Betrayal: Book 3 of the Guardians Saga

Ch. 7.1 When It Starts to Implode

"I still think you should take his body to his house.  If the cops find it here or even nearby, they'll ask too many questions." Alex leaned back in a chair and propped her legs on a desk. 

With horror crawling down their necks, the brothers peered through the cracked open door and saw Dr. Dewey and Rile sprawled on the floor.

Alex spared the prone figures a disdainful glance. Brockner and Scott stood together at the computer console, facing her.

"Are you convinced?" Cale whispered. 

The terrible look on Gabe's face was his answer.

Brockner regarded Alex over his cigarette and then tapped the ashes on the floor. "The police are the least of your worries.  You expect us to believe that you lost your memory for these past few months and didn't try to find out what happened? You weren't curious about waking up with a nut-job like Morgan? It's pretty feeble, like you read it in the typical pulp fiction you find online these days."

Brockner inhaled a long drag on his cigarette, the end glowing red from his breath.

Alex flicked her fingers at him in dismissal. "Life, my friend, is not as elaborate as in the best-sellers.  If it was, who would buy books? Accept the truth, no matter how mundane it is."

Why does everyone find it so hard to believe that I don't care about my past? Fire truck Hollywood. Everyone in the movies is always discovering their past.         

Scott laughed nastily at Alex's snide remark. Gabe signaled to Cale and they rushed in, targeting Brockner and Scott.  Even one-handed, Cale wielded his staff well enough to pin Brockner. 

Gabe punched the tip of his staff into Scott's gut and he went down, writhing. Next Gabe slammed Alex against the wall, sheathed his staff and withdrew his dagger in a fluid motion. He held it to her throat.

"Bore us with the truth," he told her.

"Gabe, you've got the wrong impression. Really, really wrong." Alex protested, rolling her eyes down to see the dagger at her throat.

Cale walked over and laid a hand on Dr. Dewey's neck.  He shook his head and repeated with Rile. "No pulse," he said bleakly.

"Wrong impression? Is that all you can say?" Gabe pressed the blade harder against her skin. "The truth, all of it."

"They're not dead. They just need to be . . . well . . . activated, or they'll wake up on their own in a day or so. Palpate for the pulse longer, it will be there. Faint and slow, but there," Alex said. "My neuro-electric powers protect their brains from lack of oxygen."

The dagger against her throat didn't flinch, reflecting its owner's disbelief.

"If you believe that, I can sell you a bridge or two." Brockner raised himself up on one elbow. "She killed your friends and you'll be next the second she has a chance."

With his good arm, Cale hauled him up by the neck. "Tell us what you know."

"Don't listen to him. He's the enemy. I was assigned to stop him. He'll say anything," Alex said.

"You remembered that big bad past of yours?  Tell us," Gabe said.

"I don't remember everything, so I can't tell you everything, but you must release me. Doctor Dewey and the others aren't dead. Let me go and I'll show you."

"She's got you well-trained by those powers of hers," Brockner said when he saw Gabe's blade waver. "The bodies of your friends are laid out at your feet and you're going to let her go?  She didn't tell you that when her memory was restored so was her full power.  Her reflexes are so quick that you'll be dead before you could flick that knife.  She was designed every inch an assassin. Release her and you'll join your friends on the floor."