Superhero by Victor Methos Page B

tips of his toes. Only when his muscles relaxed and he fell to the floor, sucking in air, did he realize that his heart had stopped as well.
    Coughing violently, he curled on the floor as Heidi stood above him and watched. The attack lasting no more than a few minutes, he lay on his back and stared at the ceiling.
    “How do you feel?”
    Surprisingly, he felt good. Energy pounded through his veins now and he hopped to his feet. He noticed that his muscles had grown again. He felt strength in his arm’s movements.
    “How long does this stuff last?”
    “It doesn’t ‘last,’ Jack. This is you now. It causes chromosomal changes in your DNA. You can’t reverse that.”
    “So I’m going to look like a roided up bodybuilder my whole life?”
    She shrugged. “It was either this or let you die in that hospital bed.”
    A loud hissing came from behind them. Jack spun and looked up as the elevator rose.
    “You expecting someone?”
    Heidi walked next to him, watching the elevator lift. “No.”
    The elevator began to come back down. Jack could see its lights through metal grating as it slowly descended and came to a stop.
    Heidi whispered to him, “Don’t say anything. Let me handle this.”
    The doors opened and several men in military uniforms stepped off. One man, older with gray hair and a beard, walked to Heidi with a smile. He glanced at Jack and whistled as if he was impressed.
    “Not as big as Aggie.”
    “Not as unstable either,” Heidi said. “What is it you want, Colonel Finley?”
    “What is it I want? You were asked to leave, Dr. Hendricks. And yet here you are. And with an unauthorized subject no less.”
    “We were just leaving.”
    The colonel laughed. “This man belongs to the United States Army. You really think I’m going to let you leave? After what happened with Aggie?”
    “I had nothing to do with that. If you had provided me the security I wanted—”
    “You didn’t tell us how close you were to success or else I would have.” The colonel looked to Jack. “What’s your name, son?”
    “Jack.”
    “Well, Jack, I don’t know what the good doctor here has told you but you are certainly not free to leave. In fact, you are under arrest for unlawful trespass on military grounds.” He looked back to his men, who moved forward toward him.
    “Don’t let them take you, Jack,” Heidi said frantically. “You’ll never leave if they do.”
    Jack held up his hands. “Guys, I just want to go home. I have a family that doesn’t know where I am.”
    “Sorry, Jack,” the colonel said. “But this is how it’s got to be.”
    One of the soldiers grabbed Jack by the arm. Jack pulled away, trying to get his hand loose. Instead, the soldier was thrown forward, landing hard on the desk behind them.
    Rifles went up, aimed at him. Jack felt adrenaline course through him and something rang in his head.
    “SHOW THEM!”
    Jack sprinted toward the soldiers in a movement that was too fast for anyone in the room to see. He disarmed the first one, spun him, and threw his body into a second. As they hit the floor, one of the soldiers fired. Jack saw the bullets coming at him. It was like they were travelling through water, waiting for his response. He leapt into the air and flew toward the soldier, ramming both legs into him. The soldier became unconscious as his sternum fractured and he was thrown across the room.
    The colonel looked at his men, fury in his eyes. “There’s an entire platoon outside, boy. You will never make it out of here alive. Either one of you.”
    Heidi swung with her left hand and a syringe entered the colonel’s neck. He went to grab her but his arms fell limply by his side and he collapsed onto the floor.
    “Just a sedative,” Heidi said. “There’ll be more. We need to go, now.”
     

 
    CHAPTER 23
     
     
    Avoiding the elevator, Jack followed Heidi as she ran across the laboratory and to a locked steel door. She opened it by swiping a keycard and let him go through