10. Riley
10
Riley
The alarm is really getting on my nerves. It’s so fucking loud and that makes it hard to think. I wish there was a way to shut it off, but shooting the speaker only solves the problem partially, since the damn things seem to be located all over the place.
“Guards coming your way.” Timothy’s voice seems to have taken on an edge of worry, which is new. “I’ve instructed the others to go over to you so they can cover you, but this isn’t going to be an easy retreat.”
Fuck.
I stuff the boxes with the samples that we were here to get into my pocket. If we get those back home safely, at least the client will be happy.
Now we have to deal with the ‘guard’ Mathew took out, the documents that he found and get our asses out of here.
A quick glance at the documents didn’t give me a good feeling. There were diagrams of what looked like a bomb or, at least, something that looked like it could explode. And finding that here, in combination with what Timothy said about what high doses of the special chemical compound from the flowers could do…
‘Very bad’ is an understatement about the situation.
Let’s hope that the ‘guard’ has more information for us.
“Take him to the car.” Mathew points at the ‘guard’ and the two guys from our team grab the unconscious man. Then Mathew turns back to the vials of samples and other things that are still on the table. “Do you think we can safely transport these?” He picks the tray with the vials up, taking a closer look.
“Are they open or closed?” I go over to him, trying to raise my voice over the alarm without actually yelling.
“Closed.” He looks under the table. “Do they have something to transport them with?”
I open a nearby cabinet, finding more stuff for experiments. But nothing to transport any vials with safely.
“Can you get a move on?” Timothy’s voice has taken on an edge of impatience. “We can hold the guards off, but getting you out there before we have to would be better.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Mathew answers him, as he keeps looking around.
“Don’t ‘yeah, yeah’ me.” Timothy seems even less amused now. “Get what you need and get your asses out of there.”
After opening two more cabinets, I give up. “Can you stuff them into the bag?”
Mathew looks at the rack with vials, lifting it up again and turning it slightly. “If they don’t leak, that should be doable, I guess.”
“Move. Your. Asses.” Timothy grinds out, at the end of his patience. “Now!”
“Going.” Mathew puts the rack with samples into the bag, trying to keep them upright, and then puts the bag onto his back.
Yeah, not going to do that.
“Give me that.” I grab hold of the bag. I’m not going to let Mathew carry a bag with unknown substances on his body. Not going to happen.
Mathew tries to walk off, then turns to me. “What now?”
“I’m not letting you carry that. We have no idea what could happen if anything started to leak.”
“Don’t treat me like some—” Mathew’s voice fills with anger.
“Like you’re the boss and I’m not?” I give him a levelled look. “There’s a reason you do missions as a team. Part of that is so that the risk of what happens can be spread over multiple people.” And I don’t want to have to explain to the rest of the pack or organisation how I could put him in danger.
“Stop arguing! Move!” The way Timothy’s voice cracks sends adrenaline through me.
It seems that I’m not the only one, as Mathew lets the bag slide from his shoulders and I put it on. Then I grab my gun and follow behind him.
When we reach the end of the hallway that leads to the rest of the building, the sound of shots being fired nearly makes me jump.
Okay, so, I guess there was a good reason for Timothy to get antsy.
The voice in our ear is back. “Go to your right. The staircase is empty. Then go down and leave through the front door. They’re fighting security at the back door so that’s a no-go right now. Then you take another right and team two should be waiting there for you. They’ll get you out.”
Team two? That’s… Three backup plans already down the drain. Damn.
I now understand why they have so many plans before they go in. With so many people to move around, there are a lot of variables that can go wrong, and so many variables to cover.
When I go in on my own, the only person I have to get out is myself, so I only need to make sure that I’ve got a few escape options that I can get to. But with so many people, there are a lot of people to get out.
I stay at Mathew’s back as we duck into the hallway. There’s fighting going on in the direction we came from when we entered the building, but as Timothy said, the staircase to our right is quiet.
The alarm is still blaring, which is making focusing harder and harder. I’m running out of energy quickly. I really want to be out of here soon so I can hide in the nest for the rest of the night, or maybe just in some closet where no sounds can reach me.
When we reach the ground floor, Derrick’s voice comes in. “Change of plans! Team two is being held up.”
“Where are you?” Mathew seems pretty calm, even though chaos is going all around him.
“A minute away from you. We’ll cover you. We’ll still take the same route out as planned for team two.”
“Sounds good. Is the path to the front door empty?” Mathew reaches back, taking my empty hand, a gun in his other.
I hold onto him tightly, trying to let his calm soothe me.
“Hallway is empty, you can move.” Timothy seems slightly less stressed now.
Mathew pulls me with him into the hallway, towards the front door. “How are the others doing?”
It feels strange, having Mathew pull me along like this, but not having to think of too many things, just on following him and making sure we stay safe is easier for my head. Makes it easier to stay in the now. Narrowing down the tasks to only the most important ones and leaving the rest to others takes a lot of faith in the other people, but by now, Mathew and the others have gained that trust.
“No severe injuries reported yet. But everyone is being kept busy.”
That seems to please Mathew as he shoots me a smile, then he focuses ahead again. “Have everyone retreat as quickly as possible. We don’t want to leave people here any longer than needed.”
“Will do.”
As we reach the front door, a door to a downstairs hallway opens and I immediately point my gun in the direction of the movement, but it’s a guy from our team with more of the team following him soon after.
Timothy definitely works fast.
The cool outside air is a welcome change from the stuffy inside air, and there isn’t as much noise here either. Giving my nerves some rest, letting me refocus my mind for a few moments.
Mathew still hasn’t let go of my hand, pulling me along behind him until we’re behind the building on our right and out of any direct light, out of sight of cameras.
“You good?” He turns to me, his eyes filled with worry as he carefully touches my face, like he’s trying to make sure I’m still here.
“Yes.” I take a deep breath. Out here, it’s easier to think. “Let’s keep moving.”
“We’re almost out of here. This is almost over.” He glances around.
There’s a struggle happening on the other end of the building, around the corner, that’s probably where team two is being held up.
We start walking towards the closest exit, the fastest way to get out of here. We’re nearly around the corner of the next building when a bullet hits the wall right in front of Mathew.
I turn in the direction it came from as I pull Mathew behind me, the growl in my chest immediate and loud.
Hell no!
Nobody fucking shoots at my mate!
But, before I can do more, a shot sounds from behind us, and then Derrick’s voice. “Move! I’ll cover you.”
Mathew grabs my arm and pulls me along as the growl in my chest keeps going, my eyes trained on whoever tried to kill him. Our movements are too choppy, I can’t get a good aim on the bastard.
If I could, I’d pull the guy apart limb by limb and feed him his own entrails.
How dare he?!
“Riley!” Mathew’s voice is out of breath as he keeps pulling me along. “Riley! Snap out of it!”
Who the fuck dares to put Mathew in danger?
Who the fuck dares to try to harm him?
Who?!
“Riley!” Mathew suddenly stops and pulls me against him, my nose in his neck. “Please, snap out of it. I’m fine. They didn’t hit me. I’m totally fine. Don’t go into a frenzy. Vera isn’t here to help… Come on.” His voice turns pleading, desperate. “Please. Snap out of it.”
Vera!
I have to get Mathew back to her!
I have to get my Omegas together!
“Yes. When we’re out of here, we’ll immediately go see her.” Mathew’s voice is still breathy, but his pheromones spike with desire. “Do you remember how she looked at us before we left? I have a feeling she’ll want us to keep our clothes on when we fuck her tonight.”
Yes!
Fucking Vera and Mathew, surrounding myself with their pheromones, holding them tight.
The rumble in my chest lessens and Mathew’s pheromones flare more as he lets out a laugh.
“That’s better. Now, can we get out of here?”
“Yes.” My head is clearer again.
We have to get out of here. The priority is to get out of here, that’s all we have to focus on right now.
The people from Derrick’s team quickly surround us as they guide us to the exit.
This is one of the normal entrances and exits of the research complex, now fully taken over by one of our teams, who point us towards a path into the surrounding forest.
The trees are close together, suffocating, but we keep going. It feels like we’ve been walking like this for a long time, but it’s probably not even been three minutes when we reach the clearing where the vans are parked.
Mathew suddenly stops walking and when I look around him to see why, my heart sinks. Timothy is waiting for us and the way he’s frowning doesn’t give me a good feeling.
He’s not supposed to be here! He’s not supposed to move. He’s supposed to stay where we left him, wait for the rest of our team to return and then go home.
This wasn’t part of the plan!
“We have to talk.” Timothy nods to his van and a tightness builds in my chest as we follow him.
“What’s going on?” Mathew sits on one of the chairs in the back of the van, leaning forward, putting his gun on the table.
Timothy waits until I’m seated too, before he closes the door behind him and speaks again. “Vera, Jorge and Caleb intercepted a transport from the Hearts tonight.”
“What?!” Panic shoots through me.
Vera, Jorge and Caleb faced the Hearts on their own?
Are they okay?
Are they hurt?
What happened?
Are they safe now?
Mathew tenses at my side, leaning forward more, his voice strained. “When?”
“A while ago. They didn’t want me to tell you while you were still on the mission.”
Well, that explains why Timothy started sounding more and more stressed over time.
Mathew takes my hand, his body trembling. I’m not sure if it’s from anger or fear, possibly both. “Are they okay?”
“Yes.” Timothy answers quickly, letting some of his cinnamon pheromones slip out to show that we don’t have a reason to worry. “They’re fine. Nobody is seriously hurt. They’re all safe.”
Fuck.
Vera and Jorge were supposed to have a fun evening, they weren’t supposed to do anything like this.
They weren’t supposed to be in danger.
I need to see them.
I need to see them right now.
My teeth start clattering, my body going cold, my emotions fluctuating wildly. I’m at the end of my energy, I’m going into shutdown mode…
I need to go home and be with my mates right now.
I can’t do anything else anymore.
Mathew takes me into his arms, his voice soft, soothing, as he rubs his hands over my back. “Let’s go home and curl up in our nest all together. I think we all need a good pheromone recharge after tonight.”
Yes. That sounds perfect.