11. Aiden
Chapter eleven
Aiden
“We’re not going home until she’s with us,” Dane declares to the rest of the boat. “I don’t care if she’s not on this last island. There are more islands around we can check.”
It’s a sentiment we all agree on, but once again, someone here has to keep reality in check and manage the risks. The midnight sky is already lighter than it was before. It’s dark and starless, but the hint of blue tells me our time is running out.
“We have less than two hours before sunrise. If any staff get up before then, that further limits our window,” I remind him.
Dane slams his laptop shut and jumps to his feet. He was able to download plenty of files from the server we’d hacked, but none of them made any mention of Raegan. We’ll look through the information once we’re back at the bunker, but all that matters right now is her.
“Who cares? We’re already here! What if she’s just another island away? What if she’s being—” he cuts off when my eyes snap to his. He starts again, slower and more controlled. “It’s been too long. He’s had her for two months. What if she’s…” His Adam’s apple juts out sharply. “What if she’s like Vera?”
I scan the rest of the boat for reactions first. We haven’t told the others what we found out from Vera about Raegan and Gordon yet, and now is still not the time for that truth to be revealed. Kellan’s not paying us any attention as he stares out past the bow of the boat, his concentration fixated on the ocean beyond us where the next island will soon be visible.
Reid is at the wheel. He’s focused on the direction of the boat, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s listening in. He has been quiet since we left the first island and the prisoners there behind. I understand why he’s upset, but he knew why we were coming here. We can’t just teleport them to Florida and leave them there, and he can’t make that many long trips with so many people to the bunker before he runs out of energy.
We’ll have to return for them later.
I doubt these islands will have anyone or anything left on them by tomorrow once the staff wakes up and finds the dead guards.
It’s the situation we’re stuck with, and I’ll give him time to come to terms with it. As long as he doesn’t go rogue and leave us behind with a hero complex. Based on what I’ve seen from him so far, he doesn’t seem like the type. Unless Tinsley is involved, he hasn’t cared about anything other than helping us find Raegan. His sudden concern for the other prisoners is unexpected and something I’ll have to investigate more after this is done.
As for Jackson…
According to Reid, he’d lost it on the last island and killed everyone. Thankfully, there were no prisoners. I have no idea if he would have harmed them had they been on the island, so I’m grateful I didn’t have to find out.
He shut off his comms and left Reid behind. I can only assume he went to the last island himself, so I called Reid back to the boat so we could meet him there together.
Plus, I can’t guarantee that Reid wouldn’t be in danger with Jackson in his current state if he got in his way.
“We’ll get her back. Just as strong and rebellious as always,” I reassure him, even if the same worry plagues my thoughts. She lasted a year with Gordon on the island and came back a fighter. I can’t let myself imagine that it would be any different after two more months.
But she didn’t escape him unscathed the first time, did she?
I’d seen evidence of it when I knocked her out on the island, but I’d been so wrapped up in thoughts of betrayal and my own pain that I didn’t understand what I’d seen. I never considered the blood on her legs as anything more than an injury from the collapsing building. The fear on her face wasn’t because she’d seen me as an enemy who caught her while she was vulnerable. It was because of him .
And I let her fall right back into his grasp.
Let her be okay. I won’t mess it up this time.
Dane drops into his seat, leaning on his knees and scraping his fingers through his hair.
“I see it!” Kellan yells at the front.
Finally.
There’s a beep in my ear telling me that someone joined or left the comms channel.
Jack’s voice is cold and dark. “She’s here.”
Dane’s head pops up with a sharp intake of air. “You have her?”
A man screams in our ears. There’s a thud, and then Jackson murmurs threateningly, “Where else would she be since her room’s empty?”
Kellan storms over to Reid and grabs his shoulder. “Get us over there!”
Reid rolls his shoulder away from his grasp, but Kell’s grip doesn’t allow him to free himself. “We’re not close enough yet,” Reid rumbles. “I have to see the beach before I can bring us there.”
“Quiet!” I snap at them when Jackson’s victim answers him.
“—not usually allowed out at this time. Wait! Wait! The clearing about half a mile from the back of the building. If Gordon has her out early, then that’s where she’ll be.”
“She’s not outside. Try again,” Jackson coolly replies.
The man whimpers and sniffs. “The—the training room, then. Or the basement. I don’t know!”
“Where?”
“Training rooms are on the twelfth floor. You have to take the stairs to get to the basement. Please—please don’t kill me, too.”
“What’s in the basement?”
“Ahh! Fuck, nngh !” he cries. “It’s programming! The programming rooms!”
Programming.
Dane’s wide eyes meet mine.
The motor dies on the boat and Reid turns. “I see the beach. We can go from here.”
Kellan throws the anchor overboard and then clasps his hand on Reid’s arm. Dane leaps forward to grab his forearm, and I take the opposite shoulder.
We’re gone in an instant.
The world shifts on its axis, and then my feet are planted on the sand with my face aiming toward them. I step my foot forward to catch myself, giving my body the seconds it needs to re-discover balance. Dane and Kellan both topple to the ground.
“If she’s in programming, we need to hurry,” Reid says before the rest of us have recovered from the jump through space.
“What the fuck is programming?” Kellan snarls while pushing himself to his feet.
Reid’s jaw ticks. It’s the first sign of real emotion I’ve seen out of him thus far. “Each room has a different method for brainwashing. I’ve seen people completely changed after one session in their programming rooms.”
The man with Jackson screams through the earpiece, but it’s cut short. And then it’s quiet.
“I’ve already cleared the way inside. Meet me there,” Jack murmurs with dangerous calm.
Dane’s arms shake with tension from his fists. “Rae…”
“Let’s go,” I snap and break into a run, trusting Jackson that the outside is clear of GE workers and we’ll make it without a problem. The others stay close behind.
Reid snaps a badge off one of the many exposed, dead security guards near the door. He pushes between us to unlock it, and then we rush inside.
The room is dark, save for safety lighting along the walls. It’s enough for us to see that it’s empty. Hopefully, it’s a sign that the rest of the building is still fast asleep. But we don’t have much longer to count on that.
Moving further inside, Kellan smacks my arm and points to a sign on the opposite wall for elevators and stairs to the right. I nod, and we all move together to the stairwell door. None of us care about making a sound once we’re inside, our feet pounding on the hard steps that echo through the many stories above us.
Kell crashes through the door first, bursting into a lit hallway that extends on either side of us. All the doors are solid without windows. The painted cement walls fill the space in between them, so there’s no way for us to know which rooms are occupied.
“Split up. Kellan, you take the left with Reid. Dane and I will take the right.” I don’t wait for the others to move before I sprint to the first door. I grasp the door handle, feeling for the metal mechanism inside. The lock is triggered by the badges or a pin code, but that means nothing to my gift. I change the shape of the tumblers, making it smaller and shifting the metal elsewhere until the door opens without anything to hold it shut.
A single chair sits in the middle of the room. There are weapons and metal instruments hanging on the far wall and laid upon the counter against it. But no one’s inside.
The next room has a pod in the middle of the room with nothing else.
A crack sounds behind door number three.
I rush to that one, grabbing the metal handle and yanking it from the door as a small sword. The door falls open without the latch, and I witness a whip slice across the back of someone tied frontward to a standing X. No, not a whip. It’s a woman’s length of hair that she’s controlling to shape into a whip.
“No…” Dane breathes beside me. He’s staring at the figure strung up in front of the woman.
Her long blonde hair is pushed over the front of her shoulders. Whatever she was wearing is torn to expose her bloody back. A quick glimpse at her face seizes my lungs.
“Rae!” he shouts and lunges into the room.
I curse and chase after him.
The woman with whip-like hair spins around. Her hair splits and combines to form multiple whips that fly at us. I grab Dane and throw him behind me. The metal at my wrist and up my arm merges together and drops to my hand, reforming into a second sword that I use to slash and cut the hair.
Dane runs around me to her front. “Rae! Raegan, wake up! It’s me! It’s Dane!”
An unfamiliar voice chuckles on the other side of the room, but Raegan and the X block my view of them and Dane.
“Grab him!” the voice demands.
Son of a bitch!
I pivot, readying to dash to Dane, when the woman with the hair shrieks, “Got you!” Her hair wraps around my wrists and yanks me off my feet.
Dane gives a battle cry. “ Gordon ! I’m going to fucking kill you!”
Fuck.
“Dane!” I yell.
The other voice laughs, and I hear a thump and grunt from Dane.
Kellan roars into the room like a bull.
My swords slice through the hair that annoyingly keeps growing back. I land on one knee, then throw myself at her. She sends more hair, this time honed to points. I sharpen the blades and swing them one after another, spinning in a circle to keep cutting through the hair until I reach her. The blade of my sword catches her collarbone and drags down to her hip.
She screams and falls to the floor.
Another cry rings out through the room, drawing my attention back to the door where Jackson has entered. Past the hair woman is a man I hadn’t seen yet, now also dead on the ground.
“More are on their way!” Reid shouts from the doorway.
I hurry to the door to see what we’re up against and curse viciously. Did Gordon call them somehow? Two dozen people, at least, and there’s a high likelihood they all have gifts like the hair girl. Kellan and Jack face off against Gordon. Dane’s trying to cut Raegan free with the shuriken blade Jack had used to kill the unknown man.
We’re not going to get out of here if we stay to fight them all. Neither Jack nor Kell is landing a blow on Gordon, which means he’s just stalling them until the others show. His grin is wide as he lets them fruitlessly try to harm him.
“Get ready to take us home,” I tell Reid before joining Dane. I transfigure my smaller sword into a perfectly sharpened knife and slice through the leather binding at Raegan’s ankle. “Kellan!”
I’m prepared to call for him again since he’s in the middle of a fight, but he must see what we’re doing and stands behind Raegan in an instant. His hands settle against her upper back and her thighs as I cut through another strap.
“No!” Gordon bellows. Jackson dives between him and us, throwing everything he has at the evil scientist to see what might stick.
I bend down to free the second ankle and then start on her wrists.
Gordon yelps as if one of Jack’s weapons struck him, but I’m too preoccupied with making sure Kellan has Raegan in his arms to look.
“Reid! Jack!” I grab Kellan and search for Reid. He’s being blocked by the same man who’d struck us all with lightning and kept us from Raegan the last time.
Come on, Reid!
He teleports in front of me, and I put my other hand on his arm. Dane does the same, with his opposite hand on Raegan.
“Jack! Now!” He looks our way but doesn’t move to join us immediately. Don’t do it, Jack. Getting her home is more important than him.
His gaze falls on Raegan, and I breathe a sigh of relief. He flies to Reid with his hand out.
Something flashes above us, and I look up at a sight I’ve seen once before.
Lightning.
Then, the world disappears.
Reid transports us to the quarantine wing in front of his and Tinsley’s room. Tinsley pops out of their room when she sees us and smiles. “Hey, you’re back! Reid! Come ’ere. I wanna show you something.”
Somehow, we all manage to make the jump without crashing to the ground. Jackson and I hold Kellan to ensure he doesn’t drop or fall on Raegan. Once he’s stable, I pull my phone out and dial Cassandra. “Kell, get her on the bed in the next room,” I tell him as it rings.
“In a minute, Tins,” Reid says softly. He looks from Raegan in Kellan’s arms to me, and I know he’s waiting to make sure I don’t still need him for something. He’s been beyond helpful in the last couple of months. He follows directions well, and if there’s something he doesn’t want to do or like, he’s straightforward and honest about it. I let him and Tinsley out of their room to wander the bunker and meet everyone, though they’re still considered probationary members.
While the other three move into the next room, I start following until I hear Cassandra’s voice.
“Hello?”
“Where are you? I need you in the quarantine wing at the bunker.”
“I’m out on a job. How fast do you need me?”
Two minutes ago. I should have had her on standby just in case, but I never imagined…
“Now. As fast as possible. How far out are you?”
She curses. “I’m on the other side of town. Is it Raegan? Did you get her back?”
Cassandra is one of a handful at the Guild who knows about Raegan being captured by GE. I’ve had more than just Jack and Dane working on finding her for the last two months.
I slam the side of my fist into the wall. “It might depend on how long it takes you to get here,” I admit, my smooth tone sharpening in frustration.
“I’ll get her.” Reid steps forward, and I look over my arm at him. He’s clearly exhausted from all the jumps he’s had to do in such a short time over long distances. I had planned on using the boat and a plane to get back, but Raegan’s life is hanging in the balance.
There was no choice.
“Cassandra, tell Reid exactly where you are. He’s going to pick you up.” I pass the phone to Reid so she can give him clear directions.
He gives it back to me with a nod. “We’ll be right back.” I blink, and he’s gone.
My phone gets shoved away, and I practically run into the room where the others are. Kellan’s pacing the floor, pulling his hair back like he’s going to tie it again and again. Jackson’s sitting on one side of the bed, trying to pick the lock on the collar around Raegan’s neck, while Dane is sitting on a chair on the other side, holding her hand between his.
Kell stops when he sees me, pinning me with his blue-green eyes. “Where is she?”
“On a job. Reid will bring her, so it won’t be much longer.” I move to the bed and nudge Jackson. “Let me.” He leans to the side, and I pinch the collar between my thumb and forefinger.
“It blocks her gift,” he states, which explains the power I feel thrumming between my fingers.
It doesn’t stop me from using mine on it, though, so the collar carefully splits apart on one side and curls away from her skin. Once it’s clear of her, I step back with it in my hand. On her neck, there’s a dark pink line with some red spots where it rubbed her skin raw.
Jackson strokes the hair from her face, and fresh anger spews in my chest when I see the bruise on her cheek and jaw. It’s a tiny fraction of everything I see. Like the bleeding welts on her back crossed over older scars that they never bothered to heal. The blood dribbling out of her nose and mouth concerns me the most. Is it from what caused the bruise, or does she have internal bleeding?
Kellan releases a wordless roar and punches the wall. “She’s taking too long!”
Reid and Cassandra pop into the room at that second. “I’m here! Where—Oh, shit.” She rushes to the bed where Raegan’s lying on her stomach with her head to the side.
I hand Reid the now-mangled collar. “One last thing. Drop this in the ocean or somewhere far from here. I don’t know if there’s a tracker in it. Then go rest.” He nods and takes it. “And Reid?” He pauses to look at me. “Thank you.”
Reid’s blue eyes slide to Raegan on the bed and then back to me. “Let me know if there’s anything else you need for her.” Then he’s gone.
I move to the foot of the bed to watch Cassandra. Her hands are carefully placed on Raegan’s sides emitting a soft, warm light. She must hear my footsteps because she turns to look up at me with her bottom lip pinched between her teeth. Her green-gold eyes seem to glow brighter while her gift is active, but it’s the lines of worry on her brow that grab my attention.
“What is it?”
“I can’t heal it all.” Dane and Kellan both jump forward, but I cut them a slashing look so she can finish. “I’ll focus on the most urgent areas tonight, but I’ll need to come back over the next few days to slowly heal the rest.”
“What’s wrong?”
She chews her lip again. “Her body’s already exhausted. If I push it to heal itself too much, too fast, she…her body could give out. It would be too much. And it takes time for her body to get the rest it already needs, let alone the healing sleep. I have to do this slowly for her safety.”
“Do it.”
She nods and focuses back on Raegan, closing her eyes and directing her gift to where it needs her healing the most.
Kellan’s watching with arms shaking, fists tight, looking ready to murder the next person he sees.
Dane and I haven’t even told him what we learned from Vera yet.
“Get out of here and cool off,” I tell him.
He glares at me. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Well, you’re not fighting anyone in this room. So either leave and vent your anger out elsewhere, or calm down.”
Dane decides to volunteer as tribute when he speaks up to snark at Kell. “There shouldn’t be any anger in a healing room.”
I grab Kellan’s arm to physically get his attention away from Dane and whatever mess might have happened there. “Don’t start anything, Kell. If Cassandra gets distracted in her healing because of you two fighting, I’m banning you both from this room until she’s fully healed.”
He yanks his arm away. “I wasn’t going to start anything.”
I seriously doubt that, but he thankfully just shoots Dane a glare and the middle finger and then goes back to pacing.
Dane wasn’t wrong, but he knew saying anything to Kellan would only piss him off more. I check back in with Jackson to see if he’s been watching the spectacle between us, but his focus is completely owned by Raegan and her healing. If anger isn’t allowed in a sick room, then Jackson is no exception. Even though he looks calm sitting there and watching, I know he’s just as angry as Kellan. He just knows how to hide it better.
“There,” Cassandra finally says. She sits up and pulls her hands away. “I’ve stopped the internal bleeding, healed her broken ribs and her concussion, as well as any other internal injuries. That’s all her body will handle for the next day or two.”
“She’s still burning up,” Jack comments almost mildly, his hand resting over Raegan’s forehead.
“I heal injuries, not sicknesses. This is just her body’s response from…well, everything. Since the internal damage has mostly been taken care of, it should start getting better soon. You can help her sweat it out, too, or see if you can get her to take some medicine.”
“Will she wake up now?” I ask, my eyes glued to her barely moving form on the bed. I have to really focus to see the movement of her back that shows she’s breathing.
Cassandra spins around to answer me next with a shrug. “Honestly? I doubt it. I’ll come by to check on her tomorrow to see if she’s up for more or if it will need to be the next day. But with how tired her body is from…before and now the healing, I wouldn’t expect her to wake up until it’s done.”
“What were all of her injuries?” Jack asks next.
My gaze jumps to Dane, whose jaw tightens, but he doesn’t say anything. Neither of us has forgotten Jackson’s promise to Vera. And I’m not entirely sure if I disagree with Jackson either after what she told us and how she acted about it. Especially after seeing Raegan like this.
Cassandra catches the mood shift in the room, her eyes darting between each of us before she nervously grabs the sheets of the bed at her side. “Um...aside from what I just healed, she has a broken wrist, wounds on her back, significant bruising all over her body, the neck injury, and...”
“And?” I press.
“Her knee...something’s wrong with it, but I’m not sure what yet. I won’t be able to tell until the rest is healed.” She takes a shaky breath, combing her fingers through her hair. “What’s making this so much harder is her body’s strength. It’s like she’s already been worn down to her limit, so she doesn’t have enough to give to heal a lot at a time. I could have done more if she’d been in better condition before...whatever happened.”
She nods to some internal comment and then continues, her voice strengthening, “Get her a brace for her left wrist and find some aloe to coat her back with. Try not to move her too much, but make sure she’s comfortable. I’d probably get her hooked up to an IV as well for administering any medications and keeping her body hydrated while she’s out.”
“Thank you, Cassandra.”
She stands and offers me a comforting smile. “I’ll be back tomorrow, but call me if anything happens. I’ll make sure to stay nearby until she’s healed up.”
I nod, putting a pin in the request I’ll ask of her later once Raegan’s finished healing from the worst of it, and wait for her to leave before looking back at the rest of the room. “Kellan, come with me to get the supplies. Then you and I have another errand to run.”
He joins me on the brief trip to the medical wing. We could have brought Raegan to this area for care, but the beds here are only separated by curtains for short-term care. I prefer having her in the privacy and comfort of one of the quarantine rooms, where it’s also more heavily defensible should anyone find us here.
Not that I’m expecting they will, but I’d rather be ready for that possibility.
They are never getting her back again.
And even if they try, I’ll make sure she’ll never be lost to us.
We deliver the supplies, doing everything Cassandra instructed until she seems settled and Dane is liberally applying the aloe to her back. Jackson’s now perched on top of the backrest of the sofa chair, his boots planted on the arms, as he watches Raegan like a hawk in his nest.
“Kellan and I are going to check on Vera and Old Red. We’ll have to figure out a rotation between watching Vera and Raegan and sleep, but I can bring some clothes here from the firehouse for each of us.” We’ll have to figure out what we’re doing with Vera now that we have Raegan back. It would be easier to bring her to the bunker and lock her next door, but there’s too much technology here for her to access. We have to keep her at Old Red. Which means splitting us up into two groups.
I don’t like it.
“I don’t know if there was a tracker in that collar or if it was here long enough for them to have caught the signal, but in case they try to portal in and take her again, make sure you’re ready. We’ll hopefully be back within the hour to come up with our game plan moving forward.”
Jackson nods, his eyes still zeroed in on her. “If they come, I’m ready.”
If they do show up, it’s up to Jackson to keep both Raegan and Dane safe. I’m not sure I trust that Jack will protect Dane as well as Raegan, but I need Kellan with me at Old Red if we need to move Vera. It’s a risk, but I don’t plan on being gone long.
“Good. Let’s go, Kell.”