Four… maybe five—I can’t tell.
Shit.
Think, Adrian…
It has to be The Order, right? But why would they send a team after me when they’ve given me the job of killing Lily? And that red dot… Who even knows I’m here? And why would whoever it is target Kaitlyn and not me? Why send a message by hurting someone I’m linked to?
Goddammit, I hate not knowing what’s going on!
The movement outside has stopped.
Whoever it is, they’re standing right outside our door!
18
16:02 AST
Kaitlyn lets out a muffled moan. I press my hand harder over her mouth and shake my head, willing her to understand she needs to stay quiet.
BANG… BANG… BANG…
A heavy, methodical knock on the door sounds out.
I slowly shake my head once more at Kaitlyn, signaling to her not to move or make a sound.
BANG… BANG…
“Brad, I know you’re in there. Stop being a pussy and open the goddamn door, will you?”
I frown. That’s Pierce…
What the hell?
I let go of Kaitlyn and chuckle nervously. “Sorry about that… Wait here.”
I quickly step over to the other side of the door and put my back to the wall. I reach over and grab the handle, then glance over at Kaitlyn and place a finger to my lips again. She nods hurriedly.
“Pierce, is that you?”
“Yeah. Open the door.”
“Why should I?”
“Because I’m telling you to.”
I laugh humorlessly. “Try again…”
“We need to talk.”
“Now’s… not a good time.”
Silence.
“I don’t care. Open the door or I’ll blow it off its fucking hinges.”
“Oh, excuse me, Big Bad Wolf! Look, this is a private appointment, alright? Little piggies only. If you wait outside, I’ll be with you in about… a half hour?”
“Brad, don’t kid yourself by thinking you have privacy anymore. You’ve got a job to do, and that should be your only priority.”
“What’s it to you how I go about doing my job?”
“Horizon asked me to keep an eye on you… make sure you don’t do anything stupid?”
“Who? Me?”
“Just open the fucking door.”
I sigh. He’s not going anywhere, is he? He’s probably not alone and he’s almost certainly armed. I’m pretty much trapped here, because I have to assume whoever the sniper is, they’re still watching the window. Plus, this isn’t exactly a large office. It’s a modest, open-plan space with a small bathroom built into the far corner. That’s it. Nowhere to hide. No way out.
Shit.
“Okay, Pierce, here’s the thing. I’m not alone, and the person in here with me has nothing to do with any of this. You hearing me? They’re innocent and unaware of the life we live. I need you to promise you won’t hurt them. I’m not trying to make a big thing out of it, but if I let you in and you’re all confrontational and shit, I’m gonna have to whoop your ass a little bit, and maybe even kill you. We clear on that?”
More silence.
“I’m not here looking for a fight. I’m here to help you.”
Huh… Well, I wasn’t expecting that. Help me? How?
Probably best to let this play out for now. I can’t think of any reason why he would actually want to hurt me, or Kaitlyn, so I think I’ll be okay.
I look over at her and smile, trying to reassure her, and then look back at the door. “Well, why didn’t you say that in the first place?”
I turn the handle and pull, letting the door swing open. Pierce is standing casually in the hall. He has an assault rifle hanging loose over his shoulder, and he’s with the same four guys who picked me up in Vietnam. They’re all standing to his left, looking more alert than he does.
I move in front of him. “How did you find me here?”
He rolls his eyes, as if I’ve just asked a stupid question. “That thing in your neck I can detonate? It is still an actual tracking device. I know exactly where you are at all times.”
“Great… So, what’s up?”
He gestures to the room behind me. “You not gonna ask me in?”
“No.”
He smiles. “I’m sure Miss Moss won’t mind.”
Huh?
I raise an eyebrow, but say nothing.
“No privacy, remember? You gotta learn to keep up—this is getting embarrassing.”
“Hey, fuck you, alright? What do you want?”
“We think you’re being hunted.”
“Yeah, I think so, too. What’s it to you?”
“Horizon gave you a job to do. My job is to make sure you do yours. Sometimes, that means I gotta give people… an incentive. Other times it means I gotta watch their backs.”
“And which is this?”
“The latter. For now.”
I step to the side and he strides into the middle of the room. He turns to face me and catches sight of Kaitlyn. He nods a polite greeting. “And you must be the therapist. Nice to meet you.”
She looks at me. I can see concern and confusion in her eyes. “Adrian, what’s going on?”
Pierce turns to me and raises an eyebrow. “Adrian, eh? You’ve told her your real name? Tut tut…”
I wave my hand dismissively. “She’s bound by confidentiality, so she won’t say anything to anyone. She’s not a threat. Anyway, I hadn’t told her anything. I was forced to when you stormed in here like a stampede of wild assholes… I had to say something.”
“Whatever. I’m here because you’ve got bigger problems.”
“So what else is new…? What is it this time?”
“Lily.”
I frown and actively avoid making eye contact with Kaitlyn. “She’s not a problem. I’ve been told to kill her, and I will. Admittedly, only because I have no choice, but even so—I will.”
“Oh, I know. That’s not the problem. The problem is we’re pretty sure she’s showing some initiative and actually hunting you.”
I take a breath. “Ah…”
“She’s found a way to hack into our network, which means she has access to the information received from the tracking devices. Which means she has eyes on every asset The Order has.”
“Oh…”
“We’ve been monitoring her movements, and we know she’s in a nearby building right now. I think it’s pretty obvious she’s making a pre-emptive effort to get rid of you.”
I pace back and forth, processing what Pierce has just said.
Kaitlyn steps close to me and puts a hand on my arm. “Adrian, what does all this mean?”
She didn’t hide the tremble of fear in her voice.
I stop and look at her “You need to… just… gimme a minute, alright? I’m trying to wrap my head around this myself.”
I carry on pacing for a moment, and then turn to Pierce. “I don’t understand why she would suddenly want to kill me. We were—”
He raises an eyebrow. “Friends? Adrian, she’s been in The Order a lot longer than you have. She knows how we work. She’ll know Horizon will give you the contract to take her out, and she knows you can’t turn it down, which means she knows it’s only a matter of time before you try to kill her. Fuck friendship, man. It’s just basic survival tactics.”
“Yeah, but she has the same device in her neck, right? Surely she knows that if she were to somehow take me out, Horizon, or you, or whoever, could just push a button and blow her head clean off her shoulders?”
He shrugs. “I didn’t say it makes sense, I just said it’s happening.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “Shit…”
Kaitlyn moves over to me. “Adrian, you have to tell me what’s happening! I don’t understand!”
I stand and face her and put my hands on her shoulders. “Kaitlyn, I appreciate this is a big ask, but I need you to trust me. Once I get you safe, I promise I’ll ex
plain everything. But right now, you need to focus on the fact there’s a very dangerous assassin trying to kill me, and anyone who’s with me is just as deep in the shit as I am. I’m the only one who can protect you right now, so you have to stick with me.” I gesture to Pierce with my thumb. “Hopefully, this guy’s gonna get us out of here, and then I can get you out of the city.”
“But, Adrian, after everything you’ve told me about Lily, do you really think she would just try and kill you without at least talking to you first?”
I nod. “Everything I’ve told you about Lily is only half the story, I’m sorry. And yeah, under the circumstances, I think she would, because neither one of us has much choice in the matter. We either kill the other one, or we die.” I turn to Pierce. “So, what’s the plan?”
He gestures to his men standing in the hall. “Me and my team are gonna make sure you get out of here in one piece. You’re in no position right now to take her out. She has the advantage, so it’s my job to protect you long enough for you to get your head out of your ass and do your job.”
I go to say something, but stop myself.
I’ve always had this ability to make things… I don’t know… slow down. I’ve learned how to stay calm to the point where things seem to start moving slower than normal, which ultimately helps me see things other people don’t. It helps me plan my next move, react quickly, and find resolutions to problems others probably won’t even identify.
It also seems to be linked to my spider sense, as if my subconscious automatically activates the ability when it knows I need it. It only ever happens when shit’s hitting the fan… or when it’s about to.
I stopped myself from saying anything because the world is slowing down right now. The room is unchanged. The people in it aren’t doing anything different. But… yeah—there’s definitely a noise that doesn’t belong. It’s like a roaring, whooshing sound, and it’s coming from outside.
I turn to look out the window.
“Shit! Everyone move!”
I lunge to grab Kaitlyn by the arm and sling her through the open door. She stumbles and falls to the floor. I ignore Pierce and move to follow her, but I’m not fast enough. Time resumes its usual speed as the RPG hits the building just below the window. The impact shakes the foundations, like an earthquake. The thunderous explosion completely shatters the glass, hurling thousands of tiny shards into the room.
I grit my teeth. “Fuck!”
I didn’t make it out of the room. I was blown into the far corner by the blast, and I’m lying face down in agony. My back feels wet and sticky, torn to shreds by the glass. With the exception of the loud, constant ringing in my ears, I’m completely deaf, and my equilibrium’s all kinds of screwed.
What the hell just happened?
I push myself up with one arm and look to my left. Pierce is laying a few feet away from me, looking almost as bad as I feel.
I frown. Christ, it’s hot…
I look behind me at the window.
It’s gone. There’s a sizeable hole in the side of the building, and flames are climbing into the room. I shake my head, trying to clear some of the fog. Background noise is slowly starting to register. The crackling of the flames is prominent. I can also hear what sounds like… crumbling, maybe? And screams. Definitely screams…
Shit, Kaitlyn!
I turn the other way and look over at the door. I can see a pair of legs lying motionless, but nothing else. Man, I hope they’re still attached to someone…
I take some deep breaths, but because of the smoke filling the room, I start coughing. “Kait… Kait… Kaitlyn!”
I close my eyes and frown, summoning all the focus I can to drown out the extraneous noise.
I still can’t hear anything.
“Kaitlyn!”
I listen carefully.
“…ian!”
Was that…?
“Kaitlyn?”
“Adrian!”
That’s her!
“Kaitlyn!” I grimace as I try to move, which sends a pain shooting across my back like a lightning strike. “Where are you?”
“I’m—”
Woah!
Shit!
I’m sliding backward uncontrollably because the floor’s just crumbled away! My arms are stretched up, my hands desperately searching for something to—
“Ugh! Fuck me…”
—get a hold of.
Ah!
Some of the thin, metal framework used to reinforce the concrete is sticking out in places. I went to grab one piece in particular, which is jagged and sharp but mistimed it. It sliced my palm open and is now sticking literally in my hand! I ignore how much it fucking hurts… and grasp it as tight as I can, because my legs aren’t resting on anything.
I close my eyes for a moment. This is one of those times where I know I really don’t want to know the answer, but I need to ask the question anyway.
I open my eyes and look down.
“Oh, shit!”
I look back up quickly and close my eyes again.
Yeah… there’s nothing below me except a three-story drop. That crumbling noise is getting louder. The building itself looks pretty old, and the blast must’ve damaged the structural integrity. The impact of the RPG has compromised the entire east wall of the office block, so the floors below are starting to disintegrate, too, like a domino effect.
I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself, but this is one of those rare moments where I’m finding that very hard to do. I hate heights. Like, seriously fucking detest them. Planes are okay. I can even handle jumping out of them, because I usually have a parachute on my back at the very least. But this… there’s no ’chute, there’s no safety net… just a big fucking drop. Three stories is probably about… what? Thirty feet? Maybe forty? That’s enough of a drop that I wouldn’t just fall—I’d plummet. And while that, in itself, might not kill me, it’d do some serious damage. But this isn’t a normal drop. Scattered thirty-to-forty feet below is a huge pile of burning rubble. Falling… plummeting onto that shit would definitely kill me.
My arm is getting tired, to the point where the only thing keeping me hanging on is the fact the metal piping is stapled to my hand! There’s nothing for my left hand to grab, and everything around me is crumbling and falling slowly away to the ground below.
I take another long breath, trying to block out the pain from my hand and my back… I ignore the fact I’m hanging out the side of a building, three stories up, surrounded by flames… I also ignore the fact that, right now, Lily is most likely looking on from whichever building she’s in, watching me through the sights of her sniper rifle. She could shoot me any moment and put me out of my misery. Or, assuming she’s a good enough shot, she could shoot my hand and make me fall to my death instead. That would suck.
I sigh.
I am so screwed right now.
I look down again, and immediately wish I hadn’t. This is fucking surreal. This morning, I woke up beside Lily nursing a hangover. And now, six hours later, I’m dangling above certain death because she’s trying to kill me.
I really can go from ‘normal’ to ‘fucked’ in the blink of an eye, can’t I…
“Adrian?”
I frown.
Huh?
I look up and see Pierce staring back at me. He leans over and lowers his arm.
“Adrian, gimme your hand!”
You don’t need to tell me twice!
I reach up…
Ah! Just short!
I shake my head. “I can’t reach you.”
He sighs. “Okay, hang on.” He disappears again.
I roll my eyes. “Hang on… Really?”
He reappears, leaning over farther than before. “Try now.”
My right hand feels as if it’s being ripped in two! I swing my body slightly from side to side, once… twice… and…
I throw my arm up and grab hold of his hand.
He grimaces from the effort. “Gotcha!”
&n
bsp; He pulls me up as best he can, just far enough that it takes pressure off my other hand and allows me to find some footing. I manage to heave myself up the rest of the way, climbing up onto what’s left of the floor in Kaitlyn’s office. I roll over on my back and stare at the ceiling.
“Holy… shit…” I take a few deep breaths. “Thanks…”
I lift my head and look over at him. He’s lying on his front with his feet hooked around the legs of a small table. He’s wedged the table in one of the gaps that’s appeared in the floor. Risky move, but I’m grateful nonetheless.
We both struggle to our feet and quickly move out into the hall. The structure out here seems more stable, but I don’t want to hang around any longer than necessary. Kaitlyn is standing over by the stairwell with three of Pierce’s team.
Three?
I frown and look behind me.
Oh, crap…
Those legs I saw before are still attached, but the poor bastard has a pretty big hole in his chest. Looks as if something impaled him during the initial blast.
I turn to Pierce, who’s staring at the body. “I’m sorry, man.”
He shakes his head. “No time for that now. We need to get you out of here. Follow me.”
He pushes past us all and takes point, heading down the flight of stairs for the exit. Two of his team go next, with Kaitlyn just behind them and me just behind her. The final member of his team is bringing up the rear.
We make it to the first floor and dash out onto the sidewalk. We don’t stop until we’re across the street and around the corner. There’s a large crowd of people standing nearby, looking on with morbid fascination. Sirens are blaring in the distance and getting louder by the second, so the emergency services will be here any moment.
We keep moving until we’re far enough away from the building that we can safely stop to catch our breath. We all stand in a tight circle. Pierce looks hurt, but it’s not obvious where. He’s taking some deep breaths and seems to be managing. The rest of team looks mostly unscathed. Kaitlyn’s sitting on the edge of the curb, staring blankly at the ground. I know the onset of shock when I see it. I’ll give her a minute—she’s smart, and it’s her job to understand how the mind works. She’ll know what’s happening to her, so I’ll give her some time to process things before I say anything.
Good Intentions - Adrian Hell #6 (Adrian Hell Series) Page 17