Page 9 of Captured Immune (Secrets Trilogy #2)

9

TREY

At the entrance to Shadow Ridge, I stick my finger into the fingerprint scanner hole. Beep! Beep! Beep! The large door slides open. Two security guards are waiting for me on the other side.

I expect them to ask me why I’m here without being summoned, but they don’t. Odd. Typically, field agents aren’t allowed to enter the Ridge unless they have an appointment. I’m not gonna question it though. If they’re slacking on their duties, I won’t complain.

Carlos, the guard I used to pull pranks on as a kid, greets me with a grunt. “You again?”

I’m not in the mood to give him shit, so I keep my mouth shut.

“What?” he says. “No smart-ass comment? No rude remarks about my gray hair or my big-ass nose? Are you goin’ soft now?”

“Just pat me down so I can get going.”

“Sheesh. Someone’s got their balls caught in a zipper.”

As Carlos frisks me, I scan the security room. Multiple screens of all sizes show footage of people walking down hallways and gathered in the community room. The more screens I see, the more I think my already impossible rescue mission seems more impossible. They’ve got their eyes on everything, and there are people everywhere.

The other security guard stares me down from his rolling chair with a look on his face like he wants to strangle me. He’s the guy with the eyebrow scar, who I wouldn’t have even considered pulling pranks on as a kid. It’s not normal for Zordis to have scars. With our ability to heal quickly and the healing products my parents invented, a Zordi has to want a scar to have one, or the injury had to have been pretty severe.

“Clear,” Carlos says and steps back.

Without a word, I head toward the elevators.

I press the down button as my heart sprints like I’m running from a bear. I thought once I got in here, I’d know what to do. Not only was I wrong, but I’m starting to think this is a suicide mission.

The base has been having an issue with double agents lately. People might assume I’m one of them, which, technically, I am. No, I’m not working for the Royals, but I’m working for myself. If an agent sees me trying to walk outta here with Arella, they won’t know that, and they won’t hesitate to kill me. I doubt Victor would stop them either. I definitely should have thought this through more.

Ding!

One of the four elevators arrives and invites me in. I wait for two women to step out before jumping inside and pressing the 2 button. I don’t know if I have permission to see Arella, but I’m going to. I need to make sure she’s okay and assess the situation before I formulate the rest of my get-her-the-fuck-out plan.

When the elevator doors reopen, my breath hitches. It’s her. She’s still in that giant white T-shirt and those tattered orange shorts. We lock eyes, and it takes everything in me to not throw her over my shoulder and run. I’ll throw fireballs at anyone who tries to stop me if that’s what it takes. The only reason I don’t do exactly that is because Katie and Victor’s hulk-size security guard are standing right next to her.

“Oh, hey!” Katie says in a cheery tone. “That was quick.”

“What was?”

The three of them join me in the elevator as Katie says, “I left you a voicemail, like, thirty seconds ago. Victor wants to see you immediately.”

I had shut off my phone on the way here. I didn’t want it to make any noise while I was in the middle of sneaking Arella out. “What’s he want?”

“We’re about to find out.” With her hand not holding the iPad, Katie presses the 1 button.

“You mean you don’t know?”

“He didn’t tell me. I was just told to bring the Immune down to the battle box again.”

I narrow my eyes at Katie because, surely, I didn’t hear her right. “Again? As in... she’s already been there?”

I scan Arella for any signs of cuts or bruises. She looks normal enough—if I ignore her puffy red eyes and that bleak expression.

“Not to worry,” Katie says. “Unlike what the battle box is normally used for, that’s not what happened this morning.”

My memories of being in the battle box consist of fists and lightning balls hurling at my face. The battle box is where agents train in hand-to-hand combat and test their powers on each other. Arella belongs nowhere near that thing.

“Then what did happen this morning?” I try not to sound as enraged as I feel but fail.

“Victor asked three of our most powerful field agents to come in to test their powers on her. They tried a few methods to see if it would work.”

“What kinds of methods?” I’m still failing at keeping my voice in the chill zone.

“The kinds that didn’t work. Maybe that’s why Victor wants you here. You’ve spent the most time with her. Maybe he thinks you can provide some insight on how we can crack her secret.”

I’ve already cracked Arella’s secret. Well, sort of. I know that I can break through her immunity walls by making her orgasm, but that’s it. If anyone asks for more answers beyond that, I don’t have them. I don’t know how or why it’s then and only then that I can sense her, and I don’t care to know. The only thing I care about is keeping her safe.

Ding!

Arella doesn’t look at me as the four of us step off the elevator. She still doesn’t spare me a glance as we make our way down the wide halls. I’m aware that I deserve her cold shoulder, but it still stings. I wish there was a way for me to silently tell her that I’m working on getting her out. Just hang in there, baby.

As I follow Katie, I count how many agents we pass. Twelve. Some in the fitness center. Some heading into the pool room. One janitor mopping the floors. One security guard patrolling.

I can’t see an exit route from here. Especially not when we’re on the first floor, and the only exit to the surface is on floor six. At least, that’s the only exit I know of. As a kid, I heard rumors of secret passageways in and out of Shadow Ridge, but I never found them. I’m sure Victor knows them all, but I doubt he’ll share that precious information with me.

Katie leads us through a set of double doors and into an auditorium. In the battle box is Victor with two young women. One has long red curls and is wearing black leather pants. The other has short blueish-black hair and is chewing on some gum. Both women have eager energy shooting at me. What the hell are they so eager about?

“Look at that!” Victor says. “He’s here already. I guess we can go straight into the second part of tonight’s plan. Join us in the box, kid.”

Something tells me I don’t want to. Something also tells me I don’t have a choice.

“Ordinary, are you gonna come up willingly this time, or will I have to ask Craig to assist again?”

Craig must be the name of Victor’s security guard, because he’s about to lift Arella when she throws a hand up.

“Don’t touch me. I’ll do it myself.”

I trail her up the stairs and through the ropes, resisting the urge to ask if she’s okay. Meanwhile, Katie and Craig take seats on the sidelines.

“What’s going on?” Sparks flicker between my fingertips—a reflex I’ve developed from being in the battle box so often before. Also, I’m not liking the smug way those two women are looking at me.

Victor ignores my question as he nods at the Asian woman. “Go ahead, Pixie.”

The woman puckers her lips. Before I can produce a single flame, an agonizing high-pitched sound shoots into my ears. I slam my palms against the sides of my head. It does nothing to block the pain. It hurts like hell. There are no other words to describe it. Just hell.

I drop to my knees. “Stop! Stop!”

It doesn’t stop. If anything, it gets louder and stings more. In the corner of my eye, I see Pixie glance at Victor. He nods, then she stops blowing. The pain subsides, leaving a ringing in my ears.

“Goddammit!” I shout. At least, I think I shouted. I can barely hear myself. “What the fuck was that?”

Victor acts like he didn’t hear me. He turns to Arella. “Use your immunity to shield him from Pixie’s gift.”

Arella draws her eyebrows together. “I... I don’t know how to do that.”

“Try.”

Out of nowhere, tiny invisible pitchforks attack my ears again. This time, it’s louder and more excruciating. I wouldn’t be surprised if my eardrums were bleeding. No matter how hard I press my palms to my ears, the agony stays the same.

Arella yells something. I can’t hear what though. Her mouth looks like she’s screaming “Stop! Stop!” The terrorized expression on her face makes me want to hold her and tell her I’ll protect her, but I can’t get off my knees long enough to get to her.

When Pixie closes her mouth, the sound stops. More importantly, so does the piercing pain. I fall onto my hands, gasping for air as the ringing returns.

“Fuckin’ warn a guy!” My shouting sounds muffled.

Arella rushes to my side, dropping to her knees, with her hands cupping my face. Her touch feels like drinking an ice-cold bottle of Healing Water—therapeutic and refreshing.

Her lips move, but I can’t make out the words. Is she asking me something? She yells at Victor, but I can’t hear that either. They shout at each other for a moment before the ringing fades and my hearing slowly returns.

“We’ll stop once you do what you’re told,” Victor says.

“I told you already! I don’t know how!” Arella turns back to me with tears pooling in her eyes. “Trey, please tell me you’re okay.”

I offer her a weak grunt as I get to my feet. Arella holds me steady as I use her shoulder to keep me upright.

I scowl at the pathetic excuse for the only relative I have left. “Whatever you’re trying to get her to do, it won’t work.”

“It will,” Victor says. “She just needs the right motivation.”

“No!” I slash my hand through the air. “You’re treating her immunity as if it’s a gift like ours. Like it’s something she can use and control. For all we know, it’s not possible for her to control it at all, let alone project it.”

“It is possible. We got the last Immune to project his immunity onto someone else, which means she can too. She just needs to focus.”

What? Victor never mentioned he got that far in this research. Why didn’t he tell me? What else hasn’t he told me?

“Ruby! Your turn!”

The redhead takes one look at me and hisses through her teeth. I collapse to my hands and knees again. The feeling of a hundred—no, a thousand —snakes biting into my skin takes over my entire body. I scream out as my muscles clench and burn. My arms give out, and I fall face first onto the floor.

“Stop!” Arella launches herself at Ruby. Pixie holds Arella back as Ruby keeps her eyes trained in my direction.

My body convulses like I’m being tasered from all sides. I lied earlier. Pixie’s eardrum-stabbing power isn’t hell. This is. Pure, unfiltered hell.

“Project your immunity onto him!” Victor orders.

“I can’t! Just stop! Please!”

Victor slices a hand through the air. Finally, Ruby drops her arm. The agony on my skin fades. My body is left with a lingering burn.

I turn onto my back, panting as my vision goes blurry. I can’t feel my thighs or anything below them. I would have taken Pixie’s ear pain over whatever the hell that bullshit was.

“Let me go!” Arella shouts. A second later, she kneels at my side.

I can’t see her because I can’t get my eyes to reopen. I only feel her warm palm press against my stubbly cheek.

“Trey!” She says my name through a broken sob. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know how to make them stop.”

“I told you already,” Victor says from across the battle box, “you just need to focus. Imagine yourself protecting him with metal shields or maybe some armor. If you don’t save him, he will die. Ruby, hit him again.”

I brace myself for the pain. It doesn’t come.

“You sure, Big V?” Ruby says. “I went pretty hard on him. He might need a break.”

“He can handle it.”

No, I can’t! I don’t get a chance to say that out loud because the stinging ache in my limbs returns. I lose all control over my convulsing body. Someone could be throwing knives into an open wound in the middle of my chest and it would feel like butterfly kisses compared to this.

My limbs tremble against the floor.

Nausea.

Throbbing.

Vomit rises in the back of my throat.

Arella drapes her body over mine as if it’ll shield me from the stinging pain. It doesn’t. Not even a little bit.

“Stop!” She sobs into my chest. “Stop hurting him!”

“Project your immunity onto him!” Victor shouts.

“I can’t! Stop! Please!”

“Ruby, go harder!”

Seriously? There’s a setting above this one? The torture increases. It’s like snake venom, and bee stings, and being mauled by a jaguar, and?—

Arella pulls me into her lap, clutching me against her front. She rocks back and forth as my body trembles in her arms. Tears pour down her cheeks as she screams, “Stop hurting him! Stop hurting him! Stop hurting him!”

Somehow, I find the strength to get some words out. “Arella, please, make it stop.”

She takes my face into her hands and gives me a squeeze. “I don’t know how.”

“Please,” I beg because she’s my only hope. “Make it stop.”

My vision’s blurry again. I can’t feel my legs. Are they still attached to my body?

Arella breathes deeply as she mutters inaudible words to herself and rocks me in her grasp. If this is my end, I won’t be too mad about it. I’m in the arms of the woman I love. What could be better?

Suddenly, the burning stops. My body goes limp. I don’t gasp for air this time. My lungs are too tired for that. Instead, my breaths come out short and ragged. Arella’s tears roll down her face and onto my cheeks. I want to wipe her tears away, but I can’t feel my arms.

“I never told you to stop!” Victor shouts.

“I didn’t,” Ruby says through hisses. “I’m still going.”

Victor gasps at the same time Pixie does.

“She did it,” Pixie says. “She actually did it.”