Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
Almost the second Voodoo hit the water, bullets followed him in.
Slicing through the water all around him, almost close enough to slice right through him.
Or maybe they did hit him.
Honestly, he was so hyped up on adrenaline right now that he was pretty sure he’d absorbed Indigo’s ability to not feel pain.
Pain was nothing when both the man he’d focused all his energy on for the last decade, and the woman who had torpedoed her way into his life were both so close he could feel it.
Before him the houseboat was moving, taking Dr. Gardner away with it.
He had no idea if he’d hit his target, or if he’d delivered a kill shot.
While usually Voodoo would be confident that he hit what he aimed at, this was different.
He’d been moving, flying through the air, and the scientist had moved, too, realizing he’d made a tactical error by remaining out in the open on the top of the houseboat.
Just because he’d bet he had at least winged the doctor, it wasn't enough.
Dead. The man had to die for every horrific thing he’d ever done.
A quick death wouldn't really be enough to repay the man for every evil deed he’d committed, but it would at least prevent him from committing more sins in the future.
Torturing Dr. Gardner would feel amazing for him and the rest of his team, for every other victim, but it wasn't worth risking Indigo’s life, keeping her in danger longer than she had to be.
So he’d settle for any sort of death so long as the scientist was no longer breathing.
As he came back up to the surface, he saw that the houseboat was trudging along slowly, maybe close enough for him to get to if he pushed himself.
Wishing for Thunder’s speed, Voodoo dove deep, kept well below the surface, using the water and the dark to his advantage to make it harder for anyone to know where he was and get off a shot.
It felt like chasing a puff of smoke. Every time you reached out for it there was nothing to grab hold of.
It was there, you could see it, but it wasn't something you could hold onto.
But he had to keep trying. He was closest to the houseboat, and his team was laying down cover fire for him, taking out the rest of the threats, hopefully finding Indigo and keeping her safe until he could get to her.
When his hand brushed against the side of the medium-sized houseboat, elation flared through him. He’d done it. Reached the boat before it could get away.
Realistically speaking, that shouldn’t have happened.
The houseboat could move faster than a person, that was just a fact.
And he wasn't Thunder with superhuman speed. But here it was, within his grasp, and Voodoo had to assume that one of his teammates had managed to take out the boat’s driver, and it was no longer moving.
Coming up to the surface, he quickly located a ladder on the side of the houseboat and climbed up the side.
“I’m coming for you, Gardner,” he yelled out as he reached the first deck. There were two more, but he had no way of knowing whether the man was still up there or if he’d run to hide down in one of the rooms.
If he was lucky, he’d find the man’s dead body lying up there.
There was no answer, not that he’d really expected one. Just because Dr. Gardner had delusions of grandeur and seemed to see himself as a god of some sort, didn't mean that he wasn't a coward at heart.
The scientist just always set things up to give himself the upper hand. Take away that upper hand, and the man folded like a deck of cards.
“You wanted us back, didn't you, Gardner?” Voodoo roared as he climbed up the ladder, heading for the top deck. If the man wasn't up there, then he’d search every room, every hiding place, on this houseboat until he found him. He’d kill anyone who dared to cross him, and if he could get the doctor alive, then he would absolutely still go with their original plan of prolonging the man’s death for as long as he could.
Suffering wouldn't change what he and his team and so many others had gone through, but it would go a long way toward easing that pain, that anger. Make it easier to move forward.
“Change your mind now that your monsters are right here?” he yelled. No one knew better than Dr. Gardner just what they could do, and while the man might be prepared to sacrifice the lives of others to try to get them back under his control, he didn't want to sacrifice his own.
Behind him on the bank, gunshots were still being fired, but he trusted his team to handle it.
Trusted his team not just with his own life, but with Indigo’s.
His job right now was to find Dr. Gardner.
Nothing more, nothing less. Kill him outright if he had to, incapacitate and capture him if he could.
As he reached the top, Voodoo scanned the area, finding no one but seeing a puddle of blood that told him he had hit what he’d shot at. Satisfaction rolled through him. Dr. Gardner was there, on this boat, finally within his grasp, injured to boot.
For so long he had dreamed of this moment, dreamed of how he’d feel when he was face to face with the man responsible for stealing a decade of his life from him, dreamed about what he’d do to the man.
Even worried about whether he’d want to participate in the torture of their creator.
While usually he hated inflicting unnecessary pain on another human being, he was pretty sure he’d be able to make an exception for the man who had kept him locked in a cage for three years while he experimented on him and sent him out on kill missions.
Now, as that prospect was tantalizingly close, Voodoo found he didn't feel a hint of remorse or apprehension for what he’d do to this man, and it had nothing to do with his own torture.
It was all Indigo.
Dr. Gardner had to suffer, had to scream, had to bleed, for every mark on Indigo’s skin. Every stain on her soul that had been caused by the sick individual he was hunting.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” he taunted, slinking across the deck, searching for the stairs that would lead him down. “You wanted to play, well now I'm here, come out and do your worst, Gardner.”
Predictably, the man didn't make a peep, nor did he show his cowardly face.
But as he found the stairs, and was about to descend, the world suddenly went eerily silent.
Quiet enough that he froze, looked over at the bank, and saw a couple of shadowy figures moving.
“Might want to rethink that plan,” someone yelled from the shore. “Wouldn't want anything to happen to the pretty little woman now, would we?”
“Don’t stop, Voodoo,” Indigo shouted. “Find him. Kill him. Saving me isn’t worth letting Dr. Gardner go free.”
Damn.
She’d been caught. If one of his teammates hadn't already taken out whoever had her, it was because they didn't think they had a clear shot that wouldn't endanger her life. No matter how badly they all wanted Dr. Gardner dead, not a single one of them would risk Indigo’s life to achieve that goal.
If they did, they’d be proving they were the monsters Dr. Gardner wanted to create.
The monsters they thought they were for the last ten years.
It had taken Steel falling for Rose, Dragon for Cassandra, and Blade for Whitney to help them all see that while their emotions other than anger had been dulled, those emotions were still there.
They had consciences, they could fall in love, they could experience the whole gamut of emotions, same as everybody else could.
They weren't monsters, and they had proved it over and over again.
Would prove it once again right now.
“Get off the boat if you don’t want me to blow her pretty brains out,” the man ordered.
“You kill me, then they kill you,” Indigo said, and he loved the fire in her voice. The determination. His crazy girl was going to get herself killed, but she was finding her voice, her power, taking control of her life.
“Not going to kill you until I'm out of the line of fire,” the man shot back, and Indigo laughed.
Hell, she was actually laughing at the man who was threatening to keep her as a hostage and use her to escape.
“You really have no idea what they can do, do you? There is no escaping them. They’ll find you, and they’ll make you wish they had given you the same death you have planned for me.
I can assure you a bullet to the brain will be a blessing you’ll be praying for, but they’ll never give you,” Indigo continued to taunt the man.
“Shut up,” the man snarled. “Get off that boat now, and let it leave, or I’ll start putting bullet holes in her. Maybe she doesn’t feel pain, but I can still cause some damage. Damage she won't survive.”
Knowing only one move he could make would keep his girl safe, Voodoo was about to concede temporary defeat, when suddenly, he heard Indigo’s panicked voice shouting a warning.
“Voodoo, look out,” she screamed.
Trusting his girl as deeply as he trusted his team, Voodoo didn't hesitate to fling himself sideways a split second before a bullet plowed into the spot where he’d just been standing.
January 25th
3:08 A.M.
Her grand escape plan didn't work out the way she’d hoped.
Pretty much the opposite. Indigo had made it no more than a dozen or so yards from the back of the truck when she was caught.
Of course, it had to be the man who had carried her into the truck in the first place, the one who had thought it was fun to stick a knife in her leg and twist it around just to see once again that she wasn't going to scream in agony, that was the one to catch her.
As soon as she was yanked up against that big body, Indigo knew she was in trouble.
She just hadn't realized she was going to be used as bait until she was dragged down to the river’s edge, the cold metal of the gun pressed against her temple, making her already icy cold naked body that much colder.