Page 51 of I Dream of Danger
Flynn checked his watch again. He’d never been interested in the science itself, only in the results. And the results had to be of use to him and to his company for him to be interested. Well, he was about to get an eyeful.
Lee tapped his finger on the table. He was so used to the light projection keyboard’s settings that he didn’t actually have to have the light projection on. It was a minor ploy, but to an ignorant outsider like Flynn, it would look like magic.
The commands he gave changed the nature of the liquid being pumped into the patient’s systems. From a powerful narcotic to a powerful stimulant. From zero to hyper-awareness in a minute.
“I’ll remind you of the thrust of the main project,” he said softly. “We are perfecting a system that will improve the motor skills, neural response times, muscle mass, eyesight, and hearing of soldiers, sometimes by a factor of 300%. Essentially, we will create super-soldiers, who will be stronger, faster and smarter than any other soldiers in the world. There will be no warriors that will be able to defeat your men, General Flynn.”
Lee never used Flynn’s former title except when he wanted to make a very strong point. And this was one of those times. He could actually hear Flynn’s breathing speeding up, becoming loud in the silent room. The moron was getting excited, exactly as if he were seeing a naked lady. Lee refrained from shaking his head at how pitifully easy to manipulate Flynn was.
“But—” And here Lee turned to Flynn and looked him in the eyes, distracting him for the minute it would take for the super stimulant to hit the specimen’s bloodstreams. “But I think we can take it one step farther. In addition to super strength and speed, we can add super powers.”
A crease formed on Flynn’s fleshy face. Super powers. That was crazy, right? Lee could almost read Flynn’s thoughts.
Only it wasn’t.
He had four more he’d caught recently, being prepped. He very much suspected that one, Sophie Daniels, was a healer. That would be a battlefield power to reckon with.
Lee gestured toward the monitors and watched Flynn’s face as he took in what was happening.
Almost to the second, all the patients bolted up in bed. Lee had calculated body mass in the ccs of stimulant he pumped into them, so it worked on each individual at the same time. Every specimen was brought abruptly and rapidly into consciousness, with no self-defense mechanism.
It was spectacular.
“Fuck,” Flynn breathed, as he leaned forward. Lee could have easily ‘pushed’ the holograms closer to him, but it was better this way. Make him work for it. Flynn’s eyes were bright with the reflected light of the monitors and he was watching with his whole body.
Cell number one: male, 23 years of age. The instant consciousness hit him, he levitated a foot above the bed, the sheets dangling from the sides of his body. He sat up, looked around with a frown, and his body floated gently back down to the surface of the bed.
Cell number two: male, 27 years of age. He bolted up, face angry. The bedside cart flew violently against the wall and shattered. Flynn flinched. It was hard to watch. The walls were powerfully strong yet completely invisible. The cart shattered against a wall they couldn’t see.
Cell number three: female, 21 years of age. She lay, unmoving, only her open eyes showing that she was awake. Suddenly, a fire bloomed in the corner of the cage, burning brightly, fiercely, seeming to gush out of the floor of the cage. Just as suddenly it stopped, collapsing in on itself, leaving only blackened stains crawling up the invisible walls.
Cell number four: female, 25 years of age. Only her head turned as she looked at the corner where the invisible cameras were. Her eyes were flat and black.
Flynn gasped, a harsh intake of breath. His eyes widened, bulged.
Lee’s hands went to his own throat, as if he could tear it open with his hands before it closed up completely. Then it closed tight. No air coming in, no air going out. His chest heaved uselessly trying to suck in air that couldn’t reach the lungs. It was as if he were being hanged, something tight and hot around his neck, tightening, tightening…
The world shimmered, the edges of objects limned with violent color, then the colors draining away, leaving everything gray, becoming darker. Edging into blackness.
Lee couldn’t think, couldn’t reason. What he did, he did out of sheer instinct, recognizing in the flat black gaze from the monitor what was happening. His right arm flailed uselessly…he was a foot away. His body wouldn’t obey him, he couldn’t move his legs. All he could do was collapse, and in falling, reach for the control button that would open up the hidden IV bags of the powerful narcotic.
His finger tapped on a point on the desk as he focused ferociously, as if seeing through a tunnel growing ever smaller. The force around his neck tightened, pressing against his Adam’s apple, starting to crush it. He tapped, tapped, head lighter and lighter, starting to black out…
And the force around his neck abruptly ended, like a noose that had loosened. Lee jolted, fell into a chair gasping. A hoarse choking sound was on his left. His neck hurt, but he turned to see Flynn on his knees on the floor, head hanging down, face splotched with ugly purple-red stains. One hand went to his throat as he brought air into his lungs in long loud gasps.
“Jesus!” It came out a hoarse whisper. “What the fuck was that?”
Lee couldn’t speak yet. His shaking finger pointed to the holomonitor showing cell number four. His trembling hand stayed in the air until he could speak. “Her.” He coughed as he tried to make his voice stronger. “She can…somehow…reach out. Touch…people. Things.”
Flynn turned awkwardly until he was sitting on the floor, back to the wall.
“Well, fuck.” His lungs bellowed in and out. His breathing became a little less labored. His complexion was back to his usual florid red without the purple. “Is that what you’re working on? People—things—like them?”
Lee needed to choose his words carefully. Flynn was his lifeline. His source of money. If it was cut off, he couldn’t continue his research. He would never make his way back to China as a conqueror.
But though he knew that, some essential bit of oxygen had cut off his good sense.
“Yes.” Crazily, he smiled. “Once we can control them, extract from them the essence of their powers via spinal fluid, and inject them into our super strong and super smart soldiers—the sky’s the limit.”
