30

Alec held his breath. There was no way you could duck an orb blast. What the hell was Darius doing?

Darius grinned and didn’t move. The light was so poor it was hard to tell for certain, but Alec couldn’t see an orb in his hand. Was he just going to stand there and let Dean murder him?

“If you have a God, you should pray to him now,” whispered Dean.

“And you should hope that no one finds out that you plan to murder a fellow Operative in cold blood, without a weapon of his own. Logan will be severely annoyed to see one of his own defy the Code. But then, maybe your feelings for me drove you to it. A crime of passion, hmm?”

The swear word Dean used was completely new to Alec, but the hatred and hurt behind it were not.

Someone clutched at Alec’s arm. Startled, he turned away from the two men for a split second. Riley was hidden by shadows and had approached so quietly he doubted the others even knew she was there. Dean couldn’t see her, Alec realized. She could still get away.

He shook his head mutely, willing her to run. She didn’t. Alec tried to yank his arm away from hers, but her grip was so strong that all he did was unbalance her. Riley stumbled against Alec, grabbing on to his other arm to break her fall. He felt an orb drop into his pocket. With a sudden flash of insight, he pushed her away again, hoping she’d understand and melt back into the darkness, now that he was armed. But she either didn’t get his silent message or had an agenda of her own.

“Don’t hurt him,” Riley gasped. Her voice echoed eerily in the tunnel. “You don’t want to. I know you don’t.”

“He’s defying orders.” Dean managed to get the words out, despite his clenched jaw. “I must stop him.”

“You’ll have to go through me first,” Riley challenged. She made as if to fling herself in front of Darius, but Alec grabbed her arms to stop her. He pinned her against the cold stone, shielding her from Dean.

“You’re making a grave mistake. We’re helping the Terrans. We’re not the enemy, Rhozan is,” Dean said, his eyes never leaving Darius.

“Yeah, really?” Riley’s voice was scathing as she squirmed impotently against Alec. “So why’s Logan planning to kill Alec, eh? Explain that.”

Alec’s breath caught in his throat. What? He barely saw Dean’s eyes flicker from Riley to himself and back again. “There has been no order given to terminate Alec. You are mistaken.”

“There has and it is you who is mistaken.”

Dean whirled around.

Anna stepped out of the inky darkness. In her hand was her orb, its wintry blue glow strengthening with every step. Her expression was cold and unemotional. She might have been made from ice.

Alec’s heartbeat racked up a notch. What on earth had she said?

“You knew all along what Logan was planning and you went along with it.” Darius sounded bitter. “You kept that from me.”

“I made my promise to Logan, long before I made mine to you.”

“Then it was all lies? Everything?” Alec couldn’t see Darius’ face but his back was rigid.

“No. Not everything,” Anna said slowly.

“Has Logan ordered a death mark for this boy?” Dean kept his eye on Darius but spoke to his supervisor. He sounded confused, or at least wary. “For what reason?”

“Alec is the strongest Potential ever created. Stronger than Finn,” Anna said without taking her eyes off Darius. “But unlike Darius, he’s been tainted by contact with Rhozan. The link has been confirmed. That magnitude of power cannot be permitted to be corrupted.”

Alec recoiled. This couldn’t be true. He’d know if someone that powerful came knocking at his mind. Wouldn’t he?

“He’s not in league with the Others, Anna,” Darius said, his voice persuasive. “You know it, as well as I. Any link that has been forged was done by them, not him. You’ve worked with him for days now. You’ve seen inside his mind. He’s only a child. He can still be trained. Any link can be broken.”

Alec could hear that Darius was pleading for his life, and yet at the same time he couldn’t help but bristle at Darius’ description. The last thing he felt like was a child.

“You agree with Logan?” Riley shouted over Alec’s shoulder. “You bitch.”

Alec tightened his hold on her as she squirmed wildly. “Let me go, you dork,” she grunted, kicking at Alec’s shin with surprising accuracy.

Anna looked away from Darius and pierced Alec with a look he couldn’t quite understand. Then she transferred her gaze to Riley. “Orders and obedience. Two concepts that continue to be unfamiliar to you, Riley. You cannot proceed with your training until you understand both of these. Do as you’ve been instructed.”

Riley stiffened. Then, before Alec could react, she reached into his pocket, grabbed at the orb. Alec tried to stop her. His hand succeeded in grasping around hers as she pulled it out, the warm smoothness of the orb only touching a fingertip. But it was enough. Darius’ hand snaked out of the darkness and clasped over his.

“Now!” Riley shouted in the same instant Darius’ message slammed into his mind. Alec had no choice. The power awoke inside him, straining to join in. He added his response to theirs. The light from Riley’s orb flashed brilliantly in the confined space, for a moment searing an image of Dean, his hands upturned in defence, his own orb brilliant with power, and Anna, standing still, her hands by her side, into Alec’s brain.

In the same instant, someone else was there, hovering at the back of Alec’s mind, touching it tentatively, like a caress, but colder and impersonal. Alec shuddered. The sensation began to slip away.

The light faded to nothing, leaving the tunnel even darker than before.

For several seconds Alec could do nothing but blink furiously as tears streamed down his cheeks. On all fours now, he felt cold and disoriented. Wetness was seeping through the material on his knees. He was wrist-deep in a puddle. He couldn’t concentrate.

“Get her orb,” Darius was saying in the distance.

“What about Dean’s?” Riley called back to him. Both of them seemed awfully far away. Alec shook his head to clear it, but the cold, touching feeling was growing again. It was getting harder to think.

“Alec, get up.” Darius’ hand grabbed under his arm and a forceful yank pulled him upward. He swayed. “Here, hold onto this.” Someone dropped an orb into his hand. It was all he could do to concentrate on closing his fingers around it.

“Dare, I think they’re–” Riley wailed.

“Don’t think about it,” Darius responded. His voice, too, was muffled.

“We can’t just leave them.”

Darius said something indistinct. Riley gave a sob. Alec swayed again. His feet were miles away. He couldn’t see. What had happened? Why didn’t he care?

“Riley, we’ve got to leave. Now. Otherwise her sacrifice will be for nothing.” Darius was urging Riley and tugging at Alec’s arm at the same time.

What sacrifice? Alec reached up to rub his eyes and knocked the orb inadvertently against his forehead. Whose orb was this? Irritated and muddled, Alec slipped the orb into his pocket and stopped resisting Darius’ tugging. He took a tentative step into the darkness, didn’t fall, and took another.

He was pulled up the slope one laborious step after another. Lights came and went, creating faint pools of brightness, then fading to inky darkness once more. He felt as if he were somewhere else, then back again inside his own skin without any indication that he’d moved. He felt anger and triumph, then dizzy and confused. Pictures flashed through his mind. Battles, monsters, mayhem. What was real and what were fantasies? He couldn’t concentrate.

The slope became steeper and the air around him warmer. The tunnel outlines took on clarity as the sunlight from the world outside filtered downwards. Alec was mostly oblivious.

By the time they stepped out into the sunshine, he didn’t even notice.