Psion Omega (Psion series Book 5) (25 page)

“Why would my—why would
anyone die for
you
?”
Vitoria clutched herself, her legs squeezed tightly
together and her arms wrapped around her exposed midriff.

“Toad helped me,”
Sammy admitted quietly. “He was patient with me—as patient as he could
be—in some of my darkest hours. I loved him like a brother. That makes
you my sister, Vivi.”

Vitoria rushed at
Sammy. “My name is
JANE
!” Croz tried
to stop her, but with her Anomaly Fifteen, she was too fast. She bumped into
the doctor, sending his clipboard and carefully paper-clipped stacks flying.
Before Vitoria could get any closer to Sammy, he pushed her away with gentle
but firm blasts.

She didn’t speak after that.
Nothing Croz did evoked a response. When he finally ended the session and
thanked her for her time, Vitoria spat at Sammy.

“You are no longer welcome in my
sessions,” Croz told Sammy when the door closed behind them.

“But—”

“Shut your mouth!” Croz shouted
so loudly that the two Pen resistance guards jumped. “That was the one rule I
had. That you shut your mouth.”

“You weren’t getting anywhere.
She still thinks this is a game. A test.”

Croz put a finger
on Sammy’s sternum. “You wouldn’t have even known that if I hadn’t told you.
How would you
know where I’m getting? What do you know about psychology, Sammy? What you read
in some books? I’ve studied it for
years
.
It’s my job, and I’m good at it as it so happens. But you? You think that
because you’re smarter than me you can do my job better than me. You are out.”

The worst part
about their argument was that Sammy still had to drive Croz back to the
infirmary to submit his report to Dr. Rosmir. Sammy squirmed in his seat the
whole way. When he pulled up to the infirmary, Croz got out, looked at Sammy,
sighed, and then walked away. Sammy jammed down the gas pedal and drove back to
his house.

Brickert was gone,
but Jeffie was on the couch watching the news, waiting. Sammy didn’t notice her
before he slammed the door.

“Are you intent on
destroying all the doors in Glasgow?” Jeffie asked with a small smirk and a
careful tone.

“One at a time.”

Her eyes lit up
even more when she realized he was in a good enough mood to joke around. “You
want to talk about it?”

“No.”

Jeffie patted the
couch cushion next to her until Sammy sat on it. Then she lay down with her
head on his lap. She had a barrette in her hair to keep her white-gold locks
off her shoulders but it dug into Sammy’s thigh. “I love you,” she said.

“I know.”

“You missed one
heckuva party last night. Fireworks even.”

Sammy put up his
feet so the barrette wouldn’t dig so hard into his skin. “Sure I did.”

Jeffie sighed. “I
was referring to Al and Marie.”

“What? They
fought?”

“In front of everyone.
It was so awkward. You have no idea. One minute a few of us were joking about
baby names. Next minute they’re shouting until the commander took Marie away.
You should have seen his face, Sammy. I thought he was going to punch Al. Maybe
he should have punched him.”

“Al’s cracking,
Jeffie. Punching him is not going to help.”

“You think he’s
going crazy?”

“No, not cracking
like that. Something broke him. I don’t know what. He won’t tell anyone.” Sammy
stroked Jeffie’s hair for a while, not saying anything more. Jeffie reached up
and touched his cheek.

“Oh crap, I almost
forgot. Are you still down for blastketball?”

Sammy’s inclination
was to say no. “Is Brickert going to be there?”

“I think so. He
said he wants to jump right back into the routine. He’s working out right now
with Natalia and Li. Does this have something to do with—oh wait, you
said you don’t want to talk about it. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. Yeah,
I’ll come.” Sammy got up and changed his clothes. Ten minutes later, after
giving Lemon yet another boost, they were on their way to the gym.

Blastketball was a
game of Miguel and Jeffie’s invention. Similar to basketball but with one
important change: touching the basketball was not allowed unless the player was
within a meter of his or her team’s basket. Since the Psions no longer had
access to the Arena, it was the way they worked on blasting and kept it fun.
Today they played with two teams of five: Sammy, Jeffie, Brickert, Kawai, and
Natalia against Li, Ludwig, Rosa, Miguel, and Strawberry.

Often people came
to watch and cheer them on as they rocketed off the walls, blasting the ball to
one another with speed and accuracy. Today about seventy people watched. Jeffie
was by far the best player. Between her stellar basketball skills and her
natural accuracy she was a spectacle to watch. Sometimes Sammy even caught
himself ogling her while she dunked the ball. He loved the way she fed off the
enthusiasm of the crowd, even if it was only a few dozen people.

“Come on, ladies,”
Jeffie taunted the other team. “You’re down by eighteen points. Get your heads
in the game!”

Li, who had been
dribbling the ball down court using a soft blast instead of his hand, used a
powerful foot blast to send the ball arcing through the air. Ludwig used a jump
blast from the three point line to catch the ball between two hand blasts.
Natalia made a half-hearted attempt at defending the goal, but Ludwig scored on
a soft jam, drawing a round of applause.

“Sixteen,”
Strawberry said, sticking out her tongue at Jeffie.

“Timeout!” Jeffie
called.

Sammy’s team
huddled up around her. “What’s the matter?” he asked, “We’re killing them.”

“My barrette is
driving me crazy. Here, Sammy.” She tossed the hair clip to him and tied her
hair up in a ponytail with a band. “You have pockets.”

“You called a
timeout for a barrette?” Brickert asked. “You’re such a girl.”

Jeffie punched him
in the arm as the timeout ended. Sammy headed back onto the court and saw Croz
standing near the door, hands in his pockets, motioning to Sammy with a jerk of
his head that they needed to talk. Sammy told Jeffie he had to go, and ran over
to Croz.

“What’s up?” Sammy
asked coolly.

“I need you at the
Pen.” Croz said the words with the same tone he might have used if asking for
someone to kick him in the shins. “Vitoria tried to kill herself.”

“What?”

“When the guards
brought her lunch, they found her hanging from a noose made from bed sheets.
We’ve got her on suicide watch, but she’s asking to see you. Only you.”

“Is it a trick?”

Croz shrugged.
“Maybe.”

“She wanted to kill
me.”

“Maybe she still
does. I kind of felt like killing you this morning, too.” Croz smiled, but
Sammy did not return the gesture. “I’d appreciate it if you came down and spoke
with her.”

“Will you let me go
to her sessions again?”

Hands on his hips,
Croz rubbed his mouth and considered the request. “Probably not. But if you do
this and it goes well … I might be willing to reconsider.”

“Let’s go.”

At the Pen, Sammy
found Vitoria on her bed reading
Crime
and Punishment
, wearing only panties and a torn, baggy shirt. Sammy stopped
when he saw her and looked at Croz. “No,” he stated. “I’m not going in there.”

“You know,” Croz
said, “most guys your age wouldn’t let the door stop them from getting in
there, seeing her like that. How did your wires get so crossed?”

“She’s Toad’s
sister.”

“Yes, she’s Toad’s
sister. But in here,” Croz tapped his skull, “she’s something Toad wouldn’t
recognize. If you have to, pretend she’s wearing granny panties and has a
little mustache.”

When Vitoria saw
Sammy enter she tossed the book aside and hugged him. It was a lingering
embrace with her body pressing into his. Sammy quickly released her, noting the
sly grin.

“How’s it going?”
he asked as he pulled up a chair.

Vitoria stuffed her
book under her pillow and sat back down. “Fine. I’m happier now you’re here.”

“Why me?”

Toad’s sister
smiled and shrugged. “We connect. Don’t you think?”

“Is that why you
faked an attempt at suicide? So I’d have more motivation to come back and visit
you?”

Vitoria sat back in
her cut off tee shirt and crossed her smooth, toned legs, stretching them out
so her toes almost reached Sammy’s knee. The knowing grin on her lips told
Sammy his theory was spot on.

“You know what time
they bring you lunch. You knew they’d see you and stop you. You knew Croz would
take your attempt seriously despite his suspicions. And you thought, what? That
I’d have to come back? Well here I am.”

“Here you are,” she
said smiling.

“Now what? You’re
going to try to kill me?”

For an instant,
something on Vitoria’s face told Sammy that was exactly what she’d planned to
do. Then she burst out in laughter. “No! I don’t want to kill you. I
want
you. Croz is nice. The others are
okay. It’s
you
I look forward to
seeing. That night we had dinner together in the hotel, I wanted you in that
bed. I still do.”

Sammy winced.
“Vivi, I would never have done that with you. That’s not me.”

Vitoria’s smile
turned sad. “When I was in H.A.M.M.E.R. and then S.H.I.E.L.D. it was the only
thing that gave me comfort.”

“I’d be a lousy
partner. Being … inexperienced and all.”

Vitoria raised an
eyebrow, her gaze now on Sammy’s shorts. Sammy crossed his own legs to stop her
from staring at him. He tried to think of a way to change the subject. “Do you
feel loyalty to them? To the CAG?”

“I’m a Dark agent.
No matter where I am, I’m free.” She said the words as though they had been
ingrained into her consciousness.

Sammy looked
pointedly around the room. “Your surroundings suggest otherwise.”

“You give me books,
food, a bed. Now if I can just get you in that bed with me, I’d want for
nothing.”

Blushing furiously,
Sammy rubbed his forehead. “Why are you so forward?”

 
“Why are you so backward?” She stared at
Sammy shrewdly, and he stared back.

What’s your game?
he wanted to ask her.
Instead he said, “I watched you in action when we toured the S.H.I.E.L.D.
facility. Despite being the youngest of the Ultras, you were already the best.
Toad had a natural gift too.”

“Toad … I wish I
could say that name meant something to me,” Vitoria said in a drawling tone.
“But for you … one mention and you start tearing up. I have an idea. How about
instead of all this psycho-nonsense, you just tell me why I was taken and what
you want with me.”

After a long moment
of silence, Sammy spoke again. “We want your help on a mission.”

“What mission?”

“I can’t tell you
that.”

“Then I can’t help
you.”

“Well … you can.
You just won’t.”

Vitoria nodded.
“Right.”

“You wouldn’t even
do it for me?”

Covering her mouth,
Vitoria laughed. She had pretty eyes, large white teeth, and a full, hearty
laugh. “Sure I will. Just for you. Because what we have is so special.”

“Haven’t you wanted
to be part of something bigger than yourself?”

“I am. It’s called
Ultra Dark.” Vitoria threw herself back on her bed, arms spread open. “And it
is
amazing
!” She said the last word
with such breathlessness that Sammy rolled his eyes.

“Are you always so
caustic?”

“Are you always so
prudish?”

“I can relate to
what you went through, Vivi. Being tortured for weeks screwed up my head. Some
days I thought my mind was going to splinter. I have seen horror after horror
after horror. And sometimes, even today, I wonder how completely scrambled I am
after it all. I don’t feel like I should have kids or marry or anything because
I am so emotionally and mentally fried.”

“Your tragedies
don’t make me feel better.”

“Talking helped me
through it. I could show you the things I learned.”

“Why don’t you show
me what’s in your shorts? I’m much more interested in that.”

“What? No,
Vivi—”

“Take off your
shorts!” she said, getting up and running over to Sammy. Vitoria was so fast,
Sammy barely had time to stop her. She pulled and tugged and shoved her hands
into his clothes, kissing his face greedily and wetly. “Take them off, Sammy.
No one’s here.”

“Get off me!” he
roared, forcing her away from him with a blast of moderate strength. She landed
across the room, bouncing off her bed, and banging into the wall. Sammy cursed
at her. “I have a girlfriend, and I—I don’t think about you that way.”