Psion Omega (Psion series Book 5) (24 page)

The thrumming and pulsing continued
steady and strong like the heartbeat of an enormous beast lying in wait for
her. She took a step backward the way she came and then another. She turned and
tried to run but slipped and hit something hard. When she woke she stood on the
floor, her feet cold and clammy.

Saturday, August 30, 2087

“TWO MINUTES,” Kawai announced. “Get
in your places.”

Though the lights
were off in the gymnasium, the moonlight still shone brightly enough that
streamers and other party decorations were visible. The occasion was Brickert’s
first day out of the infirmary. Natalia and Strawberry had planned the party
and invited Psions and several other members of the resistance leadership and
their families. Thomas and Lara crouched down near Sammy.

Thomas moaned, “I
haven’t been to a surprise party since Walter was eight.”

“How old are you?
Eighty?” Lara teased. “Your joints sound like the Tin Man’s.”

“So my knees are
creaking. Next thing you’ll be saying my head’s full of straw.”

“You old blokes and
your obscure jokes,” Sammy moaned.

“That was a rhyme,”
Thomas pointed out. “Are you a poet?”

“Wouldn’t you know
it,” Lara said, giggling like a girl half her age.

Sammy slapped his
forehead. “When this is all over, I’m putting you two in a nursing home. And
Thomas, you’re on my foot.”

“Whoops, sorry,”
Thomas said as he took his boot off Sammy’s shoe.

Moments later the
gymnasium opened and everyone jumped to their feet as they shouted, “SURPRISE!”

Brickert grinned
with red spots growing on his cheeks. “A party? What for?”

“Your birthday,” Sammy
said as he gave his friend a hug. “Only it’s four months and twenty days late.”

Brickert snickered
and punched Sammy in the arm while Natalia and Strawberry put a party hat on
his head, a cape on his shoulders, and a decorated staff in hand which named
him king of the event. After Natalia whispered in his ear, Brickert raised the
staff high and in a deep voice declared, “Uh … okay … Let the festivities
begin!”

As partygoers
divided into groups to play games, someone tapped on Sammy’s shoulder. He turned
to see Anna behind him, fists on her hips and an expression of disappointment
on her face. “You’ve been avoiding me for two weeks.”

Sammy took a deep
breath and let it out slowly. She wanted to talk about the mission to
Rio—the suicide mission. It was the last thing he wanted on his mind, but
he couldn’t tell Anna that. “I’ve—uh—I’ve been thinking about what
you said. A lot.”

She raised an
eyebrow. “And?”

“And … I don’t
know.”

Anna ran her
fingers through her short blonde hair. “You don’t need to have an answer today,
but the big meeting is coming soon. I will be volunteering myself whether or
not you come along. But let me make it clear … I want you along.”

Sammy deflated.
“Why? Why me?”

Anna poked him in
the chest. “Because you’re the best. And if I go on this mission, I don’t want
my death to be in vain.”

Sammy didn’t answer
for a moment. Then he said, “I—I get that.”
You want me to die with you. And I can’t—I don’t want to.

“Have you told
anyone about it?” she asked.

Sammy shook his
head. “I already know what they’ll say.”

“They won’t
understand, Sammy. They don’t know what you deal with day to day. The demons
you face—that you’ll have to live with until you die. How could they know
what that’s like?”

Her words punched
Sammy in the gut. His neck grew hot. “I should want to die because of my
anomaly?”

Anna’s eyes
narrowed. “Has it really never crossed your mind?”

“What about you?”
Sammy asked, dodging her question. “Why are you so quick to volunteer for
death?”

Anna grinned
wickedly. “Let me die young, beautiful, and doing something important. I’m
talking history books. Immortality. Heroes for centuries. Anna Lukic and Samuel
Berhane.”

“I’ll think about
it,” Sammy told her. He went to move past her, but she grabbed his arm.

“It has to be a
Psion,” she said. “If not you, then whom?” Before Sammy could answer, Anna cut
him off. “Just think about that. We’ll talk more later.”

As Anna left,
Jeffie and Brickert walked up. Jeffie put her arm around Sammy’s waist. “What
was that about?”

“Just mission
stuff,” Sammy answered.

Brickert had wasted
no time finding himself a hamburger. A thin line of ketchup even greased his
lower lip. When Brickert took a large bite, he winced and held his jaw. “It’s
still a little tender,” he told them, “where the teeth are growing in. Those
bastards keep knocking them out.”

Not “those bastards.” Me.

“Look who’s here.”
Jeffie pointed across the gym to a group of people standing in a circle,
talking. Kawai held Al and Marie’s baby girl in her arms, cooing at it. Al and
Marie stood side by side, looking on.

“Both of them?”
Sammy asked.

“They came
together. No fighting.”

Sammy and his
friends went over to where Al and Marie were chatting with Justice, Nikotai,
Li, and Kawai. Kawai was rocking the baby now, a fat little thing dressed in a pink
jumper and a white bow clipped in her black hair. Sammy smiled at the baby even
though it didn’t do much but stare back with half-opened eyes.

“Sammy,” Marie
said, hugging him, “you haven’t held Baby Girl yet, have you?”

“Nope. I’m a lame
friend, I know. Dr. Rosmir has me on lame-friend meds, but they don’t seem to
be helping.”

Marie laughed.
Sammy couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard her do that. Al managed a weak
smile, but glanced at Sammy as though being around Sammy embarrassed him. They
hadn’t spoken to each other since Al had put a loaded gun in Sammy’s hands and
Sammy had taken Al to his father. Since that day Al had been living with the
commander.

“Do you want to
hold him, Sammy?” Kawai asked.

“Uh …” Sammy looked
at the baby again, and before he could answer, Kawai shuffled the tiny thing
into Sammy’s arms. “Yeah, sure.”

The baby was so
light and small it surprised him. When was the last time he’d held one? He
didn’t know if he ever had. She smelled like a light soap or a box being opened
for the first time. She grunted for a moment and then sighed. The sound relaxed
him and he pressed his cheek against her head, feeling her soft hair and spongy
skull.

“So delicate, isn’t
she?” was all Sammy could think to say.

Marie nodded. Al
observed with an unreadable expression, his hands fidgeting. His clothes looked
washed and pressed for the first time in weeks. His face had lost most of the
red puffiness that Sammy had grown accustomed to seeing, and his eyes had
cleared up too. Thomas and Lara had hinted to Sammy a few days ago that Al was
slowly getting his act together, sobering up, and trying to give his
relationship with Marie a fresh start. He gave Al an awkward smile.

Jeffie squeezed
Sammy’s arm. “You look good holding one of those.”

For a moment a
tight warmness spread in Sammy’s chest. But it was quickly extinguished and
replaced with a cold shuddering at her comment. He handed the baby to Marie.
“She’s beautiful,” he muttered and walked away.

What am I thinking?
he asked himself.
I’ll never have a baby. What if I pass on my
Anomaly Thirteen? What would I say to it?

Hey, kid, welcome to the Berhane family. Enjoy fighting the
darkness I passed onto you … compliments of dear old dad
.

Images conjured up
in his mind of his children murdering each other, turning on their parents, the
way Katie Carpenter had done to her folks thirty-odd years ago. Or like
Trapper, creeping out of bed and slitting a throat, painting symbols on the
walls in blood. Even worse, Sammy realized, what if
he
snapped and hurt his own children the way he’d beaten Brickert.
A chill ran down his spine as his eyes flickered to Marie and Al’s baby girl.
No … no kids. Ever
.

Someone tapping on
a microphone drew Sammy’s attention away from the morbid thoughts clinging to
his brain like pocket lint. It was Brickert. Natalia and Strawberry flanked
him. In his hand he held a glass of root beer. The spots on his cheeks told
Sammy that whatever he was about to do, the girls were making him do it.

“Um … okay, so
Natalia tells me I need to give a speech,” Brickert began. “And obviously I
haven’t prepared anything so I’ll keep this very brief.” He paused, took a sip
from his glass, and then wiped his eyes. “I just wanna give my thanks to all of
you who helped me. I know how bad things were—how I looked. When the
Thir—when the—” Brickert stopped and cleared his throat. “When the
enemy took me down, I thought it was over. I didn’t know how to process that.
And then all I knew was pain and fear, I’ll tell you. And then Sammy …”

Brickert drained
the rest of his drink in one swallow. But Sammy couldn’t bear to listen to
another word. He had to leave immediately.

“Sammy
you—hey, where are you going?” Brickert asked when he saw Sammy make a
beeline for the nearest exit. Everyone turned to watch, so Sammy ran faster,
even as Brickert continued to call out, “Hey! Come back!”

Sammy did not go
back. Instead he went home and fell on his bed. At some point during the night
he heard Brickert arrive. Sammy listened to his footsteps through the house
until they stopped in Sammy’s doorway.

“You awake?”
Brickert asked quietly. “Sammy?”

Sammy did not stir
or change his breathing.

“Sammy?” Brickert
said a little louder.

Sammy still did not
move until Brickert went to his room. An hour later, Sammy finally fell asleep.

The next morning
Sammy checked the schedule and saw that Croz had an appointment with Vitoria
that he had neglected to mention.
Think
you can pull a fast one on me, Croz?

Sammy quickly
dressed and drove Lemon down to the Pen. Croz was just on his way inside when
Sammy pulled up. When their eyes met, Sammy saw a hint of disappointment but no
traces of surprise on the psychiatrist’s face. “If it isn’t my
therapist-in-training …” Croz called over his shoulder as he walked up the
tunnel steps into the penitentiary.

Vitoria was in a
ripe mood, behaving more lewdly and obstinate than normal. Sammy thought he
could have handled it if she were switching back and forth between the quiet,
timid version and the sassy, sensual version, but she wasn’t switching. She was
stuck today in full on come-and-get-me mode.

She’s not improving
, Sammy thought, tapping
his feet on the floor at a double-time pace.
And Croz has the patience of a glacier. He’s not getting the job done
.
He remembered Dr. Vogt and how different and more radical his treatment of
Sammy had been. Why couldn’t Croz do something like that? Sammy had suggested
it once, but Croz had shot him down saying, “You can’t treat a human being’s
mind and soul like a one-size-fits-all sweater.”

“Did you ever play sports?”
Croz asked Vitoria now.

“Pole dancing,” she
answered, giving him a wink and spreading her legs a little.

Sammy stirred in
his seat and folded his arms, still tapping his feet. “Toad said you were
really good at football—”

“Sammy,” Croz
warned him.

“He said you were a
great goalkeeper.”

“I don’t know about
that.” She grinned mischievously at Sammy. “I’d let
you
score on me.” Then she gave a small moan.

“Close your legs,”
Sammy snapped in a sharper tone than he meant. “You’re a lady. And you’re definitely
not enticing either of us.”

“Sammy!” Croz
yelled.

“No. Let me talk to
Vitoria. Toad called you Vivi most of the time, didn’t he?”

“I don’t know a
Toad,” she responded. “Or a Vitoria or Vivi. I’ve told you a hundred times, my
name is
Jane.”

“Sammy, you need to
leave,” Croz said.

But Sammy pressed
on. “Jane is a common name. When a woman’s name is unknown, she’s called a Jane
Doe. Vitoria means victory. A champion. I think it describes you better.”

“That’s nice,”
Vitoria said, but she was anything but flattered.

“You can pretend if
you want. If it makes you feel safe. Go ahead. Be Jane. Jane is a nice blanket
to wrap yourself in. Jane, the girl who doesn’t mind her body being used
without her permission. Who endures torment for months without complaint. Who
does what she is told to do by her superiors. If you still need protection, use
it. I’ve been there, too, Vitoria. Do you know what my pretend name was when I
was tortured? Albert. Albert Choochoo.”

Vitoria laughed
rudely. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“But true. Albert
coped with the endless pain that I couldn’t when the Aegis got me. He was
strong when I was weak. If it wasn’t for Albert, I’d have died. Or I’d have
become a Psion Dark. And Toad would have been in Ultra Dark with you. Instead,
I escaped, Toad came with me, and we became friends—such good friends
that he jumped in front of a hand cannon for me.”