Leaving Mercy’s house, I see that there is something eerie about Jay’s house as well. The front door is wide open, yet no lights are on in the front rooms. Small tire tracks in the carpet lead me to the rear bedroom where I find a dried ring of blood.
It will take me too long to run to the hospital. Hotwiring whatever car I find in the garage seems like a much better plan. The garage door clatters open to reveal a late model Honda Odyssey. You’ve got to be kidding me, I groan. Of all the cars in the world, I find a mommy mobile.
Turns out, minivans have more horsepower than I imagined. In no time I’m at the hospital and running through the emergency room doors. There’s no sign of Mercy anywhere.
I find her father sitting alone in the waiting room area, but I don’t make myself known to him. Instead I attempt to find Mercy.
A quick check of the nearest bathrooms and vending machine areas and there’s still no sign of her. Worry pushes me to keep looking. Creeping past the nurse’s station, I steal a quick look at their assignment board and determine that it’s Jay’s mother who has been injured. I locate her room, hoping that I’ll find Mercy.
When I don’t find her in the room, the worry that I’ve been feeling morphs into panic.
Out in the hall, I look right and left, hoping, waiting for a sign. A scream rings out in the stairwell and I set off running.
With my full weight behind me, I shove open the door and take the stairs two at a time until I reach the roof.
Nathaniel has Mercy. He’s dragging her across the graveled roof. Tiny pieces of rock kick up against her feet as she struggles to pull away from him.
“Let her go!” I yell.
Nathaniel smiles at me. His grip tightens around Mercy’s arms.
“Back away, Nathaniel, or I swear I’ll kill you right here.”
“Promises, promises, little brother.”
Mercy’s head whips around toward me. She looks from me to him and back to me. The look on her face tells me she doesn’t know which one of us she hates more.
“You and your secrets, Gage.” Nathaniel clucks his tongue, admonishing me in a haughty tone. Then he focuses his attention on Mercy. “I told you the Hunters lie, Mercy.”
“I didn’t lie,” I fire.
“Omission is the same thing. Or didn’t they teach you that at Hunter school?”
“You’re brothers?” Mercy squirms away from Nathaniel and he lets her. He’s enjoying this.
“What are you doing here, Nathaniel?” I ask, keeping my focus.
“Same thing you are; checking on our girl.”
I don’t like his tone. The smugness of it makes my skin crawl.
“There were Breachers lurking about. I chased them off.” He leans into Mercy’s neck and whispers at her throat, “You can thank me later.” Mercy shivers.
“I should kill you right now,” I spit at him.
He laughs. “You keep saying that, and yet here I am.”
Mercy’s expression is one of stone. She speaks through clenched teeth, “Explain to me exactly what is going on. NO more lies.”
Nathaniel faces her directly so that I can no longer see her face. “If you’re looking for the truth, I’d direct your questions to me.”
“Mercy, don’t!” I attempt to get at her, but she holds her hand up to stop me.
With pure venom in her voice she says to me, “You had your chance.”
Nathaniel glances over his shoulder at me and flashes a toothy grin. The pleasure he’s getting out of all of this makes me violently angry. He isn’t concerned about Mercy’s feelings or how she’ll react to what he’s about to tell her. He only wants to see me suffer.
Nathaniel strides slowly to the other side of Mercy. He stands behind her and puts his arm around her shoulder. She tenses, but does not move away.
“See, Gage here,” Nathaniel starts, “was actually made from me. Like a rib from Adam, he is made of me. We are one. The Assembled, in their infinite wisdom, thought that someone who was part of me would have a better chance of killing me. He is made of me just like you were made of your mother.”
Mercy’s whole body is rigid. I want to put an end to it, but I can’t risk it in this uncontrolled setting. Without backup, without the restraints, it’s very likely that Mercy will jump. I have to remain calm so that she remains calm.
Mercy directs a question at me. “If you were made to kill Nathaniel, was I made to kill my mother?”
Yes. The answer is yes. The Assembled thought Ariana should suffer the ultimate consequence and be taken down by the one person she loved unconditionally. It was a piece of information I’d never planned on telling Mercy because there was no point.
“You were, my dear. But don’t worry. Gage took care of that messy work for you.”
Mercy’s legs liquidate. Nathanial catches her before she hits the ground.
“Easy,” Nathaniel says. “I’ve gotcha.”
“Don’t touch me!” Mercy shoves away from him. I take two tiny steps toward her. “You!” Mercy shouts at me. “Stay the hell away from me!”
“Uh-oh. I think we’re going to lose her,” Nathaniel’s tone borders on glee.
I rush to her side, grab her by the arms and shake her, but I know that she’s losing her battle. She crumples to the ground.
“Mercy!” I yell in desperation, dropping to my knees. “Don’t! You have to control it. You can stop it. You have to try.”
“Gage,” Nathaniel scolds. “You never learn. Step aside.”
Nathaniel shoves me aside and scoops Mercy up into his arms. He holds her face in his hands and smashes his lips to hers in one swift motion.
He gently pulls back and says to me, “That, little brother, is what humans and Breachers alike respond to. Desire.” Nathaniel wipes his mouth.
“What did you do?” I charge at Nathaniel.
“Exactly what you couldn’t do. I stopped her from breaching,” Nathaniel responds. Mercy breaks away from Nathaniel.
I rear back and slug Nathaniel right across the chin. Unfazed, Nathaniel rubs his jaw and laughs. I am ready to hit him again, but Mercy jumps between us.
“Stop! Just stop! This is insane.”
“Mercy, I can explain everything,” I start.
She cuts me off. “There is nothing you can say to make this any better. Nothing. So don’t bother.”
“Why don’t you just tell her the truth, Gage? Hasn’t this song and dance gone on long enough?” Nathaniel chimes in.
“You,” I point at Nathaniel, “need to shut the hell up.”
“Someone tell me what the hell is going on. Stop talking in code and tell me the truth.”
“Truth? That’s not really a Hunter priority,” Nathaniel says with a mocking tone. “It’s more about versions of the truth, right, brother?”
“Fine. Then you tell me,” Mercy says to Nathaniel.
Nathaniel’s eyes dance with delight. “I’d be more than happy to explain to you Gage’s plan—how he will use you as bait to draw me out and kill us both. But we have more pressing matters at hand. Like how someone kidnapped a couple of humans you’re fond of.”
Mercy narrows her eyes at him. “What are you talking about?”
“What do you know?” I ask Nathaniel.
Nathaniel scrunches his face and shrugs his shoulders pretending to be innocent.
“Stop messing around, Nathaniel. We’re wasting time,” I say. Irritation and impatience echo each word.
“Let’s just say I’m no longer your biggest problem,” Nathaniel speaks in a cool tone.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask him.
“It means, dear brother,” Nathaniel leans in close to Mercy and whispers against her neck, “that Mommy isn’t as dead as we thought.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
My cell phone buzzes inside my jacket. I check the caller ID. Rae’s name flashes on the screen.
I don’t get to say hello. A
s soon as I pick up she barks, “Something’s going on, Gage! The alarms are sounding!”
In the background I can hear the wail of the siren. “Where are Zee and Jinx?” I ask.
Rae’s heels pound against the floor as she runs. “They went to check the perimeter!” she yells.
“I’m on my way.”
I’m about to hang up the phone when I hear Rae curse. “What?” I ask her. “What’s wrong?”
“The body is gone! Someone took the body!”
She screams, and then the line goes dead.
“Shit!” I yell. “This can’t be happening!”
“Trouble, little brother?”
The entire situation has gotten out of hand. It isn’t supposed to be like this. The plan was to return Mercy to her body, to set everything right. For the first time I feel completely out of control, helpless.
“Gage, what’s going on?” Mercy’s face is etched with concern.
“We have to move,” I tell them. “Now.”
Sprinting for the stairwell, I don’t look back to see if they’re following me. I know they will be. Part of the demented connection between Nathaniel and me is that we sense each other’s emotions. We feel each other’s pain and joy. Which is why when he kissed Mercy I felt …
There’s no time for that now! I push the thought from my head and focus on Rae, Jinx, Zee, and whatever danger awaits us at the warehouse.
Mercy climbs into the backseat of the car, Nathaniel rides shotgun and I drive like mad. We make it back in record time, violating every traffic law imaginable.
Mercy is the last to exit the car. She slams the door. “Jesus Christ! Are you trying to kill us?”
“What?”
“You tailgate! You nearly killed that old lady back there when you blew through that stop sign! You are the worst driver ever!”
“I am not.”
“Oh, really? Did you notice that you’re parked on the curb?”
Nathaniel steps between us. “We’ll let you drive next time,” he says to Mercy. “But right now we have bigger problems.”
The warehouse is on fire. Black smoke fills the sky as balls of flame blow out windows, shattered glass scattering the sidewalks.
The three of us stand and gawk. Nathaniel’s trepidation, his momentary pause makes me even more nervous. Neither one of us know what we’re up against. But whatever it is, we’re on the same side against it, of that I’m sure.
“Stay here,” I say to Mercy.
“We can’t leave her out here alone,” Nathaniel says.
“My team is in there. I can’t protect them and her at the same time. You stay with her.”
“Gage, you can’t go in there alone. You’ll get yourself killed.” Mercy’s voice is anything but calm.
That right there is the reason I know Mercy is different from all the other Breachers I’ve encountered. Even after everything I’ve put her through, she’s still concerned for my safety.
“Nathaniel, I’m asking you to make sure nothing happens to her.”
“I won’t let her out of my sight,” Nathaniel assures me.
Mercy looks like she wants to protest, but I don’t give her a chance. I take off running. When I reach the outer door I can see that a bomb started the fire. The entire security system is a heaping pile of melted wire.
Using my shoulder I shove the inner door open. Intense heat and thick smoke blur my vision. A shower of rain falls from the sprinkler system, drenching me instantly. My jacket is no substitute for an oxygen mask, but it’s all I have. I throw it over my face to shield myself.
Once I hit the interior of the warehouse, the smoke clears a bit and I’m able to see. I run for the Observation Deck.
Jinx’s body slumps against the controls. His shirt, soaked through with blood, reveals three sizable holes in his chest. I pull him upright, hoping to see some sign of life in him, but he’s gone.
There’s no time to mourn. No time for sorrow. These are human emotions that I can’t afford to succumb to, not while I have work to do.
“Zee! Rae!” I yell as I continue my search.
The library is empty and shows evidence of a struggle. Tables and chairs are toppled, the large screen riddled with holes. Zee would never go down without a fight.
Rae is right. Mercy’s body is gone. But nothing else seems to be missing. The body is what they came for.
I circle back through the halls and out to the garage. That’s where I find Zee sprawled across the floor. His body, too, is full of holes with spurts of blood dripping and oozing onto the concrete.
Kneeling next to him, I feel for a pulse, but there isn’t one. Zee is dead.
Dripping wet and ready to kill whoever I cross, I push on, searching for Rae and hoping against hope that I will find her alive.
It’s entirely my fault that all of this happened, that Jinx and Zee are dead. All of it is my fault. I will never be able to forgive myself for not doing my job. My feelings for Mercy and my curiosity about Nathaniel’s plan distracted me. I brought this upon my team. If I’d done my work like I was supposed to, if I’d destroyed Mercy when I had the chance, they’d still be alive.
I had my chance to kill Mercy the night I killed her mother, Ariana. Mercy was just a child. She wouldn’t have seen me coming, wouldn’t have been able to breach before I put an end to her.
If I had done it then, maybe none of this would’ve happened. Logically, I know this is a possibility.
This is no longer about Nathaniel. He didn’t do this; he isn’t the one who kidnapped Jay and Kate. Nathaniel isn’t the one that set fire to this building. He didn’t killed Jinx or Zee.
There’s only one person I can think of that could manage to pull this off, who could create this much chaos in such a short amount of time. And if what I think is true, then we are in more trouble than any of us imagined.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Mercy
Waiting on the sidewalk is not the answer. I know it and I can tell Nathaniel knows it by the way he’s pacing and fidgeting. We should never have let Gage go charging into the building alone. For all we know he could be dead by now and we’re just standing around like idiots.
“Don’t even think about it,” Nathaniel says, shaking his head at me. “It’s much too dangerous.”
“It’s dangerous for Gage,” I remind him. “Not that you would care.”
He flashes me a look. I’ve struck a nerve. “You do care, don’t you?”
Turning his back to me, Nathaniel continues to pace.
“You care. And it’s killing you to stand here and do nothing! So let’s go. Gage needs our help.”
Nathaniel considers for a moment and then forcefully he grasps my hand and leads me into the building.
Though the smoke isn’t thick, it lingers in the air, shrouding our visibility.
“Stay close to me,” Nathaniel instructs. “And if I say run, run. Got it?”
I nod and huddle as close to him as I can without actually touching him. After the whole kiss experience, I can’t be this near to him without being painfully aware of the energy that courses between us.
We find Jinx at the Observation Deck. Without thinking I bury my head into Nathaniel’s shoulder, unable to look at the body. Nathaniel hurries us along through the building.
He pulls up short in a room that looks very much like a hospital room. I’ve never seen it before, but I have the strangest sense of déjà vu.
Stepping away from Nathaniel, I stand in the center of the room.
He eyes me skeptically and asks, “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” I reply. “It’s the strangest feeling.” I turn in small circles, waiting for the answer to pop into my head as to why I should feel such a connection to a place I’ve never been, but nothing comes to mind.
“Do you know what this room is for?” I ask Nathaniel.
He looks around and answers, “I have a guess.”
&
nbsp; “Care to clue me in?”
“No.” Gage’s appearance in the entryway startles me. “He doesn’t.”
“We found Jinx,” I tell him.
“Zee’s dead too,” Gage adds.
“I’m sorry.” My voice is small.
Awkward silence prevails. Nathaniel and Gage eye each other, exchanging looks and unspoken words. All of us need a minute to wrap our heads around the events that have transpired. In just a short time, Jay and Kate were kidnapped, Jay’s mom was attacked, and Jinx and Zee were killed.
“What do we do now?” My voice breaks the silence.
“I’m thinking,” Gage answers.
“Wait!” A thought occurs to me. “Did you find Rae? Is she okay? Is she here?”
Gage slowly shakes his head. I don’t know whether or not that means she’s dead or alive.
“They took her.” Nathaniel speaks in a cool tone. “Interesting.”
“Why do you say it like that?” I ask.
Nathaniel tilts his head to the side and smirks at Gage. “Why don’t we let him tell you.”
“Not again.” I turn to Gage. “Are you keeping more secrets from me?”
Gage’s lips curl inward as he glowers at Nathaniel.
“Gage,” I say again. “What’s going on?”
His mouth barely moves when he says, “It’s complicated.”
Nathaniel laughs to himself. “That’s an understatement.”
I feel like the monkey in the middle. Their routine of knowing things that I don’t know and keeping them from me is tiring. It’s time to dig deep and find Lyla’s strength.
Crossing my arms over my chest I pop one foot out, the way Lyla always does when she’s being defiant or stubborn. “You two are going to tell me what’s going on right now. Or I’m walking out this door and to hell with you both.”
Nathaniel suppresses a smile while Gage’s mouth hangs open.
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