Chapter Eighteen #2
If she tilted her head slightly, she could see what was happening through the mirror on top of one of his torture machines. Lou was carrying what looked like a remote control or something. There were two guards with her.
She liked those odds much better.
“She’s fine,” Huisman said with a deep frown. “According to these reports it’s almost as though we never spent any time together at all. Do you know something I don’t?”
She needed a couple more minutes. She could wiggle her toes, but she would be unsteady. Deep breath. See it in her head. Visualize the fight. Don’t panic.
“I know you’ve nearly killed her before. I’m sorry she recovered too much for you.” Lou sounded annoyed, playing her role perfectly.
Just a few more minutes.
While Huisman was concentrating on Lou, Milena eased the IV out of her arm.
“What is that?” Huisman asked.
“It’s done,” Lou said. “At least the prototype is.”
She had to lay there looking at the stupid concrete ceiling, keeping her breath steady, her body still.
It was hard because she wasn’t known for stillness.
She was the one in constant motion, touching on everything and everyone, while Kala sat back and took in the whole picture.
It was how they worked, but she could do this. She wasn’t alone.
Sosa had sent her a lifeline and Lou was here, and her parents wouldn’t let her down.
“This is the detonator?” Huisman was asking. “I thought you would use an app or something. This seems old school.”
Lou always used her phone if she could.
“These bombs are unique and require a handheld system,” Lou explained. “Now obviously they haven’t been tested, but I’m sure it will work. I put together a…”
Lou said a bunch of technical things. It didn’t even sound like English. Then Huisman said technical words, and then Lou said something about the trigger mechanism.
She didn’t like this part. Her twin was better at patiently listening to the most boring things. Like couldn’t they throw a murder or something in there?
Her leg twitched slightly.
Kenzie forced it still.
She needed him closer.
“Yes, that does seem like it would work, but we can’t be sure until we try it out.
I’ll schedule it for Monday,” he said like it was nothing more than a normal test run and not something that would likely kill hundreds of people and crash an economy.
“Until I’m sure it’s right, you’ll remain my guest and so will she. ”
“You told me you would let her go if I did this for you,” Lou argued.
“I lied. Take her away,” he ordered.
That was when she felt it. The ground shook subtly, like an explosion had happened but a distance away.
Her parents were here.
“What the hell was that?” Huisman asked and started barking orders to his guards.
They would blow something up and distract the guards while they infiltrated the castle.
But Huisman knew the place far better than they did, and he would likely have more than one escape plan in place.
She needed to try to take his ass out here and now.
The door closed and Huisman loomed over her. “I suspect we’ll have to put our plans on pause, Kala.”
There he was. His smug face stared down at her.
She smiled. “Name’s Kenzie, buddy, and Sosa says hi.”
She brought her arm up, burying the scalpel in the crook of his neck. Blood spurted, not in the insane amount she’d hoped for since she’d tried to clip his jugular. Well, her hands were shaking.
She needed another weapon. She would use her body as one, but it was kind of busted at the moment. Years of strength training and martial arts classes and she didn’t even get her Bruce Lee moment. Nope. She barely managed to get to her feet with Milena’s help.
“We need to go,” Milena said quietly as Huisman held his neck with one hand and pulled a gun with the other.
His first shot grazed her arm, but Milena managed to get them to the door.
She needed to kill that man.
But she needed to live more.
The door slid shut behind them.
There were guards running through the halls, obviously confused. One of them stopped Milena, saying something in a language Kenzie didn’t understand. Milena was quiet, her eyes submissively down as she explained.
Could she get his gun? Why did her hands have to shake so much? She needed to be stronger than this.
“I tell him the doctor wants me to take you back to your room,” she explained as they started down the hall.
“Stop them!” Huisman shouted behind them. “Stop those bitches.”
They probably would have if the gunfire hadn’t started.
Textbook Ian Taggart. Distract. Cause confusion. Use it to take out everyone in your path.
Unfortunately, she had to find Lou.
Milena pulled her into another of the labs. “We should hide.”
She squeezed the younger woman’s hand. “Do. Hide in here, but I have to get to my friend. Where would they take her?”
“She was working in lab four. It’s a mechanical lab. She’s been sleeping in there, too. That is where they will go. You should stay,” Milena implored.
Kenzie shook her head. “Can’t, but you stay here and keep your head down. If you see a big blond dude, he’s one of the good guys.”
And then Kenzie was off. She slipped back into the hallway, steadier on her feet this time.
She wished she had those damn nanites now since she was trying to save the world in a hospital gown. Her ass was on full damn display as she raced across the hall. There was no sign of Huisman now. He’d likely retreated to deal with the hole in his neck. Or to get Lou.
She had to get Lou first. He would have a plan, and if he got out of here with Lou, it would all be for naught.
Kenzie was nearly thrown to the ground when the castle walls shook again. Someone was having fun with explosives.
And smoke grenades. The hall filled with gray smoke, threatening to choke her, but she clung to the wall, forcing her way through even as guards ran past her.
Up ahead she heard volleys of gunfire and shouts. Where was the lab? Was it the last one on the left?
Her chest ached. A sharp pain that had her putting her hand there, trying to calm down.
And then it felt like time slowed. The smoke cleared and the most beautiful man in the world stepped into her line of sight.
Ben. Ben was here. He was big and glorious and alive and here.
She could kind of hear music. Oh, she knew it was all in her head, but it swelled and the world went soft and cinematic.
He shouted something, but it didn’t matter because he was here.
And so was her sister.
“Hey, dumbass. Where’s Lou?” Kala offered up a warning volley of gunfire that sent the remaining guards running.
“We think she’s in lab four,” Kenzie managed to get out.
“You got her?” Kala asked.
Ben nodded and pulled a SIG from his belt, handing it to Kenzie. He touched his earpiece. “TJ, she’s in lab four. Kala is en route. I’ve got the package and I’m heading to the extraction point.”
She knew what he would truly want. “Huisman is back there. I injured him, and I think he’s in the med lab. He was bleeding but it wasn’t fatal.”
Ben simply leaned over and picked her up. “Watch our back, baby.”
He started walking.
She saw TJ rush by as Ben turned right and started for what she suspected was the loading dock.
Damn. TJ had taken out a lot of guards. He’d torn through them and didn’t look like he had a scratch.
“Huisman is back there,” Kenzie shouted.
“Your sister can handle him.” Her father was suddenly jogging by. “Tris busted the security system, so all the doors are unlocked.”
Cooper was somewhere in there, too. She heard him shouting orders.
“There’s a friendly in one of the labs. A girl who helped me.”
Her dad waved to let her know he would take care of it.
“Ben, he’s back there and he’s wounded,” Kenzie explained.
“I don’t care. I came here for you.” Ben kept moving.
He didn’t miss a step when Kenzie aimed and fired at the guard who was about to take them out.
“Ben, he’s here. I don’t want to be the reason you miss this chance. I can walk.” She could crawl, maybe.
“Not a chance,” Ben replied. “On our left.”
Kenzie took that guy out with a head shot. “Ben…”
“Kenzie, I love you. I’m not leaving you.”
All around her everything was chaos, but those words cut through it all. “You don’t have to say it.”
“I love you. Baby, I promise I will do a deep grovel when we get out of this. Trust me. I know what is expected, and I’ve signed off on the plan.
Kala and Tash gave me explicit instructions, including dates and timelines, and I’m pretty sure I signed some legal paperwork we will have to deal with later.
I am going to be the best groveler, but if maybe you could… ”
“I love you, too, Ben.” She wouldn’t make him grovel. Much. Right now all that mattered was that he was here and he was choosing her.
He smiled down at her. “Besides, letting your sister kill Manny buys me so many points. So many.” He stopped suddenly. “Kenzie, I’m putting you down. I need you to run.”
The door in front of them slid open and Dr. Huisman stood there with the detonator and two large guards at his back, rifles trained on Kenzie and Ben.
There would be nowhere to run to.
“I wouldn’t move if I were you,” Huisman commanded. His normally pristine lab coat was covered in blood, and she was sure most of it was his.
Ben pushed her behind his back. “Manny, I only came for her. Let us out and I swear you won’t see us ever again.”
“What fun would that be?” Huisman’s lips curled up in a snarl. “Your bitch whore nearly cost me my life, and I will deal with her. I think I will deal with you as well this time. Don’t expect your friends to help you. I left them with a gift. They’ll be trying to save Louisa. They will fail.”
Kenzie’s heart threatened to seize. “What did you do?”
A guard was at their back, shoving them forward, closer to Huisman, though he kept a careful distance. They were through the threshold when he answered.