Alex slowly walked into the imaging lab, her steps heavy and wooden. The enormous MRI machine was in the center of the room. Its metallic surface gleame against a backdrop of pristine white walls, intimidating in its size. The techs silently helped Alex onto the table and fastened her down using soft leather straps.
She winced at the coldness of the steel table beneath her. A white-coated doctor tapped buttons with his gloved hands and set the machine whirring to life. "We'll start with some gross imaging studies and see if that tells us anything. Alex, this won't hurt," he said.
"I know what an MRI is and there's no need to tie me down. I gave myself up after all," Alex called out from the table. Her voice was raw and desperate as she reminded them of her memory loss. Brockner nodded towards the techs who released her from the straps.
"Thank you," she grumbled as she rubbed her wrists. "All you had to do was ask."
***
That night, Alex moved around her assigned room and inspected the walls. The plain concrete blocks were cold to the touch, and the thick mattress on the concrete floor lacked any bedding. There was no other furniture. The window was a surprise; though it wasn't barred, thin black wires crisscrossed its length like piano strings, and when she traced back one wire, she found it didn't lead to an outlet or any other power source.
Maybe it had its own power source.
She fell onto the bed, worn out from the day of testing. Despite her exhaustion, her thoughts lingered that the tests hadn't been uncomfortable. A chill ran through her at the thought that they could soon get much worse.
Why is there no sign of either Grange or Dr. Cohan? Surely they existed here. Or maybe not, since this Brockner apparently stayed on the side of the agency. Not that it matters.
Alex sat motionless on her mattress, staring out the window and absentmindedly tracing a finger along the wire mesh embedded within it. Her thoughts drifted to the brief moments of joy she had with the children.
That made it all worthwhile. That and a second chance with Gabe. A Gabe all my own.
A movement outside drew her attention back to the window, and Alex's face lit up when she saw who was there. She gestured frantically for Gabe to stay back before gritting her teeth, placing her hand on the window, and concentrating. A wave of energy pulsed from her hand like a ripple through water, traveling along the wires in the window frame.
Alex called her power neuro-electric, but with enough juice, she was betting she could overwhelm an electric circuit. The current surged higher and higher until it finally overloaded the mesh, causing a firework blossom.
Gabe stepped forward and smashed his staff against the safety glass. The glass carmelized with a million cracks, but stayed in one piece. Alex speed-burst through it, trusting her slipstream to be stronger than broken safety glass.
Alex threw her arms around Gabe's neck and he pulled her into a tight embrace. "I knew you'd come for me," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Gabe kissed her tenderly on the cheek. "I would track you to the iciest regions of hell and back. Since my injury, I've learned how to track cars." He glanced up at the building they had just escaped from and added, "Come on, let's get out of here before security crawls out of the walls."
Moving faster than humanly possible, they leapt from the ledge and were gone in an instant.
Once they had put some distance between them and their pursuers, Gabe asked, "Where should we go? Back to where the others are hiding?"
But Alex shook her head. "No, I don't want to risk them following us to the children," she said firmly. Both Alex's valued the children over their own safety.
"Then where?" Gabe asked.
A mischievous glint appeared in Alex's eyes. "How does a honeymoon at Niagara Falls sound? I'm sure we can be across the border in seconds if there is a hint of trouble."
"Perfect." He looked back one last time before they disappeared into the night sky. "Why hasn't anyone come out of the building yet?"
Alex shrugged and grinned wryly. "Never ask why."
Alex speed -burst failed. She flew a short distance and activated it again and again through the night until she was too tired to see straight. Gabe had a cell phone to locate a motel and paid cash for one night. They curled together under the sheets after pulling thick black-out curtains across the windows so no sunlight would disturb their sleep.
***
Agent Grange sat in the underground lab, eyes trained on the array of monitors, his face expressionless and bored. When one suddenly shrieked, his eyebrows twitched ever so slightly before he silenced it with a slap. His gaze shifted to the window monitor, where Alex could be seen soaring through the broken glass, and a door opened behind him.
"Agent Grange?" Dr. Cohan asked from the doorway.
"Yes, indeed," Grange replied without bothering to turn around. He gestured to the monitor showing Alex's escape. "Looks like your Friday autopsy has been canceled."
"Too bad," Dr. Cohan said without an ounce of emotion. "Care to make a foursome for 18 holes on Friday instead?"
Grange nodded and rose from his chair. "Perfect. Let me set this alarm to go off in ten minutes and then we can have a drink and discuss details over a toast...to love that conquers all."
Dr. Cohan raised an imaginary glass with a smirk as Grange reached for the alarm dial.
***
A/N
Is this more like it? Action! Treachery! Multiple villains!
Dedicated to newest readers and voters
YOU ARE READING
Betrayal - Book 3 of Guardians Saga - EDITED
RomanceAlex survived fighting a war on an alien world. But can she survive her return trip to New Orleans? The brothers are fighting, throwing their new Guardian team into disarray. Now Alex must evade the agency that created her, itself divided into fact...
