I kept my eyes trained on the senator so I could watch as he lost some of his cocky attitude. He looked more pissed, now. Good.
"Are you ready to negotiate?" I asked, feeling a bit smug and not hiding it.
"Let's take a walk," he said, getting his composure back too quickly, as if he had expected that result, even if it did anger him.
He moved forward and the rippers kept their distance as he moved closer to me. He waved off his men as they took steps to follow him.
It was a good thing too, because I drew the line at walking with Crash. If you're my friend, great. If you’re my enemy, that's fine too. I understood why he did it and I didn't hate him. But you're one or the other and he'd officially picked sides.
I didn't say a word and waited for the senator to speak as we walked alone. The person that feels like they have to fill the air somehow always seems weaker. It helped that I didn't have any desire to talk to him.
"You're proving to be a bit of an issue to me."
"I'm glad you hold me in such high esteem," I replied sarcastically.
"But you are human, like the rest of the Keepers, and have the typical frailties associated with that form," he continued on, in a manner that seemed to be more of an internal monologue than a conversation.
I looked around the town's street while I waited for his next revelation and the sound of a crowd jeering became noticeable. I couldn't see them yet but as the noise rose I knew that's where we were headed. The knot in my stomach told me I wasn't going to like what I saw when we turned the corner.
"You aren't without your own weaknesses," I said. It was an empty threat, driven by the fear knotting inside of me.
"I was then, but not so much now. Not in this environment."
"And what if the world were to change back?"
"That isn't a concern. There is no going back."
The roar got louder as we turned the corner. I stood on the top of the street and looked below to where it sloped into a valley and my heart started beating so hard I felt like it was going to burst from my chest. Cormac was in the center, bloodied but standing, surrounded by at least a hundred men in fatigues. He'd already killed twenty or so of them by the count of the men lying dead at his feet. Watching, I saw him rip apart another two just since we'd arrived.
"I don’t think you have enough men."
"They are just a stall tactic to keep him in one place for a bit. The snipers are the ones that are going to take him down."
"It's not going to be that easy with the way he's moving," I said, hoping Crash hadn't told him about what one of their bullets had done to my shoulder.
"I only need one good shot with the bullets I'm using. I believe you know about those?"
I wanted to tear him apart right then and I let it show on my face when I looked at him.
"If you were able to kill me, which I'm not so certain you can, my snipers will open up everything they have on him. Are you willing to bet his life?"
I looked down at a man that had once been my enemy and realized I'd give my life for him if that was what it took.
"Name your terms."
"I'll let you walk from here with all your people."
Huh?
"Except Sabrina."
And there it was, the shot to the heart. It wasn't my life I'd have to sacrifice for Cormac, it was Sabrina's. "Why?"
"The ones that hijacked the group were also humans you call the changed. The leader of this group has taken a liking to Sabrina and I have my reasons for wanting to keep him happy."
So many things weren't making sense. Why didn't he just kill me the same way he could kill Cormac right now? Why let us leave at all? It was like a jigsaw puzzle but I was missing half the pieces.
"I want to see Sabrina."
"That's not a problem. She's close by."
"And nothing happens to him while I do. Or all bets are off."
"This way," he said and we started walking down another block. I could see the people pulling back quickly from their windows as we did. They were terrified of him and they should be. As calm and logical as he was acting right now, I couldn't get past the feeling that he might go bonkers in a split second. He wasn't just evil, he felt unstable. Evil could be predicted. Crazy was a lot more dangerous.
"They're in there," he said as we stopped in front of a charming looking colonial, about a block away from where we'd left Cormac. "It's just a temporary situation, while we waited for you." He smiled. "I wouldn't want you to waste your time if you try to come back."
"I want to see her before I decide."
He shrugged and waived his hand. The door opened immediately, proving whoever was in there had been watching and waiting for our arrival.
Another man in fatigues stood by the open door.
"Have Sabrina brought out, as well as the others."
He went back into the house without a word. Less than a minute later, the familiar faces of the changed walked out the door. Of the initial ten requested, there were only eight here. Colleen was hopefully still hiding back by the tunnel, and we'd found one dead in the desert. I counted the heads as they came out.
More men in fatigues walked out with them and waited on the lawn. When the changed would've come closer, the men stepped in front of them, blocking their way.
Then Sabrina was there and I watched as she took a step out the door. Sabrina was immediately followed by a creature a few feet taller than her and completely covered in blood-red scales. He stalked her movements and grabbed her arm when she moved more than a foot in front of him. Dread filled me. There was no way I was going to make this work. No way I'd ever be able to leave her here like this with that animal.
"Gulagh," the senator said, "alone."
The creature's eyes blazed and massive wings I hadn't initially noticed spread out behind his back spanning at least ten feet. He let out a blood-curdling screech and tipped his head back. A line of fire spewed from what once might have been a human mouth. This was what had caused the burn marks in the building.
Sabrina stepped away from him and I could see she was walking with a limp, probably a break that hadn't been taken care of and healed wrong. I saw the way her eyes darted toward the creature as if she was waiting for him to drag her back at any moment. This confident and beautiful woman had become a timid beaten down shell of herself, in such a short time. My heart was breaking. We were prepared to die fighting, but not for this.
I was surprised that the senator walked away when she finally reached me. He walked back to Gulagh, where he waited on the lawn.
Up close, I could see she had changed more than I realized. The same type of scales that had been on her stomach, now covered her entire forehead.
"Are you okay?" I asked, already seeing the answer written all over her.
She opened her mouth to speak but couldn't get the words out. When she looked away from me to hide the emotions roiling in her, I moved with her, grabbing her shoulders.
"I'll figure something out, just…"
She shook her head immediately. "Stop. I know what the offer is. They've told me everything. I need you to take these people and leave."
'These people' were the huddled mass of eight, standing on the lawn, and Cormac.
"I won't just walk away and leave you here." I couldn't, not now that I had seen her. Even if they didn't kill her physically, she wouldn't make it mentally.
"Look at me," she said. Then as if afraid to be overheard, she mouthed the words you cannot win. "Believe me, I know. And it doesn’t matter. I'm becoming whatever he is. Look at my face."
"So what? You can't walk down the hall these days without seeing someone different."
"But how can I…this was my choice. You've got to. I can do this," Sabrina said. Tears were streaming down her face and I realized my own were as well.
"You didn't know. I can't leave you here."
"I won't come with you willingly. This is my choice." I couldn't say anything else, because she turned her back on me
and walked away, back to the creature that stalked her every move. I watched her step into the house and not look back once.
And I knew that if I tried to take her, I would be killing those eight people staring at me now. Worse, I'd be killing Cormac. I'd dealt with more than I thought I'd ever be able to handle, but losing Cormac...I couldn't even think beyond that.
"Are you ready to choose, Jo?" the senator asked as he walked up next to me. "Or do you need a few more minutes?"
I looked at the people on the lawn who were staring at me as if I was their last lifeline, then to the house where I knew Sabrina was trapped with that horrible creature. And then there was Cormac. I put my head up and straightened my spine even though I felt as if I were being pulled to pieces.
Emotions I couldn't afford overwhelmed me and I walked a few feet away from him. I needed to get a handle on myself. If I wanted to save these people, I needed to be the girl that didn't care about anyone, that could get through anything. I needed to shed the softness I'd developed over the last several months.
I'm not sure how long I ended up standing there, coming to terms with what needed to be done, but I turned now and walked back to the senator.
I looked into his face and had to squash down the overwhelming hate in me. I couldn't afford that emotion, even if it was aimed at the most worthy of targets. Hate would open the door to feeling other things.
My face as blank and cold as Cormac's on his best day, I laid out my terms to the senator.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I left the senator standing in the road and walked over to the group on the lawn. "We're leaving. Can everyone here walk?" I tried to gauge their conditions. I was skeptical about their mobility, but they all nodded.
"Then come on." I turned back to the senator. "Tell your goons to stand down when I get to Cormac."
I started to walk away from the house where I was leaving Sabrina, but not for long. I glanced back to make sure the eight were following me. They were, even if it was in a bit of a ragtag fashion. One of them, who looked like he was still in his teens, appeared to be struggling, but two of the others had taken an arm each and kept him moving.
We made our way toward where the senator's men had Cormac pinned down to the same location. There were several more dead bodies lying on the ground but plenty more waited in the wings as he took out one after another. He was covered in blood, but if it was his, it wasn't slowing him down. The snipers hadn't taken him out and that was all that mattered.
When we reached the top of the hill, I told my already bedraggled group to stay there. I didn't want them going near the senator's men surrounding Cormac. If I were them, and in their shape, I would've felt relieved. They looked more anxious.
"I'm coming back," I said to them. "We're leaving here."
As I started to walk down the slope toward them, all fighting ceased. The senator’s men simply disengaged and moved out of Cormac’s reach, and a path to him opened before me. He stood on the other side of the pathway, through the men in fatigues, but he didn't look relieved to see me. His stare moved upward, behind me.
I turned toward the top of the street, where Cormac was staring. On the other corner, opposite the eight changed, the senator stood, just watching. The senator's eyes met mine.
I broke eye contact first and slowly walked toward Cormac. He was alive and I was going to get him out of here. That's all that mattered.
When I finally stepped next to him, he looked down at me. "What did you do?"
"I made a deal with him. It's okay, trust me." It was a lie. It was far from okay, but I wouldn't get him out of here any other way.
"Don't lie to me," he said, not budging from his spot. "What kind of deal did you make?"
I'd known this wasn't going to be easy. But I had to get him to follow me.
"You shot me in the head. If I can trust you after that, then you need to trust me now." It was my ace in the hole. I knew the guilt he carried over that and if I had to turn it on him for his own sake, I would.
I took a few steps back toward the others, waiting at the top of the street. I turned to see if he would follow. I stood there and waited for him. It took him a minute but he finally did.
"This doesn't feel right," he said as he joined me, "but I'm trusting you."
I started walking again and I sensed him behind me. My ragtag group of survivors looked relieved to see us returning. The senator just watched our progression.
Once we made it to the group, I motioned them to follow us. Cormac walked by my side.
"Where's Sabrina?" Cormac asked.
"They're bringing her to the wall."
"Why? What did you agree to, that we are just walking out of here? I don't like this," he said grabbing my arm and halting our progress.
"I need you to trust that I have this worked out." He looked at me and I saw the struggle going on. He was agitated and he knew something was wrong. I knew I had only the tiniest control of the situation.
"Please."
I started walking and he relented again. I think it must have taken everything he had to do it. Continuing with a situation he didn't like was the exact opposite of what Cormac would usually do and I knew he was doing it for me.
It made my heart swell at the same time it was being crushed.
I picked up the pace a bit, hoping to get everyone to the crossing as quickly as I could. It was a strain on the group, but I felt the time bomb that was Cormac ticking loudly.
"It's okay," I yelled out as we approached the place where we had left Dark, Colleen and the rest of them by the tunnel.
They stepped out of their hiding places slowly, and I knew that the senator and his men weren't too far behind us.
I stopped once I reached them and turned to see the senator, about fifteen feet back. He'd been following us the whole way, but I'd expected that.
Cormac looked around at the group and the senator. "I don't know what you did, but I'm not leaving here without Sabrina," he said to me, never losing eye contact with the senator. He thought that was the bargain I wasn't telling him about. That Sabrina was staying and that was fine. I just needed to get him past the wall before he knew the real deal.
A distant howling noise filled the air as small group of men appeared around the corner of a building in the distance. In the center of their group, I saw Sabrina. The howling must have been Gulagh.
We watched as they got closer, until they stopped by the front of the group where the senator stood. And this was as far as I'd worked the plan out.
"What is going on?" Cormac asked again. "If they are letting her go, why are they letting us leave?"
"I'll tell you as soon as we get on the other side of the wall." I was so close. "It's only a few more minutes. I don't want to discuss it here."
He turned his head and the tension was near to bursting from him. He was looking for a fight that he knew should be there, but couldn't find it.
"The second we cross, not a minute later," he answered.
We watched as Sabrina walked forward, followed by the senator. Everyone else remained behind, as I knew they would.
Sabrina walked the last ten feet by herself and was welcomed back into our group.
The senator stood back but not idly. I could see him focusing on the wall and an opening appeared through the storms. I just had to get them on the other side.
"Why?" Cormac barked out toward the senator. "You're just going to let us go? What are you getting?"
"Jo has promised to never cross this barrier again," the senator said.
"And that's it?"
"That's all I wanted," he finished.
It was the truth.
"Let's go," I said, tugging at Cormac. He knew something was wrong but he took my hand and went with me anyway.
"The very second," he said.
Dark crossed first and then the humans. Cormac and I were the last to enter the opening. True to the senator's word, nothing happened until after the last vulnerable human had made
their way out and it was only Cormac and I left in the opening.
I didn't know how long I'd have so as Colleen took her last step out of the opening, I turned to him.
"I'm sorry," I said to him quickly.
"What did you do?"
His eyes narrowed before he grabbed my hand, eyed up the distance to the opening, and started to run, pulling me with him.
"I did it for you," I tried to scream, but the noise of the storms were getting louder and closer and I didn't think he heard. And then his hand was gone as he was torn from me. "Cormac!" I screamed as the winds kicked up another notch and propelled him to the other side.
I couldn't see anything but sand as a strong wind pushed me back in the direction of the senator. Even as the winds kept my momentum going I still didn't turn, but kept my eyes on the wall of sand, hoping to catch a glimpse of him, just one last time.
Then I heard my name. It was barely there over the roar and I couldn't even imagine how Cormac had managed to shout that loud but he was alive and okay.
I turned to face my fate.
The senator stood there, waiting for me, with his men behind him and the rippers not far in the distance.
"You promised, even if he comes back, he won't be touched. None of them will be," I said as I paused before I closed the last distance.
"Yes," he said.
I heard the truth again in his words. He would honor the deal we had made.
I dropped my head, feeling defeated but resigned. They would make it. Cormac would be okay. He would understand why I did it. I took a few more steps forward.
When I got within a couple of feet from him, he waved one of his men forward. "You'll understand if I need to take some precautions."
I could have easily taken on the man who approached with the handcuffs but I'd made the deal. There was no turning back.
The senator looked on as his man finished handcuffing me. "Don't forget the tape."
As I watched the piece of duct tape cover my mouth, I knew why it was done. Without being able to speak and with my hands cuffed behind my back, I was seriously handicapped.
A man in a white lab coat stepped out of the crowd and approached me, a syringe in his hand.
Shattered (Alchemy Series Book #3) Page 19