The Unnaturals (The Unnaturals Series Book 1)

by Jessica Meigs

  “My God,” Riley breathed. “There’s got to be at least ten cabinets in here!”

  Scott scanned his eyes along the wall, counting the cabinets, and said, “Eleven. Fifty-five drawers.”

  “Where the hell do we even start?” Riley asked.

  Scott blew out a breath and headed to the cabinet on the far left closest to the door. He tried the top drawer and discovered it was locked. “Are we worried about neatness?” he asked, leaning closer to study the cabinet’s lock.

  “I don’t think we have time to worry about neatness,” Riley replied. “Someone’s already aware we’re here, even if he’s out if it right now. He’s bound to report this when he comes to.”

  “Good.” Scott pointed to the other end of the cabinets. “You start there, and I’ll start here. We’ll meet in the middle and tear through the last cabinet together, if it comes to it. Look for anything remotely like what we need and toss everything else.” Scott pulled his knife from his pocket and flipped it open, jamming the point of the blade into the cabinet’s lock. With a twist of his wrist, he snapped the lock and wrenched it free from the cabinet. The lock clattered to the floor, and Scott closed the blade before yanking the top drawer open. It was full of office supplies, and after a methodical search, he discovered the same in all five drawers. Satisfied that the first cabinet didn’t contain what they were looking for, Scott moved to the next cabinet as Riley began to pull handfuls of files from the one she searched.

  “There’s descriptions on the covers,” she said. “This should make it easy.” She started thumbing through each handful to check the covers before tossing them into a pile on the floor.

  Scott followed her lead, tearing through the files inside the second cabinet and then the third. He was about to start his search through the fourth cabinet when Riley gasped and straightened from her kneeling position in front of a bottom drawer. “I found it!” she exclaimed. “It’s here! Right here!”

  Scott abandoned his search and gathered the security guard’s weapons and walkie. He dumped them on top of the cabinets before moving to the guard and pulling the Taser probes from his chest. He pocketed everything that could incriminate him or Riley, reloaded his Taser, and motioned to the door. “Put the file in your bag and let’s get out of here. Don’t use your Taser if you can help it, okay? It’s too much trouble to clean up the evidence when we’re in a hurry.”

  Riley stuffed the folder into her bag and hooked it over one shoulder by a single strap before she motioned with a sweep of her hand for him to take the lead. He added, “We’ll take a good, hard look at what’s in that folder as soon as we get back. Not here. We need to stay focused.”

  Scott blew out a breath and reached for the doorknob, easing the door open. He started out into the hall but stopped as his eyes took in the sight of the six guards fanned out in the hallway, all with Tasers drawn and pointed right at him and Riley.

  ~*~

  As the six security guards fanned out across the hall, their Tasers aimed and ready to fire, Riley scanned each of them for the weakest link. It took her seconds to find it: a baby-faced man who looked younger than she did, his Taser trembling as he aimed it at her.

  Without waiting for Scott to react, Riley took two steps forward and swung her tool-filled backpack by a strap, slamming it against the guard’s head. He dropped like a stone. As the other guards shifted their aim to her, she snatched her bag back and swung it around to strike another guard.

  Then Scott sprang into action. He slipped behind a guard and kicked him in the back of the knee, taking him down to the floor. Then he lifted his Taser and fired both cartridges. The probes met their marks in the torsos of two more guards, and he activated the electrical current as he moved after the last standing guard.

  Riley was facing off against the guard. She’d recognized him right away: it was the same one who’d watched when Scott had kissed her earlier that day. As he lifted his Taser, she took immense pleasure in kicking him in the groin as hard as she could. The Taser and the guard tumbled to the floor. Riley scooped up the fallen weapon and shot him with it, watching as he twitched on the marble floor.

  Scott gave her a wide-eyed look over the top of his bandanna. “You always start a mess when you work like this?”

  “Work like what?” Riley asked. She dropped the Taser and returned Linus to her shoulder.

  “Heaven help me,” Scott muttered, and Riley fought to not sock him in the shoulder. “Let’s move before these guys come around.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Riley said, moving ahead of him. He started to follow. But when he made an odd grunting sound, she spun back around to face him, completing the turn in time to see him tumble to the floor, jerking erratically. Three new guards stood behind them, one of them gripping a Taser, the probes of which were buried in Scott’s back.

  That was when Riley broke Scott’s rules.

  Reaching back and up her shirt, she yanked the pistol at the small of her back free and swung it around, squeezing the trigger before she realized what she was doing. Thankfully, she managed to not shoot to kill. They were just doing their jobs, and it wasn’t their faults they were vastly outmatched. But she couldn’t deny the irrational anger that rushed into her at them shooting Scott with the Taser.

  The first shot went wild, but the sound was enough to make the guard with the Taser cut the electrical current. The second shot struck him in the thigh, and he dropped to the floor with a squeal of pain. Riley immediately shifted her aim to the other two men.

  “Either one of you want a fucking piece of this?” she snapped. “Drop the Tasers, now!” Both hastened to obey. Riley kept the gun on them as she ripped the probes out of Scott’s back and offered him her arm, helping him crawl to his feet. “You okay?” she asked.

  “I will be,” he answered shakily.

  She pushed him toward the break room they’d entered through. Scott took the Taser she handed him, and she walked backward, keeping her gun on the guards; some of the first group were coming around, and it wouldn’t be much longer before she and Scott were outnumbered. She kicked the break room door open and waited for Scott to enter before ducking inside. “Gotta move fast. Can you manage?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “Good point,” Riley acknowledged. She shoved past the tables and chairs and to the exit door, flinging it open. She swept the area between them and the parking garage for security or police. “Clear,” she reported. Then she yanked the clear tape from the doorjamb and shoved it in her pocket, and they dashed across the street to the garage. It took moments to get to the proper deck, inside the car, and out of the garage, Scott behind the wheel as they skidded into the street and shot back toward the hotel.

  “For the love of everything holy, tell me you still have the file,” Scott said.

  “I still have the file,” Riley confirmed. She tore the bandanna free from her face. “It’s in my bag. We need to get rid of the car.” She opened her backpack and freed a white tank top from inside, setting it on the dash before wiggling out of the black shirt she wore. She bit back a grin as she noticed Scott keeping his gaze pointedly averted. Such a gentleman, it’s obscene, she thought deviously. She’d have to break him of that habit.

  “Got a plan?” Scott asked as Riley pulled the top on.

  “Nope,” Riley replied with too much cheerfulness. “Do I ever?”

  “Touché.”

  “What are you thinking?” Riley prompted. She pulled a flannel button-up shirt from the bag and shrugged it on, buttoning it halfway and rolling up the sleeves. “You’re the plan-maker, not me.”

  “Probably half the reason they stuck me working with you,” Scott teased.

  Riley scowled. “Don’t get me started.”

  Scott shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I think my back is bleeding.”

  “Bleeding?” Riley repeated. She tried to push him forward to get a look, but he jerked away. “How are you bleeding?”

  “The probes from
that Taser hit that I took were embedded in my skin, not my clothes,” Scott explained. “Hurt like fuck when you pulled them out.”

  “Shit, I’m sorry,” Riley said, and she found, to her surprise, that she actually meant it. “When we get back to the hotel, I’ll bandage them up, since I’m the idiot who yanked the probes out.”

  The sound of a police siren split the air, blue lights reflecting in the side and rearview mirrors. Riley swore and slammed her hand against the dashboard. “They called the cops!” she exclaimed.

  “Calm down,” Scott said, his voice steady as he decelerated. “You have no idea whether this has anything to do with the museum. For all we know, I have a tail light out or I was speeding.” He pulled over, bumping against the curb. “Chill. I’ve got this, okay? No big deal.”

  “So says you,” Riley grumbled, slouching in her seat.

  Scott ignored her comment. “Listen, if I tell you to drive, put the car in gear, okay?” he instructed as he searched for the ID that, if he’d followed Agency’s rules, wasn’t there. “No questions. Just do it.”

  Riley closed her eyes and tried to relax, but her nerves were shot, and she found it impossible to get her muscles to loosen up. As the police officer approached Scott’s side of the vehicle, Scott narrowed his eyes and slid both hands up the steering wheel. “What is it?” she asked.

  “He’s got his gun drawn,” Scott said. “They definitely know it was us. Drive.”

  Riley leaped into action, pulling the gearshift into drive. Scott slammed his foot against the gas pedal. The tires squealed against the pavement as they tried to find purchase, and the vehicle rocketed down the street, roaring into the sparse traffic ahead of them.

  “I told you they knew it was us!” Riley crowed. She twisted in her seat to look behind them, watching the officer run for his cruiser to give chase. “I told you!”

  “Shut up, Riley!” Scott yelled. He steered around a car that waited at a red light, speeding through the intersection. “I’m trying to fucking drive, unless you want to end up plastered on the windshield like a bug.”

  “I’m sure you’re a better driver than that,” Riley said, looking out the back window. The cruiser was catching up, its siren wailing and lights flashing; beyond it, two more cruisers were joining the chase. “We’ve got three on our tail, just so you’re aware.”

  “Believe me, I’m aware,” Scott growled. Strobe lights flashed across his face as he grimaced. “We’ve got to shake them.”

  “No shit, Sherlock,” Riley said. The lead cruiser was less than a car’s length behind them. “Any ideas how to accomplish that?”

  “I have a few ideas, but whether we should use them or not?” Scott shook his head and took a sharp left. The vehicle skidded on the pavement, tires squealing, and Riley lost her balance and nearly fell onto Scott.

  “Little warning next time?” Riley requested. She drew her pistol and checked to see how many bullets she had left. Scott saw her actions and shook his head.

  “No, Riley,” he said. “Hell no. You are not using that on those cops.”

  “Well, you’re not offering any alternatives!” Riley snapped, hitting the power switch to lower her window. Wind rushed into the car, roaring over the sound of the engine.

  “The pizza!” Scott yelled, taking a right turn, going the wrong way down a one-way street.

  “What about it?” she asked. “You planning to stop and offer them dinner?”

  “Throw it at them, Riley!”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Riley!”

  Riley growled and grabbed the pizza from the back seat. It still felt warm through the cardboard box, and her stomach growled at the scent. She tore open the lid, yanked a slice free, and took a big bite of it. “Hold this and keep the car steady,” she demanded. She thrust the slice at Scott to hold and leaned out the window, pizza box in one hand and pistol in the other.

  Getting away was a simple matter of pitching the pizza out the window and watching as it splattered against the lead cruiser’s windshield. As the vehicle swerved, Riley brought her pistol to bear and took aim.

  “Riley, no!” Scott yelled.

  Riley ignored him and fired a single shot.

  The cruiser’s front tire blew out, and the cruiser spun sideways, blocking the narrow street. The other two cruisers slammed into it, and Riley let out a yelp of triumph and slipped back into the car.

  “Problem solved,” she said, plucking her pizza slice out of his hand. She took another bite and spoke around it. “And the only victim was the pizza. You owe me another one, by the way. Because it’s a serious sin to waste perfectly good food.”

  Scott ground his hands against the steering wheel, his knuckles whitening with the force of his grip. Anger rolled off him in waves, and shutting her mouth suddenly seemed like a really good idea.

  He didn’t speak until after they’d parked the rental in a mostly abandoned area of town and doused the interior with gasoline siphoned from a nearby vehicle. As Riley watched him dump gasoline onto the passenger seat, she imagined the ferocity of his anger being enough to ignite the gas and torch the car. He tossed the gas container into the car and stormed toward her, holding his hand out.

  “Give me your pistol,” he ordered.

  Riley took a step back, putting her hand against the pistol under her shirt. “Why?”

  “I said give it here, Riley.” When she hesitated, he added, “Do not make me pull rank on you, Ms. Walker.”

  Riley sighed and drew her pistol, slapping it into his outstretched hand. “What do you need it for?” He ignored her, ejecting the magazine and wiping the weapon down with his bandanna before throwing the bundle into the car. “What are you doing?” she exclaimed, starting toward the car. He grabbed her arm and slung her around, away from the vehicle. Then he lit a match and tossed it into the open car window. Riley could only watch as the flame caught on the gas and ignited the front seats, taking her pistol with it.

  Then Scott turned to her, and the anger in his eyes was enough for her to take a step back. He stepped forward to match her retreat, and his voice was hard as he snarled, “The next time you decide to do your own thing after I’ve expressly told you not to, I swear to everything holy that I’ll deal with you myself. There won’t be any Internal Affairs. It’ll just be you and me, and I know which of us will come out on top.”

  Something told Riley it wouldn’t be her. Despite that, she stood her ground and pushed him back from her as she replied, “I don’t see what the big deal is! I got us out of that, didn’t I?”

  “You could have gotten us killed!” Scott exclaimed. “If those cops had realized that you had a gun in your hand, they would have been totally justified in retaliating in kind! And then where would we be?”

  “Not standing around in a fucking alley with a burning car, that’s for sure,” Riley snapped. “Yell at me later, okay? Right now, we need to get out of here before someone driving by notices the fire and calls 911.”

  “Won’t be long before someone traces it back to us—or at least to our fake names—either,” Scott added. He was still angry, but she’d steered his mind to the immediate problems at hand—for now, at least. “We need to get rolling back to the hotel, get our shit, and change hotels before they catch on to us.”

  “We’re not ‘rolling’ anywhere,” Riley pointed out. “No wheels.” She jabbed her finger at the burning vehicle and headed in the opposite direction for the other end of the narrow alley. “We’re walking, unless you manage to pull a taxi out of your ass.”

  Scott shook his head and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, dialing with his left hand as he took her elbow with his right and steered her in the direction he wanted her to go. “The chances of us finding anything in the middle of nowhere are slim to none,” he admitted.

  “What are you doing then?”

  “Calling in a favor.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Zachariah eased around the corner of The Unnatur
als’ headquarters building, nervousness making his heart pound. His entire world had been turned upside down, and in the intervening time since Elise had sunk her teeth into his neck, his former life had been ripped from his grasp.

  She’d given him a change of clothes and let him go after his feeding. He wasn’t sure why.

  Zachariah pondered the possibilities as he pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose. Elise had probably let him go so she could do the very thing he was doing: sneaking around the back side of his own office. She’d probably followed him so she could find out how to get inside. But Zachariah had no intention of going in. He wouldn’t risk endangering Ashton.

  His throat tightened at the thought of the other man. Ashton was probably going out of his mind with worry. Knowing him, he’d probably already broken into his desk. Ashton would do anything in his power to help him. That would be the man’s downfall if he weren’t careful. Their attachments to each other were too strong, and he was Ashton’s weakness. Just as Ashton was his. The moment anyone with ill intentions found that out, it would be over.

  Zachariah let out a breath and stepped toward the motorcycle parked at the back of the building, just where he’d left it the day he’d been kidnapped by Elise. He approached, his eyes scanning the vehicle for anything out of the ordinary, and slid into its leather seat. Before he could start the engine and make a quick getaway, a strange scraping sound like plastic against metal met his ears. He tensed and looked around, his eyes wide behind his sunglasses, searching for the source of the noise. Then there was a squeak, and the door set in the back wall of The Unnaturals’ building swung open.

  Zachariah recognized Ashton’s scent before his eyes registered the sight of him. He sat up straighter, bracing both feet on the pavement, and took his hand off the bike’s ignition. Ashton pulled a packet of cigarettes and a lighter from his suit jacket’s inner pocket and lit up a cigarette before looking up to see Zachariah on the motorcycle. He tensed as their eyes met. Zachariah was disgusted to discover that he was shaking as he beheld the man. “Ash,” he breathed out.