Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
“Traitor!” The claim rang through the garage like a death sentence, Kobak’s hand going to the Glock in his sheath. “Get her!”
Whirling around, I tore for the entry of the market right as bullets kissed the ends of my ponytail, the crack of the gun piercing my ears, my legs pumping, my mind zeroing in on survival and reaching my friends.
It was deep inside me. An instinct, a reflex, which shouldn’t be so imprinted in my DNA, but I felt myself instantly reaching for him.
Calling. I had been in danger a lot in my life and got myself out.
This wasn’t because of the need for him to come in and save me.
It was deeper. Not just the high at borrowing his strength, but the connection of power we shared.
The line of life and death we walked together.
Having Warwick with me no matter how far he physically was from me.
Nothing was there. No buzz or life. The link I claimed to hate was the only thing I wanted.
Bang! Bang!
“Allj!” Stop! The demand from Buzzcut and Kristof bellowed behind me.
My boots struck the stairs, taking me down to the lower level. Birdie and Wesley ducked behind a food stand in the middle, shooting back at the men. Shouts and gunfire pinged off the red painted railing, the open stairway making it too easy for them to target me.
Without thinking, I grabbed the handrail, flinging my body over it and dropping a full story. I hit with a bone-crunching thud. Pain sheared up my nerves, my ankles, wrists, and knees, cracking into the tile, popping and screaming in agony, leaving me momentarily immobile.
Another kick to my gut when the realization hit me. I was feeling normal pain for any human who jumped down a story onto a hard surface would feel. But I had never known I was abnormal. Never knew how fast I rebounded was peculiar, or how much farther I could push my body than others.
Now I no longer knew who I even was. The very thing I believed I was, even hoped I was, I no longer wanted to be.
“X!” Birdie’s body slammed into mine, propelling us both under a booth table as shells rained down on us.
Wood splintered off the thin table, hurling in the air like feathers.
“What the hell, girl?” Her head darted around, trying to find another place we could run to.
The table wouldn’t hold out much longer. “You okay?”
“Damn, that hurt,” I grunted, spitting through the throb in my ankle and pangs in my knees.
“Can you walk?”
“Yeah.” I gritted, a bead of sweat trailing down my temple. Adrenaline coursed through me, keeping the debilitating pain back for now. Pulling out a second gun, I breathed through the aches. “I’m fine.”
A squeal of metal jerked our heads toward the sound. The gate at the front entrance was rising. The shouts of more guards coming our way infiltrated the mall.
“Fuck,” Birdie hissed.
“B? X?” Scorpion’s voice pulled our attention over to a newspaper stand where he was hiding with Maddox across from him. “Come on! I’ll cover you.”
“You ready?” Birdie started to crawl out.
“As much as I ever will be.” I slunk right next to her, my finger on my trigger.
“One. Two. Three!” She and I darted out.
Blasts reverberated around us, licking the back of my neck, as we sprinted for Scorpion, his gun firing round after round, guarding us.
Fruits and produce burst like firecrackers around us. Juice sprayed across my face, and bits of food tangled in my hair while we ducked and weaved through the stands.
A scream belted through the building right as we scrambled into the newsstand, twisting my head, fearful it was one of us.
Buzzcut’s body tumbled over the top railing, his head hitting the ground first with a wet crunch. Like a watermelon smashed into the floor, its red juices leaked out, with bits of seed and meat of the fruit splattering over the light tile.
“What the fuck happened to warning us?” Scorpion shot at me, tucking further behind the stand.
“I didn’t have time!” I volleyed back. “And I couldn’t link to tell you.”
“Link?” Birdie frowned between us. “What are you talking about?”
Both of us shook our heads, irritation heightening the already tense situation.
“What is going on with you two?” Birdie motioned to us.
“Nothing.” Scorpion’s tone went cool, his attention back on the fight. “And not at all important right now.” He filled his chamber with more bullets.
“How the hell are we getting out of here?” Maddox yelled over to us from his hiding place, his backpack barely containing all the items he stole.
“The only way is out the front door,” Scorpion replied. “We let the guards come farther in, and we slip out the front.”
Like a leaking hole, the only way was to get them deeper into the market so we could break through.
“I’ll go first. Everyone ready?” Scorpion peered over at Wesley, seeing him nod his head. “Leave what you can’t carry on your back. This is all about survival now.”
Guilt swelled in my throat. I was starting to feel like a bad luck charm. So many items we needed would have to be left behind now.
“Birdie, X, you guys flank me. Maddox and Wesley, take the rear,” he ordered. “All right, go on three.”
He counted down, all of us leaping into action the moment he uttered the last number, our guns primed and ready to kill.
The four guards in the front were heading straight for us. The excitement of seeing real action, of playing soldier, was written naively on all their faces. The other ones were quickly coming from behind. With no other exits, we were pretty much surrounded.
Everyone in my group, minus me, had strength and speed over them, but HDF’s fae bullets could kill all of us just the same.
“It’s her!” one shouted, my eyes locking on the familiar guard. “The fuckin’ fae traitor! Kill her!”
A shot whistled by my ear, grazing my skin, his disgust and anger directed at me. I knew their orders were to shoot to kill. If they brought me in dead or alive, it no longer mattered.
Scorpion didn’t hesitate, his bullet finding the middle of the guy’s head. His body crumpled to the floor as he moved us forward. It was only a matter of time before they would have reinforcements here. The call would already be out. Our window to escape was closing in on us.
Gunfire volleyed from both the front and back of us, but when Birdie took out another one, the truth of their situation was sinking in, fear in their voices mounting as they called back and forth to each other.
As we advanced, both of my hands held guns and aimed at anything that moved. Casings dropped on the tile, the sound like wind chimes.
The two who were left in front retreated. Their dreams of being a badass gave way to the truth. They didn’t want to die.
“Go! Go!” Scorpion motioned for us to run. We didn’t hesitate. We burst out, bullets and shouts thundering behind us inside and from the roof. Twisting my head, I spotted Kobak glaring down at me as we slipped out into the dawning morning, hiding in the deep shadows still looming across the city.
We escaped with our lives, but those fae I saw being put in the van wouldn’t.
The truth of what Istvan was doing had faces now. Beings who didn’t deserve to be caught up in Markos’ sick methods—a farcical dream of ensuring human supremacy.
“Tell me again what you saw?” Andris paced behind his desk, his question directed at me.
The five of us were spread out through his office.
Birdie and I were in the chairs while the guys leaned against the wall or sat on a filing cabinet made of crates.
The mood was low. Our plunder half of what it should be, which I took on my shoulders.
Even if Wesley had knocked something over, they could have hidden.
the guards chalking it up to a rat or wind, but when Kobak saw me, the game was over.
“They put two fae into a van. They were beaten and clearly drugged. They were taking them somewhere else to experiment on them. This place was some kind of holding location.”
“You’re positive about this?” Andris stopped, placing his hands on the desk, leaning forward.
I hesitated for a second. “Yes.” I nodded, rubbing at my throbbing knee. “Seeing Dr. Karl there makes me certain they were moving them to a place where he could test them.”
“Dr. Karl?” Andris stepped back, air sucking in. “He was there?”
I had gotten so used to him in this world, I sometimes forgot Andris knew all the players in HDF too.
“And Captain Kobak.”
“Shit.” Andris hissed through his teeth.
“Karl is far too intelligent, ambitious, and greedy for his own good. And we both know Kobak is a sick son of a bitch.” Andris ran his hand over his hair.
Everything about him felt youthful and energetic.
For a man in his early fifties and going on no sleep, he almost looked fae.
“You didn’t see which direction the van was headed? ”
“No.” I cupped my kneecap, feeling the swelling underneath. “They hadn’t left yet, before everything went to shit.”
“That was my fault.” Wesley held up his hand, his own guilt straining his features. “My bag hit a stack of wood boxes full of apples.” He rubbed his eyes, probably picturing himself watching them fall and not being able to stop it.
“You guys are safe. Alive,” Andris replied. “That’s most important.”
“And I got us the medicine we needed,” Birdie claimed proudly. “Food we can get other places.”
Andris nodded in agreement, leaning over his desk again. “Well, if anything, this is the break we needed. We’ve been searching for the testing location for weeks now. This at least gives us a lead. Tonight we stake it out again. Watch and follow.”
“You think they will use it again?” Scorpion pushed off the wall. “They know we were there . . . that she was there and saw them.”
Andris sighed, his lids shutting briefly. “There is a good chance they won’t, but we have no other tips.” He sat down in his chair. “It will be highly guarded now, but we don’t need to break in. Just follow the van to see where it goes.”