Omega Series: Omega Part 10

"I didn't kill anyone," I said quickly.

"There are no traces of her old biotag being removed. How did you come to have no biotag?" the a.s.sistant asked.

"I'm not even sure what a ow!" I snapped and yanked my arm back. A tiny, sharp p.r.i.c.k of pain throbbed on my forearm in the spot where he had removed the chip.

"DNA sample," Spectacles directed the medic. "There's more than one way to uncover your ident.i.ty."

"I'd like to know that, too," I told him.

They gave me the same look Niko did pretty much every time I spoke.

I was escorted down the corridor, past more empty offices, to a small medical lab, past a hallway with Prisoners 0-24 listed on the wall, and motioned to a chair in the doctor's office. Realizing I had lost track of my count, I started at fifty and watched the doctor prep a needle. He wrapped rubber around my arm and then tapped the bluish vein inside my elbow.

"You're very calm," he said with a glance at me.

"I've had my blood drawn before," I replied.

"No, I mean with all this." He motioned to the guard at the door and the a.s.sistant of Spectacles, who was typing into his iPad.

The insertion of the needle stung, and I watched the plastic vial fill with blood.

"I guess I don't understand what the big deal is," I replied truthfully.

His eyes lingered on my features, as if he didn't believe me. It was hard for me to be deceptive about something I knew nothing about.

He finished when I got to ninety nine in my countdown, so I kept counting. I didn't want to knock everyone down with a needle in my arm.

"You really don't know, do you?" he asked and slid the needle free.

"I don't even know enough to know what I'm supposed to know about," I quipped.

"Hold the cotton ball for ten seconds." He smiled. "I see a lot here, and everyone is usually trying to get something over on someone else. It's the political nature of DC. Even the frauds are trying to game the system somehow. But you ... you're not right."

"I get that a lot, Doc." I lifted the cotton ball to check the p.r.i.c.k beneath.

"A place like this will destroy you if you aren't her. The trials might do the same even if you are. The G.o.ds are not happy. Be careful."

I looked up, not expecting the compa.s.sion, however distant and pa.s.sing it was. "Thank you. I'm sure I can handle it."

"I'm done." He motioned to the guard.

I joined the guard at the door. A closer look at the mask showed me it was almost sheer. Nothing impeded the breathing or sight of the man beneath it. The color prevented people from seeing his features.

"Where to next?" I asked the guard curiously. This wasn't the ideal area to unleash my strange magic wave. I wanted to be closer to the prison.

"We wait for DNA results to identify you based on the genetic profiles kept in the biotag database," the a.s.sistant to Spectacles said. "You can wait in John's office or the courtyard."

"John's office sounds great," I said cheerfully.

Even he looked at me like I was crazy. I didn't understand what everyone was concerned about. I had a feeling I'd be in trouble if I were a fraud. But I wasn't, and I didn't think being the Oracle could be worse than lying to people with no senses of humor who were probably quick to pull the trigger on a fraud.

We returned to the office. John wasn't there, and the guard took up his post outside the room. The a.s.sistant started to sit. Wanting as few people around as possible when I took off the bracelet, I spoke up quickly.

"Hey, can I get some water?"

The a.s.sistant glanced at me and stood once more without responding, leaving the room.

I had long since pa.s.sed the count of a hundred and hoped Niko wasn't in trouble. I listened until I heard the sound of the a.s.sistant's footsteps fade then crept to the door and untied the cord at my wrist.

In a confined s.p.a.ce, the weird shock wave was way worse. It shattered the gla.s.s office windows behind me and slammed into walls, reverberating back towards me and knocking me to the ground along with the guard. An alarm went off in response to the building shaking, and the lights in the hallway flickered. I hastily replaced the cord and made a mental note never to take it off inside again. My ears rang as I scrambled to my feet ahead of the guard.

Before he could stand, I had s.n.a.t.c.hed his handgun.

I bolted towards the direction of the hallway where I'd seen the sign for the prisoners. Darting down it, I heard someone shout for more security forces. The alarm blared. I covered my ears. My heart was slamming into my chest and my adrenaline racing as I reached the intersection at the end of the hall.

This one wasn't labeled. I was a little turned around in the building that had no windows in the corridors. After a split second of debate, I raced to the left, which I hoped would take me toward the wing with the prisoners.

The alarm turned off. "Thank the G.o.ds!" I murmured and paused near another intersection. I heard the sounds of mobilized guards from the direction I came from but couldn't determine if or which way was where I wanted to go.

I headed left once more. The boring, whitewashed hallways expanded and emptied out into a courtyard at the center of four buildings. Ducking behind the wall to keep the guards rus.h.i.+ng around from spotting me, I saw another sign indicating the prisons across the courtyard from me and waited.

One guard in particular seemed to be directing traffic in the center of the courtyard. Dressed similarly to the others, he wore a red patch on one arm I took to mean he was a commander or someone up the leaders.h.i.+p chain. The courtyard was lined by long dead bushes and shriveled trees.

Once the traffic in the courtyard dissipated, he strode away as well, and I inched out from the hall. Herakles had taught me how to hunt without alerting my prey, and I used those principles to move into the courtyard stealthily to the edge of the covered positions behind a post.

I stopped to listen and let my senses read what they could from my surroundings. A good ten meters of open s.p.a.ce stretched between me and the building I wanted to be in. Cameras had been placed in the corners of the courtyards, all facing the sky rather than the open area, and no guards. In fact, the courtyard was silent, the calm eye of the compound. I began to think the twenty or thirty guards some out front and some I had seen in the courtyard were the only other people present. The large compound was a ghost town.

Despite the fact I saw and heard nothing to alarm me, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I didn't move for a long moment, waiting for whatever it was to pa.s.s, but the sensation remained. It was more than being watched, more than the surge of adrenaline in my system. If my senses hadn't told me it was clear behind me, I'd almost think someone was there.

Herakles had trained me to trust my intuition over my eyes. I gripped the handgun more tightly and then whirled.

The man with the red patch was behind me, close enough to grab me. He reacted with agility that stunned me, arcing back and knocking my arm away while whipping out his own handgun and pressing the cold metal muzzle to my forehead.

Within the time it took for me to gasp, I had gone from in control to being at his mercy. I went perfectly still. I had never seen anyone move with such speed, even Herakles. His weapon was centered on my forehead. My weapon was trained uselessly beyond his feet.

The mask obscured his face. Unlike the others, the commander didn't wear body armor or carry a rifle, as if it were rare for him to leave the compound or maybe, because he was confident enough not to need such things. He was a good head taller than me, lean and sinewy where Niko and Herakles were thick. He even breathed silently.

"You're fast," I said, unable to help the honest words. "Like really fast."

"So are you."

I tilted my head. His soft, gravelly voice was familiar. I didn't think it possible I had ever heard it before, and I searched my thoughts for why I recognized it.

"Can you use that gun?" he asked.

"It may come as a surprise, but yes," I replied. "Though why it continues to amaze you people that I'm not a defenseless little girl, I don't understand."

"I tend to give my opponents the benefit of the doubt, whether or not they appear to be defenseless little girls." He nudged my head back an inch with the weapon. "You're brave."

"I've been told I'm stupid not brave," I said.

"Entertaining, too."

"Um, thanks." What in the name of the G.o.ds ... this guy is messing with me. "Anyway, I'm just going to leave."

He nudged my head with the gun again as if to remind me of its presence. As if I could ever forget.

"You don't want me dead, or you would've shot me. You want me scared enough to obey. Which I'm not." I eased back. "I'm leaving. You can shoot me if you want, but either way ..." I held out my arms and backed away, not about to lose the gun but sensing this guy wasn't going to be the one who pulled the trigger.

He didn't lower the weapon but stepped with me with grace and silence I envied. Perhaps I should've been more cautious. The man was a predator of a different kind, one without the moodiness of Niko or the friendly warmth of Herakles. Something about the way he spoke to me ... the fact I was pretty certain that however improbable he had been standing behind me long enough to shoot or subdue me and chose not to ... the uncanny sense he wasn't going to call for backup ... the suspicion he was as intrigued by me as I was by him ...

The masked man was a freaky enigma, one even this brave fool knew was the most dangerous person I'd ever met.

"Are you a gambler to risk your life like this?" He sounded curious.

"No," I replied. "I'm weird. Everyone says so. But at least I can run fast."

"Faster than me?"

What in Hades? I meant it as somewhat of a nervous joke. I didn't get why he was standing here talking to me, or why I didn't feel the need to run. If anything, something unnatural held me here. It wasn't my will or fear or anything else I controlled. It was ... him. Was it a trick? Magic? He moved like no human. Could he be a demiG.o.d?

"Maybe." I cleared my throat.

"Down the hallway to your left is a fountain. Make it there and back before I do, and I'll let you walk out of here. Fail and you remain as my master's guest."

"Did you just challenge me to a race?" I asked, startled. This guy definitely plays with his food before he eats it. Herakles said this kind of opponent was the worst and to be drawn into their game was the greatest kind of danger in existence.

But ... if I really did have a chance to walk out of here by simply outrunning him, I'd be a fool not to play a game I could win.

"Ready."

He put his gun away. At least it was a race. I stood a chance. I kept telling myself this despite the warning from Herakles beating mercilessly against my brain.

"Set."

I put my weapon away, too, tucking it into the waist of my pants at the small of my back.

"Go."

I ran. I beat him to the entrance of the hallway but he soon pulled ahead, making it look easy to outdistance me when I knew how fast I was. Pus.h.i.+ng myself harder, I caught up to him before the dry fountain and nudged him aside to take the inside track. I pushed him a little too hard he caught himself against a wall and I silently apologized and sprinted ahead.

The man soon caught up to and pa.s.sed me. I was two steps behind him, my instincts screaming for me to escape before I lost and he devoured me for dinner. The moment we hit the courtyard again, I bolted off towards the wing where I hoped to find Herakles, counting on putting distance between me and the commander before he noticed I wasn't playing his game anymore.

For several steps, I was convinced I'd done it outsmarted and out distanced him.

And then something smacked into me, driving me to the ground.

I rolled and leapt to my feet, barely putting up my arms in defense of a kick that was aimed at my head. I stumbled back but soon let my instincts take over, the way they did when I sparred with Herakles.

The commander fought with the same agility with which he ran. I struggled to keep up with his pace and when I thought for sure I was about to face plant and end up dead, he eased up.

It hit me then he was testing me. It was a matter of survival to me, but it seemed to be the next level of his game to him. Uncertainty turned to mild panic, and I suddenly had the urge to back down. I wasn't good at games. I didn't like them, and I never, ever won. Something about the mental manipulation component defied my preference for direct confrontation.

I fought and looked for my out. He could've killed me ten times over by now, but I had one secret weapon. I dropped my defenses completely and s.n.a.t.c.hed the red cord off my wrist. If I couldn't win fairly, I was going to win however I had to.

The cord fell away. The man s.n.a.t.c.hed my wrist and yanked me into his body.

I caught myself against his wide chest and cursed silently. His arm coiled around me, pinning me in place. He figured out, or maybe just knew, whoever else was in my s.p.a.ce wasn't going to be affected by the wave. But it wasn't this that startled me most. It was how I experienced him. I had hugged Herakles, the priests, the nymphs. But I couldn't recall noticing them the shape of their muscles, the light scent of their bodies, even their warmth.

Which was silly, because they were no different than this man. Flesh, blood, yadda yadda.

Why did I find it fascinating that I could feel his heartbeat beneath my right hand? Why was I breathing in deeper to try to taste his scent? Why was his smell as familiar as his voice, and I'd never experienced either before?

The shockwave was stronger this time, and I twisted to see behind me at the damage. The earth around us shook while the ground beneath our feet was perfectly still. Alarms erupted once more, along with the sound of gla.s.s shattering.

"Dammit!" I murmured breathlessly and pulled at his grip. I was losing my chance to act.

He didn't release me but bent and grabbed the cord to replace around my wrist. The moment it was secure, the world around us ceased trembling. "It's foolish to unleash power you cannot control," he told me. He gripped my neck with one hand and stripped my weapons from my body, tossing them away. He whipped off his mask next and tapped the microphone on his shoulder, speaking one word into it. "Courtyard." His gaze fell to mine.

The man who could outrun, outsmart and outfight me was a kind of beautiful I didn't know existed. Green-blue eyes surrounded by long, feathery lashes beneath thick eyebrows were so bright, they almost glowed in an olive-toned face. His features were too perfectly chiseled to be natural. A shock of black hair clashed with his bright eyes. He was clean shaven, hard of expression and too strong and nimble to be real.

I knew him. Or at least, like his voice, I felt like I did. It was the same weird instinct I had felt when I touched the gem Father Ellis gave me. Like this man belonged to me.

Which was the craziest thing yet in my adventures since setting foot outside the boundaries of the forest.

"Quick, Lyssa." Niko's voice broke the spell. "Get out of here."

I twisted to see him emerge from the depths of one hallway, armed with two weapons trained on the beautiful stranger. "Did you find him?" I asked eagerly.

"Not this time. We need a better plan. Exit that way." He motioned with his weapon to a hall I hadn't been down.

"Ni"

"Now!"

If I weren't rattled by the man I'd just met, I would've probably argued more. As it was, I wasn't feeling quite right about all that happened. I'd met someone I couldn't physically beat, and I wasn't about to stick around to find out what happened next. I pulled away from the stranger and went in the direction Niko indicated.

But something stopped me before the first intersection. I was so close to Herakles, I didn't want to leave, especially since I didn't think I'd be able to use the same trick twice to get in here. After running into him, I didn't want to risk a second meeting either.

I halted then turned, creeping back down the hallway towards the courtyard at the center of the buildings. Niko had sent me into the north building but I was determined to go to the east.

Niko and the man were talking. Niko's guns were down, and their distance bespoke the comfortable distance between acquaintances rather than enemies. I edged closer and strained my senses to hear what they said.

"... as agreed," the commander was saying.

"Yeah, well, it cost more than I expected to get her here. The finder's fee doesn't cover my expenses."

Finder's fee. Coldness trickled through me, and I thought about what Dosy had insisted to be true about Niko.