“Was there any further information you gathered that may be of use? Did you learn what Evan was working on in the lab?” Williams took a slow, deep breath, the effects of the opiate forcing him to return to his chair.
“No, sir. He was very protective of his work.” Kylie’s eyes were locked on her sergeant. They had many discussions of how much she should push Evan into divulging the nature of his research. The secret had become a sore subject between them.
“Sir, knowing my primary objective was to learn of his evolved gift, I have never found an opportunity where this secondary intel was going to be ascertained without jeopardizing my position. Essentially, he allowed me to wash beakers for him. That’s all.”
“I see.” Williams knew she was lying. She was too clever not to have gotten at least a cursory understanding of Evan Winter’s work. “Where is the boy now?”
“Sir, he’s headed back to his family’s home.” Kylie cringed.
“You were to detain him for interrogation, Monroe!” Williams’ anger flared beneath the narcotic fog.
“Yes, sir. We got into a—” Kylie hesitated.
“Into a what?”
“There was a miscommunication. He decided it was best to go home.” Kylie was wincing waiting for the worst of her Director’s fury.
“This bit of information should have been the first thing you told me. Thanks to you, we’ve wasted precious time. Put Rais on the phone. Now!”
“Yes sir.” Kylie peeled her white-knuckled grip from the phone and held it out to her sergeant who yanked it away angrily.
He turned his back to Kylie and spoke his greeting to his superior in clipped tones. His back was rigid as he listened. Kylie knew she didn’t have much time. Now that her intel was delivered, leaving the Director unsatisfied, she knew what would come next and she didn’t want to stand around to wait for it to happen.
On silent feet she turned and slipped to the kitchen, grabbed the car keys that always hung from a hook by the back door, and turned the knob. Hurriedly, she ran to the unassuming four-door and yanked the handle, begging for a soundless escape.
In her mind, she knew words like “compromised” and “incompetent” were thrown around like projectiles in the conversation between Williams and Rais. She needed to get out of there now.
She jammed the keys in the ignition and started the car, then turned around in her seat to back out of the carport only to slam down on the brakes when she caught a glimpse of her Captain’s enraged face directly behind her. His eyes were glowing red from the brake lights. She watched as he raised his weapon. Everything moved in slow motion as she tracked the red dot of the gun’s laser sight crawling up the car’s trunk to the back of the passenger seat before settling directly on her face, blinding her.
She didn’t have time to think. Her survival reflexes took over. She ducked and floored the car in reverse, not stopping to assess damages as she heard bullets shattering glass and piercing metal.
Rais was furious at the girl for trying to escape. He leaped to the side of the oncoming vehicle and landed hard on the rough desert landscaping that surrounded the houses in the area. He continued to fire at the girl even after his gun was spent, raging at her for making him fail the Director for the first time in his long career.
This isn’t over, he growled at the disappearing taillights.
***
Kylie was trying to catch her breath as she sped past the University of Cairo campus. Her ears still rang with the sound of gunfire.
A barrage of thoughts darted like a humming bird through her mind. Cool night air spilled in from the shot-out windows and caressed her face, as though coaxing memories from her.
Since she completed her medical training at the Facility a year ago, she had dosed dozens of subjects with the Infinite Serum. It was her job, all she knew and just a way of life.
She wasn’t supposed to think of the subjects as anything other than empty vessels waiting to become Metahumans. She wasn’t supposed to worry about what happened to the vessels that didn’t survive. As far as she had been taught, the subjects were only of value after proving their capacity for enhancement. Only metahumans mattered.
That’s what she repeatedly reminded herself even after the nightmares became more intense leaving her sleep deprived and traumatized. The look in their eyes haunted her. She tried not to make eye contact, just as she’d been trained. She tried to mute their cries for help as though they were simply wails from howling dogs. She tried, but it wasn’t working. As the months dragged on, Kylie was becoming desperate to avoid duty on new recruit days.
She felt trapped.
She couldn’t talk to anyone about the guilt and trauma she was experiencing over the handling of the new recruits any more than she could have given up her designation as a Research Doctor in the Field of Metahumanology. Her path had been chosen for her and there was no way out.