Remember Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #3)(27)



“Abiodun, right?”

The big man gave me a shy smile. “Yes, Angel. And I must thank you. You saved my life when you freed me from Visticorp. Their experiments would have killed me.”

His gratitude felt misplaced because I couldn’t remember actually helping the man, but I forced a smile anyway and said, “I’m glad I could help. Ryan told me a little about what happened after the explosion. I’m very sorry about your friends. I’ll do everything I can to help you get them back.”

“Thank you, Angel. That’s very kind.”

Again, his praise made me squirm. I shrugged. “We can’t leave them there. Plus, they got Teddy, too. I know he lied to me, and I want to kill him for it, but I can’t leave him with them to be experimented on. I’m going to get him back. And then I’m going to stop Donovan once and for all so that we can all be safe again. That man took my memory from me, and he’s going to regret it.”

I met Abiodun’s eyes and found nothing but grim understanding. He was in—no matter what we had to do to stop Donovan. “We will help you.”

“Hell yes, we will,” Tyson agreed. “With our powers combined, we could take on the freaking X-Men. Donovan’s going to be no match for us.”

“So…” I wasn’t sure if it was polite to ask Abiodun what his power was, but if we were going to work together, then I needed to know. “What exactly can you do?”

“We call him the Fireman!” Tyson boasted before Abiodun could answer. “The guy can light up like a torch. He throws a mean fireball, too. He discovered his power when he got caught in an explosion in a petroleum production plant in South Africa and didn’t get burned. The whole warehouse was reduced to ashes in minutes. Hundreds of people died and he just walked right out of the flames stark naked—clothes burned right off his body. He wasn’t even singed.”

I was stunned speechless by the story, but also horrified that he’d lived through his nightmare and had to remember it. I wondered if that’s what the explosion I was in had been like, and how I’d survived it. I didn’t think I was fireproof, but maybe there had been no flames. I’d still been wearing clothes when Teddy found me. I shuddered, but I wasn’t sure what I found more disturbing—Abiodun’s story, or the missing details of my own accident.

“I will show you sometime,” Abiodun said, breaking me from my thoughts. “We have a great training facility here on base. They’ve modified it to make it fireproof.”

“What about electricity—lightning proof?”

Every soldier in the truck perked up at the thought of seeing a demonstration.

“Not yet, Angel,” Major Wilks said, interrupting the conversation as he appeared at the back of the truck. We’d reached our final destination. “We couldn’t do much without seeing how your power works and the kind of damage you can cause. If you’ll allow us, we’d love to have you do your worst so that we can figure out what type of modifications need to be made.”

“My worst?” I thought of the crater in Las Vegas and cringed. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Well, perhaps you could take it a little easier on us than you did on Visticorp,” Major Wilks allowed with a chuckle.

He glanced around the group and clapped his hands together. “Romeo,” he barked. “Get the Angel to Dr. Haggerty in Medical. She took quite a beating today, and I want to make sure she’s okay. Everyone else, get some sleep. I have a feeling we’re going to have a busy day tomorrow. Dismissed, gentlemen.”

The guys all hooted and cheered, as if getting a few hours of sleep was the best news any of them had ever received. I completely understood. I was envious of them all. With a few welcoming greetings to me, they scattered like roaches, and were gone.

I climbed out of the truck, expecting to see something straight from the Syfy channel, but the room we were in just looked like a warehouse that they used as a garage. It was a large room filled with various military vehicles. It was a little impressive knowing that the entire thing was beneath the ground, but otherwise it was nothing spectacular.

Ryan held a door open for me that led into a long corridor. Again, it was nothing to write home about—light beige walls, linoleum floors, and fluorescent lighting. It was a hallway like any other in an office building, just with less décor and no windows. I sighed, disappointed. “For a top-secret military base, this is kind of a letdown. I guess the military is more about function than form.”

Ryan nodded, frowning at the walls. “The building could definitely use a little personality, but the training center is nothing to scoff at, and you should see the command center—so awesome.”

We turned a corner into another corridor that looked exactly like the last one, and came to an open door. Bright light spilled from the room into the hallway. The infirmary matched the same decorating scheme as the rest of the compound—spotless, cold, and impersonal—just more brightly lit. It looked sort of like a cross between a regular doctor’s office and a small hospital.

It was a lot larger than I’d expected, and had a lot of equipment all crammed into the one office. It consisted of labeled cupboards and sterilized counters with a couple of examination cots. Behind them was a variety of very expensive life-saving equipment. I recognized the MRI machine from my visit with Dr. Rajeet this morning. Had that visit really only been this morning? This day definitely won for Longest Day Ever.

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