Several more shots could be heard inside, ricocheting off the door; we heard the dull thuds of bullets hitting steel. Ashes struck the door hard, pushing Rain back several inches. He recovered quickly and forced the door shut. Ashes pounded the door again, but this time, Rain held his ground.
Kasiah and Jade helped us on our feet. I glanced in both directions; the street was deserted.
“Where’s the SUV?” I asked.
Rain twisted around with his back to the door, getting a better grip on the pavement with his boots. “The SUV isn’t going anywhere,” he informed me. “Someone ripped every hose, wire, and whatever else they could grab out of the engine.”
Rain lost his footing for a split second. He tried to reposition, but it was too late. The door burst open from Ashes’s powerful blow.
Kasiah fired six shots into the dark stairwell, but Ashes had moved outside from within the stairwell. Rain swung a metal park bench through the air, hitting Ashes square in her chest. He swung the bench a second time, knocking Ashes back into the stairwell. Rain threw the bench into the stairwell behind Ashes and kicked the door shut.
“This girl is persistent!” Rain remarked, thrusting his body against the door. “I like her!”
Police sirens could be heard in the distance.
“Déjà vu anyone?” Aerona joked, her strength returning.
The pounding on the inside stopped.
“Think she knocked herself out?” Rain asked, not willing to release the door just yet.
“Let’s not wait and see,” I said, turning to leave. “We need to get Jade out of here.”
What happened next was completely unexpected. Glass shattered from overhead. I looked up just in time to see Ashes descending from the third story window like an expertly choreographed stunt. She floated down to the ground with her arms spread wide and her jacket dancing wildly behind. She hit the ground, bending at the knees, cracking the pavement. She wasted no time as she barreled toward Rain.
I grabbed Jade by her arm and moved her behind me. We needed transportation; that convoy was within city limits by now.
Rain blocked every blow that Ashes hurled at him, working him backward to the storefront. Rain blasted a fist on her chest, knocking her to one knee and pushing her back three of four feet. Ashes threw her head up, flipping her long, black hair away from her face. The street lights glistened off her razor-sharp fangs as she hissed in frustration. She pulled a long polished silver blade from her belt and attacked. Her movements were smooth and precise; she had trained well. The wicked steel blade caught Rain in the shoulder, and his shirt sleeve darkened with blood.
The wound didn’t slow him down. In fact, it infuriated him. He dodged two more strikes, ducking on the third attempt, allowing her to move in close. Rain grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off the ground. Ashes sunk the blade deep into Rain’s back. He let out a powerful growl as he threw Ashes down. The pavement cracked and caved in around her.
The police sirens grew louder, closer.
Rain fell to his knees, reaching back to pull out the knife. The blade gleamed red with blood. I shivered, just thinking of the pain he must have felt as the wounds healed.
“Let’s get the hell out of here!” I yelled to Rain, not wanting to wait for Ashes to heal.
Rain stood up and rolled his head in a small half circle, cracking his neck. Then, reaching down, he grabbed Ashes by one leg, pulling her toward himself and twisting his body at the same time, tossing her away. Ashes flew through the air, crashing through a plate-glass storefront. Her body disappeared within a pile of glass shards and broken shelves.
We needed to get out of the city, but first we had to get off that street. Ashes may be down, but she was not out of the game.
THIRTY-FIVE
Rain slammed his forearm into a steel door, breaking in to a small bakery about half a block from Jade’s apartment. The door swung inward. Sirens and red and blue flashing lights filled Jade’s street as we shut the broken door behind us. The air inside filled my nostrils with the scents of sticky sweet cupcakes and cookies, crispy croissants, and the distinct aroma of breakfast pastries. My stomach rumbled.
The large storefront window left us exposed to the police cruisers outside. The red and blue lights filled the bakery’s small showroom, dancing off the display cases. We quickly moved through a set of swinging doors into the kitchen.
In a flash too quick for even my eyes to catch, Rain checked the back door and returned in seconds. “We could get out through the back,” he suggested.
“Why do I feel there’s a but coming?” asked Aerona.
“But,” Rain continued, looking at Aerona, “there’s a maze of alleyways back there. We’ll be lost, and the cops will be on us in minutes.”
“Wow,” Jade exclaimed, peeking through the crack of the kitchen’s swinging doors. “I had no idea the Missoula police department had such an amazing response time. Does that say SWAT on the side of that enormous tank-looking thing?”
We gathered around Jade to peer outside.
“Not good,” Aerona expressed, scanning the street.
Getting Jade out of the city was proving more difficult than anticipated. Several men in suits and ties stepped out of the unmarked FBI cars. They wasted no time finding out who was in charge of the local police on the scene. Two of the FBI suits had a short conversation with two uniformed Missoula officers. The local police officers hurried back to their cars and drove off, leaving us with the FBI convoy. The rear doors of the SWAT vehicle opened, and a dozen SWAT team members with flak jackets and assault rifles poured out into the street. The FBI agents turned their attention away from Jade’s apartment and towards our hiding spot in the bakery.
“Seriously!” Aerona exclaimed irritably. “Does someone want to explain to me how these idiots keep tracking us with pin point precision?”
Kasiah took a step back. I saw it in her eyes before she spoke a single word. I had a feeling the night’s events were about to take a hard right turn.
“I’m going out there,” Kasiah said, not meeting my eyes.
“The hell you are!” I disputed, like a father stopping his daughter from going out with the guy who smokes and rides a motorcycle.
“Hold on,” she countered. “They’re not going to hurt me. I’m FBI. Let me talk to them. It’ll give you the time you need to get Jade out of here.”
“I have to admit,” Rain said, agreeing with Kasiah. “This makes sense. If anyone else goes out there, we’re criminals. They’ll shoot first and ask questions later. Kasiah, at least, has a chance.”
“They’ll play it by the book and verify my identity,” Kasiah said, handing her weapon to Aerona. “I’ll stall them as they question my involvement with the so-called terrorist group.”
“Those aren’t cops out there,” I protested. “They’re on Atmoro’s payroll. You guys are out of your minds if you think we’re serving Kasiah up to them on a silver platter.”
Kasiah stepped close to me and placed her hand on my chest. “Aeron, please understand, Amy would want me to do whatever I can to keep Jade out of harm’s way. This is what I can do. They’re not going to hurt me, and if they are working for Atmoro, there’s a chance they’ll take me to see him, where I can get some much-needed revenge.”
“Revenge!” I yelled, my voice growing louder with every word. “I hope you like nightmares! Because that’s what you’re going to have if they put you in a room with Atmoro! Nightmares!”
“We don’t have time for this,” Aerona warned, attempting to calm me. “Anger is unhealthy and unproductive. Kasiah’s right. Someone has to go out there, or they’re coming in here. She can give us a five minute head start while they question her.”
My heart pained with the slightest thought of what Atmoro will surely do to Kasiah if given the chance. Unfortunately, Kasiah was right. Jade was our priority. As I turned to continue protesting Kasiah’s insane plan, her lips touched mine before I could say a word. I breathed in heavily
, closing my eyes. Her perfume mixed perfectly with the bakery air, lacing the smell of cookies with a hint of jasmine. I kissed her back softly, wrapping my arms around her.
“Gross,” Aerona cringed, pretending to gag.
Our lips parted, and Kasiah turned and walked out of the bakery without another word. I didn’t try to stop her.
I watched Kasiah’s progress through the crack in the swinging doors. She held up her badge and called out her identity as an FBI agent. The same two FBI agents who had instructed the local police to vacate the scene, stepped forward with their guns drawn. They didn’t greet Kasiah as a friend or coworker; instead, they ripped the ID from her hands, forcing her down to her knees. One of the agents grabbed Kasiah by her arm, spinning her around to hold her in handcuffs.
Kasiah shot a frightened glance in my direction as the agents dragged her to a second armored SWAT vehicle, which looked more like a modified UPS van painted black. Kasiah disappeared inside, and the doors shut.
To say this didn’t go as planned would be a dramatic understatement.
I turned to Aerona. My sister knew me better than I knew myself.
“I know, I know,” Aerona said, lowering her head. “You’re going with her.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I love you,” she said quietly, knowing she may never see me again.
“I love you too,” I said, hugging her. “Keep Jade safe.”
Rain wasn’t about to try and stop me. We didn’t have time for another argument, and my hands were already alive with fire. I ignited the wooden storage shelves, aiming the fire at the ceiling tiles.
“Get Jade out of here, Rain!” I shouted, aiming the fire to the front of the store.
It’s not in my nature to surrender; that word isn’t part of my vocabulary. Although, as I’ve come to realize, it’s amazing what a man will do for a sexy brunette with a cute Midwestern accent. She better be worth it, I thought to myself.
I left the once sweet-smelling bakery with my hands on my head. I didn’t notice the helicopter hovering above until I was outside. Its intense white spotlight illuminated me from above. The wind from its rotor blades spun up a tornado of debris along the sidewalk, and the rush of air fueled the bakery fire.
The SWAT team worked like a machine. Four men in flak jackets were on me in an instant, their rifles leveled to my head and heart. They ordered me to my knees, then one of them forcefully cuffed my hands behind my back, kicking me down to the pavement from behind. Someone pressed their boot into my back and pinned me in place. It took everything I had not to unleash hell onto that very street; the helicopter was my only concern.
I had to keep calm for Kasiah’s sake.
The pressure from the boot on my back relaxed as one of the men shouted a command. “Put him in with the other one!”
Two men hauled me up to my feet. I glanced back at the bakery. The SWAT team brought the firepower, but they weren’t prepared to fight a real, blazing fire. Several men were attempting to douse the flames with small extinguishers from their vehicles—it was pointless. The front window shattered, further feeding the flames. Smoke rolled out from the bakery as the blaze quickly devoured the storefront, pushing the SWAT team back.
I landed on the metal floor inside the SWAT van, my face to the floor. The doors banged shut behind me. Someone yanked me up to a metal bench, roughly switching my handcuffs from my back to my front. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dimly lit vehicle. Three armed men, their faces covered with black ski masks, sat across from me. I could taste blood in my mouth, and I felt a warm trickle run down my chin to my neck.
The only good news was that these guys obviously weren’t vampires created in this world, or the blood would be driving them mad with thirst.
Kasiah was seated beside me. Her voice was soothing, yet I sensed a bit of anger. “Tell me, Aeron, exactly which part of the plan didn’t you understand?”
“Possibly the part where I wasn’t supposed to save you,” I said, half smiling.
I could see Kasiah holding back her smile. She shook her head and sighed.
One of our captors reached out and forcefully grabbed my arm. “Be quiet!” he ordered. “Chain his feet to the floor shackles!”
I wasn’t concerned about the chains. They appeared to be made of nothing more than plain carbon steel. I scanned the interior of the van quickly. The only window was the one between us and the driver’s compartment. It didn’t look large enough to crawl through and was probably bulletproof glass. The driver wouldn’t be able to hear these men scream.
The rear doors swung open, and two more men climbed in, their faces masked like the others. Both carried pump shotguns. These guys aren’t messing around. The rear doors were slammed shut and locked from outside. The engine started and the van started to roll forward. I heard multiple vehicles fall in line behind us, including the loud monstrous diesel engine of the armored SWAT vehicle. The helicopter’s spotlight followed us as we moved, partially illuminating the interior through the small bulletproof window.
“Where are you taking us?” I asked.
The van turned left and sped up.
The man directly across from me stood up and clipped my lower jaw with the butt of his shotgun. “Quiet!” he ordered.
My head flew back and hit the metal wall, dazing me.
Kasiah instinctively lifted her cuffed hands to comfort me.
The same man who hit me, slapped Kasiah across her face with the back of his hand. Her head bounced off the metal wall, and blood trickled down from her nose.
The man sat back down with a smile on his face. “You two aren’t so tough,” he insisted, elbowing the guy next to him. “This will be the easiest ten grand I ever made.”
I leaned forward until my restraints tightened, then looked at the man right in the eye, pushing energy through the small space between us. His smile turned to a fearful frown, his eyes opened wide, and his lower lip began to quiver. The shot gun fell from his now limp hands, hitting the metal floor and startling the rest of the SWAT team.
The rest of the SWAT team moved uncomfortably, exchanging worried glances with each other as though this was something they were warned about. One of them stood up and aimed the barrel of his shotgun at me. “What the hell are you doing to him!” he hollered.
I steadied my breathing, continuing my mental torture on the guy across the van. A thick stream of drool and foam oozed from his quivering lip as his eyes rolled back in his head.
The shotgun man moved the gun’s barrel closer to me, aiming only inches from my chest. “Stop it!” he cried. “You’re killing him!”
I slowly turned my head and met his eyes, giving him a small dose of what his partner was getting. He dropped his gun and fell to his knees sobbing.
“Anyone else?” I asked.
No one else said a word. They didn’t even look in my direction. They directed their stares to the corners of the van. They must have had orders to take us alive. Either way, they were probably rethinking that ten thousand dollar payment.
“My hero,” Kasiah whispered.
“Oh, now you’re happy to see me?” I asked jokily.
Kasiah smiled.
Suddenly, I heard a tiny female voice in my ear. For a brief moment, I thought maybe I had burned my own mind.
“Don’t freak out,” said the tiny voice.
I jumped sideways, bumping into Kasiah, jerking my head in the direction of the voice. I looked across the van at the SWAT team. They were too busy trying to imagine themselves anywhere but in that van.
The voice was now speaking to me in my other ear.
“It’s me, Ember, and by the way, I said don’t freak out.”
Kasiah looked at me as if I had lost my mind. “Are you OK?” she asked.
“You didn’t hear that?” I responded, looking confused.
“Hear what?”
“Ember,” I whispered.
Kasiah opened her mouth to answer, but quickly shut it again at the sight of the tiny fairy
on my shoulder.
“I’m a stowaway,” Ember whispered excitedly. “You guys alright?”
“How?” I asked her, confused.
“It’s easy when no one notices you,” Ember said, laughing her tiny, fairy laugh. “Let’s get out of here. We can tell the story around a campfire some other time.”
The SWAT team looked even more alarmed than before. Now, their prisoners were talking to thin air.
The searchlight from the chopper flew ahead of the SWAT van, searching back and forth. The sound of the rotor blades faded along with the big diesel engine of the other SWAT vehicle. I assumed they were scouting the route ahead.
I felt Ember’s tiny feet tiptoe across my shoulder blades.
“Can you break through that glass?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said, thinking. “Maybe.”
“Well,” Kasiah asked, “which is it, yes or maybe?”
“Yes,” I said, hoping it was true.
“OK,” said Ember. “If you can break the glass, then I can fit through the window.”
“What about them?” Kasiah asked, nodding towards the SWAT team. “They look—”
Without warning, the SWAT van screeched to a stop, throwing us forward. The unmistakable sound of gunfire erupted outside. The SWAT team was frozen with fear. Bullets riddled the side of the van, forming a pattern of dents on the thin sheet metal. Blood spattered on the bulletproof window between us and the driver.
“The chains!” Kasiah screamed.
I closed my eyes and drew in a breath, focusing on the chains and handcuffs. I raised my hands as far as the restraints would allow, then slammed them into the side of the bench as hard as I could. The chains and handcuffs exploded into a million shards of broken glass.
I did the same to the shackles around my legs.
I turned to Kasiah, drawing in another breath. “It’s going to happen fast!” I warned. “It might hurt!”
“Just do it!” Kasiah yelled, turning her head away and closing her eyes.
The Blood of a Stone Page 26