Faith
Rating: PG-13 Summary: When Emma disappears from Sanctuary, Adam vows to get her back. Pairing: Adam/Emma Author's Note: This story breaks continuity with the show after The Future is Revealed.
Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X or any of its characters. I'm just borrowing them to have some fun with for a little while.
Chapter 4:
December 1, 2002
It was eight-thirty a.m. Jesse, Brennan, and Adam were in the lab, where they had been all night. They were on their third pot of coffee. Jesse was on the computer, busily hacking into the Vincents' security system. He had earlier pulled up blue prints for the Vincent homestead to go with the GPS images Adam had accessed earlier. The team had studied both and discussed where the potential entry points were. They knew every nook and cranny of the property, and now all that remained was determining the best way past security and coming up with a strategy to separate Emma from Michael long enough for Adam to try to get through to her. Michael was a strong telempath, but so was Emma; if he could confront Emma with the memories of what they had, if he could help her remember long enough for her to break Michael's hold on her, she could regain control. Love conquers all, isn't that what the poets say? Adam thought. Shalimar was busy setting the next step of the plan in motion.
She returned to the lab a few minutes later. Adam met her in the middle of the room. "Well? What'd she say?"
"I have good news and I have bad news," Shal said. "The bad news is, you were right. She won't leave the Vincent property. Michael was there with her when we were talking, I could hear him in the background. But I told her I really needed to talk to her, that I was going through a rough time, and it couldn't wait. She finally agreed to have lunch with me at the estate."
Adam nodded knowingly. "That was to be expected. If he let her leave the estate to meet you for lunch, he wouldn't have control over her. Anything unpredictable could happen. That's all right, Shal. You did great. At least you got an invitation onto the property."
"What about the rest of us?" Brennan asked.
"Well, you and Jesse are going to have to sneak in." He pulled his cell phone out of his pants pocket. "I am going to wrangle myself an invitation."
"How are you going to manage that?"
"Watch and listen." Adam smiled. He held the phone to his ear until someone picked up on the other end. "Dale," he began, "It's Adam Kane. Yes, I know hell hasn't frozen over yet."
Jesse, Shalimar, and Brennan exchanged looks. Obviously, Adam and Dale weren't old friends.
"Listen, Dale, let's set that aside for the time being. Remember Project M-5? I know what I said, but I've changed my mind. I'm willing to entertain an offer, if it's the right offer. No, it's got to be today. But the only time I have free is noon." He paused. "Well, Dale, if you're not interested, I can always talk to Sydney about it." A smile spread slowly across his face. "Yes, I know where your estate is. I'll be there at noon. See you then." He flipped the phone shut and grinned at the members of his team. "I'm in."
Brennan looked at Jesse. "So I guess that just leaves us. Let's find a hole in that security system."
* * * * * *
Shalimar pulled her car up in front of the guard post at the front gate of the Vincent estate. She had her sunglasses on so the guard wouldn't see her red and swollen eyes. "Shalimar Fox, I'm a guest of Emma DeLauro."
The guard clearly took his job seriously. He didn't look her over the way men usually did. He checked a paper attached to a clipboard and nodded brusquely. "You're cleared. Go ahead in." He pushed a button, and the enormous gilded gates in front of her swung open. Shal felt like she was driving up to Buckingham Palace.
She was glad the poplar-lined drive was a long one, because she had to work herself into the proper emotional state before she got to the house.
"Remember," Adam had warned her before she left, "you're about to walk into the lion's den. You're facing two empaths. Now, you know Emma won't read you, but Michael will. If you let your suspicions and mistrust about him creep into your emotions, he'll know it, and it'll put him on his guard. The only way for this to work is for you to go in there believing your own cover story. You're going to have to think of something so powerful, so tragic, that it overwhelms any other emotions you have. But at the same time, you've got to keep your wits about you to stick to the plan. You think you can handle that?"
"I've got to, don't I? For Emma's sake." So during the forty-minute drive to the Vincent estate, Shalimar had to use her imagination to come up with something suitably devastating. She forced herself to relive Richard's death. That did the trick.
By the time she pulled up in front of the house and parked in the spot allotted to guests, she had tears streaming down her face again.
Emma and Michael met her at the door. Emma looked unharmed and gave a little wave when she saw Shalimar. Michael's complete attention was on Emma. He only released his grasp on Emma's waist when Emma moved forward to hug Shalimar.
"Oh, honey, what's wrong? You weren't kidding when you said you were a mess."
Shalimar removed her sunglasses for the effect and sniffed. "Yeah, I'm sorry, I got all emotional on the way over here again."
Emma put her arm around Shalimar's shoulders and steered her toward the door. "Come in and tell me what's going on."
"Shalimar." Michael smiled and nodded at her.
Shalimar forced down her revulsion and conjured up an image of Richard's face as he lay dying instead. "Hi, Michael. I'm sorry to be such a downer for you guys."
"Hey, no, don't worry about it. You're Emma's friend, and that's all that matters."
Shalimar felt his eyes on her, though, as Emma led her through the vast, white and gold foyer and down a series of hallways to a sitting room with double doors. He was definitely trying to read her, she could tell. She distracted herself. "Wow, look at this place. It puts the Taj Mahal to shame. Oh my God, is that a Rembrandt?"
"Yeah, there are enough rooms in this place to make you go 'wow' every five minutes for a week," Emma replied, glancing at Michael. He followed them into the sitting room. Emma gestured to the sofa. "Here, have a seat."
"Would you like something to drink?" Michael asked. He walked over to a table with dozens of glass bottles on it, each filled with some kind of liquid.
"Some water would be good, thanks," Shal replied.
"I haven't seen you like this since Richard," Emma said, as Michael handed Shal her water.
"Yeah, well, that's. . . ." Shal looked up at Michael. "Um, I have to say, I don't feel very comfortable talking about this in front of. . .uh. . . ."
Emma took the hint. "Oh. Of course." She turned to Michael. "Sweetheart, would you mind? Girl talk?"
Michael didn't look happy, but he quickly pasted on a look of understanding. "Certainly. I don't mean to pry. You two take your time. I'll be-" he jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward the doors "around, if you need me."
Shalimar waited until he walked out of the room and closed the doors behind him. To all intents and purposes, he had gone away to another part of the house. But he hadn't. Shal reached out with her feral senses, and she felt him, still out in the foyer, just outside the door. It made her nervous. How long could she keep this up, if he was constantly reading her? Thank God Emma made it a policy not to read her friends; she considered it an invasion of privacy. Shalimar just needed to try to forget that Michael was outside the door. "Thanks for agreeing to see me, Emma."
"What's happened? Is everyone okay? Nothing's happened to Adam, has it?"
Shal looked up sharply. "No, why would you ask?"
Instead of replying, Emma stared at her blankly for a moment. It was like looking at a mannequin with her friend's face on it. Creepy. Then, Emma was back and said, "I just thought since you were so upset, maybe something had happened to him. You two are close."
Somehow, Shalimar had the feeling that wasn't the reason Adam's name was the first to come to Emma's mind, but she couldn't dwell on it. Shal launched back into her cover story. "No, no, this has nothing to do with Adam or the others. It's. . .I know it sounds maudlin, but I've been thinking about Richard all the time, lately, and reliving the grief I felt when he died. I can't seem to stop. I thought maybe you could help me. . . ."
* * * * *
Adam pulled into the spot next to Shalimar's car at the Vincent estate. He felt the hood as he got out of his car, before reaching in for his briefcase. The hood was quite warm, which meant he wasn't long behind her. Good. "Jesse, Brennan, where are you guys?"
"We're on the perimeter," Brennan answered. "Give us about ten minutes."
"Okay, I'm about to go into the house. I'll leave the comm. link open, just in case."
"Roger that."
The butler answered the door and escorted Adam across the marble floor of the foyer toward a long hallway. "Mr. Vincent is waiting for you in his office," the butler had said.
Dale Vincent's office was larger than some people's homes. He had several TV monitors on one wall, tuned to various news channels, and a stock ticker. Dale was on the phone when the butler announced Adam, but quickly hung up on whoever it was, with a peremptory "Just get it done sometime today."
Dale's hair had more silver in it than the last time Adam had seen him, but he still had the same athletic tan and steely eyes. "Adam," he said, coming forward to shake hands with him. "I was surprised to hear from you."
"Well, I like to be unpredictable." Adam gave him a measured smile.
"You are that. So what do you want for the M5 technology?"
Damn. Leave it to Vincent to get right down to business. Adam needed to stall him long enough for Jesse and Brennan to penetrate the security to get to the mansion. "Wouldn't you like to see some documentation on the technology's success rate so far? You need to know, it's not a hundred percent."
"Nothing's a hundred percent. But knowing you, it's probably ninety-nine point nine percent. Sure, show me what you've got."
Adam opened his briefcase and pulled out a thick folder. "It's all here, take your time."
"This much? You've been doing extensive tests." Dale reached into his inside coat pocket for his reading glasses.
"You know me, I like to be thorough." Adam pulled what looked like a palm pilot out of his own coat pocket. "Do you mind if I check my messages while you're reading through that?"
"No, not at all." Dale took a seat at the chair behind his desk, and turned his attention to the materials in front of him. Even though it was a thick folder, Adam knew it wouldn't take him long to skim it for the information he wanted. Adam turned on the palm pilot and pulled up the blue print of the Vincent mansion, which Jesse had spliced with their own tracking system. Shalimar was wearing a tracking beacon that would allow him, Brennan, and Jesse to pinpoint her and Emma's location in the mansion when they needed to. Right now, the two young women were in a sitting room approximately three hundred feet away. He glanced at his watch. Brennan had no doubt disabled the forcefield on the perimeter by now, and the two young men were making their way through the wooded area behind the stables to the house. He hoped they didn't run into any surprises. It was not supposed to be a heavily guarded area.
When Dale finished skimming the documents. "All right, let's cut to the chase, Adam. How much do you want? Or is it something other than money you're looking to trade this for?"
Adam scrutinized the businessman's shrewd face. "What do you mean?"
"Am I really supposed to think this is a coincidence?" Dale replied, one corner of his mouth twisting upward. "My son brings home one of your mutants and you call me up out of the blue to offer me a piece of technology I've been trying to get you to sell me for the past two years? I think not. Are you hoping for a trade? The M5 technology for Miss DeLauro?"
Adam's heart began beating faster, but he maintained his zen-like expression. "If I were, would you go along with it?"
Dale looked away, toward a picture of his late first wife, Michael's mother, that still sat on the edge of his desk. There was a photo of Dale and Michael on the bookshelf behind him. They wore tennis garb and looked like they had just won a tournament. Michael took after his mother, not his father. He was a short, lean young man with a pencil thin mustache and straight, light brown hair. He looked as though he was being crushed uncomfortably under the weight of his father's arm around his narrow shoulders. Adam felt sorry for him for a brief second. A very brief second. There were no other photos in the office, as if Dale's second and third wives-both of whom had divorced him-had never existed.
"No," Dale finally said, decisively. "I wouldn't. My son's happiness is more important to me than any business deal. However, I do admire your willingness to entertain such a trade. I always told you we were more alike than you ever wanted to admit."
"Emma makes Michael happy?" Adam asked softly, barely parting his teeth to get the words out.
"Absolutely. I've never seen him like this before. Love does create a remarkable transformation in a person."
"Yes, it does. But does Michael make Emma happy?" Do you even care? He added silently.
"Seems to. You're welcome to ask her yourself on your way out. She's around the house somewhere. I think she was having a friend over for lunch." Dale leaned forward. "Now, about a real price for the technology- "
Adam glanced at his watch. It was almost time. He grabbed the folder off the desk and put it back in his briefcase, snapping the case shut. "You can't pay my price."
A flash of anger crossed Dale's face. "Come on, Adam. You can't sit on this forever. Think of all the applications-the world needs this technology. I can bring it to the marketplace."
"Oh, you're right about the potential applications. But it's not ready for the marketplace. Not until I can safeguard it, make sure it can't be used by the military or warped beyond its intent. I've been burned too many times, Dale."
"Then why are you here? Is this some sort of carrot you're dangling in front of me? Or did you really think you could trade it for your mutant?"
Adam lost his temper. "You know, the way you keep calling her a mutant makes me wonder what you call your own son. He's a new mutant, too."
"Thanks to you!" Dale's lip curled back.
"You're the one who brought your pregnant wife to Genomex. You're the one who wanted a child with superior DNA." Adam stared back at him.
Dale stood abruptly. "If our business is concluded here, you can see yourself out."
"My pleasure."
Adam left Dale's office and headed down the hall. He pulled out the palm pilot. Emma and Shalimar were still in the sitting room. Once out in the foyer, he took a left and headed down another hallway that led to that room. "Brennan, Jesse, where are you? I'm on my way to Emma and Shal's position right now."
"So are we," Jesse replied, breathless, "but we've got company on our tail. We're going to have to do this fast, Adam."
He saw Michael before Michael saw him. But the young man felt him just before Adam reached the door to the sitting room. He whirled. "What are you doing here?"
"I think you know." Adam brushed past Michael and into the sitting room, where Shalimar was in tears on the couch, and Emma was comforting her. The sight of Emma flooded him with relief. Shal looked up, realizing she didn't have to play-act any more, and wiped the tears from her face.
"Emma." Adam came to a stop in front of her.
Emma stood up and stared at him, confused. "Adam? What are you doing here?"
Michael followed on Adam's heels. He was physically no match for the older man, and he knew it. "Emma, darling. Are you all right?"
Her face smoothed of expression for a split-second. Then she smiled at Michael. "I'm fine, sweetheart. Look, Adam came for a visit, too."
"Yes, but Adam wasn't invited," Michael replied coolly.
"Oh, but I was. I had some business with your father." Adam never looked away from Emma's face. She seemed pleased to see him, a tiny smile lifting the corners of her mouth up.
"Well, it seems your business is concluded-"
"I haven't even gotten started yet," Adam interrupted. He reached out and took Emma's arms gently in his hands. "Emma, honey, you need to listen to me. None of this is real. Michael has taken over your memories and manipulated you into believing you're in love with him. But you're not."
Emma laughed nervously. "What? What are you talking about?"
"How dare you?!" Michael tried to pull Adam away from Emma, but before he knew what was happening, Shalimar had sprung up off the couch and knocked him aside. She stood between him and her friends, her eyes glowing yellow. "Back off, Michael."
"Shal, don't hurt him!" Emma took a step toward Shalimar.
Adam tightened his grip on her arms and turned her around to face him. "Forget about him, Emma. I need you to concentrate. You trust me, don't you?"
"Yes, of course I do. I trust you more than-" Emma's face blanked for a moment, then it rapidly changed expression, leaving her with a deep frown and the appearance of undergoing an internal struggle.
She raised her hand to her temple and rubbed it like she had a headache.
"That's it, Emma, fight him. You're stronger than he is."
She pulled back and looked at him coolly. "I'm sorry if you feel betrayed that I left Mutant X, Adam, but I had to do what made me happy. Michael makes me happy."
Adam felt as though she had slapped him. But he quickly pushed that feeling aside. Those weren't Emma's words, they were Michael's. Adam smiled at her and cupped her face in his hands. "I'm not talking about Mutant X, honey. I'm talking about you and me." He allowed himself to feel his love for Emma. He didn't hold back any of it this time. He gazed into her face, looking for a sign. "We were in love. Not you and Michael, you and me. Remember? Remember this?" He pulled his hand away long enough to reach into his jacket pocket and pull out a micro-cassette player. He pushed the button and music played-a female voice crooning, "It's very clear, our love is here to stay, not for a year, forever and a day.."
A flicker of something lit her eyes--recognition, perhaps?
Adam moved closer to her, drawing her into his arms. She didn't resist. "Do you smell my cologne?" he whispered in her ear. "You said you liked this one." Smell and sound are the most powerful memory triggers. Adam was counting on that. "You told me that night we danced to this song in Sanctuary. Do you remember?"
"I-I-" Emma's face was a portrait of confusion, like someone who knew two things to be true, but completely opposite, and is trying to reconcile them.
"It's getting harder, isn't it?" Shal said to Michael. "Look at him, Adam, he's sweating."
"You're scaring him," Emma protested. But the words came out feebly. Still she made no move to pull out of Adam's arms. His heart soared with hope.
"No, I don't think that's it." Shal peered closer into his face. "Check out those dark circles. You haven't been getting much sleep lately, have you, Michael?"
"No, I haven't. But that's really none of your business." He tried to pull away from Shal, to maneuver closer to Emma, but the feral's reflexes were quicker than his. She kept him cornered.
"Mm. Got a lot on your mind, I imagine, what with erasing Emma's memory and trying to make her think she's in love with you every minute of every day. Having to stay on guard to make sure no one says or does anything to remind her how she really feels. It must be exhausting. Did you really think you could keep this up for the rest of your life? Or were you hoping to just keep your hold over her long enough to get what you wanted from her and then hope your daddy could bail you out of the mess you created?"
Meanwhile, Adam kept talking to Emma. "Do you remember the night we snuck out for dinner, and we had that table overlooking the lake? Your eyes sparkled in the candlelight."
"Brighter than the stars," Emma murmured.
"That's right. I said they were the brighter than the stars that night. And that you were more beautiful than the moon."
"What's going on here?" Dale Vincent stood in the doorway, scowling. "Unhand my son!" He took a step toward Shalimar, but stopped short when she growled at him.
Just then, Jesse and Brennan phased through the outer wall to the sitting room, Jesse's hand on Brennan's shoulder. They stumbled into the room, out of breath. "Adam! The guards spotted us! They're on their way," Jesse said between gasps. Shalimar pulled Dale Vincent into the room and slammed the double doors closed behind him, locking them.
"I should've known you were responsible for the security breach, Adam!" Dale glowered at him.
Brennan ran to Shalimar's side and built up a ball of electricity between his hands, ready to zap the first security officer who stormed the room. While Shalimar was distracted, Michael rushed to Adam and Emma. He pulled hard on Adam's arm. "Emma!" he shouted. "You love ME, tell him!"
Adam had enough of Michael. He whirled and punched the young man in the face, knocking him backward. Jesse managed to catch him before he hit the floor.
"Michael!" Emma called out. "Adam?" She stared at him, shocked. "How could you do that? Why-what are you-"
There was only one more weapon in Adam's arsenal. He decided to use it while Michael was preoccupied. He pulled Emma into his arms and kissed her, deeply, releasing all the pent-up passion he'd been holding in for the past few days.
She started to push away in surprise, and then, she relaxed and began kissing him back. She slowly twined her arms around him, pulling him tighter against her. Emma let out a little moan of pleasure.
The others simply stared at them.
Then Michael came to and struggled in Jesse's grasp. A trickle of blood ran from his nose. "You son of a-I think you broke my nose!"
"You're lucky if that's all he broke," Jesse said.
"Of all the-Adam, you are going down for this," Dale Vincent blustered.
Slowly, Adam eased his hold on Emma and pulled his face back away from hers. He didn't have to ask this time. He knew she remembered. He smiled at her.
Emma stared up at him breathlessly. "Adam? You came for me?"
"Of course I did. I love you."
Someone began pounding on the door. Then, there was the jingle of keys, and the handles jiggled. Brennan sent a pulse of electricity at the door handles, and they heard a shout and a thump on the other side of the door.
A security guard with a gun appeared outside a window, gun drawn. Shalimar grabbed Dale Vincent around the throat and called out to the guard "I wouldn't do that if I were you! You might just miss and hit your boss!"
"Or his son!" Jesse added, hauling Michael to his feet. Michael had gone pale.
Adam was dimly aware of all of this going on around him, but his eyes never left Emma's face. He waited for her reaction.
Rating: PG-13 Summary: When Emma disappears from Sanctuary, Adam vows to get her back. Pairing: Adam/Emma Author's Note: This story breaks continuity with the show after The Future is Revealed.
Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X or any of its characters. I'm just borrowing them to have some fun with for a little while.
Chapter 4:
December 1, 2002
It was eight-thirty a.m. Jesse, Brennan, and Adam were in the lab, where they had been all night. They were on their third pot of coffee. Jesse was on the computer, busily hacking into the Vincents' security system. He had earlier pulled up blue prints for the Vincent homestead to go with the GPS images Adam had accessed earlier. The team had studied both and discussed where the potential entry points were. They knew every nook and cranny of the property, and now all that remained was determining the best way past security and coming up with a strategy to separate Emma from Michael long enough for Adam to try to get through to her. Michael was a strong telempath, but so was Emma; if he could confront Emma with the memories of what they had, if he could help her remember long enough for her to break Michael's hold on her, she could regain control. Love conquers all, isn't that what the poets say? Adam thought. Shalimar was busy setting the next step of the plan in motion.
She returned to the lab a few minutes later. Adam met her in the middle of the room. "Well? What'd she say?"
"I have good news and I have bad news," Shal said. "The bad news is, you were right. She won't leave the Vincent property. Michael was there with her when we were talking, I could hear him in the background. But I told her I really needed to talk to her, that I was going through a rough time, and it couldn't wait. She finally agreed to have lunch with me at the estate."
Adam nodded knowingly. "That was to be expected. If he let her leave the estate to meet you for lunch, he wouldn't have control over her. Anything unpredictable could happen. That's all right, Shal. You did great. At least you got an invitation onto the property."
"What about the rest of us?" Brennan asked.
"Well, you and Jesse are going to have to sneak in." He pulled his cell phone out of his pants pocket. "I am going to wrangle myself an invitation."
"How are you going to manage that?"
"Watch and listen." Adam smiled. He held the phone to his ear until someone picked up on the other end. "Dale," he began, "It's Adam Kane. Yes, I know hell hasn't frozen over yet."
Jesse, Shalimar, and Brennan exchanged looks. Obviously, Adam and Dale weren't old friends.
"Listen, Dale, let's set that aside for the time being. Remember Project M-5? I know what I said, but I've changed my mind. I'm willing to entertain an offer, if it's the right offer. No, it's got to be today. But the only time I have free is noon." He paused. "Well, Dale, if you're not interested, I can always talk to Sydney about it." A smile spread slowly across his face. "Yes, I know where your estate is. I'll be there at noon. See you then." He flipped the phone shut and grinned at the members of his team. "I'm in."
Brennan looked at Jesse. "So I guess that just leaves us. Let's find a hole in that security system."
* * * * * *
Shalimar pulled her car up in front of the guard post at the front gate of the Vincent estate. She had her sunglasses on so the guard wouldn't see her red and swollen eyes. "Shalimar Fox, I'm a guest of Emma DeLauro."
The guard clearly took his job seriously. He didn't look her over the way men usually did. He checked a paper attached to a clipboard and nodded brusquely. "You're cleared. Go ahead in." He pushed a button, and the enormous gilded gates in front of her swung open. Shal felt like she was driving up to Buckingham Palace.
She was glad the poplar-lined drive was a long one, because she had to work herself into the proper emotional state before she got to the house.
"Remember," Adam had warned her before she left, "you're about to walk into the lion's den. You're facing two empaths. Now, you know Emma won't read you, but Michael will. If you let your suspicions and mistrust about him creep into your emotions, he'll know it, and it'll put him on his guard. The only way for this to work is for you to go in there believing your own cover story. You're going to have to think of something so powerful, so tragic, that it overwhelms any other emotions you have. But at the same time, you've got to keep your wits about you to stick to the plan. You think you can handle that?"
"I've got to, don't I? For Emma's sake." So during the forty-minute drive to the Vincent estate, Shalimar had to use her imagination to come up with something suitably devastating. She forced herself to relive Richard's death. That did the trick.
By the time she pulled up in front of the house and parked in the spot allotted to guests, she had tears streaming down her face again.
Emma and Michael met her at the door. Emma looked unharmed and gave a little wave when she saw Shalimar. Michael's complete attention was on Emma. He only released his grasp on Emma's waist when Emma moved forward to hug Shalimar.
"Oh, honey, what's wrong? You weren't kidding when you said you were a mess."
Shalimar removed her sunglasses for the effect and sniffed. "Yeah, I'm sorry, I got all emotional on the way over here again."
Emma put her arm around Shalimar's shoulders and steered her toward the door. "Come in and tell me what's going on."
"Shalimar." Michael smiled and nodded at her.
Shalimar forced down her revulsion and conjured up an image of Richard's face as he lay dying instead. "Hi, Michael. I'm sorry to be such a downer for you guys."
"Hey, no, don't worry about it. You're Emma's friend, and that's all that matters."
Shalimar felt his eyes on her, though, as Emma led her through the vast, white and gold foyer and down a series of hallways to a sitting room with double doors. He was definitely trying to read her, she could tell. She distracted herself. "Wow, look at this place. It puts the Taj Mahal to shame. Oh my God, is that a Rembrandt?"
"Yeah, there are enough rooms in this place to make you go 'wow' every five minutes for a week," Emma replied, glancing at Michael. He followed them into the sitting room. Emma gestured to the sofa. "Here, have a seat."
"Would you like something to drink?" Michael asked. He walked over to a table with dozens of glass bottles on it, each filled with some kind of liquid.
"Some water would be good, thanks," Shal replied.
"I haven't seen you like this since Richard," Emma said, as Michael handed Shal her water.
"Yeah, well, that's. . . ." Shal looked up at Michael. "Um, I have to say, I don't feel very comfortable talking about this in front of. . .uh. . . ."
Emma took the hint. "Oh. Of course." She turned to Michael. "Sweetheart, would you mind? Girl talk?"
Michael didn't look happy, but he quickly pasted on a look of understanding. "Certainly. I don't mean to pry. You two take your time. I'll be-" he jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward the doors "around, if you need me."
Shalimar waited until he walked out of the room and closed the doors behind him. To all intents and purposes, he had gone away to another part of the house. But he hadn't. Shal reached out with her feral senses, and she felt him, still out in the foyer, just outside the door. It made her nervous. How long could she keep this up, if he was constantly reading her? Thank God Emma made it a policy not to read her friends; she considered it an invasion of privacy. Shalimar just needed to try to forget that Michael was outside the door. "Thanks for agreeing to see me, Emma."
"What's happened? Is everyone okay? Nothing's happened to Adam, has it?"
Shal looked up sharply. "No, why would you ask?"
Instead of replying, Emma stared at her blankly for a moment. It was like looking at a mannequin with her friend's face on it. Creepy. Then, Emma was back and said, "I just thought since you were so upset, maybe something had happened to him. You two are close."
Somehow, Shalimar had the feeling that wasn't the reason Adam's name was the first to come to Emma's mind, but she couldn't dwell on it. Shal launched back into her cover story. "No, no, this has nothing to do with Adam or the others. It's. . .I know it sounds maudlin, but I've been thinking about Richard all the time, lately, and reliving the grief I felt when he died. I can't seem to stop. I thought maybe you could help me. . . ."
* * * * *
Adam pulled into the spot next to Shalimar's car at the Vincent estate. He felt the hood as he got out of his car, before reaching in for his briefcase. The hood was quite warm, which meant he wasn't long behind her. Good. "Jesse, Brennan, where are you guys?"
"We're on the perimeter," Brennan answered. "Give us about ten minutes."
"Okay, I'm about to go into the house. I'll leave the comm. link open, just in case."
"Roger that."
The butler answered the door and escorted Adam across the marble floor of the foyer toward a long hallway. "Mr. Vincent is waiting for you in his office," the butler had said.
Dale Vincent's office was larger than some people's homes. He had several TV monitors on one wall, tuned to various news channels, and a stock ticker. Dale was on the phone when the butler announced Adam, but quickly hung up on whoever it was, with a peremptory "Just get it done sometime today."
Dale's hair had more silver in it than the last time Adam had seen him, but he still had the same athletic tan and steely eyes. "Adam," he said, coming forward to shake hands with him. "I was surprised to hear from you."
"Well, I like to be unpredictable." Adam gave him a measured smile.
"You are that. So what do you want for the M5 technology?"
Damn. Leave it to Vincent to get right down to business. Adam needed to stall him long enough for Jesse and Brennan to penetrate the security to get to the mansion. "Wouldn't you like to see some documentation on the technology's success rate so far? You need to know, it's not a hundred percent."
"Nothing's a hundred percent. But knowing you, it's probably ninety-nine point nine percent. Sure, show me what you've got."
Adam opened his briefcase and pulled out a thick folder. "It's all here, take your time."
"This much? You've been doing extensive tests." Dale reached into his inside coat pocket for his reading glasses.
"You know me, I like to be thorough." Adam pulled what looked like a palm pilot out of his own coat pocket. "Do you mind if I check my messages while you're reading through that?"
"No, not at all." Dale took a seat at the chair behind his desk, and turned his attention to the materials in front of him. Even though it was a thick folder, Adam knew it wouldn't take him long to skim it for the information he wanted. Adam turned on the palm pilot and pulled up the blue print of the Vincent mansion, which Jesse had spliced with their own tracking system. Shalimar was wearing a tracking beacon that would allow him, Brennan, and Jesse to pinpoint her and Emma's location in the mansion when they needed to. Right now, the two young women were in a sitting room approximately three hundred feet away. He glanced at his watch. Brennan had no doubt disabled the forcefield on the perimeter by now, and the two young men were making their way through the wooded area behind the stables to the house. He hoped they didn't run into any surprises. It was not supposed to be a heavily guarded area.
When Dale finished skimming the documents. "All right, let's cut to the chase, Adam. How much do you want? Or is it something other than money you're looking to trade this for?"
Adam scrutinized the businessman's shrewd face. "What do you mean?"
"Am I really supposed to think this is a coincidence?" Dale replied, one corner of his mouth twisting upward. "My son brings home one of your mutants and you call me up out of the blue to offer me a piece of technology I've been trying to get you to sell me for the past two years? I think not. Are you hoping for a trade? The M5 technology for Miss DeLauro?"
Adam's heart began beating faster, but he maintained his zen-like expression. "If I were, would you go along with it?"
Dale looked away, toward a picture of his late first wife, Michael's mother, that still sat on the edge of his desk. There was a photo of Dale and Michael on the bookshelf behind him. They wore tennis garb and looked like they had just won a tournament. Michael took after his mother, not his father. He was a short, lean young man with a pencil thin mustache and straight, light brown hair. He looked as though he was being crushed uncomfortably under the weight of his father's arm around his narrow shoulders. Adam felt sorry for him for a brief second. A very brief second. There were no other photos in the office, as if Dale's second and third wives-both of whom had divorced him-had never existed.
"No," Dale finally said, decisively. "I wouldn't. My son's happiness is more important to me than any business deal. However, I do admire your willingness to entertain such a trade. I always told you we were more alike than you ever wanted to admit."
"Emma makes Michael happy?" Adam asked softly, barely parting his teeth to get the words out.
"Absolutely. I've never seen him like this before. Love does create a remarkable transformation in a person."
"Yes, it does. But does Michael make Emma happy?" Do you even care? He added silently.
"Seems to. You're welcome to ask her yourself on your way out. She's around the house somewhere. I think she was having a friend over for lunch." Dale leaned forward. "Now, about a real price for the technology- "
Adam glanced at his watch. It was almost time. He grabbed the folder off the desk and put it back in his briefcase, snapping the case shut. "You can't pay my price."
A flash of anger crossed Dale's face. "Come on, Adam. You can't sit on this forever. Think of all the applications-the world needs this technology. I can bring it to the marketplace."
"Oh, you're right about the potential applications. But it's not ready for the marketplace. Not until I can safeguard it, make sure it can't be used by the military or warped beyond its intent. I've been burned too many times, Dale."
"Then why are you here? Is this some sort of carrot you're dangling in front of me? Or did you really think you could trade it for your mutant?"
Adam lost his temper. "You know, the way you keep calling her a mutant makes me wonder what you call your own son. He's a new mutant, too."
"Thanks to you!" Dale's lip curled back.
"You're the one who brought your pregnant wife to Genomex. You're the one who wanted a child with superior DNA." Adam stared back at him.
Dale stood abruptly. "If our business is concluded here, you can see yourself out."
"My pleasure."
Adam left Dale's office and headed down the hall. He pulled out the palm pilot. Emma and Shalimar were still in the sitting room. Once out in the foyer, he took a left and headed down another hallway that led to that room. "Brennan, Jesse, where are you? I'm on my way to Emma and Shal's position right now."
"So are we," Jesse replied, breathless, "but we've got company on our tail. We're going to have to do this fast, Adam."
He saw Michael before Michael saw him. But the young man felt him just before Adam reached the door to the sitting room. He whirled. "What are you doing here?"
"I think you know." Adam brushed past Michael and into the sitting room, where Shalimar was in tears on the couch, and Emma was comforting her. The sight of Emma flooded him with relief. Shal looked up, realizing she didn't have to play-act any more, and wiped the tears from her face.
"Emma." Adam came to a stop in front of her.
Emma stood up and stared at him, confused. "Adam? What are you doing here?"
Michael followed on Adam's heels. He was physically no match for the older man, and he knew it. "Emma, darling. Are you all right?"
Her face smoothed of expression for a split-second. Then she smiled at Michael. "I'm fine, sweetheart. Look, Adam came for a visit, too."
"Yes, but Adam wasn't invited," Michael replied coolly.
"Oh, but I was. I had some business with your father." Adam never looked away from Emma's face. She seemed pleased to see him, a tiny smile lifting the corners of her mouth up.
"Well, it seems your business is concluded-"
"I haven't even gotten started yet," Adam interrupted. He reached out and took Emma's arms gently in his hands. "Emma, honey, you need to listen to me. None of this is real. Michael has taken over your memories and manipulated you into believing you're in love with him. But you're not."
Emma laughed nervously. "What? What are you talking about?"
"How dare you?!" Michael tried to pull Adam away from Emma, but before he knew what was happening, Shalimar had sprung up off the couch and knocked him aside. She stood between him and her friends, her eyes glowing yellow. "Back off, Michael."
"Shal, don't hurt him!" Emma took a step toward Shalimar.
Adam tightened his grip on her arms and turned her around to face him. "Forget about him, Emma. I need you to concentrate. You trust me, don't you?"
"Yes, of course I do. I trust you more than-" Emma's face blanked for a moment, then it rapidly changed expression, leaving her with a deep frown and the appearance of undergoing an internal struggle.
She raised her hand to her temple and rubbed it like she had a headache.
"That's it, Emma, fight him. You're stronger than he is."
She pulled back and looked at him coolly. "I'm sorry if you feel betrayed that I left Mutant X, Adam, but I had to do what made me happy. Michael makes me happy."
Adam felt as though she had slapped him. But he quickly pushed that feeling aside. Those weren't Emma's words, they were Michael's. Adam smiled at her and cupped her face in his hands. "I'm not talking about Mutant X, honey. I'm talking about you and me." He allowed himself to feel his love for Emma. He didn't hold back any of it this time. He gazed into her face, looking for a sign. "We were in love. Not you and Michael, you and me. Remember? Remember this?" He pulled his hand away long enough to reach into his jacket pocket and pull out a micro-cassette player. He pushed the button and music played-a female voice crooning, "It's very clear, our love is here to stay, not for a year, forever and a day.."
A flicker of something lit her eyes--recognition, perhaps?
Adam moved closer to her, drawing her into his arms. She didn't resist. "Do you smell my cologne?" he whispered in her ear. "You said you liked this one." Smell and sound are the most powerful memory triggers. Adam was counting on that. "You told me that night we danced to this song in Sanctuary. Do you remember?"
"I-I-" Emma's face was a portrait of confusion, like someone who knew two things to be true, but completely opposite, and is trying to reconcile them.
"It's getting harder, isn't it?" Shal said to Michael. "Look at him, Adam, he's sweating."
"You're scaring him," Emma protested. But the words came out feebly. Still she made no move to pull out of Adam's arms. His heart soared with hope.
"No, I don't think that's it." Shal peered closer into his face. "Check out those dark circles. You haven't been getting much sleep lately, have you, Michael?"
"No, I haven't. But that's really none of your business." He tried to pull away from Shal, to maneuver closer to Emma, but the feral's reflexes were quicker than his. She kept him cornered.
"Mm. Got a lot on your mind, I imagine, what with erasing Emma's memory and trying to make her think she's in love with you every minute of every day. Having to stay on guard to make sure no one says or does anything to remind her how she really feels. It must be exhausting. Did you really think you could keep this up for the rest of your life? Or were you hoping to just keep your hold over her long enough to get what you wanted from her and then hope your daddy could bail you out of the mess you created?"
Meanwhile, Adam kept talking to Emma. "Do you remember the night we snuck out for dinner, and we had that table overlooking the lake? Your eyes sparkled in the candlelight."
"Brighter than the stars," Emma murmured.
"That's right. I said they were the brighter than the stars that night. And that you were more beautiful than the moon."
"What's going on here?" Dale Vincent stood in the doorway, scowling. "Unhand my son!" He took a step toward Shalimar, but stopped short when she growled at him.
Just then, Jesse and Brennan phased through the outer wall to the sitting room, Jesse's hand on Brennan's shoulder. They stumbled into the room, out of breath. "Adam! The guards spotted us! They're on their way," Jesse said between gasps. Shalimar pulled Dale Vincent into the room and slammed the double doors closed behind him, locking them.
"I should've known you were responsible for the security breach, Adam!" Dale glowered at him.
Brennan ran to Shalimar's side and built up a ball of electricity between his hands, ready to zap the first security officer who stormed the room. While Shalimar was distracted, Michael rushed to Adam and Emma. He pulled hard on Adam's arm. "Emma!" he shouted. "You love ME, tell him!"
Adam had enough of Michael. He whirled and punched the young man in the face, knocking him backward. Jesse managed to catch him before he hit the floor.
"Michael!" Emma called out. "Adam?" She stared at him, shocked. "How could you do that? Why-what are you-"
There was only one more weapon in Adam's arsenal. He decided to use it while Michael was preoccupied. He pulled Emma into his arms and kissed her, deeply, releasing all the pent-up passion he'd been holding in for the past few days.
She started to push away in surprise, and then, she relaxed and began kissing him back. She slowly twined her arms around him, pulling him tighter against her. Emma let out a little moan of pleasure.
The others simply stared at them.
Then Michael came to and struggled in Jesse's grasp. A trickle of blood ran from his nose. "You son of a-I think you broke my nose!"
"You're lucky if that's all he broke," Jesse said.
"Of all the-Adam, you are going down for this," Dale Vincent blustered.
Slowly, Adam eased his hold on Emma and pulled his face back away from hers. He didn't have to ask this time. He knew she remembered. He smiled at her.
Emma stared up at him breathlessly. "Adam? You came for me?"
"Of course I did. I love you."
Someone began pounding on the door. Then, there was the jingle of keys, and the handles jiggled. Brennan sent a pulse of electricity at the door handles, and they heard a shout and a thump on the other side of the door.
A security guard with a gun appeared outside a window, gun drawn. Shalimar grabbed Dale Vincent around the throat and called out to the guard "I wouldn't do that if I were you! You might just miss and hit your boss!"
"Or his son!" Jesse added, hauling Michael to his feet. Michael had gone pale.
Adam was dimly aware of all of this going on around him, but his eyes never left Emma's face. He waited for her reaction.