The Escape

by Teyla Branton

  I shuddered. “And Delia?”

  “We don’t know,” Mari said. “After they brought you down here, I went to meet Ritter and when we got back they were lowering that cement slab.”

  “We’d better get upstairs,” Ritter said. “I’m hoping to avoid a bloodbath outside.”

  “Wait. We need to get Patrick.” I started back to the bomb shelter.

  Ritter lifted the concrete slab higher with the pulley mechanism, but in the end Mari and I shifted down together and brought Patrick up. It was harder with him being unconscious than it had been to shift Jace a short distance, but Patrick also weighed more. Next, we brought up the leathery mass wrapped in the blanket. I didn’t know who he was, but we wouldn’t leave him here.

  Ritter hefted Patrick over his shoulder while I did the same with the horrific bundle. It didn’t weigh more than twenty-five or thirty pounds. Was it me or did it already smell less intense? In my right hand I carried my sai. Mari, holding the flashlight, led the way, but I knew her memory would get us to the lobby with or without the light.

  When we arrived, we found the freed Renegade prisoners peering out the front lobby door. Guns twisted in our direction. “It’s Erin and Mari!” I called out, lowering my burden.

  Willis limped over to us, his eyes brightening when he saw Ritter. “Hello, Ritter. Good to see you.”

  “And you, my friend.” Ritter laid Patrick down on the ground and bumped fists with Willis. “I know it’s been a long three months.”

  “It’s over now.” Willis’s voice was hard. He glanced at Mandalyn and Francis, his tone softening. “Well, for some of us.”

  Ritter gave the women a sympathetic nod and took a step toward the door. “What’s the situation out there?”

  “We’re not sure.” Willis walked with him. “There’s a lot of movement, but no streetlights and the rain makes it more difficult to see.”

  The light situation was my fault, and Brody’s, but we’d really had no choice. Feeling powerless without any offensive weapons, I went to the guard behind the desk and retrieved my ballistic knife, cleaning the blood off on the man’s pants. Someone had tied him up with rope, so he wouldn’t be a problem any time soon.

  Ritter’s eyes noted the knife as I approached, one brow arching slightly, but he didn’t say anything. Yes, I used your weapon, I sent to him pointedly through our still-connected minds. What are you going to do about that?

  He turned back to the glass doors, masking a smile. Later. Aloud, he said, “My phone doesn’t seem to be working, so I can’t call the number the vice president gave me to communicate with him.”

  “Uh, yeah,” I said a bit sheepishly. “I don’t think any of the phones are working. Or the radios or anything else that has batteries.”

  He gave me a sharp glance. “Does this have anything to do with Brody?”

  “Don’t ask.”

  I reached out searching for Ava. Her shield was tightly in place, and that worried me. Tonight it looked strong and impenetrable, and I didn’t want to weaken myself or her trying to get through, but after all our practice together, I knew if I knocked hard enough to get her attention, she’d recognize me and let me inside. As a sensing Unbounded, she could recognize my signature, as I could hers. Fortunately, she seemed to be waiting for me.

  Ah, Erin. Her relief at our safety flickered through my mind. The army out here is holding fire. We’re trying to negotiate, but it’s going slowly because none of the electronic equipment is working. And Delia’s out here telling lies. She refuses to order her people to stand down. Just hold tight.

  I refocused on the lobby. “They’re negotiating,” I said to Ritter. “Delia’s out there spinning a cover story and holding things up. She’s probably hoping her guards have finished burying me in that hole and that they’ll have time to recapture and hide the prisoners.”

  “If the vice president came here to free his son, why doesn’t he just fire on them?” Mari let out a sigh of disgust. “He doesn’t even know his son’s okay.”

  Ritter’s jaw clenched as his face swung to meet our gazes. “Because I told him not to. We made a deal with them to make a show of force and then negotiate.”

  “What? Why?” I asked. It didn’t make sense, not when we suddenly had the advantage. “We could take out quite a few of the Emporium soldiers once and for all.”

  Willis heaved a sigh. “Because that army out there can shoot up the Emporium all they want and most of the devils aren’t going to die. Eventually, they’re going to heal, get up, and fight again. But a whole bunch of those mortals will die if they fight. And they won’t come back.”

  “It’s not something we can ask them to do,” Ritter added. “Not until they know the consequences. A hundred or so of them for a couple Emporium agents. It’s not a good exchange.”

  All at once I understood. Mortal lives would be the cost, and that went against everything we believed. For now it was our fight—and our death price.

  “They have to be told one day,” I said. “We can’t do it alone.”

  Ritter nodded. “I know.”

  The Emporium has given up, Ava told me. The army had to send someone for more vehicles because none of these out here have working batteries. They’re loading the Emporium soldiers who have surrendered into a truck now, but there are only about twenty, and most of them are mortal not Unbounded. We don’t know where the others disappeared to. There were nearly seventy at last count.

  They’d probably been given the order to retreat. At least those who weren’t unconscious inside the building.

  One of the police captains has offered to take Delia to the station for questioning, Ava added. Probably an Emporium plant, seeing how she’s shielding his thoughts. We’ve tried to intercept her, but they’re too surrounded by his officers for us to get near.

  I bet she’d never make it to the station to answer questions. No, she’d be back at her headquarters drinking her favorite herbal tea before we could arrange a working vehicle to tail her. Given the Emporium’s wealth and connections, the soldiers taken to the station would likely walk as well.

  Ritter laid a warm hand on the small of my back. “Let’s go home.”

  Ritter carried Patrick, while I hefted my smelly bundle once again. Dragon carried Francis, and Mari and Mandalyn helped Guenter, who was finally awake but in need of curequick and a lot of healing time. Willis took up the rear, guarding our exit in case any of the soldiers we’d taken out regained consciousness.

  Outside, lightning crackled overhead, framed by turbulent black clouds. I checked Brody to see if he was still attracting the lightning, but he hadn’t taken in much more energy. We hurried through the icy rain that was quickly turning to snow. The wetness reactivated the smell lodged in the old blanket, and again I had to breathe through my mouth. We walked past the cement barriers the Emporium had brought in, past the empty guard trailer, and through the open gate. The streets and surrounding areas were littered with police cars, army trucks, and other official vehicles, most of which were no longer working, though replacements were beginning to arrive. Dimitri and Ava and the others waited for us behind an armored truck. Cort and Dimitri took Patrick, while Keene relieved me of my smelly burden, wincing as he peeked inside. All of them looked beaten and worn, and I knew the fight out here hadn’t been any easier than ours inside, at least not until the cavalry had arrived.

  “Where’s Jace?” I asked.

  “He’s at the first aid tent in the parking lot behind the next building.” Stella pointed down the street, looking as beautiful as ever with her wet hair flattened under a camouflage cap that didn’t match the beige dress she still had on from the hotel. “Out of firing range. Once we knew you were okay, he finally agreed to leave. He took two bullets today.”

  “The infirmary is where we’d better get Patrick and everyone else who needs attention,” Dimitri said. “I want to look at their wounds. Keene, bring your new friend, would you?” He motioned to the bundle. “Cort, give him a hand.
I know you’ll want to document every second of the recovery.”

  Cort nodded. “He is quite a find. Though there’s not much we can do for him here. We’ll cook up a bathtub full of curequick for him when we get back to the safe house.”

  Keene’s eyes met mine, his drenched hair matted down around his face. Something was different. What was he trying to tell me? A snowflake landed on my eyelash and when I blinked, he turned away.

  “Check on Oliver,” Ava called as they left with the other wounded and those helping them. “I sent him there, too.” Her gaze went to Ritter. “Good call using Oliver tonight. His failure this morning might have set him back years.”

  Ritter shrugged. “We do what we have to. Let’s be honest, he was our only option to get in to see the vice president.”

  Ava’s smile didn’t change. “More often than not, that’s how heroes are made.”

  I agreed completely. It was a lot like being tossed into a raging ocean and being told to learn to swim. Oliver might have sunk a little further than most of us at the beginning, but he’d come through in the end. I might even have to thank him. I didn’t want to think about where any of us might be at that moment if the army hadn’t shown up to scare Delia and her minions.

  “I’d like to see Jace.” I started to ask for details about his condition when I felt eyes burning into me. Scanning the disarray of vehicles, I found Delia surrounded by officers and staring at us over a police car. Someone had given her an ugly black raincoat, but it took nothing away from her regal stance. I met her stare, fury seeping into me. Lightning sparked from the ends of my sai.

  “Erin?” Ritter said, worry heavy in his voice.

  I was pulling in energy again using Brody’s ability, this time directly from the only available source: the lightning overhead. The electricity filled me in a single intoxicating rush. Power pulsed through my body. I crashed it mentally into Delia’s shield, and the glossy blackness split open like a melon.

  “Erin!” At the panic in Ava’s voice, I looked down to find I was glowing. Heat thrummed through me. It was starting to hurt—like a hundred knives stabbing into my flesh. Or perhaps a bolt of lightning.

  Ava banged at my mental shield, and I let her in. Then Brody was there, siphoning off the energy under Ava’s direction.

  Next time, I promised Delia, as the power faded from me. Next time I will kill you. I tried to send a wounding flash to her mind, but the energy was gone and her shield popped back into place, tight and whole as ever.

  But not before I sensed her fear.

  Dredging up every bit of energy I had left, I held my smile as she hurriedly climbed into the police car and was driven away. Blackness colored my vision.

  “Help,” I said to no one in particular. “I think I’m going to faint.”

  AVA AND RITTER REACHED FOR my arms to steady me as I pushed to keep the blackness at bay.

  “You okay, Brody?” Ava asked. “How are you with the energy?”

  He grinned, his blond hair and sideburns dry while everyone else was wet, even under their hats. “It’s gone. All of it. It went down through my feet.” A new confidence showed in his face. “Guess the earth was big enough to take it just fine. Makes sense. Lightning hits the ground all the time.”

  We all looked down. A jagged inch-wide split marred the street at his feet, one I was pretty sure hadn’t been there a few minutes before. He shrugged. “I still have a bit to learn.” He looked from me to Ava, his eyes growing bleak. “I’m not going back to my family, am I?”

  “No,” Ava said. “But you’ll be busy helping Tenika and the others here rebuild. You can arrange occasional visits with your family, but they should seriously think about allowing the Renegades to take your sister as well. We have reason to believe she was placed by the Emporium just as you were. After what happened with you, they may not wait to see if she Changes before taking her into custody.”

  He swallowed hard. “I’ll talk to them. Thank you.”

  I thought he’d be okay, despite his years of indoctrination by the Hunters, but only time would tell. As a psychologist, Tenika could help him better than most. At least Brody no longer seemed angry at me for killing him.

  “We’d better get you to the first aid tent,” Ritter said to me, his hands running down my arms. “You’re shivering.”

  I was cold, thanks to Brody taking every bit of my borrowed energy. There wasn’t enough left of my own to hold me up.

  “I’ll take her,” Stella said, moving to my side. “General Whiting is waving at you.”

  Ritter looked at a cluster of uniformed men near the gate. “Good. Ava and I want to see if we can get back inside the building with our people. It we can, it would mean at least a few Emporium Unbounded we could take to Mexico.”

  Mexico meant our prison compound and an attempt at rehabilitation for Emporium Unbounded. Or to stand trial for their crimes, the punishment being true death. I still hadn’t dared ask the ratio of rehabilitation versus executions, but Ritter had told me that final decisions took up to a century, which gave me hope.

  “Well, hurry,” I said, wiping rain from my face. “You look worse than I feel.”

  He gave me a stare that succeeded in upping my temperature significantly. “I’ll meet you there.”

  I watched Ritter and Ava stride toward a tall, uniformed man with a narrow face. Even as they began to talk, five Emporium Unbounded emerged from the front door of the compound, and a shout went up from the watching army. There was no mistaking Edgel in front. Behind him came Dr. Tunns and two soldiers supporting a staggering Lew. Edgel had his hands raised in surrender. I didn’t anticipate they’d be in any jail cell long, despite the vice president’s participation tonight.

  “Come on,” Stella urged, taking my arm.

  I’d rather shift to the tent, but my head felt stuffed with cotton and the idea of dropping my shield to link with Mari who had gone ahead with the others made me nauseated. I was glad Delia wasn’t around or she’d probably already be inside my brain.

  Stella put her arm around me as we moved forward. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. Except that I might be so far gone that I can’t feel the pain.”

  She smiled and transferred her cap to my own head. “You did a great job.”

  I stopped walking, pushing wet hair from my eyes. “I’m not afraid of Delia anymore. I know I have to be careful, but I’m not afraid.”

  She hugged me. “That’s good.”

  I started walking again, but slowly so Stella could lead the way. The first aid tent turned out to be three times larger than I expected, glowing with lights that had either been too far away for Brody to absorb or that had been replaced. Outside, it looked like a Secret Service reunion.

  “It’s the vice president,” Stella said over the underlying hum that filled the area. “And his wife. They’ve been waiting here for their son. Don’t worry. I was here earlier. They’ll let us in, but we’ll have to leave our weapons in that box by the door.”

  Knowing Stella, half of the Secret Service agents had probably asked for her phone number.

  “Here’s another survivor,” she announced to the agent at the tent door, making a show of helping me walk. I didn’t have to pretend to lean on her.

  “Go right in, Miss Stella,” he said. “After you both put your weapons in the box, of course.”

  I obliged, placing my sai and my knife inside. From her coat, Stella took out two guns, four knives, a short saber, and several throwing stars. “The guns aren’t even loaded,” she whispered with a roll of her eyes. “I used all the bullets outside the compound.”

  Inside, a wave of heat hit our faces, and I realized that some of the noise outside had come from a generator. That explained the lights and the warmth.

  Jace, Oliver, and the released prisoners were lying or sitting on cots, while Mari and Cort stared into a large metal basin in the corner where they had put the shriveled Unbounded. Further into the room was a narrow corridor and curtains makin
g up private rooms. More Secret Service stood shoulder to shoulder down the corridor and in front of the room on the right.

  “One guess where they’ve taken Patrick,” Stella said dryly.

  “Erin!” Jace started to rise from his cot, but after a few moments of struggling, he groaned and remained where he was.

  I went to his side and plopped to my knees to hug him. “You were great at the hotel.”

  He pushed me away. “Ew. Sorry, sis, but you really stink. Must be that dead guy. Keene smelled the same way when he brought him in.”

  “Oh, yeah. Sorry.” Now that he mentioned it, the rotten smell did seem to cling to me.

  “Not dead,” Cort corrected, glancing up from the lump.

  “I wonder who he is.” This from Willis. “He’s probably one of ours who went missing.”

  “We put our supplies in the end room on the left,” Stella said to me. “You should be able to find something to change into.”

  I was about to take her up on that when Dimitri squeezed out from behind the line of Secret Service agents. “Erin, come in here. Patrick wants to see you.” He looked at Stella. “And Mrs. Mann asked for you.”

  “I’ll come back in a bit,” I told Jace.

  We walked down the narrow corridor a couple feet, brushing against the agents, who, to give them credit, didn’t even cringe at my smell. The makeshift room was actually supposed to be two, given the curtains tied up in the middle, but even so it was tiny. Patrick lay on a cot in the middle. His mother sat next to him on a stool, holding one of his hands, while his father squatted on the other side. At least there were no Secret Service agents inside, which was probably breaking all kinds of protocol.

  “Hey, you,” I said to Patrick, trying not to feel awkward with the audience.

  “Hey. I wanted to say thanks. Without you, I’d still be in that place.” His poor attempt at a smile stretched the fading green bruises on his face. “For a moment, I thought it was all over when they tossed us into that hole.”