be an exceptionally perceptiveand highly intelligent coyote, but he still hadto be walked once in a while. And eventhough it was 2:57 in the morning, he duti-fully woke me with a slobbery lick to showme that his eyes were floating. The boy hadto pee—and he meant now.

I yawned while putting on my warmboots and coat over pajamas. Maze whinedimpatiently at me so I didn’t even botherwith my wildly curly hair. Grabbing his leashwe shuffled through the hospital room doorand softly closed it behind us.

He sneezed twice before sniffing andlicking his nose clean. Maze wasn’t very fondof the hospital smells, but he put up withthem without complaint. It was the collar

and leash I was required to use that Mazebarely tolerated.

“I know you hate this dumb ol’ leash, butrules are rules. Dr. Andrews was nice enoughto allow you in the hospital under the pretextthat you’re a guide dog, so we have to act thepart.” I cooed at my best friend whilescratching between his ears and neck wherethe collar was rubbing him the wrong way,literally.

Maze looked up at me with a sour ex-pression on his sweet coyote face. “Don’t giveme that look,” I gently scolded, “you’re theone who insists on staying with mom at thehospital. You could be sniffing out someyummy squirrels in the backyard at Dr.Andrews’ house, but no-o-o, you have to playsentry and guard mom like an overprotectivemother hen.”

To be honest, we have all been very pro-tective of our mom since rescuing her fromDr. Williams. We haven’t left her alone.

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Matter of fact, we’ve worked out a scheduleso there are always two of us with her dayand night. Tonight, Evan and I are on “MomWatch” as we’ve come to call it, while Alikkeeps an eye on things back at Dr. Andrews’house. But Maze won’t leave any longer thanit takes for him to go relieve himself outside.He may be a big ball of shedding fur, but he’sa devoted big ball of shedding fur. I foundmyself smiling warmly at the sweet lug as Iwalked us into the elevator.

After growing up on a huge ranch inTexas with the handsome, wide blue skiesand stretches of land for as far as the eyecould see, being in a small hospital room forhours on end was enough to make me feelvery claustrophobic. Once outside, Ibreathed deeply and allowed myself to listento the night sounds: The building’s slidingglass doors whooshed closed behind me,Maze’s sniffing nose and padding feet in theMidwest grass, the cold breeze rustling

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through autumn leaves. It was a beautifulnight.

Maze whined and tugged at the leash.“Okay, buddy. I’ll take the leash off so youcan stretch your legs, but don’t be gone long.Some of us want to get back to sleep, youknow.” He winked his intelligent yellow eyesat me and licked my hand as I unleashedhim. Off he sprinted toward the nearest rowof bushes. “Wily nut-ball,” I mumbled as Iwatched him start to chase some poor unsus-pecting rodent.

“It’s a little late for a stroll, isn’t it?” aman’s voice asked from the shadows. At thesound, I whipped around, tense and readyfor battle.

“Whoa, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean tostartle you,” he said with a hint of a smile ashe stepped into the light.

I didn’t respond, choosing instead to staywary. He stood about ten feet away from me,probably sensing that if he came any closer I

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would feel even more threatened. He lookedto be a little older than me, tall, dark hair,blue eyes and very muscular. He pulled hishands out from his coat pockets and heldthem, palms out, to his sides in a gesture toshow that he meant no harm.

“I was just out here getting some freshair after spending the entire day in there,” hegestured to the hospital. “So again, I’m sorryto have startled you. But it’s not every day aguy sees a girl talking to what looks like herpet coyote in the moonlight.”

I glanced over to where I last saw Maze.He was nowhere in sight now, but I wasn’ttoo worried. One whistle and he’d be at myside ready to fight.

I couldn’t decide if this guy was harmlessor not. Because the events over the last fewweeks were underscored by some scary stufflike being followed, shot at, attacked, tricked,hunted and maimed, I guess my knee jerk

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reactions were starting to lean towardparanoid.

“Right. Well, we were just stretching ourlegs, too,” I said in a voice intended to giveoff a tone of leave me alone, buddy. I turnedslightly and started walking away, keepingthe guy in my peripheral vision.

“Well, is he?” the guy called taking a fewsteps to follow me.

“Is he what?” I asked not even trying tohide the annoyance in my voice.

“A coyote,” he asked innocently.“Yes,” I said not offering any more

information.“Wow, you know how unusual it is to see

a tame coyote? They’re part of the caninefamily, but they’re not known to become do-mesticated at all,” he said all this while walk-ing a few steps closer to me. “You’re not fromaround here are you?”

I ignored his questions and decidedenough is enough. This guy wasn’t getting

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the hint and no matter how blue his eyesflashed in the moonlight, or how handsomehis smile looked—I needed backup. My fin-gers flew up to my mouth and let out a sharpwhistle.

Now it was his turn to look startled.Maze flashed over the bushes some fifteenyards away and bolted straight toward him.A low whistle from me had him changecourse and speed. He trotted right up to myside, licked my hand and glowered at thestranger.

“This is Maze. He doesn’t much likestrangers and neither do I,” I said sternly,“Goodnight.” I turned and walked back to-ward to the hospital’s sliding glass doorswith Maze right at my side and the stranger’seyes boring a hole in the back of my head.

“Creed!” He yelled over to me.Maze turned and growled. I stopped one

last time, surprised my iciness didn’t scarehim into the silence it should have.

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“Did you just say, ‘Creed?’” I called back.“Yeah, it’s my name. Creed Young. Now

I’m not so much a stranger.” He smiledwidely, waved and walked away.

“That was a little weird, wasn’t it?” Iasked Maze as we rode the elevator back upto the seventh floor of the hospital. Mazelooked up at me and cocked his head to theleft like he was trying to understand what myproblem was. “I know we could have takenhim in a heartbeat so unless he had a gun inhis back pocket, there was really no threat,but still. Something about that guy wasscary—in a cool sort of way.” Maze was ig-noring me now as he sniffed a meal tray oneof the patients had left on the floor just out-side their hospital room door.

“Come on, you. No digging through oth-er people’s leftovers. It’s bad manners,” Isaid sleepily.

A few doors down, and we were back inmom’s room. I locked the door behind me

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and checked on mom. She was breathingsoftly and her monitors showed her heartrate, oxygen levels and blood pressure allnormal. Evan hadn’t moved since I saw himlast. I found my pile of blankets on my cotand flopped down. Maze curled up at myfeet. The night was still, again.

Back down in the lobby, Creed watchedthe numbers light up above the elevator shehad taken. It stopped on the seventh floor.He smiled to himself remembering their con-versation and how guarded she was. Hebegan whistling as he shuffled casually out ofthe building and back to his rental car wait-ing in the lamp-lit hospital parking lot. So-mething about that wild-haired beauty madeCreed’s heart leap in his chest. Tomorrow hewould have to find a way to bump into heragain. Maybe this assignment wouldn’t bethat bad after all.

Of course, there was the small issue ofkilling the woman. Creed shoved his hands

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into his pockets frowning now against thethought. He sat in his car and leaned hishead back staring up through the sun roof.The stars were faint here compared to backat the Facility. Things seemed much lessclear cut.

Sitting in Williams’ office, it didn’t seemtoo hard to agree to terms of this arrange-ment: one thief killed and three metas re-turned in exchange for information about hislong lost parents. The ends justify the means,right? Williams gets back the metas thatwere rightfully his. Creed gets to be reunitedwith his kin. Thief gets her comeuppance.

He found the more he watched theWinter family and how they interacted, themore he liked them. They were good people.They were a family. And, now that he lookedinto the girl’s dark eyes and watched themflash with anger. Now that he heard hervoice, angelic and soft even through her at-tempt at sounding irritated. Now that he

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could imagine her smile, her laugh. Noweverything felt as hazy as this night skylooked.

In his pocket, his cell phone began to vi-brate. One glance at the caller I.D. confirmedit; it was Dr. Williams. Creed touched thescreen accepting the call.

“Sir.”“Status report.”“Surveillance still successful. First con-

tact with M57 has been made.”“Excellent. Your condition?“Ninety percent recovered.”“It’s been long enough. It’s time to com-

plete your assignment.”“Yes, sir.”clickCreed sighed deeply, slipped his phone

back into his pocket and started the car. Heneeded a little shut-eye before trying to fig-ure out what to do next. Hopefully, Farrowwould leave him alone when he got back to

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the hotel. He made sure she did not have akey to his room, but she was resourceful. Ifshe wanted to, she could be sitting on theedge of his bed ready to pounce him for in-formation when he got back.

He pushed Farrow out of his mind andfocused instead on the girl—Meg. Creed hadto think of a way to get the girl to trust him,and fast. She was the key to the brothers.

He yawned deeply.How was he going to forge more of a

friendship with the girl? Maybe he shouldkeep a steak on him next time to see if that’llwin over the coyote. Or, would that seemoverly anxious? It’s not like Creed had evertried to woo a girl before. Sleep, he thought.He needed sleep and then things will seemclearer in the morning.

As Creed was pulling out of the parkinglot, Meg rolled over in her cot, repositionedher pillow and draped her leg over Maze.

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5 Fifteen-Year-Old with aDriver’s Permit

“Cole, you coming?” Alik yelled up thestairs. “Your dad’s already in the car.”

“Yeah, I just…darn it. Hey, have you seenmy magic thumb?” Cole yelled back, sound-ing out of breath and frustrated.

“Your what?”“My thumb! I can’t find it anywhere and

that’s one of their favorites,” Cole moaned.“You can borrow mine. Come on. We’re

gonna be late and you know how upset theyget when we’re late. Remember last time,”Alik gave Cole a look as he met him at thebottom of the stairs, thumb-less.

“I know. They drew us pictures of frown-y faces. It was depressing as heck.”

The boys hurried out the front door,jumped down the steps and jogged to the car.Cole tapped on the driver’s side window.

“Dad, can I drive, please?” he yelledthrough the glass miming the request as ifhis dad didn’t already know what his sonwanted.

Dr. Andrews rolled his eyes at his teen-ager. Ever since he got his driver’s permitthree days ago, Cole had not let up aboutwanting “practice time” behind the wheel.

“Fine, but this time, please drive thespeed limit. I don’t want to get pulled overfor obstructing traffic because you’re goingso blasted slow,” Dr. Andrews teased as hegot out of the car and walked around to thepassenger seat.

“Dad! What are you saying to me? Youwant me to speed? Do you know the statist-ics on speeding and fatalities? Safety first,old man,” Cole teased back.

“Good grief,” the doctor groaned.

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Changing the subject to take his mind offof Cole’s one mile per hour attempt at re-verse down the driveway, the doctor asked,“Alik, is it your turn for Mom Watch?”

“I relieve Evan at noon,” Alik respondedcringing at the trash bin they were inchesaway from hitting.

“Hope everyone had a good night up atthe hospital,” Cole mumbled.

“Less talking, more driving,” his dadsaid, only half teasing. “I’m sure everything’sfine up there. My staff has strict orders tocontact me directly if there is any change inour patient.”

“Mom’s not recovering as fast as Ithought she would,” Alik confided.

Dr. Andrews nodded softly, “She’s not ametahuman with rapid healing abilities likeyou, Alik. And she’s not as young as she usedto be. Her body is doing the best it can toheal. She just needs time.”

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“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, sir.I’m just worried. We’re sitting ducks rightnow. Williams could…yellow light.”

“Williams could what?” Cole asked“Yellow light! RED!” Alik yelled, pushing

himself back in his seat.“STOP!” Dr. Andrews yelled to Cole.Four seconds of squealing tires later,

they were stopped a little too far into the in-tersection and car horns were alreadyhonking.

“Sorry, ‘bout that,” Cole blushed.“Son,” Dr. Andrews said calmly.“Yes, sir?”“Slowly back the car up.”“Yes, sir.”“So, you were saying, Alik?” Dr. Andrews

asked, trying to act calm about the wholeteenager-behind-the-wheel thing.

“Um…I was just saying how worried I amabout Williams sending a henchman or fiveto come finish what he started. This time, he

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may send another metasoldier like the onethat got to Meg. Even with us standingguard, if he sent meta assassins, chances arevery good they’ll accomplish their task. Theymay even come after you two.”

“Is that why Mom Watch schedules oneof you kids to stay at the house with Cole andme every night? Because you are worriedwe’re in danger, too?” Dr. Andrews asked.

Alik just shrugged, trying not to worrythe doctor. The truth was that was exactlywhy the kids had arranged the schedule theway they did. They didn’t want the doctor orCole to be defenseless if the house was at-tacked. It was hard not to feel responsible foreveryone’s safety.

“After what happened, your worries arevalid. I’m just not sure what to do about it,”the doctor said thoughtfully. “Let me callGreg to see if he has any new information orsuggestions. Maybe he knows something thatwill make our options more clear.”

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Alik stayed silent, as was his way, brood-ing over all that could take place.

“Listen, I don’t want anything to happento your mother either. I want us all safe, andI’ll do everything I can to keep it that way.We’ll figure this out. Somehow.”

And with that Cole pulled safely into hisfather’s reserved parking spot at the hospital.“Is the love-fest over? Can we go entertainthe sick kids with our magic tricks now?” hechirped a little over anxiously.

Alik gave his friend a sideways look andthought, not for the first time, how difficult itmust be for Cole knowing everyone else wasexpected to protect him because he would behelpless against a metahuman.

I guess if I were him, I’d change the sub-ject, too, Alik thought to himself.

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6 Cafeteria Food

Morning shook the fog from my mind.Did last night really happen? Did I take Mazefor a walk and run into a guy outside lastnight? A guy who wouldn’t get the hint that Iwanted nothing to do with him? A guy withhandsome blue eyes and a wide, dreamysmile?

Yeah, that’s it. It had to be a dream.Who in their right mind would go by the

name ‘Creed?’ I thought to myself smugly.Good grief. That was a soap opera name, nota real guy’s name.

Still groggy, I let the morning sun fromthe hospital window warm my face. I slowlybatted my eyes open and turned to watch mymother breathe. Her chest rose and fellfaintly, but definitely.

“Evan, wake up,” I whispered so as notto disturb mom. Evan mumbled in response.“Evan, it’s seven o’clock, and I’m starved. Doyou wanna go get breakfast, or do you wantme to?” Her littlest brother mumbled moreand rolled over on his way-too-small cot.

He sure was cute when he was sleeping.That sandy blond hair falling in wisps overhis long eyelashes just made him look sosweet—like he used to when he was a littleboy. His birthday was fast approaching,though. He was nearly thirteen-years-old.Where did my baby brother go? I reachedout and touched his unruly hair away fromhis eyes. Maybe I should just let him sleep.

“Okay, kiddo. I’ll go fetch breakfast forus. You sleep,” I whispered to him.

“Maze, you coming?” I looked over at myloyal coyote fast asleep at the foot of my cot.He opened his eyes just a crack and blinkedonce before letting his sleepy lids fall backclosed.

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“Okay, you guys. I’ll bring back food.Just don’t complain if I didn’t grab your fa-vorites,” I whispered to the room full ofsleeping family.

After a quick kiss to my mom’s cheek, Iturned and stepped out of the hospital room,and listened for the door to lock automatic-ally behind me.

The hospital’s cafeteria was located inthe basement. It usually had the standardstuff with one “daily special” posted on anold-fashioned green chalk board. Today’sturquoise chalk proudly announced, “Saus-age and Eggs with Flour Tortillas, Beans andSalsa!”

Now, that sounds delicious! I thought tomyself. I haven’t had good Mexican foodsince I left our Texas ranch. Not wanting toget my hopes too high, I placed my order.“Three daily specials, three milks and six bis-cuits to go, please.” I said to the cook behindthe cafeteria-like counter.

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“Ah, a girl after my own heart and ahearty appetite, too!” the cook chirped hap-pily. I just smiled back, not wanting to ex-plain that I’d just ordered for myself, my bot-tomless pit of a brother, and my sixty-poundcoyote.

“Wow, you must be hungry,” a vaguelyfamiliar voice laughed beside me.

I turned and saw the blue eyes from mydreams; only, this wasn’t a dream. We werestanding side-by-side in the hospital cafeter-ia line under glaring florescent lights. He wasreal, and the immediate magnetism I felt wasenough to knock me silent.

“I’ll have two orders of the special,please,” he called over to the cook. Heglanced at me and added, “To go.”

“You seem to be making a habit of doingthat,” I said trying to regain my composure.

“Doing what?”“Sneaking up on me.”

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“I almost didn’t recognize you withoutyour fur coat,” he teased, referring to Mazeno doubt.

“I almost didn’t recognize you in thelight of day,” I tried to counter smartly, butcame across smug instead.

“You never told me your name lastnight,” he said under his breath.

“I told you the name of my ferociouscoyote. That should be enough.” I could feelhis sleeve brush my arm, barely grazing thefine hair, sending sparks to my tummy. Self-consciously, I scooted my plastic orange trayfurther away from him.

“I only have a passing interest in yourcoyote; it’s you I want to know.” His voicewas barely audible above the noise of theroom. I had to force myself to concentrate onbreathing because the room was getting verythick and my senses were feeling over-whelmed. The sounds of the clanking potsand pans, food sizzling in pats of butter,

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scraping of griddles by metal spatulas, voicesmurmuring, laughing, talking all around me.

“That’ll be $30.35, miss,” a female voicesaid. “Miss?”

I shook my head in a feeble attempt toclear it. “Oh, yes, of course,” I answered stu-pidly while shuffling through my small pursefor mom’s credit card.

“Ours are together,” Creed respondedsmoothly and passed the somewhat impa-tient cashier a hundred dollar bill. The cash-ier looked over at Creed with a wide smileand even wider eyes.

A little breathless, she said, “Yourchange, sir.”

Well, good. At least it wasn’t just me.This guy was more than just a little attract-ive. Any girl with a pulse could see howhandsome this guy looked. Something abouthis eyes was mesmerizing. Note to self, Meg:Try not to look into his eyes.

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“That was very nice of you,” I saidawkwardly.

“Don’t think anything of it. Hey, I knowwe ordered to go,” casually taking my bags offood from me, “but would you be willing tosit with me for a while?”

I stared at the cardboard drink holder inmy hands, trying not to look up into his eyes.“I really have to get breakfast up to my fam-ily,” I said a little too hurriedly.

“Of course,” Creed’s voice dropped apitch. I could hear his disappointment. “WillI see you again?”

“Well, my mom’s really sick. I don’tthink we’ll be leaving the hospital any timesoon,” I said. “What about you? Who are youvisiting here?”

“I was visiting a friend who was in an ac-cident, but he’s being discharged today. Idon’t imagine I’ll be hanging out on the hos-pital’s front lawn at 3am anymore.” As hewas speaking he’d been leading me away

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from the crowded dining room toward theelevators.

“I’m glad your friend is well enough to gohome,” I said trying to think of a way to keephim with me for a few moments more. So-mething about the way he moved made mewant to move right with him. I didn’t meanto. I felt him leading me, but I couldn’t resist.

He leaned up against the wall next to theelevator, still holding the bags of food all inone hand. I stood facing him foolishly hold-ing the tray of milk. He didn’t speak for amoment, waiting instead for me to look up athim. I knew that’s what he was doing. I bitmy lower lip, torn between my instincts andmy urges. My eyes studied the steady pulsein his throat for a moment before I gave inand dove into his pools of blue.

“I need to see you again,” he simply said.I tried to think clearly, but his scent was

intoxicating. “Noon,” my mouth formed the

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words, but my head was screaming, slowdown you dolt!

“Where?” he smiled.“On the lawn,” my mouth was moving of

its own volition.“I’ll be there,” he said smiling that

dazzling smile he showed me last night. Heleaned over and pressed the up button forme. Immediately, the doors opened. Hestepped in briefly to hand me my bags ofbreakfast, allowing our fingers to touch. Ihad to look away for a moment as he exitedthe small space. The doors began closingwith a “ding” and there he was, lifting a hugemasculine hand to gently wave goodbye.

It didn’t register till I got to my mom’sroom and was unlocking the door by typingthe code into the lock that I didn’t rememberpushing the elevator button. It stopped onthe floor I needed, the seventh, but I hadn’tpushed the button.

Did Creed?

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How would he have known what floormy family was on? Worry lines creased myforehead as I thought of the possibilities. No,I must have hit the button myself, and justdon’t remember doing it. My mind was alittle preoccupied just then, to put it mildly.It’s okay to like a nice guy, Meg. I told my-self. Especially a hottie with dreamy eyes!Don’t be so paranoid!

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7 Changing of the Guards

“Breakfast is served,” I called over toEvan who was carefully folding up the cotsand blankets.

“Excellent, I’m famished, and it smellsdelicious.” He walked over to the makeshiftbreakfast table and sat down with me. Mazewas licking his chops waiting for his platefulof food, too.

“Okay, Maze. Here go you buddy. Don’teat too fast, or you’ll get hiccups like you didlast time,” I teased my friend while placinghis plate on the floor at my feet.

“Wow, this is awesome. I sure have beenmissing authentic Mexican food,” Evan saidwith his mouth full of eggs.

“Mmm,” I swallowed, “me, too.”“Wish mom could eat with us. She’d love

this,” Evan stopped and looked over lovingly

at his mom who was still lying in bed. Herjaw was wired shut as it healed because ithad been so horribly shattered.

“She’ll be eating with us soon enough,” Isaid trying to cheer up my little brother.“Then she’ll make you eat asparagus withbreakfast.”

“Yeah, that never did make sense to me,”Evan smiled.

“Mom loves to force vegetables down ourthroats,” I smiled at the memory. “But I loveher for always wanting us to be healthy.”

“Me, too,” Evan poked his fork into hisrice and began pushing pieces around hisplate.

In an effort to get his mind off of mom, Iasked, “So, what are you going to do withyourself when Alik comes to relieve yourduty?”

“I dunno. I’ve been really interested inthe hospital’s library. Dr. Andrews has beenallowing me special access to all the medical

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books and journals. I’ve been so fascinatedwith medicine; the more I read, the more Iwant to know,” Evan’s eyes lit up brightly ashe spoke of study the way regular kids hisage brightened at the thought of going to anamusement park.

“Very cool, Ev,” I said sincerely. “Maybeyou could become a doctor someday?” Iloved the thought of my brilliant little broth-er helping people.

Evan shrugged humbly, “I dunno. Ireally just want to figure out how to get mombetter faster. And maybe, figure out whathappened to us to make us so different fromall the other metas.” He grinned adorably,“Strictly selfish reasons, really.”

“I think you’d make a wonderful doctor,Evan. Maybe we should look into getting youaccepted to a university so you could beginpre-med classes?” I asked casually after fin-ishing my last bite of rice.

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“First thing first, Meggie,” he said in anabsolutely serious tone, “we’ve got to takecare of some unfinished business.”

“Right,” I said clearing my plate. “Weneed to talk with Alik and get a plan in mo-tion. Sometimes, I feel like Williams couldwalk through that door any minute and put abullet through mom’s head.” I shivered at thethought.

“Naw, he wouldn’t get his own handsdirty. That’s not his style. He’d send a metato finish the job. That’s who we have to lookout for: Some guy who looks completely outof place here; probably tall, muscular and ex-tremely clever. He’s done with regular hiredhenchmen. He’d send a meta like the onewho attacked you in his office,” Evan’s eyeswere too busy watching Maze chase his nowempty paper plate around the floor lickingevery last morsel off to see Meg’s face pale.

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“Of course,” she whispered thoughtfullyrubbing the scar on her thigh. “That’s exactlyhow he’d do it, isn’t it?”

“That’s how I would do it if I were him,”Evan leaned down and grabbed Maze’sempty plate before he started to rip it up andeat the pieces, as he’s been known to do. Theold goat!

“Of course, there is still the matter of ourblood. He wanted to study us to figure outwhat he stumbled upon that worked so wellin the serum we were given. He probably stillwants us. Blood samples only last for an houror two before the fragile molecular com-pounds start to change and/or lose theirblueprints,” Evan was thinking out loud now.He was casually discussing the ideas that hadscared the apple fritters out of me ever sincethis whole thing came to light.

Ugh, again I’m amazed at how nonchal-ant he could be in the face of scary stuff like,oh I dunno, becoming lab rats again, mom

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getting off-ed right in front of us, watching amadman use us as his weapons of mass de-struction by cloning us and turning theclones into mindless drones to do his bid-ding, you know…all the stuff that wicked,scary books and movies love to throw in theirplots. How can Evan just casually speculateand project these very real scenarios andoutcomes?

“Hum, but you know, he doesn’t need allthree of us,” Evan stopped talking andlooked pensively over at me. “Just one of uswould probably suffice for his purposes.”

As if my face wasn’t pale enough, I feltmyself go perfectly still at my brother’swords. I stared at him, unblinking for a fullminute, feeling all the terror of the last fewweeks wash over me with a completely dif-ferent slant on what could have happened.

“Breathe, Meg,” Evan ordered. “Meg,come on. Don’t freak out on me. All of this isjust me throwing around ideas—you know,

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hypotheticals. I could be completely wrong.Who knows what is logical in the mind of amadman?”

Just then, there was a knock at the doorthat scared the heck out of me. “Hello, thereWinter family!” Dr. Andrews called throughthe closed door.

“You have got to stop drinking caffein-ated coffee, Meg,” Evan teased as he walkedto the door to let the doctor in.

“Good morning Meg, Evan. How’s thepatient this morning?” He asked us, oblivi-ous to the tension he just walked in on. Outcame his little flash light as he leaned overmom’s closed eyes. He gently lifted one lid ata time to expose the pupil. Quick flashes oflight across her eyes seemed to make thedoctor happy. “Nice and reactive,” hemumbled and put his stethoscope to mom’schest. After a few moments he said, “Good,good. Heart sounds good, lungs sound clearand pulse-ox good,” he said reading a print

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out from a machine beside mom’s bed.“Blood pressure, holding steady,” he saidnodding to himself. “Excellent. Her jaw looksto be healing on schedule. I know it would begreat to be able to talk, Margo,” he said to asleeping patient.

“The kids would feel so much more as-sured if they could hear your voice,” the doc-tor’s hands gently touched mom’s face wherebruises were beginning to fade. The tender-ness was so clear I had to look away becausewatching seemed intrusive. You didn’t haveto be an emotional superconductor like meto see he loved my mom deeply. Anyone witheyes could see she meant the world to him.

“Uneventful night?” he asked.“Yep,” Evan answered for us.“Good. Well, Alik and Cole are on the

third floor doing their magic act for the kids.Do either of you want to go stand in the backof the room and make fun of them?” Dr.Andrews smiled mischievously.

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“I’ll go. I’ve been cooped up since yester-day. Do you mind Meg?” Evan askedthoughtfully.

“Hum? Oh, no. I don’t mind at all, Ev.Have fun,” I said thinking I’d rather not seeCole right now. Good grief, I thought to my-self. I know nothing about Creed, but here Iam feeling guilty for having spoken with him.Well, that’s not exactly true. I feel guilty be-cause of the attraction I have for him.Besides, I don’t even know if Creed is safe.What if he’s working for Williams? But, if heis, wouldn’t he have just kidnapped or killedme last night when he had the chance? I wascompletely unaware of him there in theshadows. He could have put a bullet rightthrough me if he wanted to.

This is crazy, I thought to myself. Let itgo, Meg. You have enough to worry about.No time for a love life. Leave that mushystuff to the normal girls out there.

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“Would you mind hanging out for fiveminutes so I can take a fast shower, Dr.Andrews?” I asked. “I don’t like leaving momunattended.”

Maze whined.“No offense, Maze. I just need someone

who can speak English, just in case. Thenthere’s that opposable thumb thing,” I teasedwhile patting his ample flank.

“Oh, sure, Meg. I have a phone call tomake anyway,” he graciously added, reach-ing for the hospital phone on Margo’s bed-side table.

“Great, thanks. I won’t be long,” I saidhurrying to gather a fresh change of clothes.

The moment I stepped under thestreams of hot water, my mind wanderedback in time. When I think back to that dayat the Institute, I am still in awe we all sur-vived. The media reported the event in all itstelevision glory while the smoke was still bil-lowing from the Institute. But once the ashes

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cooled, Dr. Andrews’ best friend and policedetective, Greg Burns was able to keep all de-tails out of the news.

Dr. Williams fled the country the samenight his Institute burned, so the authoritieshad a lot of questions for him, as well. Oncethe fire investigators released their reportnoting the cause of the fire and subsequentexplosions was caused by arson, even morepeople wanted to talk with Dr. Williams.However, he was nowhere to be found.

He was last seen boarding his personaljet, accompanied by a woman namedMichelle Andrews. Their flight plan indic-ated a trip to the Cayman Islands, but therewas no record they ever landed there and anescape to a completely different location isassumed.

Dr. Andrews, when he found outMichelle had left him, was quiet and solemn.He never went into the particulars with uskids, but he mentioned in a small voice once,

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how upset he was with himself for “allowingthat rebound marriage.” Something abouthis failed attempt of recreating what he lostwhen Jenna, Cole’s mom, died.

Then when he found out Michelle wasdefinitely conspiring with Dr. Williams, heblew his top. Who could blame him? Al-though I did try to warn him, I couldn’t bringmyself to give him the infamous “I told youso” speech. Especially not when I could sensehe was enraged to the point of popping ablood vessel!

It didn’t take him long to realize she hadbeen the one to inform Dr. Williams of hisplans to help me and my brothers. And thatit was she who planted the GPS tracker andaudio transmitter in the SUV before we leftKansas to travel to California. He wondered,though he wouldn’t say it out loud, how farback Dr. Williams’ influence went withMichelle. How much of his life had been re-ported back to the Institute by his own wife?

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As I said, I knew something was wrongwith that woman all along, but sometimesmen need proof. He had his proof now. I alsoknew he’s been blaming himself for Alik,Evan and me being pulled out of hiding andback in Dr. Williams’ radar. He feels asthough he should have been smart enough tocatch on to Michelle’s deceit. Then shewouldn’t have been around the day I calledasking for his help to find our mom.

I have wanted to talk with him, but itreally isn’t my place. I have found the more Ilet on that I know what an adult is feeling,the less I should say about it. It seems tomake them feel very uncomfortable aroundme. I can’t help knowing, but it is maddeningknowing, and not being in the position to doanything about it.

Still deep in thought, I stepped out of theshower and dressed quickly. I was so en-grossed in my internal commentary on lifeand the world we live in, that I couldn’t

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remember if I’d washed my hair. I was stillarguing with myself even as I grab my towel.Crud. My hair smelled clean, but maybe Ijust used conditioner and skipped the sham-poo entirely. Darn it! I threw the towel down,undressed again, and turned the showerback on. Focus, Meg, I reminded myself.

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8 Sleeping Beauty

After hearing the shower turn on, Dr.Andrews pressed the ten digits he had mem-orized for a couple dozen years and waitedpatiently for the line to start ringing.

“Theo?”“Hey, Greg. Yeah, it’s me.” If anyone

were listening to Dr. Andrews’ voice justthen they would have noticed a big changefrom how he sounded just moments ago withthe children in the room. Now, he soundedexhausted and sad.

“What’s up, big man? How is everyonedoing?” the detective asked cryptically. Hewas always a cautious guy; one of thosehabits he picked up from his job.

“About the same. My patient is stillslowly recovering. Her kids are keeping con-stant vigil more for her protection than

anything. It’s been a long two weeks. Anynews you can share?”

“There are a few pieces of information.Are you on a land-line?” he askedrhetorically.

“Yeah, I’m at the hospital.”“Of course you are.”“Well, if that isn’t the pot calling the

kettle black. When was the last time you tooka day off?”

“Listen, when your girlfriend stops piss-ing off the wrong people, then I’ll take abreak. But for now, I’m a little busy.”

“I know, man. Sorry. The kids and I arefeeling like sitting ducks here.”

“Yeah, I bet you are. Here’s what I’velearned. Williams has another place heworks out of—in Germany. That’s where wethink he’s holding up. Extradition isn’t work-ing too well, this time. He has all the rightpeople paid off.”

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“When you say another place, what ex-actly do you mean?”

“From what I can gather, it looks like acompound. There’re half a dozen buildingson a huge bunch of acres out in the middle ofnowhere-ville Germany. We’re talking twiceas big as that place he had in California.”

“Oh, crap.”“Wait. It gets better. The guy is not hurt-

ing for money at all. We haven’t even traceda quarter of his holdings. He has billions,Theo.”

Dr. Andrews was rubbing his eyes withhis one free hand.

“You still there?” Greg asked after heonly heard silence.

“Yeah,” Theo breathed.“I wish I had better news for you.”“Well, this is pretty much what I expec-

ted. Leave it to Margo to piss off the mostevil and powerful mad scientist in the world.

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I’m not surprised,” Theo said, trying to laughin the dark.

“You guys need to move, and soon. Don’ttell me where you’re going; I’d rather havebelievable deniability—just in case.”

“Yeah, I understand.”“Good luck, Theo.”“Thanks, man. I…well, thanks.” Dr.

Andrews stood for a moment with his backto Margo holding the receiver like it was hislife-line. He was trying not to get choked up.It was so overwhelming to feel responsiblefor the safety of all these children and hisoldest and dearest friend, and probably thelove of his life. She was so injured that it wasstill painful to look at her through the eyes ofa man instead of a doctor.

“Mmmm,” Margo moaned softly.Theo turned and hurried to her side.

“Margo? It’s me, Theo. You’re at my hospitaland you and the kids are safe. Margo?”

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“Mmuph,” Margo’s eyes fluttered open.She tried to talk again, “Rrrugh mmuff”

“Try not to talk,” Dr. Andrews was doinghis level best not to burst in to sobs of reliefat seeing Margo awake. “Your jaw was…seri-ously injured. We had to wire it shut so itcould heal properly.”

Margo’s eyes looked frantically aroundthe room. Theo guessed she was looking forthe children. “Meg, Evan and Alik are allhere at the hospital, but they’re fine. Every-one has recovered from their injuries…well,except you. Meg’s in the bathroom gettingdressed. Alik, Evan and Cole are on the thirdfloor entertaining the sick childrenthere—with magic tricks,” he added with anervous laugh.

She motioned for something with whichto write.

“Good idea,” the doctor smiled. “Let mefind a pen and paper.”

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Her wrists were still wrapped and onearm was in a sling because of the broken ribsand fractured collar bone. But even throughall that, Margo grabbed the pen Theo gaveher available hand and wrote two words:Thank You.

The doctor blushed deeply and shook hishead. “Don’t thank me, it was your childrenwho saved you.”

Margo tipped her head slightly to theright and gave him an inquisitive look, thenimmediately winced from the pain caused bythe movement.

“Try not to move too much, Margo. Youstill have a lot of healing to do. Are you in alot of pain? Do you want me to increase yourpainkillers right now?”

Margo moved the pen slowly across thepaper and wrote: Williams?

“You must have a lot of questions, and tobe honest, I am probably not the best one totry to answer them. As far as I know,

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Williams is out of the country right now,probably licking his wounds,” Theo’s facegrew tight with anger.

Margo simply wrote: ?!“It’s a long story, but first, let me get the

kids for you,” he walked toward the bath-room door and knocked. “They’ll be so ex-cited you’re awake; they’d be upset of theydidn’t get to see you for themselves.”

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9 Reunited

I heard a sharp knock at my bathroomdoor just as I finished pulling one of my fa-vorite white T-shirts on.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” I called, mymind just as foggy with thoughts as the bath-room was with steam.

“Meg, your mom’s awake! Hurry up!” Dr.Andrews’ excitement carried through thedoor.

“Mom’s awake?” I threw the door openand bolted past the doctor, nearly tacklinghim because he didn’t move fast enough outof my way. Rushing to my mom’s side I sawfor myself. Her soft brown eyes glistenedwith happy tears. “Oh, mom. Thank Godyou’re awake! I love you so much!”

I felt a wave of love wash over me frommy mother’s heart. My connection with mom

was stronger than with anyone, ever. I couldfeel her emotions so clearly, sometimes itwas hard to distinguish which were hers andwhich were my own.

“I’m going to call down to the children’sward. Let’s get the boys up here, too,” Dr.Andrews was nearly bubbling with joy. Hereached for the telephone and pushed a fewbuttons, but I wasn’t paying attention tohim. I was too enthralled by my mom’s emo-tional roller coaster. She was oscillatingbetween feelings of thankfulness and thoseof terror.

“It’s okay, mom. You’re safe. We won’tlet anyone hurt you ever again,” I looked intoher still mangled face and felt her wave ofworry heighten even more.

“You’re not worried about yourself, areyou? You’re only worried about me and theboys getting hurt. Don’t be worried. We’ll getthrough this. All of us will,” I was holding my

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mother’s hand softly as I spoke. Shesqueezed it in response.

It must have been a total of two minutesfrom the time Dr. Andrews called the thirdfloor until the time Alik and Evan were grin-ning at their mom from her bedside.

“Where’s Cole?” Dr. Andrews askedlooking out the hospital room door and downthe hall.

“Um,…sorry about that, sir. We heardmom was awake and we both ran full speedup the four flights of stairs, not wanting tobother with the elevator. I guess Cole had ahard time keeping up. I’m sure he’ll be alongin a minute,” Alik was grinning adorably athis mom the whole time he spoke. Mom’seyes kept staring at each of our faces in turn,welling up with tears so often I took to gentlypatting them dry with tissues.

“I’m so thankful you’re awake, mom. It’sbeen awful having all these questions rollingaround in my head and knowing only you

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have the answers,” Evan smiled widely at hismom.

“You know, mom. Maze has refused toleave your side the entire time you’ve been inthe hospital?” At the sound of his name,Maze walked up to mom’s bed and stood onhis hind legs, balancing by gently placing hispaws on the edge of her mattress. His sweetyellow eyes studied mom’s face. He cockedhis head to the right, as he does when he’strying to figure something out then let out asoft wine. I scratched between his ears andsaid, “He wanted to be sure you were safe.”Mom reached out with her one good handand let Maze lick her fingers. Furry love; it’sa beautiful thing, I laughed to myself.

“Unnn an ur ach ish oph?” mom askedincoherently.

“She wants to know when they can takethe wires out of her jaw so she can talk,” Itranslated to the room. Mom looked at meappreciatively.

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“How on earth did you understand her?”Dr Andrews asked amazed.

I shrugged, “I dunno, I just can,” Ianswered trying not to sound like a superfreak.

“Margo, I’ll get in touch with your max-iofacial surgeon and ask him to come exam-ine you. He’s one of the best in the world.We’ll see what he says.” The doctor still hadthat sweet goofy grin every time he looked athis recovering patient. “For now, let’s juststick to having you write what you want tosay, or letting Meg translate for you,” he saidand gave me a wink.

Mom sighed deeply. All the excitementwas tiring her out quickly and her pain wasgetting too intense. She was still trying tostudy our faces, so happy to see all of us safe,but her body was telling her she needed torest.

“Dr. Andrews, I think mom needs somepain meds now. And she needs us to let her

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get some sleep, too,” I said watching her face.I felt mom wistfully wish she weren’t so weakbecause she didn’t want to sleep yet. “It’sokay, mom. We’ll be here when you wake up.Don’t worry. You just rest and keep healing.”

Dr. Andrews was adjusting the speed ofmom’s I.V. drip. Evan was smoothing mom’sblankets, and Alik leaned down andwhispered something in his mother’s ear. Ilooked away to give him is moment, but Iknew exactly what he was saying to her. Alikmay be the strong, silent type, but his emo-tions run almost as deep as mine. He wastelling mom how much he loves her and howhe will take care of everyone, just like shetaught him. Then, and here’s where I had tobite my lip to keep from bursting into tears,then he told her how proud he was to be herson.

Evan was talking in hushed tones to Dr.Andrews—discussing mom’s current medi-cinal needs. That was his way of showing his

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love. He wanted to figure everything out forher. My sweet little brother, the problemsolver.

Mom drifted off just when a knock cameat the door. Evan opened the door to findCole holding himself up against the doorframe, panting. “What’d I miss?” he gasped.

I smiled up at Cole as he walked towardmy sleeping mother and stood beside me.“She woke up, Cole, and she wore herself outfrom all the excitement. She’s sleeping now,”I studied the lines in my mother’s face stillfeeling love emanating from her.

“Darn it! I missed it!” he said sheepishly.“Did you profess your undying love for her,dad?” he winked over to his father who hadbeen gazing with obvious affection at hispatient.

“That’s enough out of you, ColeAndrews,” the doctor said, but blusheddeeply.

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“Let’s let the Winter family have a fewmoments alone,” he said, grabbing his son bythe shoulders and directing him back to thedoor. “I’ll be in the ER if you need me,” Dr.Andrews called over his shoulder while Colecontinued to protest gently. “And Cole willbe back on the third floor waiting for you,Alik.”

The door closed behind them with a softclick. My brothers and I exchanged looks.We hadn’t discussed how much we had allbeen worried about mom not waking up, notgetting better. Now that we saw mom’s con-dition change for the better, we all neededtime to process our emotions. Some of usmore than others.

“Thank God she woke up,” Evan saidsoftly. My little brother was always good atstating the obvious.

Alik was sitting with his hands draped inhis lap, fingers intertwined. Psychologically,one might say he was feeling helpless. I knew

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exactly how he felt. He cleared the emotionsin his throat and said, “I talked with Theoabout our need to come up with a plan.We’re vulnerable out in the open like thisand Williams isn’t done with us.”

“Evan and I were just discussing thesame thing this morning. We need to figureout a way to keep mom safe so she can finishrecuperating. She’s been too fragile to go intohiding so far.” I found myself looking intoAlik’s sky-blue eyes and comparing them toCreed’s. My brother’s eyes were alwaysswimming with emotions right under thesurface. The crystal blue was strikingly hand-some against his darker skin. Creed’s eyeshad a completely different feel. His were adarker blue and seemed cunning and mys-terious. Both of them had wide-set, express-ive eyes. And they both had annoyingly longeyelashes.

“…right, Meg?” my brothers were look-ing at me expectantly.

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“Hum? What? I’m sorry, my mind waswandering,” I stammered.

“Keep up with us, Meggie. This is notime for day dreaming,” Alik gently scolded.

“I know. Must be a little sleep deprived.”Alik looked into my face and squintedslightly.

“No, there’s something else going on.What aren’t you telling us, Meg?” he askedwith a scary amount of confidence.

“Nothing. I only know what you know,” Ilied. Am I that obvious? Can’t I even thinkabout a cute guy without my brothers givingme a hard time? It’s none of their businessanyway.

Alik wasn’t going to let up that easily.“Meg, I can see it all over your face. So-mething has happened since I last saw you.Are you going to tell us, or do I have to beatit out of you?”

“For crying out loud, Alik! We have moreimportant things to worry about, don’t you

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think? Enough with the inquisition!” Even tomy ears, I sounded a little too squeaky.

“Well, it has been a while since wespared,” Evan said casually.

“Gotta keep up our skills,” Alik noddedin agreement, letting a wide grin spreadacross his face.

“We haven’t been able to spar becausethe only time the three of us are togetherthese days is when we’re right here in mom’shospital room,” I tried to sound logical, likeEvan.

“She’s got a point, Al,” Evan agreed.I didn’t care if they wanted to fight, as

long as that got Alik off my back about thesecret he was sure I was keeping. Heck, Iwouldn’t mind discussing quantum physics ifthat got my brothers to leave me alone.

“I’m pretty sure we could step out for fif-teen minutes. We can make sure Cole andDr. Andrews know where we are if there’s anemergency. Now that mom has awakened,

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her condition isn’t nearly as delicate. Andher call-button is right next to her. Matter offact…I bet the children on the third floorwould love to see a good match.” Alik smiledat his idea.

“Oh, that’s a great idea. I don’t thinkthey were as much fascinated by Cole’s magictricks as they were about laughing at him ingeneral. Pretty sure they wouldn’t mindscooting to their windows and watching uson the hospital’s lawn from there,” Evanconcluded.

“You’re serious about this?” I asked.“Absolutely,” the boys said in unison.“Maybe little Megglet has lost her edge,

Evan,” Alik teased.“She’s probably too worried about mess-

ing up her hair…” Evan added with a know-ing nod.

“Or braking a nail,” Alik pretended tobuff his nails on his jeans then held his handup to his face in mock adoration.

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My blood was boiling. I hated it whenthey teased me, and they knew it! Stupidbrothers!

“Okay, baby brothers. You asked for it.Alik, you go arrange it with the head nurseon the third floor. Evan you tell hospital se-curity that we’re just performing a martialarts ‘demonstration’ for the patients to watchfrom their windows and not actually tryingto kill anyone. I’ll go let Dr. Andrews knowwhere to find us. Meet me on the north lawnin ten minutes,” I said through clenchedteeth.

“Excellent!” Alik smiled widely. “Andafter I kick your butt, you have to tell mewhatever it is you’re keeping secret.”

“And if I win, you have to walk aroundfor one full day with a sign on your back thatreads ‘I wet the bed!’” I growled.

“I don’t wet the bed, Meg,” Alik laughed.“This secret must be juicy if you’re that madat the idea of having to spill it.”

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“Shut up!” I countered stupidly.“What happens if I win?” Evan piped up

from the corner of the room. He was tighten-ing the laces on his sneakers.

Alik and I looked over at our little broth-er and laughed. “Thanks Evan, we needed alittle comic relief just then,” Alik teased.

“I wasn’t trying to be funny, and I couldwin.” Evan sounded like a little kid whowanted to keep up with his big siblings, butinstead was left pouting and kicking at thedirt in frustration.

“You could win, Ev,” I said. “But today, Ineed to teach Alik a lesson.”

“Pft. Enough talk; let’s go!” Alik wasalready walking toward the door. Evan and Ifollowed.

“Maze, you stay here and watch aftermom, okay? We’ll be back in a few minutes,but don’t be surprised if some of us are limp-ing when we return,” I narrowed my eyes atAlik.

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Maze sat dutifully at mom’s bedside andsniffed loudly. He didn’t approve of us leav-ing, at all, and for a split second, I sensedthis could be a bad idea. Everyone would seeus outside putting on a superhuman displayand anyone who knew anything about uscould easily conclude that our sick mom wasleft alone.

“Hey guys,” I said. “Maybe this isn’t sucha good idea. What if…”

“Are you backing out?” Alik taunted,raising one eyebrow.

“Come on, Meg-a-Chicken! We won’thurt you too badly,” Evan chimed in.

I tightened my jaw knowing full well if Ilet the words I was thinking gush from mymouth, I’d sound worse than a drunken sail-or! I closed mom’s door behind us andlistened for the lock to click.

It was only then that I noticed the time.It was eleven thirty. I was supposed to meetCreed at noon. Darn it! Even if I finished

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kicking Alik’s butt by noon, I’d end up allsweaty and roughed-up looking when I metCreed on the hospital’s west lawn. Shoot!

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10 Yelling at the Drive-Through

Creed happened to be sitting in his truckin the hospital parking lot trying to decidewhat to do next. He had a half hour to killbefore meeting the girl. Maybe he shouldpick up some lunch for them. On secondthought, that may look too desperate.Besides, it’s hard to talk with someone whenwe’re both chewing. He started the car, drovedown the street and pulled into a fast-fooddrive-through.

“I’ll take your order whenever you’reready,” the plastic menu said in a bored tone.Creed was still amazed at some things mostAmericans take for granted. There were nodrive-through fast-food restaurants in oraround the Facility back in Germany.

Still not sure how to do this, Creed yelledback to the voice. “Yeah, hi. I need to get twodrinks.”

“Small, medium, large or extreme?” thevoice droned.

“How big is ‘extreme’?” Creed couldn’thelp asking.

“That’s sixty-four ounces.” Now the voicesounded less bored and a little more an-noyed, as though the size of the drinks werecommon knowledge.

“Wow, that’s probably way too much,”Creed said to himself. “Just give me two me-dium drinks, please,” deciding that medium,by definition, seemed like a good amount.

“What kind of drink?” the voice asked.“What kind? Um,…” he said trying

frantically to find the list of drinks on themenu in front of him.

“We have every kind of soda, includingthe diet and caffeine free versions. Cherry,lime, grape, strawberry, lemon, orange,

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coconut and mint flavoring. Smoothed,creamed, iced, blended or layered,” the voicerambled through the possibilities so fast itwas dizzying.

“Can I just have water?” Creed askedholding his head.

The voice sighed deeply, “What flavor?”“Flavor? I just want water flavored wa-

ter!” Creed was starting to get a headache.“Tap, mountain river, running stream,

oxygenated, carbonated or vitamins added?”The voice sounded like it wanted to reachthrough the plastic menu and slap him. Thefeeling was mutual.

By now there was a line of cars formingbehind him, waiting to place their order. Onecar even honked at him.

“What…uh…what’s the most populardrink you serve?” he asked desperately of theplastic menu.

“We have a lot of popular drinks here,” itsaid, stupidly.

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“Clearly. Just give me two mediumdrinks of whatever the last guy ordered,”Creed yelled.

When he pulled up to the next window,as instructed, he nearly threw the pimple-faced cashier a twenty dollar bill and staredmenacingly at him.

“Here are your drinks, sir,” the fast foodworker said, a little more politely now thathe saw how hugely muscular Creed was.“They are mint flavored creamed smooth-ies…that’s what the last guy ordered.” Hisskinny shoulders shrugged innocently.

“Fine,” Creed said and drove awaywithout waiting for his change. He was won-dering how anyone would want to live withall these choices when he pulled into the hos-pital parking lot and saw a crowd forming onthe hospital grounds.

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11 Battle at Hospital Hill

I couldn’t believe the crowd that hadalready gathered both at the third floor win-dow of the hospital and right here around mybrothers and me as we took a few minutes tostretch. We hadn’t even begun the exhibitionyet and we had an eager audience.

“What did you two do?” I asked motion-ing to the twenty or so people standingaround us and the dozens of little facespressed into the glass of the third-floorwindows.

“Just what you asked us to do,” Evansaid. “We let the third-floor and hospital se-curity know about our ‘demonstration’ so Iguess word spread.”

“Worried too many people will bearound to see your butt-whoopin?” Alikgrinned over at me.

“Pft. You babies ready to play?” I asked,and stood arms tight at my sides in theready-to-begin stance.

“Sure thing,” Alik stopped stretching andtook his position between Evan and me. Allthree of us stood side by side facing thehospital.

“Hep,” I barked sharply as was our wayof synchronizing our starting bow. Demon-strating respect for our imagined opponent,we bowed deeply while maintaining eye con-tact. Slowly, we righted ourselves and began.

This kata was one of mom’s most basic.It was a training exercise promoting properfooting, form and technique. Each move-ment was to be executed with precision andsynchronicity among the three of us. Andafter years of training, my brothers and Iwere so familiar with the movements wecould do this kata blindfolded. Matter of fact,we had done it blindfolded.

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Each maneuver was performed twice.The first time fast enough to have missed ifyou blinked, then again slowly so the audi-ence could study how we did what we did.

We flew through a blurry-fast series ofdefensive hand-to-hand combat movementsdemonstrating exact form and footing thenrepeated ourselves in slow motion. Wepresented a series of kicks—front, side, rear,roundhouse—first fast, then repeated slowly.

As I moved to the well-known kata, mybody seemed to awaken with joy. I was com-pletely unconcerned with the eyes watchingme. Instead, all I thought about was howhappy it made me to let myself move freelyand not hold back. Whipping through thesefamiliar motions, punching, kicking, block-ing; it almost brought a giggle to my throat.

My senses came alive during these mo-ments, as though this is exactly what I wasdesigned to do. I loved the tug of eachmuscle as I moved, the wind rushing past my

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skin as I struck empty air. Movement is joyto me.

When the kata ended, my brothers and Ibowed to a cheering audience clapping hap-pily for us. I glanced over at my brothers,whose faces looked just as content as I felt.We all loved this.

Mom taught us well. Knowing we wouldneed to defend ourselves from Dr. Williams,she trained us to be warriors. Living back onthe ranch with no other kids around, wedidn’t know it was unusual to have the edu-cation we did from our mom. We thoughtlots of kids grew up with combat training.Like some kids went to soccer practice ortook piano, I assumed some kids practicedand excelled in the art of guerilla warfare,like me. I was also unaware of our superiorstrength compared to an average human be-ing. Only able to practice with my brothersand my mom, I thought everyone could dowhat I did.

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Though mom was a regular human be-ing, she had skills and training achievedthrough years of service as a special-forcessoldier. She had trained her mind just asmuch as her body. She taught us how to pushourselves beyond what we thought we coulddo; and being metas, we could do a lot. Sheconditioned us to become extremely con-trolled, precise and if need be, lethal.

I was thinking about mom in the secondsthat flashed just as we completed our kata. Ifelt a wave of gratefulness for everything shedid for us; all the sacrifices she made to pro-tect us. But my reverie was broken when Iheard Alik call, “Ready, hep!” It was ourtransition signal to begin a different demon-stration. I couldn’t help but smile in anticip-ation. All three siblings faced each other in aloose triangle.

Just as we were about to bow, indicatingto those watching that we were about to

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begin battling each other, something caughtmy eye.

There, standing next to a tree in thegrassy courtyard, was Creed. He was holdinga couple drinks looking bug-eyed surprised.And if I were honest with myself, he alsolooked embarrassed. Oh, good grief! Of allthe stupid things my brothers have gottenme into, this was the most humiliating! Iglanced away quickly. C’mon Meg…focus.

By the time I glanced back, Creed wasgone. Maybe I was mistaken. Maybe thathadn’t been Creed and my eyes were playingtricks on me. I tried to convince myself thatwas the case so I could complete the task athand. Namely kicking my brothers’ butt!

“I know you two want to jump right intoit, but how about we set some rules?” Evanspoke over the crowd that was quickly grow-ing around us.

“Half?” Alik called to me.

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“Fine.” I smiled watching my brotherscarefully. “Half” to us meant we would hitwith only half our strength so as not to causelasting damage.

We moved around watching each othercarefully. Throughout the years, we practicedmany two-against-one battles. So the fluidityof our movements probably made what wewere doing look easy. Alik punched, I dodgedand swept his leg. Alik jumped and spun intoa kick to my chest and landed gracefully onhis feet.

“Oh, come on! Quit dancing around youtwo,” Evan chided and made the first moveto strike outside the predictable. His strategywas perfect. Alik had expected him to goafter me, so the double punch to his sidecaught him completely off guard. Even asAlik worked to defend himself, my roundhouse kick knocked him on his back.

The crowd cheered, but I was ignoringeveryone except my brothers. I jumped

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toward Alik and whipped my hand right intohis chest. Evan came up behind me andgrabbed me around the neck. One quick shiftof my hips and I flipped him onto his back,but apparently this was the plan, becauseeven as Evan was flying, Alik knocked medown face first into the cold, damp autumngrass and ranked my elbow up and behindme. His knee was digging in my back pain-fully. The crowd gasped.

“Spill it,” Alik spoke softly to the back ofmy head.

“You’ve gained weight, little brother. Getoff me!” I growled, red-faced.

“Not until you spill it,” Alik cooed.“You two ganged up on me! Evan, how

could you?” I called to him trying to guilthim into helping me.

Evan shrugged and smiled sweetly. “It’sfor your own good.”

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The crowd was murmuring—obviouslyconcerned for the poor girl getting her faceplanted into the ground by the brothers.

“I could scream. That would make youlook like bullies to all these people.” I tried toleverage.

“You wouldn’t dare because that wouldmake you look like a weak little girl cryingfor help,” Alik chided using a voice that wassupposed to sound like mine.

“Just spill it, so we can get this over with.Don’t you want to hurry back to mom?” Evanpleaded.

“Low blow, Ev,” I said seriously. “Fine,I’ll say it...,” and hesitated because I hated togive in to these oafs. They were not going tobe okay with Creed.

“Any day now, Meg.” Alik shifted hisweight a little more heavily onto my back.

“Uuhhggg…okay, okay…I met a guy.Now let me up,” I yelled.

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“You what?” Evan looked completelyshocked.

“We’re not done discussing this, Meg,”Alik growled into my ear. “But stand up andwave to the crowd so they don’t startpanicking.”

He moved off my back and let go of myarm. I was glad I couldn’t see the look inAlik’s eyes. It was bad enough I could feel hisdisapproval.

Both boys added to the act by helping meto my feet. I dusted off the grass and leavesfrom my clothes and waved to the crowd tolet them think I was fine, but I wasn’t fine. Iwas about to get the third degree from mystupid brothers about the dangers of talkingwith strangers—what with meta monstershunting us and all.

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12 Moment of Reckoning

He couldn’t believe his luck. This was it.The three metas were away from the target.Margo Winter was alone and unprotected.He scanned the area around the three metas.No coyote. That’s not a problem. He hadfigured he would have to take the wild dogout anyway and had already made arrange-ments for just such a job.

From the looks of the growing crowd,these three would be busy entertaining for awhile. Creed’s mind was racing with possibil-ities, tactics and scenarios.

He was a soldier trained to use his brainas much as he was trained to use his body.He knew this chance probably would notcome again. He knew what he had to do, butjust as he was about to turn away, he unin-tentionally caught the girl’s eye. For a split

second, he hesitated. He remembered hergentle touch and the scent of her hair. He re-membered watching her smile up at himtrusting him when she should have beenrunning from him. How could a girl who haslived through all she has still have a naivetyabout her? How could she still walk aroundwith hope and trust when her life was builton deception?

She looked surprised and embarrassedjust before she looked away. Damn, I wishshe hadn’t seen me. Creed thought to him-self. If he were honest with himself, Creedwould have wished he hadn’t seen her. Hetried to push her from his mind and focus onhis target objective. He bolted to the hospit-al, barely pausing to chunk the drinks intothe first trash can he passed.

Just take things one step at a time,Creed. You know what you have to do. Playthis by the book, and Williams will give youyour freedom and possibly your family.

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You’ve wanted this forever, man. It’s rightat the tip of your fingers. Just forget thegirl. The ends justify the means. Move!

He kept this internal dialog going the en-tire run up the stairwell to the seventh floorand continued his silent pep talk even as hewalked into the men’s restroom. He walkeddirectly into the farther of the only two stallsand quickly pulled the tile away from thewall just behind the commode. He kept hisvigil as he removed the plastic bag stuffed in-to the small hole he dug there days ago. Evenas he removed the gun from the bag andslipped it up the sleeve of his right arm, hecontinued to chant, move, move, move, tohimself.

Creed walked out the bathroom door,down the hallway, toward hospital roomnumber 720. The nurses’ station was almostdirectly across from it, but the only twopeople there were deep in conversation. It

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was a nurse and a doctor flirting on the job.How cliché.

“Excuse me, nurse?” Creed flashed histwo-hundred watt smile at her, and she im-mediately blushed.

“Hey Susan, I’ll catch up with you later,”the doctor said gruffly. He obviously didn’tlike how his girl reacted to this guy.

“Okay, Jimmy…er, I mean, Dr. Reese,”the nurse stammered. She returned her fullattention to the handsome stranger standingin front of her. His eyes were captivating; shecouldn’t stop staring.

“Susan, was it?” Creed asked smoothly.“Yes, that’s right,” she said coyly.“Hey, listen, I was wondering if you

could help me out? I’m a friend of the Winterfamily,” Creed said, casually pointing towardMargo’s room, “Alik, Evan and Meg aredownstairs putting on a show for a pretty bigcrowd of people, and they asked me to comeup here and check on their mom and Maze,

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their coyote, just until they get back,” Creedsmiled widely and shrugged as though say-ing, Ah, shucks, ma’am. I’m a harmless guywith a bunch of paranoid friends and justtrying to keep the peace.

“Oh, okay,” the nurse’s brow furrowedslightly as she tried to remember if she’dever heard of a “friend of the family” thatmay come to visit. She couldn’t think of any-one, but then, she hadn’t been on duty forthe last two days, so maybe there was achange in the orders.

“Listen, I can tell that guy, Jimmy, reallyhas a thing for you, but between you andme…you can do a lot better. Maybe we couldgrab something to eat later? When do youget off?” Creed leaned over the counter andlet his eyes smolder at the impressionableyoung nurse. He may have only been eight-een, but he had an aura about him that wasedgy, rough and experienced. He easily couldpass for twenty-five. He didn’t have much

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more time to waste with the girl, so he waslaying it on thick.

Her hesitation was gone as she roundedthe desk with a flirtatious sway to her hipsand made her way Margo’s room. Creed ranhis fingers through his hair, flashing acrooked grin at the nurse. Her fingersquivered as she typed in the code that un-locked the door. After peaking in at the pa-tient herself, she stepped back out to thehallway and whispered, “My shift is over atseven-thirty.”

Creed smiled widely at the girl and said,“I’ll see you then, Susan.”

He turned and closed the door softly be-hind him. That’s when he heard the growlingstart.

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13 The Third Degree

I was hopping mad. By the time thecrowd dispersed and we were out of ear-shotfrom passersby, I was ready to scream, but,so were the boys.

“What do you mean you met someone?”Alik dove right in.

“What part of that sentence are you toodumb to understand?” I growled back.

“Who is he, Meg?” Evan asked simply.His face was tight with worry.

“He’s just a guy I met here at the hospit-al. He was visiting a sick friend. We startedtalking. It’s not big a deal!” I shot back.

“Not a big deal?” Alik’s sky-blue eyesflashed with fury. “What if this guy is a spysent by Williams?”

“Listen, you two. I know what you’rethinking, and you’re wrong. He’s just a niceguy. They do exist, you know.”

“How do you know he’s a nice guy?”Evan asked.

“How do you know he’s not?” I yelled abit too loudly. Lowering my voice I added,“Isn’t it possible a nice, normal guy wouldthink I’m cute and want to get to know mebetter?” I felt angry tears welling up in myeyes.

“Well, of course. Cole’s crazy about you,”Alik said softly.

I felt the bitter sting of guilt in the pit ofmy stomach at the mention of Cole. Then aflash of resentment welled up. “I will not bemade to feel guilty for allowing myself to ex-perience some modicum of normalcy.”

“Let me put it to you this way, Meg,”Evan said calmly. “How would you feel if youfound out Alik was keeping secret a relation-ship with a girl he just met here?”

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My mouth opened, but no sound cameout. How would I feel? I would feel furious athim for not staying focused on our life-and-death situation. I’d feel scared for him thathe was going to get hurt when he has alreadybeen so hurt by life. And I guess I’d be waryof any girl who put a wedge between me andmy brother when I needed to be able to leanon him the most.

I looked over at Alik, understandingmore clearly why he reacted this way. “Oh, Ihadn’t thought of it that way,” I said softly,trying to figure out a way to make thingsright. “Would it help if you met him?” Iasked my brothers. As soon as the wordscame out of my mouth, I regretted them. DidI just invite my brothers to come chaperonemy twelve o’clock meeting with my dreamguy?

“Yeah, actually. It would help,” Alik saidsmoothly.

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Rolling my eyes in unrestrained frustra-tion, I began walking and my brothers fol-lowed right behind me.

“Look, he’s just a regular guy; completelyharmless. He’s been at the hospital visiting afriend who was in an accident,” I explainedas we walked around the hospital to the frontlawn where I was to meet Creed.

“Let us decide how harmless he is,” Evanmuttered while chewing thoughtfully at theinside of his cheek.

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14 The Scent of Death

The dim light from the window’s curtainonly partially drawn was enough for him tosee the coyote’s eyes and teeth. Maze wasstanding protectively at the foot of the wo-man’s bed, crouched and ready to attack. Noamount of charm would affect thiscreature—Creed knew that. Animals weresmarter than people in so many ways. He letthe gun slip down to his hand and in thesame fluid motion pulled the trigger. Mazeyelped, jumped back and fell to the floor in afurry heap.

Excellent, he thought to himself.He looked over at the bed and for the

first time looked into the face of his target.Dr. Margo Winter lay motionless, save therise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Shewas completely asleep. This couldn’t be any

easier, he thought to himself as he grabbed apillow that had been lying on a neatly foldedblanket in the chair beside the woman.

He lifted the pillow and caught a familiarscent. Pulling the pillow toward his face, heinhaled deeply. It smelled exactly like Meg.The scent of her shampoo was on this pillow.She laid on this—slept her peaceful, naïvesleep. Pressed her cheek into this pillow andclosed her eyes. His imagination was crisp.

Creed shook his head, trying to snaphimself out of it. Quit thinking of the girl,and finish the job. When you’re done withthis target, you can think about her. Justfinish what you started before you run outof time! He scolded himself back into reality.The idea of running out of time and being inthis room when Meg came back was enoughto make him feel a wave of panic. He took astep toward the woman, leaned over her, andslipped the pillow up to her face. It was then

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that she opened her eyes and looked withterror into the face of her executioner.

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15 He Was Just Here

“Where’s he from?” Alik asked“How old is he?” Evan asked before I

could answer Alik.“How did you meet him?”“Who is his ‘friend’?”“What does he know about you?”“For Pete’s sake, you two! You don’t even

stop asking questions long enough to let meanswer!” I was getting more nervous withevery step. Introducing my brothers to thishandsome guy I barely knew was reallysounding like a crazy-stupid idea.

“I don’t know where he’s from. He’sabout eighteen-years-old. I met him whiletaking Maze for a walk. I don’t know hisfriend, and he doesn’t even know my name!”I felt myself very close to the edge of panic as

I looked around the lawn. Creed wasn’tthere.

“Well, where is this mystery guy ofyours?” Alik asked scanning the area.

“Stop calling him that. He’s no mystery,just a guy,” I said trying to sound composed.“I saw him at a distance while we were spar-ing. I don’t know how much he saw, butmaybe it freaked him out.” I swallowed hard.“You know, regular girls don’t fight for funlike me,” my voice trailed off. I was lookingat my sneakers wondering what I must havelooked like to him. I felt heat spread up myneck and burn my ears and was thankful formy long hair right about then. When you feellike a freak, it’s nice to have a built in veilthat can hide your pain.

“Maybe he just had to run to the bath-room,” Evan offered, gently.

“Not everyone has a fascination withbathroom plumbing like you, Ev,” Alik said.“Listen, Meg. We’d better head back to

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mom’s room. We’ll meet him some othertime. Okay?” I felt my brother’s arm drapeover my shoulders in an uncharacteristicallyaffectionate way. I couldn’t help it. Hot tearsof humiliation brimmed in my eyes. Icouldn’t look at my brothers. The first timeI’m to introduce them to a boy I liked, andthe idiot stands me up!

“Who are we going to meet some othertime?” a familiar voice spoke from behind us.I turned to see Cole’s gentle, smiling face.His green eyes matched the evergreens be-hind him. His dirty blond hair was just get-ting long enough to be called scruffy, even inhis halfhearted attempt at gelling it up andoff his forehead. He wore a soft brown fleecehoodie and faded blue jeans. His large handswere shoved into his front pockets in an ob-vious attempt to keep them warm against thecold Kansas day. I loved the way his widesmile made his nose crinkle just a little at thebridge. I felt as safe with Cole as I did with

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my brothers. And as I stood surrounded bymy boys, I couldn’t help but compare Cole toCreed.

“Um…Meg? You wanna answer him? Orshould I?” Alik said in a flat attempt at beingpolitically correct.

“Oh, no one important, Cole,” I saidwalking up to him and wrapping my armthrough his. I immediately felt a calmnessflood through me. It was crystal clear when Iwas around him: Cole’s love for me wasgenuine and unconditional. Why would I al-low myself to get swept up by a tall, darkstranger when I know where I should be?Why was Creed’s mysteriousness so darnsexy to me?

“We were just heading back to mom’sroom,” I said changing the subject. “So, didthe kids like our exhibition?”

My brothers were uncharacteristically si-lent as they fell into step behind me andCole. I could feel their disapproval of me.

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What did they want me to say? Yeah,um…Cole. See, I know you love me and haveproven you would risk your life for me andmy family, but I kinda met some other guyand totally get hot and bothered every timehe comes around. You good with that? I hadto work to push their judgmental feelingsaway from me.

“The kids were stoked! They were cheer-ing so loudly, the nurses came in and teasedthem that they would have to send everyoneback to bed if they didn’t calm down. Youshould have seen their faces. These little sickkids, some of them with no hair, skinny andpale, all of them wearing their hospitalgowns and slippers…they looked like theycould sprout wings and fly with excitementwatching you three!” Cole’s face flushed withhappiness as he talked. He really did have aheart of gold.

“I’m glad they enjoyed it,” I saidgenuinely.

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“I’ve watched you three spar lots oftimes, but it still makes me stare inamazement to see you do what you can dowhen, just to look at you, no one would sus-pect you were so tough,” Cole awkwardlycomplimented.

I looked up at him, and realized, not forthe first time, that he was a pretty tall guywho probably outweighed me by fiftypounds. I raised my brow at himmischievously.

“Um…what I mean is, that you’re a girl; afeminine and fragile-looking girl. So whenyou switch into meta-mode it’s just…”

I giggled to myself, completely forgettingabout Creed and being stood up; basking in-stead in Cole’s adorable glow of admiration.

“Dude, you passed awkward a while backand are fast approaching sappy,” Alik teased.

“Oh, be quiet, Ali,” I said protectively. “Ithink Cole’s observations are sweet.” Ihugged his arm gently while we waited for

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the elevator to take us back up to the seventhfloor.

The elevator was already pretty full ofpeople who were sure to be stopping at everyfloor between here and the seventh floorwhen I felt a burst of adrenaline fueled byterror.

“Oh, my God! Mom!” I whipped aroundtoward my brothers relaying the urgencywith my eyes as I felt more terror gushing to-ward me.

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16 Eyes Wide Open

Evan grabbed the elevator doors andpushed them back open for us to run out.Alik was ahead of me and Evan was besideme. We ran, full-speed toward the exit signabove the doors leading to the hospital’sstairwell. We took the stairs two and three ata time, nearly flying, till we arrived at theseventh floor doors and slapped them open.We didn’t stop running until we got tomom’s hospital room door.

Two nurses were standing, stunned andconfused in the hallway, as though they knewsomething just happened, but hadn’t hadtime to register what.

I heard a soft whimper coming from in-side—her door left slightly ajar. Alik kicked itopen with his foot. Evan and I were at hisheels, ready for battle. There was mom, eyes

wide with fear, tears spilling down. She wassitting up in her hospital bed, pointing to thecorner of the room. My eyes scanned theroom quickly to determine what she was soupset about when I saw it. There was a silvermound of fur in the corner of the room, halfunder a chair. It was Maze. He was pantingsoftly, but otherwise not moving.

Alik and Evan rushed to mom checkingher for any injuries, blood—anything to haveexplained what was happening. I rushed tomy best friend’s side and gently held his facein my hands. He was fighting to keep hiseyes open and let out a whimper just for me.It was all I could do to keep from screamingin pain and fury at whatever it was that hurtmy Maze.

Even as I ran my hands over his furgently, searching for a wound, blood orsomething, I was silently screaming at myselffor having left mom and Maze alone. Damnit! If Maze is hurt, it is my fault. I’m such a

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hot-headed idiot! What the hell was I think-ing, leaving him alone to protect mom?Damn it! I should know better!

Feeling and seeing nothing unusual onMaze’s right side, I slipped my hands underhim to gently roll him over so I could exam-ine the other side. My hands felt somethingimmediately and upon me jarring the object,Maze whimpered painfully. Completing theroll, I could now see his left flank and there,right in the shoulder, was a syringe-like ob-ject still stuck in his muscle. I yanked it outand set it on the table beside me thinking Imay need to have it studied to figure outwhat it was, but I was hoping it was just atranquilizer.

Just! Just? Are you freakin’ kidding me?If Maze was shot by anything, Williams’ isin on it. If Williams is behind this, then momprobably stared into the face of death mo-ments ago. He’s not letting up. Williams isready to finish what he started, Meg.

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“Mom, are you okay? What happened?”My voice cracked with emotion. I felt tornbetween fear and fury.

My mother’s eyes were streaming tearsas she slowly shook her head. The boys stoodon either side of her protectively. Both ofthem looked like they were ready to rip thehead off the person or persons responsiblefor hurting our family. I was right there withthem. The seething anger I felt boiling deepinside me was literally making me see red.

“That’s it. We’re leaving…now!” Alik’svoice was icy and absolute.

I nodded in agreement, afraid if I openedmy mouth to speak, I’d burst into flames ofrage. Instead, I turned to the small closet inmom’s hospital room and grabbed her suit-case. My hands began grabbing her thingsand throwing them in automatically. Aringing that existed only in my head muffledthe voices in the room. Alik was takingcharge, and I was eternally grateful to him

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for doing that. I couldn’t think straightthrough my rage. Mom was almost killed andMaze was hurt trying to defend her while Iwas unfocused and girly-stupid over somedork who...I shook my head hard. Stop it.Focus, Meg. Get mom to safety first then be-rate yourself over your stupidity.

“Evan, call the ER and get Dr. Andrewsand Cole up here,” Alik said coolly.

“Where are we going, Alik?” Evan askedlogically.

“We’ll decide when we’re en route.”“I may have a suggestion,” Evan added

as he picked up the hospital room phone.“Don’t say anything while we’re in this

room. We may have ears listening,” Alik andEvan nodded knowingly to one another.

Mom’s suitcase was stuffed, so I doveback into the closet looking for bags I couldfill with the remaining items. Finding what Ineeded, I rushed into the bathroom to gather

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toiletries. I jumped when there was a knockat the door.

Alik was there in an instant. “Who’sthere?” he barked in a voice I had neverheard him use.

“Cole! It’s Cole,” our friend’s voice wastense and out of breath.

Alik opened the door just wide enough tolet our friend in.

“Would you guys quit doing that? That’sthe second time in one day you’ve boltedfrom me and left me coughing in your dust!You’re gonna give a guy a complex you…”Cole stopped in mid-sentence when he sawMaze on the ground.

“What happened?” Cole’s eyes widenedlooking around at the bags being packed.“What’s going on?”

“Williams sent someone to break intomom’s room while we were…,” my voicecaught in my throat. “…while we were out-side, and he shot Maze. Mom’s okay, but

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terrified. I don’t know what stopped himfrom finishing what he started, but fortu-nately, mom doesn’t seem hurt,” I managedto say with only a half-dozen huge tears fall-ing off my pale skin.

Cole had already hurried to Margo tolook her over himself. “I’m so sorry Dr.Winter,” he said while gently holding herhand. “You must have been terrified. Don’tworry, everything’s going to be okay,” he saidgently patting her tears dry with fresh tis-sues. “Dad’s going to be pretty upset when hefinds out what happened. Between you andme, he’s pretty nuts about you, you know,”Cole spoke softly.

My brothers and I were rushing around,preparing for a hasty departure, but Cole wassitting very still beside my mom. He was justholding her hand and carefully fixing herblankets around the I.V. tube still drippingpain medicine into her vein.

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Here I was worried about my own feel-ings, my coyote, my secret crush, and therewas the sweetest boy I’d ever known who hadnothing to gain from being around me or myfamily…and it was he who stopped to holdmy mother’s hand. It was Cole’s appreciationof a human’s most basic needs that stoppedme in my tracks. Was I really so selfish not tohave seen my mother just needed to be held?

From the door we heard a series of beepsas Dr. Andrews entered the security code andburst through the door. “What happened?What’s going on?”

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Part 3Seasons Change

March 1stFive months after the Winter fam-

ily went into hiding.

Location:Undisclosed

17 Casting Light

At 3:14am I woke from the same dreamI’ve been having most nights and decided Ineeded to get up and brush my teeth. Notwanting to turn on the bathroom light, Istumbled to the sink, felt around until the fa-miliar mushy toothpaste tube landed undermy left hand, and the cylindrical shape of myautomatic brush under my right.

Deciding I was still too lazy to flip on thelight switch to see where the toothpaste waslanding when I tried to squeeze it onto thebristles, I opted for tipping my head backand squirting some paste directly into myopen mouth.

Ah yes, the cleansing beauty of tooth-paste. I sighed deeply as I brushed my teeth.Feeling the bristles massage my gums helpedme organize my thoughts. I know that

probably seems weird to most people. But,that’s just it, isn’t it? I’m not like mostpeople. Heck, according to my little brother’sresearch, I’m not even human.

We’ll get back to that later. I digress; Iwas going to tell you about my dreams. So, inthis one I’m able to fly. I know, not unusualfor a dream. But, I don’t just fly; I can alsothrow streams of light from my hands as I’mbattling a faceless evil. The light doesn’tcome from me, in my dreams, but throughme. It’s like I am some sort of angel of God,and I’m battling against demons.

Tonight’s dream was especially vivid. Init, I knew there were children being held cap-tive just below the surface of the earth, and Ihad to go rescue them. I prayed for strengthas I leaped into the air and landed hard,punching the ground with my fist. A hugehole opened, and I dove down into it. Therewas blackness everywhere. The blacknesssinged my skin, but I kept flying. I passed

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droves of wicked creatures writhing in pain,but I wasn’t there for them. I was being dir-ected where to go. I had to find the children.

The heat could have been suffocating, ifit weren’t for the cool light I felt in me, pro-tecting me. The stench from the wickednesssurrounding me was horrible. I knew I wasonly able to survive this because of the light’spure strength. It was as though I had a suitof armor made of the most beautiful irides-cent light. It was both on me and inside meso I was aware of the pain going on outsidethis protection, but unaffected by it.

I rounded a corner and knew I had topunch through the wall in front of me to findthe children. With a deep breath and intensefocus, I punched the cement-like barricadeand it shattered open. There were the chil-dren, cowering in the far corner. I rushed tothem, gathered them and flew back throughthe wicked rooms of this hell.

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When the shadows would try to attackme for taking these innocent, delicious soulsaway, I simply held out my hand, palm up,and a pillar of light would shoot from mywrist blasting all the darkness away from meand my precious cargo.

I flew the children back up through thehole I had punched in the earth’s surface andset their feet gently on the ground. A crowdhad gathered. I handed the children to thesegood people telling them to take care of thechildren—I had to go back for more. I doveback down into the wretched, stench-filled,black hole and kept battling as I searched formore children I knew were still there.

Again and again, I repeated my mission.Each time I would find two or three of the in-nocent ones, gather them up, cast light toclear our paths and fly them back up to thesurface.

Every time I had this dream, it was sim-ilar in that I was casting light against evil and

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rescuing children. Sometimes the locationwas different, but they had a commontheme: Heat, fire, burning flesh, stench,screaming, pain and innocent souls.

The souls of the innocent were deliciousto the demons. A delicacy. They craved them.The evil became stronger the more innocentsouls they consumed.

Well, now you see why I felt the need toget up in the middle of the night and brushmy teeth. Some nights, I’m dripping withsweat and have to take a shower, and changemy sweat-soaked bedding. Some mornings, Iwake and my jaw is hurting so badly I can’teven open my mouth to shove that proverbi-al toothbrush into it. Apparently, I clench myteeth during these dreams. I have a prettyhigh pain tolerance, but when I’ve beenfighting in my sleep all night, even I feel theeffects come morning.

I’m still trying to figure what it allmeans, but I can tell you one thing:

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Something huge is on the horizon, and Ithink I’m being prepared for it through mydreams.

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18 The Life of the Hunted

If my family and I weren’t being huntedby a madman, our new life would be prettygreat. We were staying with an old professormom and Theo worked with some twenty-five years ago. This was the man who securedthose fake IDs for mom when she first tookme and my brothers away from Dr. Williamsand the Facility as babies. This man hadbeen a true friend to my mother all theseyears by keeping her secret while she tried toraise me and my brothers in seclusion on ourTexas ranch.

It was he who Dr. Andrews called from anewly purchased cell phone even as we droveaway from the Kansas hospital that day fivemonths ago. His name is Dr. James St. Paul,but he insists everyone call him “Paulie.”

Paulie lives in Hawaii and he can usuallybe found in one of two places: his personallaboratory at one end of his house or out onthe waves, surfing. Paulie is a bit excentric.He’s always wearing his swim trunks, evenunder his lab coat, making him look like he’swearing a white dress with extremely hairy,tanned legs sticking out from beneath. Hesays you have to be ready in an instant tohop on your board if the waves are good.

The man is probably sixty-five, and be-sides surfing and winning awards for biogen-etic engineering, he also plays a right-handed guitar upside down to accommodatehis left-handedness and can catch a geckowithout breaking its tail. Sounds like onevery cool guy, right? He is. He’s like thegrandfather we never had. Not having a fam-ily of his own, Paulie seemed to love the role.

Alik, Evan and Cole worship the groundhe walks on. Paulie has taken them under hiswing and taught them how to live like locals.

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They’ve done everything from cliff divingand parasailing to whittling and hiking.

That’s right, Cole and Theo came withus. Theo gave up his entire tenure and prac-tice in Kansas to be with our mom. Cole, ofcourse, came with his dad. What sixteen-year-old wouldn’t want to graduate fromhigh school early and go live in Hawaii rentfree?

It has been a season of rest and recuper-ation for mom, but for me and my brothers,it’s been a time of reflection and redirection.Once the novelty of Hawaii wore off, mybrothers and I decided it was time to devise aplan of attack. We created goals together anddivided the tasks. That was about fourmonths ago.

Evan was to work with Dr. Andrews andPaulie on the study of our blood to try to de-termine what was going on with our metahu-man abilities. If Williams wanted our bloodso badly, we needed to figure out why.

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Alik studied plans of attack both defens-ive and offensive. He studied informationabout Dr. Williams’ himself, including all hisholdings, associates and projects. He workedon digging up anything he could about thedoctor’s past. Who was this guy? Where didhe come from? Who was his family? Whatmade him tick?

My task was a very internal one. Iworked on trying to control my ability tochannel into someone’s emotions. I was get-ting better at it, but there was no way I couldseek someone I only knew one-dimension-ally from thousands of miles away and tuneinto to their feelings. That just wasn’t hap-pening. Yet.

We were all beginning to feel veryanxious that something big was going to hap-pen soon. Williams would not just sit backforever while we tinkered with our meta abil-ities on the white sandy beaches of Hawaii.

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He had plans for us and revenge in hiswicked heart.

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19 The Family Meeting

“We need to have a family meeting. Dr.Andrews, Paulie and I need to discuss ourlaboratory findings,” Evan’s eyes reflectedthe gravity of his request. He had come intothe living room and knelt beside our muchrecovered mother. She and Alik were readingthick books as they sat side by side on thesofa, just as they had done for as long asEvan could remember. Margo was such a de-voted mother. It was obvious to everyone shewas happiest when surrounded by herchildren.

Margo put down her book and lookeddeeply into her youngest son’s eyes. Seeingthe profound seriousness and concern there,she whispered, “All right, Evan. Gathereveryone here, and we’ll talk.”

Alik’s previously relaxed posture imme-diately responded to the tone of the roomand he sat ridged, as if poised to leap intoprotective battle. Evan caught his eye beforehe stood to leave. Their exchange wassolemn.

Fifteen minutes later, the entire house-hold was present and accounted for. Theusually cozy living room filled with localHawaiian décor including small palms andwicker furniture felt decidedly tense.

Theo, Paulie and Evan stood fidgeting bythe bay window and mom, Alik and I sat un-comfortably on the sofa. Maze whined softlybeside me sensing there was somethingwrong. Without thinking, I reached toscratch my friend behind his alert ears. Colepaced nervously behind the couch.

Evan cleared his throat to begin. “We’vechecked and triple checked. We even triedchanging the variables and looked for envir-onmental factors that would contribute to or

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alter the results. Nothing. It’s fact. The muta-tions created in our bodies with the serumgiven to us as children did give us ultra abil-ities—more than any of the other metas Wil-liams created—but at a price,” Evan’s voicecracked just enough to give his emotionsaway. Evan, the smartest of all of them, thebaby, who was all logic and no emo-tion—Evan was trying not to cry.

“What Evan’s trying to say is that thedata has indicated your life spans have beenseverely shortened because of the ‘metahu-man’ demands placed on your bodies,” Paul-ie said with empathy in his voice.

Mom looked like she had just beenpunched in the stomach. She was sitting onthe couch, surrounded by her children. Alikand I sat on either side of her protectively.“What do you mean ‘severely shortened!’”Mom’s usual calm was gone. Instead, hervoice sounded frantic.

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“Margo, imagine it’s very similar to thecliché ‘burning the candle at both ends.’ Thechildren’s bodies were human. Dr. Williams’super cocktail forced their human bodies togo into hyper mode. Their performancelevels doubled and tripled in some areas. Ourdata points to a sort of countdown. The chil-dren are at or near their peak level of per-formance right now,” Theo leaned in andheld Margo’s hand as he spoke.

“How much time do we have?” I asked,my voice sounding very far away to my ownears.

“We’re just able to give an approxima-tion, of course,” Evan took a deep breath,steadying himself. “And keep in mind,timelines will vary somewhat between eachof us.” He breathed again.

“Evan, spit it out! How long?” I couldn’tstop the room from spinning, I was soscared.

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“Inside eighteen months. Maybe eventwo years, if we’re lucky,” Evan looked fromAlik to me with exhausted eyes.

“Who’s going to go first?” my voice hadno affect as I spoke to the room.

Evan looked up at me almost pleadingly.He didn’t have to say a word. Everyone un-derstood then—it was me. As the oldest, ofcourse it would be me whose countdown wasfurther along.

“I’m not giving up, Meggie,” Evanwalked over and knelt beside me. “I, er…we,”he said waving his hands toward Paulie andDr. Andrews, “we just knew it was definitiveenough to talk with the family; to let every-one know what we have so far. Maybe there’ssomething I just haven’t thought of yet; away to slow the process or replenishourselves...”

“Stop, Ev. It’s okay. I know this isn’t yourfault. It’s none of our fault. This is just theway it is,” even as I spoke, tears were

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beginning to stream down my face. “We haveto think long-term, even if we’re not here tolive it. We have to think of what kind ofworld we’re going to leave behind. We haveto prioritize. If we only have—” I stopped toswallow a knot of emotion, “a year left, weneed to get to work. We need to leave thisworld better than we entered it.” My voicewas painfully steady. Maybe by pretendingbravery, I gathered just a hint of the realthing. I sat up straight, brushed the nonex-istent lint off my shorts and stood.

“We have a lot of work to do, boys. Let’sget started.” I began walking out of the livingroom and into the office where we had beencollecting data on Williams.

“Meg, it’s okay to take a few minutes tolet our heads wrap around this, you know,”said Alik who was looking very pale. This hadall been news to him, too.

“What good does that do? We’re dying.Everyone dies! We just happen to know it’s

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going to be sooner than later for us.” Myvoice slipped, now edging toward shrill.

“Meg, calm down,” Cole tried to soothe.He looked on the verge of tears.

“I am ‘calm’ Cole Andrews. I’m probablythe most calm I’ve been in a long time. Noth-ing like finding out you’re gonna die to add akick-butt dose of clarity to a person’s life!”

“What can we do to help you?” Dr.Andrews offered.

“This isn’t just about me, you know.Please don’t think I’m so self-centered as tothink this news flash only affects me. Ialready know there is nothing anyone can doto help me, but, by God, I can do somethingto help you! I can catch this asshole Williamsand stop him from hurting any more kids. Ican make this a better world for you to growold in.” I waved my hands across the room atthe regular humans who loved me; the hu-mans who were staring at me with worry andfear in their eyes.

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“I’ve got to get out of here for a while.”My words came out quivering, laced withemotion.

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20 My Resolution

My heart was screaming in my throat,but I swallowed hard and forced it away. Ifelt like I couldn’t breathe. Instead of head-ing to the study as I had planned, I made adirect path to my room and threw on a pairof running shoes. I couldn’t let myself listento the emotions exploding inside me. And Icouldn’t let myself feel the pain I just createdin the other part of Paulie’s house. I just hadto run. I had to get away.

Maze followed me to my room. He knewI was upset and was ready to be my trustysidekick in whatever I was about to do. Eversince he was shot with a tranquilizer gunwhile protecting mom back in the Kansashospital, he had been more protective of methan ever. He hardly let me out of his sight,but I really wanted to be alone.

I grabbed the door to my bedroom on myway out and abruptly turned back to orderMaze to stay. He whined pitifully, but sat onhis haunches and obeyed. I shut the door tomy bedroom, trapping my best friend inside.I wasn’t any sort of good company, I told my-self. He will enjoy a good nap while I go workout my issues running.

The screen door closed with a solidwhack behind me as I tried to bolt from thetrauma in my heart. This was just too much.I just found out I was dying. Everyone I lovewas in that room and they all know. I had notime to swallow what was being shoved at meso I did what I always do, I start yelling atthe world in an emotional tirade. My effortsto seem completely in control are always sab-otaged by my inability to breathe.

But in the end, this isn’t about me orhow I feel. I’m just a means to an end now.At least I get to decide how I’m going to endit. I refuse to just let myself die. This is not

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going to go well for Williams. Not at all. NowI know I have nothing left to lose.

My feet hit the pavement with arhythmic determination.

My little brothers have more time thanme. Maybe they can find a cure before it’s toolate for them. As for me, I have already mademy decision.

Let me break it down: My objective is toterminate Williams and destroy his work.How can I make that happen? How can I usewhat resources I have to put this man out ofcommission? What does he value? Power?Money?

The salty, thick air washed over me as Iran following the curves and hills of the road.And with every beat of my pounding heart Iwished I were just a normal sixteen-year-oldgirl walking the halls of a normal high schoolwhere all I had to worry about was final ex-ams and who was going to take me to theprom. I wish I could listen to music and

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write in a diary and make plans for college. Iwish I could dream of growing up and grow-ing old with the love of my life, but none ofthat was in my future. No. Instead, my futurewas primed and ready to be filled withmetabattles, blood, evil doctors bent onworld domination and imminent death be-fore I even make it to twenty-one.

Crap!I picked up my already breakneck speed,

pushing away the self-pity and allowing my-self to be enveloped in anger instead. Feelingmy new determination wash over and em-power me opened my mind to clarity. I knewwhat I had to do. I need to find Dr. KennethWilliams, and God forgive me, I need to ter-minate him and his work.

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21 It’s Not Just Nostalgia

The room was completely dark except forthe images flashing on the large flat screenon the far side. In a supple, brushed, blackleather recliner sat the aging Dr. Williams.His left hand was methodically rotating themetallic orbs—his self-soothing technique.The doctor’s face was only visible because ofthe reflection from the screen. He looked dis-tinctly older than he had just two years be-fore. Stress and revenge will do that to aman.

On the screen was the case study, M57,his first success. She was perched on her bed,her small, slender legs dangling severalinches above the tiled flooring. In her dainty,three-year-old hands, she lovingly held a ragdoll. The doll was nothing spectacular. To hismemory, it was the only one he allowed her

as he was more interested in honing herfighting skills, battle tactics, problem solv-ing, and so on. He remembered being frus-trated that the experiment continued to seekthat one doll out instead of playing with thebrain researched-based robotics, puzzles andmazes. There she was, singing to the faceless,yarn-haired, doll.

He scowled at the image wondering, notfor the first time, why he even bothered witha female case study. Then, as though justify-ing himself, he made himself remember howmuch harder it was to come by the humansamples on which he could carry out his re-search back then. Yes, times were tough, hethought.

On the screen, M57 looked up, as thoughshe heard something, and scampered underthe bed, bringing the ratty doll with her. Theroom looked empty for several minutes be-fore the door opened and a lab worker who

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was there to collect a blood sample, walkedin. He scanned the room looking confused.

Look under the bed, you idiot! thoughtWilliams, not for the first time.

Instead, the white lab coat looked downat the chart in his hand and flipped a fewpages up before stupidly scratching his head,turning and walking out of the room. Thedoor closed with a loud, locking click behindhim and moments later M57 crawled outfrom under the bed, looking quite pleasedwith herself. She smiled widely, held the dollup into the air, spun, then hugged it tightly.

What just happened? Williams wasthinking. He knew she could sense the emo-tions of others. That was documented andfactual. But this one scene, of all the hours offootage he had videotaped of her time at theInstitute, this seemed different.

Did she sense the worker’s hesitation todo his job and collect data from what he sawas a little girl and use that against him? Or

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was it something else? She was always ableto sense emotions but it looked like, in thisscene, she was able to manipulate his emo-tions so he didn’t search for her. Instead, helooked full of doubt and walked out of theroom without so much as seeing the subject.And if that were the case, why had she onlydisplayed this ability this once?

Why, when she came to the Institute lastyear, did she not just manipulate me intofreeing her mother and ending our conflict?He thought.

Dr. Williams grabbed the remote, clickedto rewind and began the scene for the ump-teenth time. Though the event took placemore than a decade before, something herewas important to present events. The worrylines deepened in his brow. There was moreto M57, and he needed to know what it was.

The cell phone in his upper breast pocketwarbled announcing a call and interruptinghis thoughts. Irritated, he answered, “What.”

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“Dr. Williams. Creed here, calling with astatus report.”

“Go on,” Williams barked, pressingpause on the video playback right where M57looks up from her doll as though she heardsomething…or was it felt something?

“Your assistant, Farrow arrived with the‘gift’ right on schedule. We are on target forsecured delivery, sir.”

“Excellent. When?”“Fifteen minutes. But sir, I should men-

tion that there seemed to be a change in theirbehavior today.”

Dr. Williams sat quietly, staring at theimage of the meta child on the screen, and hewondered aloud, “what do you think you’redoing?” He rewound the scene and watchedit again from the beginning. There wassomething here, he could feel it.

“Sir?”“Nevermind. I know you have not initi-

ated contact with them since you located

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their hideaway on the Big Island, correct?So, what brought on this change in their pat-tern of behavior?” Dr. Williams’ mind wasracing on two planes of thought.

“I observed the metas conducting them-selves as usual until today when all three ofthem changed their routines. The oldestmale looked angry and spent the entire after-noon lifting weights behind the house in thebungalow. The younger male went into thelaboratory about the same time and has notcome out all day. And the girl,…” Creed’svoice wavered slightly.

“Yes, what of the girl?” Williamssnapped impatiently.

“The girl ran out of the house at 11:12amand kept running. It wasn’t her normal jog-ging pace. It was obvious she was upset, sir.”

“Yes, well of course. She is the emotionalone,” Williams mused.

“If it were just her change in behavior, Iwouldn’t have thought much about it; but

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the other two metas behaving the way theydid—something happened to upset all threeof them.”

“No matter. After Meg gets our little“gift,” they’ll have a new reason to be upset,”Dr. Williams said, smiling to himself.

“Sir, we could have just as much accessto either of the male metas. Are you sure youwant the “gift” given to the female?” Creedcouldn’t completely put aside his feelings forMeg, however important it was that he did.

In the five months since he last saw her,all he could think about was her. He and Far-row tried to track them, but their trail rancold. No one knew where they were. Not atthe hospital, not the government, not the po-lice…no one was talking. It was like they felloff the face of the earth. So Williams hadordered them to return to the Facility. Hedidn’t like having his meta operatives awayfrom his influence for long. Creed was sureWilliams worried that if left with too much

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freedom, he would lose them to the appeal ofthe American civilian lifestyle. It had takenmonths of private investigation from an out-side source to locate the family that had goneso deeply underground. It was only becauseWilliams had spared no expense in theirhunt that they were found. Creed was sentahead for surveillance and Farrow followedsoon after with the special “gift” designedspecifically for Meg.

“It absolutely needs to be given to her.She’s the leader. You forget, Mr. Young.Combined, these three are the most formid-able metas I have ever created. Alik’sstrength and memory, Evan’s genius andproblem solving, and then there is myM57—Meg is what they call her, isn’t it? Notvery original of Margo,…” Dr. Williams’ voicedropped off.

“Sir?” Creed wasn’t sure he was follow-ing the Director’s line of thought.

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“Well, Margo ‘named’ her Meg. M57. M,then the fifth letter of the alphabet is “E” andthe seventh is “G.” M-E-G. Not very origin-al,” he said condescendingly.

Creed’s mind easily slipped back to thehospital corridor when he stood so close toher he could smell the strawberry scent ofher hair and looked into her deep, darkbrown eyes. He had to force himself back tothe present. “And what of Meg’s heightenedability?”

“Now that’s the million-dollar question,isn’t it?” Williams half said to himself as hecontinued to stare at the image of the dark-eyed child on the screen. “She can channelinto the emotions of those around her.” Hisvoice sounded very far away to Creed.

“‘Channel into emotions.’ Sir, what doesthat mean?”

“It means she may be the most danger-ous of them all. It is she who gives the othertwo directions; her personality is that of

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leader. Without her, the two males willflounder. It is she who intends to be my un-doing,” he said with a strange smile in hisvoice that translated to Creed almost aspride.

He’s proud of her, Creed thought to him-self. In a sick way, he is happy at thethought of Meg wanting to kill him. Thisguy is one seriously demented individual.

The director continued watching the im-age on his screen. “Such a delicious morsel.What a gift I gave her…”

“Sir?” Creed heard every word the oldscientist muttered, but he wasn’t makingsense. Not for the last time, Creed grimacedat the thought of all the power this man hadat his fingertips, yet how near the edge of in-sanity he seemed to hover.

“Both you and Farrow have you’re yourwork cut out for you. Call to keep me pos-ted,” he said with an air of effortlessness thatleft Creed feeling nauseous and uneasy.

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Creed put his phone back in his pocketand picked up his binoculars. There she was.Her dark hair pulled back in a pony. Herlong strides were graceful and poetic in theirstrength. She looked so hurt and angry. Andthen she wasn’t running anymore, she wasspinning in the air and landing with a sickwhack against a tree trunk.

“Farrow!” he yelled.Farrow was positioned about ten meters

to his right. She had been following Megthrough a scope of a long-range, sniper rifle.

“Oh, calm down, lover boy,” she saidsnidely. “I just did you a favor by getting itover with.” She was already packing her gear.

Creed picked up his binoculars again andfound Meg motionless on the ground. Hewas so struck by what just happened that hecouldn’t breathe.

“I got her in the neck, so you may wantto go remove the ‘gift’ before you knight-in-shining-armor her back to her precious

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family,” Farrow was already walking away,rifle disassembled and inconspicuously setinside her hiker’s backpack. “See you back atthe hotel. Oh, and you’re welcome!”

Creed was torn between chasing Farrowdown to have it out with her and runningdown to check on Meg and carry her tosafety. Since he couldn’t take his eyes off her,he opted to go to Meg.

Back in Dr. Williams’ darkened videoviewing room, the images on the screencame back to life and he watched with horri-fied amusement as the child disappears un-der the bed, the lab coat walks in and shakeshis head confused at the seemingly emptyroom and walks out. Williams watched thechild’s face carefully when she climbed outfrom under the bed. She looked pleased withherself and relieved. She hugged her rag dolltightly and commenced her imaginative play.But what happened with the lab workerwasn’t in her imagination, or was it?

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The old man sat in his chair and re-wound the scene. This time he not onlyrolled the metallic orbs in his hand, but heworked his lips tight then puckered, tightthen puckered, over and over. This littlequirk of his he only showed during his mostpensive, stress-filled moments. Yes, hethought to himself, this meta may very wellbe the most dangerous of them all.

She is my masterpiece—simply magnifi-cent, he thought, applauding himself.

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22 Alik’s “Time Sense”

He was laying on his back, musclestaught and skin glistening with sweat. Hewas slowly lowering a bar to his chest withhundreds of pounds of weight draped oneither side. His crisp blue eyes were steepedin worry and concentration, not for theeight-hundred pounds he shouldered, but forall the responsibility he felt for his family.

At fifteen, Alik looked more like an adultthan he should. He had lost any hint of ababy face years ago and instead, wore hisbroodingly handsome worry lines casually,as though it had never occurred to him thatlife held anything less than one battle afteranother with brief interludes of reprievebetween; a reprieve that was always morelike the calm before another storm.

And though he loved life and felt an ob-ligation to appreciate every moment of it, hisintense ability to recollect even the smallestdetail of every day since the beginning of histime had turned him in to a soul that knewhow precious life was. Alik understood lifewas fleeting because he’d already livedthrough so much.

He had a “time sense” almost like a gym-nast had “air sense.” His awareness of pastand present moments were as clear to him asa gymnast was aware of ceiling and flooreven as he spun in mid air. Life was pulsingahead and he knew his reprieve was nearlyover. A battle was fast approaching.

Alik was in Paulie’s gym, a smaller build-ing separate from the house. He was pump-ing iron and pushing himself to feel hismuscles strain so he could live in the mo-ment, even if it was just for a few hours. Heallowed himself to focus on the feel of themetal in his hands, the scent of salt from the

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ocean, the tightness in his muscles as theywere forced to exert themselves againstgravity.

And in his mind, he heard his brother’svoice explaining what he and Paulie andTheo had discovered through the research oftheir meta blood. He wished to God he couldstop replaying the conversation, but there itwas. Again and again, the strain in his broth-er’s voice carried through, crystal clearthrough Alik’s videographic memory.

Moving to the treadmill didn’t help mat-ters. The pumping of his legs at the steepestincline couldn’t force away the memory ofthe look on his mother’s face as she listenedto the prognosis for her three children.

He could not control his crisp mentalimage of Meg’s face when she realized itwould be she who would pass away first. Hereyes gave away her feelings, and there wasno doubt in Alik’s mind that she was flunginto the Kubler-Ross stages of grief

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immediately. She flew past denial and wasright in the middle of anger. Bargaining, de-pression and acceptance were the last threestages, according to the theory, but Alik waspretty sure Meg wasn’t leaving anger any-time soon. She ran out of the room withshadows of fury darting across her face.

Well, shit, Alik thought as he pushedhimself faster and faster on the treadmill. Ithink we all have every right to be furiousright now.

He allowed his pace to slow and the in-cline to drop so his muscles could begin tocool down. By the end of five minutes he wasstill steeped in thought, but finally ready torest.

Alik lay still on the padded floor of thegym with his arm thrown over his eyes, hisbody only moderately spent after workingout nonstop over the last two hours. Relivingthe events of this morning was more ex-hausting than his entire workout combined.

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With a muffled groan, he forced himselfto a sitting, then standing position andslowly walked out of the gym ready to headback to the house and jump in the shower.

Just before he reached the screen doorhe heard someone call out, “Help! Hey, you!She needs help!”

Alik turned to see a guy, not much olderthan himself, carrying a girl. It only took halfa second for him to realize, even from thisdistance, the girl was his sister.

“Oh, my God, MEG!” Alik ran full speedto the stranger who was carrying his limpsister. “What happened? Who are you? Whatdid you do to her?” Alik yelled even as he ranso by the time he reached them, he lookedlike he was seconds away punching a wholethrough the guy’s neck.

“Wait, no…I just found her on theground a dozen meters up that way.” The guyjerked his head back over his shoulderwithout letting his eyes leave Alik’s. “Honest,

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man. I didn’t do anything to her,” thestranger said wide-eyed as he gently passedthe girl to Alik. Sensing the guy was nothreat, Alik allowed himself to focus com-pletely on his sister.

Meg was still dressed in the same run-ning clothes and shoes she was wearing acouple hours before when she left the house.She felt heavy, like dead-weight. And even asthat phrase jumped into Alik’s mind, hefought back panic.

“Meg?” Alik spoke her name sternly.“Meg. Wake up! Come on, Meg!” Alik washalf running back up the path to the house,completely unconcerned that the strange guywho found his sister was right behind him.All he could think about was how much hewished his sister would snap out of it, pushherself to her feet and start shouting andbossing everyone around like she usually didwhen she was upset. Instead, she didn’tmake a sound, and she didn’t move.

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Her head hung back and her long darkhair had come loose from the knot she tied itin to run. Her lean legs hung limp, as did herarms. She looked as alive as a rag doll, andshe was burning up with fever. He could feelthe heat searing through her thin clothing ra-diating off her like a bon fire.

“Oh, my God. Oh, God,” Alik kept plead-ing. “Oh, please, no. Not now. She is sup-posed to have more time! We’re all supposedto have more time!” Alik’s voice was creasedwith anguish even as he prayed.

Alik ran up the steps to Paulie’s houseand began shouting, “Evan! Mom! Someone!Meg’s sick! Come quick!”

He opened the screen door, flew into theliving room, and gently laid his sister downon the sofa, taking special care not to bumpher head. The whole while, he kept alternat-ing from yelling into the house for help andtalking softly to his unconscious sister, tryingto get her to respond.

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“Meg, come on, kid. I need you. Momand Evan need you. You can’t be sick, Meg.We have work to do. Remember? We can’tdo this without you. Oh God, Meg, not yet.You can’t leave us yet!” Alik’s voice chokedup completely so by the time he yelled intothe house again, he was hoarse with tears.

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23 Consequences

“What’s wrong with her?” Evan had beenon the other side of the house in the laborat-ory with Margo, Andrews and Paulie, buthad stepped out to retrieve some notes fromhis room. It was a good thing he did too, be-cause the lab was essentially soundproof.Evan was at his sister’s side immediately.

“I don’t know, Ev. A guy found her likethis up the path and…she’s burning up withfever. She hasn’t said a word; hasn’t respon-ded at all,” Alik was watching his little broth-er’s skilled hands as he started with Meg’shead and began examining her.

“What’s all the yelling about?” Cole hur-ried into the room and looked around tryingto determine what he’d missed. His eyesfound Meg lying so fragile and small on thesofa.

“Cole, Meg’s sick. Go get everyone fromthe lab. Run!” Alik ordered.

“Oh, God, Meg!” Cole took half a mo-ment to study Meg’s face before he boltedfrom the room and down the hall toward thelaboratory.

“Should I call 911?” the stranger askedfrom a few feet behind the sofa.

Both brothers turned quickly to glare atthe guy they hadn’t even realized was in theroom.

“We got it from here,” Evan respondedcautiously.

Alik stood, hurried to the door andopened it saying, “Thanks for your help,man. Really, we appreciate it.”

“Right,” Creed nodded, getting the hint.“Don’t mention it.” Just as he slippedthrough the open doorway he turned and ad-ded, “Hey, I’d like to stop by tomorrow andcheck in on her, if that’s okay.”

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Alik looked back at his sister lying on thesofa and really just wanted to get rid of thisguy so he could go back figuring out whatwas happening to her. He turned to thestranger, shrugged noncommittally and said,“Aloha, man,” before letting the door shutfirmly between them.

Creed didn’t move for a minute, thinkingabout what just happened. He took a deepbreath before heading back down the stepstoward the path. He was replaying the eventsof the last half hour and trying to be sure hehadn’t forgotten anything.

Farrow’s impulsive shot was right on tar-get, and so far, the family seemed to be re-acting to Meg’s “condition” as planned, buthe had a nagging sensation that somethingwas wrong.

“It all feels wrong, damn it,” he mutteredto himself. He shoved his hands deeply in hispockets and bit his lip. He was going to haveto do some serious thinking tonight. He had

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to go weigh his options and their con-sequences. If there was one thing he learnedis that there were always consequences. Hepicked up his pace as he walked toward hisrental parked down the road.

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24 Uncertainty

Now that the stranger was gone, thebrothers returned to their examination ofMeg.

Evan pulled a small flash light from hispocket, gently lifted Meg’s eyelids one at atime and flashed the light into them lookingfor pupil dilation. “Well, her pupils are re-sponsive, but sluggish. Her heart rate is ex-tremely fast. Breathing is shallow and herlips are purple. She doesn’t seem to have anybruising or lacerations I can find. Her feveris very high.” Internally, Evan’s mind was ra-cing with logical possibilities, externally, hisface looked almost as pale as Meg’s.

“Evan, we’ve never been sick; none of us.What’s wrong with her?” Alik was searchinghis brother’s eyes for an answer. Evan onlyshook his head slowly.

They heard the family running down thecorridor and moments later burst into theroom. Dr. Andrews was the first at Meg’sside, “The calculations were correct. Thiswasn’t supposed to even begin happeningyet.”

“You knew this was how it was going tocome on and you didn’t warn us?” Margowas seething with worry and anxiety.

“We need to get her back to the lab. Wehave to run tests on the status of her gama-globulin and electrolytes. Maybe somethingset off her countdown; something thattriggered this early onset,” Paulie thoughtout loud while scratching his scruffy beard.

Alik carefully lifted his sister and hurrieddown the corridor to the laboratory. Every-one else was right on his heels.

Margo took the lead in removing herdaughter’s clothing so she could dress her ina hospital gown. As they worked, she only al-lowed herself to think as a doctor. She saw

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no cuts or bruises anywhere on her daugh-ter’s body. Her coloring was unusual,though. She had taken on a yellowish hue toher skin and her lips were somewhat purple.That, combined with her high fever, madefor very strange symptoms. Margo foughtback panic because she couldn’t think of anyreason for her daughter to be in the condi-tion she was in.

“Okay, we’re ready,” Margo called to theother side of the privacy curtain.

Evan came in with a syringe and severalempty vials to collect blood samples. Dr.Andrews began setting up an I.V. so he couldhydrate Meg with fluids and so there was apath already established should medicationsneed to be administered quickly. Margo tookon her motherly role and simply worked toposition a surgical cap on Meg’s head so shecould tuck in all her daughter’s dark curls,minimizing possible contamination to thesterile room.

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Alik left the room quickly to clean up andreturned fifteen minutes later to the laborat-ory hoping he could be of some help. Hewalked into the room filled with people heloved and respected rushing around his sis-ter who laid still as stone on a white-sheetedgurney.

Cole was standing in the corner lookinglike he was trying to stay out of the way. Theboys exchanged helpless glances. Everyoneelse in the room was a doctor, except Evan,but he was only lacking the papers. Over thelast five months, Evan had educated himselfand was as versed as anyone who had gonethrough four years of medical school. That’show smart Evan is. Matter of fact, he wasspecialized in the one area Meg needed most:Metahuman-ology.

“Alik, was it you who found Meg?” Dr.Andrews asked.

“No, sir,” Alik responded a little tooquickly. “I mean, I wish I had. But this guy

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said he just found her on the jogging pathand carried her to the nearest house for help.Luckily, ours was the nearest house.”

“Did she collapse?” Dr. Paulie asked.“I don’t know. The guy just said,” Alik re-

played the conversation in his mind andquoted, “‘I just found her on the ground adozen meters up that way.’”

“Who was he? Did you get his name?”Margo asked.

“No, mom. He didn’t say, and I didn’task. I was too worried about Meg,” he saidfeeling upset with himself for not havingmore information to give to the doctors try-ing to help his sister.

“But he did say he would come back to-morrow to check on her,” Alik added, bright-ening at the memory. “Maybe we can askhim some questions then and get a betteridea of what happened.”

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“Right, let’s plan on that.” Margo smiledsoftly at her oldest son, sensing his feelingsof guilt and helplessness.

Dr. Paulie spoke up, “I’d like to rule outanything ordinary before we jump right intoher meta physical status. Does anyone re-member anything unusual about Meg? Didshe eat or drink something different? Wasshe behaving differently? Dizzy spells? Moodchanges?” he said as though he were gather-ing a typical medical history on a patient.The whole room stopped and looked over atDr. Paulie, “I mean unusual mood changes?”

“Nothing I can think of,” Evan said re-turning to his microscope.

“I can’t think of any change in her beha-vior either,” Margo added.

“She was typical Meg until the familymeeting this morning,” Cole answeredthoughtfully.

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“Yeah this morning was rough on every-one,” Dr. Andrews said even as he swabbed aPetri dish with a blood sample.

“Hum,” Alik mused. “I wonder if thatwas the ‘trigger’.”

“What do you mean?” Cole asked.“Well, Meg is an emotional supercon-

ductor, right? She can sense the feeling ofthose around her. In a word, her skill is herempathy,” Alik continued.

“So maybe she overloaded?” Coleconcluded.

“Something like that. What do you think,Mom?” Alik looked to his mother who wascarefully checking the I.V. bag and adjustingthe pace at which the fluids were dripping.

“I think it is a possibility. She must havebeen experiencing so much of her own wor-ries and sadness, but then to be bombardedwith the emotions all the rest of us were feel-ing…” her voice trailed off.

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“Yes, I agree,” Evan’s face was tight withworry. “It would be a logical conclusion.”

“Maybe this doesn’t have anything to dowith the countdown. Maybe this issomething else entirely,” Dr. Paulie offered.“The possibilities are innumerable.”

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25 Choosing Sides

The next morning, the family was ex-hausted with both mental and physical fa-tigue. No one had slept. Though they tried toset up shifts to monitor Meg’s condition toallow everyone time to rest, no one was will-ing to leave the lab for longer than it took tograb some food and use the restroom. Every-one was keeping vigil.

Even Maze howled his distress though hecouldn’t understand exactly what was goingon. He didn’t know why he was wasn’t al-lowed to see his Meg, and he wanted theworld to understand how scared and furioushe was about it.

Maze announced Creed’s arrival. Alikwas taking his break when he heard Maze’sgrowling change to alarmed barking. “What’sgoing on boy?” he said to the coyote as he

walked to the kitchen window. He saw thesame guy who had found his sister yesterdaywalking up the path, just as he had promisedhe would. Alik grabbed Maze by the collarand walked him to Meg’s room.

“You’re gonna scare the crap out of him,Maze. Stay here for now, and I’ll come backto let you out in a while. Try to calm down,okay?” he lectured the coyote.

Alik hurried to the front door and had itpulled open even before the stranger had achance to knock.

“Hey, man,” Alik said with relief in hisvoice. “Thanks for coming by this morning.We were wondering if we could ask you somequestions about yesterday.”

“How’s the girl?” the stranger askedseeming genuinely worried.

“Not good,” Alik opened the door widerand motioned for the guest to come into thehouse. “She’s really sick.”

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Creed stepped into the house and walkedtoward the living room. A mournful howlingcame from down the hall that stopped him inhis tracks.

“Oh, don’t worry about him. Maze isn’ttoo happy with me for shutting him in Meg’sroom,” Alik waved dismissively toward thesound. “We’ve got to tell everyone you’rehere.”

“Sure. I’ll wait here,” Creed said.“No, you won’t. You have to come with

me. No one’s going to want to leave Meg, andthey’ll all want to hear what you have to say.We’ll just get you scrubbed in,” Alik spokewhile leading the way down the corridor to-ward the lab.

“Scrubbed in? Like at a hospital?” Creedasked, pretending he had no idea there was alab onsite.

“Well, yeah. We’re pretty well set upback here in the lab. And to be sure no con-tainments are brought into the sterile room,

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you’ll have to get scrubbed in,” Alik saidmatter-of-factly, as though it were com-pletely normal to have a hospital-like cleanroom in an estate on an island in the middleof the Pacific Ocean.

“If you say so,” was all Creed could thinkto say. He was trying to brace himself forwhat was about to happen.

Creed stood to the side and watched asAlik slipped a blue gown over his clothingand tied the paper-like belt to secure it. Thenhe ripped open a package, and took out apremoistened, blue, plastic scrubbing brush.He began working vigorously on his hands,focusing especially under his fingernails andcontinuing up his forearms. Creed mimickedeverything Alik did. Finally, they put on lightblue masks that covered their noses andmouths and were held in place by wrappingsmall elastic loops around their ears.

Creed was feeling queasier now thanever before, which was saying a lot

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considering how many times he had been putin situations of extreme stress.

But this was different.He was about to see the sweet-faced girl

who made his heart leap inside his chest. Hewas about to meet her family, and he wasabout to confess who he was. Nothing aboutthe next hour was going to be easy.

The first of the double doors to the labslid open automatically, and closed behindAlik and Creed. Then the second set of doorsopened.

The room was large and immaculate. Allthe equipment looked shiny, new and ex-pertly maintained. Half a dozen people werein the room, all dressed in the same sterilesurgical gowns he wore himself. Even thougheach person in the room was completelycovered in blue, including their faces, Creedcould tell immediately who was who. Hiseyes stopped scanning the moment he foundMeg.

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She looked so much worse than she didlast he saw her. Alik was right; she wasn’t do-ing well at all. Though he could only see theeyes of those who spoke, he could read themclearly. Everyone in this room was terrifiedand exhausted, but they all looked at Creedwith a glint of hope as though he would havesome magic answer to their questions. Creedknew he wasn’t going to be able to be theirsolution. At least, not the way they were hop-ing he would be.

“Everyone, this is the guy who foundMeg yesterday,” Alik announced to the room.

The room murmured “welcomes” and“thanks for coming backs.”

“You’ll have to forgive us if we seemrude, but we’re desperately trying to determ-ine what is wrong with our Meg. So, we’regoing to skip introductions and jump right inwith some questions, okay?” Margo began.

“Yes, ma’am,” Creed responded formally.

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“Tell us what you saw when you foundMeg,” Dr. Paulie began.

“She was jogging. She stopped, lookinglike she was dizzy, and held on to a tree tosteady herself. Then I saw her slump to theground holding her head. By the time Ireached her, she was completely out,” Creedreplayed the scene in his mind trying to stickas close to the truth as possible.

“Wait a minute,” Alik said. “Yesterdayyou said you just ‘found her’ on the ground.Now you’re telling us you saw her before shepassed out?”

“Yesterday, you looked like you wereabout to rip my head off for touching her. Iwas trying to save my own skin!” Creed said,only half lying.

“Regardless. So you say she collapsedholding her head,” Dr. Paulie redirected theconversation.

“Yes, sir. Like she had a migraine thatcame on fast,” Creed answered.

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“Did she say anything to you when youapproached her?” Margo asked.

“No, ma’am. She was completely out,”Creed responded.

“How long from the time you saw herjogging until she was on the ground uncon-scious?” Dr. Andrews asked.

“Seconds, sir. It all happened fast. I’d saymaybe fifteen seconds,” Creed estimated.

“Was anyone else around to see what yousaw?” Margo asked.

“Not that I know of, ma’am,” Creed lied.These people were not to know about Far-row. That wasn’t part of the plan.

“What were you doing on the path whenyou saw her?” Evan asked.

“Excuse me?” Creed asked, stalling.“You were on the path where Meg was

jogging. How did you happen to be there?”Evan pressed.

“I…well, I was….” Creed stammered, un-able to meet the intense gaze of those in the

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room. And just like that, Creed lost allpretenses.

“It’s not a difficult question,” Evan waswalking toward the stranger. Alik, com-pletely aware of the change in the temperat-ure of the conversation positioned himselfbeside his brother facing the interloper.

“Who are you?” Alik asked the strangerpoint blank.

“I’m...um,” the stranger hesitated, “I’mnot sure now’s the time to get into that.”Worry lines etched across his tanned face.

Alik and Evan exchanged glances andwithout saying a word they moved them-selves between the stranger and their family.“Maybe you’d better start talking right now,”Alik warned.

“Listen, if I wanted to hurt her, I couldhave done it out there on the path when Ifirst saw her collapse and neither of youcould have stopped me.” His unfamiliar eyeswere both pleading and heated at the

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brothers’ mistrust. “I know who you are andwhere you come from, but I don’t know whyshe’s sick,” the stranger said and anxiouslyran his fingers through is hair.

“What do you mean you know who weare?” Alik’s eyes formed into angry slits.From behind the brothers, Margo eased herway to her daughter and put one hand pro-tectively on her feverish arm. Her other handwas clinched into a fist.

“You’re metahumans, like me,” he saidsimply.

The words felt like ice down Alik’s back.He was stunned into momentary silence.Evan felt punched in the stomach, so hewasn’t talking much either.

The stranger continued speaking. “Tenyears ago, you were involved in the researchconducted by Dr. Kenneth Williams andwere stolen by a woman who worked for hiscompany, Dr. Margo Pullman, now going bythe name Dr. Margo Winter…”

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Dr. Andrews was at Margo’s side in aninstant, ready to lay down his life to protecther.

“Stop right there. You obviously work forWilliams. Did he send you to kill my moth-er?” Alik’s face could not have been redder,seething with fury. He could barely containhimself. But the logical part of him was for-cing restraint knowing he needed to gathermore information before he broke this guy’sneck.

“Yes,” the man said simply. “That wasmy original objective, but thingshave—changed.”

“If you came to hurt anyone in my fam-ily, you will not walk out of this room alive.Clear?” Alik’s vein in his forehead waspulsing deep purple with absolute ferocity.

“Crystal.” The stranger met Alik’s glareunflinching.

“We obviously have a lot to talk about.Are you willing?” Margo asked the outsider.

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Evan couldn’t stop staring at thestranger as though through new eyes. Ofcourse, he was a meta. His physique was per-fect. He looked like he may even be strongerthan Alik. Here was the man who had beensent by their enemy to hunt them down. In-stead, he just brought Meg to them, ill, butalive. Now he stood in front of them confess-ing his plot. This was all too surreal.

“So let me get this straight,” Cole spokeup. “This is the guy who found Meg andbrought her home yesterday, unconscious,but he works for that whack-job Williamswho is bent on killing pretty much everyonein this room just so he can have their blood,”he was so horrified at Creed’s presence in thelab, his outburst left him breathless. Heforced a gasp before he continued his angrytirade, “And now we’re welcoming him intothe house and sharing a heart-to-heart talkabout good versus evil over a cup of coffee?”Cole’s voice teetered on frantic. “And no one

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else sees this as a bad idea?” Cole blurtedlooking around the room at the faces of thepeople he cared for so deeply.

“If he wanted to do us harm, he wouldhave started with Meg,” Evan respondedrationally.

“Well, if you haven’t noticed, she’s notdoing so great,” Cole quipped.

Margo walked to the stranger andwatched his eyes as she responded to Cole.“There was no tactical advantage for him toexpose himself as he has, Cole. He gave uphis anonymity and blown his own cover. He’scompletely aware of how outnumbered he iswith all of us and especially outmatchedbetween Alik and Evan. He had no reason todo any of this, yet he did. He’s trusted usenough to offer his vulnerability. We willtrust him enough to listen,” Margo’s voicewas steady and assured. Creed appreciatedher ability to quickly piece together the

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gravity of the situation and act in a calm, ra-tional manner. He liked her instantly.

She looked deep into his strangely famil-iar eyes and asked simply, “What is yourname?”

“Creed, ma’am.” He stood at attentionthe moment Margo spoke to him. “My nameis Creed Young,” he responded to her ques-tioning as a soldier would a commandingofficer.

“Well, Mr. Young, it looks as though wehave a lot to talk about,” Margo smiled gra-ciously. “Please wait for us back in the livingroom. Okay?”

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am,” Creed nearly sa-luted. He turned and walked out the lab’sdouble doors with Alik and Evan on hisheels. They removed their surgical scrubsand masks and continued walking towardthe living room.

Margo turned to the others who were leftstanding still and stunned in the room. “I

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don’t know if we can trust him, but I’m goingto have to go with my gut feeling this time.Meg needs help, desperately. This meta sol-dier could be an unexpected answer to ourprayers.”

“Her stats are definitely getting scarierby the hour. Nothing we’ve tried has helpedor even stabilized her. We need to think out-side the box, and that kid is definitely out-side the box,” Theo said with worried tone.

“You know, he’s been following us for awhile now,” Margo said aloud what she’dbeen thinking since the moment she sawCreed’s eyes.

“How do you know?” Theo asked.“How about I let him tell you,” Margo

began taking off her scrubs. “Are you okaystaying here to keep watch over Meg,Paulie?”

“As much as I’m anxious to know what’sgoing on, I’m sure I’ll get the abridged ver-sion later. Meg can’t be left unattended. You

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go on, and I’ll be right here,” he said affec-tionately looking over at his patient like agrandfather would his own granddaughter.

“Thanks, Paulie. Please call us if there’s achange in her condition,” Margo said pullingher cell phone out of her pocket and check-ing the battery.

“Will do,” the old scientist said and re-turned to his microscope and note taking.

Cole fell into step behind Theo andMargo as they exited the lab, still believing inhis heart that Creed was beyond dangerousand not to be trusted. This was his familyand he was going to do whatever it took toprotect them any way he could.

He scowled to himself as he realizedeven with all his protective bravado, he wasjust a normal human and the meta soldiercould squish him as easily as squeezing thecreamy, jelly-like guts out of a cockroach. Hecrammed his hands deep into the pockets ofhis jeans and let his hair fall into his eyes as

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he watched his feet walk. If he were in a car-toon, he thought to himself, he would have ahuge sign hanging around his neck that read,“Useless Wimp” and a cone-shaped “Dunce”hat on his head.

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26 Creed’s Confessions

“I appreciate your willingness to talk,Creed. I can only imagine the conflict youmust feel to have taken this step,” Margobegan. She was praying for the right words tosay to this young man so she could determ-ine his motives and possibly even sway himto becoming an ally.

“Yes, ma’am,” Creed, for the first time inhis life, felt very unsure. Here was this tinyframed woman, a woman who he was mo-ments away from killing with his own hugehands five months before, talking to himabout his feelings. This was way too much.

“Are you hungry?” Margo asked with asmile.

“Hungry, ma’am?”

“Yes, Creed. You do eat, don’t you?” shestood and waited for her guest to do thesame.

“Yes, ma’am,” Creed said with a halfsmile.

“Well, I’m starved. We’ve been keepingwatch over Meg all night and haven’t hadtime to stop and eat,” Margo kept talkingeven as she led the bunch of men into thekitchen. “I know we have some sandwichmeat and baby carrots with ranch dip,” shesaid rummaging through the open fridge.“Everyone wash up and let’s just start‘piecing’ as my mother used to say.”

Creed walked to the sink to wash hishands as he’d been told. “What does shemean by ‘piecing’?” he asked Evan as theydried their hands with soft paper towels.

“Oh, that’s mom’s way of saying every-one grabs a bunch of food and comes to thetable and we all kind of eat whatever we want

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to put on our plates; it’s all very informal,”Evan explained.

“Oh.” Creed didn’t know what to think ofall this. It was all so unfamiliar. Growing upat the Facility, chow time was informal, butnot like this. Food was scooped onto thetreys and the soldiers sat at long tables. Din-ner conversations were usually aboutsomeone fighting someone else, who wonand how. No one worried about napkins oreven utensils. There were no manners. It wasfend for yourself. Sharing food or pleasant-ries was—well it was unheard of at theFacility.

Creed watched what the other men didand tried to follow their lead.

“Anyone else want some left over pizza?”Dr. Andrews asked the room, appreciatingthe break and truly just wanting to help theatmosphere stay relaxed.

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“Sounds great,” Margo responded.“Could you grab the parmesan cheese whileyou’re in there?” she asked him.

“Yep, gotta love stinky cheese,” he said toher making a face.

“You’re not supposed to smell it; just eatit!” she teased back.

“How can you eat it without smelling it?”he countered.

This was the playful banter Theo andMargo had with each other. If Meg were inthe room, she would be blushing with happi-ness at how sweet the lovebirds were withone another.

“I like parmesan cheese, too,” Creedchimed in.

Everyone stopped and looked over at thepreviously silent guest at the table.

“Ha! See! This boy has taste!” Margogrinned and winked at Creed.

“I suppose you like sauerkraut andsardines, too?” Theo smiled at Creed.

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“Sauerkraut is kind of a staple back inGermany,” Creed said shrugging sheepishly.“Sardines, not so much.”

Using that as a gentle segue, Margoasked, “Tell us about life in Germany.”

Creed swallowed a huge bite of turkeysandwich and washed it down with a gulp ofapple juice before he spoke. “It’s nothing likelife in the States, at least, not where I lived.”

“Do you have family back there?” Margoasked.

Creed’s blue eyes immediately cloudedover with sadness. “I did. An older brother.He was a meta too. We both lived at theFacility.”

“What happened to him?” Alik spoke up.Before now, he had still been trying to wraphis head around this whole surreal conversa-tion over sandwiches with his enemy.

“I don’t know, exactly,” Creed hesitated,but then sighed deeply and went into the en-tire story of the Retribution Match against

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his brother, Gavil. He tried to explain howlife was at the Facility. The chain of com-mand respected only physical and mentaltraining for combat purposes. A soldier whofollowed orders with precision was held upas an example for the others. Anything lessthan perfection was deemed a liability incombat and therefore expendable. Friend-ships and alliances between metas werehighly discouraged.

Alik spoke up, “Did you say your broth-er’s name is Gavil?”

“Yes.”“That was the name of the meta who

fought Meg at the Institute. The one whohurt her with the letter opener,” Alik saidwith certainty.

“I can’t say I’m surprised. Williams tookGavil with him when he traveled as a sort ofbodyguard.”

“Meg described him to me as a ‘militant,testosterone-encased, Neanderthal,’ among

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other descriptive words,” Alik said, remem-bering how colorful his sister was as she toldhim the story of that encounter.

“Yeah, well, that sure sounds like him.”“But, none of you were at the Facility by

choice, right?” Margo asked, trying to redir-ect the conversation.

“No, ma’am. We were all acquired by theDirector somehow, but we were all too youngto have chosen that life.” Creed felt ex-hausted and relieved at the same time to beable to talk about his experiences.

“The Director—Is that Dr. Williams?”Evan asked.

“Yes,” Creed answered.“And who was Commander Oldham?

You mentioned him before,” Theo askedbetween bites of pizza.

“His name is Rudolph Oldham, but heinsists on being called ‘Commander.’ He’sone mean son of a gun,” he added.

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“They all sound mean. How did you sur-vive all those years?” Margo asked, soundingmore and more like a mother.

“I kept my head down, tried not to makemyself stand out at all besides my combatabilities. For the most part, I was left alone,except for my brother. Nothing I did evermade Gavil like me,” Creed sounded like alittle kid for a brief moment. Realizing ithimself, he cleared his throat and said,“Well, I need to tell you what I know aboutWilliams. Then you can decide what youwant to do about Meg,” he began.

“Williams has amassed this army ofmetas, but rumor has it he wasn’t gatheringus for himself. There were outside parties in-terested in buying us,” Creed explained.

“I always assumed he wanted to makemetas for himself; that he was bent on worlddomination or something and needed themetas to do his bidding so he could make ithappen,” Alik confessed.

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“Yeah, well, that’s what a lot of peoplethought. But it turns out, Williams has awhole other motive behind his methods,”Creed’s voice dropped before he continued asthough worried someone would overhear.

“Rumor is he was married once, long agoand had a child with that woman; a daugh-ter. The girl was born with a disability ofsome kind. Williams’ research hadeverything to do with trying to cure hischild.” The room hung on Creed’s everyword.

“Well, what happened to the child?”Margo asked.

“Like I said, this is all rumors. But theword was that the girl had a bad reaction to atreatment serum Williams tried on her. Imean really bad. They say she was kinda nor-mal before he tampered with her, but after-ward…,” Creed let his voice trail off. “Well,supposedly she turned into a vegetable.”

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“Oh, no.” Margo was starting to putsome pieces of the puzzle together based onwhat she knew and heard of Kenneth Willi-ams herself. Things were beginning to makesome sense.

“Yeah, but that’s not the worse part. Thestory goes his wife was so distraught aboutwhat Williams had done to their only child,she intentionally overdosed. Apparently, sheleft a diary filled with entries blaming Willi-ams for everything.” Creed stopped talkingand took a sip of his drink.

“That’s messed up,” Cole said. He hadn’tjoined them at the table to eat. Instead, heremained leaning at the counter, away fromthe meta. He still didn’t like the guy, but hehad to admit, that was one heck of a story hejust spun.

“Whatever happened to the girl?” Theoasked.

Creed shrugged and said, “That’s wherethe rumors get really sketchy. Some say he

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kept her locked in a part of the Facility whereno one goes but him. Some say he continuedexperimenting on her looking for a cure untilshe died of it all and now her spirit hauntshim. Some say he extracted her DNA and hastried to perfect her cloning, making her ameta,” Creed shrugged again. “I really don’tknow what to believe about all that. But I dobelieve he was married and had a child,” hesaid matter-of-factly.

“Why do you say that?” Theo asked.“When he called me to his office a few

days after the Retribution Match, I saw fam-ily pictures on his desk. It was definitely him,though much younger and a pretty, dark-eyed lady standing beside him. In her armswas a little girl, maybe one or two-years-old,”Creed looked exhausted when he finishedspeaking. And it occurred to Margo this wasprobably one of the longest conversationsthis young man had ever been allowed tohave. She thought to herself how insightful

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he was for someone who wasn’t allowed tohave insight before now. He was only al-lowed to follow orders, not problem solve onhis own.

“So he’s been searching for a way tomake right his personal wrongs all theseyears?” Evan asked.

Creed nodded, “That’s the way the ru-mors go, anyway.”

“Why sell the meta soldiers once he’smade them?” Cole asked, redirecting theconversation.

“I think I can answer that one,” Margosaid. “Williams was a wealthy man withfriends in scary high places, but after allthese years, the more experimenting heneeded to do, the more costly, the more heneeded outside funding. Does that soundright to you, Creed?” Margo asked.

“Makes sense,” he said with a shrug.“So who’s buying the metas?” Alik asked.

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“Now that, I don’t know. Once a sectionis deployed, they never come back.”

“How many metas have been deployed?”Alik asked.

Creed shrugged again, “I’d just be guess-ing. Something like four infantries. Each in-fantry consisted of a chief and eight soldiers.So, around fifty, that I know of.”

“Fifty highly trained metas?” Theowhistled. “As trained as you, Creed?”

“Yes, sir. I suppose so.”“That is one formidable army,” Theo sat

thinking.“Yes, sir. Assuming they’re all on the

same team.”“Oh, wow. That’s right. What if Williams

was selling to more than one group?” Theorealized.

“This could get very messy, very fast,”Alik realized.

“You know what I don’t understand,”Creed began. “Well, he knows each of you

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three has at least one area in your meta abil-ities where you are even more advanced. Hetold me that much. But why does he wantyou back? He has to know you would not bewilling to work for him. What can he get outof you?” Creed asked.

“He wants our blood,” Alik responded.“He wants to recreate the formula he

gave to us. Mom destroyed all the recordsbefore she rescued us from him all thoseyears ago, but the data still exists in ourDNA,” Evan explained.

“So, he thinks the specific formula givento you created the heightened meta ability.”Creed was beginning to understand.

“I wonder if he believes your formula tobe the key to ‘fixing’ his daughter,” Margosaid thoughtfully.

From her jacket pocket the room heard asharp ringing. She sound startled her fromher thoughts.

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“Yes?” She said into the cell phone. Herbrows wrinkled with worry.

“We’ll be right there. Thanks, Paulie,”she said.

Everyone, getting the gist of the conver-sation, began quickly cleaning up theirplates.

“What’s happening?” Theo asked.“Meg’s temperature has spiked and she’s

seizing,” Margo said whisking away the tearsthat had already begun to fall.

“Oh, no,” Evan moaned.Eyes wide with fear, Margo, Theo, Alik,

Evan, Creed and Cole ran down the hallwaytoward the laboratory.

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27 Brainstorming Session

Scrubbing in took a few minutes, but assoon as everyone was inside the doubledoors, they got to work on Meg.

“Her fever was hovering around 100, butspiked to 104.8. The febrile seizure lasted forabout forty-five seconds before stopping.Fortunately, the side rails were up on herbed so she didn’t fall to the ground. She doeslook to have bitten her tongue pretty badly,though,” Paulie was trying to maintain hisphysician’s objectivity, but he wasn’t doing agreat job of it. This little girl had beenthrough so much already. It was breaking hisheart to watch her suffer any longer.

Dr. Andrews had retrieved a bulb syringeand started trying to extract the blood pool-ing in Meg’s mouth from her self-inflicted

bite wound. He looked on the verge of tearshimself.

“Her temperature is back to 100.3 now.I’ll have to reset her I.V. She yanked it outduring the episode,” Evan said to the room.He carefully began pulling the tape off hissister’s arm and with expert movementscleaned the site with gauze and rubbing alco-hol, sterilizing it. An angry purplish-blue col-or quickly formed where the I.V. had beenpulled partially out of place. Her face waspale except for the trickle of blood that hadslipped down from the corner of her mouth.This was all nearly too much for Evan. Hisblue mask was doing a poor job collectingthe tears he cried.

Everyone’s nerves were shot. They allloved Meg in their own way and were soscared for her. She was always so spunky andenergetic; she could get a room full of peoplemoving faster than anyone. She was bossyand controlling with the strength of spirit to

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back it all up. Watching her lie on that white-sheeted gurney small, frail and broken waspushing everyone to the brink ofhopelessness.

“Let’s brainstorm,” Margo said to every-one. “What do we know?”

“Good idea, Margo. We need to run thislike we would any patient’s diagnosis,” Theobrightened a little at the idea of doingsomething productive.

“Right, I’ll scribe,” Paulie said walking tothe whiteboard in the corner of the room andgrabbing a dry erase marker.

“Um, no offense Paulie, but I couldn’tread your writing when you were my profess-or,” Margo gently teased as she held herhand out for the marker. Paulie grinnedsheepishly and passed it over.

“Okay, we know she’s been unconsciousfor,” Margo paused to look up at the wallclock, “nineteen hours after collapsing dur-ing a run.”

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“Her lab work indicates an increase inwhite blood cells—which usually means in-fection,” Evan supposed.

“Her red blood cell count was low indic-ating possible anemia,” Paulie added.

“Well, the anemia could have caused theheadache and fainting,” Theo thought, “Ableeding ulcer could cause the anemia andhigh white blood count,” he offered.

“But we already performed a sonogramlooking at all her internal organs, and therewas no sign of bleeding,” Paulie added with asigh.

“Maybe we missed something,” saidTheo.

“We’re missing something, that’s forsure. But what?” Margo stared at the notesshe had written in black ink on the board.“There was the fever and seizure too,” shecontinued.

“Infection could cause the fever,” Pauliesaid.

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“Right, but that takes us back to thequestion, what is causing the infection? Westarted her on the antibiotics how long ago?”Margo asked.

Evan looked at his chart. “We began afull scope antibiotic intravenously at 11:18last night. So she’s been on them for twelvehours,” he concluded.

“That should have been enough time forus to see improvement. Instead, she seems tobe getting worse. That fever is scary,” Pauliesaid.

“A regular human being experiencinghigh fevers for days on end will suffer braindamage,” Alik said, as though reading from abook. This was the first he said during theentire discussion. Not having the scientificbackground his younger brother and motherhad left him feeling inadequate. But Alik’smemory was unmatched, and he was rackinghis brain trying to remember anything he’dever read that could be of help to the

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conversation right now. So, his mind racedback to an afternoon at the ranch when hewas bored enough to read an entire stack ofhis mom’s scientific magazines.

“Right, Alik. I’m just hoping we can fig-ure this out before too much time passes,”Theo said.

“There’s another option,” Creed saidsoftly. He was staring at Meg and thinkingabout how beautiful she looked, even in hercurrent condition.

“What was that, Creed?” Alik asked.This time, Creed cleared the emotion

from his throat before speaking, “I saidthere’s another option we haven’t discussed.”

“What option?” Cole asked skeptically.“A whole group of specialists are out

there who may be able to help her,” he saidletting the words sink into the room.

“What kind of ‘specialists’?” Theo asked.“Scientists who focus solely on metahu-

mans,” Creed said cryptically.

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“If you’re talking about what I thinkyou’re talking about, the answer is absolutelynot!” Margo’s voice was raspy with emotion.

“What’s he talking about?” Cole asked,hating again how it felt to be the only one inthe room not knowing what was going on.

“He’s talking about the doctors whowork for Kenneth Williams,” Evan saidevenly.

“What the heck? You think Williamswould help Meg get better? Did he grow aheart while I wasn’t looking?” Cole yelled.

“It’s just an option I wanted to be sureeveryone realized,” Creed said, carefullyback-peddling. “I’m not the doctor here, soI’m not the one to decide how desperateMeg’s condition really is. You are her fam-ily,” he said almost wistfully. “Since she’s un-able to make decisions for herself right now,it’s your call.”

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Except for the beeping of Meg’s monitor,the room went quiet. Creed’s words weresinking in.

“Cole’s right, though,” Alik said. “Even ifMeg’s condition were desperate, why wouldWilliams be willing to help? What wouldstop him from taking Meg and dissecting herfor his evil plans? Or use her as leverage toget me and Evan to turn ourselves in to him?Or cure her but alter her mental status andturn her against us? Anyway I think about it,the outcome would be bad.”

“Like I said, Meg is unconscious. As herfamily, you have to make decisions forher—however tough they are. I just wantedto mention the Facility as an option. That’sall,” Creed said diplomatically.

“I don’t know how much longer we’llhave to debate the issue. Meg’s organs aregoing to start shutting down because of thelow levels of oxygen carrying red blood cells.

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Without oxygen, the organ tissues will beginto fail,” Paulie said softly.

“What do you think about giving her ablood transfusion?” Alik asked the room.

“Hum. Now there’s an idea. She can’thave regular blood, so that would leave Alikand Evan as the only donors,” Theo said,thoughtfully.

“And me,” Creed said openly anxious tobe of some kind of help.

“We would have to test your blood—to besure it would be a suitable match; but yes,theoretically, as a metahuman, you coulddonate, too,” Margo added cautiously.

“The blood donations could help give usmore time before her condition gets muchworse,” Evan said, hesitantly optimistic. “Onthe other hand, nothing about her illness hasbeen predictable, so it’s hard to say. I don’tthink it could hurt,” he added with a hopefulshrug.

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“I’ll go first,” Alik said walking toward achair, pulling up the sleeve of the sterilescrubs he wore and extending his arm.

“Okay, let’s give it a try,” Paulie said ashe shuffled through a drawer to retrieve theblood drawing supplies.

“Creed, let me go ahead and draw a testsample from you so we can be working onthat, too,” Margo said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Creed answered. Hewalked over to the small doctor and pushedup his sleeve exposing taut mounds ofmuscle.

Margo had to ask, “How many meta sol-diers like you does Williams have at the Fa-cility?” She began sterilizing the biggest,juiciest looking vein right in the crook of hisarm.

“A lot.”“How many is that?”“I don’t mean to sound secretive, I

just—I just mean even I’m not sure of the

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number. If I had to guess, there are probablyabout a hundred meta men and women atdifferent stages of training currently at theFacility.”

Margo’s eyes widened. “That many?”“Yes, ma’am.”She was trying not to let her panic show

in unsteady hands as she wrapped the rubbertourniquet around his upper arm. She had tostretch it hard to reach around his hugebiceps.

“What about those who have alreadybeen sent on assignment? Do you knowwhere they might be? Or what they aredoing?”

“I don’t know. We’re trained to work un-der any condition in any circumstance byourselves or in teams. There’s no tellingwhere meta operatives are once they leavethe Facility.” Margo watched Creed’s deepblue eyes as he spoke, trying to determine histrue motives.

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Unaware of the scrutiny, Creed contin-ued. “Once soldiers leave the Facility, theydon’t come back, remember?” He shruggedsoftly. “I doubt even the Commander has ac-cess to that information.”

Not for the first time, or the last, Margothought back to Kenneth Williams and re-membered feeling his demented evil. Shewas letting the idea soak in. Metas could beanywhere. Metas could be in our human mil-itary, in politics, in positions of power—allover the world. And this meta, right underher hands, could be one of the most deadly tohave been the one Williams chose to sendafter them.

“Why did Williams choose you specific-ally to come after us?” she couldn’t help butask.

Creed took a deep breath before answer-ing. “Two reasons I know of: One, after theRetribution Match, he knew what I was cap-able of and two, he has no idea how well-

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trained those three are,” Creed nodded to theother metas in the room. “If he’d known, hewould have sent an entire section afterthem.”

Margo asked feeling a wave of nauseacrash over her. “How do you know they’retrained?”

Creed felt his face flush deeply. Decidinghe needed to come clean he confessed, “I sawthem spar, once.”

Margo looked deeply into his eyes. “Backin Kansas, at the hospital?”

Creed’s silence was his answer.“That was you, wasn’t it?” Her face was

pale, but her expression was resolved.“Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry.” His eyes

dropped and watched her still steady handsworking on his arm with skill and precision.

“What made you stop? You could havefinished me right then?” Margo asked thequestion she had been wondering about formonths.

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“The pillow—the pillow had Meg’s scenton it. Something about that was like a slapacross my face. It woke me up. I couldn’t killmy brother and I—Dr. Winter, I’m not akiller.” Creed’s blue eyes glistened with sin-cerity and pleaded with her to believe whathe was saying. “No matter what Williams’ or-ders, I am not a monster.”

Creed’s gripping stare unlocked as helooked back down at his arm, veins bulging.“Why didn’t you just run after the hospit-al—to get away from Dr. Williams?”

“I thought about it, ma’am. I really did.But then I knew he wasn’t done with you. Ifigured, if I stayed the course and playedalong, I would have the chance again to—Idon’t know, make things right; to see Meg,and help you all. If it wasn’t me, he wouldhave sent someone else, and trust me when Isay, the Facility is full of soldiers who wouldkill without a second thought.”

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“So you made sure you were chosen tocome after us once we were found?” Margosat knee to knee with the meta now thatshe’d finished taking his blood samples. Herhand was methodically rocking the corkedvials back and forth keeping the blood insidefrom coagulating.

“Yes, ma’am.”Margo stared at the young meta. She

knew there was more to the story, butCreed’s body language was ridged now, asthough he was unsure whether he had justsaid too much. And Margo was just as tense,unsure whether to believe him or fear him orboth.

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28 Margo’s Plan

The blood transfusion went fine, andseemed to be helping Meg’s organs to func-tion, if only temporarily. Alik, being tall andweighing a considerable amount, could givea double-red donation, which basicallymeant he donated twice the amount of a reg-ular donation. It also meant he wasn’t goingto be able to donate again for six weeks.

“Thank God. That bought us some time,”Evan said to himself after checking his sisterstats that evening.

Only Margo and Evan were in the labwith Meg. Everyone else was trying to catchup on some sleep. The combination of stressand exhaustion was making everyone feeledgy and raw.

Creed had returned to his hotel to get histhings. The grown-ups insisted he come stay

in the guest house. The others were behavingas though Creed was accepted as a friend,but Margo was too smart for that. She justbelieved in the old saying, “Keep your friendsclose, but your enemies closer.” Consideringshe still wasn’t sure which label fit Creed,staying at the guest house on the groundsmade logical sense to her.

Margo had been thinking about Meg’smedical options, as any mother would. Sheknew she couldn’t just trust Williams to dothe right thing, no matter what. She had tothink of a way to force him to help withoutgiving up her children.

“Evan, let me ask you something,” Margosaid to him in hushed tones, obviously want-ing to keep her conversation private. “Howfar into dissecting your meta blood sampleshave you gotten?”

“We’ve done a lot of research on italready, mom, but what exactly are you ask-ing?” Evan matched his mother’s hushed

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volume, although there was no one anywherewithin ear-shot of their conversation.

“What I want to know is: How far awayare you from decoding the original serumthat was given to you three as babies, fromthe blood?” Her eyes flashed brightly as shespoke.

“We’ve already done that, for the mostpart, though you know we were working pastthat and delving into the how and why of thedeterioration factor we discovered,” Evansaid.

“Well, back up. Do you have the data youneed to recreate the serum given to youthree?”

“You want me to create the formula?”Evan’s eyes were wide with uncertainty.“Why, mom? How would that help Meg?”

“It wouldn’t help Meg directly, but itwould give us bargaining leverage with Willi-ams,” Margo said. “We have the formula tooffer in exchange for Meg’s medical

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assistance. See?” She looked into her young-est son’s eyes pleadingly.

“Yes, I see,” Evan rubbed his brows withhis gloved hands in worried frustration.Realizing he was still wearing his gloves, hepulled them off, one folded into the other,just the way his mother taught him to do allthose years ago in her lab on the ranch. Thatlife felt very far away now; so innocent.

“I would need about five hours,” Evansaid looking up at the wall clock and estim-ated the necessary samples, procedures andcalculations to make the serum from scratch.“The product should be exactly what was giv-en to us since I’m using our own blueprint torecreate it, though you have to appreciatethat I wouldn’t have time to test it,” his voiceslipped. “And we don’t have room for anyerrors.”

“Your calculations are always right, Ev.I’ll help you,” Margo stepped closer to herson and gave him a big hug. “Meggie needs

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us to come up with something. And thoughthose doctors who work for Williams are onthe wrong team, Creed is right. They are thegreatest scientific minds specialized in me-tahumans on Earth, and your sister is run-ning out of time.”

“I know mom. I’ll get you that serum,”Evan said before squeezing her gently onceand letting her give him a mom-kiss on thecheek.

“Have I ever told you how proud of you Iam?” Margo smiled up at her little boy.

Evan smiled back and said, “All the time,lady.”

He was exhausted, but he would find theenergy it took to keep his promise to hismother.

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29 The Spider and the Fly

“Tell me you’ve made contact,” the Dir-ector’s voice was tight with anger.

“I have done much more than that, sir,”Creed smiled into the phone, imagining theold man’s pleased facial expression.

“What do you mean?”“The female has been given the ‘gift’ as

planned, and I hand-delivered her to herfamily. I’ve gained their trust; I even sat attheir kitchen table and ate a turkey sandwichwith them! They think I’ve turned againstyou, just as we planned. The female meta’scondition is worsening, and they’re gettingdesperate,” Creed surmised.

“Excellent. Yes, you have done well. Yourfamily will be proud to hear how resourcefuland successful you’ve become,” Dr. Williamssaid, dangling that carrot in front of the

young meta soldier. “Have you proposedthey seek help from me?” Williams askedloving the anguish that suggestion must havecaused his old friend Margo Winter.

“Yes sir, and though they summarily dis-missed the option at first, I know they’rethinking about it. I wouldn’t be surprised ifby morning they have a change of heart,”Creed’s voice was intentionally devoid offeeling. “By the way, they’ve invited me tostay at the guest house on their estate.”

“My, you have been welcomed into thefold!” Williams laughed.

“Yes, I have. Sir, the female meta,Meg—her condition does look very precari-ous. The ‘gift’ we gave her, it isn’t going to dolasting damage, is it?” Creed asked, awarehis feelings for the girl were at direct oddswith his directive and may be showing rightthrough.

“Lasting damage? Well, if you considerdeath, lasting damage, then yes. I’d say she is

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in very real peril,” Williams snickered intothe phone.

Alarmed at how quickly Williams couldknock the air out of his lungs with just thesefew words, Creed blurted, “Sir, that wasn’tthe agreement. You told me the illness wasonly for show and she could be cured quicklyand easily.”

“She can be cured quickly and eas-ily—once you bring her here, Mr. Young.”Any pleasantries the doctor’s voice hinted tobefore were gone now. “Bring the metahu-mans to me and kill Margo Winter. That’s allyou have to do, and everything will fall intoplace,” he summarized.

Creed clenched his jaw. He hated work-ing for this snake and was counting theseconds until he would be free of him. “Yes,sir.”

Creed was just hoping the work Williamswas requiring of him before he was given theinformation to find his biological family

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wouldn’t leave him permanently scarred andjaded.

“Call me when the family is ready tomake negotiations,” Williams said curtly andhung up.

Creed mumbled into the disconnectedphone words that made him feel better forsaying, but had no bearing on his currentsituation. He was still at the mercy of Willi-ams if he wanted a chance to lead a normallife.

He sat heavily on the edge of the hotelroom bed. The tacky, green, floral print onpolyester bedspread stared back at him withmutual contempt. This all felt so wrong. Nowthat he’d stepped across that line by allowingFarrow to dose Meg with an obviously deadlyunknown toxin, the reality of his actions wasstinging hornets to his heart. Nothing aboutwhat Williams was telling him to do felt likeit was going to be worth it.

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And what assurances did he have thatWilliams was going to follow through withhis end of the bargain? Even if he did knowhis parent’s contact information, why wouldWilliams give it to him? Or was he just goingto keep stringing him along, always with onemore loathsome task for Creed to complete?

This deal was feeling more and moreshaky. Maybe Williams didn’t really knowanything about his biological parents andwas just pulling on Creed’s heart strings toget him to jump through hoops.

After all, Creed thought, Williams hasdone nothing to earn trust. I don’t know ifGavil’s alive or dead. I was promised moretime to heal before being put on this assign-ment. I was told Dr. Winter was a thiefwhen it’s pretty clear the woman was justtrying to protect the meta children. He toldme the ‘gift’ was ‘just for show’ and nowMeg’s life is hanging in the balance, Creedthought furiously to himself.

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He felt sick to his stomach. Nothingabout this was feeling right at all. Theeighteen-year-old soldier continued tomumble to himself furiously the entire timeit took him to pack his hotel room. And bythe time he was ready to leave, he still hadn’tdecided what to do. There had to be a way todo the right thing, but he was very worried itwas too late for him to wind up a good guy.

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30 June in the Month of March

“Hello, dear. How are we feeling today?”Dr. Kenneth Williams leaned down andkissed the papery dry cheek of the young wo-man lying on the hospital bed. He didn’t ex-pect an answer after fourteen years of si-lence. He was just accustomed to speakingwith his daughter like this in some vain hopethat someday she might hear and know heloved her.

He visited June often, though not oftenenough, his guilt-ridden conscience told him.He made sure she had the best of care in thebasement of this hospital building he de-signed specifically around her needs. Out ofhabit, he checked her chart clipped to thefoot of her bed. No change.

Long ago, he assigned a trusted meta fe-male named Esther to oversee his June’s

every daily need. The meta stood discreetlyoutside the doors now, allowing the doctortime alone with his daughter.

“Well, I’m working on your cure, mydear. I’ve sent two of my top soldiers to re-trieve the serum I just know will get you feel-ing better,” he said as he absently adjustedher sheets up around her shoulders.

“You remember Farrow. She is workingwith a meta named Creed to make it all hap-pen. We’re just days away from your cure,then we’ll get to enjoy walks in the gardenand shopping at only the most exclusiveshops; just as I used to do with yourmother.”

“You have your whole life before you, mysweet June. You’ll see. Daddy will fixeverything for you.” He smiled as warmly ashis leathery face would allow at his pride andjoy.

June lay as still as a stone. No matterwhat he did, Dr. Williams felt her accusatory

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silence pierce his soul, but not for muchlonger. Farrow and Creed would bring backthe cure. They had to.

Chirping came from his breast pocket. Aphone call.

“Reporting in, sir,” Farrow saidobediently.

“Status?” Williams said, still staring athis baby girl lying helpless in the hospitalroom bed.

“Creed has followed directives thus far,and we’re on schedule,” she informedrobotically.

“Well done, Farrow,” Williams smiled athis daughter feeling more confident thanever things would be different soon.

“What are your feelings about Creed? Ishe going to follow through? Or has he gottentoo close to the subjects? Do I need to sendyou reinforcements?”

“So far, he seems on target. I’ll keep awatchful eye and let you know. But sir, no

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reinforcements will be necessary. I’ll takecare of things myself if need be,” Farrow con-cluded as any soldier would.

“I am confident in your abilities. Keepme informed.”

“As you wish, sir.” Her voice was like syr-up on the phone, but that was exactly why hehad chosen her to aid in this most importantassignment. She was a valuable weapon, ashe had determined female metas could be.Farrow was beautiful and voluptuous but asdeadly as a viper. Yes, women had theirsecret weapons no man could duplicate.

“If you find it helpful, feel free to be-friend the male metas,” Dr. Williams addedknowingly.

“I will do whatever is necessary to com-plete the objectives, sir.” Her voice was likebutter on a piece of hot bread.

“I know you will,” Williams smiled intothe phone. “If Creed becomes a liability, Iknow you’ll take care of him, too.”

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“As you wish, Director,” Farrow smiledwidely.

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31 Professional Courtesy

“Leaving so soon, Creed?” a sultry voicewhispered from behind him at the hotel’scheckout desk. He didn’t even turn around.He knew who she was. He could smell herperfume.

The guest relations guy, who had beenhelping with the checkout, stopped to lookup at the exchange. He couldn’t help butstare. The girl was gorgeous. Creed ignoredhis envious ogling and finished signing thereceipt in front of him. He grabbed his largesuitcase easily, turned and started walkingaway.

“You can stop following me, Farrow,”Creed growled once they were out of eaves-dropping range.

“Oh, but I can’t. I have my orders, too,you know,” she said with a smile on herbeautiful lips.

“Your orders are to follow me?”“My orders are to be sure your objectives

are achieved.” Her voice was crisp.“What are you supposed to do if I don’t

achieve objective?”“I finish where you left off,” she smiled

innocently at her fellow meta.They had stopped walking and were star-

ing at each other in the sunny hotel parkinglot.

“And what happens to me?”Farrow’s deceptively slender shoulders

shrugged noncommittally. “I hope we don’thave to cross that bridge, Creed.” Shereached out and touched the collar of hisshirt, as though straightening it. Creed re-flexively jerked away from her.

Since he first met her some six monthsago, she had tried to use her charms on him.

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She came across, at first, as a thoughtful, in-telligent woman, but he learned those werejust her weapons. She was poisonous. For-tunately, he hadn’t opened up to her at all. Ifthere was one thing he had learned abouthimself it was that he hated deceit. That’sprobably why Meg’s naïveté struck him as sorefreshing and sexy. Meg Winter was the po-lar opposite of Farrow Schone.

Farrow was pretending to pout at his ob-vious rejection. He wasn’t falling for it. Notone bit.

Over the last six months he had watchedthis woman carefully. He knew she was atrained sniper, deadly fighter and extremelyintelligent. Those skills, coupled with herinnocent-looking beauty made her about thescariest meta Creed knew.

“I’ve been invited by the family to stay attheir guest house,” he said, aware of hismuscles flexing involuntarily.

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“Goodie,” Farrow cooed. “Please stay intouch. I don’t want to have to come knockingon the door.” She stopped, faced Creed dir-ectly, and raised one beautifully arched browbefore adding, “but I will if I have to—or, ifyou want me to.” She slipped a smolderinglywicked smile across her full lips. “I would ap-preciate your showing me professionalcourtesy.”

“Right,” Creed’s jaw tightened in anger.Just as he turned to walk away from her

and toward his car, he heard her phone vi-brate in her handbag. “You can tell Williamsthat I’m being a good boy and obeying all or-ders,” he called condescendingly over hisshoulder.

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32 Faith

The guest house was more than comfort-able, though simple enough. There was alarge bed with freshly washed sheets and anextra blanket folded neatly beside four of thefluffiest pillows Creed had ever seen. In theback was a small kitchen and bathroomstocked with all the essentials. The windowswere easily opened allowing the ocean breezeto move freely through the small space.Creed could even hear the ocean waves asthey rolled and crashed and retreated downon the beach.

But no matter how comfortable the bed,or how rhythmic the ocean sounds, or howtired his body, sleep was never easy forCreed. It was his mind that wouldn’t be calmat night and it had always been this way.Back at the Facility he would spend hours

listening to the meta soldiers snoringsoundly in their meager bunks while hetossed and turned trying to quiet his mind.He eventually learned to exist on far lesssleep than most. Usually he could achieve agood three or four hours a night. Usually.

So it came as no surprise to Creed thathe lay staring out of the open window at thebright stars glowing against the velvet blacknight.

The next morning, Creed woke feelingexhausted and drained. He was lying inmusky, damp sheets now, having sweatthrough his thin T-shirt and shorts.

A slight groan escaped his throat whenhe threw his legs over the edge of the bedand sat up. He wasn’t looking forward towhat he had to do today, but what choice didhe have? He knew he had to act soon beforeFarrow decided she needed to take over.

Creed began walking toward the bath-room as he thought. Farrow’s version of

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“achieving objectives” with the Winter familyand their friends would turn in to an all-outbloodbath. He couldn’t let that happen. Heknew he wanted to keep casualties to a min-imum, preferably none at all, but he stillhadn’t figured out how he was going to pullthat off.

The hot water felt amazing on his back.Creed stood in the shower much longer thanhe usually would have. He let the pulsingspray dig into his skin in hopes that somegreat idea would occur to him, but he wasprocrastinating, and he knew it. Angrily, heflipped the shower off and grabbed a towel.

He tried to psych himself back into themindset he needed to get through the task athand. This is just a means to an end, Creed.You know what you have to do, and you cando it with the least harm coming to thesepeople. No matter what Williams says he’llgive you for doing this, in the end you knowthis family is in for trouble and it may as well

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come from you so you can minimize thedamage. If you really care about Meg, youneed to get her the help she needs and thathelp can only come from Williams. Just getthe metas back to Germany. Focus, Creed.Do your job because you know you have to.

He stood staring at himself in the bath-room mirror, completely dressed, but stillunable to get to where he was ready to leave.

A knock at the front door jarred Creedfrom his solemn reverie. The pity party wasover immediately, and his game face was on.“I’m coming,” he called as he hurried acrossthe room to the door. He opened it and stoodface to face with Dr. Winter.

“Good morning, Creed,” she smiled. “Areyou hungry for breakfast?”

He saw right away the dark circles underher eyes. She looked like she had aged fiveyears in one night.

“Oh, I’d be fine with just a glass of milk,”he said trying to pretend he hadn’t noticed

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how haggard she looked. “How about I cooksomething for you? I’m pretty good in thekitchen, you know. Well, at basic stuff. I canfry a mean egg,” he offered politely.

“I might just take you up on thatsomeday, but Paulie is the chef this morn-ing,” she smiled ruefully. “No telling whathe’s cooked up for us. He keeps trying to per-fect local dishes and well…I’d rather notknow what concoction he’s created thismorning. I usually end up with coffee and apiece of toast on the days Paulie cooks,” shesaid with a tired smile.

“Coffee does sound good,” Creed saidopening the door to the house for Dr. Winterbefore following her in.

“Evan was up all night with Meg, so he’staking a nap now, and Alik is on watch. I’ll berelieving him after I grab a bite to eat,”Margo said as though she were casually dis-cussing the 7am news.

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“How is Meg this morning?” Creed askedhesitantly.

“About the same as she was after we gaveher the blood transfusion last night. At leastshe’s not worse,” the worry lines grew deeperin her brow just talking about her daughter.

The two walked into the aroma-filledgourmet kitchen.

“Morning, Creed,” Paulie said with obvi-ous forced chipperness. He looked almost asexhausted as Margo.

“Good morning, sir. Can I give you ahand with anything?” Creed asked trying tobe of some help. His guilt-o-meter wasflipped all the way into the red range. Thesewere good people, probably the best peoplehe ever met, and he was here to hurt them.Crap.

“Yeah, can you stir the sauce over thereon the stove? It just brings out the rich flavorof the squid. You’ll love it!” he said happily.

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Margo exchanged a look with Creed thatsaid, I tried to warn you, didn’t I?

“Squid for breakfast, eh?” he said takingup a wooden spoon to stir the sauce.

“Oh yeah! The locals love it! I got this re-cipe from a rather large Samoan lady whoused to teach marine biology at the uni-versity. I tell you what, if that woman hadn’talready been married I would have pursuedher myself just for her cooking!” Paulielooked over at Creed mischievously andwinked.

Creed couldn’t help but laugh at thegood-natured old guy. Even Margo was gig-gling. She really was a beautiful womanwhen she smiled.

“What are we laughing at?” Dr. Andrewsasked as he walked into the kitchen andheaded directly for the coffee pot.

“Paulie’s telling us about his love life, orlack thereof,” Margo teased.

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“Gee, I’m glad I missed that.” Theosmiled over at Margo as though they sharedan intimate secret.

Creed wondered how these people couldbe so obviously stressed and terrified forMeg, yet maintain a sense of humor andcloseness. He was willing to play along, buthe still didn’t understand it.

All three of these doctors had every reas-on not to trust him, but they did. They allhad every reason to shake their fists to thesky and hate everyone and everything out ofspite because one of their own was criticallyill in the next room, but they didn’t.

Margo had more reason than any ofthem to hate, but she didn’t. She had givenup everything to live in hiding with threechildren who weren’t even her blood. Shesuffered horribly at the hands of Williams.She has to know things are going to be awhole lot worse before they’re better. How

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can she feel any sense of peace? Yet, Creedcould see it in her eyes that she did.

“What is it Creed?” her voice came fromthe other side of his thoughtful fog.

“Hum?”“You have a strange look on your face.

What were you thinking?” Margo asked himeven as she handed him a glass of milk.

“I have to ask you something,” he saidunsurely.

“Okay, shoot.” Margo said.“It’s obvious you love your children, so

how is it that you’re able to keep your spiritsup when we all know Meg is so sick?”

“Isn’t that obvious, too?” she asked cock-ing her head to one side studying him evenas he studied her. “I have faith, Creed.”Margo’s voice was steady and sure.

“Faith, ma’am?”“Yes, faith that God’s will, will be done.

That is how I stay strong. My faith that God’shand is on Meg—on all of us, is solid.”

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“God. God is your strength?” Creedasked skeptically. “No offense, but you’re ascientist. Don’t you have more faith in sci-ence to cure Meg?”

“Of course, not. Any ‘cures’ that maycome our way will be there because God al-lowed them to be there.” Margo was pouringherself a cup of coffee.

“Hasn’t anyone ever talked to you aboutyour soul, son?” Dr. Andrews was looking in-tently at Creed.

“My soul? I don’t think I have one, sir,”Creed responded without thinking. He hadnever shared his fear of being soulless withanyone before.

“Of course you have a soul, Creed,”Margo said matter-of-factly.

“How do you know?” Creed asked wait-ing for some philosophical explanation thatwould be easily refuted because he wasn’t ahuman being.

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“Because I can see it in your eyes,” shesaid simply.

Creed stared at her as though he hadnever seen her before. He watched her soft,brown eyes full of sincerity. She made apretty tough argument.

Awkwardly, Creed answered, “Um, if yousay so. Thanks, Dr. Winter.”

“Oh, please call me, Margo.”“And me, Theo.”“And me, Paulie. Now, let’s eat!”“Say grace with me first, you old coot!”

Margo smiled widely at her old friend,bowed her head and began saying a blessingover the food.

Creed wanted to crawl into a hole likethe soulless snake he knew he was.

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33 Final Countdown

Evan spent the night in the lab workingon his mother’s request. And true to hisword, he was able to extract the original ser-um from his own DNA blood samples insidefive hours. He made three sets of the serum.One, he assumed would travel with Meg, onewould remain here at the lab as a backup,and the third was a backup to the backup. Noone but his mom and he would know aboutthe third batch. No one needed to know. Itwas a contingency plan he hadn’t even con-cocted yet, but knew life well enough to knowit is always a good idea to have a plan B.

He put batches one and two in the labor-atory’s locked refrigerator. Before he did thesame with the third, he first slipped into asmall, self-contained cooling unit. As hesealed it shut, it made a sucking, vacuum-

like hiss before it locked into place. Satisfied,he put the whole unit into the fridge andclosed the door. He finished cleaning up hismaterials before Alik arrived to take overwatch. He didn’t want to worry his brotherany more than he already was.

“Hey, man,” Alik called to his babybrother when he was finished scrubbing in.“How’s our patient?”

“Alik, hey. She’s the same. Stats are con-stant. Fever down. I just finished document-ing everything on her chart, so she’s good togo for you.” Evan’s eyes looked over his sis-ter’s face and welled with tired tears. Gonewere the days of stoic, detached Evan; he’dcried more in the last few days than his en-tire life previous.

“Great. Good deal, Ev. I got it from here.You go on and get some sleep, okay?” Alikknew his brother better than anyone else andto see his formerly unemotional little brother

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suffering so deeply was making everythingfeel even more desperate.

“Right,” Evan sniffed. He turned andwalked stiffly out of the room.

Alik could hear the whoosh of the slidingdoors as his brother stepped on the sensor.Then again, the woosh of the doors closingbehind him. He glanced up and saw the topof his baby brother’s head as he pulled offthe scrubs he was wearing and tossed theminto the biohazard hamper. He pulled on hisplain blue T-shirt and walked out of sight.

“Well, big sister, it’s just the two of us,”Alik said, trying to pretend his sister was justsleeping and not on death’s door.

He reached over and grabbed the clipboard off of the table beside him. He saw hisbrother’s notes written in his typical neatscript. The last note was written about tenminutes ago. Alik put the clip board downsoftly, so as not to disturb his sister.

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Last night he had decided to readeverything he could get his hands on havinganything possibly to do with Meg’s medicalcondition. He never before needed to studymedicine, that was Evan and Mom’s spe-cialty, but now, he felt so helpless that hewas determined to at least know what theheck all these doctors were saying when theyspoke.

His mind was moderately dizzy withdata. After all the research, the truth of thematter is that nothing was adding up. Noth-ing about his sister’s illness made sense, atleast, not according to regular human bio-logy and physiology. There’s got to besomething they were missing, but he didn’tknow enough to know what.

Alik flipped open the laptop he broughtwith him and linked quickly to the wirelessinternet. Maybe if he kept looking,something would come to him. Two hourslater, Alik was still concentrating on the

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physiology and anatomy of the human heartwhen Meg’s monitors woke instantly andscreamed behind him.

“BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!”Alik nearly flew out of his chair at the

sound of Meg’s machines going off. So-mething was wrong with Meg.

Alik looked over at her heart monitor,blood pressure monitor and pulse-ox.

Oh, my God, no! She’s crashing!Two days before, Alik had worked to

solve the problem of not being able to monit-or his ill sister from different parts of thelarge house. That’s when he had designedand easily rigged an alert system that wouldsound if Meg’s machines went off. He wasthanking God for his forethought because hewas depending on the alarms to get help inhere fast.

With alarms sounding in the livingroom, bedrooms, kitchen and patio, every-one in the entire house leaped to their feet

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and ran full-speed toward the lab. Mazehowled and panted and howled again in-stinctively aware that something horriblewas happening.

Knowing every second counted, Alikjumped on the table with his sister andbegan compressions. “One, two, three, four,five—breathe. One, two, three, four,five—breathe,” And even as his body jumpedinto action performing CPR on his sister, hismind was praying fanatically for more time.

Margo was the first person to arrivesprinting into the room, flush and panicked.She saw her son performing CPR on the frailbody of her baby girl. “Oh, dear God! No!”

She ran to her children and took over thebreathing part of the CPR while she and herson worked as a team, trying to revive Meg.Not thirty seconds later, Evan ran into theroom, and without saying a word, turned onthe defibulator.

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“Charging!” he warned. Alik jumped offthe table, and Margo stepped back.

“Clear!” he called out and placed thepaddles strategically on his sister’s chest, onein the center and the other closer to her leftarm pit. With a loud “WHOMP” the machineshot a jolt of electricity into Meg’s heart, try-ing to jump-start her like a dead car battery.

For a moment, everyone stopped andstared at the heart rate machine, willing it tobegin beeping a rhythmic tone instead of theflatline scream it was sounding now.

Nothing.“Again. Charging!” Evan called to the

room now filled with two more doctors andCreed.

“Clear!” Evan called as he placed thepaddles again and prayed over them. The joltcaused Meg’s body to spasm up and off thebed for a moment, then she flopped backdown and lay as still as a rag doll.

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The merciless machine screamed thedead monotone as everyone watched in ab-ject horror.

“Charging,” Evan’s voice caught in histhroat. He glanced at the clock and quicklycalculated how long his sister had beenwithout oxygen. Brain damage is likely afterfour minutes. It had been two minutes,thirty-six seconds. Meg’s lips were blue andher skin ashen. She already looked dead, hethought to himself and pushed the thoughtaside.

“Clear,” he pushed the paddles back intoplace and held the jolt an extra half second.“Come on, Meg!” he pleaded. “Wake up,Meggie! Come back to us! It’s not time to goyet. Not yet, Meg! Fight with me!”

The room was silent, except for thesound of the machine flat-lining.

“Charging!” Evan called for a fourthtime. Time was slipping away.

Beep,…beep,…beep,…

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“Wait!” Margo yelled to Evan.Beep,…beep,…beep,…Evan looked back and forth from the

beeping machine to his sister’s lips pinking-up.

“Oh, thank God! Thank you, God! Evan,she’s back!” Margo wailed in relief. And withthe strength of a bear, Margo grabbed bothher sons, pulled them tightly to her, andkissed both of their cheeks. “Thank you boys!Thank God for you!”

And then, as any mother would, shedraped herself protectively over her daugh-ter’s frame and cried for the preciousness ofher life.

Minutes passed like this, everyone lost inprivate prayers and thoughts, still recoveringfrom the rush of adrenaline. Margo stood upand locked eyes with Creed. When she spoke,her voice was strong and carried a tone ofunwavering certainty. “Contact Williamsnow; tell him we’re willing to make a deal. If

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his scientists can cure Meg, I’ll give him theserum. Have him commission an ambulatoryjet to leave immediately.” Her bloodshot eyesshown a resolve Creed recognized andrespected.

“Yes, ma’am.”“Creed,” she called sternly.“Ma’am?”“I am trusting you with my daughter’s

life. Please take care of her.”“Yes, ma’am,” Creed said solemnly. He

nodded once, turned and walked briskly outof the room. He had a phone call to make.

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34 Conversations at the Edgeof a Bed

“You can’t be serious.”“I’m completely serious.”“No. I am not letting you put yourself

back in harm’s way.”“You don’t have a choice.”“Don’t you see how useless it is for you to

go?”“I only see that my daughter is dying,

and I need to take her to get medical help.You would do the same if it were Cole.”

“Margo, this isn’t like you’re taking Megto a regular hospital up the street or even inanother country. This is Kenneth Williams’hospital.”

“Theo, I know you’re just trying to beprotective of me, and though I think it’s verysweet, it is completely misdirected.”

“Margo, I don’t care what serum youhave to offer as a trade, he still wants ven-geance on you. You. Specifically he wantsyou, Margo Winter, dead! Why can’t you getthat through your thick skull?”

“I don’t care what happens to me,Theodore Andrews. I care about what hap-pens to my little girl. And if it means I haveto trade myself for her life, I would do it in aheartbeat!”

Theo sat at the edge of her bed, ex-hausted from arguing with the most illogicalwoman on the face of the Earth. He didn’tknow which hurt worse: his head ache orheartache.

All he wanted to do was curl up in thisbig old bed and hold that precious womanuntil some common sense seeped into her.He just wanted a chance to love her, to takecare of her. Was that asking so much? Whydid everything with this woman have to be sodamn complicated?

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“It’s not complicated,” Margo said, read-ing his thoughts. She stopped packing for amoment and sat beside her best friend.

“I am a mommy. My daughter is hurt. Ineed to get her help. Period.” She reached totouch the scruffy beard that had started togrow on his sweet face. Her cool hand actedas a tonic to his soul and he felt himself meltinto it. “And if I haven’t said it lately, I loveyou. Thank you for all you have done for meand for our children. You are a blessing tomy life, and I thank God for you, my sweetTheo.”

Theo’s bloodshot eyes glistened instantlywith tears. “I love you too, you crazy woman.I would go to the ends of the earth for you.So if you’re going into the lion’s den, then Iam too.”

“You can’t. You have to stay here andtake care of Cole and Maze. You have work todo in the lab, too. You’re still decoding bloodsamples, remember?”

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“Paulie can look after Cole and Maze,and he can work on the blood samples, too.”Dr. Andrew’s voice had taken on a distinctpouting tone that made Margo smile widely.

“You know what you have to do, Theo,and I know what I have to do. We’ll get thisall taken care of and meet back here as soonas possible. Okay? God willing, Meggie’s re-covery will be rapid, and we’ll all be back inless than a week,” Margo said hopefully.

Theo continued to sit on the edge of thebed and hopelessly watch as the love of hislife continued to pack her bag for a flightleaving in less than two hours.

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35 The Travelers

“Okay, I think we’re all packed,” Evanconcluded as he zipped the last black bagclosed.

“The ambulance and town car will behere any minute,” Creed said checking hiswatch.

The conversation with Dr. Williams wassurreal. Creed’s mind was still trying to pro-cess it. “Meg’s condition is perilous. Herheart stopped beating for three minutes justnow. Evan was barely able to revive her aftershocking her with a defibulator three times.”

“So, what? Are they ready to make adeal?” he asked coldly.

“Yes, sir. Dr. Winter told me to call youand tell you she wants to trade. Your doctorscure Meg, and she’ll give you the original ser-um. She asks that you send transportation

immediately. I know she’s worried Megwon’t make it through the night.”

“She has the serum?” he asked excitedly.“Sir, yes. She wants to trade it for her

daughter’s cure,” Creed felt like Williams wasonly hearing part of what he was saying. Hehad no compassion. He had no sense of mor-ality. This man was evil. There was no otherway to say it. He was pure evil.

“Excellent! Make the arrangements. Dowhat you have to do to get the serum here.”Creed could almost hear him drooling inanticipation.

“Yes, sir. I’ll make the arrangementsimmediately.”

And before he heard a click, Creed wassure he actually heard the doctor giggling.He tried not to think of Dr. Williamsanymore.

Instead, he focused on what had to bedone to get Meg her cure. So, even as hewaffled between bouts of guilt and anger and

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determination, he functioned on autopilot toaccomplish the logistics necessary at thispoint.

He hurried to his guest house and usedhis laptop with secured wireless access to ar-range for the transport of one very sick girland her brothers who would surly want toaccompany her. Since money was no objectto Dr. Williams, Creed had long ago been au-thorized to spend whatever he had to duringhis objectives.

Commissioning a private ambulatory jetfrom Hawaii to Nuremburg, Germany cost asmall fortune. The flight would leave whenhe wanted it to. He asked for three hourspreparation. The pilot was agreeable once heknew of the large cash payment he’d receive.

Now Alik was standing beside Evan.Evan had one hand on his sister’s gurney andthe other hand on her heart monitor standon wheels.

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“Can I help carry anything?” Alik askedhis brother nodding toward Meg and all herequipment.

“Yeah, actually. I need us to take thisportable defibulator and that case of meds.Thanks.” Evan and Alik exchanged a know-ing glance. They were both scared out oftheir minds and doing their level best not toshow it.

“Where’s the serum?” Alik whispered in-to his brother’s back.

“It’s in my front left pocket,” hewhispered over his shoulder. “Would yourather hold it?”

“Sure. You have your hands full withMeg and her stuff,” he mumbled.

They turned to each other and hugged asbrothers do so their exchange was unnoticedby anyone in the room. They felt better aboutAlik holding the serum. Evan was worriedhe’d lose it and Alik was just glad to feelsome importance.

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“The cars are here,” Creed called back into the house from the front porch.

“I’m ready to go,” Margo spoke from be-hind the brothers.

“What?” the brothers said at the sametime.

“Mom, you’re not going. It’s too danger-ous,” Alik said matter-of-factly.

“Don’t even bother, boys. I’ve been try-ing for the last two hours to talk her out ofthis, but her mind’s made up,” Theo sighed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Aliklooked furious.

“Mom, we have enough to worry aboutgetting Meg and ourselves in and out of theresafely. Please don’t add another liability tothe equation,” Evan said logically.

Margo, suddenly looked very small andfrail. Her eyes widened and tears began tostream down her tired cheeks. She hadn’tthought about it that way. She wasn’t strongenough to be an asset to her children

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anymore, at least, not physically, and shewould slow them down. The realizationstruck her like a punch to the gut.

“Don’t cry mom. It’ll be okay,” Evanwrapped his long arms around his motherand hugged her gently.

Alik walked to them and enveloped bothhis brother and his mom in an even biggerhug. “We’ll take care of Meg, mom. Wepromise. We’ll bring her home to you.”

The boys walked their mom to a chairand sat her down carefully. Even through hertears the boys could see fierceness in her.The three huddled together for a moment insilent prayer.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the room as thetravelers grabbed their bags and their sisterand headed for the waiting cars.

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36 What’s a Guy Gotta Do toGet a Pretzel on this Flight?

Tearful goodbyes were said as quickly aspossible for everyone’s sake. The boys care-fully loaded their sister’s gurney into the am-bulance. Evan refused to leave her side so herode in the back with the paramedic who wasordered, in no uncertain terms, not to touchthe patient by a very intense looking Evan.

Alik and Creed slipped into the town carand sat silently for the twenty-minute driveto the airport. Alik kept looking behind themat the ambulance, making sure they were stillback there and that everything seemed okay.He couldn’t stop recalling with his perfectclarity the image of his mother, Theo, Paulie,and Cole waving softly and hugging eachother as they watched them drive away.Maze obeyed orders to “stay” but was

howling his worry after the doors to Meg’sambulance closed. His mom kept whiskingtears away from her cheeks, and Theo kept aprotective arm over her shoulder. Paulie, inhis own way, was terrified for everyone, buthe only stood with his arms crossing hisample belly and nodded encouragingly hisfarewell.

Cole was not at all discreet about hisfrustration at being left behind, again. Hestood somewhat separate from the others,hands crammed into his pockets and chew-ing on his bottom lip. Cole had become evenmore distant over the last several weeks andMeg’s illness seemed to have pushed himfurther away.

Alik recalled the way the palm treesdanced in the ocean breeze, and the wayPaulie’s house stood happily on the hilltop.He remembered the way his mother’s brownhair whisked into her eyes and how she,without thinking about it, reached up and

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tucked the errant locks behind her ear withthose hardworking hands of hers. He sawMaze’s body tense as he tossed his head backin frustrated howls. He loved his family somuch.

All Alik wanted, more than anything inthe world was to have his family healthy andhappy and living right here with their friendPaulie on the beach. Alik sighed deeply, solost in thought he was unaware that he’dmade a sound there in the back of the towncar.

“There’s our jet,” Creed said softly as henodded toward the medium-sized linerparked on the tarmac.

“It’s larger than I expected,” Alik said,making conversation.

“It has to be at least that size so it cancarry enough fuel to get us stateside. We’llrefuel at LAX.” Creed was very much awarehow tense Alik was, so he was really just try-ing to make idle talk, too. He was also very

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aware how dangerous this guy could be, es-pecially when he felt his family threatened.He heard stories of what happened back atthe Institute. And though Creed thought hecould take Alik, he wanted to avoid a battlewith him if possible.

The time was nearly three in the after-noon local time. The pilot stood at the door-way monitoring the lift that was bringingMeg and her gurney up to the special ambu-latory door on the side of the plane. Gettingher settled in the plane and properly situatedwas less difficult than Alik imagined. Every-one was very professional and adept at theirjobs. Williams had spared no expense in hir-ing this team to transport his precious serumand, by proxy, his ill sister. Though Alik wasthankful for the smooth transition fromPaulie’s laboratory to here, he was maintain-ing his skepticism. Williams was evilhowever you try to sugar-coat it. None of this

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was out of the goodness of his heart. Hewanted that serum, and he was getting it.

Alik settled into a plush, burgundy up-holstered passenger’s seat. Creed sat closerto the pilot’s cockpit and Evan was towardthe back of the plane, where they had se-cured Meg’s gurney. He was carefullyhanging a new I.V. bag for Meg and dis-creetly checking her catheter bag that hungbelow the bed’s mattress. Alik appreciatedhis brother’s medical knowledge now morethan ever. How would he be able to transporttheir sister safely without his brother’s ex-pert care? They would have had to bring an-other person, and that would have just com-plicated things, just as Evan had said to theirmom an hour before.

He smiled affectionately at his brother asthey caught each other’s eyes. The three ofthem had always made one heck of a greatteam. Meg was the moxie, Evan the logicalplanner and Alik was the muscle. Without

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thinking, he whisked a tear away from hiseye.

The pilot came over the intercom with arobotic hissing sound, “Good afternoon, Mr.Young and guests. This is your pilot, CaptainBob Jacobi at your service. Our copilot todayis my good buddy, Vince Trainer. It is, uh,three-sixteen local time. The temperature issteady at eighty-one degrees, wind five to tenknots south-south-west, and visibility clear.Please listen carefully as our flight attendant,Missy, reviews the safety features of this air-craft and proper safety protocol.”

The overhead intercom hissed then wentsilent before Missy began her spiel at thefront of the plane.

“Welcome Mr. Young and guests to flight310 Air Ambulance to Germany. Our firststop will be in LAX to refuel before headingon to New York then Europe. In the unlikelyevent there is an inair emergency there are aseries of procedures we must advise you of

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for your safety and for the safety of others onthis plane…” Missy droned on in her squeakyvoice to recite her memorized speech aboutthe cabin pressure, flotation devices and exitroutes while the passengers barely listened,least of all, Evan. He was too worried aboutMeg’s monitors to think about “first placingthe oxygen mask over his own face before as-sisting someone else.”

Missy was finally done with her cannedsafety speech when the overhead intercomhissed to life again. “Uh,…ladies and gentle-men, we have just been cleared, uh, by thetower for takeoff. So, please be sure yourcarry-on luggage is properly stowed in theavailable compartments, buckle up anddouble-check our patient’s safety harnessesas well. Thank you, and if you have any ques-tions now or anytime during the uh,…eight-hour flight to LAX, please don’t hesitate topush the red call button above your head andone of the flight crew will come to assist you.

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Uh, again, thank you for allowing us to be ofservice to you Mr. Young and guests and welook forward to a smooth flight. This is yourcaptain, Bob Jacobi, with copilot VinceTrainer, out.”

The engines began to roar louder as thecraft taxied to the start of the runway. Alikwatched his sister’s I.V. bag swing gently asthe plane picked up speed. A quick glanceout one of the many oval windows showedthe scenic Hawaiian landscape blur by. Witha swift pull, the plane was up and off theground, rising quickly. There was no turningback now. Of course, there probably neverwas. Alik, Evan and their dying sister wereen route to a devil’s den.

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37 Farrow’s Fury

Farrow hated be left behind. Williamshad informed her of Creed’s progress andtold her to keep her distance from him as hemaneuvered the metas and the serum toGermany.

“Keep your head down, Farrow,” hehissed into the phone when she hadobjected.

“Sir, with all due respect, Creed mayneed to be monitored more closely. I thinkhe’s unsure of his true intentions. The familyis getting to him, and he looks like he’s onthe fence. He doesn’t even know which sidehe wants to be on.”

“While I appreciate your reporting yourobservations, I cannot risk introducing youinto the fragile mix right now. Let Creedbring them in. You will fly back separately.”

Williams’ voice waffled between coaxing andbarking.

He was on the verge of an emotionalbreakdown, but no one knew that better thanFarrow. She had watched this man spiral in-to depression and power almost equally asfast. Farrow had been his trusted weapon forthe last year. She had seen him try to workwith his daughter. She saw him use humanslike test rats for his scientific purposes. Hewas a genius and a monster, but that drewFarrow to him. She was mesmerized by hispower. Besides, being his personal aide hadits benefits, too. She was privy to more in-formation than any other meta at theFacility.

“Farrow, do you understand?” Williamsasked, disturbing her thoughts.

“Yes, sir.”“I’m trusting you to follow my orders.”“Of course, sir.”

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“Before you leave, take care of one thingfor me?”

“Name it, sir.”“Creed never got around to killing Margo

before he left. Terminate that wretchedwoman.”

Farrow smiled softly, “With pleasure.”“Call me when she’s out of the picture.

I’ve been waiting for revenge too long,” Willi-ams’ voice had a tired hint to it.

“I’m on my way to Dr. St. Paul’s homenow, sir,” Farrow smiled widely at the pro-spect of finally doing something. “Do youhave a preference as to whether Dr. Andrewsis terminated as well?”

“No, no preference there. He’s only inthe picture because Margo brought him in.He poses no threat to us, but if he gets in theway, take him out, too.

“As you wish, sir.”“Farrow, my dear. I treasure you as my

assistant and look forward to many more

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years of you being my personal right hand,but if you fail me by allowing Margo Winterto live, don’t even bother coming home.Have I made myself clear?” The old scient-ists’ voice was throaty with old anger by theend of his statement, and knowing him aswell as she did, she was sure he had spittledangling from his leathery mouth. She grim-aced at the image.

“I understand, sir.” She waited respect-fully for the audible click indicating he hadhung up the phone, and bit her lip furiouslyforcing herself silent as she waited.

Click.With that sound, Farrow felt both liber-

ated and isolated, and the thought occurredto her. What would happen if she just walkedaway? She could catch a flight stateside be-fore Williams would cut off her financial sup-port. She may even be able to buy a car whenshe landed in California. All she would haveis her suitcase, her sniper rifle, the clothes on

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her back, the cash in her wallet, and hope-fully a car with a full tank of gas. Would it beworth it? Is any of this really worth it?

All she had ever known was the Facilityand Dr. Williams. She thought power andprestige were the world. The more she didhis bidding, the more in his good-graces shewas, the more power she felt she received.All the other metas knew who she was andnever even thought to challenge her. Herstatus as Williams’ personal assistant kepther an elite at the compound.

But she was having second thoughtsnow. Something about this particular assign-ment was making her question her personalmotives.

Farrow shook her head as though swat-ting away a pesky gnat. It was easier not tothink. Just obey orders soldier, she toldherself.

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38 In-Flight Conversations

Only twenty minutes in to the flight andAlik was already bored. Missy came by with atray of sodas. “Is there any access to interneton the flight?” he asked.

“I’m sorry sir, but wireless devices areprohibited because they could interfere withcommunications in the cockpit. I could bringyou an assortment of in-flight movies thatare available for viewing on your personalscreen. We also have a large collection ofmagazines and books if you’d prefer.” Missysmiled helpfully.

“Yeah, I could read something. Anythinghaving to do with medical news or currentevents would be great.”

“I’ll see what I can dig up for you,” shesaid with a wink and sashayed down theaisle.

“‘Medical news or current events,’”Creed echoed. “A little light reading, eh?”

“Not much else to do,” he said, obviouslyuncomfortable talking with Creed.

“We have seventeen hours to kill,” heglanced up at his fellow meta warily. “No punintended.”

“What were you planning to do?”“Well, I thought of taking a nice long

nap, myself,” Creed leaned back in his plushchair causing the leg rests to extend.

“Didn’t you sleep well in Paulie’s guesthouse last night?”

“Oh, well, don’t get me wrong. The ac-commodations were great. It’s just…”

“Bad dreams?” Alik asked probing.Creed shrugged.“Hum…”“What’s that supposed to mean?”“Nothing, man. It’s just not unusual for a

guilty conscience to cause a person

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unsettling dreams,” Alik shrugged inno-cently. “At least, that’s what I’ve heard.”

Creed shook his head and gave a halflaugh.

Missy was hurrying back down the aislewith her arms full of reading material. “Well,we have Science Weekly, Scientific Now, andI found a Physician’s Desk Reference,” shesaid proudly. “Then there are all of these Ibrought just in case none of the others soun-ded good to you.”

“Thanks, Missy. I appreciate it,” Creedsmiled back at the flight attendant as he tookthe stack from her.

She looked pleased with herself andsauntered away.

Alik started sifting through the firstmagazine. Evan unfastened his seatbelt andwalked over. “Hey, I’ve got to run to thebathroom. Keep an eye on Meg, will you?”

“Sure. How is she?”“Stable, for now.”

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“Do you think she’s going to crash againbefore we get to Europe?”

“I have no idea. I don’t even know whyshe crashed the first time. Heck, I don’tknow anything anymore.” He shook his headobviously discouraged.

“Why don’t you go play with the plumb-ing in the bathroom? That usually cheers youup,” Alik said to his little brother trying tolighten the mood.

Evan smiled, but only slightly. “I don’teven think airplane plumbing could get meto relax right now.”

Evan walked up the aisle toward thecockpit to the lavatories slightly hunchedover as the head room in the plane didn’t al-low for a tall person to stand upright withoutregretting their attempt.

“What was all that about the plumbing?”“Long story; you kinda had to have been

there,” Alik said smiling at the memory.Then his facial expression changed.

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He was squinting as though trying to seesomething far away. “Wait…maybe you werethere.” Alik peered over at Creed and re-played scenes in his mind. He made himselfthink back and ran Creed’s face through sortof his own mental image search engine. “Ican’t believe I hadn’t put the pieces togetherbefore,” Alik said after a few moments.

“What are you talking about?” Creedasked, though his heart began pounding viol-ently in his chest.

“You were there, at the hospital in Kan-sas. I saw you in several locations there: oncein the corridor, again in the cafeteria and thelast time I saw you, you were standing in thecrowd of people watching me spar with Megand Evan on the hospital lawn. You were theguy Meg met there. She didn’t want to tell usabout you, but we made her. Then you stoodher up. She was supposed to meet you atnoon, but you weren’t there.” Alik was tens-ing his muscles reflexively and sitting at the

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edge of his seat. He looked about ready toleap down Creed’s throat with each newpiece of the puzzle he snapped into place.

“Look, she was just an assignment. Youwere all just assignments,” Creed lookedheart-sick with guilt.

“Assignments? You were the one whotried to attack our mom that day! You shotMaze!”

Evan had been on his way back to hisseat when he just caught the tail end of thisconversation. It sent him into a furry. BeforeCreed knew what was happening, Evancharged down the aisle and full-on tackledhim out of his seat. “You piece of crap! Myfamily trusted you and you have been tryingto hurt us all along!” Evan was whaling onCreed. He had him pinned against the cabinwall and was smashing his face into theleather side paneling.

“Evan, cool it! We’re forty-thousand feetabove the Pacific Ocean!” Alik had to work to

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pull his brother off Creed. “Cool it, man! Thisisn’t the time or place!”

Evan allowed himself to be separatedfrom Creed long enough to deliver a streamof expletives Alik didn’t even know his broth-er knew. “Dude, enough. This isn’t helpingMeg! Beating the crap out of the guy who’staking us to get her cure isn’t going to helpher.” Alik’s hand was still on his brother’sshoulder. The veins in Evan’s neck werepulsing and his fists were involuntarilyclenching and releasing.

Turning back to the stunned Creed, Aliksaid, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him asready to kill as he is right now, so for yoursake, you’d better start talking.”

“Just so we’re clear, asshole. If you try todeliver even a fraction of a lie to us, I will killyou, quietly, and no one will mourn yourloss,” Evan fumed, but held back, waiting forthe vermin to speak.

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“You’re right,” Creed nodded. “You haveevery reason to off me now. I’ve done noth-ing but hurt your family since the moment Isnuck into your lives.”

“You’re not helping your case here,” Alikcautioned as he felt his anger surge.

“Remember the story I told you aboutthe Retribution Match where I was set up tofight my brother?” Creed stopped and waitedfor acknowledgement.

“That was all true. Everything right upuntil I was three days out of the surgery to fixmy kidney. Commander Oldham wanted medead for defying his orders in battle. Willi-ams offered me another option.” Creedexplained.

“He said that he would help me find therest of my real blood family and release meof duty as a meta soldier if I completed twoobjectives for him,” Creed had never been toconfession, but he felt an unreal need for

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absolution from these two men whom he hadharmed.

“Keep talking,” growled Evan.“My objectives were laid out by Willi-

ams. The first was to find and kill the ‘thief’Margo Winter. The second was to bring thethree ‘stolen’ assets back.”

“Just to be clear, we’re the ‘assets,’right?” Alik looked sick to his stomach.

“Yes.”“So your first objective—to kill our

mom?” asked Alik.“I didn’t complete that objective.”“Williams is going to let her live?” asked

Evan.“I don’t know.”“What do you mean, you ‘don’t know’?”

Alik yelled.“I mean, he was so thrilled that I got you

three on a plane en route to Germany that hedidn’t bring it up,” Creed explained.

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“He’s not going to just let it go,” Aliksaid, deep in thought.

“So this whole thing with Meg gettingsick was just a convenient excuse to get usback to Williams?” Evan asked, appalled.

Creed’s face fell. He didn’t say a word.“No, little brother. It was all part of the

plan.” Alik was revving up.“What the hell did you do to our sister!

Was it poison? A deadly virus? What did youdo to Meg?” Alik was so angry spittle was fly-ing from his mouth and now it was Evan whowas holding him back.

“Gentlemen, the captain asks everyoneto please calm down and take a seat. We’reheaded for some unexpected turbulence, andyou’ll need to fasten your seat belts.” Missy,the flight attendant spoke in a squeaky voice.The looks on the faces of the three huge,fighting men was arguably the scariest shehad ever seen. Without saying another word,

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she turned-tail and slipped behind the bluevelvet curtain.

Ignoring the attendant, Evan growled,“Answer him.”

“What?”“Answer him! What did you do to Meg?

Why is she so sick?” Evan’s voice rose withevery word until he was yelling.

“I…I don’t know,” he stammered, run-ning a shaky hand through his hair.

“What the hell do you mean, you ‘don’tknow?’”

Creed looked painfully over at the frailwaif of a girl dying because of him.

“Williams sent his assistant, a femalemeta named Farrow Schone, with somethinghe called a ‘gift.’ Farrow shot Meg in the neckwith it—it looked like a small, silver dart. Assoon as she was hit, she fell. Whatever thatdart was tipped with, that is what has madeMeg so sick.”

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“You knew all this time that Meg waspoisoned and you didn’t stop this Farrowand you didn’t tell us so we’d know what tolook for? You sick freak!” Alik flew into arage. He grabbed the nearest arm rest of apassenger seat, yanked it off and startedbeating Creed.

All the guilt and self-loathing Creed feltforced his arms to hold at his side instead ofup defensively. As Alik unloaded his anger,Creed knew he deserved it.

“All passengers please take your seatsand fasten your safety belts. We’ve hit someunexpected turbulence. I’m sure you noticedwe are pulling up, in an effort to fly over thebumpy air. Bear with us while we get thecraft to a smoother flying altitude. CaptainJacobi, out.”

Alik administered one more whack toCreed’s neck with the chunk of plush leatherwrapped around metal that was the arm rest.The three men glared at each other, not

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wanting to be the first to move. Feeling morea sense of responsibility to his sister thanbravado, Evan turned toward Meg and star-ted to walk down the aisle to check her safetyharnesses for the umpteenth time. Under hisbreath he was mumbling furiously, but hewas also forcing himself to calm down andthink before he said another word.

Just then, the plane vibrated violently.The three men standing in the private jet’spassenger galley instinctively reached out tograb something to steady themselves.

The nose of the jet fell into a steep de-cline. From all around them, plastic andmetal rattled fiercely indicating a worrisomelevel of breakability to what only momentsbefore had seemed like a safe aircraft.

Even with the warnings, what happenednext hit the three boys with complete sur-prise. Evan hadn’t taken three steps whenwhole plane shook spastically and dropped acouple thousand feet, as though free-falling.

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Not having heeded the repeated warningsand instead choosing to continue their furi-ous discussion standing in the aisle turnedout to be a really bad idea after all.

Alik, Evan and Creed flew up and hit theceiling of the cabin. They scrambled to re-gain their balance but everything was hap-pening so fast, even they couldn’t help but bethrown around the cabin. The nose of theplane dipped and with it anything thatwasn’t bolted or secured. The overhead com-partments popped open releasing even moredebris into the storm that was the inside ofthe private jet. Oxygen masks burst out ofthe panels above the seats and an alarmscreamed a high-pitched, “beep, beep, beep!”The aircraft was making terrifying noises,sounding distinctly like metal on metalscreams.

Their fight abruptly interrupted, thethree metas scrambled to their seats and fortheir safety harnesses. Even during the

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brutal turbulence of the plane, Evan crawledback toward his sister’s gurney. He was moreworried about checking Meg’s oxygen levelsthan himself, despite the airplane safetyrules. The plane was leveling off some by thetime he could get the mask over his own faceand secure himself in the seat closest to hispatient.

Everything happened in the span of nomore than three minutes, but it left everyoneonboard rattled and out of breath. Finally,the plane felt like it was leveling off and thesadistic screaming of the alarm stopped.Captain Jacobe’s shaky voice came over theintercom. “Mr. Young and guests, I hopeeveryone is okay back there. That was ahighly unusual pocket of fast forming windconditions causing us to drop…uh, thirteenthousand feet. We’re now traveling at an alti-tude of about fifteen thousand feet above sealevel, and boy, if you look out your window,

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you can almost see the scales on the fish!” Noone laughed at his attempt at humor.

“Yes, well. We’re going to stay at thisaltitude for a while, hoping to avoid anymore surprises. Missy will be back moment-arily to check on you and straighten up thecabin. My copilot, Mr. Trainer and I are sin-cerely sorry for the scare and will do ourlevel best to make the rest of the flight assmooth as possible.”

The passengers were silent for a fewminutes, still recovering.

Alik broke the quiet. “If my sister diesbecause of you, I’m going to rip you limbfrom limb.”

Creed looked warily at Alik and took aslow, deep breath and slowly released hisvise grip on his chair’s arm rest.

Alik was rubbing his temples as thoughtrying to fight off an oncoming headache.The vein in his forehead was bulging as it al-ways did when he was angry. Evan glanced at

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his brother and thought how grateful he wasnot to be the object of Alik’s anger. He wasup and out of his seat again, checking Meg’svitals and making sure none of her tubes ormonitors had come undone during the tur-moil. Once he was satisfied she was stable,he returned to his seat. He was exhaustedand revved up at the same time.

“If Meg were awake, she would be theone ranting louder than any of us.” Evan wasstaring at his sister’s pale hand as it lay vi-brating slightly with the movement of theplane.

Picking up on Evan’s lead, Alik forcedhimself to calm down and think of his sister.“Oh yeah, you think we’re upset? You justwait till Meg wakes up. And if I were you, Iwouldn’t even bother trying to explain your-self. You’d just better run!” Alik mused affec-tionately at his big sister, thinking back tomany an argument back on the ranch.

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“I saw her fight that day on the hospitallawn,” Creed said. “If you two hadn’t gangedup on her, she would have won.”

Alik was smiling softly at the memory ofit. “Yeah, she was pretty mad. She’s onetough girl, I’ll tell you that.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without her,”Evan confessed softly.

“You don’t have to worry about that,Evan. We’re going to get her better,” Alikglared at Creed.

“I know it doesn’t help matters, but—I’msorry. I never knew what it was like to have afamily. Watching you guys with your momand Theo and Paulie these last few days hasmade me do some serious thinking.” Creedlooked earnestly from one brother to the oth-er. “Listen, guys, I don’t want to be a badguy. I really just want to make it all right,” hesaid.

Alik and Evan exchanged looks. Theywere trying to decide whether this guy was

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full of it or if he was being sincere. This is thekind of situation where they would usuallydefer to Meg’s skill of being able to feelpeople’s emotions. She would be able to tellif he was honestly remorseful, or if it was justa lie.

Alik squinted at Creed. “Meg wouldknow whether or not you were lying, butshe’s not able to help now, thanks to you. Sowe’re going to have to find another way tofigure out your true intentions.”

“Let us contact our mom to warn herthat Williams knows her location and isprobably setting her up as a target,” Evansaid calmly.

“Good idea. Who do you think he’s send-ing to finish your job?” asked Alik.

“Farrow. She’s probably still on the is-land.” Creed said and looked down at hiswatch shaking his head. “It could already betoo late.” He looked up at the metasapologetically.

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“If our mother’s dead, then so are you,”Alik said evenly.

Creed nodded and flipped open the in-flight phone console. He typed in a code be-fore passing the receiver to Alik. “Go ahead.Make the call,” he said.

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39 Love Story

In an effort to stay busy, Margo returnedto the lab. Watching the car drive away withthe three most precious gifts she had everknown was enough to make any mother sobsilently. Knowing they weren’t just leavingher, but beginning a journey that was goingto unfold painfully made Margo sick withfear for them. To control her anxiety, shefound if she kept her hands busy, then atleast she could try to distract herself longenough not to go insane with worry.

“Can I get you something to eat?” Theoasked. Knowing Margo must be exhaustedwith worry, Theo had come to check on herin Paulie’s laboratory.

Margo’s soft brown eyes were completelyobscured by the powerful microscope in

which she peered. She was mumblingsomething.

“Margo? Are you hungry?” Theo triedagain.

Her simple and beautiful short dark hairwas tucked neatly into a protective blue cap.With as much time as she had been spendingin the lab these days, her scrubs had becomelike a second set of skin. Perched on the edgeof a stool he saw she was even wearing bluebooties over her shoes. Ever the scientist, shefollowed protocol for a sterile environmentto the letter, though their patient was nolonger in the room. She probably dideverything automatically after all theseyears.

Theo thought to himself how much headored this woman. He loved her passion forscience just as much as her love for her fam-ily. All he wanted was to live out his days be-side her, basking in the glow that was heraura. But keeping this love of his life safe had

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been terrifyingly difficult. Most men onlyhave to worry about their love leaving themfor another man—maybe someone who mademore money or had more hair. Theo had toworry about another man taking his Margoaway by snuffing the life out of her.

As he stood in the laboratory doorwaywatching her enveloped in her research, hecouldn’t help himself but remember howclose to death she already had been. A yearhadn’t passed, and she was still weakened bythe long-term effects from her extensive in-juries at the hands of Williams’ henchmen.

His beautiful Margo, small-framed anddelicate and fiercely devoted with thestrength of a lioness; her spirit made himwant to drop to his knees and beg for herhand in marriage. His eyes slipped to watchher tiny, gloved hand move to adjust theview in her scope. He stood in awe of her andfor a moment allowed himself to imaginethat beneath that size small latex glove was a

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band of gold wrapped around her finger. Andengraved words inside pressed against herwarm skin, two simple words of devotion:Love Story.

“This can’t be right,” Margo muttered toherself, still unaware of Theo’s presence.

“Margo?”She spun in her chair and said, “Theo, I

need you to see something. Scrub in, quick!”“What did you find?”“You’re not going to believe me. I don’t

even know if I believe me. Hurry so you cansee for yourself,” she said and spun back tolook into the microscope again.

“Okay, be right there.” He couldn’t thinkof anything a microscope could show her tomake her sound so excited right now, but hewasn’t going to argue. Instead, he hurried toput on his blue scrubs, cap and booties. Withhis teeth, he ripped open a sterilizing scrubpresoaped package and began vigorouslycleaning his hands.

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Within minutes, he was sitting in thesame stool that had been occupied by Margoand peering into the same microscope.“What am I looking at, Margo?”

“Remember the blood samples I tookfrom Creed when he offered to donate forMeg?”

“This is Creed’s blood?”“Yes.”“Okay. It looks like the children’s blood.

I assume the increase of plasma and whiteblood cells is a standard meta thing.”

“Right. I believe it has to do with theirrapid regeneration, clotting, healing and soon.”

“Makes sense.”“I ran a standard workup on it and found

nothing unusual, for a meta. So I went fur-ther. Paulie happens to have one of the fewforensic DNA testing facilities on the islandright here,” she said waiving toward a com-plex machine in the far corner of the room.

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“You ran a DNA test on Creed’s sample?Why?”

“I really was just fishing. I thoughtmaybe, being a more recent creation of Willi-ams’, his DNA might hold some informationI hadn’t thought of before.”

Theo looked at her incredulously.“I know. I told you I was just grasping at

straws. I really didn’t think I’d find anythingof interest.”

“But you did?”“Boy, did I. Look at this,” she said ex-

citedly waiving a computer color printoutunder his nose.

“Margo, you’re going to have to help mehere. I’ve been an ER doctor for more than adecade. It’s been a long time since we were inmedical school and studied how to interpretforensic DNA strands.”

“The first three lines are Alik’s, Evan’sand Meg’s.”

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“Okay,” he said looking at the jaggedlines on the page trying to compare them butnot really sure what it was he was supposedto be comparing.

Margo put a second sheet of paper nextto the first. “And this is Creed’s.”

“Okay,” Theo said and began lookingamong the three Winter children’s DNA dataand Creed’s. It only took a moment for himto realize Margo’s find. “What in the heck?”

“So you see it, too?”“A match?”“It sure looks like it.”“Seven out of a possible thirteen bases

including the Y-chromosome!”“That’s a 99.9 percent accurate result,

Theo.”“How could that be?”“What are we going to do?”“Do we tell them?”“How do we explain this?”“And that means…”

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“Yes, the data is pretty conclusive.”“They share the same genetic pool.”“They’re brothers.”

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40 A Well-Oiled Machine

It looked, at first glance, to be a well-maintained military college campus locatedoutside a small, rural town in Germany. TheFacility covered thirty-seven acres of rich,green land. Clusters of evergreen and de-ciduous trees were encouraged to growthroughout offering not only aesthetic appealbut coverage from both aerial and land sur-veillance. A fifteen-foot electric fence sur-rounded the entire compound. The originalarchitects of The Facility spent a lot of timeand care to be sure they created the most ef-ficient infrastructure.

At the center of the thirty-seven acreswere the buildings. There were six mainbuildings all surrounding a magnificentcourtyard. The first building a visitor (notthat there were ever very many visitors)

would come to would be Headquarters. Itstood three stories tall with walls made ofblack, one-way windows.

The building to its right was the woman’sbarracks. It was a one-story building sec-tioned into three parts. Each section houseda different age group of female metasoldiers.

The next building was a three-story,state of the art training facility and gymnasi-um. In this building, the metas had everypossible indoor physical activity available tothem including weightlifting equipment, bas-ketball courts, three Olympic-size swimmingpools, gymnastic equipment and a martialarts dojo, just to name some of the optionshoused inside. The metas also attendedclasses in this building. They were schooledin the art of combat, weaponry, tacticalstrategies and conditioning. This was one ofthe busiest buildings in the entire complex.It was open all day and all night and was inconstant use.

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Continuing counter-clockwise aroundthe center courtyard, next to the training fa-cility is the “mess hall” and commissary. Thisbuilding opened at 4am and closed at mid-night. Meals were served every three hours.The commissary wasn’t like a standard milit-ary commissary. Nothing had to be pur-chased, only inventoried. If a meta needed ashirt or a pair of socks, he or she just went tothe commissary, checked them out from thestockers and left with them. No soldier hadmoney because they didn’t need any.Everything was provided for them.

To the west of the “mess hall” was thecampus’ Research Hospital. This hospitalwas a mystery to most of the metas on cam-pus except the first floor which held thetriage and emergency room. In their line ofwork, visits to the first floor were inevitable.The building was three stories tall and wasrumored to have a basement, but the metason base didn’t question what they didn’t

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know. They only did as they were ordered.Period. If there were things happening onthe other floors of the hospital, it was on aneed-to-know-basis. Most soldiers on cam-pus didn’t need to know.

The last building is the men’s barracks.It too was sectioned into three parts. Eachsection was home to a different age-group ofsoldiers. The youngest were age five to elev-en. The next was twelve to fifteen. The oldestgroup was sixteen and up.

All meta instructors lived in the barrackswith the cadets in all three sections. Male in-structors resided with the male cadets andfemale instructors with the female cadets. Itwas all very orderly, regimented and discip-lined. There were never any problems withimpropriety because it was made very clearwhat would happen to rule breakers.

Forming a large rectangle around theoutside of the buildings and courtyard was aroad that doubled as a race track. At the

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southeast corner of the compound was ashooting range. The Retribution Arena wasin the northeast corner. A pleasant streamcut across the northwest corner of the cam-pus and sported two bridges that allowed thejogging trail to flow uninterrupted aroundthe inside perimeter of the entire campus.The south west corner of the compound wasdesigned around a meta-worthy obstaclecourse.

Commander Oldham stood looking outthe window of his office in the Headquartersbuilding, gazing at the majesty that was theFacility. This day was like any other on thecompound, and that’s just the way Oldhamliked it. He watched as two platoons ran information across the courtyard, no doubtheading toward more exemplary training.Even through the thick, plate-glass windowhe could hear them grunting a familiar ca-dence to keep their rhythm. He smiled ap-provingly; through to anyone else, Oldham’s

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smile looked like a pained grimace. His facialmuscles weren’t meant to smile.

From the opposite side of the courtyard,a group of more seasoned cadets was carry-ing huge boxes of supplies into the side en-trance of the hospital. A service trucklumbered into view and stopped by the MessHall with a squeal of breaks in need of atten-tion. Immediately, meta soldiers were onhand to begin unloading the goods. Unques-tioned synchronicity. That’s what made thisplace run like the Shangri-La it was.

Every meta was conditioned to be exactlywho and what he told them to be and the Fa-cility was run like a well-oiled machine. Heordered the senior ranking metas and theydisciplined their underlings. There was a tre-mendous amount of synchronicity requiredwhen scheduling which platoon would bewhere and learning and doing what, withand for whom.

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There were all the shipments of food andmiscellaneous supplies to arrange. The hos-pital needed constant deliveries kept com-pletely quiet. Then there was the concernabout the acquisition of new metas. Therewere always “new-recruits” being brought inand the Director just expected them to bevigorously trained and “brought up to speed”on how things were done at the Facility.Then there were always the concerns aboutwhat the Director was going to want fromhim beyond his standard duties.

Oldham was completely against Dr. Wil-liams’ tampering with how he handled hissoldiers. The Young boys should have beendisciplined immediately, with no mercy andin front of the entire meta campus so anyother young gun with a miniature thought inhis or her thick head would stop to smell thedead bodies before they decided to act ontheir own volition. Instead, Williams putboth of those boys on undercover

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assignments where they were out among reg-ular people.

To a man like Oldham, who respectedonly those who gave and obeyed orders,these two rotten apples were exactly thewrong kind of soldiers to trust. And thoughhe had tried to express his concerns to hisDirector, he was immediately put in hisplace. All he could do is wait and hope thathe was wrong about the Young boys. But inhis gut, he knew it was just a matter of timeand he was furious at the thought of whattwo rogue metas could do to his perfectlymaintained world.

Oldham’s body was tight with anger asthese thoughts coursed over him like fumesfrom rancid meat. Instinctively, he began toformulate a plot for self-preservation; a plotthat would mean knocking some sense intoDr. Kenneth Williams.

That gruesome smile etched its wayacross his meaty face, again. Everything he

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had worked for to make this Facility the ex-emplary product it was depended on its lead-ers modeling the restraint and obediencethey expected of their cadets. Anything lessthan model behavior from anyone in this Fa-cility required immediate and uncomprom-ising punishment. Commander Oldham re-turned to his desk and picked up his tele-phone. He had a few phone calls to make.

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41 The Brothers Grim

“Mom?”“Alik?”“Oh, thank God, you’re okay.”“I’m fine, but why are you calling? Is

Meg okay?”“She’s stable. We’re still flying over the

Pacific.”“Oh, thank God. I thought you were call-

ing to tell me…”“No, mom. Listen, I have to tell you

something really important.”“What’s going on?”“You need to go into hiding,

immediately.”“What are you talking about?”“Mom, Williams has a meta already on

the island that was sent there to kill you.”“How much time do I have?”

“None. Get out of the house now. Takethe truck, drive and don’t stop until you’resure no one has followed you.”

“What about Theo and Cole and Paulie?”“They should disappear, too. She might

use them to get to you.”“She?”“Yes, the meta is female. Her name is

Farrow and she’s deadly. Mom, grab yourpurse, the car keys, take Maze for protection,and get out of the house right now! I’m goingto call you in exactly thirty minutes to checkon you. It’s 6:05; I’ll call you at 6:35. Do youunderstand?”

“How do you know about the meta,Alik?”

“Creed. He’s trying to earn his soul back.I’ll explain later. Just go!”

“I love you, Ali. Tell Evan I love him.”“We love you too, mom. Now, go!”

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42 Farrow’s Pursuit

The humidity and heat were extreme,but she had already calculated for that. Thehome of Dr. St. Paul was thirty-nine meterssouth, southeast of the position she chosebecause of its dense foliage and easy line-of-sight to the front door of the house where thedoctor’s vehicle was parked. Dr. Winter, theprimary target, had not shown her face yet,but she would eventually, and when she did,Farrow would be waiting.

Lying in wait for nearly three hours nowhad left Farrow’s usually steady nervessomewhat frazzled. Under ordinary circum-stances, she could stalk her target as long asnecessary without the slightest unease, butthis was different. Something about this as-signment made the hair on the back of herneck bristle. Three hours felt like three days.

Sure she was just psyching herself out,she allowed herself a moment to look awayfrom the sniper rifle’s telescopic lens and rubher eyes.

Get it together, soldier, she scolded her-self. This is just another assignment. You’vedone this before, and you’ll do it again.Come on. One shot, one kill. One shot, onekill. One shot, one kill.

Her mental brow-beating was halted themoment she saw movement at the back door.A male with white hair was exiting the housewith a long surf board tucked under his leftarm. It was Dr. St. Paul. Right at his heelswas the bizarre pet the Winter family kept.She had seen him before—back in Californiawhen she was sent to the hospital to countdead bodies. That was the growling thingthat looked at her like fresh meat. Eventhrough her scope, she got a clear picture ofthe coyote. He was huge—probably fifty-fiveor sixty pounds. And it behaved like a loyal

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dog, not a wild canine. Not wanting to alarmher primary target, Farrow chose not to fireat the aging man or the coyote, but observedthem instead.

The old man walked toward the beach.He lifted his right hand to his brow to blockthe sunlight so he could see more clearly thewaves as they broke. The coyote hadwandered away from the water’s edge follow-ing instead an interesting scent back up to-ward the trail that ran beside the house. Hisnose was to the ground as his silver coatshinned in the Hawaiian sunlight.

Not wanting to get distracted, Farrow re-positioned her scope to the house. There wasno movement there. By the time she pannedback to the old surfer, he was already on hisboard and paddling out into the water. Thecoyote was almost completely obscured bythe undergrowth along the trail. He wasreally after something, but it hadn’t occurred

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to Farrow that he may have been tracking avery familiar scent. Not until it was too late.

Just as the coyote began to howl mourn-fully with intermittent barks, an image dar-ted across her mind. That spot was the exactlocation on the trail where M57 was runningdays before when she had delivered Dr. Wil-liams’ “gift.” The coyote must have beentracking the girl’s scent. She was, after all,his owner.

He was howling like a bloody demonnow. It was clear he found something, butwhat would he have found that had Meg’sscent on it? Did she drop something thatday? Farrow didn’t think so. Was she bleed-ing? Doubtful. It would have left a very smallmark where the dart impacted her neck.Maybe there would have been a negligiblespot of redness at the injection site itselfonce the dart was removed and…that’s whenshe realized what was causing the coyote tohowl.

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The dart.Creed, the incompetent, moony-eyed,

idiot! He must have left the dart in thegrass! Farrow was mentally screaming infury over Creed’s misstep that could costthem their objective. Her one last glimmer ofhope was lost when it was Dr. Andrews whocame running out of the house to check onthe coyote, and not Dr. Winter.

With an anger that seethed hotter andhotter inside her, the metasoldier watchedthe man run to the coyote, lean down andpick something up. The coyote jumped upand down excitedly beside him as hefrowned at the object in his hand, yelled toDr. St. Paul, who was already on his wayback to shore with all the ruckus from thecanine, and ran back into the house. Withinseconds, all the subjects were out of sightand the gift was in their hands.

This was bad.

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Only afterwards did Farrow kick herselfrealizing she should have taken her chancesand killed everyone in her scope, includingthe flea-bitten mongrel they called Maze. Itdidn’t matter, because after taking a breatherto regroup her thoughts, she decided hernext step would be to wait until dark whenshe would finish this, once and for all. Shehad a life, and she was anxious to get back toit.

Later that afternoon, when Dr. Williams’name showed up on her cell phone, she ig-nored it. She didn’t want to talk with him un-til her mission was complete, and she sure ashell wasn’t going to be the one to tell him Dr.Winter had the “gift” that had so perfectlygiven him the upper hand in his quest.

Oh, hell no. She thought to herself,cleaning her favorite handgun with deftmovements. She was not going to take thefall for Creed’s sloppiness.

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43 Oldham’s Plot

“Commander Oldham, sir.” Esther stoodat attention the moment she realized he waswalking down the hospital corridor. Hestopped directly in front of her, standing alittle too close for a comfortable conversa-tion. Esther felt instantly wary of her superi-or officer as goose-bumps formed on herarms beneath her standard issue uniform.Not letting any of her feelings show, shesaluted.

“At ease, soldier.”As it was ingrained in her, Esther imme-

diately clasped her hands behind her backand spread her stance slightly. Her heart waspounding, but her facial expression gavenothing away. The commander never hadbeen down here. Esther wasn’t even aware

he knew of Dr. Williams’ daughter or hercondition.

“Sir.”“Soldier, I’m here to perform an inspec-

tion of the patient to which you areassigned.”

“An inspection, sir? I have not receivedany notification of an inspection.” If Esther’sguard was up before, it was screaming awarning now.

“The Director himself sent me.” Heflashed an important looking document infront of the young soldier.

Esther frowned at the document. Neverhaving encountered anything like this in thepast, her mind was racing with possible pro-tocol she was to follow. Maybe this is a test,she thought quickly.

“Sir, my orders are clear. I am not to al-low anyone entry into this room without ex-plicit orders from Dr. Kenneth Williams,himself. No exceptions.” Esther tried to

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speak with strength and purpose, when in-side she was shaking with fear.

“I understand you’re just trying to doyour job, soldier. You have to understandthat I’m just trying to do mine, too.” Heshowed his teeth in a bizarre attempt at whatwas supposed to be a smile.

“Sir, no disrespect intended. I will haveto make a phone call to confirm these or-ders.” Esther’s acting skills couldn’t stop hervoice from quivering this time. Her handreached to her pocket to retrieve her phone.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that.”His face curled malevolently and he movedeven closer to the girl and grabbed her wristwith one hand and with his other hand,zapped her with a tazor.

With the fluidity of a highly trained Spe-cial Forces soldier, he caught her slumpingbody, opened the door to the patient’s roomand dragged her body inside. He closed thedoor behind him softly.

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The room was dimly lit by a side tablelamp. He saw the small frame of a girl lyingon the hospital bed. She did not move ormake a sound. He walked to her bedside andlooked into the face of the reason his Direct-or was losing his edge. This weak, useless ex-cuse for a human stood between himself andall his goals. The commander shook his headin disgust. Why didn’t Williams understandthat this diseased body was his anchor, hisAchilles heel, a thorn in his brilliant lion’spaw?

Weakness has no place in my Facility,the commander thought to himself. Nothinggood can come from this gangrene.

As any loyal soldier would, he was feel-ing compelled to help his leader in any wayso their end objective was achieved. RudolphOldham needed to help remove the thorn inhis master’s paw; cut off the gangrene beforeit spread any further.

Yes, this had to be done.

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He reached into his pocket to retrieve asmall black case. Carefully, he opened it andremoved a pair of large latex gloves. Afterslipping them onto each of his thick hands,his fingers returned to the case and found aspecific syringe. He popped the yellowplastic cap off carefully placing the smallpiece back into the case before reaching forthe I.V. tubing attached to June Williams.

Satisfied with himself that the entiredose was rapidly rushing through the sicklybody, he grabbed his black case, turned andwalked back to the female meta, Esther. Shewas still lying on the ground where he lefther. He strategically placed her fingersaround the syringe he just used on the girlbeing sure her prints would be found all overit, including the thumbprint on the plungeritself. He then dropped it on the floor besideher.

He grabbed her arm and unbuttoned thecuff of her sleeve. With absolute irreverence,

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Oldham yanked her sleeve above her elbow.He slapped her arm looking for a healthyvein. Finding one, he retrieved a second syr-inge from his case. This one had a red cap hedeftly removed. Finding the vein he waslooking for, he slipped the needle into placeinjecting the woman with the contents of thesyringe. He repeated the process of puttingthis syringe into her hand, making it look asthough she dosed herself.

The final touch, he grabbed the folded,typed note from the black case. He left itpeeking out of Esther’s breast pocket; sure itwould be found and read by the right person.

Oldham grabbed his black case andpulled a handkerchief from his pocket.Retracing his steps, he double-checked thathe didn’t touch anything that could have col-lected his fingerprints. His final chore was toclean off the doorknob to the room itself. Allthis, he accomplished inside three minutes,just as he planned.

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Everything went perfectly, he thoughthappily to himself, as he removed his glovesand slipped them into his pocket before hereached the first floor. He was smiling andwhistling an unrecognizable tune as he ex-ited the hospital and walked through thecourtyard with the kind of bounce in his stepthat could have only been achieved by a well-planned and executed assignment.

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44 The “Gift” That KeepsGiving

“Mom?”“Yes, honey. I’m here.”“Where are you?”“I’m safe, Alik. I’m at Paulie’s still.”“What?”“Alik, listen to me. There’s been a devel-

opment I need to talk to you about.”“A ‘development?’ Are you crazy? Farrow

is probably outside the house right now justwaiting for you to try to get to your car!”

“That’s exactly why I’m not leaving thehouse, Alik.”

“Mom,…”“You listen to me, Alik Winter. You’d

better calm down because I need you clear-headed. Meg needs you clear-headed!”

Alik’s face was beet-red and that vein inhis forehead was bulging, again. Creed andEvan watched Alik and listened to his one-sided conversation. It was clear things wer-en’t going as planned.

“What could possibly be so importantthat you are risking your life?”

“You, Alik. You and Evan and Meggie.”Feeling a flash of shame, Alik looked

down at his feet and listened.“Ali, Maze was sniffing around on the

trail where Creed told us he found Meg whenshe collapsed. He found something, Alik.Maze found the dart that poisoned Meg.Theo, Paulie and I are trying to decode thepoison so we can make an antidote. Do youunderstand, me, Alik? I think we can use theoriginal poison to create an antidote that willcure Meggie. If we can do this ourselves, wewon’t need Williams.” Margo waited breath-lessly for Alik to respond.

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“Oh, my God, mom! How soon can youcreate the antidote?”

Both Creed and Evan’s faces lit up withequal amounts of surprise and confusion asthey watched Alik talk.

“Well, that’s hard to say. I could reallyuse Evan’s help with this. He’s faster at equa-tions than any of us.”

Alik locked eyes with his little brother,his mind racing with all the new possibilities.

“Ali, can you get the plane to turnaround? You can’t go to Germany, Alik. I’mso scared that Meg will die there. Maze find-ing this needle on a mountainside is truly agift from God. We need to get Meg home,now!”

“We’re halfway across the Pacific Oceannow mom. We may have to land in Californiafirst to refuel, but we’ll get her home. I prom-ise. I’ll bring her back to you, mom.”

Hearing this, Creed turned and hurriedtoward the cockpit. He needed to figure out

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what options they had with the remainingfuel. Even as he yanked the door open andstepped into the small, button-and-switch-filled compartment, he felt a surge of powerthat was wrapped in the bright light of hope.He was going to do whatever it took to getthis family put back together.

“Captain Jacobe,” Creed’s voice wascommanding.

“Um…sir, if you would please return tothe cabin and press the red button, Missywill come help you.” The captain was un-nerved enough what with the rough flightand now a passenger barges into his cockpit.

Ignoring him, Creed asked, “Does theplane have enough fuel to turn around?”

“What?”Trying to remain calm, Creed repeated

himself, “Does the plane have enough fuel toturn around?”

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“Um,…” he stammered and looked overat his copilot. “Mr. Trainer, could you runthat calculation, please?”

“Yes, sir. Give me a moment. I’m goingto have to recalculate with the flight planningsystem,” he said flustered. Glancing over hisshoulder nervously at Creed, the copilotpunched furiously at the keyboard in front ofhim.

“Things are going to be different fromthe original plan because of the unexpectedweather that caused us to change our alti-tude,” yammered Mr. Trainer anxiously. “I’musing our current longitude and latitude asthe starting point for the system and askingit to work its way backward to the flight’s ori-gin. Using that geographic waypoint, the sys-tem is calculating all the variables that wouldeffect the fuel measurement. Payload, oper-ating weight empty, zero fuel weight, rampweight,…”

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“Mr. Trainer!” Creed couldn’t stand theman’s babbling. “Sir, I appreciate that youknow all about flying this plane, but I reallydon’t have time for a class on the subjectnow.”

The copilot turned pale. “Of course not,sir.”

“Don’t mind him,” Captain Jacobechuckled nervously. “He’s a computer geekat heart.”

“Okay, Mr. Young. The short answer is,yes, probably. We have enough fuel, but wewill be using all our reserves.” He glancedover at Jacobe worriedly.

“I’m afraid to ask what that means,”Creed ran his fingers through his hair in histypical anxious gesture.

“He means if everything goes perfectlyon our return trip, no turbulence, cross-winds, bad weather at the airport that woulddelay our landing—if everything goes

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perfectly, we’ll be okay to make it back.” Itwas Jacobe’s turn to look pale.

“How many tons of fuel do we have toplay with, Trainer?” Jacobe asked.

“Um…the system says we would have anextra seven minutes of flight beyond the cal-culated plan.”

“So, basically, none. We will be landingon fumes, literally.” He looked sick to hisstomach.

“You two are the pilots. You tell me. Thegirl back there is dying and they think theyhave created the antidote back on the island.Can we get her there safely?”

Mr. Jacobe looked at the small photo-graph he always taped to his control panelwhen he went on long flights. It showed aplump-faced little boy smiling with his armsstretched out beside him, like the wings of aplane—pretending to fly.

“Yes, sir. We’ll get her back. Right,Trainer?” Jacobe’s face looked determined.

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“If you say so, sir. I’m going to keepworking with the system planner to see ifthere’s any way I can reduce our fuelconsumption.”

“Great, you put your geek hat on; I’m go-ing to turn this big-ass bird around.” Heflipped a switch and spoke in his usualcocky-captain voice. “Ladies and gentlemen,please be seated immediately as we’re aboutto make an illegal U-turn. Jacobe, out!”

Creed grinned widely as he held on tothe frame of the doorway. The plane bankedhard left. Watching the skyline tip was awe-some. He felt a wave of happiness at thethought of heading back to that sweet houseon the beach and those kindhearted people.

Then reality kicked in when he re-membered what else was waiting for himback on that island: One very pissed-off metanamed Farrow.

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45 A Significant Chunk of San-ity Just Crashed to the Floor

Things were looking up, and Dr. Willi-ams was anxious to go share the good newswith his beloved. In his boney hands he helda large bouquet of sunflowers alreadytrimmed and on display in an equally large,some would say gaudy, pink vase. His littlegirl’s two favorite colors: pink and yellow. Headjusted the greenery slightly while waitingfor the elevator.

Once it opened and he entered, heslipped his small silver key into the controlpanel, typed a code and pressed “B.” Theonly way that button would work was withthe key and the code. Otherwise, someonecould stand there and push that “B” buttonuntil they were blue in the face and nothingwould happen. He smiled to himself at his

clever security. Nothing but the best for hisJune, he chanted to himself with every stepdown the corridor toward her room.

With a quick tap, Dr. Williams openedthe door to his daughter’s hospital room ashe had hundreds of times before. But thistime, he knew immediately something waswrong.

“Esther?” he called.Only silence came in response.“Esther?” he called again, looking toward

the door leading to the private bathroom.The lights were out.He reached out to the wall switch right

inside the doorway with one hand and bal-anced the heavy vase of flowers with theother.

Then the old man realized why he feltthings were wrong the moment he openedthe door. It was the silence. There was al-ways the sound of her monitors beepingsoftly in the background. There was always a

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light on by her bedside, and Esther was al-ways sitting right beside his daughter in thatchair. None of these things were in place.

As the light burst on, the gruesome scenewas exposed. There was his precious littlegirl lying motionless on the bed. Her chestdid not rise and fall. Her face was a sickeningbluish-gray.

And there on the floor beside her was Es-ther. The soldier he had given the most im-portant assignment in the history of metas:to take care of his daughter. She lay motion-less as well.

It took the old man a moment to wraphis head around what he was seeing. His feetwouldn’t move from that tiled spot. He stoodthere shocked long enough for the heavyvase to slip from his arms and smash to thefloor.

People who had been on the first floortalked in whispers about the screaming theyheard from the hospital’s mysterious

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basement. Some of the metas were sure itwas the ghost of Mrs. Williams. Others be-lieved they were torturing disobedient metasdown there. And still others wondered aloudabout what monsters the doctors in that hos-pital had created in an experiment gonewrong.

Well, truth be told, parts of each of thoseideas was right. A monster was created in thebasement that very day, and it was absolutelyhaunted by the deceased Mrs. Williams. Allof this did happen because of experimentsgone wrong, very wrong.

And the typed note found tucked in thefront breast pocket of the impeccably uni-formed meta, Esther, contained words thatcut what sanity the grieving father may havemaintained into slivers of glass.

Sir,I could not stand seeing June suffer

anymore. Watching her wasting away year

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after year waiting for you to save her wasagonizing.

Keeping June locked away in the base-ment of your life was selfish andundisciplined.

I feel peace knowing I have been a truefriend and protector to June and as suchcame to realize it was up to me to free herfrom your prison of shame.

Now, even you can move on and focuson your brilliant scientific work here at theFacility.

EstherM402

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46 U-Turns in the Sky

“So that’s the plan.” Creed said, finally.He had returned from the pilot’s cockpiteven as the plane was still angling the about-face to tell the others the good news.

The brothers sat quietly for a momentbefore Alik spoke. “Well, this was one heck ofa way to prove your good intentions.” He al-lowed himself a half smile of appreciation.

“Thank you for doing this, Creed.” Evanrubbed the emotion out of his eyes wishingdesperately to change the subject.

Creed’s face blushed as he mumbled,“It’s the least I could do for her.” He waslooking affectionately toward Meg.

Clearing his throat first, Evan asked,“Alik, tell me exactly what mom said.”

“She said, ‘Maze was sniffing around onthe trail where Creed told us he found Meg

when she collapsed. He found something,Alik. Maze found the dart that poisoned Meg.Theo, Paulie and I are trying to decode thepoison so we can make an antidote.’ Thenwhen I asked her how soon she could havethe antidote ready she said, ‘Well, that’s hardto say. I could really use Evan’s help withthis. He’s faster at equations than any of us.’”

Evan continued to stare at his brotherdeep in thought.

“Wow, how did you do that?” Creed saidlooking over at Alik with his head tilted a bitto the side like a curious puppy dog.

“Do what?” Alik said absently. He waswalking toward his sister and adjusting thestraps holding the gurney safely to the cabinwall.

“That sounded like exactly what Dr.Winter would have said—word for word!”

“It was.” Evan stood and started pacingthe aisle. He was much more worried about

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the implications of creating an antidotebased on an unknown toxin and not havingtime to test it for accuracy or safety beforehis sister needed it.

“Wow, that’s a cool trick.”“It’s not a ‘trick.’ It’s his gift. He’s got an

eidetic memory.” Evan was only partially en-gaged in this conversation. His mind waswhirling around thoughts of curing his sister.

“What’s an ‘eidetic memory?’”“I can remember everything I see, hear

or read, perfectly,” Alik answered for himselfin a distracted monotone.

“Everything?”“Yes.”“How far back?”Alik shrugged. He was starting to feel a

little uncomfortable talking about himself somuch.

“Can you remember your parents? Imean, your biological ones?” Creed asked.

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“Listen, Creed. We can talk about thatsome other time. Right now, I need to gocheck on the pilots. I might know of a way toration our fuel.” He rubbed his hands on hisjeans before standing and wedging past hisbrother who was still pacing the aisle.

“Let me guess, he’s read a few books onhow to fly a plane,” Creed mused to no one inparticular as he watched the meta close thecockpit door behind him.

“Undoubtedly.” Evan murmured.“You said it was his ‘gift?’ I remember

Dr. Williams mentioning that each of youhad something special about you. Each ofyou had an enhanced gift. I guess, Alik’s giftis his memory? It’s pretty clear you’re a med-ical genius and Meg—” his voice trailed off ashe looked at her beautiful profile from wherehe sat. “Anyway, he said these were the ‘gifts’he wanted back. I hadn’t really thoughtabout what he meant by that until now.”

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“Right. Well, as you mentioned, Alik hasthe eidetic memory as well as ultrastrength.Meg is an empath. And I am not as much a‘medical genius’ as an engineer, though latelyI’m inventing, building and problem solvingthe mechanics of the human and meta bodiesmore than anything, so I can appreciate theassumption.” Evan shrugged modestly. “Ijust see everything as a puzzle to be solved.”

“No wonder Williams wants all of youback,” Creed found himself looking at theyounger male meta in front of him with awhole new sense of awe and respect.

“You said Meg is an ‘empath?’ What isthat, exactly?”

“‘Empath’ meaning empathy. Her gift isthe ability to sense the feelings, thoughts andemotions of others, especially those to whomshe is linked somehow. She calls herself anemotional superconductor.” Evan smiled athis sister remembering how annoyed she gotconstantly bombarded with everyone else’s

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feelings and struggling to untangle themfrom her own.

“Can she read minds?” Creed was veryafraid of the thought that she knew what hewas thinking all along.

“No. She reads emotions, not minds.”“You said she could only do this with

people she is linked with?”“With people to whom she is linked,”

Evan gently corrected Creed’s grammar.“Like who? You? Her family?” Creed

asked ignoring Evan.“Exactly.”“Only her family?”“No. She has a really tight connection

with Maze, too.”“Maze, her coyote?”“Yes. She hand-raised him when he was

orphaned back on the ranch in Texas. Theyare quite a team, those two.”

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“Are we still playing, ‘This is Your Life?’”Alik was walking back toward the boys withone eyebrow raised.

“Any luck helping ration the fuel?” Creedasked.

“We’ll see. We could look around to seewhat we could dump. The lighter the plane,the less fuel it uses.” Alik was only half jokingas he looked around the cabin for somethingheavy and expendable.

“Now there’s an idea! Do we really needtwo pilots? I say we dump the heaviest one.”Evan offered.

Not knowing the boys well enough to getthat they were kidding, Creed’s eyes widenedwith surprise.

Alik couldn’t hold it any longer and bus-ted out laughing. “You should see the expres-sion on your face! That was priceless!”

“Glad to help lighten the mood for you.”Creed chuckled good-naturedly at himself.

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Evan looked at his watch and said to theroom, “We have approximately 3 hours 47minutes before we land, and we have a lot ofplanning to do.”

“Right. When is Dr. Williams expectingyou to check in?” Alik asked Creed.

“He wants status reports constantly. Hewill be expecting me to call when we were toarrive at LAX,” Creed looked down at hishands. “If I don’t call him, he’ll call me onthis.” From his pocket, Creed removed asleek-looking cell phone.

“Okay, well, that gives us about fourhours before he is aware something’swrong,” Evan concluded.

“What about Farrow?” Evan asked.“She’s ruthless. She’s probably stalking

the house with her sniper rifle right now.Come dark, assuming she hasn’t had the op-portunity to complete her objective yet, she’llswitch weapons and tactics. She’ll wear night

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vision, have a powerful handgun with a silen-cer and she’ll find a way into the house.”

The brothers stared at him with wideeyes.

“Which is why we need to get to thehouse with Meg before sundown,” Creed ad-ded sensing the level of anxiety bouncing offthe walls of the small aircraft.

“Four hours from now will be just before7pm. The sun sets at 7:22 today,” Alikoffered.

“Not a lot of room for error,” Evansighed.

“No room for error,” Creed agreed. “Far-row won’t be easy to defend against. There’sa reason Williams sent her above anyoneelse. Matter of fact, once Williams gets windsomething’s wrong he’ll have a whole pla-toon on a private jet headed right to us.”

“Let’s not think about that yet. One thingat a time,” Evan said logically. “Our first con-cern is getting Meg back to the house before

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nightfall, then locking the house down so wecan work on Meg’s antidote, safely.”

“The most dangerous part will be whenwe’re outside the house trying to get Meg’sgurney out of the ambulance and into thehouse,” Creed thought aloud.

“When Farrow sees us, she’ll contactWilliams immediately. He may even order acomplete take-down. It depends on howbadly he wants your blood,” Creed addedlooking at the metas in front of him.

“Then we can’t let her see us.” Evan saidmatter-of-factly.

“How are we going to do that?” Creedasked.

Evan had a far-away look on his face.“I’ve seen this look before. Give him a

few minutes, then he’ll be ready to share theplan with us,” Alik smiled proudly at his littlebrother and waited.

The more time Creed spent with the twoWinter brothers, the more he liked them. It

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felt so good to know he was on the right teamnow, though it may only last a few morehours if Farrow has her way. There would beno reason for her to hesitate pulling the trig-ger the moment she saw his face. There wasnothing Williams would want from a dis-obedient soldier who had betrayed his trust.

Well, he thought to himself, if I’m goingto die, at least I’ll die with honor fighting be-side honorable men.

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47 From Illness to Antigen

“Malaria?” Theo asked, sure he had mis-heard Dr. St. Paul.

“Yes. Genus, Plasmodium. Species, stillunknown.” Paulie was staring in to his high-powered microscope at the thin smear hemade an hour before. There were definitelyparasites there.

“He had her shot with malaria?” Margowas stunned.

“Evidently.” Paulie whispered.“But Malaria takes weeks to incubate be-

fore the infected person shows symptoms.Meg was hit with this dart and dropped tothe floor immediately.” Theo hurried to thecomputer to look up malaria’s signs, symp-toms and treatments.

“Consider the source, Theo. Williamsmust have created an unbelievably potent

strain of parasites. It’s also possible he hadthis dart tipped with a cocktail of toxins, oneof which knocked her out immediately and/or weakened her immune system. ”

“Oh, dear God,” Margo moaned. “Howdid we not see the parasites before? We’vebeen studying her blood for days now!”

“The parasites are most evident whenthe sample is taken during the infected pa-tient’s highest fever.” Theo summarized fromthe article he was reading. “We studied thesample we took when she first fell ill. Theremust not have been enough parasites for usto detect yet, however super-mutated Willi-ams made them to grow and spread. Wedidn’t see them because they weren’t thereyet.” Theo was trying to maintain his cool,but he was angry.

“Yes, this smear I’m looking at was takenright before she crashed. Her fever was upthen.” Paulie said.

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“She has been sick for four days now.How effective will any known antigen formalaria be four days into the illness?” Margoasked.

“Ordinarily, I would say she was stillwithin the window of successful treatment,but these aren’t ordinary parasites. I reallydon’t know how effective the standard treat-ments are going to be on her. We probablyneed to prepare ourselves for the very realpossibility that we’re going to have to createa unique antigen to fight these unique para-sites.” Paulie just said aloud what the othersin the room were thinking. “To make mattersworse, Meg doesn’t have a lot of time for usto play scientists with trial and error.”

“I know, I know…Paulie! You’re not say-ing anything I haven’t already thought of!”Margo was holding her head in her hands, soscared for her little girl.

Margo’s short-lived outburst didn’t fazethe old scientist one bit. He didn’t even look

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away from the microscope as he added, “Notto beat a dead horse, but on a side note, weall need to be treated against this strain ofmalaria, too. It’s highly contagious, andwe’ve all been working directly with Meg’scontaminated blood.”

Margo’s face was still buried in herhands as she sighed and said, “Now that Ihadn’t thought of, Paulie. Crap.”

Having stayed quiet for as long as hecould stomach, Theo couldn’t hold histongue anymore. “I want to wring the life outof that wicked, depraved, immoral, poor ex-cuse for a man! How dare he attack that in-nocent child! She’s done nothing to deservehis evil! I am a God-fearing man, but this istoo much! I want his head on a platter!”Theo couldn’t contain his rage.

Margo looked up at her usually mild-mannered, sweet Theo and felt three things:

1) Pride in his protective nature for thislittle girl who wasn’t even his own blood.

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2) Guilt for dragging him into her fightagainst Williams.

3) Love for his kindheartedness, loyalty,gentility, sense of right and wrong and un-wavering determination to see good prevailagainst all odds.

In that instant, Margo decided shewanted to marry that sweet lug of a man, andshe smiled to herself at the realization.

Not having been a part of Margo’s amor-ous thoughts or epiphany, Theo was stillseething and muttering under his breath.

“Theo, would you please go to the kit-chen and make a fresh pot of coffee for us?We’re going to need it.” She reached out andtouched his arm affectionately.

“Coffee. Yeah, right,” Theo breathedthrough clenched teeth understandingMargo was trying to help him calm down bygiving him a menial task outside the lab. Thestress was getting to all of them.

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Deep in thought, he didn’t even noticehis son sitting at the kitchen table until Colespoke. “What’s the latest?”

“Oh, hey, Cole. Well, we think we’vefigured out what’s making Meg so sick: mal-aria.” His voice was strained and exhausted.

“Malaria?” Cole turned in his seat to lookat his father.

“Not just a normal species of malaria,either. Williams created some mutant, superparasite and tipped that damn dart with it.”His hands were shaking with anger as hescooped the coffee grinds into the machinecausing him to spill.

Whether it was because he heard Meg’sname or just was lonely enough for company,Maze’s large frame came lumbering into thekitchen. His nails clicked softly on the tilefloor as he made his way to the first lap hecould find. He draped his head on Cole andwhimpered, shamelessly seeking an affec-tionate scratch between his ears.

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“What does that mean, dad? Can she becured?”

“We’re still not sure. With four normalspecies of malaria, usually a smear of the pa-tient’s blood would be sufficient to determ-ine which parasite was present and sub-sequently, which antigen was needed to treatthe illness.” The coffee maker was gurglingalready and the aroma of coffee was begin-ning to fill the room.

“This parasite has some of the samecomponents as the known species, but notall. It’s those unknowns that could make cur-ing Meg very difficult. We won’t know untilwe start to try.”

“How soon will they get here?”“We have about two and a half hours be-

fore their plane is expected to land.”“What can I do to help, dad?”Theo was leaning against the sink, arms

crossed. “I was wondering the same thing.Even I don’t know enough about all of this to

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be much help. We’re really going to have tolean on Evan, Paulie and Margo as this ismore along the lines of their science. MostlyEvan, I suppose. That thirteen-year-old kidis smarter than all of us combined.

“I’m just an ER doctor. If someone’s in acar accident and comes in with broken bonesand blood coming out of everywhere, then Ican help. Meg needs a completely differentkind of science.” He paused for a momentbefore adding, “Wow, what I wouldn’t give tobe able to think the way Evan does.”

Theo walked over to his son and put hishand on his shoulder. “You’re doingeverything you can already, kiddo by makingsure the house is locked up, blinds and cur-tains closed and lights on. Maybe you andMaze could walk through the house again? Idon’t know what else to offer. You’re wel-come to join us in the lab, but there’s notmuch for you to do there, either.”

“Yeah, right.” Cole mumbled.

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“I’ve got to get back. Heck, as it is I’mjust the guy they send to go get more coffee.Talk about feeling helpless.” Dr. Andrewsgrabbed the pot of freshly brewed coffee,three clean mugs, and began walking backdown the corridor toward the lab.

“I love you, son,” he called over hisshoulder.

“Me, too,” Cole called backautomatically.

He got up and grabbed a broom and trayto clean up the spilled coffee grinds. “Damnit’s hard being a regular human, Maze. Mostguys are worried about how much taller an-other guy is, or if he makes more money, orhas a nicer car. It’s not even the same playingfield between humans and metas. I’m notsmart enough or strong enough to help whenthe girl of my dreams needs me.” With that,Cole threw the collected grinds into thetrash.

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Angry tears started to form, but Cole re-fused to cry. “And I’m always getting left be-hind,” he said miserably. “They left me whenthey went to get Dr. Winter back in Califor-nia and they left me again flying off with thatpsychopath Creed to Germany.” He lookedover at Maze who was lying on the tile nowwith his head resting on his front paws.

“I guess you get left behind, too. It sucks,doesn’t it? We both love Meg, but all she everdoes is ditch us.” The coyote whined pathet-ically. Cole sat on the floor beside him.

“Hey, at least you get to snuggle with herin bed most every night. Don’t think I’m notjealous of you, too.” He patted the coyote’smeaty flank good-naturedly, then sighed.

“You wanna go check the house with meagain? Maybe you’ll get lucky and find a juicygecko to chase.”

Maze stood beside Cole obediently andwalked the already well-worn path aroundthe house. As they were passing through the

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living room, the coyote deviated from thepath and walked to the back door. Hescratched twice then turned to look at Cole.

“Dude, do you have to go?”Maze whined in response.“Hum…okay, but make it fast. We’re

supposed to be in lock down, remember?”Cole walked to the door and pulled the cur-tains aside just enough to look out. He sawthe blue of the sky and the blue of the ocean.He saw the green plants leaning with the willof the wind. He saw birds preening them-selves on the telephone wires. What he didn’tsee was Farrow three-quarters of a mile awayin full camouflage peering through hersniper rifle’s scope.

Cole unbolted the lock and opened thedoor just enough to let Maze through, thenclosed it behind the coyote. He watched asMaze sniffed around the grassy area sevenyards away from the door.

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48 K.I.S.S.

“I need to call mom,” Evan said after afew minutes of silence.

“Okay. The code is 992-996, and thenwait for the dial tone,” Creed called to Evanwho was seated next to his sister again.

“Thanks.” Evan picked up the phone anddialed as instructed. It only rang once beforehe heard his mother’s familiar voice.

“Hey, mom. It’s Evan.”“Evan, is everything okay?”“We’re fine mom. We’re on schedule to

arrive at nineteen-hundred hours.” Evan andAlik had decided not to worry their motherabout the low fuel issue, so they hadn’t toldher. There’s nothing she could do about itand they had already made up their minds toturn back anyway. She had enough to worryabout as it was.

“Meggie? How are her stats?”“Stable, thankfully. She’s been stable the

entire flight.”“Listen, Ev. It’s malaria. Not any of the

normal species of parasite, but Paulie’s sureit’s malaria. He thinks Williams tipped thedart with some super mutant species he cre-ated. We’re trying to figure out if any of theknown treatments will work on this strain.”

“Mutant Malaria? Doesn’t this man havea life outside of his evil science? What’s next?A new plague? Mind-controlled gorillas?Flesh-eating tomatoes?”

“Evan, calm down.” Margo had to re-mind herself sometimes that he was just athirteen-year-old boy, however intelligent.And sometimes he was going to have age-ap-propriate reactions under extreme stress.

She heard him take a deep breath andexhale.

“Better?” she asked.“I guess I have to be,” he resigned.

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“How’s Creed? Can you tell if we have hisallegiance or is he still on the fence?

“No, he’s a good guy now. He threw hislot in with us the minute he told the pilots toturn the plane around. There’s no turningback for him now.”

“Good. I thought that’s what happened,but I wouldn’t have put it past you and Alikto have duct taped the boy to the wall if hetried to stop you from bringing Meg home,”Margo only half teased.

“Duct tape probably wouldn’t have heldthis guy, mom. He’s incredibly strong. Let’sjust say I’m glad he’s on our side now.” Evanlooked over at Creed and smiled into thephone. “Williams is going to be livid when hefinds out.”

“Speaking of Williams, how do you guysplan to get back into the house safely? Thatfemale meta is still outside waiting for a tar-get, right?”

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“Yeah, that’s really the reason I called. Ineed you to make us one heck of a smokescreen.”

“Excellent idea.”“Yeah, I was thinking you could make

the kind out of instant cold packs and news-papers. Remember when we did that back atthe ranch?”

Chuckling Margo said, “Oh, yes. I re-member that mess! The breeze blew all thesmoke right into the house!”

“Yeah, those were some good times.”Evan was grinning widely.

“We’re going to have to time it perfectly,”Margo said.

“Make as many as you can, mom. Smokegrenades may come in handy later, too.”

“Will do. I’ll get Theo and Cole to helpme.”

“Okay, I’ll call in thirty minutes to checkin. I love you, mom.”

“I love you, more, Evan.”

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Click.Evan didn’t hang up the phone right

away. Instead he held it to his forehead,thinking. He was trying to remembereverything he ever read about malaria.

“That’s the plan?” Creed asked. “Smokebombs?”

“Sometimes the simplest tactic is thebest.” Evan looked up, and shrugged atCreed.

“Ever heard of K.I.S.S.?” Alik interjected.He had been drawing a schematic of Paulie’shouse from memory and didn’t look to havebeen listening to the conversations going onaround him.

“Kiss?” Creed blushed as his eyes dartedinvoluntarily toward Meg.

“No, not ‘kiss,’—K.I.S.S. It’s an acronymfor Keep It Simple, Stupid.” Alik smiledwidely at Creed before returning to hisdrawing.

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“Oh, right. K.I.S.S.” Creed murmured asthough he knew it all along.

“Sometimes the more elaborate the plan,the more room for errors. See what I mean?”Evan said.

“Yeah, that’s a military tactical maneuverwe were taught at the Facility. One of many.It just wasn’t called that,” Creed thoughtback to his life on the campus and shook thememory from his head.

“How do you know about ammonium ni-trate bombs? That’s not exactly commonknowledge to American kids, is it?” Creedasked.

“Not much about our childhoods couldbe considered ‘common.’ Mom taught ushow to make different bombs when we werelittle kids,” Alik answered. Evan was stilllistening to the conversation, but hadstepped over to the gurney and was retriev-ing a new bag of I.V. fluids for his sister.

“How did she know about bombs?”

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“Mom knows a lot about a lot. She’s avery intelligent and resourceful person. Shewas special forces before she was our mom.”Evan’s skilled fingers were checking his sis-ter’s vitals.

“I had no idea she was anything besidesa doctor,” Creed picked up the broken armrest from their fight and pulled out a Swiss-Army knife.

“She’s still a regular human beingthough she acts unbreakable. She really isjust all heart with a fragile body. That’s whywe’re so protective of her,” Evan was finish-ing his notes on Meg’s chart when he heardCreed inhale sharply through his teeth.

“What’s wrong?” Alik was up and out ofhis chair in the blink of an eye.

“Nothing. I’m fine—just a little tenderfrom getting my ass kicked by two metas acouple hours ago.” Creed had been kneelingbeside the broken arm rest with his smallscrewdriver. Alik and Evan watched as

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Creed’s facial expression changed from agrimace to blank. Then he stood looking asthough nothing had happened.

“What the heck was that about?” Alikasked genuinely confused.

“Nothing. I told you; I’m fine.” Creedsaid nonchalantly helping himself to a sodafrom the small fridge bulk side. “Anyonewant a drink?”

Evan squinted at the meta and said, “Liftyour shirt, please.”

“What? Why?”“Don’t freak out, dude. He’s basically a

doctor. Let him check you out.”Creed rolled his eyes, but lifted his T-

shirt up over his head.Even Alik could see the problem. So-

mething was wrong in his lower left ribcagearea.

“You have at least one, possibly twobroken or fractured ribs,” Evan said matter-

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of-factly. “I would need to do X-rays to besure.”

“It happens,” Creed said with a shrugand began putting his T-shirt back on.

“Let me at least wrap that for you.”“I’m fine. It doesn’t even hurt anymore.”“C’mon, we’re on the same side now. You

don’t have to keep playing tough meta sol-dier with us.”

“I’m not. Look, it hurt at first, but I justturned off the pain, so I’m good.”

The brothers exchanged looks.“You ‘turned off the pain?’ What does

that mean?” Alik asked.Creed felt embarrassed talking about

himself, especially to these two guys who hereally admired…and because they’re thebrothers of the girl he couldn’t stop thinkingabout.

“Do you mean you can turn off your painsensors at will?”

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“I don’t know how it works, but yeah, Iguess so,” Creed really wanted to change thesubject.

Realizing they weren’t going to drop thesubject until he explained more he said,“Look, most metas are strong and smart,right? Williams always wanted you threeback because you weren’t just strong andsmart. You each had at least one enhancedability he believed came from the formula hegave you to turn you into metas.” Creedpaused to shrug humbly, again.

“I don’t know why, but I seem to have anability, too. Nothing as cool as you three,but…,” Creed was fidgeting with the top ofthe soda can in his hands. “Yeah, I can turnoff my pain, like flipping a light switch. It’show I survived the match against my brotherGavil.”

“Does Williams know about your—gift?”Evan asked.

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“I think he suspects. After the match, hequestioned me about how I could come backfrom being stabbed in the kidney to win thefight. I told him I didn’t know.”

“Hum…, interesting,” Evan saidthoughtfully.

“What do you mean ‘nothing as cool asyou three?’ I can’t tell you how many times Iwould have loved to switch off pain! I thinkthat is an awesome ability,” Alik said with agrin.

Creed wasn’t used to compliments at all,so he just shrugged and turned away.

Missy, who had made herself very scarcesince witnessing the boys fighting, timidlywalked into the main cabin and asked, “Isthere anything I can get any of you?” Allthree boys looked up at Missy as though theyhad forgotten all about her until now. “Thepilots insisted I offer.” Her eyes darted to thefloor then got huge as she caught sight of the

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passenger seat that was still missing an armrest.

“Food would be nice. You guys hungry?”Creed asked casually.

“Sure, I could eat.” Alik smiled inno-cently at Missy.

“Food would be a good idea,” Evan said.“Okay. It’ll just be a few minutes, gentle-

men.” Missy smiled warily at the boys beforeturning to busy herself in the galley.

“That poor girl is probably going to handin her resignation the moment we touchground.” Evan shook his head in an exagger-ated gesture of sadness.

“Yeah, this trip has not been an easy onefor her, poor kid,” Alik teased knowing thelady was at least ten years older thanhimself.

“She’ll probably consider suing for post-traumatic stress disorder that forced her togive up her promising career. Then she’llwrite a book about how to survive an in-

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flight threat from terrorists and makemillions.”

“Now there’s an idea.”“Which part?”“The writing of a book part. Maybe after

all this is over, I’ll write a book about whathappened to the three of us.”

“Well Ali, you have the memory for it,but you may as well plan for it to be con-sidered science fiction, fantasy.”

“Yeah, you’re right, Ev. No one wouldever believe it really happened, anyway.”

“There are times even I don’t believe it,”Evan muttered mostly to himself.

Creed chuckled at the brothers, leanedback and closed his eyes. He was hoping toget a short nap before the dehydrated mealswere served. For the first time in longer thanhe could remember, he felt hopeful about hisfuture.

Moments later the brothers heard Creedsnoring softly from his seat.

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49 Target Practice

The wait was getting to her. Farrow, asoldier known for her ability to stalk a targetfor hours on end, was feeling very itchy.Three hours had passed since she last sawmovement outside the house and for threehours she had waited for her chance to finishthis assignment. So, for six and a half hours,Farrow had lain on her stomach in the dirtand grass with her eye glued to her scope.

It was hot and humid. She had to wipeher hands on a chalk bag periodically to helpher maintain her grip on the rifle. A pool ofsweat had formed in the small of her back,and the front of her uniform was drenched,but she didn’t know whether it was morefrom perspiration or the moisture in the dirt.Yeah, the wait was definitely getting to her,

but not because of the aforementionedconditions.

She wasn’t getting tired. No, that wasn’tthe problem. She was getting very angry.This woman and her metas felt like a person-al threat to Farrow, and the longer she had tothink about it, the more she determined thatlife as she knew it was hanging in the balancehere. Farrow was resolute in her intention toremove that threat.

A droplet of sweat trickled down hercheek and fell to the already damp dirt be-low, and that’s when she saw it.

Movement.The back door opened and out came the

coyote again. At the doorway, a human’shead peeked out briefly before ducking backinside and closing the door. If she played thisright, she could take out the human first,then the canine.

Oh, hell yeah, she thought to herself.One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. She

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resumed chanting the sniper’s mantra in hermind.

After missing out on eliminating threetargets three hours ago because of fear thatshe’d give away her element of surprise, shewas not going to miss out this time. Shedidn’t care which human it was. It was deadmeat next time the door opened.

She didn’t have long to wait. The coyotefinished doing its business and began trot-ting back to the house. The person must havebeen watching for the animal because thedoor opened when it approached. She hadhalf a second to respond to the figure stand-ing only partly exposed.

Controlling her breathing to steady her-self, she squeezed the trigger and watchedhappily as the figure spun around with thebullet’s impact and fell to the ground. It washalf in, half out of the doorway with its legsstill visible to Farrow.

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The coyote immediately began barking; apiercing, panicked bark that carried over thedistance to Farrow’s ears. She resisted thenatural urge to stare at the motionless bodythat was her first target and instead quicklylocated the barking coyote in her scope.Again, she took aim.

She inhaled slowly, again controlling herbreathing, and squeezed the trigger. Thecoyote’s yelp was instantaneous, but hedidn’t fall to the ground like he should have.

“Damn it,” Farrow cursed herself formissing the kill.

She wasn’t given another chance. Thecoyote ran into the house, yelping and mo-ments later, the body of the human wasdragged back into the house. The doorslammed shut, and all was still.

Weighing her options, Farrow decided itwas getting late enough for her to prepareher next attack. She was pretty sure that hu-man wasn’t Dr. Margo Winter because of the

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size of the frame. She believed it to havebeen a male; either Dr. Andrews or his son.It wasn’t a fat enough shape to have been Dr.St. Paul and Farrow knew of no other per-sons in the house.

She stayed on her belly as she packed hergear quickly and crawled back down the oth-er side of the hill until she was sure shecouldn’t be seen from the St. Paul house,even with high powered scopes. Because ofhow remote, dense and inaccessible her loca-tion had been, it took her a while to make itdown to where she left her motorcycle hid-den in the greenery. When she arrived, shereplenished fluids and calories, changedclothing, gathered the gear she would needfor this next attack and waited for nightfall.

She was anxious to get her hands onMargo Winter. Even as she watched the sunget lower in the sky, she thought through allthe possible scenarios and savored the ideaof finishing little Miss Margo last. She may

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even take pictures with her cell phone tosend as a gift back to Dr. Williams. Shesmiled at the thought. He would really lovethat! And when she returned to the Facility,he would shower her with honors in front ofeveryone.

If anyone had been nearby they wouldhave swore they heard giggling coming fromwhat looked to be a thickly overgrown sec-tion of the mountainside, but no one wasthere except a deadly Farrow in the bush.

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50 Patients Without Patience

“What happened?”“You were shot.”“What?”“You were shot, son. We need to get you

back to the lab.”“Why am I on the floor?”“Cole, look at me.” Theo lifted his son’s

eyelids carefully, one at a time, and flashed asmall pen light into them checking for reac-tion. “Do you know where you are?”

“Apparently, I’m on the floor,” Cole’sspeech was beginning to slur.

“Whose house is this?”“Paulie’s.”“Do you know what day it is?”“Um…” Cole mumbled and his eyes

rolled back.“Cole!”

“What?” His voice was groggy.“Stay with me, buddy! Stay awake!”“Okay, gosh stop yelling at me. I just got

shot, ya know.” Cole furrowed his brows de-fiantly, blinked twice, then passed out.

They were on the opposite side of thehouse from the lab. Theo knew the others inthe house wouldn’t hear him if he yelled forhelp and Cole was much too heavy for him tocarry.

His eyes scanned the room for anythingnearby that could help. The desk in thecorner of the room had a plush rolling chair.Perfect! Though he didn’t want to let go ofthe pressure he was keeping on the gunshotwound, he needed to get the boy on the chairand wheel him to the lab—and he needed todo this quickly.

With a strength he didn’t even know hehad, he pulled the unconscious boy into a sit-ting position on the chair. Keeping one handon his son’s body to both steady him and

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maintain pressure on the bleeding wound,and the other hand on the back of the chair,he steered as quickly as he could across thehouse.

Theo ran directly to the sliding doors ofthe lab and cursed the slowness of the doorsas they parted for him. He was alreadyyelling to the two doctors inside for help be-fore the second set of sliding doors evenbegan to open.

“Cole’s been shot! Margo, Paulie! Myson’s been shot!”

Though Dr. Andrews had seen gunshotwounds hundreds of times in the emergencyroom of his hospital back in Kansas, this wascompletely different. This was his little boy.He was shaking violently as he rushed hisson to the same gurney Meg had occupiedhours before.

“Oh, my God! What happened?” Margohad dropped what she was doing, literally

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and came running across the large room toTheo. She helped him lift Cole onto the bed.

“I don’t know. I think he let Maze out torelieve himself and…oh, God. There’s somuch blood.”

“Did he say anything before he passedout?” Paulie was just a few steps behindMargo and was already reaching for saline tostart cleaning the wound.

“No, nothing really—it all happened sofast.” Theo was standing back a little now,making room for the other two doctors towork on Cole.

“I’m starting an I.V.,” Margo said slip-ping easily into the role of ER doctor, herself.She reached for the medical cart beside her,yanked open a drawer and found the packageshe needed.

“The bullet looks to have gone rightthrough the muscle in his upper arm. Asniper rifle did this; a long range, high-powered, rifle—I’d put money on it,” Paulie

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said shaking his head as he continued to as-sess the damages. “Damn, this bullet wastraveling at one hell of a velocity, I can tellyou that. He’s lucky it missed.”

“Missed?” Theo yelled in a flash of anger.“Yeah, Theo. The shooter was aiming for

his head.”Dr. Andrew’s face fell silent and pale.“You done over there, Margo? We need

to turn him on his side so I can look at theback.”

“Almost,” she said as she grabbed whitetape to secure the needle in place andcovered the site with a large piece of sterilegauze.

“Okay, let’s roll him.”“Well, from what I can see so far, the

bullet missed the bone. Two inches northand we would have had a blown out shoulderjoint.”

As Paulie examined, Margo set up ablood pressure and heart rate monitor. She

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also finished cutting off the remainder ofCole’s shirt to get it out of the way.

“It’s pretty miraculous, but the humeruslooks intact. We’re going to have our handsfull putting his biceps back together, though.Never thought I’d have to use my skills as anArmy surgeon after forty years, but here weare.”

Theo had found a chair. “I should behelping,” he said weakly.

“You are helping, Theo. You pray whilewe work. Okay?” Margo said soothingly.

“We need to finish cleaning the woundand get started on reconstructing thismuscle. Margo, ready with the anesthesia?”

“Yes, sir,” she said and handed Dr. St.Paul a syringe filled with a local pain killer.

“Well, let’s get this boy fixed up. Shallwe?” he said to no one in particular, andbegan numbing the area.

Back in the living room where all thechaos had begun, Maze was crouched under

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the sofa table. He was doing what any coyotewould do when hurt. He was methodicallylicking his wound. Unfortunately, Farrow’smissed shot hit the wooden door right besideMaze sending an explosion of wood splintersinto the air. It wasn’t a bullet wound he wasnursing; He had several large splinters ofwood lodged in his flank, but everyone wasso worried about Cole no one thought to lookfor Maze, and he was hurting too much to golook for them. He whimpered softly as helicked and tried to gently bite at the painfulwooden shards.

Not until Cole’s surgery was completeand he was stabilized did anyone think towonder about Maze.

“Theo, do you remember seeing Maze?He wasn’t hurt, was he?” Margo asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve been so worried aboutCole, I hadn’t even thought about Maze.”Theo felt guilty for inwardly blaming thecoyote for his son’s injuries. It wasn’t Maze’s

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fault. He’s just an animal who was doing ashe has been trained.

“Paulie?”“Nope, I haven’t seen the fur ball in

hours; I’ve been stuck in the lab most of theday, but I’ll come with you to look for him. Ineed to get some food in this old belly ofmine,” he said, patting his ample middle.

With a sinking feeling settling in herstomach, Margo excused herself from Cole’sbeside and began walking the house insearch of her daughter’s coyote. Paulie took adetour to the kitchen to throw a frozen din-ner into the microwave.

“Maze? Maze, come here boy!” Shewaited quietly for the familiar padding of hispaws on the tile floors of this Hawaiianhouse that had become home, but no soundcame.

She rounded the corner to look in Meg’sroom.

“Maze? Are you in here?” she called.

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In response, she heard a faint whimperfrom under Meg’s bed.

“Maze? What are you doing underthere?” Margo leaned down and reached tolift the bedskirt. That’s when she noticed theblood stains.

“Oh, no. Maze, come here boy. Let mesee what happened to you.” The coyotewhimpered again, but didn’t move. His yel-low eyes glowed in the darkness and if Margoweren’t sure this coyote was perfectly tamed,she would have thought twice about reachingher hand in to touch his soft fur.

Maze growled.“Maze!” Margo gasped, surprised and

quickly withdrew her hand. “What’s gotteninto you? Honey, I only want to help you.Will you please come out from under there?”She spoke to the coyote as though he was achild.

He yawned widely, a sign of stress incanines, then whimpered apologetically.

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“C’mon Mazie,” she coaxed.Crawling, belly to the floor, the coyote

made his way slowly out from under the bed.Every movement caused him to moan andyip painfully.

“That’s my boy. Good boy, Maze. I knowit hurts; keep coming.”

The doctor grimace when she saw hisback and hind quarter with chunks of fur andflesh mangled with both dried and oozingblood. Several large pieces of splinteredwood were still deeply lodged into his flank.“Oh, you poor dear,” she cooed softly. “I’m sosorry, Mazie. I’m going to get help, okay. Youstay right here.”

She stood slowly so as not to startle theanxious, hurting animal and hurried to thedoorway. “Paulie! Come quick. I’m in Meg’sroom, and Maze is hurt!”

Together, the two doctors worked to an-esthetize the coyote, clean the wound,

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remove the pieces of wood, stitch up the cutsand start him on a round of I.V. antibiotics.

“I don’t have an Elizabethan collar forhim, but we could make one if he needs itwhen he wakes up,” Paulie was saying asthey finished cleaning the impromptu oper-ating room that was Meg’s bedroom floor.

“Well, he’ll need to stay tranquilized un-til we get the full round of antibiotics in himanyway. I’m thinking two days will do.” Shewas gently rubbing his ears and stroking hissleeping eyes. He loved it when she did thatand if he were awake he would be making thecutest happy noises.

Paulie stood slowly and stretched hisback. “I hate to say it, but I’m getting too oldfor this.” He smiled ruefully and made hisway stiffly out of the room.

“We did good,” Margo called to Paulie,thankful for his help.

The kindhearted, quirky doctor turnedand said, “Well, we’re not veterinarians, but

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besides knowing what kind and how muchanesthesia to give a sixty-pound canine, thisinjury was pretty much like treating a hu-man.” He smiled wider and added, “A veryhairy human.”

“You’re the best, Paulie!” she called af-fectionately after him.

“You’re not so bad yourself, kiddo!” hecalled back. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you needme.” She heard the sound of his sandals get-ting further away.

Margo curled a blanket around thesleeping coyote. “Meg is going to be so happyto see you, Maze. She’s coming home, youknow! And we’re going to get her all better soyou two can…” her voice caught in herthroat. “Well, we’ll all be back together.We’ve always been our strongest when we’retogether.” She blinked back tears and forcedherself to think positively.

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51 Infinite Possibilities

“Hello?” a voice came from outside inthe corridor accompanied by a soft rapping.

“Hello? Is someone in there? Iseverything okay? We heard…well, are you allright?”

More polite knocking.When the wailing continued, everyone

on the first floor of the hospital was alarmed.Determined to restore order to her hospital,the charge nurse from the first floor decidedto investigate the sounds herself. Havingearned her status with years of exemplaryservice to the Facility’s hospital, she was oneof only a handful of staff who had been givena numerical code that would give access tothe building’s stairwell down to the base-ment. This was to be used in emergenciesonly and in all her years of service at the

hospital, she had never had a reason to usethat access until today when the screams andwails continued to echo through the floorboards.

Knowing there was no other room in thebasement except this one, the nurse had toassume the cries came from behind the doorto which she now held her ear. When onlymuffled sobs answered her patient knocking,she decided she had no choice but to openthe door.

She reached down and tried the knob. Itturned easily in her hand and sprang ajar.The sobs continued, unaffected by the lightstreaming in from open door. Not wanting tostartle the person inside, she spoke again,“Hello? I’m a nurse. Can I help you?”

The dark room became silent for a mo-ment. Then the innocent nurse heard aguttural, animal-like growl reverberate fromthe far corner. She couldn’t see, but she

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could hear and it didn’t sound human ormeta.

Though very much afraid, morbid curi-osity commanded her hand flip on the lightswitch. The moment she did, she regretted it.What looked at first to be a bundle of clothestossed into the corner was instead a man shedidn’t recognize. In his arms, he held a girl.He was cradling her thin frame in his armslike a baby and rocking back and forth.When he lifted his face the nurse later sworeit was the most horrifying sight she had everwitnessed, and the memory was seared intoher mind even as she ran screaming from theroom.

Upon subsequent interrogation by theCommander himself, she swore she hadn’trecognized the man. That she had never seenhim before. She described what she saw andfelt terrified tears stream down her face dur-ing the entire interview.

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“The man’s eyes were sunken deep intohis skull and dead, black like a shark’s. Hehad chunks of hair ripped off his scalp leav-ing bloody, bald patches,” she said motion-ing to her own head.

Swallowing hard, the nurse continued,“Blood ran down his face and dripped on thebody in his arms, but he just kept rockingback and forth like he was going to sing a lul-laby to the woman. He looked monstrous.”

Shaking, she reached for the bottled wa-ter in front of her before finishing. “Besidehim were vials. I recognized them immedi-ately by their packaging.”

“What were the markings on the vials?”the commander asked, though he knew theanswer to his question even before he askedit.

“They were vials of the Infinity Serum,sir. I’d recognize that symbol anywhere.”

The commander removed his piercinggaze from the nurse, clasped his hands

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behind his back and asked, “Was there any-thing else? Did he say anything to you?”

The girl was so scared her mouth wentdry and her heart thumped hard enough tovibrate her vision. “Yes, sir. He laughed andscreamed something I couldn’t under-stand—it—it was a different language!”

“Say what you remember of it!” Thecommander was losing his patience with thiswitness.

“It was something like: ‘Ego sus-ci-tatiobestia intus.’” The woman looked up withpleading eyes. “And that’s when I ran.”

Commander Oldham closed his eyestightly and took a deep breath. “Please waitoutside. I’ll have a chaperone escort you backto your quarters.”

The nurse stood and began walkingobediently toward the door but stoppedhalfway there. She turned and blurted, “Sir,what’s going to happen? Who was he, and

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who was the girl? Did he kill her? Did theserum do that to him? Why…”

“Soldier!” barked Oldham angrily. Hehad crossed the length of the room instant-aneously and was now inches away from herface. “Silence your tongue! You forget yourplace!” he spat.

Startled by his reaction, the woman nod-ded once and left the room to wait in theseats outside the Commander’s office.

Oldham walked to his desk, picked upthe phone and pressed a single button. “Thewoman seated outside my office is to be ter-minated immediately. Call me when it’sdone.” He slammed the phone down and satat his computer to think.

The Director had dosed himself with theInfinity Serum, that much was just con-firmed by the nurse. Oldham shook his head,shocked. It never occurred to him that thescientist would react like this. He expectedsorrow, sure—a grieving period where he

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mourned the girl, understandable. But this?This was…unthinkable!

Oldham wasn’t a scientist, but even heknew that the Infinity Serum was only testedon expendable subjects. He’d heard therewas a huge mortality rate during the initialdays after a subject was dosed. And eventhen, each new meta was volatile and unpre-dictable for a while. Some went on to be ad-ded as a cadet to the Facility. Others weretoo unstable and were considered inadequatefor meta training. Those subjects were ter-minated. But he never knew of the serum tobe given to a subject older than fifteen. Whatwould it do to a sixty-five-year-old man?What was Williams thinking?

The more he thought, the more worriedhe became. He flipped open his laptop andtyped in the search engine the words the wo-man had remembered. Of all the sites thatpulled up, most of them referred to thewords as Latin. Refining his search, he found

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a Latin to English translator. It only took acouple attempts for him to get the generalidea of Williams’ statement. He whisperedthe translation to himself and worried thathe was about to get what he had wished for.

“Ego suscitatio bestia intus” translated to“I awakened the beast within.”

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52 Coming in for a Landing

“Okay, I have some good news and somebad news,” Alik said after having just spokenwith his mom.

“I was just about to say the same thing,”Evan said as he made his way back down theaisle after visiting the cockpit.

“Farrow played target practice with Cole.She clipped his arm. Mom and Paulie justfinished reconstructing his biceps. He’s luckyto be alive. Maze was hurt, too. But thank-fully, it was by flying debris from a missedshot and not directly from a bullet.” Alikstared at his brother with wide eyes.

Evan sat down slowly muttering, “I can’twait to get my hands on that—”

Interrupting, Creed said, “Cole and Mazeare stable. Farrow must be getting desperateif she missed her targets like that. She’s

usually an expert sniper. This is more tellingof her state of mind than anything.”

“What was the good news?” Evan askedsomberly.

“The good news is that mom madeenough smoke bombs to give us near black-out coverage for probably four minutes,” Aliksaid trying to sound positive.

The cabin was quiet for a moment as themetas imagined being partially blinded forfour minutes while trying to get Meg safelyout of the ambulance and rolled up the walk-way and into the house. It was going to betricky.

“Evan, what’s your news? What’s goingon with the pilots?” Alik asked.

Sighing deeply to clear his head, Evansaid, “The pilots tell me that we’re going tobegin our decent now.”

“That sounds like good news. What’s thebad?” Creed asked.

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“We’re riding in on fumes,” Evan saidseriously. “They’ve been fighting crosswindsthat have taken up more fuel than the flightplanner anticipated.”

“What can we do?” Creed asked theroom.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’mgoing to check Meg’s safety straps for thehundredth time, then strap myself in.” Helooked over at his brother and nodded.“Then we’re going to pray.”

All three boys began moving around thecabin quickly in preparation. The speakerhissed awake and the captain’s voice cameon. “Well, boys…we’re in for a bumpy land-ing, that’s for sure. I’ve been in contact withthe tower and they have cleared the path forus to just come on in. They’ll have emergencyvehicles standing by to help as soon as we’redown. We’ve already begun our decent andcan see the island in the distance.”

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At this time, please make sure the safetyharnesses on our patient are secure then se-cure yourselves into your seats. We’re goingto do our best to keep this bird behaving aswe need her to, and with a little luck we mayjust pull this off. It’s been an honor servingyou. Jacobi out.”

From the windows the passengers sawthe ocean move closer and closer into view.From below their feet, they felt the vibra-tions as the landing gear was deployed andlocked into place. The green of the island re-placed the blue of the water. The gray of thetarmac was right below them, and then, withthe softest of bumps, the tires touched therunway. The flaps were pulled up to slow theplane and just like that, they were taxing cas-ually to the terminal.

It all felt so surreal.“That was it? Have we landed, or am I

dead?” Creed asked to the stunned cabin.

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Before anyone could answer, Captain Ja-cobi came over the speaker laughing, “Didyou feel that? Guys, that was probably thesmoothest landing I’ve ever made at this air-port. Somehow, a tailwind carried us right tothe tarmac and set us gently on the ground.That was the damn-dest thing I’ve ever seen!Trainer? Have you ever heard of somethinglike this? Me either! I’ll be talking about thisflight for the next fifty years! That was awe-some! Hang on, the tower’s calling me…” andthe ecstatic voice of the pilot clicked off.

“Thank you, God!” Alik said aloud.“Amen, brother! Mom’s going to love

this story!” Evan grinned widely.“You kidding? Who wouldn’t?” Creed

said relieved.“Williams.” Alik smiled.“Except him.” Creed was unfastening his

seatbelt.

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“Farrow,” Evan added jumping up fromhis seat and looked at the ambulance waitingfor them at the gate.

“…and her.” Creed walked over to Megand gently touched her forehead with hishands.

Leaning down he whispered, “Hi, beauti-ful! We’re back on land and taking youhome. I can’t wait to see you smile.” Withoutthinking, he brushed his lips softly againsther pale cheek.

“Hey, now—enough with the mushystuff. We’ve got to get her unloaded and onthat bus down there.” Alik was so thrilled tobe so close to safety, he felt like running thewhole way home.

The ground crew was opening the specialambulatory hatch that acted as a ramp forMeg’s gurney when the two captains cameback to help.

“The tower’s givin’ me a hard time aboutthem having to pull out all their emergency

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vehicles and personnel for nothing! Ha! Theydon’t believe me that we have zero fuel lefton this bird!”

“It really was the most remarkable land-ing I’ve ever been a part of,” Mr. Trainer wassaying.

The two men were smiling and smackingeach other on the back like a couple of foot-ball players who just threw, caught andscored the winning touchdown.

They could afford to relax and celebratenow. They weren’t on their way to face a furi-ous female meta named Farrow who hadpersonalized bullets waiting for them.

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53 Orographic Effects

“How did you talk the driver out of giv-ing you the keys to this ambulance?” Evanasked Creed as they were cruising down theroad with Meg, her gurney and all her medic-al equipment.

Creed smiled. “I gave him an offer hecouldn’t refuse.”

“You don’t mean…” Alik started,frowning.

“I asked him how much money he madein a year working as a paramedic and gavehim double that in cash.” Creed glanced overat Alik and Evan, taking his eyes off the roadonly for a second.

“Working for Williams, I had access to asmuch money as I needed to accomplish myobjectives. All that’s about to be cut off, so Ithought I’d go out with a bang. I also gave

the pilots and Missy double their yearlysalaries each. They certainly earned it!”

“Nice, Creed! So, how does it feel to be agood guy?” Alik teased.

“I’ll feel better once we get Meg healthy,”he said changing the tone of theconversation.

“We all will.”“What is our ETA?”“GPS says eight minutes.”“It’s time to text Mom.”“Is it just me or does it seem to be get-

ting darker?” Creed said.“Oh, no. Do you see that?” Evan pointed

upward as they rounded a ridge.“Damn it. This isn’t good,” Alik moaned.“Is that a huge rain cloud up there?”

Creed said amazed at how quickly the weath-er changed from the crisp blue skies of theairport.

“Yes. The greatest influencing factor inHawaiian weather is orographic, and here on

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the Big Island, Paulie’s house is on the westcoast—great for surfing, but also great forrain bursts.” Evan was craning his head outof the window to look upcountry.

“What is he talking about?” Creed askedAlik.

“Elevation. The higher up on a moun-tain, the more dramatic the weather. Westside of the island is wetter than east side,”Alik explained.

“Those dense, black clouds are alreadystarting to release,…”

Splat!“…rain.” Evan finished and pulled his

head back into the ambulance. He wiped thebig, sloppy, raindrop from his forehead withhis T-shirt.

“This is going to pose a serious problem.Smoke bombs don’t work in the rain,” Alikhad to raise his voice to be heard over thehugely thick droplets that had begun to splatflat onto the windshield of the ambulance.

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“Maybe Farrow will be caught off guardby the rain, too,” Evan said hopefully.

The other two boys looked back at himwith raised eyebrows.

“Well, one can hope, can’t one?”Ignoring Evan and his goofy optimism

Alik said, “We can’t call mom now. We haveto maintain silence since Farrow is probablylistening in on a scanner,” Alik said.

“Do you want me to pull over and wait itout?” Creed asked.

“It’s too late. Mom’s expecting us nowand will have already lit the bombs—or triedto. We’re going to have to just do this, guys,”Alik said ominously.

They looked at one another and noddedin agreement.

“Let me cover Meg,” Creed saidseriously.

“We’re all going to cover her as we pushher gurney and run like heck. Leave all the

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medical equipment on the bus. Just worryabout…” Alik was talking a mile a minute.

“That’s not what I mean. I’m saying, I’llbe her shield. I’ll cover her with my body soany bullets will hit me and not her.” Creed’seyes didn’t leave the road as he struggled tosee through the flapping windshield wipers.

“Are you serious?” Alik asked.“Absolutely.”“You’ll have to be careful not to crush

her with your weight, and the gurney’s goingto be really heavy with you on it, too.”

“You’d do that for her?” Alik asked, ig-noring his brother’s logistics.

“It makes sense, doesn’t it? I am com-pletely healthy. I put her in this position tobegin with. I can turn off pain, so you guysdon’t have to worry about me whining like ababy if I’m hit…and besides, I don’t wantanything else to hurt her. Ever.”

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“I think it’s a good idea. Evan, what doyou think?” Alik asked his brother while star-ing at Creed’s profile.

“He’s going to have to help us unload herfirst. I don’t think the gurney could sustainhis weight and release its legs and wheelscorrectly. We don’t want to end up on theground out there.”

“Okay, so as soon as we get the gurneyon the ground, release the legs, I climb on,crouch on top of her and cover her as muchas possible without hurting her. You guysboth run along the safer side of thegurney—the side that is furthest away fromthe hills and greenery where Farrow will behiding—and roll us all into the house. Soundlike a plan?”

“Sounds like one hell of a plan,” Aliknodded.

“I’m going to start getting Meg ready tounload. Try to park as close to the house as

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possible,” Evan said as he crawled towardthe back of the bus.

“Heck, if I could, I’d drive us right to thefront door,” Creed said.

“Too bad there are all those giant palmtrees in the way.” Alik was already unfasten-ing his seatbelt and climbing to the back tohelp Evan.

“Well, maybe they’ll help supply somecover,” Evan said hopefully.

“You guys ready? We’re home.”

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54 Welcome Home

Of all the times for it to rain! And notjust a regular rain shower, oh, no! Thatwould be too simple! Margo peeredanxiously through the closed window blinds,talking to herself. It had to be a torrentialdownpour that exploded right above theirheads with no warning!

Sure enough, the smoke bombs wereuseless in the downpour. They wouldn’t evenstay lit, so Margo gave up after throwing fiveand watching each of them fizzlepathetically.

She had been praying the boys had comeup with another plan, because if Farrow werestanding nearby with her handguns loaded,as Margo suspected she was, she could dosome serious damage despite the rain anddarkened skies.

Margo was so mad at the whole situationshe had half a mind to gear up and go afterher own assassin, but there was no time.Right now, she had to be focused on helpingher children safely in the house. After that,she wasn’t making any promises that shewouldn’t go take care of the wretched femalemeta herself!

“Okay, Margo. It’s going to be okay. Theboys are incredibly resourceful. They’ll figuresomething out.” Theo was standing besideher trying to calm her down.

Just then, as if on cue, the ambulancerounded the bend and came to a skiddingstop at the end of the front walkway. Margowatched in amazement as the back doors tothe bus flew open and out jumped Alik. Heyanked the gurney out of the vehicle and an-ticipated Evan to catch the other sidesmoothly. For half a second, the boys wereholding their sister stretcher-style before thelegs popped down and locked into place.

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Then, amazingly, Creed jumped carefully ontop of Meg and laid his body down on her.

“Oh my, God!” Theo was yelling as hewatched amazed at what he was seeing.

And then came the loud bangs of shotsbeing fired.

Pop! Pop! Pop!Handgun shots, Margo thought to her-

self, just as I suspected. She ran to the otherside of the room and yanked the windowopen just enough. From the back of her waistband she pulled out her own gun. She aimedinto the dense thickage, right where shewould be hiding if she were Farrow, andpulled her trigger smoothly again and again.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!She was shooting in the dark, literally,

but she knew the gunfire would force theshooter into a defensive position, ducking,cowering and hiding between shots.

Theo stood with his hands covering hisears watching the whole scene take place as

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though it were an old black-and-whitewestern.

Showers of bullets spun through the wetair.

Theo flung the door open just as the boysreached it and slammed it shut right behindthem.

Margo continued to fire into the nightfor a few extra moments before she turnedand looked at her children.

There stood Alik and Evan, dripping wetwith their T-shirts stuck to their strong tor-sos, smiling from ear to ear as they helpedCreed off the gurney.

“Now that was one heck of a plan!Thanks for the cover fire, mom! You’re awe-some!” Alik said sweeping his mother up intohis arms even as she held the still smokinghandgun.

“My boys!” she yelled and hugged themto her, ignoring how wet they were. “Iseveryone okay? Anyone hit?”

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“I’m good,” Alik said patting himself allover making sure adrenaline hadn’t dis-guised the pain of a bullet wound.

“Me, too,” Evan said inspecting his cloth-ing for blood.

“Creed?” Theo asked.“Well, I took at least one, but I shut off

the pain, so I don’t know if there’s more,” hesaid nonchalantly. “Don’t worry about me;make sure Meg’s okay first.”

“What? Never mind, explain it to melater. Now, let’s get you and Meg to the lab.”Margo took on her motherly tone and every-one hurried across the house to the lab.

Outside, lying in the mud, Farrow cursedfuriously as she struggled to locate her satel-lite phone in one of her many pockets. Shehad to tell Williams what just happened. Shehad to tell him that the whole plan—themetas on a plane headed to Germany withthe serum to trade for the female’s life—wasdead.

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The metas were back home on the islandand Creed obviously chose his allegiance tothem over Williams. As she listened to theringing, she decided to just leave out the partabout the coyote finding the dart. He didn’tneed to know that. He did need to send rein-forcements though, considering she had justbeen shot in the stomach by one of Dr.Winter’s random bullets. Farrow tried to ig-nore the metallic, coppery taste of bloodfrom her mouth, but couldn’t. She spat an-grily and heard the doctor’s voice mail pickup.

Of all the times not to answer his phone,Farrow thought miserably.

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55 The Plasmodium Parasite

“We need a current blood sample,” Paul-ie was saying as they were finishing settlingMeg back into the lab.

“Right, I’ll collect that myself,” Margosaid. Her hands worked as efficiently as pos-sible gathering the supplies she needed.

“We’ll need to make another thin bloodsmear so we can estimate the parasite dens-ity and hopefully determine what species it isso we can treat her,” Paulie was saying muchof this so everyone in the room was includedin the process whether they had a medicalbackground or not.

“There are treatments for malariaalready, aren’t there?” Creed asked the room.

“Yes, for the four to seven known speciesof Plasmodium that have been successfullytreated but the trick is to know which species

infected the patient. With Meg, things geteven more complicated because we believeshe was infected by a laboratory-grownsuper-parasite—compliments of Williams. Ithas behaved differently from anything I canfind in documented medical cases, so we’retrying to determine the appropriate antimal-arial treatment—the sooner, the better,”Paulie explained patiently.

“With her clinical status, clearly we’reworking with a severe manifestation of thedisease. Impaired consciousness, anemia,jaundice, seizure…these are all clear indicat-ors of the severity of the disease,” Evanconcluded.

“What are you thinking, Evan?” Theoasked anxiously without looking up. Hishands were busy working on removing asecond bullet from Creed—this one locatedin his side. The first struck his shoulder andwas trickier to remove, clean and stitch upthan this one.

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“I’m thinking we start her on a drugcombination that is recommended for treat-ment of severe malaria and see if that can’tknock this out of her system. We’ll keep tak-ing samples of her blood, and watch for con-firmation of parasitologic response to thecocktail treatment. It may not kill off theparasite completely, but nothing about whatI see in this smear contraindicates thatcourse of treatment, either.” Evan’s voicewas steady and calm. He had his face pressedinto the viewer of the high-powered micro-scope where he was studying his sister’sblood.

“Paulie and I were thinking the samething, but we wanted to wait to double-checka fresh smear and discuss it with you to see ifyou agreed,” Margo said with obvious re-spect for her son’s medical opinion.

“Take a look,” Evan motioned to hismother as he stepped away from themicroscope.

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“Even at first glance, I can tell the dens-ity of the parasite has definitely increasedfrom the sample we were looking at before.She’s getting worse.” Margo nodded to Paulieto come look for himself.

“Evan’s right, though we haven’t definit-ively determined the species; this is beyonddoubt a kind of malaria. Her fragile condi-tion demands a presumptive treatment.”Paulie nodded to the other doctors in theroom.

“Okay, now to create the cocktail,” Evansaid. He accessed a member’s only medicalresearch site and began peeling through thecyber pages for what he was looking for.

“Both this site and the Center for DiseaseControl recommend either the combinationatovaquone-proguanil or artemether-lume-fantrine. They are both considered very ef-fective in treating P. falciparum or SpeciesNot Identified.” Evan jotted down thosenames and their common brand names as

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well on a piece of paper and looked up at hismother.

“Great, so let’s get the stuff and get itstarted,” Cole mumbled from the corner ofthe lab. They turned and looked in surpriseat the patient everyone thought was soundasleep.

Theo hurried to his son, smiling widely.“You’re awake! Wow, Cole, you sure gave usa scare!” His father held his right hand andsqueezed gently.

“Sorry ‘bout that dad. I’ll try to never getshot again,” he grinned weakly up at his fath-er. Redirecting the conversation he calledacross the room to Evan, “Is that medicinehard to get?”

“Well, it certainly isn’t over the counter.”Evan looked over at Paulie. “Any ideas howwe can get this stuff immediately?”

“I’m sure I can make a phone call, butthe problem isn’t going to be finding the

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medicine. It’s going to be getting it here,safely.”

“I’ll go get it,” Creed said casually, asthough he just offered to go pick up a pizza.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Creed Young.You’ve been shot twice and are sedated!”Margo shooed her hand at him dismissively.

“No sedative necessary,” Creed said andsat up effortlessly.

“I really don’t recommend you do any-thing active for at least five days, Creed. Iknow you’re a meta and heal faster than hu-mans, but you still have to give your bodytime to recover.” Theo had just finishedstitching the last hole and was trying to put asterile dressing on the site, but his patientkept moving. Creed was already reaching forhis T-shirt.

“We don’t have time to argue about thismom,” Alik was saying. “Paulie, can you geton the phone to a pharmacy and have thatmedicine put together for us?”

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Paulie nodded and grabbed the phonefrom his pocket. Moments later, he was talk-ing smoothly into the receiver sounding veryconvincing and matter-of-fact about needingto place an order for these medicines. He ad-ded some other meds and supplies to the list.He charged the order to the credit card theyhad on file and sweetly negotiated an earlierpickup time than the standard one hour.

He hung up the phone with a grin andsaid, “Okay, the meds will be waiting forpickup at the hospital’s pharmacy. They’ll beexpecting my ‘courier’ to come by in half anhour.”

“Smooth,” Cole said. “I like how youordered the malaria medicine buried insidean entire list of other stuff so as not to drawsuspicion. Clever.” He smiled and closed hiseyes. His energy was already depleted andthough he wanted to stay awake and be apart of what was going on, his body had

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other plans. He drifted to sleep thinking howfrustrating it was to be a human.

“Excellent,” Alik said looking at hiswatch. “We’ll be back in about one hour. I’vegot my cell, but I’d rather maintain silence incase she’s listening.” Alik gestured towardoutside.

“Be careful, boys,” Margo said huggingAlik first then Creed just as though he wereone of her sons.

Creed blushed deeply at her obvious dis-play of affection. He couldn’t remember be-ing hugged before. Ever. The burst of joy hefelt because of Dr. Winter’s simple hug gavehim wings.

“Sooner we go, the sooner we’ll be back,”Creed said determinedly.

Alik, Creed and Margo headed out of thelab and back through the house. It wasalready dark outside. “Are you going to beokay, mom?” Alik asked realizing his motherwas still a primary target.

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She turned to face her sixteen-year-oldwho stood towering above her. “You listen tome, Alik Winter. All you think about rightnow is getting your sister’s medicine and get-ting home safely. That’s it. Focus. There’sjust one meta out there, and I’m hunkereddown in here. I’ll be fine. Without this medi-cine, your sister will die.”

“Yes ma’am,” Alik said meekly.And though she wasn’t even talking to

him, hearing Margo’s sheer determinationand spirit when she spoke brought out a“yes, ma’am,” from Creed, too.

“Do you want me to provide cover fire,again?” Margo had turned back to the win-dow to peer into the darkness.

“I was hoping to just sneak out to theambulance this time, but if she starts shoot-ing, you go ahead and return fire,” Alik saidcalmly.

“You’re driving Creed?” Margo asked.

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The eighteen-year-old boy stood just acouple inches taller than Alik and, thoughshe didn’t have time to ponder it right then,she immediately saw the resemblancebetween the two and wondered how she hadmissed it before now. In response to herquestion, Creed pulled the keys out of hisfront pocket and held them up.

Feeling remiss for not already having theopportunity to tell them what she had dis-covered about their DNA mapping, she heardher voice say, “Boys, I know now’s not thebest time to talk. But when you get back, Ineed to tell you two something.”

“Uh-oh. Are we in trouble?” Alik teased.“No! Never mind, I shouldn’t have men-

tioned it,” Margo ran her fingers through herhair.

“We’ll be right back, mom. Don’t worry;we’ll have time to talk,” he reassured her.

“Okay, on the count of three we’re goingto bolt. No strategy except run fast, get in the

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car and drive,” Alik instructed. “You readymom?” He asked her as she positioned her-self at the window, handgun cocked andloaded.

“I love you,” she said affectionately.Alik nodded, “Love you, too.”“Ready, Creed? One-Two-Three!” The

boys flung the door open and ran to the am-bulance. They each yanked their car doorsopen, jumped in and within fifteen secondswere peeling-out back down the long graveldriveway to the main road.

“We made it! I didn’t hear gunfire, didyou?” Alik asked.

“No, nothing. Makes me wonder…”Creed said, thinking.

“About Farrow?” Alik asked.“Yeah, but we can talk about that after

we get Meg started on her meds. Now, youwanna tell me where this hospital is?”

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56 Meg’s Medicine

“Did the pharmacist give you a hardtime?” Creed asked when Alik opened thedoor to the ambulance holding a brown pa-per bag full of the items Paulie had ordered.

“Nope, he just handed the bag to me andsaid, ‘Tell Paulie the gang has been askingabout him and that he needs to stop by thehospital sometime for lunch.’”

“Dr. St. Paul is a popular guy,” Creedthought out loud.

“I’m not surprised,” Alik said whileshuffling through the contents of the bag.“Good, her meds are here. I just wanted to besure. Let’s get home.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Creed saideven as he was pulling away from the curb. “Ihope it’ll be just as smooth getting back intothe house as it was getting out.”

“Me too.”The drive back to Paulie’s house was

nerve wracking. The sun had completely dis-appeared past the horizon so there was min-imal light to help the boys follow the windingroad. Now that the cloudburst had past, thenight sky was clearly visible. The bluish-white moonlight and crisp, starlit diamondsin the sky only left the two feeling small andinsignificant. Creed found himself countingthe yellow road reflectors strategically placeddown the center of their two-way road tocalm his nerves.

“You sure you’re okay?” Alik had beenwatching Creed’s face tighten. A bead ofsweat trickled down his temple causing Alikto feel this uncontrollable urge to scratch hissideburn sympathetically.

Startled from his count he almostblurted “seventy-two” but caught himself.“Sure. I’m fine; just worried abouteverything.”

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“I mean,” Alik motioned to Creed’s side.“You’re bleeding a lot again. Do you feelokay?”

Creed glanced down at his side andshrugged. “Just a couple scratches. I’m notworried about me; it’s Meg that I’m thinkingabout.”

“She’s going to be okay once we start heron these meds,” Alik said confidently.

“How can you be so sure?”“You don’t know Evan like I do. If he

says this is the answer, then it is. I trust himcompletely, and so does mom. And if Megcould give her opinion right now, she wouldtell Evan to just hurry up and do whatever itis he thought he should do,” Alik said smilingat the thought. “Not a whole lot of patiencein that girl.”

Creed’s face softened at the memory ofthe first night he met Meg outside the Kan-sas hospital. She looked beautiful in themoonlight—luminous skin framed by long

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dark curls that had a mind of their own.“Even from the small amount of time I got tospend with her, I had no doubt she was ahandful. She’s a fighter and opinionated, andreacts to everything in—” Creed pausedsearching for the right word.

“Extremes?” Alik offered smiling atCreed’s interpretation of his sister.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Creed was glad for thedarkness if only to hide the blush he felt onhis face.

“You have feelings for her, don’t you?”Alik blurted.

Creed didn’t have a chance to answer be-fore the world blew up.

The ambulance flew off the ground andflipped over sideways so when it landed, itwas upside down in a ditch off to the side ofthe road that had been rigged with an explos-ive. They had just turned onto Paulie’s longprivate drive.

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Alik’s head was throbbing. He was sus-pended by his seatbelt upside down. In hisright hand he still held the brown paper bagwith Meg’s medicine, except now his armswere hanging so the bag was resting on theceiling of the ambulance cab.

Moaning softly, he forced his arms toreach back to release his seatbelt. They werenumb and as useful with the belt’s clasp as amannequin arms would be. Somehow hemanaged to push the release button and hisentire body fell the two feet to the floor (theceiling) with a sickening thwump.

Feeling the blood rush from his pound-ing head made it clear they had been upsidedown for at least ten minutes. Ignoring hisdisorientation, he reached out to Creed whowas also suspended by his seatbelt upsidedown.

“Creed,” Alik whispered not sure if Far-row was nearby.

“Creed, come on! Wake up!”

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Ignoring the silence, Alik reachedaround Creed’s body and found the seatbeltrelease button with fingers that were tinglingas they regained normal blood flow. Hebraced himself to catch his friend as soon ashe hit the button.

“Oooph,” Creed moaned when he landedon top of Alik.

Trying not to get squished under thetwo-hundred-fifty-pound guy, Alik shookhim even harder, “Dude! Creed. Wake up!We gotta get the hell out of here!”

Alik was already thinking through hisoptions if he couldn’t get Creed to wake up.He could run up to the house with the medi-cine and get help to come retrieve Creed, butwhat if Farrow swooped in just then and fin-ished off what the road bomb didn’t. No, hecouldn’t leave him, but…Meg would die if shedidn’t have this medicine.

“Oh, my God. What do I do?” Alikwhispered his desperate prayer.

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“Well, you could start by helping meopen one of these doors so we can get out ofhere,” Creed whispered back, scaring theheck out of Alik.

“Creed, thank God you’re awake!” Alikgrinned despite his startled nerves. “Checkyour door and see if it’ll open, ‘cause mine’snot budging without a fight.” Alik pulled thehandle and pushed on the door with noresults.

Creed tried his door and felt it give a bitthen caught it before it slammed open. Heslipped out of the overturned cab easily des-pite his injuries then stopped to help Alikout, too.

“Got the bag?”“Yeah, let’s get moving before my mom

tries to come to our rescue,” Alik wiped hisbrow with his shoulder. “And I think weshould avoid the road in case Farrow left usany other surprises.”

“Agreed. Can you run?”

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“Yeah.”“Stay right on my heels. Let’s go.” Creed

lead the way as Alik watched their backs andheld on tightly to the bag containing his sis-ter’s medicine.

Darkness enveloped their feet, but theykept walking toward the lights of the housevisible through the thick foliage.

Snap!The boys stopped, crouched and

listened. That was definitely a twig or branchbeing stepped on, but the question was, bywhom?

They exchanged worried looks and con-tinued waiting, but the noise didn’t repeatitself.

Hesitantly, they began moving again thistime walking as quietly as possible.

Then they heard another noise. Thistime it sounded like a thump and a voice letout a noisy breath.

“Oomph.”

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The boys looked at each other confusedand shrugged. This didn’t sound like thestealth meta soldier they believed was stalk-ing them. This sounded more like—

“Dr. Andrews?” Alik whispered towardthe sounds.

“Who’s there?” a scared, but familiarvoice called back.

The boys grinned and moved toward thevoice saying, “It’s just us—Alik and Creed.”

“Oh thank God,” Dr. Andrews sighed,obviously relieved. “Your mother heard anexplosion and was insisting she was comingout here to check on things, but I talked herinto letting me come instead so she couldstay with Meg.”

Alik looked smugly over at Creed andwhispered, “Did I call it?”

“Yeah, you called it.”“Called what?” Dr. Andrews asked as he

patted his sweaty forehead with the sleeve ofhis white lab coat.

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“Never mind,” Alik whispered, grinning.“What was that explosion?” Dr. Andrews

asked as they turned toward the house andpicked up the pace. Theo was cleaning off hisglasses with a tissue from his pocket. Thepoor man had ripped a hole in the knee ofhis dress pants and had leaves sticking out ofhis hair. He was definitely not meant for thiskind of work.

“Farrow left us a welcome home gift onthe road. Let’s just say the ambulance com-pany may be sending us a bill.” Alik glancedbehind them anxiously. The hairs on theback of his neck were standing up. Someonewas watching them.

Creed must not have noticed because hejust kept talking softly. “You’re lucky youdidn’t run into Farrow instead of us.”

“Yeah, I know. I wonder why she hasn’tjumped out of the bushes. We haven’t hearda peep out of our friendly neighborhood

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stalker since you all first came back withMeg,” Theo explained.

“I wonder what’s going on,” Alik mused.“Me too, but for now, let’s just hurry up.

I have the strangest feeling we’re beingwatched,” Dr. Andrews stopped for a mo-ment, turned back and squinted in to thedarkness.

“No arguments here,” Alik agreed, happyto see the house up close again.

From the darkness, Farrow grimacedpainfully. She was furious at herself for get-ting shot. Even though the metas were rightin front of her, she could not do anything totake them out because of her condition.

So, she had regrouped away from the St.Paul home and decided her best effort at thispoint would be to set some explosives on theroad so anyone coming and going would trig-ger them. And if she were lucky, she thoughtto herself, she may just be able to pick offone or two of them before Dr. Williams

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arrived with the soldiers he told her he wasbringing. What had he called them? His“perfecto rez?” Whatever that meant. Shedidn’t care what he called them. She justneeded backup, and she needed it now.

She looked down at her stomach andstifled a moan. Blood was oozing through hermakeshift bandage from the gunshot wound.She gingerly pressed her hand against herbelly and curled up on the damp earth. Far-row found herself rocking back and forth, in-stinctively feeling some comfort in therhythmic motion. And even as tears pooledand spilled over, she began drifting in andout of consciousness.

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57 Changes

“Time?” Margo’s voice was groggy fromher nap in the desk chair. She was rubbingher eyes trying to read the clock ten feet fromher.

“Nine,” Paulie yawned.“Vitals?” Margo yawned back.“Stable. She’s looking good.”“Is it time to draw another blood

sample?”“Nearly. Let’s give it another hour.” The

scientist stood and stretched.“You need to go rest, Paulie,” Margo pat-

ted her friend on the back.“I think she’s out of the woods, Margo,”

Paulie nodded slowly.“I think you’re right. Thank God she’s

such a fighter.” Margo reflexively reachedout to stroke her daughter’s hair.

“She is one amazing little spit fire, isn’tshe?” Paulie smiled widely thinking of thespunky teenager.

“She has so much life all packed into thissmall frame. She’s always been like this.When she’s awake, her personality just glowsaround her making her seem twice as largeas she is, and then I go check on her in thenight, and see her little body barely lift thecovers off her bed.” Margo’s heart welled upwith the kind of mother’s love that can’t beexplained.

Paulie reached around his former stu-dent and old friend and squeezed hershoulder encouragingly. “You are a greatmom, Margo. These kids are lucky to haveyou. No one could love them more. No mat-ter what happens with that guy, Williams,you need to know you gave these childrenmore of a chance at life than they would haveever had without you.”

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“Thanks, Paulie,” she said. “Foreverything.”

Not being a man who discussed mattersof the heart very often, Paulie shrugged andblushed before turning to head out of the lab.“Can I send in a fresh cup of coffee for you?”

“Nope. I’m good, thanks.” Margo smiledat her daughter’s still sleeping frame. “Okay,young lady. You have slept long enough. It’stime to wake up and get back to work.” Shemoved the sheet off Meg’s left leg and beganrubbing it vigorously getting ready to starther daughter’s physical therapy. “Come onsweetie. We have to keep you battle ready,”her mom smiled.

Margo finished flexing and stretchingMeg’s left leg, laid it back down on the bedand draped the sheet back over it beforereaching for her daughter’s right leg to beginthe process again. Her mind was wanderingback to the days when the children werelittle. As a seven-year-old Meggie, loved to

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run around the ranch wearing shorts—onlyshorts, just like her brothers. She was fear-less and headstrong with those large soulfuleyes that commanded respect even way backthen.

She finished working on Meg’s legs androlled her chair around to work on herdaughter’s arms. That’s when she noticedMeg’s eyes were open.

“Meg?”Meg turned her head slightly to look at

her mother with those beautifully dark,knowing, eyes.

“Meggie, it’s okay honey. Oh, thank God,you’re awake!”

Meg tried to speak but all that came outwas a raspy croaking sound.

“Hang on, honey. Let me get you somewater.” She hurried to retrieve a cup andslipped a straw in place just as she held it upto her daughter’s lips.

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Meg looked very worried, but obedientlytook a few sips before trying to speak again.Her voice was still scratchy, but she was ableto get her question out. “What happened?”

“Well, you’ve been very sick for about aweek now. We were only able to isolate anantigen for your illness last night. We wer-en’t sure it would work but,” she grinnedwidely. “Look at you! You’re awake!”

“Sick?”“Yes, very sick. What is the last thing you

remember?”“Evan told me we were—that I was going

to die because of the serum that changed meinto a meta.”

“That’s right, and then you left thehouse…”

“…and went for a run to think thingsover.”

“Do you remember what happened dur-ing the run?”

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Meg tried to remember, but got nothingfor her efforts. Margo stood and walked overto a nearby counter where she retrieved anenvelope from a refrigerated cabinet. Megwatched her mother sit back down beside herand carefully open the envelope.

“You were struck in the neck by this. Itwas tipped with a deadly parasite thatquickly began taking over your system,”Margo explained, intentionally leaving outmuch of the details.

Meg reached out and took the dart fromher mother’s hands. In that instant, she felt arush of emotions. Like a movie being playedat twenty times the regular speed, emotionslinked with images flooded her, overwhelm-ing her senses and causing her to draw herbreath sharply as though she were in physic-al pain.

“Meg! What’s wrong?” Margo was on herfeet and quickly snatched the dart away from

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her daughter’s hands worried she had some-how been hurt by it, again.

Meg couldn’t respond right away. Shewas gulping for air as though she hadsprinted fifty-yards.

“I’m calling the others,” Margo turnedaround and grabbed the phone off the jack.“Theo, get everyone and come quickly. Meg’sawake, but something—something’s wrong.Hurry!”

Meg was quieting down, though she wasobviously still upset.

“Meg, can you tell me what justhappened?” Margo’s brows were deeplyetched with worry.

“I’m not sure—I don’t know why, butwhen I touched the dart I could feel what theperson was feeling each time they touched it.Images too. Oh, my God, mom. Williamssent a meta to deliver this to me. He called ithis ‘gift’ to me.” Meg looked at the dart stillin her mother’s hand like it was a viper.

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“You mean you could feel what Williamswas feeling just by touching something hetouched?” Margo looked awestruck and ter-rified at the same time. Meg couldn’t haveagreed more.

“Yes, but Williams wasn’t the only onewho touched it. A female meta—yes, a sol-dier—she was the shooter. But even beforethat, there were several scientists at—Willi-ams’ hospital who created it.” Meg reachedout to take another sip of water as thoughshe were trying to wash a bad taste from hermouth.

“Meg, has that ever happened before?”“What?” she said after swallowing a large

gulp of water.“Have you ever been able to touch

something and know its history—whotouched it before and what they were feelingwhen they did?”

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“Nope. It’s all new to me.” Meg lookedaround as though she was just realizingwhere she was and sat up.

“Meg, slow down! You’ve been in a comafor days! You can’t just…” Margo was tryingto push her daughter back onto the bed, buther daughter easily resisted her.

“Mom, I think I have an idea, but myhead’s still too foggy. Give me a few minutesto think this through. I’ve gotta get out ofthis,” she motioned to the tubes and wiresstill connected to her. Then she hoppeddown off her hospital bed wearing only hergown and began detach herself fromeverything.

Margo stood, jaw agape, and watched asMeg yanked out her own I.V., flung thepulse-ox monitor off her finger and peeledoff the heart monitor electrodes from herchest.

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Immediately, the warning system Alikhad set up to alert the entire house of a CodeRed began screaming.

Meg turned to walk herself to the bath-room. “You can turn that off now, and wheneveryone gets here, tell them I have to have afamily meeting. There’s a lot going on and wedon’t have much time.” Meg closed the bath-room door behind her.

Margo hadn’t moved, so shocked at herdaughter’s words and actions. She wasstanding and staring at the bathroom doorseconds later when the rest of the familycame running into the lab expecting theworst.

“Where is Meg?” Evan called from acrossthe room after seeing the bed empty.

“You’re not going to believe this,” shebegan.

The bathroom door opened and outwalked Meg.

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“Meg? Oh, my God! What are you doingout of bed?” Theo called from behind Evan.

“Well, I have to get some clothes, for onething. My tushy is getting far too much ex-posure in this,” Meg blushed and motioneddown at her hospital gown. “And I’m dyingto brush my teeth. Everyone meet in the liv-ing room in fifteen minutes, please.” Shecalled over her shoulder as she hurried pastthe growing crowd of stunned observers.

She stopped dead in her tracks the mo-ment she saw Creed. He had heard thealarms like everyone else in the house andcame running. “You,” she said coolly.

As an unplanned experiment, shereached out to touch his hand and receivedan immediate jolt. Her eyes widened with aninstantaneous understanding of the youngman standing in front of her. “You havecome a long way, Creed Young,” shesurmised.

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Just as surprised as anyone to see Megup and around, Creed stood with his jawslack and his eyes wide. All he could think tosay was, “Meg?”

Her knowing fingers released his handand reached to touch one of the holes in hisshirt from the bullets he took for her. Hiseyes followed her hand. “Thank you for help-ing my family, and for helping me.”

Alik who was standing right besideCreed asked, “Meg? How are you feeling?”

Meg smiled beautifully at her brother, “Ifeel stronger than ever.” And before sheturned to hurry down the corridor to herbedroom, she demurely grabbed the gown ather back to keep it from exposing any moreskin to the eyes she knew were following her.

Margo, Theo, Paulie, Alik, Evan, Creedand Cole stood exchanging confused looksfor a moment before Cole blurted out, “Okay,it could just be the pain killers talking here,but dang, did she look amazing or what?”

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“Remarkable,” Paulie smiled at his fel-low doctors.

“That was the fastest recovery I haveever seen. Meta, or not!” Theo’s eyebrowswere still raised in the surprised position.

“I don’t think it was just the medicineworking here,” Evan said thoughtfully.

“Boy, you don’t know how right you are,”Margo said breathlessly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Creedasked.

Too steeped in thought to answer Creeddirectly, Evan walked to his computer andbegan working. “I have a theory, but—mom,did Meg seem different to you? And I don’tmean different from her comatose state. Imean changed from the way she behavedprior to her illness?” Evan asked withoutlooking up from what he was typing.

“Evan, Meg’s gift seems tohave—changed,” Margo was still staring

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down the hallway where her daughter wasmoments before.

“Changed?” Evan asked. He stopped typ-ing and turned to look at his mom. His honeyeyes were crisp with excitement. “Could youmean evolved?”

Margo exchanged a look with her young-est son that spoke louder than words.

“I need to work for a few minutes. I’llmeet everyone in the living room; pleasedon’t start the family meeting without me.”His back was turned to everyone while hisfingers flew across the keyboard as ifpossessed.

The group began walking back towardthe other side of the house—most of themlost in their own thoughts until Theo brokethe silence. “Margo, can you tell us what’sgoing on?”

“Let Evan and Meg explain it. I just havea hunch right now, but what I can tell you is

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that Meg is even more vibrant than she wasbefore. She’s stronger, more capable.”

“Meg’s awake.” Creed whispered to hisstill tingling hand where she had justtouched him. He felt a surge of joy and fearall at once as he quietly brought his hand tohis lips.

True to her word, Meg walked into theliving room fifteen minutes later with Mazenudging against her bare feet. She gentlyrubbed his ears and was careful to avoid hisstill-tender and healing wounds from just acouple nights before. Maze stared adoringlyup at her and whimpered happily at hertouch.

Fresh from the shower, she was wearingblue jeans and a simple pink T-shirt. In herhands was a towel she was using to squeezethe excess water from her long wet hair. De-fiantly, her dark curls bounced right back outof place after being tugged on.

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She looked radiant. The whole house-hold sat expectantly. There was an air abouther and everyone in the room could feel it.Meg had changed.

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58 I Have Evolved

“Thank you all for meeting me in here,” Ibegan, but noticed my youngest brotherwasn’t present. “Where is Evan?”

“I’m right here, Meg,” a voice came fromthe hallway with the sound of a fewquickened steps. Evan was grinning as he satnext to me with papers in his hands.

Everyone was staring at me expectantlyso I began. “I need to ask for your patiencewhile I try something. I’ve been out of it forthe last week, and I can only imagine at thispoint all that you have gone through in yourefforts to help me get better. Rather than youexplain from the beginning what part each ofyou played in the events as they unfolded, Iwould like to try something, so please bearwith me.” I stood and carefully draped mywet towel over the back of my chair.

“May I start with you, mom?” I asked.“Of course, but what do you need me…”“Nothing. You don’t have to do anything.

Just let me hold your hand.” I smiled reas-suringly and reached to take my mother’shand in mine. I closed my eyes and felt thesame rush of images as I did when I touchedthe dart, and again when I held Creed’s handjust a while before. But it was different withmy mother. I already have such a strongbond with her, that instead of flashing im-ages and corresponding emotions witnessedin my mind, I actually felt her fear and anger.When I opened my eyes and looked up at mymother, finished reading her, I was cryingher tears. “Oh mom! I love you so much!Thank you for doing everything you could totake care of me and the family.” Without hes-itation, I pulled my mom into a tight hug.She was smiling at me as though we had asecret we were about to share with the rest ofthe room.

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I knew she would already understandwhat I was doing. Our connection was sotight she probably received some of my ownemotions and didn’t just feed me hers. Sheknew me and she loved me.

With a reassuring nod, she handed me atissue and let me proceed. And so it went forthe next thirty minutes. I held the hands ofeach of my family one by one and let theirmemories become part of me. When it cametime to hold my youngest brother’s hand, hesmiled at me widely.

“Meg, we all knew you were going to beable to focus your empath abilities with prac-tice, but that isn’t your newest gift, is it?”Evan kept smiling smugly at me.

“What do you mean, Evan? This is amaz-ing! I’ve never been able to read people likethis; to just touch their hand and know whatthey have felt. Not like this. The memory im-ages are so crisp and precise. The emotionsattached to the images are exact!” I was

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feeling frustrated with my brother, but Iforced myself to swallow it down and givehim a chance.

Instead of reaching his hand out to mehe folded his arms across his chest.

“Why won’t you let her ‘read’ you,Evan?” Margo began.

“I will, mom; just not the way she ‘read’you,” Evan winked at his mother and re-turned his gaze to me. “I know she can dothis, but she needs to know it.”

“Here,” he said and handed me the thinstack of papers he was holding face-down. Iwent to flip the papers over to read them, buthe stopped me. “No, Meg. Don’t read thewords on the paper. Hold the paper and‘read’ it like you ‘read’ their hands.”

“Evan, what are you talking about?” Iasked feeling what little patience I hadwaning.

“Meg, think about it. When you firstwoke this evening, mom was trying to

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explain what happened to you; why you wereso sick for the last week. But did she tell youeverything you wanted to know?”

“She didn’t have to.” I said stubbornly. Iwas starting to feel tired. The excitement ofbeing with my family again was wearing offand now, the fatigue this body felt still fromthe effects of the illness was undeniable.

“Why not?” Evan asked.“Because, I already knew.”“When?”“When I held the dart,” I said

exasperated.“So you were able to ‘read’ the dart? That

doesn’t make sense, Meg.” Evan was eggingme on, and I was not happy about it. I wasjust sleepy.

He didn’t let up. “A dart is just a thing.It’s an object. It doesn’t have feelings for youto read. How is it that you already knew whathappened to you after only touching thedart?”

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“I don’t know how, Evan,” I said raisingmy voice a little. “All I know is that when Itouched it, I felt everything—everything theothers who had touched it felt—at least theway they felt right when they were holdingit.”

Evan nodded his approval.“Now, ‘read’ those papers and tell me

what I have been feeling,” he encouraged.I sighed deeply and squeezed my eyes

shut concentrating on the papers in myhands and feeling a little stupid about it.

After a moment of blackness, there itwas…my brother Evan feeling pride and ex-citement as he held the papers and hurriedto meet us in the living room. Several imagesflashed including snapshot-like images of thewords on the pages. These images were obvi-ously captured by Evan’s memory. The emo-tions and the snippets of phrases I caughtfrom my mental image of the documentmade me gasp happily.

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“Evan! Oh my goodness! Is it true?” Ibeamed.

“I think you’re living proof of it!” Hesmiled back at his sister and finally allowedher to give him a big hug.

All the other faces in the room werelooking confused.

“You two wanna tell us the good news?”Cole asked.

Evan grinned at me and said, “Why don’tyou tell them, Meggie.”

“It’s not a countdown to our death. Thecalculations made you all think it was a de-terioration of our human cells at an ad-vanced rate which you initially believedmeant that we were headed toward a fatalend.” I paused, not for dramatic effect, butbecause I felt so choked up—so happy tohave been given the chance to do all thethings I knew I was still meant to do.

“It is a countdown, but not to death. It’sa countdown to an evolution; a

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metamorphosis, of sorts.” I watched thefaces of my mother and brother change fromconfused to excited and relieved.

“Ev, you explain the rest,” I said, sohappy and tired, I was afraid I was going topass out from it all.

“Well, first of all. Meg, you did it! You‘read’ using only the papers—objects thatthemselves have no emotional abilities. I’mso proud of you!” He gently slugged me onmy shoulder in his affectionate atta-girl kindof way.

“Wait, you all told us we had some timebefore anything was going to happen.” Alikwas sitting at the edge of his seat, literally.

“I believe Meg’s illness triggered an earlyonset of her evolution. It’s not unheard of inhuman physiology for such a thing to hap-pen. For example, a severe trauma such ascancer has been known to compel early onsetmenopause in women,” Evan concludedlogically.

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“So, you’re saying that Meg’s empathability evolved sooner than it would have be-cause of the malaria and now she’s…?” Colestopped, looking for the right word.

“Evolved,” Evan answered simply.“How do you do it Meg?” Paulie asked

trying to understand. “I mean, I can under-stand you all having a heightened intelli-gence and strength. Alik’s memory andEvan’s problem solving skills are all explain-able. Even your ability to be ‘in tune’ withpeople’s emotions, Meg, isn’t beyond beliefeven from a scientific standpoint. But this‘evolved’ ability—” the doctor waved his handtoward me, “I don’t understand.”

Even through the fog of exhaustion hov-ering around my mind, I felt a surge of frus-tration and even a little defensiveness. “Idon’t understand it either, Paulie. It’s all newto me, too.”

“Can you show us, again?” Creed’s steadyvoice asked. He was sitting farthest away

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from the group in a chair against the wall tomy right. He nodded reassuringly.

I breathed deeply, closed my eyes.“Okay, but please be patient with me. I’mawfully sleepy and this is a little overwhelm-ing,” I began with a disclaimer.

“Maybe we should start with somethingentirely different.” I glanced around theroom and stopped to look intently at Dr.Andrews.

“Are those new glasses, Dr. Andrews?” Iasked him. I had noticed he was wearing apair of glasses with very thick, black rims. Atthe time, I just giggled to myself thinkinghow similar my mother and this man were intheir taste in eyewear and thought how per-fectly matched they were for each other.

Theo looked a little surprised andanswered, “Well, yes, actually. I’ve misplacedmy old pair, so I had to order these.”

“May I hold them?” I asked simply.

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“Sure.” Theo removed his glasses andhanded them to me.

I closed my eyes and forced myself toconcentrate on the plastic in my hands.

“These were made in a factory where theAsian worker who assembled them was wor-ried about her bothersome mother-in-law,” Isaid.

The room let out a nervous chuckle.“You put them on for the first time when

you were heading toward Paulie’s lab. Momwas there. She looked excited aboutsomething, but you were thinking about…,” Ipaused not wanting to embarrass the doctorby elaborating too much on his thoughts ofmarriage. “…how pretty mom looked. Shewaved you over to a microscope and had youlook at…what is that? A blood sample? Momis talking fast and holding paper in front ofyou as if she’s trying to explain something.” Istopped relaying my mental images because

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I felt Dr. Andrew’s surprise at what he justlearned.

My eyes flew open, and I stood abruptly,nearly dropping the doctor’s new glasses. Ilooked back and forth between my motherand Theo—then to Alik and Creed.

“Go ahead, honey. You can say it. Theoand I haven’t been able to find the right timeto bring it up, so you may as well put it outthere for everyone,” Margo shrugged.

I reached down and pulled Alik to astanding position. “What’s going on?” heasked worried.

Then I walked us over to Creed and tookhis hand encouraging him to stand.

“Put what out there?” Creed asked, com-pletely confused with the turn of events thatbrought him into the spotlight.

I couldn’t help but smile—this was soamazing. “While Mom was studying yourblood samples she stumbled across

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something. She determined through your Y-chromosomes—that you are brothers.”

“What?”“Brothers?”The boys looked at each other as though

they had never seen one another before.“Of all the—you’re kidding, right?” Cole

blurted.“Are you sure?” Alik’s crisp, light blue

eyes flashed with emotion.“Is this a trick?” Creed looked around

the room as though waiting for the punchline.

“How in the heck are we brothers?” Aliklooked over to his mom, pointedly.

“You’re my brother?” Creed’s dark-blueeyes were beginning to tear up.

Margo spoke over the room, “Now, wehave no idea how this happened. All we cantell for sure is that Alik and Creed have thesame biological father.”

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Evan’s eyes were wide with surprise.“This is one heck of a way to prove your abil-ity, Meggie!”

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59 Perficio Res

Something was going on.Though silence had been ordered across

the Facility, every meta knew something waswrong.

Even the veteran metas—the instruct-ors—had never known the entire campus tobe on lock down before. Sure, they’d all haddrills in the past. They practiced fire and dis-aster drills. They had even practiced how toassemble in case of immediate mobilization.But they had never been ordered to lockdown “until further notice.”

Being creatures of habit, the cadets wereanxious to get back to theirroutine—whatever it was they were doingwhen the first announcement was made overthe campus-wide intercom.

The voice identified itself as Dr. Willi-ams, though it didn’t sound at all like thedoctor. Everyone listening to the bizarre an-nouncement just assumed the voice was dis-torted because of the intercom system. Theentire campus was ordered back to their bar-racks, immediately and without exceptionuntil further notice.

The cadets obeyed, of course, anddropped what they were doing. That wasthree hours, seven minutes ago. Now theylooked out the windows of their barracks inrestless hopes of seeing something thatwould explain what was going on. They mur-mured to each other possible scenarios thatmay have brought this on. Some metascouldn’t hold still and found ways to enter-tain themselves by doing as much physicalexercise as possible within the confines oftheir crowded quarters. Others just sat at theedge of their bunks sharpening or cleaningtheir weapons of choice.

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The crackle of the intercom broke theanxious silence across the campus. The voicethat began speaking again identified itself asDr. Williams, but this time everyone knewsomething was very different. And it wasn’tjust his deeper, raspier voice; his behaviorand word choice was different, too. But theywere soldiers taught to obey their superiorofficers without question, so they stood at at-tention and listened.

“Metas, it is with great pride that I speakwith you on this momentous day. All your di-ligence, your training, your expertise; allyour loyalty and dedication to physical andintellectual perfection, everything you haveworked so tirelessly for is to be called uponnow, in our hour of need.

“Yes, my meta children, we are in gravedanger as there are those outside these wallswho hate us and want to exterminate us.Though I have known of this—terrorist cell

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for years, I had hoped I could change theirthinking.

“But alas, no. Despite years of earnestdue diligence, patience and forgiveness oftransgressions, it was made abundantly cleartoday that our love of mind, body, spirit andearth is now threatened.

“This terrorist cell that means us harm ismounting their forces even now. They’rebuilding an army, but they are going to fail intheir attempts to cause us harm because theyhave evil in their hearts. They hate you foryour perfection. They believe metas arefreaks—born of a lab—with no heart or soul.They blame their self-loathing on you. Sothey have convinced themselves to ease theirsuffering, to balance the scales, mass meta-cide is the answer.

“Do not fear, my children. I have fore-seen their sinful stratagem and have pre-pared for it. If there is a battle they want,then it is a battle they will get. The first

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platoon of metas leaves at oh-eight-hundredtomorrow. Tonight there will be a preflightmeeting. If your name is called, you are to beproud; you are my ‘Perficio Res’—my ‘perfectbeings’ ready to fight the oppression come tohunt us.

“I began moments ago by telling you howproud of you I am, but ‘pride’ doesn’t evencome close to explaining my devotion to you,to all of us and to our way of life. We havecreated what the human species has not: aperfect, orderly, powerful civilization of su-perior beings.

“We have never before had to demon-strate our power to the outsiders, but theyleave us no choice. We will be teaching thema lesson they will never forget!” Dr. Williams’voice resounded triumphantly off the con-crete walls of the barracks.

The metasoldiers who previously stoodin abject silence, horrified at the thought ofoutsiders wanting to kill them because of

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their way of life, now were yelling—roaringwith excitement! Their frenzy didn’t cool asthe names of the Perficio Res—the firststrike—were called. After each name, thebarracks screamed in bloodthirsty pleasure,then quieted just long enough to hear thenext name called. Thirteen names in all weresummoned to meet in the lobby of the hos-pital building in precisely fifteen minutes.

From his hospital’s fourth floor, Dr. Wil-liams pressed the yellow button on his land-line phone, ending the intercom communica-tion with the entire campus. He watchedwith dead eyes as his soldiers scurriedaround ground level. He saw them nod re-spectfully to those who were heading to thehospital because they had been handpickedfor this auspicious mission.

He turned around and checked the whitetable to be sure it looked as he wanted it to.There were thirteen syringes, each filled withone dose of the Infinite II serum. A simple .5

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milligrams turned a human into a meta—justlike every meta walking around his campusright now. These thirteen men and womenhe summoned were already treated with thatfirst .5 milligrams. This syringe was filledwith precisely .5 milligrams of the Infinite IIserum. Once dosed, the soldiers’ bodieswould house twice the amount of serum re-quired to change a human to a meta.

Satisfied the room was ready, he walkedout and headed toward the elevators. Hedidn’t want to keep his guests waiting.Besides, they had a lot of work to do in ashort amount of time.

Even before the elevator reached the firstfloor of the hospital, the metas were standingat attention, staring straight ahead—silent,strong and keyed-up. Dr. Williams couldsmell their anticipation the moment hestepped into the lobby. He smiled at the rawanger, inhaled the blind trust and watchedthe red heat glowing off his soldiers.

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“Thank you for coming, this evening, ca-dets,” he began.

“I know you have questions and con-cerns, and I appreciate your trust that I willexplain everything to you in due time. Fornow, please, stand at ease.” He watched asthe line of soldiers stepped out with theirright feet and clasped their hands behindtheir backs in the customary relaxed posi-tion. As they did, they allowed themselves tolook at the Director. To their credit, they didnot gasp in horror; only their eyes widenedin surprise at his horrendous change inappearance.

“I realize how I must look to you. Myapologies. In my efforts to correct the cur-rent situation with the terrorist cell, this iswhat happened to me.” Dr. Williams re-moved the black fedora hat from his head soeveryone could see and know.

He looked normal from the neck down.As always, he was wearing a custom, tailored

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three-piece suit. This particular one wasblack with faint pin-stripes. He wore blackgloves, so the condition of his hands was notclear.

What was clear were the injuries to hisskin from the neck up. His face was swollenand glistened painfully red. His eyes werebloodied and wept uncontrollably so the doc-tor had to dab them with his monogrammedhandkerchief. His scalp was a mangy mass ofbloody bald skin and tufts of white hair.Blood was seeping down his swollen neckand stained the white collar of the buttondown shirt he wore. He looked as though hemust have been in a tremendous amount ofpain, but if he were, he didn’t show it.

Casually, Dr. Williams returned theblack hat to his head and said, “You can seewe are dealing with a heartless enemy.”Again, he dabbed his weeping eyes. “Pleasedon’t worry about me. I am being cared forby our excellent doctors here at this

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hospital.” He waved as though motioning tothe physicians, but no one else was in thelobby with them.

The soldiers forced themselves to lookaway from the gruesome sight that was theirleader. All of them, except one, that is. Noti-cing this, Dr. Williams walked over to thesoldier. He was the last in the line and in-stantly recognizable to the doctor.

“Gavil Young. I did not call you here to-night,” The doctor’s voice changed from itsformer soft raspiness to an angry growl.Spittle flew from his bloated, red lips rightinto Gavil’s face.

Without flinching Gavil replied, “Sir, Iwant to fight, and I will go wherever yousend me.”

“You want to fight? Why should I trustyou again, Mr. Young? You failed me in Cali-fornia when you didn’t kill M57 at the Insti-tute, and you dishonored yourself in the

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Retribution Match against your own littlebrother! You’re lucky I let you live!”

“You have let me live because you know Iam of value to you. This team needs a leader,someone who can think for themselves whenthe need arises. They are drones, I am an in-dividual. Let me lead this group to right thewrongs done against you—against all of us. Iwill not let you down, sir. You will beavenged,” Gavil’s gaze was unwavering anddetermined.

Inhaling deeply, Dr. Williams smelledsomething about this boy. He smelled in-tense hatred that stung the nostrils like acid.His facial expression changed at this and hesmiled. “Yes, Mr. Young. I do believe youhave a score to settle. Your fervor may be ex-actly what I need for this mission.” The doc-tor smiled his approval at Gavil revealingbloody gums. Gavil smiled back.

“Well, excellent,” he said, then addressedthe room. “Our meeting will continue

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upstairs on the fourth floor. Please followme.”

Gavil’s excitement was hard to contain.He knew Williams had great things in storefor him and he couldn’t wait to get started.The other thirteen metas whispered softly toone another as the elevator moved up, butGavil stood apart from them. He wasn’t hereto make friends or even be civil; he was hereto command and be feared. It all started nowand he could taste the venom of it churn inhis mouth. It was delicious.

Once inside the laboratory, Dr. Williamsbegan explaining briefly what it was theywere about to do.

“You see, children. My scientists havecontinued work on various subjects here onthe fourth floor of this hospital. Our sciencehas gone beyond and what is now consideredstandard operating procedure to us is stillunknown and unaccepted outside the wallsof our Facility.” He was pacing the room,

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gloved hands clasped behind his back asthough he were giving a lecture at auniversity.

“One of the areas we have been studyingis the effects of our Infinite II serum at dif-ferent dosages. If ‘X’ amount of the serumturns a human into a meta, then what does‘two times X’ do? Or ‘three times X?’ Do yousee what I mean?” He stopped and looked upat his students checking for understanding,as any good teacher would.

Satisfied with their facial expressions, hecontinued. “What we found is that ‘two timesX’ increased the performance dramatically.The strength and intelligence factors nearlydoubled. Also, a very interesting theoryabout Infinite II came to light. Listen care-fully, my children because this is very im-portant.” He paused to look pointedly intoeach set of eyes watching him. His studentssat motionless, completely focused on whatthe doctor was about to say.

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“The theory states that the Infinite II ser-um, in a certain dose, is able to exaggeratethe subject’s natural personality traits,” hesaid slowly so to be sure his audience hadtime to process the meaning of his words.

“For example, if a human child came tous as a subject and they already had apropensity for athletics, once dosed, theywould be a physically ‘gifted’ meta who couldoutperform other metas in athletics.” Hecontinued to watch the faces of his audience.He was looking to see who was able to takethis new knowledge and quickly apply it tothemselves and those around them. He waschecking for the highest levels of thinking inhis students.

It was no surprise to Dr. Williams whenhe saw it was Gavil who showed the clearestunderstanding of this theory and its effectseven with this minimum amount of informa-tion. He smiled at the thoughts he knew weregoing through that violent meta’s mind.

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“If a human child was good at readingpeople’s body language, tone of voice andword choice, then as a meta they might beable to…”

“Read someone’s mind,” Gavil finishedin a whisper. His thoughts were replayingthe events with the female meta M57.

“Precisely, Mr. Young,” Dr. Williamsbeamed with a sick sense of pride.

“Right now I want each of you to thinkabout yourselves. What seems to come nat-urally to you more than others around you?Now imagine doubling or even tripling thatability.” Williams smiled as he watched eachof his chosen.

Gavil spoke out, “What happened to thesubjects who were given three times thedose?”

“Ah, now you’re thinking!” The doctortapped his temple with his finger and didn’tnotice when it came away bloodied.

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“Three times the dose did one of twothings. Either it a) tripled the subject’sstrength, agility and fighting skills, or b) itkilled the subject within forty-eight hours.However, all of these subjects were very diffi-cult to command. It’s as though theychanged into mindless animals. None ofthem were stable enough to be released intothe Facility. They were useless as soldiersand therefore terminated,” Dr. Williams saidcoolly.

“What I’m offering you, cadets, is a veryspecial opportunity not only to defend yourmeta family and our way of life, but also tobecome more.” He stepped aside and mo-tioned to the table full of syringes.

“Now that you know the effects, you maychoose to inject yourself with the Infinite IIserum. Each syringe is already perfectlymeasured and waiting to give you morestrength, more power and more of your nat-ural abilities. The choice is yours.” He

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stepped back from the table, as though re-specting their individual decisions in thematter, but knowing full well what theywould do.

Without hesitation, the original thirteenmetas stood up from their seats, walked tothe table, picked up a syringe and injected itscontents into their own meaty arms. Gavilremained seated.

“Oh, Mr. Young. Do not worry, I will per-sonally prepare your syringe.” He turned to-ward a refrigerated cabinet and retrieved abottle with the Infinite II symbol printedclearly on the label. He removed a fresh syr-inge from its packaging and began measur-ing carefully the exact amount. When it wasto his satisfaction, he laid it carefully on ablue surgical sheet and stepped back motion-ing for Gavil to help himself.

All eyes were on the last meta as he tookthe syringe and confidently located a vein inwhich to dose himself. Once he was done, he

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looked at each of the metas sitting in front ofhim then back to Dr. Williams. He could feelthe cold of the serum slipping up his armand into his chest. It felt awesome.

“My Perficio Res,” the doctor cooed atthe fourteen soldiers. “You’ll all begin to feelthe effects throughout the night. By morning,we’ll be ready to discuss the logistics of thismission as we’re en route. Meet me in thecourtyard at oh-eight-hundred. Our flightleaves promptly at oh-eight-thirty. You donot need to bring anything as I will have theplane stocked with supplies.”

“Sir, what is our destination?” A metanamed Slider, who had no memory of a lifeoutside the Facility, spoke for the first time.

“That all depends on our target. For now,we’re heading to the Hawaiian Islands.” Dr.Williams smirked.

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60 We’re Better Than That

An hour or so after the big revelations,the family was still talking, but I couldn’tkeep my eyes open.

“I don’t think people will understand,”Theo’s voice sounded far away.

He continued, “What I mean is, we knowyou four. We love you and accept you just asyou are. But if anyone out there knew of yourabilities—or your potential abilities—theycould be very skeptical of your motives.Powerful people could try to manipulate youfor their own purposes.”

“They’ve already tried,” Evan said withan edge of anger in his voice.

“Exactly. You could be ostracized orworse, hounded. We have never really dis-cussed the social ramifications of thesebeyond-human characteristics you all

possess. We’ve been so wrapped up in juststaying away from Williams and hishunters.” Theo stopped talking, and theroom was silent.

Then I heard my mom say: “We do notneed to worry about that, Theo. All we needto do is keep our eyes and hearts to heavenand let God take care of what is out of ourcontrol.”

“Well said, mom.” Alik sounded pensive.“She’s out,” Creed nodded toward my

sleeping body. “I’ll carry her to her room, ifyou all don’t mind,” Creed asked hesitantlyand looked to Margo for approval.

“Sure, Creed. She needs her sleep. It’sbeen a very busy few hours since she cameback to us.”

Creed walked over to my sleeping bodyand effortlessly lifted me up and off thecouch, carefully tucking my head in thecrook of his shoulder. He smiled contently atmy closed lids, so familiar to him after a

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week of watching me “sleep,” and walked outof the living room back down the hallway tomy room.

“Can you really trust that guy with her?”Cole said in a not-so-quiet voice momentsafter Creed was out of view.

“Cole! I’m surprised at you!” Margogently chided. “If Creed were a threat, don’tyou believe Meg would have ‘read’ that ofhim?”

“I still don’t like the idea of him beingalone with her,” he mumbled to himself.

Margo looked outside the window intothe darkening sky. “I wonder why we haven’theard anything from that female meta in awhile.”

“I heard enough from her, thanks,” Colegrimaced slightly at his shoulder as he triedto stand. “I’m just gonna go check on Meg.”

“I don’t know, mom. We haven’t heardfrom her since we ran over her land mine inthe driveway. So it’s been, what, twenty-four

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hours?” Evan walked over to refold Meg’swet towel and place it back on the chair.

“I want to go look for her,” Margo said ascalmly as if she had said she wanted to golook for a missing sock.

“Look for her? You’re kidding, right?”Theo was studying Margo’s face trying toread her. “You’re not kidding,” he answeredhimself.

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61 We All Make Choices

“Dang it, Margo! I hate it when you putyourself in harm’s way for no good reason!Why on earth would you go out there andlook for the person who was sent to kill you?”Theo was exhausted and frustrated.

With a deep sigh, Margo stood. She wastired, too, but she was also decided. “Becauseshe might be hurt and need help.”

“Good! Good, I hope she’s hurt! Thenmaybe she’ll leave us alone!”

“You don’t mean that, Theo.” Margowalked to the closet and retrieved a flashlightshe knew to be kept there.

“Why not? She shot my son, Margo!”“And she shot my daughter with a deadly

malaria parasite. And she shot at all the chil-dren and hit Creed twice and heck—she evenhurt Maze. But Theo, we can’t just leave her

out there to die. That’s what Williams woulddo. That is wrong, and we are better thanthat.” Margo remained standing, shouldersback and resolved.

Evan and Alik quietly stood during theexchange and were now on either side oftheir mother, protectively.

“Don’t worry, Dr. Andrews. We’ll bringher back safely.” Alik’s voice was steady.Evan nodded in agreement.

In that moment, the two human men,Paulie—who had stayed out of the most re-cent conversation—and Theo, were bothstruck by the magnificence that was Evanand Alik. They were both so much strongerthan their mother. Alik looked like he couldsquash the life out of anything that stood inhis way—so tall and built like a bodybuilder’strainer. Evan had been growing like a radishseed. He stood nearly as tall as his brothernow, and had a naturally athletic, runner’sbody. He was lean, but muscular with

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chiseled facial features that were beginningto need a good shave.

Paulie and Theo said nothing more, sostruck were they by the gravity of themoment.

Margo looked up at both of her boys whofollowed her without question and smiled.“Let’s go find her, boys.”

The three walked out of the house andclosed the door securely behind them.

“I don’t know about you, but I have awicked headache coming on.” Paulie stoodslowly and stretched, looking suddenly, all ofhis sixty-six years of age. “Gotta go get somemedicine or it’ll turn into a migraine.” Theold doctor shuffled out of the room leavingTheo alone.

He held his head in his hands and triedto breathe deeply. How could he get her tounderstand he only wanted to protect her?Sighing deeply, he stood and walked to thewindow, hoping to watch for her to return

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soon because he wasn’t going to be able tothink about anything until she did.

Outside, the sunlight was fading fast.Not sure how to proceed, Margo lead theboys to where the gunfire originated thenight they brought Meg home. You didn’thave to be a tracker to see the bullets stuck intree trunks and remnants of a makeshift nestwhere the shooter had stayed. Nor was it dif-ficult to conclude she had been shot. Therewas a bloodstained, army-green cloth tossedcarelessly to the ground nearby.

“She’s hurt. I must have hit her thatwhen I shot blindly into these bushes. Oh mygoodness, I hope she’s not—” Margo’s voicecaught in her throat.

“She’s a meta, mom. Wherever she wasshot, she has a much better chance of surviv-al just because she’s stronger and probably afaster healer than a human,” Evan saidencouragingly.

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“We’ll find her,” Alik said confidently.“She’s a soldier, trained to survive. She prob-ably had a campsite with supplies hidden nottoo far from here. Didn’t you say the sniper’sshots came from up there?” Alik pointed tothe hill north of Paulie’s house.

“Yes, I think so from the angle Cole wasshot,” Margo nodded.

“Okay, let’s try that way.” Alik beganwalking toward the hill.

Not wanting to draw attention to them-selves, they decided not to call out to the in-jured girl. If she were okay, then she surelywouldn’t answer their calls anyway. If shewere seriously hurt, she was probably unableto answer their calls. Either way, yelling“Farrow, where are you?” across the hills ofthe Big Island smacked of a bad idea. So in-stead, the three kept watching for signs ofthe girl.

They didn’t have to go very far.

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Twenty yards from the first nest theyfound was a second—except, this one wasmore like a ditch between a large boulderand a tree root. There was the girl, stilldressed in camo fatigues, curled up in fetalposition.

“Oh, dear God,” Margo said softly.Evan and Alik exchanged worried looks.“Farrow? Honey, are you okay?”Leave it to mom to act as though she

found a lost camper instead of a deadly as-sassin, Alik thought but said nothing.

Farrow didn’t move.Margo climbed down closer to the girl

and tried to rouse her again.“Farrow? Farrow, wake up. We’re here to

help you.”Again, there was no response.Evan and Alik climbed down in to the

crevice to help. Evan, ever the doctor,reached down with his two fingers and triedto find a pulse in the girl’s neck.

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“Her pulse is weak, but it’s there,” Evansaid.

“Look at her stomach,” Alik cringed sym-pathetically as he could see from his angle ablood soaked area on the front of her fa-tigues. Her hands were holding her stomach,as though she did her best to stop her ownbleeding.

“Oh, goodness. She’s a mess!” Margobreathed worriedly. “Alik, can you carryher?”

“Sure, but let’s make sure she’s unarmedfirst. I’d hate to get stabbed with a huntingknife on the trail.”

Carefully, Alik lifted the girl out of themud that occupied the floor of her nest andheld her while Evan and Margo checked herfor weapons. They found several and re-moved them from the meta’s person.

Not wanting to think too much abouthow beautiful the girl was underneath allthat face paint and blood, Alik focused

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instead on the trail ahead of him. They madequick time back to the house. When theyreached the front porch, Dr. Andrews openedthe door to let them in.

“You found her?”“She’s hurt, Theo. I think I shot her in

the stomach and she’s been like this fortwenty-four hours.” Margo was trying hardto stifle tears of guilt.

“We have to get her to the lab, now!”“I’ll scrub in,” Theo heard himself say.

“She’s going to need surgery.”

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62 What Were You Thinking?

The nagging ache in his left arm madehim sour.

The painkillers were wearing off, and allhe could think about was trying to stop thethrobbing.

Just standing up from the living roomcouch pushed tears into his eyes. Though heplanned to go check on Meg and Creed likehe said to the others, he couldn’t stand beingthought of as weak by Creed. Especiallywhen the meat head was sporting two bulletwounds he received acting as a metashieldfor Meg, and acted as though they botheredhim less than a mosquito bite.

Damn it!Cole reached the scrub room of the lab

and tried to follow the rules by washing hishands before entering the clean room. Trying

to tear open the scrub package using histeeth and good hand just brought more tearsto his eyes. Angrily, he threw the brush intothe trash and walked, with dripping hands,into the lab.

He knew his way around well enough toknow where the meds were stored. As hewalked to the back of the room toward thecabinet, it occurred to him it may be locked.He was in so much pain he hadn’t evenstopped to ask his dad for help.

That’s not true, he admitted to himself.He hadn’t stopped to talk to anyone be-

cause he was sick of needing to ask for helpall the time. Watching Creed sweep Meg offher feet, literally, while Cole couldn’t evenopen a bottle of ibuprofen made him feelmore than emasculated; he felt helpless, stu-pid, useless and unworthy.

These thoughts were swirling around inhis head when he reached out to try the cab-inet door.

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It popped open.He remembered his dad pulling out an

orange bottle with large, oval, green and pinkpills. The name of the med escaped hismemory, but it started with the letter “M.”Inside the cabinet were dozens of bottles andvials. Cole assumed the one he was lookingfor would be near the front, considering itwas just used a few hours before.

Shuffling through the items, pushingsome aside and pulling some to read, Colebegan to feel an itch of panic that he couldn’tfind the painkiller.

Come on! He spoke to the cabinet asthough it had intentionally hidden the pillsfrom him.

And that’s when he saw it.At first, he thought it was just another vi-

al of some unknown liquid and was alreadyshoving it aside to look behind it before herealized what it was.

The meta serum.

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There it was.Right in his hands.The vial was labeled “Infinite Serum”

and someone, probably Evan, had botheredto draw that symbol they all had etched intothe back of their necks: ∞

Evan, in his haste to help Meg, hadasked Alik to put the serum he was still hold-ing from the plane trip, into the refrigeratedmedicine cabinet. In his defense, neitherEvan nor Alik had thought anyone in thehouse a threat to take the serum.

And yet, here was Cole, holding the vialas though he had just found his Holy Grail.

Two thoughts rushed into his still achingmind. One, this was his answer toeverything. He would be stronger, smarter,heal more quickly and worthy of runningwith Meg and the other metas. Finally, hewould be an asset and not a liability. Hecould be a contender.

And two, no one was around to stop him.

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He grabbed the vial and closed the cab-inet door. His mind was racing. He was try-ing to remember anything he had overheardwhen the others spoke of the serum, like howmuch was a dose and how it was given.

He opened the first two drawers he sawlooking for a syringe. He was pretty sure heremembered that much. This was to be givenby needle, not swallowed.

What he didn’t remember was how muchof the serum he was supposed to take. Helooked at the bottle carefully. There was onlya small amount of fluid inside to begin with;it looked to be about one teaspoonful.

Sharp pangs pierced his arm forcing himto steady himself against the countertop.When he opened his eyes, all he could seewas stars bursting. He blinked deliberatelytrying to get his vision back.

Once the stars dissipated, he continuedhis search for a syringe. In the fifth drawer,he struck gold. Again, using his teeth and

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good hand, he tried to rip open the foil pack-aging that housed the clean needle. Havingwatched his father work over the last sixteenyears, he had a pretty good idea what to donext.

He punctured the top of the vial with theneedle, tipped the whole thing upside downand pulled the syringe’s plunger down, ex-tracting the fluid from inside the vial, fillingthe syringe. He only stopped when he sawthe syringe was beginning to pull in air in-stead of fluid. He separated the syringe fromthe vial, held it up to the light and tapped itagainst the corner of a cabinet, forcing thebubbles to the top. Cole then squeezed theplunger back in slowly forcing the air out ofthe needle tip. There was exactly .5ml of theserum in the syringe. That sounded like agood amount to Creed, who was just tryingto hold himself together long enough to getthis serum into his bloodstream.

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Cole yanked his short-sleeved shirt uphigher, exposing the flesh at the top of hisleft shoulder. His whole left arm hurt sobadly. Cole’s last human thought was: Thefaster I do this, the sooner I will stop feelingso much pain.

He quickly jabbed himself and pushedthe plunger down, emptying the contents ofthe syringe into his muscle. He yanked theneedle out, felt an uncontrollable wave ofnausea, began shaking violently and sawblackness close around his line of sight untilthere was nothing.

Some forty minutes later, when Theo,Margo, Evan and Alik came running into thelab with Farrow barely hanging on to life,they nearly tripped over the body of ColeAndrews. It didn’t take but a cursory glanceat the scene to realize what Cole had done tohimself.

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THE END577/581

If you enjoyed the first two books ofWinter’s Saga, I hope you’ll recommendthem to your friends and take a moment tohelp maximize their exposure onAmazon.com by writing a quick review.Thank you for traveling on this roller coasterride with me. It has been, and continues tobe, an honor.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I have several spots throughout thehouse where I go to curl up with my laptop towrite, but no matter where I am, as long asI’m surrounded by my husband and kids, I’mat peace enough to go create turmoil in theworld of my Winter Clan.

Usually I have a glass of sweet tea withinreach to remind myself to drink somethingonce in a while. I get so caught up in my stor-ies; the world around me easily melts awayas my fingers tap frantically trying to keep upwith my imagination.

Strategically chosen music is loud (prob-ably too loud *blush*) and pulsing throughmy earbuds. I have a giant iTunes library atmy finger tips sorted by the emotions thesongs bring out in me. What can I say? I’mdeeply affected by music, so I use it as a cata-lyst to help me create.

I’m thankful to my family for being sosupportive of me as I do tend to forget theworld when I’m “in the zone.” (That’s whatmy husband and kids call it when I’m deep inthought, writing.)

Thank you for reading my books, by theway. Your supportive reviews, comments and

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emails mean the world to me! Keep ‘em com-ing, please!

Hugs,

Karen

Visit Karen Luellen’s page atwww.goodreads.com/karenluellen

Email at karen.luellen@gmail.com

Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/winters.saga

Twitter @LuellenBooks

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