I Am Phantom (Novella): Subject Number One Read Online Free PDF Page A

project, then who was? And more importantly, how many
others in the lab had known? How many others couldn’t he trust?
    Ryans? Lin? He couldn’t believe she would keep
this from him. She would have told him if something that monumental had come
up. She wouldn’t have left him in the dark.
    Would she?
    The more Lucius came up with ideas, the more he
paced, and the more he paced the more his anger grew. How dare they hide this
from him! This project had been his brain child for years, since he was fifteen
and knew little about the complexities of man, but much about what he wanted to
help him accomplish: to make him a god. To break free of the natural
constraints put upon him at birth.
    Only when Dr. Ragan had approached him with
funding after seeing his plans did the first glimmer of making it a reality
emerge.
    And they gave that dream to someone else.
    Lucius forced himself to stop and collapse in
one of the plush chairs near the window. He hadn’t turned on the lights. He
found the deep night outside fittingly reflective of his dark mood.
    Great, and now he was becoming overly dramatic.
    Lucius sighed again and let out a few more
breaths. He would fix this. He’d fixed many things. This would be no different.
    And then he’d make sure Carlyle, Van, and any
others involved were held responsible.
    But not Lin. Hopefully not Lin.
    His phone on the kitchen table went off.
    Lucius watched it buzz. Watched it eventually
stop. A missed call. Probably from his mother.
    He ignored it.
    The phone buzzed again. Once. A text.
    She was persistent, wasn’t she? And when had his
mother learned to text?
    Another buzz. And another.
    Lucius heaved himself out of the chair. One
missed call. Seven texts. All from Lin.
    Lucius’ fingers hesitated as he tapped them
open. She might still be at the lab. He hadn’t checked on her after leaving
Carlyle. What was so important that she needed to get a hold of him so
desperately?
    The texts were all the same.
    Something’s wrong. Come back.
They’re here.
    For just a moment, Lucius did nothing. What
should he do? Call the police? No, their project was top secret. The police
couldn’t be let in.
    He wouldn’t learn anything standing here. Lucius
swept up his keys and rushed out.

 
 

 
    CHAPTER
7

 
 
    Lucius sensed something was wrong the second he
stepped back into the darkened lab. None of the main lights worked. He could
only see thanks to the dim glow of the conference rooms on the other side of
the production floor. The entire place was a cold, dead thing. Vacant. Hollow.
Sick.
    Lucius tried the lights again. Still nothing. He
had stayed late many nights to work and the lights had never just shut off.
    Lucius took a step forward. Why did it feel like
stepping into a minefield? And where was Lin? She should have been waiting for
him.
    Another step. Static rose on his arms. The sense
of an imminent threat. Lucius quelled it. This was the lab. His territory.
Nothing bad had ever happened here.
    Well, until today.
    He sucked in a deep breath and strode
confidently across the room. There. Nothing to it. He took another breath of
relief just as a fist emerged from the darkness and slammed into his stomach.
    At first, Lucius was so shocked he merely gaped
silently.
    Two more punches to his face brought him to his
knees. Throbbing. Burning. Choking. The man standing over him let out a deep
chuckle.
    “These scientists, I tell you,” he said to
another man, grinning like a jackal, “if they just had half as much muscle as
they supposedly have brains then they wouldn’t be so easy to break.” The man
gently pressed one shoe against Lucius’ forehead and pushed him over onto his
back. Lucius coughed again, trying to get air.
    “This one ain’t that smart, though.”
The other man nudged a chin at Lucius. “Let’s grab ‘n bag. Double time. Shift
just got started and we got a lot to do.”
    Each man took an arm. Lucius didn’t even put up
a fight. Half of him was in shock,