32. Raegan
Jackson makes quick work of the lock and then we’re in. My nose wrinkles the moment I cross the threshold. It smells like metal and old urine.
It doesn’t take too much of a guess to figure out what they’ve been using this place for.
“I’m burning it down,” I grumble as we walk into a large empty truck bay.
Kellan laughs and throws his fist into his hand. “I’m in.”
A small smile curves Jackson’s lips that tells me he’s on board as well.
Perfect.
I cup my hands around my mouth and shout into the empty space. “Joe!” My voice echoes and carries through the building just as I’d hoped. It’s our job to draw the congressman to us and act as a distraction while the others are on stealth and rescue.
We’re the perfect team for that job between the three of us.
“Hey, Joe! I’m here early for our deal! ”
A guard appears in the doorway. “Hey, what’re you doing here?”
“I have a meeting with the congressman. Can you—” The man falls dead on the ground. “Or not.”
“He’ll come out,” Jack reassures me as he plucks his knife from the man’s eye. “I’m sure of it.”
Kellan sticks close to my side. When I give him a look for it, he raises an eyebrow with a cocky grin. “What is it, beautiful? Is my nearness distracting you?”
“I said you could watch my back. What I don’t need is you up my ass the entire time.” It comes out harsher than I intended, but I’m antsy for this to be over with. I need to know that Portia is safe and okay. I need to make sure we all get out of this in one piece. And the congressman must die.
Jackson slips his hand around mine and squeezes, then lets go. He knows exactly what’s running through my mind. I take the small comfort and wrap it around my heart. She will make it out of this.
Kellan’s grin remains stuck on his face, and he leans in close, his large hand rubbing down my back. “I can’t wait to see you use that fire on them. Let me know if I should just stand back to enjoy the show if these ungifted goons are all we’re going to be up against.”
“Don’t jinx it,” I mutter back at him.
We move into the next room and the sight lining the wall terrifies me.
Row upon stacked row of cages.
There must be a hundred of them.
Cages.
For humans .
Gifted people like us. Being treated like feral animals.
“They’re here,” Jackson murmurs under his breath. He nods at Kellan and then slips away between one of the rows of floor-to-ceiling cages.
Clapping echoes further down the dark aisle. Kellan and I stop.
“I’m impressed. You found me faster than I thought.” Joe appears around the corner at the end of the aisle. Three others follow after him.
He tsks as they continue to close the distance between us, stopping a few feet away. “But you didn’t bring the girl. And you brought others with you.” He shakes his head sadly. “I know you can do better than that.”
I ignore him and study the people with him. The guy and girl on his left look around my age and bored to be here. The man on his right is giving me a sinister smile and a serious case of the creeps.
He can die first.
I grab my gun and fire at him to do exactly that. The faster I take these guys down, the sooner I can make sure Portia is safe. I don’t have time for idle chit-chat.
The bullets slow before they reach him and then turn and shoot back at me.
Fuck.
Kellan dives in front of me and takes them both in the chest.
“Kell!”
He doesn’t budge from his spot planted before me and digs them each out to drop them on the concrete floor.
“Not a fucking chance,” he growls, flicking the second bullet away.
Jackson appears out of the shadows behind the guy. Knives are vibrating in the air ready for the attack.
Only…they don’t.
The guy on Joe’s right laughs and steps back and to the side so he has us all in front of him. “Good try, but I control all things metal. Your knives and bullets won’t work on me.”
Some of the knives start to turn to aim back at Jackson. They all quiver in the air between them in an invisible battle of wills.
Something crashes into Kellan and knocks him off balance. Again from the other side. And again. Then the girl appears in front of him. “Come on, big guy. Let’s see if you can even land a punch.”
Kellan reaches for her. I gasp as the third person with Joe disappears and reappears between us. He drives a blade through Kellan’s back.
“No!”
He coughs out blood, and I lunge for the guy. He vanishes with his blade. I touch Kell’s back and only exhale after his body stitches itself back together.
“Get back, beautiful. They’re focused on me and I want to keep it that way,” he grunts out. “Just focus on your target.”
I wish he didn’t have to get hurt for his armor to activate, but at least at this rate, he’ll be impervious to any of their attacks soon. “Don’t die, Kellan,” I murmur to him.
“I knew you cared.” Grinning, Kell takes off down another aisle. Speed Girl laughs and runs after him.
Her partner stares at me. I shift my stance to prepare for him to attack, and he frowns. He doesn’t seem to be having fun like the girl is. More like he’s resigned to this task.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“You know that we do.” Then he disappears.
I tense, looking around me for him to appear out of nowhere again. Kellan shouts in pain, and I spin in that direction. Why did he go to Kellan and not me?
“That’s better. Now you and I can go discuss our next steps.” Joe straightens his tie and then turns to walk away. “Come on then, dear. We can speak in my office and out of their way.”
“Yeah right,” I mutter, raising my gun. I pull the trigger. It pauses halfway there, and I let out a frustrated growl. Jackson and his opponent, who are throwing and dodging knives between each other around the room, are stopped again.
Jack’s hand is out and aimed at me, and I notice then some of his knives were on their way to me while I was distracted by the stopped bullet. The metal guy smirks and flicks his fingers. Jackson grunts, and then the knives aimed at me drop to the ground.
Joe turns the corner out of sight.
I start after him when my gun is ripped from my hands. My stash of knives and daggers from my boots up to my shirt fly out and then they’re all pointing at me.
“Not so fast,” the other guy crows.
Jackson slams his fist into his face and the metal clatters to the ground. “Go!” His gravelly voice urges as he strikes the guy again and again.
I run after Joe, praying Jackson will be okay .
I race down the next corridor. There are no windows and no lights, so it’s dark and quiet. Even the fighting in the last room is distant and muted. “Joe?” I call out. He wouldn’t have left already, right? If I lose him here, the chance of finding him again so easily is slim to none. “Joe!” I yell out again.
I’m sure if he hears me, he’ll stop so he can have that chat he wanted.
The skin on the back of my neck prickles, and I begin to turn when something large slams into the side of my head and I’m knocked to the ground. My vision goes black until I hit the ground. I groan as pain ravages my head.
Fuck me. Is he trying to kill me?
Joe chuckles and grabs my wrist. Something cold closes around it and clicks shut.
Even though my gift wasn’t active, I can feel it.
The void in my gut where it used to be. Like the heat from my body has been sucked away and I’m only a cold shell.
“W-what…” I struggle to form the words through the pounding in my head.
He flips me onto my back and straddles me. I jerk under him, but he grabs my head and slams it against the ground until I’m seeing stars. If he knocks me out, it’s all over.
I claw my way out of the darkness and cling to my surroundings to keep me here. The unforgiving concrete beneath me. The chill of my body from losing my gift. The distant sounds of fighting still ongoing. Joe’s heavy breathing above me. His clammy hands wrapped around my throat .
“It would really be best for you to sleep now, my dear. Then I can get us both out of here somewhere safe for us to talk.”
I try to speak, but his hands block my windpipe, and all I can manage is a grunt. I grab at his arms to try pulling him off. I reach for my gift, even though a part of me knows it’s gone, but survival instinct makes me try it anyway. It’s like dipping a scoop into a bucket of ice cream and coming up empty. I scrape at it anyway, desperate for any sign of lingering power.
Losing my gift or lack of air brings tears to my eyes.
He smiles when he sees them. “Do you like the cuff? I don’t enjoy making you powerless when your gift is what makes you so special, but it’s a necessary thing until I can trust you. It’s just a prototype of what's coming from Gifted Enterprise. They still had some blood from that boy they want so much and finally figured out how they can use it. Now all they need is more of it.”
Fuck.
Dane!
How? After Vera died, they shouldn’t be able to do anything with whatever blood they had left of his.
“Thank you for bringing him, by the way. At least with him, they’ll be less concerned over the loss of the little girl. He’s the biggest prize they could hope for. So, this did all work out in the end.”
I beat my hands against his arms, his chest, trying to break his hold on me. My hand feels something cold in his front pocket and I yank it free. I stab the pen into his thigh with all of my strength. He screams and releases me. I kick and shove him off of me, then scramble away into one of the rooms.
I push the door closed behind me as I struggle back to my feet. My head is still swimming with pain, but I keep moving. I have no idea where Dane and Aiden are right now or if he’s already been taken. All I know is that I need to get to them and make sure no one gets their hands on him.
The door flies open, and I jump behind the desk in the room. I grab the drawers and throw them open to search for anything to use as a weapon. I grab a letter opener and hide it behind my back as Joe stalks toward me, backing me into the corner of the tight office.
“You’re only making this worse for yourself,” he bites out, all pretense of the friendly congressman gone. He shoves the office chair away, and I take that moment to slash at his throat. It cuts across his shoulder and chin instead, but it’s enough to distract him while I work my other hand against the cuff.
I’ve done this more times than I’d care to admit in my time after the island, but it takes some amount of focus and time to do it.
I push harder on my thumb and grit my teeth until it finally pops. I wrench the cuff off my wrist.
My gift floods through me like wildfire in my veins. It burns and feels amazing at the same time. Joe’s eyes widen.
He turns to run, and I climb onto the desk and then jump on his back to knock him down. He twists and tries to throw me off of him, but I grab his face in my hands.
Joe releases a blood-curdling scream as my gift decimates him from the inside. It isn’t long before his face cracks, then splits apart and oozes blood. “This is for Portia. And Isabel. And every girl you’ve taken advantage of and thrown away like trash, you piece of shit.”
He’s still screaming as blood leaks from his eyes. I don’t relent even when his breathing stops. I push my gift into him more and more, feeding on his pain and the way he falls apart beneath my touch. It’s like his true self is being exposed the longer I hold on. And it’s only right that others see him as he truly was.
“You’ve got him, beautiful.” My face snaps up, but I don’t let go. Kellan’s covered in his golden scales as he gazes down at me, his face solemn. “He’s dead.”
I can’t even recognize Joe as human anymore.
I shudder and release him, withdrawing my gift back into me.
Jackson steps up next to Kellan, and I gasp at the blood spattered over his face and hands.
He helps me to my feet and strokes the side of my face, spreading the blood on his hands over my cheek, but I couldn’t care less while I’m lost in his manic gaze that both terrifies and excites me.
I hold his wrist and his pulse greets me with the pounding force of a warm drum on speed.
My touch snaps something in him, and he descends on me. Jackson kisses me like a starved animal. I barely keep up with his demands while he draws me tight against his body.
This is different from the last time we kissed. His control is shattered. Nothing left but the beast.
Kellan growls and rips us apart. “Enough.”
Jack’s eyes darken and cut over to Kellan and my heart stutters in my chest .
“He’s right,” I rush out. “We need to find Dane.”
They break out of their glaring contest to look at me. Kellan’s the one to ask, “Why?”
“This was a trap for him too. We have to make sure he’s safe or else…” I trail off.
“Shit. Let’s go, then. They should be out by now.” Kellan wraps me in his arms and leans down to whisper in my ear, “I’ll save your kiss for later then, beautiful.”
Flushed, I huff and push out of his arms. “We need to hurry.”
I give one last disgusted look at Joe and then remember the cuff. I turn back into the room and grab it, then run past the others back from where we came.
A wave of nausea slows me down, and I stumble off-balance. Jack and Kellan each grab an arm to steady me.
“Fuck, is that blood?” Kellan’s voice echoes through my pounding headache.
I open my eyes to Jack holding out his fingers bathed in a vibrant red.
“It’s not deep,” he surmises calmly. “But she’s probably concussed.”
“We need to get her out of here.”
“No! I need to know that Dane’s safe. I’m not going anywhere until I see him.”
“One of us can—” Kell tries again, but I start walking.
“I told you. I’m going to find Dane.”
He curses, then catches up with me. Jackson flanks my other side. Even though I’m not looking at him, I can feel his gaze boring into me. I get the general feeling that he’s waiting for any sign of weakness from me before he takes over, so I make sure to focus on every step and keep moving.
We pass the metal guy on our way. I’d worry he might wake up if not for the cut throat and pool of blood he’s in. I look around for the other two. One of the aisles has the cages fallen over in a heap.
“They’re gone,” Kell explains. “Once the girl got hurt, he grabbed her and left.”
I’m surprised at the relief I feel from hearing that. They were on the other side, so I shouldn’t care what happened to them. But there was something…different about them. And what the guy said…if he was supposed to be brainwashed, then GE had let him go too soon.
The sound of metal screeching across metal reaches us, and I hurry in that direction.
“Dane!” A brief pause and then again. “Dane!”
My heart jumps into my throat. Kellan bulldozes through the next door and it flies into someone on the other side. Aiden whips his sword at the only other person in the room and slices it across his chest. He snakes it back and stabs it through the man.
The rest of the room is littered with bodies. Dane is nowhere in sight. Has Aiden been fighting them off alone all this time?
“What happened?” I ask first.
“We got the others out and were attacked before we could leave too.” He wipes his face with his sleeve.
“And Portia?”
“Out too. With the others.”
“Where the fuck did Dane go then?” Kellan snaps.
“He was right behind me and then he was just gone.”
Shit.
“We have to find him or we’re all fucked.” They look at me. “I’ll tell you after we get him back.”
Aiden nods. “He was back here last.”
“I’ll go ahead.” Jack doesn’t wait for a reply and uses his gift to speed him along.
The three of us run to catch up as fast as we can, but my head injury slows me down after the initial burst of adrenaline. Kellan notices and drops his speed while Aiden looks between us with his brow furrowed.
“Keep going. I’ll catch up.”
“I’m not leaving you behind. Let me carry you, beautiful.”
“We could be running into another fight and you’ll need your hands. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Here!” Jackson barks out from an open door. He disappears behind it and we rush over. It’s a stairwell leading up. Kellan flips my legs up and cradles me to his chest before I have the chance to protest.
The steps are jarring, even though he takes them slower than I know he could, and I’m forced to close my eyes and lean into him to control the queasiness that the jerking movement causes. We make it to the end and a door that must lead to the roof since there was no second floor.
Kellan puts me back on my feet, and we ready our gifts, then storm through the door.
Dane is standing in the middle of the roof with his back to us. Jackson is a step behind him and to the side, staring forward as well.
I sprint to his side, which makes me still in reach of Dane, and peer across the roof to discover what they’re both staring at.
There’s a helicopter preparing to take off, but it’s the person standing in front of it and staring back at us that seizes my muscles with shock.
She’s average height, dressed like every other goon, and her blonde hair is short and wavy. There’s a scar from the side of her forehead like a V that then joins and continues through one eye and to her cheekbone.
Vera.
Oh.
Fuck.