ROAD TRIP

The rumble of an engine breaks briefly into my consciousness, a burst of sound soon muffled and obliterated by darkness. When I finally come to, the engine still rumbles and light flickers beyond tinted windows. I recognise the metal and vinyl smell of the transport van, the discomfort of the four-point harness holding me in my seat against the wall. Before I open my eyes I note the signals in the bandwidth. Jamie first, clearest, closest, resonating and painful because of it. Tesla, a steady chord, a low note. Benjamin, Davis and Felicity. Where is the Proxy?

I open my eyes on hers. Directly opposite, she sits in her own harness, her hair tucked under a cap, a costume of faded jeans and grey sweatshirt, her irises made blue by contact lenses. The corners of her lips pull in, not quite a smile – an acknowledgement, like she’s been sitting there waiting for me to wake up.

The heat and pressure in my chest is instant.

I imagine bursting from my harness to dive at her and slam her skull back on the van wall, breaking her nose with my fist, making her cry out in pain as she tastes her own blood.

She takes Felicity’s pale hand with her left, making me conscious of the bodies around us. Jamie and Davis, either side of me. Benjamin over in the driver’s seat, the back of Tesla’s head where he rides shotgun. Only Jamie, the Proxy and I wear harnesses and I realise we are the only ones who’ve been sedated.

“She’s awake,” Felicity says.

“About time.” Davis dumps a phone in my lap. Google Maps lights the screen and a field waiting for a destination. “Where the hell are we going?”

I don’t touch the phone. “I don’t know where he is.”

He swings his baton up on his knee. Jamie stirs beside me and Tesla swivels in his seat. Davis ignores them. “Hey, I’ve got all the time in the world for your bullshit. It’s not my aunt who’s had her brain fried.”

“We know the first stop is Virginia Beach,” Tesla says, “but we need the address, Evangeline.”

I lift my eyes to the Proxy and force the words through my teeth. “Joss Hill.”

Davis snatches the phone back and taps the name in. The screen loads with a map of Virginia and a blue line stretching down the coast marking the route.

“Where are we?” I ask.

“Leaving DC,” Tesla says.

Davis gets up and takes the phone to him.

Washington, DC? “How long have we been on the road?’

“Two hours.”

“And four to get to Virginia.” I groan. “Damn it, why didn’t we fly?”

“So now you’re in a hurry?” Davis looks back at me. “Make up your mind.”

“Flexibility and discretion,” Tesla says. “Aiden could be anywhere.”

It was a stupid question and I look away.

Jamie tugs at the restraints. “Can we get out of these?”

Davis smirks. “I don’t know. I kind of enjoy seeing you tied up, Richie Rich.”

“Your dirty fantasies aside, would you mind?”

Benjamin snorts in the driver’s seat and Davis scowls, digging a small silver disc from his pocket. “This is set for you and your girlfriend, and the Borg over there.”

Felicity gives Davis a look of disgust but the Proxy doesn’t react. I remember the horrible pain in the back of my skull and the instant loss of strength when Tesla used the device on me.

“Good times,” Jamie says.

Davis taps a code into a keypad on the side of the van wall. There’s a clicking and the harness gives at my hips and I tug it up over my head, my joints slow and thick. I wait for Felicity to help the Proxy from her buckles and straps, a surge of energy flashing through me. I can only hope I’m strong enough. The moment she sits back I launch forwards.

A shout of surprise from Davis, who drops the silver disc.

The Proxy’s fake blue eyes spring wide and her mouth sprays spittle as I drive my half-closed fist into her face, a satisfying crunch on impact.

Felicity screams.

Davis grabs me, then falls with a grunt of surprised pain, dragging me down with him, bruising my knees on the floor. Heavy and struggling, Davis shoves off of me and whirls towards Jamie who sits with Davis’s baton and the silver disc in his hand.

Davis rubs the back of his head.

Turned in his seat, Tesla glares at us.

Benjamin sighs from the driver’s seat. “I told you.”

With a snap, Jamie crushes the disc in his fist and drops it on the floor, grinding the heel of his boot into the remains.

“No!” Felicity reaches towards the small mess of plastic and metal.

The Proxy, cupping her nose and mouth, jerks away from her keeper, her eyes full of hurt.

“Please,” Felicity says, whispering as though she can keep her words from the rest of us. “We would only have used it to keep you safe. That’s all.” But the Proxy hunches away from her.

Tesla barks something in German. He doesn’t sound happy. My knuckles ache. It was a soft-fisted, sloppy punch.

“Jamie, give Davis his baton. Davis, sit down. Evangeline, if you try something like that again, I will personally strap you back in the harness and you will stay there for the remainder of the journey.”

I haul myself up beside Jamie, and Davis slumps back on my right. Felicity digs tissues from a bag beneath her seat but the Proxy won’t take them, using the inside of her sleeve to staunch the blood trickling from her lip, her fake blue eyes glistening and red-rimmed. She seems in that moment small and fragile and I’m conscious of being much bigger and heavier than she is. I wonder if she’s ever been struck before. She leads a cerebral life within the walls of the compound, kept from the other Assets except when needed to assault them telepathically.

The knowledge that I could have been like her tempts me to feel guilty – for being a bully, for using my physical strength against someone unable to defend herself, but then I think of Miriam. I think of the tube, the blank space in the bandwidth and my only regret is that I didn’t punch the Proxy harder.

* * *

The motel unit is small with all of us crammed in the single bedroom/lounge/kitchen and it feels claustrophobic. It’s impossible to block out the noise of so many overlapping signals and I despise the fact that everyone is staring at me, all with varying shades of impatience. I can’t keep the heat from my face or regulate the chaotic gallop of my heartbeat. Knowing that Jamie can see and hear my failure to cope is just as grating. The only one who seems relaxed is the Proxy. She sits opposite me on the end of the bed, her face impassive, electrodes at her temple, like we have all the time in the world. The desire to hit her again curls my fists on my knees.

It irks me that we couldn’t just set up in the van, that it requires any equipment at all. What the hell is the point of being a super telepath if you need transmitters? She said nothing through my bitching and moaning, letting Tesla explain. Boosting is more sensitive than Transferring or Harvesting kinetic memory. It requires a distraction-free environment. The Proxy will lend me her telepathic reach. My sensitivity will increase and my receptors will amplify.

Psychic steroids? I guess I’m well on my way to roid rage.

“Concentrate,” Tesla says.

“I am concentrating.”

“No. You are not.” He taps the leg of my chair, startling me.

He’s right. I’m too distracted. I look at the floor. “I can’t. There’s too much static. Too many signals in the room. Can’t they wait in the van?”

“Right,” Davis says. “We’ll just leave you two by yourselves.”

“I won’t touch her.”

Davis makes to argue but Tesla lifts his hand. “She is right. We will wait outside.”

“No,” Felicity says, moving to the Proxy’s side, placing her hand on the girl’s shoulder.

Tesla digs a silver disc from his pocket. My stomach sinks at the sight of it. They had two. “If there is any problem,” he says, “I will intervene. Let us not waste time.”