Remember Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #3)(105)

I stopped.

“You can’t do anything that could hurt me. Ever again. No matter what.”

Since I’d been about to zap him into unconsciousness and drag his butt to Major Wilks, I froze in place.

Donovan came to stand next to me. It was as if he’d sided with me—as if we were a team, standing off against Teddy together. “Teodoro, what is this?” he asked. “What have you done?”

Teddy’s eyes shifted to Donovan and he laughed. “I played you like the ordinary, simple-minded, weak human you are. You couldn’t possibly think that when you handed me the opportunity to control the most powerful being on Earth that I’d give that power over to you? I may have given her subtle impulses to trust you and allowed you to have some control over her, but that was only because I needed you to bring her to me. You might be able to command her, but I programmed the nanobots to listen to me above anyone else. I override any control you have. Jamie is mine.”

Oh, this was so bad. So, so, so, so bad. I was beyond screwed this time. “No.” I shook my head. “No, this can’t be happening.”

There was only one thing I could do. I turned up my power on high, directing every last ounce of my energy to my brain. When that didn’t release the hold he had over me, I started sucking the power out of the facility around me, charging myself with as much electricity as was available to me. Somehow, some way, I would fry the nanobots in my brain. I had to. I couldn’t let Teddy control me.

When the lights dimmed, Teddy realized what I was doing. He could have stopped me. He could have ordered me to let go of my electricity. Instead, he cocked his head to the side and watched me struggle. He looked curious. He was as egocentric as Donovan. He wanted to see if his new creations could really best me.

So far, the nanobots were winning. I thought back to when I’d freed Harper. My good energy hadn’t been enough to fry him. Maybe I needed to be shocked. Maybe it would take a lightning bolt, same as it did for Harper. I’d never tried to electrocute myself before. Never zapped myself. It was going to hurt, and there was a chance it might even kill me—I’d stopped Harper’s heart, after all—but my safety no longer mattered. I was too dangerous to be in anyone else’s control.

Gathering all of my courage, I let loose a wild scream and shot all of the power I’d gathered inside myself at the nearest wall and willed it to bounce back at me. As always, the electricity obeyed my pull, and in a split second the bolt of lightning ricocheted off the wall and hit me square in the chest. I stumbled back from the force of it, but unlike Harper, my body absorbed the energy as if it were simply a part of me. Apparently, it was impossible to electrocute myself.

Teddy waited a moment, watching to see if my plan had worked. When I didn’t move to take him down, he grinned. It wasn’t a comforting smile; it was insane. He’d gone off the deep end. “You’re mine now, Jamie. I own you.”





I’d been through some scary stuff in my life. My accident that gave me my powers, accidentally killing my first boyfriend, being chased by mad scientists, thinking I was going to die when I blew up Visticorp, waking up alone in the desert with no memory, nearly being killed by superthugs…a lot of scary stuff. But I’d never been this terrified.

“Maybe I can’t make you love me for real,” Teddy said, “but I can certainly make you act like you do. And when Ryan finds you—which we both know he will—he’ll finally see what it was like for me. He’ll finally feel rejection.”

I started to panic at the thought of Teddy taking out his anger, frustration, and hurt on Ryan—and using me to do it. We were screwed. So, so, so screwed. The ACEs would come any minute, and once they barged in they would do everything they could to subdue Teddy, and he would force me to defend him. I was about to fight the people I trusted most. And Ryan. I wanted to believe Teddy’s threat was empty, but I’d never seen him so angry. It was as if he’d finally snapped. There was something slightly crazy about him.

“I’m going to enjoy making you break your lover’s heart,” he continued. “Won’t that be fun, Jamie? And after you’ve finally destroyed that annoyingly optimistic spirit of his, maybe I’ll have you kill him.”

I wanted to keep my emotions hidden, but I gasped at the threat. Seeing the blood drain from my face, his grin turned sadistic. “Maybe once he’s gone forever, you’ll finally realize who you really belong with.”

My knees gave out, and it was Donovan who caught me.

“Teodoro, you’ve had your fun. You need to stop upsetting Jamie now, before someone gets hurt. Don’t make me separate the two of you. Don’t make me lock you up again.”

Teddy burst into laughter. “You’re still acting like you’re in control here. You can’t stop me. With Jamie by my side, you have no power over me or anyone else. You’re useless. In fact…Jamie…kill him.”

The command came so fast, so unexpectedly, and so forcefully that I reacted before I had the chance to try and fight the order. I reached over and twisted Donovan’s head, snapping his neck. His lifeless body hit the ground before I even knew what I’d done.

My scream was joined by a startled cry from Betty and a whimper from Natalia.

“Teddy, what did you do!” I shouted, tears bursting from my eyes. “I killed him! You made me kill him!”