Betrayed (15 page)

TOM KNEW THERE WAS NO TIME TO
wait for backup. Given the situation, he'd had absolutely no choice but to go in guns blazing. He'd counted himself down from three and tried to picture the worst-case scenario before breaking the door down.

But there was no way he could have pictured this scene. Tatiana's assailant was standing at the back of the empty room with a man in a lab coat (Dr. Glenn
,
he was quite sure). Heather and Gaia were both tied to chairs—Heather looking like a bleached white ghost shivering in her seat and Gaia with Loki's gun dangling in her face. And then there was the matter of Loki's body…

The image of his brother was far more horrifying than anything Tom could have concocted in his own head. Loki's body had fallen prey to some kind of heinous condition. Some parts of his body were convulsing like those of a Parkinson's patient, and other parts looked positively catatonic. Was he diseased somehow? Was this some kind of deadly reaction to a drug? Whatever it was, it was such a tragically disturbing sight that even as Tom pointed the gun at his head, he actually remembered his real brother for a moment. Maybe it was just the palpable weakness in his shaking body—the reminder that he was in fact human and not just some monster alter ego that his real brother had morphed into twenty years ago.

But that brief sense of his humanity disappeared just as quickly as Tom looked deeper into his brother's eyes. Because despite all the painful-looking facial tics and tremors, somehow he was still managing to give Tom that same vindictive grin. It was the simple act of taking pleasure in other people's pain. That was the quality that reminded Tom of the truth about his brother: that he
was
in fact a monster. He'd been a monster for years. The only difference now was that he actually looked like one.

“Drop it!”Tom ordered, moving two steps farther into the room. “Untie those girls right now.
Right now! Do it!
”

Loki smiled and stepped away from Gaia, moving instead toward Tom with his own gun at his side. “Tom! Well, I see you got my invitation. But I think you're extremely confused,” he said with a slight chuckle, moving closer and closer until he'd practically placed the front of his forehead against Tom's gun. “You seem to be under the impression that I can be scared by your gun. And I find that extremely ridiculous, since I'm no longer afraid of anything.”

Tom was at a loss here. A complete loss. And Loki had obviously been counting on it.

“Drop it,” a voice came from behind. Tom felt the barrel of a gun press firmly against the back of his head.

Invitation,
he'd said.
I see you got my invitation
….

Loki had sent the memo.
This had all been planned. Of course it had all been planned. It was Loki. He'd
wanted
Tom to spot them escaping just so he would follow them, in this exact rush, without any time to gather backup. Just so he would rush by the thug who was waiting for him in the hall. Waiting for him to walk by so he could move in from behind for the ambush.

Tom raised his hands as an act of surrender, but he wouldn't drop the gun. Not yet. He wasn't prepared to do that yet. He turned his head just slightly to get a look at the man responsible for the ambush.

Wait
…
no,
Tom assured himself.
There's no way he could have raced around from the back of the room
….

Tom looked ahead of him again. He was
still there
at the back of the room
.
The boy from the fire escape. The boy who'd tried to kill Tatiana. The boy Tom had seen shot in the head. This same boy was standing in front of Tom
and
behind him.

Twins? Had Loki hired twins? Some kind of sick homage to what he and Tom had lost as brothers? But what about the one Tom had seen get shot? Had there been
three
of them?

“I said,
drop it,
” the boy repeated, jabbing his gun against Tom's head again. If Tom had had an extra half hour or so, he probably could have figured out the answer to this confounding puzzle, but with the gun still pressed to the back of his head, it wasn't going to take top priority. Top and only priority was to get Gaia and Heather out of there alive. And Tom certainly couldn't do that if he were dead. So he did finally drop the gun to the floor. The boy quickly grabbed Tom's arm and tugged it painfully behind his back.

Loki gave him another disturbingly volcanic version of a smile. “Yes, you always were on time, Tom. Like clockwork. Thank you for being so reliable. You're just in time for your execution. But don't worry, you won't be alone.” He smiled again—or was it just another hideous twitch? And then he turned away.

Tom had certainly witnessed dementia in his brother's behavior before, but this was something else. This was ten times anything he'd ever seen before. This was a total psychotic break. Something or someone had flipped Loki all the way over the edge, and now he seemed to be just…free falling. Mentally and physically. And Tom knew how his brother's mind worked. If Loki were free falling, then he was planning to take as many people as he could plummeting down with him. Especially Tom and Gaia. The remains of his family.

Tom kept his eyes locked on Gaia's. Whatever happened now, he needed to maintain nonverbal communication with his daughter. He knew that as long as she was strapped firmly into that chair, there was simply no move to be made. But if they could somehow find an opening, they'd need to be on their toes.

Loki walked slowly away from Tom and stopped right at Gaia's side. He put his jittery left arm around her, letting his gun dangle over her shoulder. “What do you think, Tom? A lovely family portrait, eh? A fearless father and his fearless daughter.”

“What are you talking about?” Tom squawked. Loki had clearly moved on to pure nonsensical verbiage.

“What am I talking about?” Loki smiled. “Well, I just thought you might want to get a final family portrait, Tom. Because I'm about to end this pathetic excuse for a family once and for all.” He lifted his gun and pressed it shakily against Gaia's temple. “Why do you think I invited you here? I just wanted you to witness this historic moment firsthand. Consider the amazing
purity
of this moment. Here is a girl who is not afraid to die. And a man who is not afraid to kill her.”

GAIA COULD FEEL THE WEAKNESS IN
Loki's hand. She could feel him straining just to keep the gun pressed to her head. The side effects were winning out, she was sure of it. She probably could have knocked his entire twitchy frame to the ground with a well-placed snap of her head.

But there were too many variables. Even if she could head-butt him to the ground, that would still leave QR2 enough time to blow her father's brains all over the rotting floor.

She was sure it was QR2 holding the gun to her dad's head. Either that or Josh himself. Even though she couldn't see his wrist to be sure, she could see it in the hideous matching sparkle of his white eyes and teeth. He was reveling in sadistic joy at the thought of blasting a hole through her father's cerebellum, whereas QR1 still seemed to be suffering from a dour-faced attack of dissatisfaction and frustration over on the other side of the room.

So how did they get out of this one? Gaia was at a pathetic loss for answers. It was like her most poorly played chess game ever. Instead of thinking ahead five or six positions, she was stuck in her chair, hopelessly racking her brains just to find another move. And so, from the looks of it, was her father. He was just as paralyzed as she was in this miserable stalemate. If he made a move on QR2, it would still leave Loki's trembling gun enough time to blow Gaia's head open.

Gaia could see it now, almost like she'd been given a glimpse of the very near future. One shot would lead to three shots, which would lead to ten. The air of the inevitable was creeping up fast. It wasn't fear she was feeling, and it wasn't dread. It was simply something she knew. Loki and his accomplice had gone way beyond trigger-happy. Someone was going to take a bullet here, and she could do nothing to stop it. She could do nothing now but listen to her uncle's insane, disjointed ranting as the barrel of his gun wavered from her temple to her cheek to her chin and back to her temple.

“I suppose all revelations are simple, aren't they, Tom?”

Her father could only stare coldly and take in every manic word.

“Yes,” Loki went on, “yes, that is the
definition
of a revelation, I think. When one realizes how very
simple
it all is. And I
have.
I have had such a revelation. And I wanted to share it with you. I wanted you both to hear it, Tom. You
and
my daughter—”

“Oliver, you don't know what you're—”

“
No,
Tom!” Loki bellowed, knocking his shaking gun against Gaia's head. She clenched her teeth to weather the sting of her vibrating skull. “Now you
listen.
You don't
speak
now, Tom! You're going to want to hear this. You're going to want to understand why you're both dying today—why we can
finally
put an end to this pointlessly drawn-out battle of twenty-odd wasted years. Don't you want to know, Tom? Don't you want to hear my revelation?”

Tom of course had no choice in the matter. Gaia watched as he bottled up every one of his real impulses and muttered his dishonest response. “Yes.”

“Yes,”
Loki hollered. “Yes, of course, you do. Well, here is the answer, Tom. Here is the truth that every one of us should have come to terms with long ago. My newfound lack of fear has shown me the way. I'll never know why you didn't come to this conclusion yourself long ago, Gaia, and kill
me,
as any enlightened person would have.”

I'm working on it,
Gaia thought, pointlessly checking her straps yet again for possible leeway. Another minute listening to his voice and she would have to do something very drastic. Something.
Anything
to shut his lunatic mouth.

“You see, all this time I've been the victim of one very simple and overwhelming fear,” he said. “And
here
is the key.
Here
is the revelation, so pay attention: Our greatest fear in life is
not
what you think. Death. Death is
not
what we fear most in this world. Do you know what it is, Tom? Do you know what we fear most in this world? It is
loneliness.
”

His gun was battering her face with less and less control. Gaia could feel his hand on the brink of
something.
She couldn't tell if he was getting weaker by the moment or just more anxious to shoot.

“Yes…yes, loneliness…,” he went on, his voice quavering with intensity. “Having no
lover,
no companion. Having no
family,
no one on this planet who is a true reflection of you. That is what we fear. That is the equivalent of death to the average human being. That is what I have feared for all these years. And you see, that is why I am
free,
Tom. That is why all this foolishness can
end.
”

His entire body suddenly hunched over. Gaia saw her father inch forward, but Loki regained his balance, however shaky, and shoved the gun back into her cheekbone. QR2 plugged his gun more firmly into her father's head.

“Don't you even
…,
”
Loki warned. He was forcing out every word now. Pushing each consonant and vowel through his contorted lips and his bobbing head. “You're not
hearing me,
Tom. You're not paying attention. You see, I'm
not afraid
anymore. I'm not afraid to be alone. I am ready now. I'm ready to be completely self-contained, self-reliant, and self…
defined.
I am ready to accept…that my own flesh and blood
despises me.
Katia despised me…. You despise me…. Now
Gaia.
So, you see…I no longer need a family. I am ready to…
dispose
of my family. I am ready to say…good-bye.”

He squeezed his trembling finger on the trigger, and Gaia could swear she felt time freeze. It was as if time had added two seconds to this minute, granting Gaia one extra moment before her death. There would be no chaos, no panic. Her entire life wouldn't pass before her eyes as she'd always been told, but rather her thoughts would become simple and concise. And though she had wondered it many times, now she finally knew. Gaia finally knew what she would be thinking at her death. There would have been time for more, but in the last moment she found herself with only a few thoughts: (1)
Dad, I forgive you for all your mistakes, and I love you. When he shoots me, you make your move. You take him down and everyone else in this room. And bring Heather home.
(2)
Ed, the three words were
I love you.
I said them only once, but I loved you, Ed. I loved you like nothing I ever could have remotely understood or handled.
And (3)
Mom, Mary, Sam
…
I'll be there in a minute.

Gaia locked her eyes with her father's one last time and then prepared for the sound of the gunshot. She would not flinch. She would not move in the slightest. And just as she had always known, her eyes would remain wide open. Until the end, and long after her death.

But the gunshot never came. Instead Loki fell quite suddenly to his knees.

He dropped down to the floor in a half-convulsive, half-paralytic heap. His hand stayed glued to his gun, but his arm had given in to a wild series of spasms. The sight was so horrific that Gaia could do nothing but stare. Her quick preparation for death fell away as the impulse to escape instantly replaced it, coursing through her body faster than adrenaline. But the unfortunate realities remained. She was still thoroughly immobile, and her father was still being held at gunpoint.

And then another voice was shouting instead of Loki's. A voice from across the room. The voice of Dr. Glenn.

“Do you see now?” he called out, staring down at Loki with a kind of desperate disapproval as he dug his hand deep into his lab coat pocket. “Do you understand that you
need
the counteragent? You need it
now.
”

Gaia's eyes zoomed to the doctor's pocket.
He's got it. He's got the counteragent in his pocket. You need to get it. How the hell do you get it? Think.
But no amount of thinking would do a thing. The counteragent was across the room. It could have been six inches in front of her face, and it still wouldn't have mattered. It was a dangling carrot she could never reach.

“Shut
up,
”Loki hissed, struggling to lift his decimated body off the ground. “You think these…harmless spasms frighten me? They mean
nothing
to me.
Nothing.
”

“You
need
this injection to survive,” the doctor shouted. “I don't care what you fear. Being fearless does not make you a fool—now,
take it.
”The doctor dug farther into his pocket.

“You don't call me a fool!” Loki hollered, finally getting back to his knees as he tried to steady the arm that held the gun. “You don't issue orders or ultimatums, Doctor. You don't
talk
anymore. You shut your fearful, weakling, idiot mouth or I kill you first!”

“I'm trying to save your life,” the doctor pleaded angrily. “Let me save your life, for God's sake. Complete paralysis is the next step. Complete paralysis and then
coma.
Now, if you would prefer to spend the rest of your life in a coma—”

“Enough!”

Gaia could barely hear Loki's scream over the booming echo of his gun. He fired off two thunderous shots at the doctor that reverberated through the empty room like a sawed-off shotgun. Heather screamed at the top of her lungs as she pulled her head deep within her shoulders and crushed her useless eyes closed from sheer reflex.

Somehow, despite his wild spasms, Loki had still found the strength to aim. Gaia watched as the first shot erupted in the doctor's shoulder, knocking him back against the wall. And then the second shot hit. It blew a black, bloody hole in the left side of his stomach.

The room became eerily quiet. Dr. Glenn stared wide-eyed at Loki, gazing in shock and disbelief at what he had just done. And then he began to fall, sliding slowly and painfully down to the floor, leaving a thick trail of blood down the ugly white wall.

“I can't…,” the doctor uttered quietly. “Why would you…?”He seemed too shocked to complete a sentence as his breathing rapidly became more labored. He could no longer move, but he panned his eyes across the room, looking at the silent audience who could do nothing to prevent his death. And then the look in his eyes took one last shift. It shifted to something cruel and hateful.

“Good,”
the doctor stated, taking in only shallow quarter breaths as he fixed his eyes on Loki. “I'm the only one who could re-create that counteragent. I…told you this was the last vial. You've just signed your own death sentence, you idiot. You pathetic…ignorant…No—”

Loki fired off another flailing shot. It didn't even hit the doctor. It only left a black hole in the wall next to his head. But it didn't matter. The doctor had already died. His face fell to his shoulder as his arms sprawled out on the floor like an old rag doll's.

And Gaia could already see the thought pass over Loki's face. She could see him realize what he had just done. Finally he seemed to have discovered whatever remained of his rational mind.

He needed that counteragent. Of course he needed it. He needed it right now. And killing the doctor had left him with only one vial of it remaining. So he began to move, ever so slowly. He rose to his feet, still hunched over by his spasms and his paralysis, looking like some pathetic joke—looking like someone's horrible imitation of some operatic monster—the Hunchback, or Igor, or The Fly. It would have looked so fake if Gaia didn't know how very real it was. It would have been funny to stare at or so sad…if it weren't so disgustingly ugly.

“I don't want to see
anybody
move,” he ordered, each word sounding awkward and twisted pouring from the corner of his contorted mouth.

He barely kept his gun aimed at Gaia's face as he backtracked step by step toward the doctor's corpse and crouched down next to him. He set down his gun and kept his eye on Gaia as he dug his usable hand into the doctor's lab coat pockets.

“Where is it?” he shouted, patting down the pockets again and again. Gaia could see his rage and desperation fast approaching the boiling point.
“Where the hell is that counteragent!”

“It's right here.” A voice echoed through the room. All heads turned to the source of that voice.

The once dour-faced QR1 was now proudly holding up the vial to Loki.

Gaia's heart sank to new depths. She had hoped that perhaps the last vial might have been lost somewhere in that room, somewhere where they might have found it after Loki had been subdued. Then she could have given that last dose to Heather, who had been growing grayer and more vegetative by the minute. At the very least, Gaia had hoped that someone had destroyed it—that Loki would never see the counteragent again and that he would succumb to every symptom the doctor had predicted, falling into a tragic state of complete paralysis and then a lifelong coma.