Landlocked (Atlas Link Series Book 2) (38 page)

The man laughed and continued his assault. Every time he sent a fireball my way, I snagged water from the air to douse it. He left me no opening to do anything more than that. Shit. This guy was stronger, more in tune to his powers, than any other Lemurian I’d met before him.

Then he stopped and laughed again. He lifted his hand, slid it forward an inch. Mara’s body nudged forward and at that exact moment the pull I’d been fighting since we landed jolted to the forefront of everything that I was. The super soldier part of me snapped into focus and I teleported behind Mara, mere seconds out of sync. I grabbed madly for her hand and braced for impact as his hand slid forward again. We flew backward, crushed against another wall.

I screamed as my bones shattered. My arm, my ribs. Bones so small, all they did was snap under this Lemurian’s power. Mara ripped me from the wall, but left me on the ground. Instead of running away, the man walked toward us, ignoring Truman. He wanted me. They always wanted me, my power. My birthright. Mara stood her ground above me, pulling another gun from her right boot. She cocked it and aimed, firing off three shots.

The man moved his hand, changing the trajectory of all three bullets. I laid there wishing this was all a nightmare. I knew it was only a matter of time before something like this happened, but now that it had, I wasn’t prepared. I stood as fast as I could and pulled my own second gun.

“Soldier,” the man said. “You cannot win this fight.”

“You’re as human as I am. Bullets will kill you, too,” I shot back.

Mara’s mouth twitched like she wanted to retort, but the echo of Truman’s gun cocking swallowed her words. So slowly it could have taken an eternity, Mara looked to Truman, her hand flying out to stop him from attacking, from drawing the Lemurian’s attention. Truman’s finger closed around the trigger, the bullet piercing the man’s shoulder. The man shoved his hand toward Mara and me, sending us back into the wall with greater force than before as he simultaneously lifted his fire-holding palm toward Truman and the canisters. There was no way anyone in this room would survive if the canisters caught on fire.

The Lemurian let go, the fireball soaring like a meteor at Truman. Through the pain, I clamped a hand onto Mara’s shoulder and forced myself to think of anything and everything that was safe.

Home. Trevor. TAO’s headquarters. Weyland’s apartment. Josh.

Josh
.

The fireball connected, and the room went up in flames.

The last thing that registered were Truman’s screams.

alerie deposited me in my quarters at TAO with instructions to use Butch’s medicine whenever I felt the effects of the map start to take over. There wasn’t much, maybe enough for a month or two, but it was all Valerie could give me, so I took it.

“You need to call Chelsea. Right now,” she said. “Get her on the phone for me.”

“You can’t call her yourself?” I asked.

“She’d never pick up for me or an unknown caller.”

I didn’t think Chelsea would answer a call from me, either, but I tried anyway. The call went straight to voicemail. “Her phone’s off.”

Valerie scoffed. “Of course it is. Keep trying. First time you get her on the line, have her get you and then meet me at the Franklin.”

“And how will I get in touch with you?” There were only so many crappy versions of Mega Rush I was willing to unleash on the world.

“I’ll keep an eye out for you,” she said. “Don’t worry about me.”

I leveled her with a look. We’d been friends for most of our lives. Of course I worried about her. But part of me realized, perhaps for the first time, she worried a whole lot about me, too.

Our eyes met, emotion passing between us. She didn’t want to leave me here, half-dead thanks to the map, and I didn’t want her to go. Valerie had become the only lifeline to sanity in this mess, the only person on my side at all.

Valerie nodded like she’d read my mind, then stepped back. “Take the medicine and get in contact with Chelsea. I’ll see you soon.”

But as she moved to teleport out, the door to my quarters opened. Sophia stood on the other side, bearing witness to Valerie’s teleportation—a bright wave of fire in a dimly lit room.

Valerie disappeared as Sophia’s hands reached for a gun she wasn’t wearing.

“What the hell?” she demanded.

I sighed. “We have a problem.”

“Yeah, a Lemurian just left your room,” Sophia said. “Now would be a great time to explain yourself.”

“You and Chelsea are in danger.”

I made them gather in the room holding the Waterstar map. It seemed appropriate. I had a whole checklist of things I needed to tell them, and almost every damn one involved that stupid map.

“Where’s the fire?” Dr. Hill asked once we’d gotten together.

“Someone’s hunting Atlantean super soldiers,” I blurted out. “I’ve been talking to Valerie, an old family friend. Dr. Hill knows her.”

“Someone’s what?” Sophia asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t know the full details. Valerie only said someone’s hunting Atlantean soldiers, and she thinks it’s tied to TruGates.”

“The group Chelsea’s with?” Pike asked. His body tensed. “Explain.”

“Valerie thinks TruGates, under the guise of a paramilitary group for hire, is hunting Lemurians. The ex-soldiers under the General’s command don’t know what they’re up against, except Weyland. Weyland used to work for SeaSat5, and he either hasn’t put two and two together, or is neglecting to accept the truth.”

“Why would TruGates hunt soldiers or Lemurians?” General Holt asked. “As far as I know, only me, the President, and some of the Navy brass know about the war.”

I shrugged. “Beats me. What’s clear is there’s more to TruGates than we know, and that Chelsea being there puts her in danger. If whoever in that command figures out what she is, her usefulness in hunting Lemurians may not outweigh the fact she’s a super soldier.”

“It looks like we were right,” Sophia said. “Someone did place that Link Piece in the jungle ruins with intent on killing me or Chelsea.”

“Probably you,” Dr. Hill said. “If TruGates already had Chelsea, knew about her powers, and knew that we only have the two of you super soldiers on tap, then the trap was for you.”

And I’d intercepted it, saving Sophia’s life. Well, maybe not. “If I survived, it’s unlikely it would have killed Sophia. Her healing abilities and toxin resistance would have saved her.”

“Not necessarily,” she said. “There are chemicals that would kill me before you even had symptoms. Depending on what that person did to the Link Piece, especially if they were Lemurian, I could have been killed instantly.”

She wasn’t wrong. The seal Thompson had burned into Chelsea wouldn’t have hurt me like it’d hurt her. Maybe this was the same.

“There’s something else,” I said. They all looked to me. “As a side effect of what happened I see the Waterstar map in my head. Like an Atlantean super soldier. Only, I see in bursts, at random. Or when I’m near Link Pieces.” Silence filled the room. “That’s why I’ve been having issues lately. Valerie took me to someone and got me medicine. It seems to help ease the pain and dizziness, but it won’t last forever.”

“You can see the map?” Sophia asked.

I nodded. “It’s incredible, and terrifying. It’s a lot of information to have lying about in your head.”

“Well that’s an interesting development,” Dr. Hill said. “Some side effect. But isn’t that dangerous for you because you’re of Lemurian descent?”

“Yes, that’s why Valerie helped me, why I went and found her in the first place.”

“But why put the map in Trevor’s head?” Pike asked. “If their aim was to kill Sophia, why would that be the method? She can already see the map.”

“Side effect, most likely,” Dr. Hill said. “If the Atlanteans had to experiment with genetics to get their soldiers to see the map, it’s possible there’re other factors we don’t know about.”

“But the important part is someone
did
plant the Link Piece there on purpose,” I said. “We’re being watched, and they were willing to kill Sophia to get what they want. I wish I knew what that was.”

“Did Valerie give you any more information?” General Holt asked.

I shook my head. “Not really. She mostly stressed SeaSatellite5’s importance and how we need to find the station. Only then did Valerie say she’d answer all our questions and give us all she knows. She said nothing she’d learned would mean anything without SeaSatellite5 being home safe.”

“So back to square one,” Major Pike said.

“Not necessarily,” Dr. Hill disagreed. “We’ve confirmed two things. SeaSat5 itself is important, which we guessed from the hijacking attempt. And we now know we’re being watched, possibly by someone we know and have access to. If the latter is true and the person or persons in question are linked to TruGates, we could let Chelsea know and maybe she can figure it out. Keep an eye on them while she’s there.”

And make her a double agent. Interesting. “Maybe.”

“I don’t want to do anything yet,” General Holt said. “You’re also not traveling with Link Pieces for a while. Trevor, you need to rest, but I want you to work with Sophia on the Waterstar map angle. I want to know the extent of this development.”

I nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Dismissed.”