Page 26 of Protector (Alpha Ties)

TWENTY-SIX

ADDIE

There is an eerie silence as we enter the secured building that hosts my lab and the AX soldiers’ training facility. The armed guard usually stationed outside is nowhere to be seen, and there’s no one manning the front desk.

I frown as we pass. Something’s wrong. Very wrong.

AX2 knows it too. He places a large hand on my shoulder and draws me into his side before he turns to my father. “Let me take Adelaide somewhere safe before we proceed.”

I’m not prepared for the bubble of warmth low in my belly at his protectiveness.

Silently I scold myself—and my stupid ovaries, which definitely aren’t helping things. It’s literally his job to protect me, both due to his programming and biological urges, and the only reason I’m anything but annoyed that he’s trying to sideline me is that my core is still wet and aching for the release my father cheated me out of—something I definitely don’t want to dwell on right now.

“No. We need her help to find the others,” my father says without so much as a glance at the other alpha. “Proceed, soldier.”

A burst of anger fizzes through the bond hooked in my chest. I glance up at AX2, surprised, but his face is blank. I know his instincts to keep me safe are strong, but I’d never expected he’d be angry at being forced to take me into danger.

I know he’s capable of anger, of course. I’ve seen his fury before, during his training. But somehow I didn’t know he’d be capable of feeling anger for me, rather than at me. I frown when the warmth from my belly spreads higher, stretching for my chest.

“Yes, sir.” AX2 pushes me behind him and holds out his hand to keep me at a distance. “Stay back.”

We proceed through the building, me sandwiched between AX2 at the front and my father bringing up the rear. There’s not a soul to be found.

By the time we make it down to the level that hosts my lab and the training facilities, every hair on my body stands on end. This place—since the day I started working here, it’s been my refuge. I’ve always felt comfortable, at home, here. My sanctuary, where everything was in order and I was in charge. Now, though? It feels like a tomb.

“Where is everybody?” I whisper. There’s no sign of fighting. Nothing is out of place, and no ominous blood smears mar the white walls. It’s like everyone simply picked up and… left.

AX2 holds up a hand, signaling for us to stop in front of a door leading into one of the old dorms. My father brushes past me to swipe his access card, and the door swings open to reveal three immaculately made bunk beds.

“No sign of them,” my father murmurs as AX2 steps through to investigate further.

So this is where he rehoused them. I pinch my lips as I take in the spartan quarters. It looks like somewhere you’d house your average soldiers.

With everything that’s happened to me since my father hijacked my AX project, I’m surprised to find I’m still capable of feeling frustrated at how he changed up their highly regulated schedule without any regard for my carefully crafted program.

“Do you have a way of tracking them?” my father asks, turning to me. “In your lab?”

I rub my temples. If I wasn’t so wound up from this morning, I would have thought of that myself. “I should be able to track their chips and call them back.”

“Lead the way, then.”

I don’t. The moment I head toward the exit, AX2 grabs my shoulder and pulls me back behind him so he can take up the front. I have a vague notion that I shouldn’t be allowing him to manhandle me, but I only feel embarrassing gratitude.

My lab is as silent as the rest of the building, though at least that’s expected. Apart from myself, only AX2—and occasionally Dr. Green—ever set foot in here.

I head straight for my computer and hastily type in the codes needed to access the AX soldiers’ chips.

“Anything?” my father asks.

“Yeah, they’re… It looks like they’re all together. In D.C. Somewhere in Brentwood. What on Earth…?”

I frown and tap the keys, switching into the status screen of AX6. In bold, red capital letters, the word DEPLOYED flashes next to his designation. When I flick to the other soldiers, the same word appears.

“Someone’s sent them on a mission.”

“Can you call them back?” my father asks.

“Are you sure we should?” I reply, confused. “It looks like Dr. Green’s the one who deployed them. But I can’t find anything about the mission in the logs.”

“Try,” my father says. He sounds entirely calm. I don’t know if it’s because he doesn’t quite understand how entirely weird this is, or if it’s his authoritarian persona stepping through—always collected in the face of chaos.

I navigate to AX23’s status and tap the key that should bring up the option to abort mission. A window pops up: CONTROLS LOCKED.

“What the hell?” I mutter, hitting the enter key again. Nothing happens.

“Oh,” my father says as he leans over my shoulder to look at my screen. “Looks like the good Dr. Green isn’t entirely useless after all.”

“Hm?” Movement on the map displaying the AX soldiers’ location draws my attention. The four red dots seem to be shifting down a narrow street. But where to?

“He insisted he would be vital—even if he isn’t nearly as skilled as you are when it comes to the engineering aspects. ‘Far easier to work with,’ I believe he said.” My father chuckles and pats my shoulder. “I admit, the man has a point. I’m sure if we approached you first, we’d still be arguing about whether this was the right thing to do. Green was on board the moment he realized it’d be in his best interests. And it looks like he came through.”

Distracted, I glance up at him. “What are you talking about? Did you order this mission?”

“Yes, Addie, I did,” he says softly, squeezing my shoulder. His hand feels heavy, but its warmth doesn’t penetrate my clothes, beneath which icy foreboding prickles at my skin.

“I… I don’t understand,” I whisper. I stare at him, at my father—the three-star general who’s always put country before all else, even his own family. Refusing to put the sharp-edged puzzle pieces together as they finally fall into place.

He doesn’t take his eyes off the screen, nor his hand off my shoulder. “We weren’t supposed to move yet—ideally we would have waited until the election next month. But I know a distraction when I see one, and the sorry excuse they used to drag me away from your debriefing? It’s obvious someone was getting suspicious.

“Don’t worry, I don’t blame you for not coming to me with whatever you were told in that meeting. After everything you’ve been through, I don’t expect you to want much of anything except a calm life with your alpha. And we’ll get that for you, darling. I promise. We just have to get through these next few days first.”

The words coming out of his mouth don’t make sense. They don’t. They can’t.

I turn my attention back to the screen. The four red dots are moving west at a fast pace. Toward the White House.

“I’m so very sorry you got hurt in all of this, Addie,” my father says softly as we watch the screen. “It was never my intention; I hope you know that. We needed you off-site to bring you into our plans, but it turns out my old friend was more interested in money than loyalty. He has been dealt with. And, loath as I am to accept it, I suppose it was too much to ask that no one from our side would be harmed. I don’t think history has ever seen a bloodless coup.”

A coup.

On the computerized map, four dots break off into two groups. One continues southeast while the other three head directly south—Toward Capitol Hill.

“You’re… going to kill the president? And the senate?” It comes out like a wheeze, my lungs refusing to expand to their full capacity. A coup. My father is embroiled in a coup? My brain whirs to find a reasonable explanation, refusing to accept reality even as I see those four red dots move toward their targets. This has to be some kind of joke—a misunderstanding.

A large hand wraps around my shoulder as AX2 materializes at my side, undoubtedly pulled across the room by the terror in our bond. I reach up to cling to his arm—an instinctive reaction to the turmoil of fear.

“The president, yes. Most of the senate, but not all. As I said, this has been planned for decades, and we have been careful to maneuver as many of our people into positions of power as possible. Don’t worry—the AX soldiers have instructions on who to let live.”

Don’t worry?

“But… why?” I whisper. “It… makes no sense. You love your country.” I’ve sat through enough of his monologues about country and sacrifice as a child to know that my father is a devoted patriot.

He glances at me, and there is love in his gaze, but the way he pats my knee feels as patronizing as it did when I was a child, when he would tell me I was too young to understand.

“It’s precisely because I love my country that I am doing this. And because I love you, and all the other bright, young citizens currently growing up in a world dominated by the stupid and the weak.”

“W-What?”

“He is removing democracy,” AX2 says, his voice soft; monotone, as if he doesn’t care one way or the other. Not that he could.

“More so changing,” my father says mildly, eyes back on the screen where the three dots have just entered the Capitol Building. Farther east, the singular red mark is deep inside the White House. “We, the people, have regressed over these past couple of generations, and it’s only escalating. These days, any idiot with an opinion believes he must be respected simply because he’s opened his mouth. Misinformation and pseudoscience are rampant plagues on our population, and the vast majority are too stupid or to numb to realize it. Too easily manipulated.

“Just look at the president they elected—a weaker, more unfit head of state has never sat in the Oval Office. The educated part of the population, the critical thinkers, voted for his opponent. But there are more sheep than there are shepherds, and the entire country suffers as a consequence. Something had to be done before it was too late. And so we did.”

I can’t breathe. I can’t think. If this goes through, then… then either my father will be hanged for treason, or democracy as we know it will be wiped out in a bloody massacre.

“You can’t—this can’t happen!” I grasp at AX2, frantic. “Engage remote control. Overwrite singular processing. Access unit frame. Call back all AX units immediately!”

AX2 doesn’t move.

“AX2! Engage remote control!”

“I’m afraid that won’t work,” my father says, not unkindly. He touches a hand to my cheek, then looks to AX2 with regret. “I couldn’t let you keep control of one of my best men. Not when our plan is finally coming to fruition.”

“What?”

“It’s no coincidence Jacob landed in your lab, darling. Before he came to you, he was working for the Revolution—an invaluable player. I couldn’t let him die, so… I brought him to you. Once we assume power, he will take his rightful place among our ranks once more. Stronger than ever before, thanks to your incredible work.”

Icy dread crawls up my spine as I stare up at AX2—at my creation. The powerful alpha traitor I no longer control.

Behind us, the four red dots find their targets.