CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

THREE PEOPLE STOOD in the center of the diner’s kitchen, gathered around a tall prep counter on wheels. Their conversation stopped the instant the freezer door clicked open. Adel led the way. Evie and I followed on her heels. Silently, we joined the circle, ducking under pots and pans hanging from the ceiling. From certain angles Jebediah’s head wasn’t even visible.

To his left stood the waitress. Left of her, a man I didn’t recognize but assumed to be Pastor Bodean. He was the only one of them with a smile on his face.

“Adel, honey, this may not be the best place for you now.” The waitress seemed in charge of the meeting.

“Mama, for heaven’s sake. When am I gonna be seen as your best and brightest field agent instead of your baby girl?”

“When you start behaving—”

“Jeb.” The waitress, whom I had failed to realize was also Adel’s mother, silenced her husband with one syllable. “All right, you wanna be treated like a field agent? You’ve got thirty seconds to explain why we shouldn’t banish you permanently for the biggest royal suck job performed by any Everlast agent past or present.”

“Mama.”

I tugged on Adel’s sleeve, mumbling into her ear. “I thought you said your mother was—”

“Shut it, Jim.” She adjusted her posture, standing rigid with her hands behind her back. “Agent Love reporting.”

“Report for the love of—”

“After visibly witnessing Dr. Buckner engage three fully abled twitchers, the leader piloted by Oleg himself, I deemed it worth the risk to share level five information with said Buckner in order to ascertain his viability as a weapon against Oleg.”

“And?” Adel’s mother remained formal.

“Buckner claims to have killed all four twitchers while relying on his own telekinetic abilities. I gauged his continued survival as confirmation enough to accept his words as truth.

“Oh, you did?” Jebediah started.

“Yes, I did. And furthermore, I find the decision to sacrifice Dr. Buckner and his daughter to buy time for our retreat both cowardly and despicable.”

“Watch yourself, young lady. Vitriol won’t help your cause.” Adel’s mother placed a hand on Jebediah’s shoulder, holding him in check.

“Very well. With permission, I’d like to expand upon said cause, sadly attributed to only me.”

“Permission granted. Make it quick.”

“Oleg has the sequence. Nothing now remains between him and his desires except us. With his abilities he will not need advanced scientific equipment. In a matter of weeks he could be ready to lead a force that will not stop until all humankind is transformed in his image. Have I misrepresented or exaggerated anything so far?”

The others muttered briefly. Adel’s mother answered for them. “Not significantly, no.”

“During that short window, it stands to reason an individual fully equipped with both the twitch retrovirus and the lost gene would represent our best opportunity to unseat Oleg, stopping him before he becomes unstoppable.” Adel stepped aside and motioned me forward. “Abomination or not, I introduce you to the only such individual on the planet.”

I cleared my throat, not sure exactly what to say, or if I was expected to say anything at all.

Mercifully, Adel’s mother didn’t leave the question hanging. “You said he lacks vision.” She aimed the question at Jebediah.

“He doesn’t have the sense. He can only see what’s there. Our daughter, on the other hand, can only see the opposite.” He cracked his neck and stroked his beard.

I used the opportunity to shift my stance until a large pot hung in between us. I thought it time to demonstrate my abilities, to both myself and the others. Closing my eyes, I thought about seeing the invisible, or seeing without seeing at all. I thought about what Adel had just said in regards to not needing scientific equipment.

I heard Jebediah’s fingers tugging at his bristle, then felt the DNA sequences for hair forming around me. It was a language I understood, written with only four letters, A, T, C and G. Unraveling it and reassembling it was as easy as clicking building blocks apart and together again. I finished with a single gene in the blink of an eye. For added flare, I scattered the pots to the edges of the room, freezing them in place without so much as a clang.

Evie suppressed a shriek.

I squeezed her hand, “It’s all right.”

The rest of the group stared at Jebediah silently.

He shrugged. “Only what he can see. It’s exactly as I said.”

“And what exactly is it that you see, Jeb?” Adel’s mother nodded at me.

I found a shiny pan on a drying rack and slowly positioned it in front of Jebediah’s face with my mind.

His eyes grew large with surprise and then anger. “Red? I hate red.” He ran his hand through his beard. “Change it back.” He glared.

I nodded.

He stared at the reflection in the pan, scrutinizing every aspect of his stubbly chin for several seconds before slamming the pan onto the counter.

“Agent Love.” Adel’s mother resumed control over the proceedings. “Interesting demonstration, but are you suggesting that Dr. Buckner has sufficient mastery of his abilities to defeat potentially forty of Oleg’s highest trained twitchers?”

“No.”

I jerked, clutching Evie to my side.

“Not yet. Even fully aware, the task would be difficult.”

“Why then are we still talking?” Jebediah hadn’t removed his hand from his beard, possibly afraid it would fall out if he did.

“Because, Pop, what I’m suggesting is Dr. Buckner could defeat Oleg’s Texicas deployment with our help.”

“Or,” Jeb slammed his fist on the counter, “he could get us all killed—people I’m sworn to protect.”

Adel leaned forward, closing the distance between her and her father. “And this whole time I thought you were sworn to protect the human race, and not just some podunk settlement of rednecks.”

“Enough.” Adel’s mother demanded everyone’s attention. “Dr. Buckner,” she brushed her bangs out of her face, “can you block the abilities of three dozen twitchers at once?”

I thought back to the last confrontation at the lab, to how easy it had been to disable a single twitcher until Oleg transported me to the desert. “I don’t know, Mrs. Love—”

“Gwyneth Everlast. Call me Gwyn. I’m sorry we failed formal introductions, doctor. You were saying.”

“Mrs. Everlast,” I nodded, “it’s Oleg. I think I could handle the twitchers apart from Oleg.”

Adel thumped the counter. “And Oleg’s connection depends on one or more of the five senses.”

“You still haven’t proven that Mr. Buckner’s ability doesn’t.” Jeb returned to stroking his beard.

“This is our last chance.” Adel breathed deep. “If we fail to stand and fight now, we fail the mission. Death will only be delayed.” She stamped her foot. “I have nothing further to say. Make your decision, but know this. Either way, I’m staying with Jim and Evie.”