by Faulks, Kim
“I’m all in.” I held the brother’s gaze. “Whatever it takes, as long as she gets out alive. That’s my only priority.”
Finley nodded. “Good, we’re on the same page then. I have an idea on how to get in. Once I am, I’ll let you guys in and then we can work through the grounds until we find him. But we have to be in and out. We can’t waste time, not in there. Once we’re on the road with her dad then we can spend all the time we need getting to know each other. So we break in, grab the guy and we’re out.”
“Where?” Mavi spoke through a mouth full of chocolate and nuts. “We need somewhere to hole up. Some place big with plenty of places to hide.”
“There’s that fenced off, partially demolished building we passed on our way into the city. If we can get there, we can find ourselves a place to hide.”
“It only has to be for a few hours.” Mavi nodded. “Then we get a new car and we get out of here. Head—”
“South,” I cut him off. “We head south, meet up with Sixth and Oleander.”
“And you’re sure we can trust him, this Sixth?” Finley held my gaze.
“No, but then I wasn’t sure I could trust you either.”
“Touché mutherfucker.” He smirked and shoved up from the bed.
The quiet hiss of water echoed through the door. I waited, holding onto the fear trapped inside for a second before I found the strength to speak. “What if we don’t find him…her dad I mean. What if he’s already…”
“Gone…yeah, I’ve thought about that too.”
“Then we pick her up, anyway we can,” Mavi answered. “And we haul her ass out of there. She can hate us later, when she’s safe.”
“Then that’s it.” I stared at a spot on the floor. “That’s all we can hope for. That she hates us later. That she hates all of us.”
“I won’t let you down,” Finley murmured. “And I won’t leave you behind. If we go in together, then we come out the same.”
“I agree.” I rose from the bed and held out my hand.
Palm slapped palm, and that sense of belonging swelled inside my chest. It’d been so long since I felt that way…so long since a scared little boy stood on the other side of his sister’s bedroom door and listened to her slice open her own flesh.
I didn’t have a family then, not a real one. Not one who wanted me—until now. I stared at these two guys and listened to the soft hum coming from the room next door and realized this was my family, my brothers…and Spark.
This was where I wanted to be.
“I don’t want her worried,” I murmured. “I don’t want her thinking about anything other than finding her dad.”
“And if she loses control?” Mavi played the Devil’s advocate. “If what happened in that field outside her house happens again, what then?”
The room fell silent.
“Then we goddamn pray.”
The hiss of the shower fell silent. I glanced toward the open door to the room. “I don’t want her hurt, not anymore.”
“You and me both, brother.” Finley dropped his hand on my shoulder as he walked into Pitch and Spark’s room.
I could hear the refrigerator door open just as the bathroom door banged against the wall. “What are you up to?” Spark murmured.
There was life in those words, more than I’d heard all morning.
“Haven’t you heard?” Finley growled. “We’re having a goddamn minibar party. Wanna join?”
There was a snigger, and then a sharp bark of a laugh as the refrigerator door banged closed. I lifted my gaze as she followed Finley into the room, her arms laden with cans of soft drink and tiny bottles of alcohol.
Her hair was damp, running rivulets down her shirt. Where the water seeped in, the fabric stuck to her skin. Blue eyes pierced me as she fought the laughter, dumping the cans and bottles onto the bed.
“The peanuts are mine,” Mavi muttered. “I already called dibs.”
“You need to learn to share,” Spark muttered.
“I keep telling him.” Finley cut Mavi a glare. “But he doesn’t listen to me.”
“Dude, all I do is listen to you,” Mavi muttered and rummaged in the mass of bars in his hand, he selected one and handed it to Spark. “The guy just doesn’t shut up.”
They bickered and nagged. I grabbed a can of lemonade and cracked the top open. “Looks like minibar party it is.”
Finley
Headlights splashed against the building where we hid. My heart climbed into my throat as I stepped from the corner, choking me with every fucking pulse.
“So we wait for your signal?” Mavi murmured next to my ear.
I turned my head and stared at the guy in the dark. “For the tenth goddamn time, yes, wait here for my signal.”
“What’s the signal again?”
I closed my eyes and fucking prayed.
Prayed I survived this night…
Without murdering one of my crew…
Pitch and Spark just stared, waiting for me to make a move—waiting for me to not fuck this up. I talked the big game…talked the big fucking game. Now it was time to show my hand—and hope to God I didn’t get myself killed.
“Right,” I muttered and stared at the guard as he walked out of the hut and headed for the front.
This was the third patrol I’d seen…the third patrol I’d waited on, telling myself just one more…just one goddamn more. Three was a lucky number, right?
I stepped out from the corner of the building across the road and made for the street. My steps barely made a sound as I cut across the asphalt to where the guard walked the outside of the fence line.
My heart was thundering, smothering the sound of his steps as he passed behind the massive tree. He’ll turn…any fucking second now. He’ll turn…and he’ll see me—no, he’ll see himself…
I opened myself to the power, lashing out with a tendril of energy in the night…tasting him before the lash pulled away. Shadows stilled, right where I knew they would as the guard turned.
I stepped up to the pavement and into his line of sight.
“Stop right there,” he snarled. I kept on walking, lengthening my side. Please don’t shoot me…please don’t shoot me. “I said, halt! I’m armed and I will shoot.”
The soft moonlight washed across my face as I neared. There was silence as he came into view. The gun in his hand was raised, at the center of my chest.
Something inside me puckered. If I died right here and now it’d be all for nothing. Pitch and Mavi would leave with Spark. They’d fucking leave with Spark… “Like fucking Hell they will.”
“Stop,” the guard growled as I neared. But there was a tremor in his words…his eyes widened, the whites glistening in the moonlight as I neared. “What the fuck?”
I smiled as the tip of the semi-automatic rifle lowered. “Come on now,” I murmured and closed the distance. “Were you really going to shoot yourself?”
“I, ah…” the guard mumbled as I stepped closer and smiled.
“I didn’t think so,” I answered, and slipped the knife from its sheath.
This was what the fight came down to….it was them, or us. I gripped the hilt, the blade snug against the inside of my arm, and then swung.
My blow slashed the air, curling before I missed the guard’s throat.
But the blade didn’t. Steel parted flesh with a sickening squelch. Heat splashed against my arm before the man stumbled backwards and reached for his neck.
“It’s okay.” I stalked closer, reaching out as he jerked. Blood gushed, spilling like a river down the front of his shirt.
I grabbed him as he buckled. The rifle first and then his arm, easing him down to the ground. “It’ll be over in a second.”
Hate roared through me, cutting cleaner than any blade ever could. I didn’t want this…didn’t want to take the life of another. But I had no choice. The war was starting, and we weren’t the ones who’d made the first move.
I grabbed his rifle and knelt beside h
is body, taking everything. Keys jangled in my grasp as I tore them free. His ID tag was next, and his belt. I took everything, and then rounded the other side of his body.
He was still now, wide-eyed, staring up at me as I knelt over his head and heaved his shoulders from the ground. “You picked the wrong Senator buddy…the wrong fucking Senator.”
I drove my heels into the ground. Muscles strained, my arms trembled. “Jesus you’re a heavy sonofabitch.”
I heaved and dragged, pulling him under the low hanging branches of the tree and dropped him at the base of the trunk. “You’re just sleeping, just having a rest,” I mumbled, sounding like I was losing my goddamn mind as I eased his body upright, sitting him against the tree.
His head rolled. I winced at the sight but rose from the ground. Not much I could do about that now.
My boots scuffed the grass as I stepped backwards and made for the front gate of the compound, swiping the mess from my arms and then tried to breathe. Don’t lose your shit…don’t lose your shit.
Acid crawled into the back of my throat. I swallowed…and swallowed again. My boots scuffed the side of the pavement, pitching me forward until I caught my stride. Fuck. I glanced over my shoulder to the darkened corner of the building across the street and then rounded the opening and made for the hut.
“What took you so goddamn long?”
I flinched at the snarl as the guy stepped from the doorway. He lowered his head, catching the dark stains on my arm. A flashlight clicked on, crimson glared in the bright light, before the beam found my eyes, blinding. “What the fuck happened?”
“Dog…it was hit by a car,” I snarled and lifted my hand in front of my eyes. “Lower that will you?”
The glare was gone in a second, leaving me staring at white sparks in my eyes.
“I didn’t hear no car, didn’t hear no dog either.” He stepped to the side. The beam of the flashlight bounced as he switched hand…leaving his dominant hand to drop to his gun. He turned his head as though listening.
Footsteps sounded behind me…coming closer.
“Stop!” The guard commanded over my shoulder, swinging the blinding beam up.
I jerked, spinning on my heel as the thud of footsteps echoed. Mavi stepped closer, hands held upwards, palms to the sky. He lifted his head, dark eyes glinting in the beam of the light as he found me. “I wasn’t sure if that was the signal…you almost eating shit on the pavement out there.”
The flinch was instant as the guard dragged his semi-automatic into the air. “I’m authorized to use deadly force, and I’m ordering you to stop.”
Mavi just looked at me, hands hovering in the air. The guard gasped and stumbled.
“You know I thought creating a super-cell and destroying buildings was the worst I could ever bring myself to do…until now.”
The guard dropped his rifle and grasped his throat. In the silver glow of the moon, his face darkened.
“I’m stealing your air, removing it from the cells in your body, snatching it from your lungs,” he murmured as he came closer, stopping beside me as the guard dropped to his knees. “And in a second you’ll be gone, slipping away in a wave of darkness, and I won’t feel a thing.”
“Jesus, Mavi,” I muttered and glanced at my companion. “Remind me to never piss you off.”
He just smiled a cold dark smile as the guard slumped to the ground. The others followed, footsteps scuffing the ground as they neared. I crouched beside the dying guard, stole his keys and weapons, handing them to the others. “Here, take these. We stay together, okay? Pitch you’re up, dude.”
I straightened as Pitch lifted his gaze to the towering building and closed his eyes.
Seconds felt like hours. We didn’t have time for this…not for him to calibrate…we needed to get in and—
“Over there.” He opened his eyes and pointed to the far end of the rectangle building. “They’re deep inside…I can hear him…faintly, but he’s there.”
“Thank God…thank you God…” Spark’s prayer was a whisper we all heard.
“Let’s move.” I rounded the dead guard and grabbed his arm, heaving him back into the hut.
“Ah, Finley,” Mavi murmured. “You going to stay like that?”
I stumbled under the weight, dropping the guy as soon as I was inside and then straightened. Power rippled, stealing the face of the dead guard from outside the fence line, leaving my real face behind.
“That’s better. He was freaking me the fuck out.” Mavi nodded as I strode from the guard hut.
We moved as one, racing for the corner of the building. Pitch gripped the semi-automatic and held up his other hand. He jerked his head toward the guard hut. “They’re calling him…the two-way…did you get the two-way?”
The life seemed to drain from me. I jerked my head toward the hut. “Fuck, wait right here…you wait right goddamn here.”
I lunged, slamming my boots into the concrete as I made for the hut once again. The goddamn moonlight was blinding, like a goddamn spotlight.
“Harvey…Harvey…come in,” the voice barked through the two-way. “If you left your handset behind again you’ll be on goddamn suspension for good.”
I skidded to a stop beside the dead guard, snatched his two-way from his belt and lifted it to my mouth as the voice on the other side of the two-way came clearer.
“Hey,” the word cracked through the damn thing. “You’re not Harvey.”
Out of the closest corner of the building another guard came. He dropped the two-way and reached for his weapon. There was nothing I could do now, the illusion was gone.
Lights flashed at the top of the hut, washing the concrete with a blood-red hue. Sirens screamed…whoop…whoop…whoop…piercing my ears.
Dogs barked in the distance. Pitch stumbled forward, lifting his hand as the scream of the siren ended…pressure built in my ears, and a stab of pain followed.
The world was muffled and strange. I gripped the rifle and raised the weapon. The guard stumbled, slammed his hands against his ears as my finger curled around the trigger before I squeezed.
The weapon kicked, punching against my shoulder. Pain roared, tearing through my body. But there was no sound.
Not a boom, not a scream.
Nothing.
The guard was gone, stumbling toward another hut on the other side of the entrance. Pitch moved his hand toward the pack of guard dogs scrambling around the far corner and lunged toward them. Spark stumbled, one hand clamped over her ear as the other reached for the sky.
White flickered against the darkness above.
“Run!” I screamed, my voice strange and slow. I forced my feet to move, and lunged from the doorway of the hut.
Something sharp bit my thigh. I looked down to a darkening patch on my jeans. What the fuck was that? Bits of wall smacked my cheek. I flinched, staring as another shot came again…that’s a goddamn bullet that’s what that is.
And with the thought came the pain, roaring like a goddamn avalanche. I squeezed the trigger as the guard raised his muzzle high. But instead of aiming at me, he swung the weapon…pointing it at Spark as a bolt tore from the sky.
White light blurred until it was all I could see. Screams came next, unmerciful screams that shattered the silent void inside my ears—until they were gone.
Until everything was gone.
Darkness descended, white sparks in my eyes caught the moonlight. I squeezed the trigger but there was nothing left to hit…nothing more than an incinerated scorch mark on the ground.
That was a man…Jesus, that was a man…
I stumbled for Spark, grasping her by the arm as I raced past. “Fucking hell…”
“I…I…” she whispered, her eyes wide, body trembled. “I had to save you…I had to…”
I yanked her close, holding her against my chest. She was so small…so goddamn small, and yet she was unfathomable. “Listen to me, I’m okay. I’m okay.” Jesus, I wanted to kiss her. “You saved me.”
&nb
sp; She nodded as the howls and piercing whimpers of the dogs echoed, tearing away from us through the night. They were running for their lives…they were the smart ones.
“We need to go,” Pitch snarled and looked to the building. “There are more coming.”
“Wait.” I grabbed his arm. “That thing you did…what was that?”
“I manipulate sound, so I stole it…from everything.”
My ears still rang with the brutal void of sound. I’d heard humans could lose their minds from minutes alone in a chamber built for that. “Just next time a heads up, yeah?”
He gave a nod before he turned and lifted a hand. “Ground floor, south east corner. They have him in a sealed room of some kind. I’m having trouble picking up what they’re saying. But it’s him…and he’s alive.”
“Thank you, God,” Spark murmured.
We moved as one, leaving the stench of death on the night air behind. Pitch lifted the keys and hovered the card near the reader. A tiny red light on the door lock turned green, the mechanism inside gave a click, before he shoved the latch and stepped through.
Bright overhead lights were blinding. I blinked, waiting for my eyes to adjust. They still wept from the flash of lightning. Pain tore through my thigh. I ground my jaw and followed, holding onto the agony—using it to drive myself forward.
Everything sharpened. The dark grey carpet. The pale grey walls. The smell of death which clung to my clothes. I glanced to Spark as she haunted Pitch’s steps, moving behind the guy as they scanned closed office doors and moved deeper inside.
I trained the muzzle of the semi-automatic at the end of the hallway. Hallways shot off left and right from it. Darkened stairwell entrances made my heart thunder inside my chest. I stepped to the right, moving beside Spark.
The muffled sounds of the siren made my damn skin crawl. A bang of a door in the floor above made me flinch.
Pitch lifted his weapon, training it overhead and then stopped. He cocked his head, lifted three fingers and motioned to the right.
They were coming…and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
Spark lifted her hand and savage power crackled in the air, raising the hairs on my arms.