Chapter 3 #2
“Don’t worry, you’re not the first.” Luk handed me a cloth to wipe my mouth. “Most get sick on their first mission.”
“Go ahead and throw up. All do at some point.” Zion’s voice crept back into my head, the memory of when I first was led into Halálház, the terror raging through my body.
I could barely stand, my body wanting to shut down.
But I didn’t throw up then, so why now? Sure, I was nervous, but I wasn’t terrified.
My training, the ability to compartmentalize, allowed me to do what was needed.
No, this felt like all my energy was being siphoned away, making me nauseous and dizzy.
“You gonna be okay?” Luk’s concern was written over his face. They couldn’t risk having someone not at their best.
“Yep.” I forced a bigger smile.
“Kaptain has our transportation stored in a building over here.”
I followed Luk, my head turning back as if something called for me. In the distance, only about a hundred yards away, I spotted what looked like the top of Czech baroque-style church spires.
“The barracks is under a church?” I twisted back to Luk.
“And a graveyard.” He smirked with a shrug. “Guess it was pretty well known back in the day. There was already a crypt and tunnels below it where Kaptain hid out once. I guess he thought it was the perfect cover to hide a base for the army that was expanding daily.”
You couldn’t fault his plan. Most would not consider looking for a rebel base under sacred ground.
“Come on,” Tracker yelled back at us. Luk took off jogging after him. I glanced back at the small Roman Catholic church again, a strange sensation tugging at me, tightening my throat.
“X!” Luk shouted, tugging me from my trance as I trotted after them into a gutted structure.
Jak, a demon with red eyes who was a rung above Kek, jumped into a beat-up car, which was a rarity for me to see.
Lea was with him. I couldn’t tell if she was fae, human, or both, but she was close to my height and built.
I was tough and could look extremely unfriendly, but she seemed like she really was, and by the few annoyed glares she shot me, she wasn’t thrilled I was on this mission.
The others were paired up on motorcycles, all of us hurrying away from the village where the base was located. There were tiny, mostly abandoned houses and what looked like boarded-up hotels and long-closed souvenir shops, their signs decaying and worn.
Whether it was the fresh air, my adrenaline, or throwing up the breakfast sandwich, for the first time since I arrived, the weight of exhaustion and low energy dissipated as we rode toward the capital, the cool wind lashing against my cheeks.
Growing up, I had never left Budapest, nor knew much about the Czech Republic, so I had no real understanding of where I was.
So far, it reminded me very much of the area outside the busy streets in Savage Lands.
Poor and abandoned. You could feel the emptiness of the villages and towns we passed.
Ghosts of the past loomed, remnants of the life which once filled these streets.
The buildings were now deserted and dilapidated, crying for the days that were long gone.
The ride was rough, as the main motorways were crumbling and bumpy, pushing the time past what Kaptain estimated.
I knew when we started to get close to the city as houses and buildings became closer together until they were an endless string of deteriorating concrete and sagging wood.
Starving people huddled around fires, and homes built out of cardboard and pieces of wood, tarps, and blankets were used to make shelters.
“Same where you live?” Luk nodded at the destitute. “Everyone starves while the leaders eat like spoiled kings, tossing away leftovers with little care.”
I nodded; my mouth pinned together. Once, I had been part of that group.
The overindulged elite, completely unaware of the situation outside the walls of Leopold.
The only link I had beyond those walls was from Maja, my maid, hearing about her grown kids.
My response? Thinking I was so great to steal crumbs from Istvan, declaring myself some kind of Robin Hood, when in reality, it was for the thrill of stealing.
It disgusted me now. The entitlement, the arrogance, and the condescending ignorance I had.
“Leon has walled off the entire area from the Palladium, past the Staromak, Prague’s old town square.
” From my studies, Staromak was where the famous and stunning Astronomical Clock was, right next to the soaring gothic towers, spires, and buttresses of the Church of Our Lady before Tyn.
Like Istvan, Leon kept the rich and famous safe in their snug bubble of wealth and beauty.
On the other side of the famous gothic bridge, identical to Budapest, the fae resided in the castle on the hill.
I had no idea what their fae lord was like, but rumors suggested he was commonly high on fairy dust and too busy engaging in orgies to care what was happening within his own noble house, let alone give a thought about the human side.
I wondered if that was how the human leader, Leon, had carved such a hold in Prague.
Up ahead, I saw Tracker’s arm make a circular motion above his head. Instantly, the bike behind him broke off from the group, turning down a road, the car going the opposite way.
“We split up from here. We can’t look like we’re together,” Luk explained, though he didn’t need to.
From here on out, all communication was limited and came through an earpiece hidden under our hoods.
I had never seen anything like it. Luk said it was something they stole from one of Leon’s shipments from the west. It was the size of a pebble and fit into your ear.
Its technology told me it came from the Unified Nations.
No Eastern Bloc country I’d heard of had anything like this.
Lukas parked the bike near the entrance buzzing with people arriving and exiting the front doors.
A few police were stationed at the front.
They were armed with rifles, fingers on the triggers, ready to shoot without question.
I pulled my hood farther over my head, nerves bouncing around as Luk and I jogged across the old motorway.
A few horse carriages and motorbikes were the only traffic.
My pulse thrummed against my neck, sweat gathering at the base of my spine when I felt the armed guard look at me, a huge German shepherd sitting at his side.
The dog stood up, eyes on me, a bark coming up its throat.
Fuckfuckfuck.
“Stop,” the guard ordered.
Everything inside plunged to the ground, freezing me in place. Acid built up the back of my throat as the guard moved for me.
Would they know who I was? I wouldn’t put it past Istvan to have a bounty on my head, plastering my picture all over the elite papers and having his “buddies” on the lookout for his mentally unstable ward.
I could fight them. Pull out my gun and shoot them both dead in a moment.
I would risk everything, not just this mission, but possibly Luk and the others.
I knew I would do it if it came down to it.
My mind buzzed, my body preparing for a fight.
My fingers grazed the gun in my jacket as the officer stepped closer.
Fear spiked my adrenaline, yanking me away from my current space.
For a blink, I stood in Ash’s comfy home.
I could smell the herbs and fire, but at the same time, I was still watching the police officer dressed in his Czech uniform stomping for me, the dog lurching my way.
A massive familiar physique paced in front of Ash’s fireplace, a pair of aqua eyes snapping to mine. He froze in place.
Warwick.
His mouth parted slightly as if he were going to speak, but his attention went over my shoulder, his eyebrows furrowing. I knew he could see my surroundings like I could see his.
It was a second, and then he was gone, but seeing him was like a knife to the gut. Because every cell in my body craved him. Like my heart was given air to breathe again.
“You,” the guard yelled. My heart skipped when he stepped past, snatching the arm of someone right behind me.
“What are you carrying?” The guard grabbed the small man roughly, slamming him face-first into the wall, forcing him to cry out.
“I have nothing. I swear,” the man wailed, panic filling every syllable. The guard ignored him, being overly aggressive as he patted the guy down, the dog whining and barking, the guard still not noticing it was for me.
“Move,” Luk hissed in my ear, gripping my bicep as he shoved me forward. Relief tangled with fear as we slipped through the doors, my lungs tripping over themselves when we were inside.
Luk cursed under his breath, letting go of my arm, but he kept up the pace, moving us deeper into the train station, purchasing our tickets so we could show proof and get on the platform. “I thought we were done for.”
“Me too.” I exhaled another breath, the knot in my stomach loosening a bit, though I spotted more police staggered throughout the train station, keeping guard, some with dogs.
“Is it usually this guarded?” I mumbled to Luk, trying to get my head back in the game. Trying to forget the brief moment of seeing Warwick and chastising my weakness. Heightened emotion, especially fear, seemed to link us. I needed to curb that.
His image flashed back into my head. He was wearing dark jeans and a black T-shirt, his scruff becoming a full beard, and his long tangled black hair looked like he had been running his hands through it over and over. Fuck, that man was sexy and scary as hell . . .