The chamber where Ethan was strapped to a slab lit up like
Christmas and the fourth of July. Even though the ATP generator
was tipped skyward, the room was still filled with a blinding
and intense light.
Kevin Fairchild ran to the viewing window and shielded his
eyes. He couldn’t see his brother, the light was too bright,
the heat too intense. Myers hadn’t said anything about heat.
If he didn’t find a way to get Ethan out of that chamber,
the ATP generator would fry him alive.
“What
have you done,” Kevin muttered.
Janette Ambrose sat sprawled on the ground. A bruise began
to appear on across her cheek but she didn’t seem to notice
it. She was certain Ethan was already dead. She could feel
the heat from across the room, but it was the droning of
the monitor that cinched it for her. The constant blip indicating
Ethan’s heart beat chirped one last time. Then a one note
effigy to a man she had once longed to be her own buzzed
on. The monotone sound was music to her ears.
She had once longed to own him, but now he was the man who
made Julian hate her. The man whose death would surely bring
them back together again.
She inched forward and reached for the gun warming the small
of her back. One Fairchild down. One to go. She aimed the
small pistol at Kevin’s back.
***
They had tried to keep her out of danger, but Sabrina Michaels
would not hide any longer. She and Bobbie Sullivan hatched
a counter attack as the woman who looked like Michela Forsythe
spouted about her brilliant plan.
“I’m
gonna move the satellite,” Bobbie said, his eyes letting
her know he wasn’t sure if he could accomplish the task.
“That way, the generator beam will never touch it and divert
the energy toward the Diamond Triad camp.”
Sabrina had agreed that it was a good plan, probably better
since the men in black hadn’t yet noticed their existence.
She peered around the corner and into the room where all
the commotion had begun.
Kevin had his back to her attempting to enter an adjacent
room. Light and coiled energy kept him at bay., but it was
the monotone emitted by the monitor that had Kevin horrified.
Sabrina held her breath. She hoped that didn’t mean what
she thought it meant.
She didn’t have much time to contemplate the subject when
the woman on the floor aimed her gun straight at Kevin.
Sabrina inched closer. She couldn’t let this evil woman
kill Kevin, not after all she had done to protect him!
On the shelf next to her was a microscope. She grabbed it
and tested its weight. Before she could use it to slam the
woman over the head another man dressed in black knocked
it out of her hands. Kevin, distracted by the noises behind
him, turned around. The Black Council minion pressed a gun
to Sabrina’s head.
Janette wiped a bead of sweat from her brow and in the process
dislodged the mask she had been wearing to alter her appearance.
Kevin had somehow known this woman wasn’t Michela Forsythe,
but now he knew for certain she was a fake. The mask revealed
she was none other than Janette Ambrose, Julian Black’s
late wife. Apparently, she wasn’t so late any more.
Kevin had already emptied his clip dealing with the other
minions, he didn’t know what option he had left to save
Sabrina. Philip Lancaster, Lee Myers and Jeffrey Sogard
were all unconscious and bleeding from the earlier brawl.
He, Sabrina, Janette and the minion were the only ones left
standing. And from the sound of Ethan’s heart monitor, he
was dead as well. Kevin smashed his hand into the annoying
device and it beeped its last note.
The ATP generator’s computer updated the progress of the
ATP beam. “Approaching target,” the digital voice informed
them. “Two minutes to impact.”
“You
have no options left, Kevin,” Janette said picking herself
up off the ground. “You take me out and he kills the girl.”
“You
won’t get away with this,” Kevin said, his voice like venom.
Janette chuckled. “I already have.” She motioned to her
minion. “Take her away. Someplace safe.”
The masked minion nodded but didn’t speak as he hauled Sabrina,
kicking and screaming from the room.
“You
may have won this round, but you won’t win the end game.”
“Oh,
won’t I?” Janette raised her gun aiming at Kevin’s head
and cocked the hammer. “Goodbye, Kevin.”
***
Ethan Fairchild didn’t know when he had regained consciousness,
he only knew he had be privy to conversations there was
no possible way he could have heard. Janette had been masquerading
as Michela. Many of the memories he once thought were real
began to fade away and his real past shot to the forefront
of his mind. The process seemed to take only seconds.
Those mini machines in his brain must be attacking the evil
influences which had been programmed into him.
He had little time left if he wanted to use the element
of surprise. It amazed him how intensely angry he felt toward
Janette. A low growl rumbled at the back of his throat.
Then without another moments thought, he burst from the
middle of the intense shower of light and bound toward Janette.
***
Octavia Kassoff felt like her emotions were on a roller
coaster ride. All she had wanted was Ethan’s death and just
when she was assured of her victory, the man burst from
the far room like a phoenix from the ashes.
“NO!”
she screamed. “NO!”
Octavia rushed into the room, planted her feet, drew her
weapon and fired.
Janette, reacting to the growl coming from far room, moved
suddenly just as Ethan’s form appeared like a shadow from
the night. His silhouette was all she could see due to the
ATP light show. The bullet slammed into her back catapulting
her forward.
Octavia could only stand and stare, the gun still poised
in her hand. She watched as Kevin removed it from her clutches
and set it aside. She wanted to scream how much she hated
Ethan but her voice wouldn’t work. It shouldn’t have happened
this way. That bullet was meant for Ethan. He was the one
who deserved to die. He had killed her brother.
A tear escaped and dripped down her cheek. Ethan wiped it
away. Her head jerked at the contact.
“You
made the right decision,” Ethan said, knowing Janette Ambrose
and Octavia had once been close friends.
The computerized voice reminded them of the dire circumstances
about to unfold. “One minute to impact.”
Kevin, Ethan and Octavia pushed buttons on the control panel
attempting to shut down the machine. Nothing they did seemed
to work.
Bobbie Sullivan came rushing into the room as the digital
voice said, “Thirty seconds to impact.”
“I’m
attempting to move the Legacy satellite, but it’s locked
into position for another few seconds. I have another idea,
though.”
Bobbie ran to the far end of the room and opened the circuit
breaker box. He threw every switch until the entire laboratory
was emersed in darkness. The security lights immediately
clicked on providing the only illumination in the windowless
room.
The ATP generator whined as it powered down. They all drew
a collective sigh of relief. A few minutes later they received
the news that the ATP bean had disappeared from radar mere
seconds before impact with the satellite.
Kevin couldn’t celebrate with the rest of the group. He
was happy that his brother was alive, but Sabrina was out
there somewhere and he vowed to find her no matter what
or who stood in his way.
***
The gag was removed from Sabrina’s mouth three hours later.
She had been blindfolded and taken to a place that felt
somehow familiar. When her blindfold was removed the true
identity of her captor chilled her blood.
“No,”
she whispered. “Please, God, no!” Her hands were bound and
she couldn’t get away from the horrific vision before her.
The man’s smile was pure evil.
“Aren’t
you going to welcome me back, Brin?”
Sabrina’s scream echoed through the night.