by Amelia Jade
He jumped as hard as he could off one leg, his hands grasping the lowest rung of the fire-escape ladder that he had positioned above his head. Pulling up with his core, he freed up his strong leg, which now lashed out and caught the man who had attacked from his left full in the jaw. Bone cracked and the man dropped like a brick.
Connor released his hold and fell to the ground, hissing in agony as his weak leg was jolted from the landing, even if he didn’t absorb any weight on it.
The fourth man looked around, and then took off back down the alleyway.
“Coward,” he muttered, picking up the deformed lid and hurling it after the man with all his strength.
It glanced off the man with a deflecting blow, causing him to stumble and fall, but otherwise not doing any damage. The enemy Agent got up and all but hurled himself out of the alley.
Connor turned down into the alley. Gingerly he put his leg down to test it, but even the slightest touch left him in agony.
“Fuck,” he said, then coughed, the action bringing up a bit of spittle with it. Frowning in distaste he ran the back of his arm across his face.
It came away red.
“What the fuck?” he said aloud as the metallic-iron taste of blood hit his system.
Reaching down, he pulled up his shirt, grunting in pain as the skin screamed its protest at the movement.
The knife wound was still bleeding, red blood soaking his shirt and pants. His frown deepened. The wound must have been deeper than he thought if it hadn’t clotted already. Connor tugged the shirt down over the wound, holding his hand against it to put pressure on it as he moved down the alley toward the road on the far side. The last thing he wanted was to be around when the Extremis Agent regained consciousness and came after him.
As he hopped along, Connor’s focus narrowed to the only important thing. The one thing that would make it all worth it. Agony rocketed up and down the right side of his body, the waves of pain almost blinding him as they assaulted his senses. But his bear came to the front, the more simple, animalistic side taking over, redirecting the pain away from the one little pocket of his mind that contained a thought. A singular purpose that repeated itself over and over and over.
Get back to Maddy!
Chapter Eight
Madison
The Limp Noodle.
She stood outside the restaurant, the faded yellow sign proclaiming its name proudly on a thirty-year-old sign, big blue block letters clashing garishly with the background. The weathered piece of plastic was cracked in many places. It looked to her eye that it would simply crumble at the slightest touch. A bird flew in from overhead and through a tiny hole in the sign. Shortly thereafter the cries of young sounded as the babies eagerly begged for food.
The windows were dirty, covered with bars on the inside, and mostly obscured by brown curtains that showed every stain contained within them. A black-and-white standard-sized piece of paper was haphazardly taped to the window, proclaiming the store’s hours. Below that, written in what appeared to be window marker, was the menu. She grimaced as she noticed it was written on the inside, and thus many of the letters were facing the wrong way.
Her eyes roamed over the rest of the neighborhood, none of which was in much better condition. Although Maddy had lived in King City her entire life, this wasn’t a part of the city she ventured to very often.
Looks like I wasn’t missing much.
The cab had dropped her off two blocks south of her current location after an uneventful ride. Maddy had made sure to pay cash, a wad of which she had found stowed in the pack her father had put together for her. She would make sure to thank him next time she saw him.
Which might be a while from now. If I ever get out of this blasted city.
How had she gone from enjoying the city, to hating it so quickly? The answer seemed to be that it was because the city had turned against her overnight. A terrifying escape from the only house she had ever known, followed by a huge fight, and then a night tossing and turning as she waited for the faceless enemy to finally catch her was more than enough to convince Maddy that that was the reason. But a part of her resisted that conclusion. It had another idea.
You never fit in here at all.
She shrugged, watching the tide of people walking split and part around her, like a boulder dropped into a fast-running stream. Maddy always seemed to stick out. She was taller than most, bigger than most as well. The city was geared toward those with money and the interest to party. That wasn’t her at all.
It’s true. I don’t fit in here. I never did. This isn’t the place for me.
Maddy sighed, shoulders slumping slightly as she accepted that reality.
If I don’t fit, I may as well get out.
Her feet moved of their own accord, propelling her to the door. She pulled it open and entered into the dimly lit interior. The bars and curtains kept most of the natural light outside, and the interior was only lit by one individual incandescent bulb per table. This caused the pathways between seating areas and any other open space to be draped in shadow.
“Hello, welcome to the Limp Noodle. For one, or are you waiting for somebody?”
Maddy’s eyes flicked to the side where a blonde, near to her age, had appeared as if by magic.
“Just for one,” she said cautiously, trying to figure out what it was about the blonde that was setting off her internal alarms.
“This way please,” the pert young woman replied. “Watch your step, the carpet has a bit of a lip.” She pointed down to where the edge was curled up on itself.
Carpet in a restaurant? That’s got to be dirtier than—
That was it! The restaurant was dingy, dirty, rank, and frankly probably even a little moldy. But this woman—the hostess, or server, or possibly both—was clean, her hair pulled back neatly, with a crisp, clean-pressed yellow uniform on. The yellow was a nightmare, but it was clean and new -looking, which stood out from the background like a warning beacon.
“Here you are,” she said, waving Maddy to a table.
“Can I start you off with anything to drink?”
Maddy shook her head. “No, I think I know what I’m going to have actually.”
“Oh?” The woman’s eyes might have flickered, but if they did, it was only for a split second.
She was good, Maddy decided. Very good.
“Yes, can I have the Spelunker’s Delight please? With just a water, thanks.” She added the last part on, in case anyone else happened to be listening.
Listen to you! You’re already becoming paranoid.
Maddy forced her brain to watch a rerun of their past twenty-four hours, then told it to piss off if it thought she was still paranoid. If five extra words made her sound crazy, then the rest of her life was going to be filled with a lot of insanity.
“Sure thing,” the blonde replied.
She still hadn’t given Maddy her name.
“Would you like to perhaps freshen up while I put your order in?” The blonde pointed to an opening in the rear wall of the restaurant that was recessed several feet, then immediately turned to the left.
“No, I’m okay thanks,” Maddy said, sitting back in her seat.
“If you’re sure,” the woman said.
Her voice was just a bit sharper than it should have been. Maddy looked up, and noticed something in the woman’s eyes. Her blank gaze had tightened, just a little.
Oh. Maybe this is what I’m supposed to do next.
Feeling sheepish, Maddy nodded slowly. “You know, maybe I will. Wouldn’t want to wait until food arrived and then go, now would I?”
The slight glint in the blonde’s brown eyes disappeared, if it had ever been there to begin with. “No, probably not,” she said cheerfully, turning on the spot and walking toward the door on the other wall labeled Kitchen.
Maddy waited until she was gone, then grabbed her bag and slid from the seat, pulling the strap over one shoulder. She followed what was revealed to be a small hallway
to the left, and then took another right, and then another right. There were two doors, neither of which were marked at the end.
The doors were a deep rich brown, which managed not to clash with the ugly red and gold leaf-swirled wallpaper that lined the hallway. Whoever had chosen that design should have been fired, she thought, trying to pick which door to enter.
One of the doors opened and the blonde appeared, still in her yellow uniform. She nodded sharply at Maddy, all semblance of the cheerful server gone. Her steps were determined and purposeful now, no longer light and airy. She took two steps closer to Maddy, turned to face the wall on Maddy’s left, and pressed with both hands.
The wall clicked, and popped open slightly, enough for the blonde to hook her fingers around it and pull it wide open.
“After you,” she gestured. This time her tone brooked no argument. Maddy, with a cautious glance over her shoulder back down the hallway, disappeared into the hidden door.
Instead, the angry yellow light from the hallway illuminated a metal staircase that led down at a very steep angle. The roof followed so sharply that she was forced to duck as she descended. Behind her, the door clicked shut, cutting off all light and leaving her in the dark.
“Umm,” she said quietly, pausing on the step. She was fairly positive there was two more stairs, and she slowly put her foot down onto it, the metal echoing softly in the darkness.
Light flared from behind her and she turned, squinting against the sharp white glare. It was coming from the woman’s cellphone camera flash. Maddy shrugged. That seemed a little low budget, but at the same time, it was something almost everyone carried on them.
Except for her. Maddy’s had been left behind in the house, along with her father’s, to ensure they couldn’t be tracked. The Agency apparently had government contacts to aid that sort of endeavor. That seemed a little extreme to her, but after what she had now witnessed, Maddy was grateful she hadn’t argued too hard against leaving it behind. What was she missing, social media updates from people she never talked to?
“Keep going.”
“Sorry,” she mumbled, shaking her head and pushing down the last step onto a metal walkway that went straight before turning to the left. The walls closed in on all sides, and as she brushed against one, Maddy was surprised to feel it was damp. She stuck out her hand, fingertips brushing against solid rock.
“The walls are wet,” she commented, though this time she didn’t stop.
“Yeah, that’s why we’re not walking on the ground. There’s a channel for the water below us. Apparently this whole part of town is a low spot for water. When it rains heavily, sometimes there’s an inch or two of water above the walkway.” The blonde’s voice wasn’t conversational, but it wasn’t rude either. She was just sort of stating facts, without wanting to talk to Maddy more than she had to.
Following the light, Maddy took a right as their walkway ended after several minutes of walking, splitting off into a T to the left and right. Almost immediately the stairs began to climb once more. Although she wasn’t aware of how far they had descended, the number of stairs seemed to be far more than the first set. Was she going above ground somehow?
“This is where I leave you,” the blonde said as Maddy arrived at a blank wall. “Press there, and there,” she instructed, shining the light at two circles drawn onto the wall. “Close up after you. Ask for Flint, say Karly let you in.”
Maddy nodded.
The blonde turned and disappeared back down the hallway.
Maddy waited until she was gone, then found the circles via touch—they were actually rings attached flat to the wall—and pressed. The door clicked and slid open with ease.
“Wow.”
The room was completely different than the place she had just left. The restaurant had been rundown and on the verge of needing to be demolished instead of renovated. This place was so swanky she felt that just stepping inside would devalue it. Maddy carefully scraped her feet on the stairwell before stepping inside.
It wasn’t huge, perhaps twenty feet wide by thirty feet long, with the door toward the end of one of the short sides. In the center, facing away from her, was a huge wooden desk with a high-backed office chair sitting next to it. The chair was twisted to the side, revealing it to be empty of an occupant.
Bookcases lined the wall to her left, made of the same rich dark-brown wood as the desk. The shelves were lined with hardcovers, along with a few expensive trinkets, like a gold-crusted pen, and some sort of crystal globe.
She closed the secret door, noting the wood paneling that covered the entire wall, including the door, allowing it to blend seamlessly. Opposite of the bookshelves were several black filing cabinets. The rest of the room beyond the desk had what appeared to be a futon covered in a thick, plush cushion, two recliner chairs, a television, mini fridge and a table.
Big windows with heavy tint occupied the short wall on the opposite side from her. There was a door on the left-hand wall at the far end, right next to the windows. Overhead, bright recessed potlights lit the room.
Cautiously Maddy stepped through the room. She wanted to see what was on the other side of the windows. The tint was extremely heavy, preventing her from seeing through it until her nose was almost pressed against the glass. It took her a moment longer to realize that she needed to look down, not out.
She was in an elevated room that overlooked what appeared to be a nightclub. The big rectangular room was dotted with bar stations. Directly below her window was an elevated area spanning the width of the room. It was filled with tables and alcoves to increase privacy.
The VIP area.
The place was empty for the moment, except for what looked like a janitor, or cleaner, pushing a broom in front of him as he swept along. Maddy focused on him again. There was something about him that struck her as odd. He paused at one of the bars for a moment, and it was then, with the height perspective of the bartop added, that she realized what it was.
The man was huge! He had to be a shifter. Was it Connor? Had he beaten her here? She turned and bolted for the door, even as part of her mind rejected that conclusion. It wasn’t the lack of logic in her thoughts that brought her to a screeching halt, however, but something else entirely.
Maddy grabbed the closest thing that she could. It happened to be a small but heavy statue from the desk that occupied the center of the room.
The man who was standing in the door looked at her curiously. “What are you planning to do with that?” he asked.
“Whatever I need to,” she told him fiercely, determined not to give in. “Who are you?”
“My name is Flint,” he said evenly. “You don’t need to do anything,” he said gently. “Not for now. You’re safe.”
She snorted. “You know what, over the past day, I’ve learned a whole lot of things that I wish I hadn’t. Most of all, that I’m not safe.”
Maddy maintained a blustery exterior, hoping that it would cover up her nervousness. Connor had said that Flint was good, that he was safe. She looked at him again. Tall, for a human, though still much shorter than any shifter, he had brown hair kept short and pulled to one side in the current fashion. A neatly trimmed goatee covered his face, complementing the intelligent hazel eyes hiding in his face. He wore a nice suit, not tailored, but well-fitted in a comfortable-looking charcoal-gray color. His entire demeanor screamed “professional.”
She just hoped that meant a professional at keeping her safe.
“My name is Flint,” the man repeated, still not having moved from the doorway. “You were sent to the Limp Noodle. You ordered the Spelunker’s Delight. That’s Connor’s code word, designed to let us know that whoever gives it is to be brought on the inside and given shelter.”
Maddy relaxed a little, backing away from the man and letting him inside. She purposefully kept the secret wall door behind her, in case she needed to make a quick escape.
“Thank you,” Flint said, stepping up to the window and peering out.<
br />
“What do you want?” she asked, trying to let herself relax around him.
Connor said he was safe. So relax!
It proved harder than she expected. Maddy had thought she was relaxing, until a small twinge of pain in her hand reminded her that she still had the statue in a death grip.
“What do I want?” Flint asked, somewhat in surprise. “Am I supposed to want something? You came to me, after all.”
She frowned. He had a point. “Connor sent me here. He said that I’d be safe, and that he would meet me here.”
Flint turned away from the window, his face blank. “He did?”
Maddy nodded slowly, searching his face. What wasn’t he telling her?
“He’s not here, is he?” she said at last. “Connor hasn’t made it back yet.”
“No,” Flint said sharply, then looked away. “No he hasn’t.”
Trying to force herself to relax, Maddy stepped up to the desk and placed the statue back upon it, before joining Flint to look out the window. A small crowd had gathered at the entrance.
“Employees,” Flint explained, answering her unspoken question. “Getting ready for the day. We open in a few hours for the afternoon business people. Then we close for an hour between seven and eight, before reopening into a nightclub.”
She nodded. “Smart idea. Take advantage of all types of customers.”
He nodded, but remained silent for a moment. “Was Connor captured?” he asked at last.
Maddy shrugged. “He said he was going to draw off pursuit, so that I could get away clean.” Her voice was hoarse as she contemplated all of the things that might have happened to Connor. All because of her. “It’s my fault,” she added.
Flint didn’t speak, though he did shift his weight from one foot to the other, an invitation to continue.
“His team was trying to get my father and me out of town. To Genesis Valley. Connor was the last one, and I slowed down to wait for him, despite the others telling me to run as fast as I could.” Her voice wavered, but she forced herself to continue speaking. “If I had just done as they said, we all would have been safe.”