“Are you feeling okay, sweetheart?” Her father placed his hands on her cheeks and looked into her eyes.
“Yeah, just a little weak.” That was an understatement. Mirissa felt as though she’d crumple to the floor without the table’s support, but she didn’t want to worry her father. “Once the sedative he gave me wears off, I’ll be right as rain.”
Her dad stared at her for a moment longer, as though trying to decide whether or not he believed what she was saying, then nodded. “All right. You stay with your mother and me. Don’t use your powers unless you absolutely have to. Understand?”
“Got it.” Another deep breath and Mirissa was ready to move. “Let’s get the bastard.”
“Watch your language,” her dad said with a smile.
Myrick, Ken, and Asteria split off to find the kidnapped tribe members, leaving them to find the general. Mirissa concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other as she followed her parents out of the room. Whatever was in that syringe was playing havoc with her system. Although her supercharged metabolism kept drugs from having the same effect on her that they did on regular people, she wasn’t completely immune to them. The aftermath of the injection would be lessened, and her body would work it out of her system quickly, but until that time came she wasn’t going to be much help.
Greco grabbed her hand. “Can you still call on your ring?”
Mirissa should have known she wouldn’t be able to hide her condition from him. They’d only been a couple for a few days, but in the year he’d been her guardian, she’d never successfully kept anything from him. Sometimes she thought he knew her better than she knew herself. “I’m not sure. I’m feeling… disconnected.” That was the only word she could think of to describe what was happening to her. It wasn’t entirely accurate, and didn’t encompass everything she felt, but it was the best her brain could come up with at the time.
“Try to bring out your blade,” Greco said.
Blocking out the alarms as best she could, Mirissa focused on her ring. The tingling sensation in her finger told her she’d connected, but the blade didn’t come forth. “I don’t understand. I was able to use my telekinesis on the soldiers, I should be able to do this.”
“That was before the drug had a chance to work. Now that it’s spread through your system, you’re going to have difficulty doing even the simplest things. I think we should get you somewhere safe until it wears off.”
A small, metal cylinder rolled down the hallway toward them. Mirissa watched it make its way to their feet, bouncing over the uneven floor. In the back of her mind she sensed danger, but couldn’t reconcile the random threads of thought. She saw her father’s face contort as he yelled “Flash Bang!” and grabbed her mother, pushing her through an open door. Greco tried to do the same with Mirissa, but was too late.
Blinding light seared her retinas as she squeezed her eyelids shut. The concussive blast knocked her against the wall and, in an instant, the only sound she could hear was a dull ringing. When she opened her eyes, a burst of pain shot through her head and she fell to her knees. Mirissa felt strong arms wrap around her and pull her up. Greco. She instinctively leaned into his chest, craving even the illusion of safety.
“Mirissa!” Greco’s voice sounded like it was travelling through a wall of water. The urgency in it, however, wasn’t muted. Her ring began its familiar tingling sensation as she was pulled down the hall. She didn’t remember calling upon it but was relieved when she felt the snake grow and curl around her arm. Either the drug was wearing off, or her ring had decided to act on its own again. When the snake’s head took its place under her shoulder, a jolt of electricity scorched through her.
Greco’s arms squeezed tighter as she stumbled, the only thing keeping her upright under this new assault of pain. She grabbed her head and wailed as a wave of heat spread through her veins. Her vision cleared and the ringing in her ears abated. The fog that had enveloped her brain immediately receded, and the events of the last moments became clear.
She grasped the hand around her waist, felt its empty ring finger, and spun away from its hold. Her natural instinct to drive her ring’s blade through the soldier’s heart took over, but at the last moment she diverted her thrust toward his clavicle. The injury would be painful, but not life threatening. To her dismay, it also didn’t slow him down.
His rifle was raised and aimed at her chest before her hand even reached the tranquilizer gun at her waist. She saw the corners of the soldier’s mouth curl into a cruel smile as his finger squeezed the trigger.
“No!” Her father’s voice was the last thing Mirissa heard before everything went black.
Chapter 36
“Damn it.” Carter slammed the cell door against the bars. The lock was mangled by the explosive and was still too hot to touch, but it didn’t matter. Gina and Kell were gone. Droplets of blood on the floor outside the cell evidenced an injury to someone, but to whom, Carter didn’t know.
“Maybe they were moved before the explosion,” Han said.
“No. That blood says someone was here. If the girls were moved, there’d be no need for a guard.” Carter searched the floor for shell casings, but found none. His heart unclenched at the possibility they hadn’t been shot… yet. “All right. We’ll go room by room. They’re in here somewhere.”
Unholstering their tranquilizer guns, they returned to the long hallway that ran the length of the facility. “There are too many rooms to check. We don’t have that kind of time,” Jackie said.
Carter tried to put aside his desperation to find Gina. He needed to be smart about this, and his current panic-stricken state was making that almost impossible. Looking left and right at the multitude of possible routes they could have taken, he shook his head. How the hell am I going to find you? Then he saw it.
Running to where another hallway intersected theirs, he knelt down and picked up a small white flower petal. “This way. She’s leaving us a trail to follow.” At each hallway they came to, Carter slowed and searched for another petal. When he saw one, they turned.
“Maybe we should have left ourselves a trail to follow. I don’t know about you, but I’m completely lost.” Han’s smile didn’t hide his worry. “Just how big is this place?”
Carter was asking himself the same question. They’d already travelled at least a quarter of a mile, zigzagging the entire way, and were no closer to finding the girls than they’d been at the start. The only good news was that they hadn’t come across any more super soldiers.
A flash of light up ahead caused them to increase their speed. Although there was no flower petal to be found at the corner where the light originated, Carter made the decision to check it out. With their backs to the wall, they used hand signals to communicate. On the count of three, Carter turned the corner with his pistol raised.
Clear. It was yet another empty hallway. Carter took the lead—with Han behind him and Jackie covering their rear—as they made their way forward. When they came to another intersection, the sound of scuffling boots wafted toward them.
Carter put his finger to his lips and pointed in the direction of the noise. He chanced a quick look down the corridor before reporting to his team. “It’s Hancock. Looks like he’s pretty torn up from the explosion. He’s about twenty yards ahead,” he whispered.
“The girls?” Han asked.
Carter shook his head. “He’s got to know where they are. We need him conscious. Any ideas?”
Jackie removed a tranquilizer dart from her pistol and unscrewed the syringe. She poured two thirds of its contents onto the floor, re-attached the needle, and loaded it into the chamber. “This will knock him out, but with his advancements, it should only last a few minutes.”
Carter switched his pistol with Jackie’s and took a deep breath. He hoped at least one thing would go as planned. When he turned the corner he saw the captain raise his rifle just as a group of soldiers, and their captives, came into view at the end of the hall.
&nbs
p; Mirissa wrenched herself from her guard’s grasp and jabbed her blade into his shoulder. The injured soldier raised his gun and shot. Carter watched in horror as Mirissa fell to the floor, followed almost immediately by the man who shot her. The other two soldiers collapsed seconds later.
Carter stepped forward and aimed his pistol. His team was already under attack and didn’t need to deal with Hancock, too. Before he could pull the trigger, a hand grabbed his forearm and yanked it down. He swung around to the now-open door beside him with his fist raised. “Gina?”
“He’s on our side. It would be better if you didn’t shoot him,” Gina said with her usual smart-ass attitude.
Carter grabbed her in a tight hug, then quickly pulled back. “Stay here with Han. I need to check on my friends.”
Carter ran down the hall with Jackie on his heels. “Coming up on your six, Hancock. Don’t kill us,” he yelled.
“I’ve known you were coming for two and a half minutes already. For a wolf, you’re not real stealthy.” Captain Hancock joined them as they approached their team. “Don’t worry. They were under orders to use nonlethal ammunition only on your group. She’s just knocked out.”
Relief washed over Carter. Mirissa, pain in the ass that she could be, had kind of grown on him over the last few months and he wasn’t ready to lose her. He grabbed a handful of zip ties from his pocket and shoved them at Hancock. “Here, make yourself useful.”
The Captain raised an eyebrow and said, “You mean more useful than taking these three guys out of the equation while you played kissy face with your girlfriend back there?”
Han snorted a laugh behind him as he, Gina, and Kell approached. “I don’t know why, but I kind of like G.I. Joe, here. Can we keep him, Mom? Please? Can we?”
Myrine stifled a smile. “Sorry to be the voice of reason, but we’ve still got work to do, boys.” She looked at Hancock. “I don’t suppose you could lead us to the general.”
“I can try, but don’t get your hopes up. He and his boys probably hightailed it out of here after the first explosion.”
“His boys?” Carter asked.
“Yeah. The true believers. Some of these guys”—he gestured to the men he was tying up on the floor—“are unwilling participants. They’re controlled by a kind of brainwashing technique and, if necessary, a computer chip implanted into their brains. But there are a few that follow the general by choice.”
“And exactly which category do you fit into?” Myrine asked.
“Neither, anymore. I was never overly susceptible to the brainwashing, and my chip has been failing on and off since they implanted it. A few weeks ago, it stopped working completely. Since then, I’ve been gathering information about Persaud’s exploits and waiting for my chance to do something about it.”
“The general doesn’t know about your chip?” Carter didn’t try to hide his skepticism.
“Oh, he knows. They’ve been trying to fix it for months. Every time I questioned an order, or even looked like I might, I was back in Dr. Powell’s lab. The last time, I let them think their fix worked. Nothing but ‘Yes, sir’ and ‘No, sir’ every day since.”
Myrine stepped forward. “What’s the general’s escape plan, Captain? And how many men does he have with him?”
“Four, if he only took his lackeys. His chopper is kept in the hangar where I took you guys yesterday. If he’s leaving, that’s where he’ll go.”
Carter did the math. “We’ve got three here, six back in the lab, four with the general, and Hancock. That still leaves twelve men unaccounted for.” He wasn’t completely sold on the captain’s story but was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt… for now. “We’ve got a team looking for the Havasupai and Yavapai tribe members that were taken. Do you know where they’re being held?”
The expression on the captain’s face deepened. “The holding cells are along the south wall, but I need to warn you. Of the nine originally taken, only six are still here.”
“Where are the rest of them?” Myrine asked.
“They died. The researchers ran into complications. I don’t really know the details, but the first three men they took died early on.”
Carter’s jaw clenched. It was such a waste. He pulled out his walkie-talkie and pressed the button. “Myrick, the holding cells are along the south wall. There are six survivors.” Something Carter had almost forgotten occurred to him and he asked Hancock, “What about the teenage boy they just took?”
The Captain’s brow furrowed slightly. “I haven’t seen him.”
Carter spoke into the walkie again. “Myrick, be on the lookout for a teenage boy named Lou. He may or may not be with the others. And be careful. There are still twelve soldiers on the loose.”
“Aye, aye, Captain. We’ll keep you posted.” Myrick clicked off.
Mirissa, still unconscious, was hefted over Hancock’s shoulder with little effort. Carter couldn’t help but smile at the thought of her reaction when she found out about that. I am never going to let her live this down.
Chapter 37
Myrick felt the gradual change in the air as they approached the holding area Carter told them about. The farther south they went, the higher the humidity level got. We must be below the Colorado River’s water line. The corridor terminated at an oversize metal door. A thin sheen of condensation covered steel that looked to be as old as the facility itself.
Myrick grabbed the handle and gently pushed. The door moved smoothly, with no creaks or grinding. It was old but well maintained. He looked to Asteria and Ken, received nods in response, and eased the door all the way open on well-oiled hinges.
The space on the other side of the door looked as though it was from another time. Gone were the white walls and tiled floor, replaced by jagged rock. The room was only about thirty feet deep, but at least triple that in length. The cells housing the prisoners, outlined in iron bars embedded in the rock at eight-inch intervals, ran across the back wall.
Six men of varying age stood as they entered, grabbing hold of the bars in front of them.
“Does anyone else think this has been a little too easy?” Asteria’s eyes darted from side to side.
Myrick felt the same way but saw no alternative than to move forward. “Just be on the lookout for those soldiers.” He looked at the men in the cages. They didn’t appear happy, but there were no outward signs of injury or mistreatment.
“The keys are hanging on the wall down there.” A man in the cell on their right pointed to the end of the room.
Myrick nodded and took a step to the left. Slight movement in the cell with the man who’d just spoken caught his eye, and he stopped. The man’s cellmate, standing a few feet to his rear, was slowly shaking his head.
Ambush. Myrick inclined his head slightly to show the man he understood, then turned to his team. “I guess we got lucky. Let’s get these boys home.”
One corner of Asteria’s mouth curled upward. She’d always been the impetuous one, facing every battle like it was a game to be beaten, and this was no different. She almost looked relieved that they were going to see some action.
Ken, on the other hand, turned serious. He wasn’t afraid of a fight—he’d proven that many times—but he was pragmatic. Myrick could see his brain ticking over the possibilities and designing solutions to every perceived problem.
Myrick took a quick inventory of the room. If they were going to be attacked, it would have to be from the outside. There were no apparent hiding places for any soldiers and no visible doors other than the one they’d come through. “Asteria, watch the door. Ken, check on the men. I’ll grab the keys,” he said. With that, he trotted over to the hook on the wall. At first glance, it seemed like a basic metal hook drilled into the wall. When he grabbed hold of the ring of keys, however, a pressure sensor activated with an almost inaudible click. Bloody hell.
The light bulbs, strung along the length of the ceiling, immediately went dark, and Myrick heard a loud clanging sound as the heavy metal d
oor slammed shut. He grabbed the flashlight from his belt, ran to the closest cell, and fumbled with the keys until he found the right one. The two men inside bolted out, ripping off their clothes as he moved to the next chamber. Before he had the second lock opened, the freed men had shifted into bears. Although Myrick had become accustomed to Carter’s wolf over the last few years, having enormous brown bears padding around the floor beside him was a little unnerving. The next two captives shifted into wolves as soon as they were out.
When he got to the last cell, he paused. The man who had pointed out the keys looked at him warily. Two bears and two wolves stood at Myrick’s side, growling and pawing at the floor. As soon as the door was open, the other man pushed the traitor out. He pulled a long knife from his pants and swiped at the closest bear, but he was outmatched. As a group, they pounced. Their claws tore at the man’s chest, and their powerful jaws ripped flesh from his bones. When they were finished with him, his limbs were bent at impossible angles and he was covered in blood and tufts of fur.
“Remind me never to get on your bad side,” Myrick said.
“He’s not one of us. He’s a soldier. When the alarms went off, three of them came in here and took Jackson. That guy changed clothes with him and took his place in our cell. I’m sorry we weren’t able to warn you.” The man, who’d given them as much warning as he dared, looked humiliated.
“You did warn us. Thank you. Now, we need to figure out how to get out of here.”
“About that,” Asteria called from the doorway. “I’m gonna need a little help.”
Myrick lead the way to Asteria’s side and immediately saw the problem. When the trap was sprung, she’d jammed her ring’s blade into the frame to stop the door from closing. Now she was stuck. Both he and Ken grabbed the handle and pulled, but the metal door didn’t move. “It must be mechanized. Can you withdraw your blade?”
Rogue (Book 2) (The Omega Group) Page 16