Remember Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #3)(71)

“You can trust me, Miss Baker. We need to go see James Donovan. You do trust me, don’t you?”

At the mention of Donovan, the ACEs all stiffened. The tension kicked my anxiety up another notch. I nodded again, but the action was hesitant. I felt like I should answer yes, only I wasn’t sure that was the right answer. Just in case, I stood up straight, lifting my chin defiantly. “Stay behind me. They won’t hurt me.”

Ryan frowned. “Jamie, why are you protecting him?”

I blinked. I was protecting him. Why was I protecting the man I’d come here to capture? Chen was in league with the man responsible for my memory loss, but my brain was telling me to keep him safe. It didn’t make any sense.

When I didn’t answer right away, Ryan held out his hand to me. “Babe? Please? You’re starting to worry me.”

Looking at his hand stretched in my direction, my heart longed for me to go to him. I was so confused. My head and my heart were pulling me in half. I took a step toward him, and Dr. Chen grabbed me. “No, Miss Baker. Get me out of here, or you will never get more serum. You’ll never get all of your memories back.”

I froze.

“Angel, he’s manipulating you,” Major Wilks said. “He can’t give you your memories back.”

“I can,” Chen promised. “I’ve already begun the process. You will see soon enough. But I can’t help you anymore if these men capture me. You must leave with me now.”

I was being pulled in so many directions that I got upset. What made sense logically was to trust Major Wilks. The only person I wanted to trust was Ryan. But I was desperate for my memories, and my head was shouting at me to go with Dr. Chen. To believe him, and to protect him.

I released my frustration in the form of a roaring scream. And okay, maybe I stomped my foot, but hey, possibly a drama queen, remember? “Enough!”

My energy rose to the surface of my skin, clearing my head a little as it had before. I grabbed Dr. Chen’s hand, making him gasp when I pushed energy into his body. “Go. Just run. As fast as you can. They won’t be able to catch you.”

“Jamie, no!”

All of the ACEs echoed Ryan’s protest. Major Wilks even added a few curses and threats. I didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was getting Dr. Chen to safety. As much of a pull as he had over me, though, I wasn’t affected enough to leave with him. That was asking too much of my nonexistent trust.

Dr. Chen’s eyes widened when he realized I’d given him power. He didn’t hesitate to take advantage of my gift. “Call me when you’re ready, Miss Baker,” he said, and disappeared.

Amidst all the angry questions, Tyson muttered, “I hope the superspeed makes the jerk puke.”

The joke was enough to snap me from my daze. My overwhelming need to protect and trust Dr. Chen faded when he left. But with him gone, I only had the soldiers to focus on, and my anxiety spiked all over again. The safety Dr. Chen had made me feel was gone, too. I felt alone now. When Ryan ran toward me, I panicked. “Don’t come near me!”

Ryan stumbled to a stop a few feet in front of me when he saw my hands thrust forward and my glowing eyes. “Jamie, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” His worry confused me. “Just get away. All of you!”

None of the soldiers moved. They were trusting Ryan to handle me. It was a smart plan because he was the only one at this point that I could even consider listening to. The rest of them were nothing more than enemies holding weapons. People who wanted to capture me and control me. I couldn’t trust them. I needed to escape.

“Jamie, please,” Ryan pleaded. “Something is wrong. This isn’t you. Let us help you.”

My eyes scanned the group again and I shook my head. “You don’t want to help me. You want to use me. I can’t trust you. I’m sorry. I have to go…”

As I backed up a step, Ryan whispered three words that made me freeze. “That’s not true, Jamie. I love you.” When I paused, Ryan shook his head. “I could never hurt you. You know I couldn’t. Somewhere deep inside, you know that.”

My heart reacted, fighting against the urges in my head. I didn’t want to leave him. I needed to, though I didn’t understand why. But I didn’t want to. Tears of frustration burned my eyes. This was all too much. My head was a jumbled mess that was only getting worse by the second. “I don’t know anything.”

My energy kicked up into high gear, reaching the point where my hair started whipping around my head and electricity crackled along my skin. I was full of inexplicable anxiety and seeing yellow, but I still caught the major’s small nod to Johnny G.

The ACE team leader tried to subtly lift a tranq gun in my direction. Rational Jamie would have understood his actions, but I wasn’t feeling or thinking rationally at the moment. All I saw was a weapon. A threat. And I acted. “I don’t think so.”

I had the gun out of his hands and smashed into an unusable ball of metal, and was back in my spot facing them in my standoff before Johnny G hit the ground. Which he did hard, because I’d disarmed his tranq gun and jabbed him in the neck with his own dart.

“Anyone else want to try and take me out?” I growled. Before, I’d just been frustrated, but now I was pissed. I didn’t respond well to attacks of any kind, even if they were meant for my own protection.