I snapped my eyes open and ran. I couldn't wait for my crass friend and my faithful zombie. Jade needed me. I didn't have a plan or a hope against Frazier but I'd think of something.

I wished for John, he would have had earplugs.

I ran toward that faint psychic beat that thumped in my head, veering in another direction when it got stronger, until I was in a mental labyrinth with Jade, each of us running without an end in sight.

Hamsters on a wheel.

But toward each other.

CHAPTER 17

Zondorae

Joe surmised just about every paranormal in the nation had now received the reversal and he was fast approaching the finish line of the greatest race of his existence.

Gary was dead and the precious slides which documented their entire Helix project was in the wrong hands. However, if their agenda had been pushed through, and Joe was certain it had, then regardless of what happened to him, they would win.

Winning was all that mattered in the Zondorae book of Ethics. Or lack thereof, he thought, chuckling to himself at his own cleverness.

It was layered security, really. With the inoculation reversal in the final stages, along with the pulse-dose birth control, there were now very limited numbers of paranormals, period. Further, though there were paranormals who had already had children, the pool of paranormals who partnered with other paranormals was extremely small. It worked out very well that typically paranormals did not marry or partner with one another, for reasons unknown. No one knew why this was.

Maybe, there was some inherent natural selection inserting itself despite their calculated interference. All the Zondorae tampering and here nature was still attempting to set it to rights.

Interesting.

Joe was feeling like a colorful, plumped up peacock when one of his associates, actually a Helix Complex operative, came and whispered in his ear.

It was not sweet nothings, but disastrous occurrences.

Joe turned to him from behind the glass that allowed him to see the pulsevised mass inoculation of America's paranormals.

"Are they gone?"

The agent shrugged. "Yes, of course. The horde has been neutralized but we lost almost the entire team."

Joe said nothing. He and Parker were more alike than either knew. Joe knew there were more operatives. It was a casualty of war, lose expendable men, garner more for the next battle. It meant nothing to him, it was simply numbers.

They stood quietly together for a moment, shoulder to shoulder. Then the operative asked, "Sir, do we move forward?"

Joe crossed his arms, deliberating.

Parker had gone rogue, the sterilized Nevaeh was running wild, with an unknown agenda, there was no loyalty to the HC from Parker and she did not know what she really was.

What Hart really was.

Thank God they were now mules. They could put every sexual practice to the test without any breeding potential. Just the thought of one or both of them perpetuating their genetics made Joe's stomach erupt with queasiness. He was beyond glad they had made the necessary alterations in the booster shot Caleb Hart received late in his eighth grade year and of the extra dose they'd given the female AFTD. At least that possible disaster was out of the equation.

Parker was really the one who needed erasing. The HC couldn't have someone with his knowledge and power... and considerable intellect, Joe thought that last on a sour note, run amok. He would have to be put down. The analogy of the sick dog was not lost on Joe.

He smiled. "I think the plans have changed somewhat."

The agent quirked a brow, his only response.

Joe Zondorae gave what he hoped was the last directive. He believed it would take the wind out of the resistance's sails. Now that he'd given the two orders of murder, it should plug those stubborn holes that were bleeding the HC and they could begin to rebuild. He'd be happy as a pig in shit when they corked Parker. Along with that pain in the ass journalist. He wasn't going quietly, like Rumford. Rumford had his mouth to the HC tit from the onset. No, Rumford was a perfect lackey. Tim Anderson was not.

The agent nodded, turning away. Then paused, looking back. "One messy, one accidental," he clarified.

Zondorae nodded. He hated being apprised of the how. Just get the desired result. He didn't want his hands dirtied.

"Parker's not going to go easily," the agent stated, just the slimmest tone of uneasiness layered his voice.

Joe narrowed his eyes on the man, all hardness and indifference, the small and deadly weapons of stealth hanging off his fit body.

"Figure. It. Out."

His face hardened. "Of course. I was letting you know there will be collateral damage."

"I'm aware of that," Joe snapped.

"I wanted to say the words," the agent responded smoothly.

They stared at each other.

Joe got it. He didn't want to be responsible.

"You're absolved. What? You want the sign of the cross or something?" Joe questioned with his typical caustic bite.

"Yeah. Not that anything will help us," he said quietly, leaving Joe in an uneasy red tide of limbo.

Poisonous and predictable.

*

Caleb

I felt the pull and followed it blindly, bursting out of one stand of trees to the next, hopping between the clusters of forest like islands with the brown and wet grass a sea between them.

When I saw Jade I could have wept, my relief was the most profound of my life. But I didn't.

I ran harder. I was done with any scrap of complacency. I used my athleticism to carry me those last several burning steps until she fell into my arms.

I grasped her shoulders and noticed something bizarre as hell.

She had her fingers jammed inside her ears.

For the second time in so many hours my mind was a blank, adrenaline dropping my IQ to double digits.

Jade couldn't talk, she was so out of breath from running. I knew from whom.

Frazier rounded the stand of trees Jade had just slipped through, limping.

His ungainly lurch had a distinctive look to it and I felt a grim sort of smile overtake my face. Jade must have gotten lucky and decked the prick in the nuts. He had that, I-puked-but-lived-through-it look. I would have laughed if I could have.

Then it slammed into me. I was too slow to let go of Jade, so happy to have her against me I momentarily forgot the threat of Frazier until he spoke.

And I obeyed.

"Beat Jade, Caleb," Frazier said, gasping, his hands cradling his package.

Jade's eyes widened and somewhere a part of my soul died.

I knew how to fight really well. I'd been in too many fights in recent years and had taken ten years of Judo. I was seasoned in defense. That was exceptional for an era in which violence wasn't held up as a prerequisite for males.

I'd always been a believer.

I attacked my girlfriend with a natural grace that shouldn't have been there... yet was.

Jade howled pitifully when I took her down behind the knee and struck her in the face.

Then Clyde was on me, hauling me off. I began to fight him, struggling to get back at Jade.

To beat her until the Manipulator told me to stop.

However, Clyde wasn't something to be taken lightly and I was not versed in boxing, an outmoded sport.

That was what he'd been in life. Farmer by day, illegal boxer by moonlight. Before the UFC, cage fighting had been resoundingly popular in the pre-depression years. He'd been a winner, stealing a fight away from boxing legend, Jack Dempsey.

I guess Clyde was saving me from myself as he didn't hold an ounce back. He didn't pull punches, they landed with precision and force and I found standing was a challenge. He went in close and I stepped away, striking his knee to cave it.

He began to fall and I grabbed him, frantic to get to Jade and Finish What I'd Been Told To Do, even as my very being rebelled against a command that fought every fiber of instinctive protection I had toward her.

Clyde latched onto my wrist and using his undead strength, tossed me over his head. I went spinning in the air, ass over tea kettle, and landed on my back, the wind knocked out of me.

Still I struggled to regain my footing and stand.

I did manage it. My eyes scanned the area for my target.

The air in my lungs burned, old and needing replacement. It didn't matter. Beating Jade did.

I caught sight of her and charged like a bull with a red flag, she ran from me and I chased after her, heavy fists at the ready.

Jade didn't have a chance; she was nearly one hundred pounds lighter and almost a foot shorter. I caught up easily, swinging her around to face me. Her wide emerald eyes were caught like stranded jewels in the black silk of her hair, her dusky café au lait skin an unnatural shade of pale.

Then it suddenly shut off, like a water faucet savagely twisted and I had a moment of extreme vertigo, the world tilting on its side, his command super-imposed over my own emotional signature. Then mine solidified and his slid away like a layer of liquefied garbage.

I looked around, bewildered, feeling like my head was jammed up my ass and suddenly the air came whooshing out of my lungs and I threw my head back, sucking in a lungful like I'd been drowning. In essence, I had: his directive had canceled even the involuntary functions of my physiology. Only his command mattered.

I could breathe. Finally, I straightened, choking and gasping. I saw Jonesy, standing behind Frazier's body, holding a large rock, his hands very black against its buff color.

It was covered with blood and other bits and our eyes met.

I instantly felt Frazier, bleeping once on my undead radar.

He was mine now... because my best friend had killed him.

"I had to man!" Jonesy wailed into the cold openness of the swath of weeds between the patches of trees, his breath frosting in front of his face. He dropped the small boulder, the murder weapon- and backed away. "You were gonna kill Jade!" He looked at Clyde, who was wiping blood and debris off his face and arms. "And Clyde," he added, shifting shocky eyes toward my zombie.

"I am already dead," Clyde clarified in a voice devoid of emotion.

"Whatever... fuck!" Jonesy yelled in a half-moan.

I frantically looked for Jade, my hair swinging into my eyes in sweaty strands that chilled against my head from the weather.

She was in a small ball against a tree and I ran to her.

She screamed when she saw me coming.

Jade wouldn't stop screaming and it broke a piece of my heart. It floated away and I felt crippled, her bruised and bleeding face bore testimony of what I'd done to her.

"Please... Jade," I began, holding my arms out toward her, inching closer.

"Stay the fuck away from me, Caleb," she said in a low fearful voice, scuttling backward. Her green eyes were wide with terror and betrayal. Her gaze gone resolute with the need to survive, a look I'd hoped never to see on her face again. And now it had been put there by me.

I stood there, my arms hanging by my side, never having felt worse than I did right then.

To Jade, it looked like I'd flipped out and just attacked her out of the blue.

Her fingers had been in her ears; she'd never heard Frazier command me.

"Jade," I held my hand out again in a helpless gesture for her to come near me.

"No... get away," she screamed, taking off.

I did what any guy would do after beating up his girlfriend. I ran after her. But not for the reasons she thought.

We crashed through the brush together, our labored breathing the only sound other than startled birds leaving the trees due to our noisy chase.

I grabbed her from behind, my strong arms easily lifting her off her feet.

Jade let out a scream of such terror that I felt my heart clench in response that she'd make it because I held her.

A woman I had moved against with a beautiful tenderness, with the utmost love and unrestrained passion.

I couldn't think of taking another breath without her in it.

She struggled then Clyde was in front of her, "Jade! It was the Manipulator!" he roared.

Then Clyde did an odd thing. He raised his hand against her, Jade's hysteria was an unbroken circle of crystal shards, spinning up into an emotional hailstorm that carved our guts out moment by moment.

"Don't you touch her," I commanded in a tone I barely recognized as my own.

Against a dead man I loved, who threatened the woman I couldn't live without. There simply was no choice.

Jade stilled at the sound of those words. Clyde met my eyes. The forest went suddenly silent and cold.

Jonesy walked up to us. His whole body visibly shaken.

"I did not know another way," Clyde said, dropping his palm.

"Well, that sucked," Jonesy said then promptly puked into the stand of weeds beside him.

Jade turned to me, ignoring the sounds of Jonesy retching.

Oh my God, her face, I mourned, seeing what I'd done there. Her hand came to my neck, then inched up to my face, shaky and uncertain.