Page 104 of A Touch of Treachery
I wasn’t a lobster being boiled alive in a pot of water.I was in the center of an erupting volcano, caught in a geyser of lava that kept exploding over and over.
Through it all, I could feel my galvanism working overtime, right along with the rest of my body, trying to turn the poison into usable energy.I knew that I shouldn’t reach for my power, shouldn’t use it in any way, but the pain was so great I couldn’t stop myself.I squeezed my eyes shut to hide the telltale glow of my power, but I was in such agony that I couldn’t quite get a grip on my galvanism, and my magic dropped down into that erupting volcano of pain.
Eventually, my screams died down.The pain hadn’t lessened, but I had lost my voice, and I barely had the strength to breathe.
Henrika watched through all my shrieking screams and raspy gurgles, scribbling notes on a pad.She kept the camera trained on me the whole time, while sensors embedded in the chair recorded my blood pressure, pulse rate, oxygen level, and more.
As a cleaner, I’d sustained my fair share of injuries, both during training and on missions.I’d been shot, stabbed, cut, hammered, and bludgeoned, but all those injuries had paled in comparison to the Redburn explosion, which was the worst pain I’d ever endured.The modified Redburn poison was a close second, though.
The torture, the agony, the relentless burning in my veins went on and on and on ...
I must have finally blacked out, because sometime later, the soft, steadybeep-beep-beepof a heart-rate monitor roused me back to consciousness.I cracked open my eyes, which were as dry and scratchy as sandpaper.
Henrika’s face swam into view.I recoiled, but I was still strapped down to the chair so I couldn’t go anywhere.
“Fascinating,” she murmured, shining a penlight into my eyes.“You’re already recovering from the poison.”
I blinked dully at the bright light.I tried to speak, but my tongue was thick, numb, and heavy, and I couldn’t form any words.That was probably for the best.My mind was spinning around and around, and I had no idea what secrets I might spill to stop her from injecting more poison into my body.
Henrika lowered the light and tilted her head to the side, studying me even more closely.“There’s no way an enduro with a moderate level of power could have survived all those bombs on the beach in Australia or had such a mild reaction to the dose of poison I just gave him.”
Mild reaction?I’d thought my bones were melting.
“So what?”Bryce asked, hovering behind her shoulder.
Henrika tapped the penlight on her lips.“So either Desmond is the most powerful enduro I’ve ever encountered ...”
My gut clenched.Somehow I knew what she was going to say next.
Henrika dropped the penlight, her eyes narrowing in thought.“Or Mr.Percy has someotherparamortal power that is keeping him alive.”
Bryce blinked, as though the thought had never occurred to him that I might be more than what I said I was.
Henrika glanced over at the former cleaner.“Did Desmond ever show any unusual abilities on your missions?Did you ever hear any whispers at Section 47 that he was more than just an enduro?”
Bryce’s face scrunched up, and my gut twisted again.But after several seconds, he shook his head.“Nothing that I remember.”
Henrika turned around and leaned a little closer to me.“What are you hiding, Desmond?What other abilities do you have?”
An eager note crept into her voice, as though she had just made some wonderful scientific discovery.I had to grind my teeth to hold back a shudder of revulsion.
“What does the data say?”Henrika asked.
Bryce glanced at the monitors, then shrugged.“It all just looks like random numbers and gibberish.Come figure it out for yourself—”
Beep-beep-beep.
A series of sharp warning chimes sounded.I blinked.What was that?
Bryce hurried over to a laptop.His fingers flew over the keys, and he let out a vicious curse.“Charlotte Locke is in the main tunnel.How did she find us?”
He hit some more keys.The data on the monitors vanished, replaced by security feeds.I dragged my bleary gaze over to the screens.Sure enough, Charlotte was creeping down a corridor, a gun in her hand.
Charlotte was here.
My heart lifted with hope, but it crashed back down just as quickly.Worry surged up to take its place, burning through me just as swiftly and viciously as Henrika’s cruel formula.Charlotte might have come here to save me, but she’d put herself in more danger than ever before.I couldn’t let Bryce capture her.I couldn’t let Henrika inject Charlotte with the Redburn poison.
I wouldnotlet that happen, no matter what it cost me.
