Warriors of Poseidon 05 - Atlantis Redeemed

entered the same room where he’d stayed all night, he realized they were putting him back in the cell. “Cell?” he said, balking at the doorway. “Not a room? Need a bed.”
    “We’ve moved a cot in there, and a bathroom,” Litton said smoothly, and Brennan turned to look. Sure enough, a cot, complete with blankets and a pillow stood on one side of the cell. A guard held the cell door open, while another opened a door in the back of the cell that he hadn’t noticed the night before, probably because it was simply part of the wall. It must have had a hidden mechanism with which to open it. He could see past them to the small bathroom contained within the room.
    A small noise, like that a wounded animal might make, caught his attention and he turned his head to look. A woman stood, trembling violently, in the cell next to his, her door still locked.
    She stared at him, and he felt the tiniest hint of recognition in his mind. Did he know her?
    Whoever she was, she was pretty. She might even have been beautiful if her face hadn’t been so pale and tearstained and her eyes so red. She must be afraid . . .
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    She must be . . .
    But the wisp of memory floated back out of his mind, and he had nothing to offer her of reassurance or hope. Not even he, a trained Atlantean warrior, was able to escape this nightmare. What hope had she?
    “Brennan?” she said, her voice shaking with some violent emotion. “Are you okay? Do you . . .
    do you know me?”
    A flash of something crossed his mind. A name? A feeling? But then it vanished and all he was left with was utter weariness. He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m very tired.”
    Litton grabbed his arm and stared up at him, then shot a look at the woman. “That’s Tracy Baum. You came with her. There’s no reason your long-term memory should be affected,” he said, staring into Brennan’s eyes. Suddenly he recoiled.
    “His eyes. Look at his eyes,” Litton said.
    Smitty came around to the front of Brennan and stared into his eyes, then slowly backed up and trained his gun, in a double-handed stance, on him. “They’re glowing,” he said flatly. “Maybe now we’ll find out just what kind of wee beastie we’ve got.”
    “He’s not human?” Litton backed up in a rush. “But—but he’s not a shifter.”
    Smitty shot a look of thinly veiled disgust Litton’s way. “There’s a lot more out in the big, bad world than just shifters and vampires, you know.”
    Brennan wanted to ask the man how he knew, or what he knew, but suddenly black was spiraling in from the edges of his vision and he stumbled again, nearly falling. “Am tired, friend,” he told Litton.
    “Get him in the cell,” Smitty ordered, and two of the guards rushed up to help Brennan in. They shoved him onto the cot, and he tried to remain upright but he fell over onto his side.
    The woman rushed to the bars dividing their cells, and she was crying harder. Her pain caused a terrible, answering ache in his chest, and he did not know why.
    “I’m Tiernan, Brennan. You have to remember me. You have to remember.”
    Tiernan? Something sparked, a tiny flame deep in the blackness trying to claim his consciousness, but it was quickly extinguished by the exhaustion and residual pain. Every muscle in his body ached as if he’d been smashed by a tidal wave.
    “What did she say?” Litton said. “Tiernan? What is that? We know who you are, Ms. Baum.
    Tracy
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    Baum. What is that word, Tiernan? Is it a code?”
    The woman started laughing, the tears still pouring down her face. Brennan struggled to stay awake, sure that whatever she had to say was somehow important to him, but she collapsed down to her knees on the hard, hard floor.
    “Yeah, it’s code,” she finally said. “It’s code for we’re totally screwed.”
    Brennan wanted to help her. She looked so very sad and terrified as they opened the cell and went for her. He knew his mission. He must protect humanity. He was a warrior of Poseidon, and Conlan had sent him to . . . sent him to . . .
    But there was nothing. His mission was gone and his mind was blank, and even as he struggled, the dark took him yet again. As he fell down into the darkness, he heard the woman scream.

Chapter 32
    Atlantis, three days later
    Alexios paced the war room, ignoring Grace’s hand signals that he should calm down or sit down