Part 6
The fear-fuelled burst of energy that had enabled Jesse to overcome the physical limitations binding him to the bed, and sustained him through his encounter with the really big dark guy who'd tried to prevent him taking the car he'd known he'd find in the garage he had no memory of ever being in before, ran out right about the same time as the BMW's gas.
During his wild flight from the place that had filled him with such apprehension, he'd paid little attention to where he was going or why. He'd revelled in the speed, the freedom, without giving any thought as to what was driving him – everything had been lost in the all-embracing, undeniable need to get far, far away.
But when the car finally chugged and spluttered to a terminally silent halt, reality kicked in enough to raise his level of focus from what lay immediately in front of the windscreen to the rest of his surroundings. And the results weren't too encouraging. It seemed that, without any clear intention, he'd driven into as close to the middle of nowhere as made no difference. There was nothing to give him any clue even as to which state he was in, let alone a village or town to latch onto.
He levered himself out of the car, sliding up through the open window in preference to going through the mundane normality of actually using the door, and then perching himself on it to get a better view over the roof.
The vista laid out before him, now he'd allowed himself to notice it, was spectacular. Tree-lined hillsides rose up to an ominously grey sky filled with dark and threatening clouds, and fell away into shadowed valleys as far as the eye could see, masking any signs of the humanity that might be sharing their space. And all of it offering a multitude of opportunities for him to escape from... from what? He mentally paused there, for while that imperative was certainly what had been motivating him up to this point, when he thought about it he couldn't actually say what he wanted to escape from or why. 'Everything' and 'just because' hardly seemed good enough excuses.
He forced his mind back to his awakening in that room full of highly complex-looking equipment that he'd found bizarrely simplistic, with the two strangers who knew his name – knew him well if the looks on their faces were to be believed. When he gave himself permission to think about it, he could still feel the concern and compassion they'd radiated, though he couldn't imagine why they might care that much about him. He was quite sure he didn't know them... wasn't he? He'd certainly remember if he'd seen the blonde before; with her tight clothes, athletic body and wild hair, she was pretty hot. And the older guy... nothing about him was anything less than completely unknown. But they'd both seemed too genuinely alarmed by his reaction to them for him to ignore it.
Even the man mountain trying to block his way out had seemed to expect something more friendly from him than the lucky punch he'd landed as he'd barrelled his way past him. So, what was it they'd been trying to pull on him back there? And were they all in it together?
Another image slid into his mind, another presence he could now remember sensing as he'd slipped from the room, someone else in the shadows who spoke to him without words, someone who... and the nameless dread sent its icy fingers digging into his chest and wrapping around his heart, threatening to squeeze the life out of him and leaving him panting and sweating as he fought for control again. With a moan of anguish, he dropped his head onto folded arms on the car roof, closing his eyes and giving in to the waves of pain and chaos sweeping through in his mind.
**
"I can't believe Emma could have done something like this to him and not said anything!" The incredulity that had been bubbling away inside Shalimar since her interrupted conversation with Adam finally burst from her as she moved restlessly round the control centre.
"Hey, hold on a moment. We don't know that she did!" Brennan protested, from his seat in front of the monitor. "Isn't that what Adam's trying to find out? What happened to innocent until proved guilty?"
"But what else could it be?" she demanded.
"Oh, well now, let me think... er, a new mutant virus? Or another plot by Genomex to get back at us? Or a rogue psionic in need of a good kick in the pants, or..." He rolled his eyes in her direction, ticking them off on his fingers until she held up a hand to stop him.
"OK, OK, I get the picture. I'll wait until I hear it from her before I pass judgement." She perched herself on the table beside him, folding her legs under her and resting her chin on the support of one hand. But the silence stretched to barely a minute before she broke it again. " But I still don't understand - what's he doing out there? Why did he have to run like that? Why couldn't he trust us to help him?"
"Believe me, Shal, if I had any idea why you'd be the first to know!" Brennan's irritation at the feral's constant return to the same questions, like a dog worrying a bone, was growing exponentially as time went by. With her tendency to burn hot but fast, it wasn't really like her to stay so wound up about something this long, and he said so, earning himself a withering look.
"This is Jesse we're talking about," she reminded him fiercely. "Aren't you worried about him too?"
"Well, yes... of course! But second-guessing what's going on in his head right about now doesn't seem the best way to help him."
"But we should be doing *something*, not just sitting here! I don't see why we can't just go get him – at least then we'd know he was safe! Anything could happen to him, wandering around out there by himself..."
Damn! There she went with the prowling thing again... "Listen, you heard what Adam said – something's screwing with his head, and this place – including us - had him totally freaked out. Until Adam can work out what's happened and how to fix it, bringing him back here to face it all again could just make everything worse. So, we keep an eye on his signal, make sure we know where he is. Then when Adam says the word, we take the Helix and we go fetch him home."
"Simple as that, huh?"
"Yup!" He smiled confidently and pointed to the map on the screen in front of him, the blinking signal indicator sitting reassuringly in the centre. "See? He hasn't gone too far and it doesn't look like he's moving now. And believe me, whatever's going on with his memory, he hasn't forgotten how to handle himself in a fight." Rubbing a rueful hand over his bruised jaw, he looked up at her again. "He can take care of himself, Shal."
"I know... I guess." She sighed and waved a hand at the electronic equipment. "I'd just rather we were watching him in person, not like this. Maybe..." Her suddenly thoughtful look had Brennan groaning inwardly. It usually meant she was about to go off and do something reckless – and somehow he knew that, as so often happened, he'd be right out there with her.
****
The fear-fuelled burst of energy that had enabled Jesse to overcome the physical limitations binding him to the bed, and sustained him through his encounter with the really big dark guy who'd tried to prevent him taking the car he'd known he'd find in the garage he had no memory of ever being in before, ran out right about the same time as the BMW's gas.
During his wild flight from the place that had filled him with such apprehension, he'd paid little attention to where he was going or why. He'd revelled in the speed, the freedom, without giving any thought as to what was driving him – everything had been lost in the all-embracing, undeniable need to get far, far away.
But when the car finally chugged and spluttered to a terminally silent halt, reality kicked in enough to raise his level of focus from what lay immediately in front of the windscreen to the rest of his surroundings. And the results weren't too encouraging. It seemed that, without any clear intention, he'd driven into as close to the middle of nowhere as made no difference. There was nothing to give him any clue even as to which state he was in, let alone a village or town to latch onto.
He levered himself out of the car, sliding up through the open window in preference to going through the mundane normality of actually using the door, and then perching himself on it to get a better view over the roof.
The vista laid out before him, now he'd allowed himself to notice it, was spectacular. Tree-lined hillsides rose up to an ominously grey sky filled with dark and threatening clouds, and fell away into shadowed valleys as far as the eye could see, masking any signs of the humanity that might be sharing their space. And all of it offering a multitude of opportunities for him to escape from... from what? He mentally paused there, for while that imperative was certainly what had been motivating him up to this point, when he thought about it he couldn't actually say what he wanted to escape from or why. 'Everything' and 'just because' hardly seemed good enough excuses.
He forced his mind back to his awakening in that room full of highly complex-looking equipment that he'd found bizarrely simplistic, with the two strangers who knew his name – knew him well if the looks on their faces were to be believed. When he gave himself permission to think about it, he could still feel the concern and compassion they'd radiated, though he couldn't imagine why they might care that much about him. He was quite sure he didn't know them... wasn't he? He'd certainly remember if he'd seen the blonde before; with her tight clothes, athletic body and wild hair, she was pretty hot. And the older guy... nothing about him was anything less than completely unknown. But they'd both seemed too genuinely alarmed by his reaction to them for him to ignore it.
Even the man mountain trying to block his way out had seemed to expect something more friendly from him than the lucky punch he'd landed as he'd barrelled his way past him. So, what was it they'd been trying to pull on him back there? And were they all in it together?
Another image slid into his mind, another presence he could now remember sensing as he'd slipped from the room, someone else in the shadows who spoke to him without words, someone who... and the nameless dread sent its icy fingers digging into his chest and wrapping around his heart, threatening to squeeze the life out of him and leaving him panting and sweating as he fought for control again. With a moan of anguish, he dropped his head onto folded arms on the car roof, closing his eyes and giving in to the waves of pain and chaos sweeping through in his mind.
**
"I can't believe Emma could have done something like this to him and not said anything!" The incredulity that had been bubbling away inside Shalimar since her interrupted conversation with Adam finally burst from her as she moved restlessly round the control centre.
"Hey, hold on a moment. We don't know that she did!" Brennan protested, from his seat in front of the monitor. "Isn't that what Adam's trying to find out? What happened to innocent until proved guilty?"
"But what else could it be?" she demanded.
"Oh, well now, let me think... er, a new mutant virus? Or another plot by Genomex to get back at us? Or a rogue psionic in need of a good kick in the pants, or..." He rolled his eyes in her direction, ticking them off on his fingers until she held up a hand to stop him.
"OK, OK, I get the picture. I'll wait until I hear it from her before I pass judgement." She perched herself on the table beside him, folding her legs under her and resting her chin on the support of one hand. But the silence stretched to barely a minute before she broke it again. " But I still don't understand - what's he doing out there? Why did he have to run like that? Why couldn't he trust us to help him?"
"Believe me, Shal, if I had any idea why you'd be the first to know!" Brennan's irritation at the feral's constant return to the same questions, like a dog worrying a bone, was growing exponentially as time went by. With her tendency to burn hot but fast, it wasn't really like her to stay so wound up about something this long, and he said so, earning himself a withering look.
"This is Jesse we're talking about," she reminded him fiercely. "Aren't you worried about him too?"
"Well, yes... of course! But second-guessing what's going on in his head right about now doesn't seem the best way to help him."
"But we should be doing *something*, not just sitting here! I don't see why we can't just go get him – at least then we'd know he was safe! Anything could happen to him, wandering around out there by himself..."
Damn! There she went with the prowling thing again... "Listen, you heard what Adam said – something's screwing with his head, and this place – including us - had him totally freaked out. Until Adam can work out what's happened and how to fix it, bringing him back here to face it all again could just make everything worse. So, we keep an eye on his signal, make sure we know where he is. Then when Adam says the word, we take the Helix and we go fetch him home."
"Simple as that, huh?"
"Yup!" He smiled confidently and pointed to the map on the screen in front of him, the blinking signal indicator sitting reassuringly in the centre. "See? He hasn't gone too far and it doesn't look like he's moving now. And believe me, whatever's going on with his memory, he hasn't forgotten how to handle himself in a fight." Rubbing a rueful hand over his bruised jaw, he looked up at her again. "He can take care of himself, Shal."
"I know... I guess." She sighed and waved a hand at the electronic equipment. "I'd just rather we were watching him in person, not like this. Maybe..." Her suddenly thoughtful look had Brennan groaning inwardly. It usually meant she was about to go off and do something reckless – and somehow he knew that, as so often happened, he'd be right out there with her.
****