No One (Element Preservers, #3.5) Read online

  The phone rang and rang until a gruff voice answered. "Yes?"

  "I need to talk to you. Somewhere private," I said, not bothering to introduce myself. Alan knew damn well what my voice sounded like.

  "Ah, Adrian. What a nice surprise."

  "Cut the crap. Will you meet with me or not?" Ria and Lily would kill me if they knew what I was about to do.

  "Of course I will. I'm still your guardian." Alan chuckled. Oh yeah, I could tell how satisfied he was with this turn of events. I had to be smart and get what I wanted from him without putting myself in danger or giving in to his demands. Unfortunately, I couldn't meet with him in a public place for fear someone would recognize us and call the press.

  "Where can we talk?" I felt around for elements, but many of Lily's people didn't have them anyway, so I had to rely on my hearing and stop talking if someone approached. Although, Lily had hired mostly people with elements to keep Ria safe because we didn't want other carriers to suspect the Element Preservers was in the league with carriers.

  "My old house."

  I briefly closed my eyes, fighting against the wave of images from the past that came into my mind. The house Alan and I used to live in was only a couple of miles away from the city... and from the labs. "See you there tomorrow morning."

  "I'll be there. You have piqued my curiosity. I wonder what you could possibly need from me this time because I'm sure you need something."

  "I'll tell you tomorrow. Come alone or I won't show up. Not even element-blocking suits will help you because I'm ready for them too." If Alan prepared a trap for me, I would have to find another way to talk to him.

  "Am I supposed to trust you that you won't kill me?" Alan said, but he didn't sound concerned.

  "If I trust you, you'll have to trust me too. We both have our elements and that's enough of protection." I ended the call before he could say anything else.

  Chapter 07

  Now

  I stood in front of the two-story house that had been more like a prison to me for the most of my life. Alan's element pulsed inside the living room, and he was alone as far as I could tell. His car was the only one parked in front of the garage, and I couldn't see any suspicious activity during my tour around the neighborhood. Alan could never hold me long enough until his team came if they weren't nearby.

  Someone could still be hiding in the basement, but I hoped Alan knew he wouldn't achieve much by kidnapping me. The device for showing body heat I'd "borrowed" from Lily's techs only showed Alan's presence. For the first time in my life I was glad the house was separated from the rest. My hand hovered over the knob for a moment, but then I braced myself and opened the door, memories of the first time I tried to escape this place flooding my mind.

  Chapter 08

  7 years ago

  I hadn't seriously thought about running away from Alan until he announced it was the time for us to visit the laboratory and do some tests. I was beginning to show the symptoms of the disease, so Alan told me I'd have to be monitored and examined. What scared me the most was that he hinted I'd have to stay in the lab for an extended period of time. Judging by my brief visits to the lab for a couple of checkups, staying in that white, disinfected, closed space wasn't something that I wanted.

  It didn't even matter that I had no money and no one who could help me. I knew Alan's routine well enough to find a perfect timing to leave the house unnoticed and circumvent his guards and the alarm system. I didn't think Alan still believed I'd try to escape after all these years.

  As soon as I woke up, I grabbed my clothes and went downstairs to find Alan, who was just finishing his breakfast. He looked up at me, a slight smile curving his lips.

  "Good morning," he said, folding his newspaper. "I hope you didn't forget we have an important appointment this afternoon."

  "I didn't." I approached the table, extending my arm toward him so he could take off the damn tracking bracelet off my wrist. I had to wear the bracelet all the time except when I took a shower. Apparently, the bracelet wasn't waterproof.

  Alan unsnapped the black bracelet with the help of a small, button-like device, and placed it on the table. "Be quick." A warning flashed in his dark eyes and my heart started to beat rapidly in my chest. Could he know what I was planning? Keeping my face empty of all emotion, I headed upstairs to the bathroom. A sigh of relief escaped me when I locked the door behind me. I changed out of my pajamas and put on a black sweater and a pair of jeans. My ear pressed against the door, I listened for any movement. One of the guards should pass any moment, leaving back door unguarded.

  Heavy footsteps resonated on the thick carpet, and I held my breath until the guard went away and I couldn't hear him anymore. Very carefully, I unlocked the door and turned the knob, slipping out in the hall. Every creak of my sneakers made me stop and strain my ears. Alan's voice broke through the silence and I almost jumped out of my skin. It took me a couple of seconds to realize he was talking to the guard in the kitchen and that he had no idea what I was up to.

  Since I didn't have any more time to waste, I sneaked all the way to the stairway. Alan was still talking to the guard and laughing about something, so I dared to descend the stairs and slipped into the hall that led to the back door. There was a padlock on the door, but I'd seen the code and memorized it the last time that Alan used it in front of me. The lock made a little beep as the light flashed green, and I pushed the door open.

  I dashed across the lawn, hoping to reach the row of houses and disappear in the narrow streets. Someone tackled me from behind, and I fell face first into the grass. Heavy weight pressed me down, and my hands were bound behind my back. Someone pulled me up to my feet, and I could see Alan approaching me, a smug expression on his face. The bastard had clearly anticipated my attempt to escape. Fuck.

  I fought against the guard's tight grip, but I couldn't move a muscle. Alan stopped only a few inches away from me and wound his fingers into my hair, painfully pulling my head to one side.

  "Don't even think for a second that you could outsmart me," he hissed into my ear, then stepped back and nodded at the guard. "Take him to the car and don't let go of him. We're going to the lab early."

  Dread spread through me in waves, but there was nothing I could do. I was completely at Alan's mercy.

  The guards dragged me into the castle of white tiles and people dressed in white coats. Even the lights glowed with white brightness, so I had to squint to be able to see something. Whether I wanted it or not, somehow I always ended up in the damn lab. They took me to one of the numerous white rooms, but this one had a see-through glass that was looking at some sort of a yard. Someone pushed me from behind toward a dark-haired woman, who, strangely enough, was wearing an impeccable black suit.

  "I hear he tried to escape." The woman looked straight at Alan as if she couldn't see me.

  "Yes, he tried." Alan's voice was full of pride. "What are we going to do about that, Valeria?"

  "I don't know." Valeria's cold hazel eyes met mine, and I realized she was assessing me like a cat who had found a new mouse to play with. If the tone of her voice was of any indication, she knew exactly what she was going to do to me. "Can he feel elements?"

  "Sometimes yes, sometimes no," Alan said casually. "His disease developed only recently."

  Valeria strolled over to me, and I fought the urge to back away from her. Too bad that my hands were still tightly bound behind my back or I would have tried to fight my way out. It didn't even matter if I died in the attempt. Death couldn't be worse than being a lab rat, could it? The only obvious problem was that I wouldn't be alive then, and even if my life sucked most of the time, I wasn't ready to part with it.

  "So, carrier, did you really think you could run away from us?" She placed her cold hand on my cheek, her nails digging into my skin. "Did you really think we'd endanger the safety of the citizens and let you roam the streets?"

  "Don't touch me, bitch." I wrenched myself out of her grip, giving her my deadliest
glare.

  She had a grace to flinch, but then her eyes narrowed and she pinched her mouth together. "How dare you insult me!" She yelled, her voice echoing through the small space. "Haven't you taught him anything, Alan?"

  "Watch your mouth." Alan strode over to me, his face a mask of fury. He backhanded me so hard that I tasted blood. I straightened my back and stared at them, not willing to let them subdue me so easily. What did I have to lose? It wasn't like they wouldn't torture me later.

  "Your every action has consequences, carrier." Valeria turned her back to me and picked up a phone from a desk in the corner of the room. "Bring them into the yard," she said to someone on the other end of the line. What was she planning to do? A smile spread her lips when she turned around to face me.

  "Will you keep him here?" Alan asked, a hint of worry in his voice. If Alan didn't know what she was planning, then it couldn't be anything good. Did they have some special procedure for carriers who tried to run away from their guardians? The world believed Alan was one of the rare guardians, but I knew that wasn't exactly the truth. Would they kill me? But that would ruin their plan to monitor the development of the disease. Besides, Alan certainly didn't want to lose his paycheck. Was that why he was worried? Would Valeria kill me? Could she do it? What kind of power did she have here? The uneasiness was back in the pit of my stomach.

  "No. We don't quite need him yet." Valeria chuckled. "I have something else in mind. He needs to be punished for what he's done, and we need to make sure he doesn't try to run away again."

  "As you wish," Alan said, leaving my side and finding a spot to stand in the background with the guards. What could they possibly do to me that would prevent me from trying to run away ever again?

  "Oh, don't worry, Alan. He'll live." Valeria was amused. "But after this, I bet you'll be able to walk around with him and he won't try anything. He won't even have to be bound."

  I was about to tell her where she could shove her plans, but it was better for me to keep quiet until I discovered what her intentions were. A movement in the yard caught my eye and I stared wide-eyed at two tiny figures escorted by mean-looking guards.

  "Come closer and take a look," Valeria said, waving toward the glass. Without thinking, I found myself in front of the glass. A blond boy around my age and a slightly older girl stood in the yard, their heads bowed and their bodies shaking. When the girl lifted her head up, I saw tears streaming down her face.

  Valeria banged on the glass with her fist, startling me and bringing my attention to her. "They're both children of magic disease carriers. One showed the symptoms, the other didn't. Frankly, it doesn't matter."

  "What are you going to do with them?" I tried to keep my emotions off my face, but I didn't think I was successful at masking my dismay and concern.

  "I'm going to let them both go. One will have a tracker, the other won't." Valeria lowered her voice, her hazel eyes piercing through me. "I'm going to send my guards after them and kill them. Do you hear that, carrier? They will die because of you."

  "No." I shook my head slowly.

  "You made a mistake and now you're going to pay for it." She took a small remote control out of her pocket and turned on a TV screen right next to us. I hadn't even noticed the screen, but now I could see the girl and the boy from another angle. "We're going to film everything and you're going to watch them die."

  "No, please. Don't do this." If she wanted me to beg, I'd do it. I couldn't let some innocent kids die because of me. "Please. You can do to me whatever you want. I won't try to run away. Please!"

  "Of course you won't." She grinned. "If Alan notifies me you even thought about running away, I will kill more carriers. Well, maybe not exactly the carriers we need, but those who prove not to be of any use."

  "You can't do this." Thousands of thoughts flashed through my mind, but none of them revealed me a way to save those kids. "How do you plan to find them and execute them in front of everyone? The police won't allow it." Even if no one cared about the carriers, the government liked to pretend from time to time that they protected the carriers' rights simply to lure them out of hiding. Public executions wouldn't help them to gather more carriers for their experiments.

  "Oh, it won't be in front of anyone. My men are professionals. No one will know about this little game of ours." Valeria faced the glass, so I looked through it too. The guards were taking the cuffs off the kids' wrists and urging them to run. Shit! The girl looked disoriented at first, but then she broke into a run, glancing back to see if the guards were following her. The boy was faster and had already disappeared from view.

  "Pay attention to the screen, carrier," Valeria spat, taking a seat in one of the chairs. She sighed in content and leaned back in the chair, the corners of her lips tilting up as she observed the TV screen. Her attention briefly flickered to me. "If you don't watch every second of this transmission, I'm going to find more carriers to get rid of."

  I glanced at Alan's expressionless face and knew he wouldn't do anything to stop the killings. Reluctantly, I looked up at the screen and couldn't look away, even when bile rose in my throat.

  Chapter 09

  Now

  Alan was sitting on the couch, and he smiled at me when I entered the living room. "I didn't think you'd come. It must be something important that you need from me."

  "Don't get your hopes up."

  Alan got up and took a step toward me. "How can I be of assistance?"

  I took in my surroundings and found only two plants, one in each corner of the room, that Alan could use against me. "I need one of your experts for training magic disease carriers." There was no reason to avoid the main point. The sooner I got out of this place, the better.

  "Hmm." Alan tilted his head, his brow furrowing in thought. "You have a new carrier."

  It wasn't a question, but I nodded. If I played this right, Alan would give me all the information I wanted.

  "Who is it? Is it someone you care about?" Alan's curiosity usually got better of him, and this time was no different.

  "It doesn't matter. I need your help. Will you take me to one of the scientists?"

  "And why would I do that?" Alan crossed his arms. "What are you offering in exchange?"

  "I'll tell you what you want to know so badly." I concentrated on my element, which some people preferred to call a sub-element, and felt the coldness seep out of my skin. "And you'll get to live another day."

  Alan chuckled. "Would you kill me like you killed Valeria? Did ending her life make you happy?"

  "I won't do anything unless you force me to." Handing Alan's words back to him was hilarious, but I couldn't feel satisfied about it. "And I'm not like you. I don't celebrate anyone's death. How did you find out she was dead?" I had frozen Valeria to death in her office during the action to overtake the Element Preservers. Seeing her glassy eyes under all the ice should have made me feel better. I should have felt relieved that a woman responsible for so many deaths found her end, but all I felt was emptiness. Nothing I did to Valeria would have brought those people back to life. It didn't stop her from plaguing my nightmares either.

  "You forget who I am. I have many sources. And I should thank you for killing her. I wasn't very fond of her. She had her eyes on the vice presidency." Alan's loyalty usually lay with those who were of use to him, but when you got in the way of something he wanted, you became disposable. Except for me. For some reason, Alan didn't consider me disposable. At least not yet.

  "I can freeze this house in ten seconds. Will you do what I ask of you or not?"

  "Would you really kill me?" Alan was either waiting for backup or he was stalling for no other reason than to annoy me. Ria thought that Alan cared about me somewhere deep inside, but if he did, he had a twisted way of showing it.

  "Not unless I have to." And that was the truth. Damn, even though we had lived together for years, our relationship was seriously fucked up.

  "Fine. I'll take you with me so you can talk with my acquaintanc
e," he finally said.

  "How about you tell me the name and I'll go by myself?" Preferably with a whole team of people accompanying me.

  "No. You are coming with me. People need to see that I'm still your guardian."

  I rolled my eyes. Alan could find benefits for himself in any situation. "All right." The gleam in his eyes proved that he'd enjoy taking me to the lab like in old good times. "But if you try to trick me and capture me, I'm going to kill you and anyone who tries to help you."

  "Believe it or not, you're more worth to me walking around freely this time." Alan smirked. "Now tell me. Who is your new carrier?"

  I took a deep breath and released it slowly. Most of the times, Alan could tell if I was lying, but I hoped this time would be different. No matter what, I couldn't tell him that Ria had the disease because that would be far too dangerous information to give. It was a wonder he hadn't figured it out already. "Paula." My voice was steady when I said it, and I didn't flinch under Alan's scrutinizing gaze.

  "Paula?" Surprise was etched into his face. "Your ex-girlfriend?"

  "Yes." I lowered my eyes, praying that Alan would buy my act.

  "Ria's best friend?"

  I nodded, and Alan burst out laughing. "I didn't think you'd find it so amusing," I said dryly.

  "Oh, I'm sorry, but this is hilarious. You infect someone, and it's your lover's best friend. Ria will never forgive you for that." Alan sobered almost instantly and frowned. "How did that happen exactly? Did you forget all the necessary precautions for sleeping with a normal person?"

  "I have my doubts about that. Paula has been friendly with another carrier, but Ria doesn't want to hear about it." I let annoyance show in my voice.