“Fair enough.” If the little bastard wouldn’t tell me, at least I would gain another small amount of time with Salina for my service.
“So you will help me, then?” A small flicker of hope swam across his face before it was replaced with the same stern look he had been wearing moments before.
“I will, but you have to understand something. Opening a portal requires a sacrifice. Are you willing to kill someone else to get what you desire?”
He had no idea how to answer that question. I could see the wheels turning in his head as he fought to decide which path was worse. Could he turn back now and leave whatever was driving him forward behind? Or would he cross a line he never thought that he could? I had the feeling that if I didn’t say something soon, I might lose him. If I did, Salina would be displeased.
“What if I made it easier for you and brought in a criminal? A man convicted of rape and murder. Would you be able to kill him then?”
The look on his face hardened, and I wondered if I had actually needed to say anything at all. He might have been willing to cross the line regardless of the person I chose. That was an interesting development that I hadn’t seen coming. The offer I made did seem to have the desired effect. He had reached a decision.
“I’ll do whatever it takes.”
With that one simple phrase, I was reminded of how much like his father he actually was. “I’ll call you back to my office when everything is ready. Until then, feel free to make yourself at home. I’ll have Tony escort you wherever you need to go.”
Jackson looked at me as if he was waging some kind of internal battle with himself. Finally he managed to grumble out, “Thank you.” He didn’t wait for a response. Instead, he stood up and walked out of the room.
Tony looked slightly surprised as Jackson walked out. He popped his head in the door for a moment. I nodded and waited for a fraction of a second before giving my orders. “Stay with him and get him anything that he needs.” He gave me a curt nod and closed the door.
Everything was almost in place. Now all I needed was a sacrifice. It probably wouldn’t take more than a few calls to get one. I’d like to make it easy on Jackson if I could. That meant whomever we killed had to be truly terrible. The world was filled with enough despicable people that it shouldn’t be hard to find one in the next few hours.
I picked up the phone and started to make some calls.
CHAPTER 6
APRIL
He didn’t look that good lying in a hospital bed, but at least he was alive. The explosion that ripped apart the pizza place could have killed him. Picking up his hand, I sent a tendril of healing magic into him. Marcus’s eyes fluttered briefly, and then they opened. Thank God he was awake. We couldn’t stay here any longer without risking detection. We didn’t have social security numbers, or records of any kind. Being caught in a hospital could spell disaster for us.
“April,” he mumbled, trying to focus on me.
“That’s right, Marcus.” I patted his hand gently, keeping the healing energy flowing into him. “We have to go.”
“Where am I?”
“You’re in a hospital, but we can’t stay here. Eventually they’ll realize that you don’t belong here.” I reached past him and turned off a couple of the machines beeping behind him. “I brought you some clothes. Try and hurry.”
He got up from the bed. That was a good sign. He stumbled for a moment and then reached for his arm. He started to pull away the bandages, and I stopped him. Pushing another wave of healing energy into him, I removed the needle from his arm. He started to try and move away, but I held him in place, reaching up to unhook the electronics from the patches on his chest. Those were going to hurt when he had to rip them off later.
Now I rolled my chair away from him to give him access to the bathroom. When he walked by, his robe fluttered open, and I was treated to a view of his behind. “Marcus, more clothes are better than less,” I said with a laugh as he pulled his robe closed.
“I’d hate to disagree with you,” he said, moving into the bathroom. “Some of the best experiences in my life have been with no clothes.”
I could hear the smile in his voice, and it made me feel better. That had been scary, but everything was going to be ok now. “Not all of us rate life by our sexual conquests.”
“I can’t help it. You’ve seen this bod,” he said with a laugh.
“More of it than I wanted to just a few seconds ago.” If he was making jokes, then he must be feeling a whole lot better. We still had to hurry. This hospital, like many of the major buildings in the city, was warded. That meant we couldn’t just pop in and out through any doorway that we wanted to use. So we needed to get outside the old-fashioned way. It was time to get a little creative, and I had come up with the perfect disguise.
Marcus stepped out of the door, wearing a set of scrubs. They hung a little loose around him, which was good. “Before we leave the room, you’re going to need to tie your hair back.” He gathered his dreads into a tight circle and slipped a couple rubber bands around them. It held, and it made him look just professional enough to be an actual nurse. “Time for you to get to work.” I pulled the door open and waited.
“So your brilliant rescue plan involves putting me to work?” Marcus stepped up behind my chair and started pushing.
“Hey, I didn’t go and get myself blown up. When I get blown up and you rescue me, I’ll push you around.”
He laughed and let me direct him through a few more turns, and then we made it to the elevator. I reached out and hit the button to open the doors and looked up at Marcus. I hoped he was holding up all right and not putting on a brave front just for me.
“You do know I’m the one that’s injured, right? I mean, you didn’t even bring cookies.”
“I believe you were injured. Now that I healed you, you seem to be doing pretty good. Plenty strong enough to push little old me around.”
He barked out a laugh. “Just don’t get used to it. I’m not playing driving Miss April.”
We made it into the elevator, and I hit the button for the ground floor. I knew it wasn’t the right time to ask him, but I had waited as long as I could. “Marcus, what happened to Jackson?” Marcus went ridged behind me. Something about his prolonged silence told me whatever it was wouldn’t be good.
“He was getting dragged out of the building by two men. I just happened to see him from inside of the restaurant. He started to fight, which gave me enough time to reach him. We took care of them and started to head back inside when the building exploded.”
Marcus paused for a second. It seemed as if he was gathering himself for something. “When the building blew up, I was hit pretty hard. Jackson ran toward my side. A car pulled up and told him to get in. He looked at me once, and then he did it. He got into the car, and he left me there.”
“Jesus.” That didn’t sound like Jackson at all. More than once he had risked his life to save us. He was always the first person to put himself in danger to help a friend. He wouldn’t have left Marcus when he was hurt like that unless he had a damn good reason. When we got back to the base, I was going to find out exactly what that reason was. “I just wish I knew what was going on with him.” I could feel the tears coming, but I shoved them away. There would be time for crying later. Now I had to find out just what kind of trouble Jackson had gotten himself into.
“I tried to talk to him after you came to me this morning,” Marcus said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “All I managed to get out of him was that he was dealing with what happened to his dad.”
Now that made some kind of sense. I mean, how did you deal with seeing someone you thought was dead appear, and then moments later, watch them get ripped back into hell? I hadn’t seen it happen myself, but the story Sarah had told me seemed more horrible than words could describe. If that had happened to Jackson, I wouldn’t rest until he was free. “Oh, shit.”
“Well, something just clicked, girl. Don’t hold back on me now.”
“We need to get back.” The doors dinged open into the lobby, and Marcus pushed me smoothly toward the front doors. “Jackson is going after his dad.”
“How do you know that? I got the impression that Adam wouldn’t help him.”
“Adam wouldn’t.”
“Then who . . . ?” His words trailed off as he reached the same conclusion that I had.
“Jackson only knows one other person with the kind of power to pull something like this off, and there happens to be someone that can contact him right down the hall.”
“He wouldn’t. Shit. She wouldn’t.” He gritted his teeth and pushed me just a little bit faster. “Even Britta wouldn’t help him do something like this. Would she?”
“I think she would, and it explains why she dropped by our place the other night but didn’t come in. I can’t believe that stupid asshole thinks he has to do this alone.”
“Maybe he knows we would come with him, and that’s why he left the way he did. He doesn’t want to drag us into hell with him.”
“That’s not his choice to make.”
Marcus wheeled me through the front doors and out into the parking lot. We made it across the street. We ducked in behind a gas station, and he turned the bathroom door into a portal. Someone was going to have some explaining to do when we got back. Whatever her reasons were for helping him, it was the wrong call to make. Jackson needed us by his side.
I FELT a little weird still being in the chair. It had been the perfect ruse for the hospital, but I didn’t need it here. My physical therapy had been going well. I actually ran for three miles this morning, but it left me utterly exhausted. It was amazing what magic and our amazing healers could fix. In another week or two, I’d be back to almost one hundred percent. From there, it was just going to be a slow grind to build up my strength and flexibility again.
Marcus kept walking at a pretty even pace. I wanted to scream at him to run, but all that would have done was draw attention to us. He moved in and around people with a singular focus, which surprised me. Every now and then someone would say hello, but he just put his head down and continued moving forward.
Three turns and a long hallway later, we were outside the door to Britta’s place. Marcus stepped around me to knock, but I blocked his hand. I pushed the handle down and wheeled into the living room. It took me a minute to realize what I was seeing, but it finally clicked that it wasn’t Britta on the couch. She and Nikki looked so much alike.
Nikki turned around and shot us a glare. She pulled her shirt back into place. “Ever heard of knocking?”
Nitro peaked around her side and gave Marcus a look that said What up, dude? But he didn’t actually say anything.
“Do you need something or did you come to see a show?” Nikki asked, impatience dripping from every word.
“I’d buy tickets to that show,” Marcus said.
My fist found his stomach, and he doubled over. “Marcus!” He gave me an apologetic look. It struck me he was probably trying to lighten the mood, but still, some things should never be said. “We need to find your sister. Do you know where she is?”
“She’s at the gym, but what’s this all about?”
“We just have a couple questions for her about what she’s been doing with Jackson.”
Nikki turned around on Nitro’s lap and stood up. He tried to pull her back down, but she shoved him away. “Not now, lover boy.” Her gaze focused on me, and I could see the anger building. “Listen, she hasn’t seen your man. In fact, he came over here the other day and told her to cool it. So why don’t you scurry off to wherever you came from and leave my sister alone.”
Well, that made me feel a little better. Jackson had noticed the lingering touches and the looks Britta was giving him and turned her down. Not only that, but he told her to back off. That was my man. At the same time, that wasn’t why we were here. Only Britta could answer the questions we had.
“Sorry for the interruption. Marcus, let’s go.”
“Hey, if you’re going to the gym to see my sister, I’m coming with.”
“Babe?” Nitro sighed from behind her.
“Screw that. I’m not letting them gang up on her.”
“It’s not like that. We have some questions about something else,” I said, starting to get exasperated.
“Yeah, well, you already cut into my alone time, so I’m coming with.” Nikki started to button up her pants and tighten her belt. Nitro just threw up his hands in frustration from behind her.
“So where are we going?” Britta said, walking through the door. She was using a towel to wipe the sweat from her face but somehow still found a way to look like a model while doing it.
“These two burst in here and said they had some questions about you and Jackson. I told them if they were going to talk to you, I was coming,” Nikki said with a huff.
Britta put a hand on her hip and glared at us.
“I wouldn’t say we burst in,” Marcus said.
I met Britta’s eye, and as I did, her expression softened. “I just need to know where he is.”
“Well, he isn’t here, and you shouldn’t be either,” Nikki stormed.
Nitro got up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “All right, babe, I’m going to get out of here. I don’t want to be involved in the drama.”
Nikki gave him a dirty look, and then Britta spoke. “You should go with him.” Nikki gave her sister a look that said no way in hell. Britta just smiled and moved toward her sister. She placed a hand on her arm and then said, “Trust me, I got this, Nikki.”
“Fine, but if either of you two fuckers hurt my sister, I’m coming after you.” Then she stormed out, tugging Nitro behind her. He just shrugged his shoulders and followed along.
Britta closed the door behind them and locked it. “Sorry about my sister. She’s just trying to look out for me. Nikki doesn’t know any other way to do it.” Britta looked tired as she moved toward the couch. She sat down and pulled one of the pillows into her lap. She wrapped her arms around it and waited.
Marcus grabbed a seat in the chair next to her, and I wheeled myself forward a little bit. Britta kept her eyes on me the entire time. She knew what this was about already, but was waiting for me to say it. “Where’s Jackson?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not good enough.” For the first time, I felt anger at this entire situation building inside of me. She did this somehow. Put him in harm’s way, and if anything happened to him, I would never forgive her. “Marcus almost got blown up today, and Jackson is missing.”
Britta’s eyes moved to Marcus. For the first time, she seemed to notice that he was wearing scrubs.
“Did get blown up,” Marcus said.
“What?” It came out with a little more rage behind it than I intended.
“I didn’t almost get blown up. I did get blown up. Hence the hospital and all that jazz.”
“Right, did get blown up.” I turned back toward Britta. “Tell us what you did.”
Britta looked at the ground, and when she looked back up, she had tears in her eyes. “First I want you to know I tried to talk him out of it. I told him it was crazy.”
“Go on.”
“He came to me because Adam refused to help him get his father back. Jackson told me he was going to do whatever it took to free him, and he asked me to put him in contact with Stillman.”
“Fuck.” I looked at Marcus, and he looked just as worried as I felt. “And you did it?”
“He didn’t give me much of a choice. He told me that if I didn’t help him, I was out of the group.” She looked down at the ground again. “I told him it was a bad idea, that he shouldn’t do this alone. He made me promise not to tell anyone else.”
She started to cry in earnest, hugging the pillow tighter to herself. Marcus left his spot in the chair and went to sit beside her. Fuck, what were we going to do now? If Stillman had Jackson and was willing to help him, he could already be gone. All we could do
now was go to Adam with what we knew.
“What did you mean when you said you had no idea where he was?”
“I just gave him a phone. I wasn’t part of any of their planning,” she managed to get out between sobs.
Well, we weren’t going to be able to track him down like that. All we could do now was go to Adam, and I had to call Sarah. “Marcus, can you get me to Adam’s office?”
Britta’s sobs intensified. “It’s not my fault, I swear. I told him not to do it.”
I wheeled my chair forward and put a hand on her shoulder. I let it rest there while she calmed down. “We aren’t going to his office to throw you under the bus. Adam is just our best chance of finding Stillman. I’m sure you did all you could. We all know how persistent Jackson can be.”
Britta stopped crying, but she still looked terrified. Whatever had happened between her and Adam was making her feel vulnerable. That was a feeling I understood well. But Jackson was out there, and we had to get to him before he did something rash. “Marcus, let’s go.”
ADAM’S DOOR was open when we got there. I whispered to Marcus not to stop and just wheel us right into his office. Adam’s head snapped up as we came in. His eyes darkened with rage at the unannounced interruption. He kept us pinned in his gaze until I looked away.
“What brings you here?”
“Adam, Jackson is gone.”
“Gone? What do you mean gone?” he scoffed as if he didn’t think it was possible.
“He left to see Stillman after you refused to help him retrieve his dad.” I hadn’t meant it to sound like an accusation, but it did. Now it just hung out there for him to chew on. Adam sat back into his chair, trying to think of what to do next.
“Adam, we need to go and get him back.”
He stood up. “No, you most certainly will not.”
I forced my way out of the chair and into a standing position, my legs shaking with the effort. I hadn’t recovered from my physical therapy session yet, but I’d be damned if I was going to take this sitting down. I summoned all the strength I had and took three shaky steps toward Adam. “We. Have. To Save. Him,” I managed between gasping breaths. Then I fell to the ground in a heap.
The Rising Darkness (Ascendancy Legacy 5) Page 5