“Lover boy’s right,” Ritter said finally. “This would probably sever all three focus points.”
“What does that mean?” Tom said. “I thought you were immortal.”
“It would kill even us,” I translated. “All of us. But maybe if we tipped over the table and dragged it to the other side, away from the glass, and put the curtains over us. Might give us enough protection.”
Ritter shook his head. “The blast might still kill us. It’s too close.” He jerked his head at Tom. “He would die for sure.” His eyes went to Laurence, glittering with intent. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I want a word with my good friend over there.”
The idea of him dismembering Laurence with his bare hands horrified me, and I hurried after him. “What are you going to do?”
No answer. I’d have better luck talking to an enraged bear.
Laurence had dragged himself from wherever his mind had gone and stood awaiting us. “I’ll do it,” he said. “Give me the grenade. I’ll get them to let me out and explode it down the hall.”
“No way,” Ritter and I said together.
Laurence grabbed my hand. Ritter tensed, his arm flexing for a punch, but I held up my other hand. “Wait.”
With a scowl, Ritter lowered his arm, the muscles in his body still taut, ready to move.
“I want to end the Unbounded gene,” Laurence said, “but I don’t want the Emporium to take over the world. You can trust me on this. Just like you did when I promised to help Chris and the kids get away. I took this for them.” He pulled down the neck of his polo to reveal a congealed bullet wound.
He was still holding my hand, and I could sense the truth. Gratitude rushed through me, though I fought the feeling. Laurence met my gaze. “I swear to you that I want your brother and his kids to live a life where they won’t be hunted. They are not the issue here.”
“Then you shouldn’t have allowed the Emporium to bring them here. Everything you stand for is wrong. Everything.”
“Maybe. But I’m the only chance you guys have of getting out of here. Look into my mind, if you don’t believe me.”
I extended my thoughts, searching for hidden deceit. There seemed to be none, but what if the madness kicked in again? What if he’d had time to hide certain thoughts behind a barrier I couldn’t detect?
I glanced at Ritter, whose eyes rested not on Laurence but on me. He seemed to be considering Laurence’s offer. Of course he was. What other choice did we have? Short of ripping a leg from the table and using it to punch a hole through the wall—an act that would surely draw attention—we were stuck. Maybe if we had climbing skills, we could miraculously break what was probably bulletproof glass and climb five stories down to the street, dodging bullets from upset Emporium Unbounded along the way. For all I knew, Ritter was capable of doing just that. But I certainly wasn’t. Neither could I sentence Tom to certain and final death by exploding the grenade in this room.
“Give me the grenade,” Laurence said, “while you still have the chance of completing whatever escape Ritter has planned.”
I shook my head.
Ritter’s hands closed around mine. He took the grenade and gave it to Laurence. “If this is just a ploy to get away from me,” he growled. “Know that regardless of what happens today, I won’t rest until I hunt you down. You will never get near a lab again.”
Laurence stared at Ritter for a long moment. Then he nodded slowly. “I wouldn’t expect any less.”
“This isn’t a good idea,” Tom said. “Let’s wait. Maybe we can work it out with my sister.”
Ritter turned on him. “There’s no working it out with the Emporium. It is either kill or be killed. Now go pull down those curtains.”
Tom glared at Ritter. “I know what you really want. You’ll never have her.”
A flash of the woman in the blue dress took me by surprise, but by the time I realized what it was, the vision was gone and Ritter’s mind had returned to blankness.
“You don’t know anything about what I want,” Ritter spat. The bitterness in his voice was nothing compared to the hate I’d glimpsed in his mind. He turned his fiery gaze to me. “Let’s get the table in place.”
Laurence hadn’t moved. He held my gaze, waiting. I turned away.
“Erin,” he said.
I looked at him, arching a brow.
“If I don’t make it out of here, if there’s not enough of me left to regenerate . . . My wife. Will you tell her?”
I nodded. “Of course.” I wouldn’t give him absolution, but this I could do.
Tucking the grenade into his pocket, Laurence strode to the door.
“Walk a little ahead of them,” I called after him. “Maybe you can sprint to the elevator and throw it behind you at the last moment.”
His mouth curved in a smile. “I haven’t sprinted in sixty years.”
“I don’t know. You ran pretty well downstairs.”
Ritter gave no advice, and I knew Laurence had destroyed any measure of trust that had been between them. He was probably already having second thoughts about giving Laurence the grenade, but he was risking it for me, just as I was for Tom.
Laurence pounded on the door. Seconds later, the face of an Unbounded guard appeared in the doorway. “I have to talk to Delia,” Laurence said. “I’ve learned something from these people. It’s vital that I see her now.”
“Can’t it wait? She’s kind of busy.”
“If you don’t let me out, they’re going to tear me to pieces with their bare hands, and I’ll never be able to give her the information or work in your lab. Delia should know better than to put this killer in here with me. He knows I betrayed them.”
The Unbounded relayed the information into his radio and then nodded. “Come on, then. I’ll take you to her. She’s down on main.”
One of the guards went with him, leaving only one outside our door. Probably there were more near the elevator and stairs to the roof. Laurence would have to time this just right. Close enough to the elevator to involve the guards, but not too far away from this room so the explosion would set us free.
I reached out to him, but the few emotions I sensed faded quickly as the space between us grew. I hit the wall in frustration. Some talent this was.
“Get behind the table.” Ritter pushed me in the right direction.
“We shouldn’t have trusted him,” I said. “He’s just going to turn it over to her.”
“Give it a moment.” He and Tom pulled the curtain over our heads and shoulders.
No sooner had we squatted behind the table than an explosion rocked the entire building.
THE FAR WALL BURST OPEN, becoming a mass of smoke and debris. To our left, the glass in the windows shattered, pelting us with razor-sharp pieces that sliced through the curtains.
I felt a numb sort of surprise. He really did it.
“Hurry.” Ritter shoved off the curtains, sending a shower of tinkling glass to the floor.
We stood and ran, crunching through the glass and rubble, the countless tiny cuts on my bare arms causing far more pain than I expected. Tiny wells of blood oozed and smeared from the wounds. We climbed through the new opening in the wall, and for a moment stood looking around, stunned at the devastation. Debris lay everywhere. Dust filled the air. I saw several unrecognizable body parts, mounds of tissue, blood dripping into the rubble. Overhead we could see the sky.
Where was Laurence? Could I find his remains? Were two of his focus parts still intact? Viewing the blood and carnage, it didn’t seem possible, but even if I had stomach for the job, there was no time to search for him. The explosion would signal every Unbounded in the building, not to mention the local authorities.
I gagged on the sharp coppery smell of blood, knowing that if I stayed another minute I was going to be incapacitated for a long time while my stomach rebelled. Goodbye, Laurence, I thought. My brother, both martyr and would-be murderer.
“Which way?” Ritter asked.
Clenching
my jaw, I held my breath and pointed. We dragged through the wreckage, moving or climbing over chunks of drywall and cement. Tom stumbled behind us. The door to the roof was missing and part of the wall, but the stairs were passable.
No one was on the roof, and the calm blue sky denied the horrors we’d witnessed. The only visible sign of the explosion was a gaping hole where the roof was simply gone. A large cloud from the debris floated up on the light breeze, vanishing almost instantly, though farther above us, a larger, thicker cloud from the initial explosion remained partially intact.
The openness of the roof, the gaping hole, the buildings stretching in every direction—it all bore down on me. I felt exposed and fragile and dizzy. Crap, not now, I thought. Of all the escape plans, we had to choose someplace up high. But maybe the vertigo and nausea wouldn’t get any worse if I didn’t make any sudden movements.
“Where’s the signal?” Ritter asked.
I fumbled in my bra for the shiny disk.
“Need help?” Ritter asked with a smirk.
I gave him my best sneer and tossed it to him. “I have no idea how to use this.”
“There are instructions printed right on it, but basically, you slap it hard against your hand.” He demonstrated.
The next second, the disk emitted a powerful burst of light that nearly left me blind. Nausea flooded me. Great. I fought the urge to cringe and close my eyes. The disk throbbed again, and Ritter set it on the roof and backed away.
“Bright,” Tom said, squinting. “But I don’t see how anyone will see it in daylight.”
“They’ll see—” Ritter’s voice was cut off as a blur slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. The blur became Jonny. Both men jumped to their feet, Jonny bringing up a gun.
“Jonny, no!” I said. “Please leave us alone. Just walk away.”
Jonny shook his head, the wisps of blond hair moving in the breeze. “Stefan wouldn’t be happy.” He motioned to the door leading to the stairs. “Let’s go inside, or I’ll shoot both of you.” When we didn’t move, he shifted the gun to Tom. “Or should I shoot the mortal instead?”
I felt a fleeting disgust that Tom was so weak. A liability. No, it wasn’t his fault. That was Emporium thinking.
Ritter kicked at Jonny’s hand so fast, I barely saw him move. A bullet ricocheted off the rooftop. Smiling with grim satisfaction, Ritter sent a blow toward Jonny’s head. Jonny blocked the move, jabbing his own foot into Ritter’s middle. Ritter danced to the side, deflecting most of the strike. His muscular frame made Jonny seem fragile. His next blow sent Jonny halfway across the roof. Ritter dived toward him. They tangled together, rolled, and then Jonny was on his feet, streaking toward the stairs.
Ritter was right behind him. “Get on the chopper,” he shouted. “I’m going to make sure he doesn’t alert anyone.” He reached Jonny, and in a flurry of limbs, they disappeared down the stairs together.
I could already hear helicopter blades beating in the distance. Hurry, I thought to both Ava and Ritter, though I knew they couldn’t hear me. My nausea and vertigo had increased to the point that it was all I could do not to curl up in a ball and whimper.
Tom crossed the roof and picked up something. Jonny’s gun.
“Good idea,” I said. “We might need it.” I could see the helicopter now, though looking at it made me dizzy. I hoped there was enough room for it to land. “Can you help me over there?”
Tom shifted the gun toward me. “I’m sorry. You’re not going anywhere.”
I gazed at him blankly, my fear of heights impeding my understanding. At last the meaning sank through. “You never planned to come with me at all.”
“I may not live for thousands of years, but I can make something of myself here. These people have power, and I can be something. I can help them create another world. This is where I belong, where we both belong.”
“You sound like Justine.” I shook my head. “And that means I never really meant anything to you, except as something to use.”
“That’s not true. I love you. I wanted to make sure you were okay. That’s why I agreed to come looking for you when Delia asked.”
So that’s how he’d found me. There’d been no accidental meeting. Delia must have sensed my general whereabouts when I’d let down my shield to examine Cort, and then sent Tom to find me. She’d likely been tracking him the entire time. And me through him.
“So you were keeping an eye on me until she found us.” How strong the woman was if she’d made me believe Tom wanted to come with me.
“Haven’t I always tried to take care of you?” His smile was gentle, his voice sincere.
To think that I’d once admired how careful he’d been of me. “People are going to die if I don’t warn them.” They’d cut them up into pieces like the woman in the blue dress.
“Not our people.”
He was just like them. All of them. Tears came and I blinked them away.
“Go ahead. Shoot me, if you want. I’m leaving.” I took a step toward where I thought the helicopter might land, a few small pebbles skidding away from my feet.
Tom laughed. “You can barely move, much less get to that chopper. Don’t worry—this gun isn’t for you. It’s only in case your friend returns.”
“Go to hell.”
“Are you sleeping with him?” Tom moved closer. “Tell me, is it better with an Unbounded?”
I didn’t answer. Would it be possible for me to distract him long enough to get his gun, maybe push him off the roof? My stomach revolted at the idea. Still I had to try something, even if we both went over the side together.
“He may be more experienced than I am with women, given how old he is,” Tom continued, “but don’t get your hopes up. He’s a monster, incapable of love. Justine told me all about him. She was there that day when his family died. She almost got him.”
Ritter didn’t know that or Justine wouldn’t still be alive.
“She’s the real monster.” I glared at him, my thoughts traversing the space between us. I might not be able to attack him physically, but what about distracting him with my sensing ability? I wasn’t touching Tom, but all I needed was enough of a surprise to allow me to grab the gun.
I pushed at him mentally and came up with . . . nothing.
What?
I tried again, pushing until my head threatened to burst apart. Still nothing.
He wouldn’t have had time to learn to use a mental shield, or at least not one that strong, but there was something covering his real thoughts—something that had Delia written all over it. She’d tricked me. They both had. I wanted to crush him, hurt him as he had me, but I was powerless against whatever Delia had set in his mind. There was no chance of pushing in a suggestion, no glimpse of wavering to exploit, no chance of reaching the part of him that might really care for me.
“Walk toward the stairs,” Tom said, his voice soft and reasonable, as though asking me if I wanted sugar with my tea.
Only seconds to decide what to do, and then I’d most likely end up with another bullet in some hurtful place in my body. I glanced toward the helicopter, now hovering above us. Where was Ritter?
Another wave of vertigo that sent a dozen frogs banging around inside my stomach. I was going to fall and keep falling forever. I sagged to my knees, gagging. Some Unbounded I was.
“Up. We don’t have time for this!” Frustration laced Tom’s voice.
I slumped into a miserable heap. If he wanted me, he’d have to carry me.
He hesitated a few seconds before placing the gun in his waistband. As he bent to pick me up, I tucked my head and rammed my shoulder into him. We tumbled and this time when we came up, I held the gun.
“Get out of here,” I gritted.
Tom laughed. “Darling, you aren’t going to shoot me. You love me. Remember all the time we’ve spent together? I know what you like. We’re so good, you and I.” His voice had become husky, promising. I focused on his face, knowing that if I saw the sky and build
ings around us, I was going to puke.
“Stop.” My hand holding the gun wavered.
He took another step.
“Please.” I couldn’t let him take me. I couldn’t let Delia control my mind or permit the Emporium to use my body. It was him or me—and since I couldn’t remove myself from their hands by means of a simple gunshot, I had to remove or incapacitate him.
His hands reached out. Another spell of dizziness took me.
The gun kicked in my hand. I’d been aiming for his shoulder, but vertigo had the last say. A hole appeared on the right side of his forehead, bits of tissue and blood spurting out onto the roof behind him. He crumbled backward.
“No!” I cried.
It seemed to take forever to crawl to his side, as though the entire world had slowed down. My body shook so badly that my arms gave out twice, and I scraped my cheek against the rooftop. I pulled myself forward. Blood gushed from Tom’s wound, slashing across his forehead and streaming into his brown hair. More blood puddled on the cement under his head.
“Tom?” I touched him, hoping to sense him, but there was nothing. His mind was gone. Bile rose in my throat. What had I done? Tears wet my cheeks. I shut my eyes and wrapped my arms around myself, face pressed to my knees.
After several long moments, I became aware of the whirring blades of the helicopter. I didn’t know how I could possibly move toward it, but somehow I had to. Stella and the Renegades depended on me.
Biting my lip, I forced myself to a crouch. Just stare at the rooftop, I told myself. One step at a time. Don’t think about Tom. A wave of nausea crashed down, and it was all I could do to keep my feet beneath me.
Ritter appeared at my side. He took in Tom’s lifeless body and the gun in my hand with one glance. Peeling my fingers from the weapon, he put his arm around me and pushed me forward, carrying more of my weight than I was. “That kid was too fast for me to catch. He’ll have the others here soon.”
“What about Cort?” I asked in a strangled voice I didn’t recognize. “We can’t leave without him.”
The Change (Unbounded) Page 27