Chapter Thirty-Eight

Callum glanced up as they entered the room. His eyes narrowed as he saw Jenna, but he didn’t say anything. He was seated at a computer and gestured to the chairs next to him.

Jenna hitched up her black sweatpants. They were rolled over about four times at the waist but the oversized T-shirt hung almost to her knees and covered them.

Sinking into a chair, she waited, anxiety gnawing at her insides. Callum had mentioned the security tapes, and she knew he must mean the ones of her interrogation. Did she want to see them and bring it all back?

Luke sat next to her; Callum pressed a button, and the monitor flickered to life.

“Ivory Coast. Field Test Four. Day One 1000 hours.”

The screen switched to show an African village. The villagers were all huddled in the center, crouching in the dirt. Women, children, men. They didn’t appear alarmed but were chatting and laughing among themselves. The camera panned out. Men in silver Hazmat suits, masks covering their heads and faces, surrounded the village. They all wore what she guessed were breathing apparatuses strapped to their backs.

One of them moved forward into the center of the village, carrying a cylinder. When he set it down inside the circle and flicked open the top, a faint trail of gas spiraled into the air.

The villagers stirred uneasily. A man rose to his feet and backed away. One of the guards surrounding them approached him and spoke, and the man returned to the circle.

Jenna felt a hard ball of fear twist in her guts. She didn’t want to watch but couldn’t make herself look away.

“Ivory Coast. Field Test Four. Day One 1400 hours.”

Most of the villagers were down, lying prostrate in the dirt. One rose unsteadily to his feet and stumbled out of the circle. This time the guards made no pretense, just knocked him with the rifle butt so he collapsed to the ground. The camera closed in on him, showing bloodshot eyes, crimson seeping from open sores on the dull black skin.

“Ivory Coast. Field Test Four. Day One 1800 hours.”

There was virtually no movement now. They lay either dead or too sick to move. Jenna blinked back the tears that stung her eyes. The men in suits walked among them, occasionally removing a body, dragging them away as though they hadn’t been living, healthy human beings only hours earlier. She watched blankly until the final moments when the bodies were all cleared and the village was set alight.

Doctor Smith’s face appeared. “Field test four was a complete success, one hundred percent mortality rate. Within twelve hours, all participants were dead. We tested the area at hourly intervals; all traces of the chemical were gone within a further six hours. It is my recommendation that the product is ready for active use.”

The screen went blank. This time it stayed blank.

Jenna leaned back against her seat. Who were the people who had done this? What did they want so badly that life became meaningless?

She turned to Luke. “He said field test four. Does that mean they did this before? Why?”

“We think they plan a major attack on one or more of the big cities—London, probably, and maybe New York. As a statement. ‘Show the world what we can do’ sort of thing, but there has to be a bigger plan behind it. We just can’t see it yet.” He swiveled his chair to face Callum. “What else have you got?”

“Now for something more entertaining,” Callum said. “We’ll start with this one. There are earlier ones but nothing much happens. The one in the lab coat is our friend currently residing downstairs; the other man is named Lynch and, according to the doctor, he’s dead.” His gaze shifted to Jenna. She kept her face expressionless. “There’s one interesting thing—neither the doctor nor Lynch are wearing masks here. So whatever made the doctor decide you were poisonous came after this.”

Jenna watched the screen, wincing only when Lynch punched her in the face. After what she had seen in the African village, her interrogation seemed almost trivial, but beside her, Luke’s hands tightened on the arms of his chair.

“Bastard,” he muttered.

Callum paused the film and turned to her. “Your nose is definitely broken.” He frowned and studied her closely. “You don’t have a double, do you?”

“Not that I know of.”

He shrugged but switched the film back on. The drugs hit her system and she screamed. Beside her, Luke tensed again but didn’t move. She kept her attention on the screen—this was the part she didn’t remember.

She went crazy, thrashing and fighting the restraints. First one of the straps holding her into the chair snapped, and the doctor and Lynch backed out of the room.

“Do you remember this?” Luke asked.

She shook her head. The second restraint broke, and she hurled herself to the floor, finally curling into a fetal ball and going still.

“Anything to say?” Callum asked.

“No.”

He reached across and pressed a couple of buttons. “Well, if you liked that, you’ll love this one.”

The screen came to life. Jenna saw herself standing at the sink in the white tiled room. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she realized what was coming next.

Her hands gripped the arms of her chair as the door opened, and Lynch walked in, locking it behind him. Watching the scene play out, she felt again the rage that had built up inside her. She moved incredibly swiftly, the force of her first blow knocking him off his feet. Keeping her gaze fixed, she watched the rest of the film. When she slumped unconscious against the door, Callum switched it off and turned to her.

“What the hell are you? Some sort of bionic woman?”

“Leave her alone,” Luke snapped.

Callum shoved his chair back and rose to his feet. For a minute, he paced the room, and Jenna could sense the frustration emanating from his tense figure. Finally, he came to a halt in front of Luke. “You’ve got to admit, that”—he waved a hand toward the blank screen—“is not normal.”

“No, maybe not. But it’s also not Jenna’s fault. She’s as much in the dark about this as we are.”

“Maybe.” Callum turned to her, one eyebrow raised. “I’d like to try something.”

He sat at a small table, glanced at Jenna, then at the seat opposite. She frowned but got to her feet, crossed to the table, and sank onto the chair indicated. Until he put his right elbow on the table and flexed his fist, she had no clue what he intended.

She stared at him in amazement. “You want to arm wrestle?”

“Let’s just say I’m interested.”

“Callum…” Luke spoke warningly from behind her, but she shook her head.

“No, he’s right. It is weird, and I want to understand what’s happening.”

She put her elbow on the table and slipped her hand into Callum’s, and his fingers tightened around her. He didn’t trust her, and she didn’t blame him, but she felt instinctively that he would like to hurt her. Not like the doctor. Callum didn’t usually enjoy causing pain, but he would make an exception for her, because he felt she jeopardized their work, and how could she blame him? And maybe he was a little bit jealous that she had some of Luke’s attention.

“Ready?” he asked.

When she nodded, his hand tightened on hers. She allowed him to move hers a little just to get the feel of him. Then she stopped him. It was so easy. One minute her hand was being lowered, the next it…stopped.

She stared into Callum’s face, saw his eyes widen in shock, as she gently but inexorably pressed his hand onto the wood of the table.

Pulling her hand free, she looked at him steadily. “Best of three?”

“What are you?”

She rubbed her palm down her pants. “I don’t know—that’s the truth.”

A hand touched her on the shoulder, and she glanced up to see Luke standing over her. “Have you always been this strong?”

“No. I woke up the morning after Merrick’s death, and I felt wonderful. My hand was healed, my senses were more acute.”

“That’s how you overheard the conversation between me and Callum.”

“I also noticed when I ran away that I could run faster, for longer.”

“But you don’t know why?” The question came from Callum.

She took a deep breath. “I think it’s to do with the medicine my father gave me. He told me it was treating a genetic illness, but I think he lied. The night Merrick died I didn’t take any for the first time in as long as I remember. It must have been suppressing this.” She gestured to the table. “That’s all I can think of.”

“I’ve never heard of any pill that could do this,” Callum said.

She gave him a nasty look. “That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

Callum’s cell phone rang, and he picked it up and listened. “The doctor’s ready for interrogation.”

“Good,” Luke replied.

Prickles of ice shivered across her skin. What did the doctor know about her? What would they discover? Part of her wanted to run and hide and pretend all this wasn’t happening. But the rest of her knew she had to discover the truth, however difficult it was to take. “I’m coming,” Jenna said.

Luke studied her for a moment then said, “Let’s go.”