39. Jackson
Chapter thirty-nine
Jackson
Reid teleports us to the center of the room with Tobias. Scientists look up, startled, before my knives find their throats and chests.
In and out. That’s what Aiden said.
The longer we take here, the more time they’re with Charles without us.
Kellan starts barking orders before the dead scientists even hit the floor. “Tinsley—check the island for any other prisoners.”
He turns to the Guild members we brought and points at Tobias, “Get him loose and outside. Wait for Tinsley and Reid to get him off the island before anyone starts trouble.”
The members with us will continue fighting and causing a distraction after we’re gone. It’s our job to weed out any strong players and eliminate them before we go.
“Jack and Reid. The machine.”
Nodding, I find the nearest stairwell and hop down each flight to the bottom. Dane guessed they’d have it hidden underground with security. Reid follows, unable to teleport until he can see where he’s going. There’s a hallway with more doors, but the first one has the most noise coming from it.
Reid peeks through the square window. “Found it.” He vanishes, reappearing through the window on the other side. A few button pushes later, and the door slides open for me.
We’re standing on a balcony overlooking a massive metal beast at the center of the room.
Workers are busy moving barrels and boxes filled with jewelry from the machine to another area.
Another group checks and polishes the jewelry before placing it back on the conveyor belt.
The machine pumps out curves of metal in different directions, each with their own shape and style.
Monitors and tubes are a tangled mess around it.
It’s an easy target.
Reid teleports to their level and starts killing everyone.
I push off the ground and aim for what looks like the power cord, slashing it with one of my larger blades.
It keeps running.
A battery backup?
A quick search reveals a wide panel in the back.
I carve into the groove with my knife and force it open.
Then slice through the wires with one hand and yank them out with the other.
Electricity arcs through the panel, singeing my hand.
A wire zaps, and I push it against another.
The smell of burning precedes a loud pop, and then the panel catches fire.
I stoke it with just enough air to feed it until I know the fire will keep burning without it.
I move to the rest of the machine, ripping it apart piece by piece.
Destroying whatever I find. Carving out holes and weak points on every side.
Then I grab the first gallon of gasoline I’d brought with me to chuck into those holes and around the outside.
I empty it and do the same with the second gallon.
“You’re going to blow the whole building with that,” Reid remarks, suddenly at my side and covering his nose with his arm. He’s covered in blood, but breathing easily. Killing the others hardly took any effort. They were worker bees, though, not agents.
Smiling, I reply, “That’s the plan.” I pull a matchbox from my pocket. Thumb the box and extract three matches.
Reid shakes his head and disappears. His task of getting me here is finished, so now he needs to meet up with Tinsley to get Tobias to safety.
All that’s left is the distraction and clearing the rest of the island.
Kellan should already be on the latter part.
I’ll join him as soon as this is done. And then…
Rejoin Raegan.
I’ll be there soon, little one.
No one will ever understand the way we feel about each other.
It’s more than love, lust, or obsession.
It’s a sort of bond that transcends all that.
A soul connection. Where our lives are so intertwined that my heart beats in time with hers.
Her happiness is mine. Her rage, mine. I’m her weapon, her beast, her monster.
I’ll kill her enemies wherever they are and then return to her side.
I won’t let her fight Charles without me. We’ll keep this quick.
In and out.
Hopping to the nearest piece of furniture, I send a burst of air under me to keep propelling me higher. To the top of a shelving unit. To the edge of the balcony railing.
That should do it.
Flick the matches.
Deep breath.
Sulfur invades my lungs, and I get a burst of adrenaline. Of excitement. The flames flicker from the vents pushing air in here, so I create a bubble around them. A partial vacuum with enough air for it to stay alive until it reaches the machine without blowing out on the fall.
I toss them down.
They land with a soft tap on the gasoline, and the fire spreads in an instant.
Three.
Two.
One.
The machine explodes, metal and parts flying everywhere as a plume of smoke bursts free—destroying the floor above it.
I shield myself with air to toss aside anything flying toward me.
Whatever hasn’t been caught in the blast catches sparks and ignites.
The fire spreads, devouring the building.
There will be nothing left when it’s finished.
Now that my task’s complete, I jump-fly up the stairs to the surface, then to the edge of the open roof to seek out Kellan.
Guild members are fighting agents in one area.
They don’t appear to need my help, so I move on.
A few more fights, but no Kellan. I take off to the nearest palm tree.
If he’s found a strong agent, then I’ll help kill him so we can leave.
I start throwing knives as I soar from roofs and treetops, thinning the herd of agents.
The air shifts behind me.
Throwing my hand out, I counter whatever’s flying toward me with a cushion of air. A large stone. It bounces back, then pushes against my barrier again.
Not thrown, then. Controlled.
Someone gifted.
A man in shorts and a floral vacation shirt and bare feet stomps on the ground below me. Rocks fly from the ground in various-sized chunks, then zip into the sky.
At me.
A swift flip and kick knocks the first stone back to the ground, and then I draw a massive gust of wind behind the flying stones to shoot them past me. I drop to the sand in a crouch. Straightening, I cock my head to regard the man who looks more like a tourist than a fighter.
We knew they would still have strong agents left. Royce and Thorne weren’t the only ones. Was this one sent to guard the machine, or was he purposefully placed here by Charles to make sure our visit was an extended one?
A smirk creeps onto my lips. I can’t help it. The idea of facing someone who might be a challenge is exciting. It gets my cold blood pumping and makes me itch to fight.
But this isn’t a battle for who’s the strongest.
Raegan’s waiting.
I start plucking knives from my hoodie. They fall and then rise around me, hovering like obedient birds of death. “Let’s make this quick,” I casually remark.
The man swings his hand down. “I’m here to make sure you stay.”
The air ripples behind me, warning me of the incoming pile of rocks.
And also... a new arrival.
Thrusting wind around him, I lift and throw him toward the water.
As soon as he loses focus, the rocks behind me drop where they are.
I send my knives at him where he’s fallen.
He touches the sand and walls of stone erect around him in a protective formation.
My knives clink and clatter against the rock to the sand.
Kellan races to the walls with a roar, his fist raised and his body already covered in scales. The horns are a new addition, as are the size of his feet and hands. Raegan mentioned his updated transformation, but this is the first time I’m seeing it.
He punches the wall, and it shatters. Another wall is there to take its place.
He swings another fist at it. Breaks it.
Again and again, the agent nearly trips backward to keep putting walls between them until Kellan picks up speed and snatches him before he can get the next slab between them.
Kell throws him further inland. Giant leathery wings and a thick tail spring from his back as he turns, then launches himself at the guy.
The agent grits his teeth with his arms crossed in front of his face, angled stone spiking from the ground to protect him. He’s on the defensive from Kell. My wind and knives don’t have much effect on his stone. But Kellan easily breaks through it as if it’s made of glass.
While he’s keeping the man occupied, I retrieve my knives and then follow after them at a leisurely pace. Kellan doesn’t need my help, but I’ll be here to slice the man’s throat if there’s an opening.
Kell smashes the rock and grips the guy by his hair, then jumps into the air. Once they’re at least twenty feet up, he chucks the agent at the ground. The second he touches dirt, though, it caves to his will and curves to cushion the impact.
I send some knives at him just in case they can slip through, but he puts a dome of rock around himself.
Kellan flies at the dome, knocking a hole through it. Rocks fly out of it. He bats them aside, then shoves through the opening, and the rest of the dome collapses, revealing what he’d done in that instant.
It takes a lot to surprise me.
Kellan shredding the man with his elongated, sharp claws is not what I expected.
But I have no complaints.
In and out.