Altered

by Marnee Blake

  Kitty clung to his shoulders. They’d rigged a sort of sling to tie her to Seth’s back. He knew she didn’t like it, feeling completely dependent on him. To soothe her, he sent her his most reassuring thought: I’ll try my best not to kill us. I can do this.

  He couldn’t tell if it worked, but again, he couldn’t afford distractions.

  They’d planned to board at the back of the train. The front was where the passenger cars were. Avoiding detection meant avoiding people.

  Of course Jack had to make his leap first. Not surprising. Seth held back when Jack sped up. He didn’t have anything to prove. He waited, watching as Jack’s feet left the ground and he flew through the air, legs still running, landing on top of the second to last car with two extra steps before he stopped.

  Looked straightforward enough.

  Seth’s feet left the ground and, as before, his mind seemed to slow everything down. He could feel every minute movement of his muscles. Even Kitty on his back didn’t present a challenge. He calculated his jump speed, the speed of the train, and the additional weight on his back. And he prepared his legs to absorb the landing shock, managing to board the train as if he’d stepped onto the roof instead of jumped onto it from the ground some sixty feet away.

  “Show-off,” Jack said, crawling up behind him. Seth smiled as he dropped down to his knees and untied the fabric pieces holding Kitty in place. The train continued to speed up and he rocked back, depositing her on her butt on the roof.

  His smile slipped, though, when he caught sight of Luke and Blue on the last car. Rather, Luke, sitting and holding Blue’s motionless body.

  His heartbeat roared in his ears, drowning out the noise of the train. He dropped the last parts of Kitty’s sling and ran, low to the roof, toward them. Had they been attacked? He scanned the area, looking for enemies, wishing he had more of a weapon than the survival knife he’d managed to take from the Laughtons’ shed.

  He saw no one.

  So what the hell happened?

  He dropped down beside Luke, his gaze sweeping over Blue. “What’s going on?” He reached out, wanting to snatch her from Luke. He gripped her hand instead, not sure where the intensity of his feelings was coming from.

  “I don’t know, I don’t know.” Luke held her and shouted over the wind, rocking back and forth, clearly freaking out. “One minute everything was fine. We were lowering down, about to land on the roof, like we planned. Then Blue screamed, and I dropped. It jarred me, man. Knocked the wind out of me. I lost hold on her, and she fell. She managed to catch that vent”—he nodded to a black metal block nearby—“and then she crawled up that ladder.” This time he motioned to the emergency ladder next to him.

  “But it was rough, and she hit her head.” He lifted his hand and blood stained his fingers. “Holy shit.”

  Needing to touch her and unable to resist the urge any longer, Seth reached over and pushed her hair out of her face. Her eyelids fluttered, a good sign. And blood trickled from her nose.

  Fear pierced his gut. A nosebleed. From a head trauma?

  They needed to get her off this roof. “Luke, do you have her?” When the other man didn’t answer, Seth shook his sleeve. “Luke, buddy. You got to stay with me here.” He waited until he made eye contact before he asked again. “Do you have her? I’m going to check below.”

  “Yeah. I’m fine.”

  Seth doubted it, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he grabbed the emergency ladder and dropped down.

  He should have been more cautious, he knew. But Blue needed help. At the bottom of the ladder, he felt around for the emergency exit.

  There, to his right, was the latch. With a quick steadying breath, he twisted, pushing it in.

  He waited. No one stuck their head out. No shouting. He ducked inside.

  It wasn’t storage. Instead, he felt like he’d hit the lottery. He stood in what appeared to be a private car. Seth had been on a few Amtrak trains in his time. They were comfortable enough, but they weren’t anything like this. This one came with its own minibar and some sort of serious entertainment center, and it was decked out like a celebrity yacht.

  Score.

  He crept in farther, pulling the door closed behind him. Two doors in the back led to a bathroom and a bedroom, complete with its own bathroom. In the bath, he turned on the faucet. Nothing.

  Not in use. He let out the breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding. No passenger, then. He closed his eyes, thanking the powers that be.

  He opened the emergency door and hustled back up the ladder. Jack, Luke, and Kitty huddled over Blue, who seemed to be blinking. Thank God. The faster they got her off this roof, the better. “Let’s go.”

  “Where?” Did Jack have to question everything? Apparently so.

  “The circus, you ass. Where do you think? Down. Inside.”

  Kitty immediately crawled toward him and gingerly made her way down the ladder. Of course. She’d know what was below.

  Apparently, her easy acceptance made Luke and Jack move, too. Jack fumbled past him, scurrying down the ladder and disappearing inside. Luke crept toward him, cradling Blue. “What about…”

  “I’ll help you. I’ll go first and you can help lower her down. We’ll get her in.”

  Luke nodded. As they lowered her, she moaned.

  He cursed, calling to Luke. “Gently.”

  Gently. Right. Seth went down backward, holding her above him with one arm and balancing with the other. She wasn’t heavy, not for him, only awkward. It took some maneuvering, but they managed to get her down the ladder and through the door. Luke came right after, as Seth was lowering her to the plush carpet. “Is she okay?”

  She moaned, rolling a bit. He shushed her, squeezing her hand, and tilted her head. Blood caked in her blond hair, garish against the light strands. “Looks like she hit it hard.”

  “Yeah, when she hit the side.”

  He needed to fix her up. Every head injury he’d ever seen played through his mind, and the fear threatened to consume him.

  She’d gotten hurt. On his watch. After he’d promised her that he’d watch out for her…

  To distract himself from the failure, he glanced around. The bar looked stocked. “There any bar towels back there?” He needed to put pressure on the wound, get her cleaned up. He wanted to do it himself.

  Kitty scurried around, rifling through drawers. “Here.” She tossed him a handful and he folded one up, placed it on the wound and pressed. He tried to be gentle, but Blue still winced. Then she opened her eyes. “Who hit me with a bat?”

  The sight of her baby blues weakened his knees, and he could barely think around his relief. You never knew with a head wound. He’d seen guys get hit on the head and never be the same again. “Hey, you.” He smiled. “No bat. You took on a train single-handed.”

  “That was stupid.” She tried to get up and groaned. He pushed her back down.

  “Why don’t you take it easy for a minute longer? At least until you stop bleeding on everything.” He glanced at their new digs. “Place is pretty posh. Doubt they’d like you messing it up.”

  One corner of her lips quirked up, and her eyes closed again. He watched her a minute longer. When he looked up, he regretted that long stare. Jack snorted in disgust before pushing away from where he stood and heading for the mini fridge. Luke busied himself looking around the car. But Kitty met his gaze, hers entirely too knowing.

  He looked away.

  What was he doing? He was way too invested in this girl, and now wasn’t the time to get involved. They were on the run, for Christ’s sake. She’d lost her grandmother and left the only home she’d ever known. And him? He didn’t know how to be involved with someone. He was a soldier. He got shipped all over the world with little notice.

  This was a case of two people being attracted during a life-threatening situation. That was all.

  Of course, that would mean she was attracted to him, too. Which he didn’t know for sure. Which he shouldn’t
care about at all, because he’d decided this was a bad idea anyway.

  He pulled the bar towel from Blue’s wound and replaced it with another. It didn’t seem to be bleeding as much now. Still more than he liked. He pressed a little more, and she flinched, her eyes clouded with pain as they met his before she squeezed them closed again.

  “Sorry,” he whispered. He propped the towel against her head with his knee and yanked his T-shirt over his head. He ripped it, shaping it into a triangular bandage. After a few more minutes, he checked the towel. He wished he had some running water, but this would have to do. He hoped it was enough. He exchanged the soiled towel—not as bloody as the last, thank God—with a new one and fashioned a bandage to hold the towel in place. Almost looked like a head wrap, if you didn’t look too closely.

  “How’d you do that?” Kitty asked from her perch in front of him.

  “I’m about to start Special Ops. This is pretty basic first aid.”

  “That’s great.” She nodded to Blue and then glanced at Luke and Jack, arguing behind the bar. Satisfied they weren’t listening, she lowered her voice and continued. “I know you’ve had your doubts.” He glanced at her before returning his gaze to Blue. That was a nice way to say he’d considered leaving them this morning. “But I want you to know that you’re right. We wouldn’t have been able to do this without you. So thank you. For staying. We appreciate it.” She smiled and nudged her head toward the other guys. “Even Jack.”

  “You’re a bad liar, Kitty.” He looked back at Blue, who was entirely too pale. “But I want to stay. Really.”

  “Yeah. And Blue’s pretty great, too, huh?” She grinned.

  “Yeah,” he allowed. “She is.”

  “So.” Kitty leaned forward on her elbows. “Now what?”

  He glanced around the car, really taking in his surroundings for the first time since they’d boarded. He didn’t see any access from the main train. He guessed that anyone who rented this thing wouldn’t want to be interrupted by Amtrak’s ticket checkers. That was good for them, because they didn’t want to be bothered by them, either.

  They’d be alone until La Junta, then, which Kitty said was a little over an hour away. He’d hoped to steal a car—er, borrow a car—in La Junta and drive through the night to San Antonio. He didn’t have many friends, but he trusted Nick. And since Nick was already expecting him there, he figured he’d stick to the plan. He’d only be arriving with a few more people.

  After they got to San Antonio, he had no idea what they would do.

  Blue wasn’t going to be able to travel like this. Not all night. And if she had a concussion…

  “Any idea if there are any hotels near the train station in La Junta?”

  Kitty blinked. “How would we pay for that?”

  He had no clue. Maybe they could break in somewhere… Even as he thought it, he knew how that idea would fly with Blue. As in, not at all. But, they needed running water. Beds.

  “I might be able to help.” Luke fiddled with a sleeve of crackers they must have found behind the bar. He swallowed before he continued. “I took my dad’s wallet when I was leaving.”

  Kitty’s face split into a huge grin, but Seth didn’t get it. No need to rejoice over some spare change and a bunch of plastic he didn’t feel comfortable using.

  When Luke didn’t continue, Jack explained, “Luke’s rich.”

  “My dad was rich,” Luke added quickly. “He made a lot of money. Computer hacking, intelligence, stuff like that. He’s not going to need it now. Anyway, I’ve got a few thousand bucks in cash and, if I can get to a computer, I could probably figure out a couple other accounts. That no one could track,” he added, as if reading Seth’s mind. He glanced down at the crackers in his hand. “So, yeah, money’s probably not an issue.”

  Chapter Eight

  The sun was setting as the train teetered to a stop in La Junta.

  As soon as they halted in front of the La Junta train station, Jack opened the back door. He slouched out, his backpack on and his earbuds in, like any other college kid coming home from school. Luke and Kitty waited a moment before they followed, standing close, engaged in a quiet conversation.

  They were doing great, acting their parts perfectly. They’d agreed that if they paired up, they could look more ordinary. A group of five would draw the eye more than a single kid and a couple of pairs.

  Finally, when Luke and Kitty were two car lengths away, Seth glanced down at Blue. She fit perfectly, tucked up alongside his body. But she still looked pale. “Ready?”

  Her jaw firmed. “Yeah.”

  She’d awakened in pain, complaining about the light, the noise when anyone spoke, and the movement of the train. She hadn’t thrown up yet, but it didn’t look good.

  He pulled her closer, putting his arm around her shoulder, as much for him as for her. Technically, he was holding her up, but he needed to feel her, the weight of her against him. To convince himself that he hadn’t screwed up. That his scheme hadn’t almost gotten her killed. That she was still alive, if a bit banged up.

  It was supposed to look like they were snuggling to the rest of the world. She leaned into his side, tucking her head against his shoulder. No hint of her usual prickliness. That told him all he needed to know about how she really felt. He gave her a quick squeeze.

  As he guided them to the stairs, wrapping himself around her felt natural. He did his best to ignore how much he liked the soft press of her against his side, even as his pulse quickened at the feel of her. He needed to be sharp. Just in case.

  They stepped down the back stairs and out onto the landing.

  Other passengers milled around, some checking their luggage, others meeting family members or friends. Ahead of them, Jack slunk toward the parking lot. That guy could pull off a kid with a chip on his shoulder like an Oscar-winning actor. Maybe because fiction mirrored reality. Kitty and Luke had paused nearby while Luke fumbled with his cell phone. The phone was dead, of course, but it looked convincing, like he was checking his texts or something. Seth didn’t know if there would be anyone here waiting for them, but he hadn’t wanted to take any chances.

  “Do you see anyone?” Blue didn’t even look up.

  “No.” But he doubted he would. Not here. They wouldn’t want to stick out. “Keep your head down.” He steered her past the station, through the parking lot with its chipped cement, and out onto the narrow sidewalk. The other passengers, getting into their cars, having conversations, provided plenty of cover for them.

  Across the street, Jack waited under a lamppost in a park. Seth glanced up and down, looking for traffic, of which there was little, and then escorted Blue across the street. She’d paled considerably since they left the train. Her complexion looked like milk before; now she was practically translucent.

  “You okay?” he asked as he gripped her arm.

  “I don’t feel so good.”

  She didn’t look so good. “You going to throw up?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Well, that was something. He shuffled her to a park bench and helped her sit. She dropped her head in her hands.

  This had to be a mild concussion. He’d had one in high school after getting decked in a fight he didn’t start. He remembered how banged up he’d felt for a couple days.

  He sat next to her, running his hand on her back. He fought the urge to pull her into his lap, to tuck her in to his body. He really needed to get a grip on this.

  “Hey. You kids all right?” An older man paused at the park entrance. His button-up shirt was tucked too tightly into his jeans, his midsection bulged over a large belt buckle, and a cowboy hat sat on his head.

  Just what they needed, a Good Samaritan drawing attention to them. The man looked concerned, though, and Seth didn’t want him worrying. It was too dangerous.

  So he smiled. “She’s fine, sir. Had a little too much fun last night, I think.” Then he chuckled, like a real asshole.

  The do-gooder’s mouth thi
nned, and he tipped his hat. “All righty, then.” He continued along without a backward glance.

  “If I cared, I might be annoyed that you made me look like a stupid party girl.”

  “Better he think you can’t hold your liquor than that you need medical care. Which you probably do.”

  “Truth, I guess.” She managed to sit up straighter. “I’ll have you know, though, that I never get sick when I drink. Not that I drink a lot. I don’t. But I tend bar. I have a reputation to uphold.”

  “You tend bar?” He knew she did. She’d mentioned it before. But he looked her over now, full of fake skepticism, to mess with her. She worked up a weakly haughty scowl, also expected. It was good to catch a glimpse of her old self. It reminded him that she was fine, here beside him.

  “Yes, and I’m pretty good. Almost as good as Tom Cruise in Cocktail.”

  “Cocktail? How old is that movie? My mother liked that movie.” As he said the words, he could feel the smile disappear from his face.

  She must have noticed. “You okay?”

  “Fine.” Yeah, fine. Except he didn’t talk about his mother. Ever. Not to his friends and certainly not to some girl he met yesterday.

  “All right, then, grumpy.” She stood purposefully, as if trying to prove that she could do it without his help. “But your mom’s got good taste in movies.”

  “Maybe so.” Not in much else, though. No, that wasn’t fair. He didn’t know his mother well enough to know her tastes. The court had sent him back to her a few times when he’d been little. She’d put on a good face to the social worker, convinced everyone that she’d cleaned herself up. But it never failed—each time she’d refused to stay clean long enough to take care of him.

  When Seth was nine, she’d tried again, pleading to the judge, claiming she’d changed. Again. But that time, Seth refused to go back. Luckily, his social worker had taken pity on him and granted his wish. He’d been living with a nice enough family. Maybe they didn’t love him, but they didn’t forget to feed him either.