––––––––
“You fool!” Smith grimaced at the dead men on the floor. “You damned fool! Do you know what you’ve done?”
“Looks like I killed your stooges.” I held the bleeding wound on my left arm. The shot had knocked me to the floor where I sat with my back against a desk. “And brought your whole goddamn organization to its knees.”
“You might have just killed millions of people!”
The pain pulsing in my arm added to the myriad of other agonies stabbing, pounding, and dancing all over my body. The misery made it difficult to focus. I’d fought my way to the main event, but now I struggled to step into the final ring and take the title.
Smith moved closer to me, his pistol aimed at my head. “Your conceit won’t even allow you to see the big picture. You were of little consequence to us! You’re a drop of water in an ocean. Your talents pale in comparison to what we’re fighting against!”
I’d never seen the normally relaxed Smith like that. The other times we’d tussled, he’d remained calm. The man was nearing a full-blown rage as he stood over me.
“There are threats out there you can’t possibly fathom. And we were the only ones with the tools and the means to fight against them! If we lose track of the Xavier virus, then all is lost! Not to mention locating the other gates.”
I didn’t know, or particularly care, what the hell he was talking about. The man was a delusional psychopath who had committed unspeakable atrocities against mankind. His lies and chest-beating horseshit didn’t matter to me anymore.
His chest rose and fell in exaggerated breaths.
The creases in his brow smoothed. The hand holding his pistol tensed.
“Good-bye, Mr. Benson.”
I braced myself for the end.
The Man in Black staggered into the door and slumped against the frame. Blood soaked through his suit and covered the hand he’d placed against a wound in his side. His breathing hitched.
He coughed up blood.
“They’re inside,” he wheezed.
“How many?” Smith kept the gun aimed at me, though he turned his attention to his flunky.
“At least three. Maybe more.” The Man in Black hacked a bloody glob of phlegm to the floor. “They’re wounded, but still coming. We have to evac.”
My ears perked up at the word wounded. I could only hope that the team wasn’t too badly injured.
“Looks like you have a boo-boo. Come over here and let me take a look.”
Both of them ignored me.
“Take this.” Smith slid the bag from his shoulder. “We aren’t finished extracting the drives.”
The Man in Black shook his head. “No time for that.”
“This will have all been for nothing without that data. Take the bag. I’ll fill a second one and be right behind you. Get the vehicle prepped.”
I glared at the bleeding shithead in the doorway.
He stared back. “What about him?”
“I’ll take care of him.”
The man reached for the bag and slung it over his shoulder with a grimace. “They’re not far behind. Hurry up.”
“I’ll see you soon, my friend.” Smith turned back to me as his henchman fled the room. “I can still salvage this.”
“Eat dick, Todd.”
I focused on Smith’s mind. Knowing he was about to flee the facility meant that he would shoot me in a matter of seconds.
“You should know that you’ve accomplished nothing except aiding in the death of everyone you know and care for. You were given a great gift, but you squandered it on alcohol and apathy. You’re a stain on—”
I thought of Sammy’s last moments as she died in my arms, her thoughts melding with mine. The vision of a giant man killing a small-town sheriff with an enormous hammer followed. More of Smith’s horrors came rapid fire.
Analysts leaping from windows to their death.
A senator shooting himself.
Secret Service agents murdering each other.
A boy torturing a stranger in the woods.
A severed head planted in a flower garden.
Jamie Welsh dying in his metal coffin.
My rage boiled over as I faced the man responsible for it all. The pounding in my skull reached new heights as I centered all of my power on the barrier surrounding Smith’s mind. Fresh blood flowed from my wounds, covering what little bit of my skin wasn’t already crimson stained. My shoulder bled profusely, though I barely registered any concern over it.
Smith pulled the hammer back on his pistol.
“Ashley!” Drew’s voice came from outside the door.
I didn’t respond, just kept focusing on Smith’s head.
The hard drive fragments vibrated on the floor around me.
Smith watched them. “What are you doing?”
“Ashley!” Drew’s voice was much closer.
Smith took a step closer, halving the distance between us. He turned his body toward the door. When Drew appeared in the doorway, Smith jammed the pistol against the top of my head. I barely noticed.
The room swam in front of me. Sounds became tinny, distant. Copper filled my mouth, coated my tongue. Electrical sensations tingled my extremities. Though my body was weak, almost near death, my mind felt more powerful than it ever had.
Sammy’s angelic face appeared before me.
She smiled.
Drew limped into the doorway, a rifle in his hand. His mask was pulled off. Blood had soaked through half his uniform. “Drop the gun, asshole!”
He stepped inside, weapon trained on Smith.
I was only vaguely aware of his positioning in my peripheral vision.
Two more of my masked teammates followed them.
Huxx’s voice was clear. “Put the gun down.”
Judging by the size of the other masked crusader, it was Manning.
“Give up your weapons and I won’t execute Mr. Benson. You have my word.” Smith jabbed at the top of my skull with the pistol.
“Oh my God! What did you do to him?” Manning said, her voice oddly loud.
Sammy leaned forward, her face inches from mine. Her smile faltered.
I reached out, touched her cheek.
“Don’t move, Mr. Benson.” Smith twisted the muzzle into my scalp. He knelt beside me, taking cover behind my large frame. “We don’t want things to end badly.”
It’s time to end this, Sammy whispered.
My hand snaked out, grabbing the barrel of the pistol and angling it away from my head just as it went off. The vibration ran up my arm, though I hardly noticed. I snapped my head around and stared into Smith’s eyes.
He cracked me in the nose.
My head rocked back.
There was no pain.
I focused all of my anger, my willpower, my pain at Smith’s mind.
The metal bits on the floor shook violently.
Smith flinched. “What are you—?”
The power inside me surged.
His mental defenses cracked. Odd, confusing images flashed through my mind. A dark-skinned man stood before a cage bathed in deep shadow, something unseen inside loosing an ear-piercing shriek. Two ranks of men in lab coats inspected an enormous, severed tentacle the size of a bus. A beautiful blonde woman hid behind a middle-aged man, whispering in his ear, his mouth repeating her words as she continued.
“Stop it!” Smith dropped the pistol and fell to his ass. His heels slid across the floor as he pushed away from me until his back hit the server rack behind him. Both hands went to the sides of his head. “No!”
Blood erupted from his mouth
His nose.
Eyes.
The scar on his cheek split open.
His hands fell to his lap.
He gaped at me through rheumy eyes.
The sides of his head crunched inward.
A loud crack filled the room, and then all fell silent.
Death spasms jerked Smith’s legs.
An indescribable pain tore through my head, like something had broken. It blinded me, consumed me. I might have screamed, but I couldn’t be sure. Sammy’s face evaporated. My brain felt too large for my skull. The pressure was almost too much, as if the top of my head would explode at any second.
I vomited and then toppled to my side.
Drew staggered over and knelt in front of me. “Ash!”
“Didn’t recognize you without the suit.” I gave him a bloody grin.
Then I passed out.