Page 41 of Agent Zero
Maybe it was the lobby, where the kid at the desk had looked at him just a fraction too long.Maybe it was the distant sirens cutting off as they drew close, silent as sharks while Reese and his little minnow swam out of the net.Was he just being paranoid?If he started deconstructing, they were both dead in the water.
He was sweating lightly; his pulse kept wanting to spike.Holding her while she shuddered and tried to breathe, helpless even with the little invaders still working in his bloodstream making him stronger and faster...it was enough to give him a serious case of the wind-ups.He needed to clear his head.
There was a good old-fashioned way to do that, but he didn’t think she’d go for it.Not to mention the fact that he’d probably wilt before takeoff, given his luck.
Stop.Be calm.Think.
Holly was silent, slumped in the passenger seat with her eyes closed, but at least her breathing had evened out.She wasn’t shaking with distress, or making that soft choked sound that turned him inside-out.The freeway was unreeling under them, nothing was likely to explode in the next few minutes, so maybe he could start making her a little more comfortable.
Just how are you gonna do that, soldier?
Any way he could.“Holly.”
She stirred.“What?”One colorless little word.
“I told you I was in an accident, right?Bomb in the road.”He waited for the light to turn green, accelerated onto the on-ramp.“Broke my spine in two places, plus a whole mess of ribs, legs, you name it.For a while they weren’t sure I’d live.But I did.Woke up quadriplegic and they said,Wouldn’t you like to walk again?” A short, chopped-up laugh; he merged onto the freeway.Traffic was light, nothing out of place.Just one car among many on the American road-veins, moving along.“I knew I couldn’t.But they asked, so I...I just didn’t want them to send me back to the state home the recruiter found me in.I hated it there.”
He stole a glance at her.She was pale, trembling a bit, her eyes still closed.An arc of charcoal lashes against her cheek.
So Reese plodded on.“They scraped and prodded and poked me.I wasn’t too bright, but I was an ideal candidate in...other ways.So they injected me, I didn’t know with what.Then I got sick.Really sick.”
He’d picked up little bits of information while burning with fever, unable even to thrash.Screaming about fire until his voice gave way, every nerve ending frayed, tearing an inch at a time.No relief, no letup, just the burning and the pain.“The casualty rate for that phase of the program was about ninety percent.I made it, though.Lay in bed for another two weeks, eating everything they gave me, and one day my legs started twitching.Then my arms.It hurt.”Regrowing nerve tissue is a bitch.“I had to learn how to walk again, how to run.How to do other things.”
“That’s pretty impossible,” she whispered.
You’re telling me.“The best part was cognitive.Neuroplasticity, learning new things.But there’s also accelerated repair, sensory acuity, pain suppression.I can hear your heartbeat.I can smell aspirin metabolizing in people, for God’s sake.”And other things.“The physical’s pretty nice.I’m a lot stronger than I look.Cellular respiration’s up, flexibility and endurance, you get the idea.”He took a deep breath.“That’s why I’m valuable.That sort of enhancement doesn’t come cheap.”
Thankfully, she wasn’t screaming to be let out of the carorlaughing as if she thought he was joking.Instead, Holly was thoughtful.“How did?—”
He couldn’t stop now.“I’m telling you this because I want you to know.If you were sick, really sick, I’d smell it on you.”Like that yellow-metal tang, maybe because you’re coming down with a cold.It bothered him, but so did everything else about this.“I’dknow.You’re just stressed by being placed in a...a situation.”Being drugged, kidnapped and dragged around like baggage.Time to start treating you a little nicer.Once I’m sure we’re not blown or dogged.
She surprised him again, sounding interested instead of apprehensive or dismissive.“How did they do all this?Like, you’re some kind of bionic man, or something?”
“I have no trouble with metal detectors, babe.”All flesh.I’ll show you sometime.Nowthatwas the wrong thing to say, but it was pleasant to contemplate.
“Then how do you know I’m not sick?”
Are you really going to tell her?“It doesn’t matter.What matters is that I could tell you if you had something bad.I ‘d smell it on you, and I don’t.”
“What do I smell like?”She gave a jagged sigh, possibly reaching the end of her ability to absorb strange events.“I can’t believe I’m even asking this sort of question.”
I can’t believe I’m almost ready to tell you.“You smell...good.”
“Good?That’s it?”Now she sounded irritated, and it was a welcome change.Maybe if he got her flat-out angry she’d cope better.
Not a lot of traffic on the road now.Reese decided they might possibly be clear.A little subconscious muscle relaxed, easing all at once.
The problem was, he didn’t want her angry, either.He wanted her...happy.Or at least reasonably content.
That’s not what you want.“You smell more than good.”
“Oh.”The irritation had drained away.“How do I know you...well, it’s useless to be asking questions now, right?Once I’ve gotten over the fact that I was kidnapped off the street by government psychos, a bionic spy is small potatoes.”
Just keep thinking that way.Of course, when she eventually saw what he was capable of, what would she do?
It was a little late to be having any sort of qualm.So he took a deep breath.The scent had changed again, freighted with apples and spice, causing a familiar heat-spike below the belt.Goddamn distracting with her so close, warm and breathing.
What could he tell her?“It’s not useless.You want to understand what you’re in.A completely reasonable response, I’d say.”
