We made it into another bigger boardroom without meeting anyone on the way. The room was just as dark and quiet as the one we’d been in several floors below.
“J. Report,” Alec said, his hand pressed to his ear. “Copy that.” He moved to the windows and opened the glass door. A cold breeze lifted the light curtains as he stepped out onto the balcony. With a firm hand at my back, Tyler pushed me out after him.
Plants and seating dotted the edges of the enormous balcony, which was twice the size of the boardroom. Manhattan spread out spectacularly far below us, but the wind this high up was biting.
I wrapped my arms around myself. Tyler faced the door, his gun lowered but ready, as Alec pushed a bench up against the glass railing and leaned over. My heart jumped into my throat—he was bent double over the edge, looking as if a light breeze would send him hurtling down eighty-nine floors to the concrete below. But he didn’t fall—he holstered his weapon and reached down. The next thing I knew, Jamie was climbing over the railing, dressed in all black with heavy gear strapped to his back.
I rushed forward to help him take the gear off.
“Hey, kitten,” he panted out and smiled, as if we’d just bumped into each other in the mall. “Ready to blow this party off?”
“Yes.” I nodded emphatically, my eyes wide. I just didn’t have it in me to crack jokes.
Within moments, the two of them had secured thick, heavy ropes to the bolted railing, and Alec strapped a harness on. He removed his suit jacket and draped it over my shoulders. “Put this on. The wind is even worse at the side of the building.”
“OK.” I nodded.
I went to put my arms through the sleeves and realized I still had a death grip on my heels—one beautiful red shoe in each hand. I dropped them and finished putting Alec’s jacket on, rolling the sleeves up several times so I could have use of my hands. The jacket reached the middle of my thighs, and it smelled like him.
“Wait.” It suddenly dawned on me what they were about to make me do. “No. Fuck. Alec, I can’t rappel down the side of a building! I . . . I’m . . . I do science.”
Eighty-nine floors, at an average of twelve feet per floor—that was 1,068 feet! We were more than a thousand fucking feet off the ground!
It was Tyler who answered, his harness already in place. “You won’t be. Alec will carry you down.”
“What? How?”
“Does she ever stop asking questions?” Jamie piped in, sounding way too amused. I was starting to think there was something seriously wrong with all the guys in Alec’s team—it was probably why they all got along so well. They were all nuts.
“No,” Alec and Tyler answered at the same time.
Before I had a chance to defend my curious mind, Tyler was shoving a harness in my face. He made me put it on while I continued to protest the next phase of their crazy exit strategy. They all just ignored me.
The harness was like something you’d expect to wear when bungee jumping—tight around my thighs, making my beautiful dress bunch up, and with straps over my shoulders.
“She’s ready,” Tyler announced.
“No, I’m not!” I protested, but Alec spoke over me.
“Ready.”
“Ready,” Jamie parroted.
They all moved in unison, like a well-oiled machine.
While I continued my stream of protests, Alec attached my harness to his, then attached his to the rope. I kept arguing that I couldn’t do this, had no idea what I was doing, was scared, all while following their quick instructions. Before long I was holding on to Alec in a piggyback position.
When he swung his leg over the railing, I squeezed my mouth and eyes shut, my heart jumping into my throat. The wind whipped the soft tulle of my skirt around my legs, which were clenched tightly around Alec’s middle.
He didn’t give me any warning or ask if I was ready. He just pushed off the wall, and we went plummeting. My eyes flew open, and my stomach joined my heart in my throat as I released a high-pitched, breathy scream. Sleek glass sailed up as we went down. The sound of the rope feeding through the device attached to Alec’s harness was almost drowned out by the wind.
We jolted to a stop, and Alec propped his booted feet against the building. I took a breath.
“Evie.” He spoke just loud enough to be heard over the rush of the wind. “We’re trying to get out undetected here. This is a stealth mission. I need you to keep your mouth shut.”
I was about to snap back at him—even if we were flying down the side of a building in a life-and-death situation, I was not about to let him get away with telling me to keep my mouth shut—but without waiting for a response, he pushed off again.
Again fear wrapped its cold claws around my throat. But I stayed silent. I focused on my dress whipping almost painfully around my naked legs, on the harness digging into my skin, on a little mole on Alec’s neck I’d never noticed. I made a mental note to give that a proper look when we weren’t running for our lives. Fear of skin cancer never leaves you after you’ve lived in Australia.
After several excruciating seconds, movement to my left and above us caught my eye.
Jamie and Tyler came sailing down the side of the building, overtaking us in seconds. Alec cursed and picked up speed. At first I thought he was just being competitive, but then I saw Jamie pull out his gun.
Jamie and Tyler took several shots in quick succession at the glass just below them. They holstered their guns, swung out wide, and threw themselves at the glass. It shattered around them as they disappeared into the building.
With one more gut-wrenching drop, Alec lowered us to the same spot, and Jamie and Ty pulled us in.
“What’s going on?” I demanded as soon as we were out of the screaming wind.
“They made us,” Tyler explained as he detached my harness from Alec’s. “They were keeping all the people upstairs hostage, but as soon as someone spotted us coming down the side of the building, they pulled everyone to come after us. We think they’re after you. Some of our people made it upstairs, and the hostages are saying they’re looking for a girl.”
My heart sank. Of course they were looking for me. More people were getting hurt because of me.
“We have to move,” Alec growled, loosening his harness. I just stood there, trying not to let the despair take over.
“They’re trying to get to us, but our guys are heading them off where they can. It’s pandemonium out there, and we need to use this opportunity to get out another way.”
“There’s no clear exit,” Jamie announced, as if that wasn’t a big deal. “The most lightly guarded one is the east stairwell. They have four on the ground. We can take ’em.”
The others didn’t answer as they finished taking off their rappel gear. When Tyler started to remove my harness, I jumped, but there was no time for him to try to calm me, comfort me. The others were already walking out the door, guns cocked and at the ready.
Ty pushed me forward, remaining at my back. We rushed down the hallway. My bare feet helped me stay quiet, but my dress still made an obscene amount of noise, the layers of fabric rustling with every step.
We passed the front desk of whatever business had their offices on this floor and exited through the massive glass doors. There were elevators on our left, another set of giant glass doors on the opposite side, and a corridor with an emergency exit sign above it on our right.
Just as the doors swung closed behind me, several masked men emerged from the corridor, guns raised.
For a split second, everyone froze.
Then one of the men spoke. “Just hand her over, and no one has to die.”
I took an involuntary step back. It didn’t take a genius to figure out these were Variant Valor dickheads—Davis’s thugs.
Alec laughed, a low, menacing sound. “If you want her, you’ll have to kill us first.”
As if to prove Alec’s point, Tyler inched forward, blocking me from their view.
I opened my mouth—to stubbo
rnly declare I’d die too before I was taken—but I never got the chance.
A gun went off. I had no idea whose, but it must’ve been one of the ones pointed at us, because the door behind me shattered. I hunched my shoulders and covered my head with my hands. Glass shards showered over me, getting stuck in my hair and slicing into my exposed back.
Tyler fired, his precise aim taking out one of the thugs before all the glass had even fallen to the tiled floor.
Everyone started shooting, the sound deafening. The glass behind the assailants exploded too, littering the floor with more glittery particles.
More assailants poured out of the corridor and the office on the opposite side of the building, but at the same time, Melior Group agents stepped off the elevators and appeared behind us too. Even people in formal wear, the important dignitaries from the party, were there—diamonds and tuxedos mixing with the bullets and blood.
After the initial surge of gunfire, both sides took cover—in doorways, in offices, behind desks and chairs.
Alec was at the front of our group. Once the reinforcements arrived, he gestured to Jamie and Ty. They closed in, and Alec roughly pushed me back the way we’d come.
My mind felt slow, as if I were wading through syrup. I didn’t even turn around when Alec started nudging me; I just walked backward, flinching at the shattered glass under my bare feet.
After a moment, Alec simply swept me up with one arm and carried me the remaining few steps. He set me down behind the reception counter, and Tyler tugged me down into a crouch beside him.
Alec remained standing. When I looked up, he was looking down, a somewhat confused expression on his face. Time seemed to slow as he pressed a hand to his chest, then pulled it away and stared at it.
He grabbed the edge of the desk with the same hand, but it slid right off, leaving a trail of red on the white surface.
My eyes widened.
My heart stopped.
My throat constricted, cutting off my air.
Alec dropped to his knees as his gun slipped from his grip. The confused expression melted away, replaced by something else, something harder.
Ty, Jamie, and a few other people who’d taken cover behind the reception desk were focused fully on fighting off the assailants. Gunshots and shouts echoed all around me.
None of them had noticed yet. None of them had seen the blood. So much blood. It oozed between the fingers of the hand Alec pressed to his chest.
“NO!” My guttural scream immediately drew everyone’s attention. My hands became a blur as they flew to his neck, then his shoulders, then the bloody, slick hand at his chest.
Together, Tyler and I lowered Alec to the ground.
As another person came to help, my mind supplied a list of all the vital organs in the area he was shot—lungs, small intestines, heart . . . So many ways to die.
“There’s no exit wound,” someone declared from his other side. The lethal piece of metal was still lodged in his body somewhere. Killing him.
Why wasn’t he wearing a vest? Was Tyler wearing a vest?
I whipped my head around frantically, but Tyler was right next to me—fine. He looked as panicked as me, his eyes wide, his hair all over the place, but he was upright. He was moving. He wasn’t bleeding.
I wasn’t losing them both.
But I might lose Alec.
Our guys were administering first aid with speed and precision. Alec was still conscious, but his eyes kept rolling back in his head. His breaths came in short pants, as if he couldn’t quite make the air reach his lungs.
Every time he managed to get his eyes to focus, he looked right at me.
“Ev . . . Evie . . . I . . .”
I grabbed his hand, struggling to keep my grip against the slippery blood.
“I love . . . y . . . you.”
He said, “I love you,” but he meant “goodbye.” I heard goodbye. And I was not going to accept that.
As Alec’s eyes closed and his limp hand slid from my grasp, a heavy steel barrier shuttered over my emotions. All that was left was white hot rage and a determination fiercer than I’d ever felt before.
No one noticed me rise slowly to my feet; they were too focused on saving Alec’s life. By the time I was standing, my skin had already begun to glow.
I embraced the Light. I let it flood me, consume me, until it filled every fiber of my being. My glow became so bright that some of the people fighting stopped to shield their eyes.
Several guns pointed right at me, and I barely registered Tyler’s panicked yell as the triggers were pulled. I didn’t even flinch. I already knew a shielding ability was coming up behind me. The representative from Japan, Mr. Takata, appeared at my side, his hands held out in front of him. The bullets harmlessly bounced away.
I continued to push Light to Alec remotely, as much as he needed. It would by no means save him or heal his wounds, but at least it would assist the healing.
As long as Alec held on, I had something to fight for. And I was so ready for a fight.
Thirteen
I pushed some Light to Mr. Takata, and as I stepped out from around the reception desk, he stayed beside me, keeping me shielded. Tyler stuck by my other side; he kept his gun raised but didn’t fire. I was keeping him juiced up too, and his ability would’ve told him what I was doing. Soon there would be no need for bullets.
My instincts were taking over. I surrendered to the Light and watched in awe as all the Variants in the room became obvious to me, almost as if I were playing a video game and all the guys on my team were marked.
I held my hands out at my sides and closed my eyes; I could feel them. I could feel the ones who were using their abilities most; the ones without Vitals who were getting depleted; Mr. Takata with his shield; a woman with an ability to freeze a person on the spot, trying to get close enough to touch people without getting shot; a man with a fire ability like Ethan’s, but instead of throwing fireballs, he had to intensely focus to make an object or person erupt in flames.
I could feel Davis’s men too. They had a shield, a man with a water ability thwarting our fire guy, a few others with common speed and strength abilities. I felt the Light inside them, and I pulled until they fell to the ground unconscious.
The Light flowed through me with the force of a waterfall—making my skin buzz until it almost went numb—and went straight into the Variants who needed it.
With the Variants on the other side incapacitated and our guys overflowing with Light, we overpowered them in seconds.
Most of the Melior Group operatives moved off immediately to clear the building and neutralize the rest of the assailants. The others started tying up our captives—the ones who still lived.
As my glow faded, I dropped my arms to my sides and opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was Tyler’s worried expression.
My chest heaved, and my teeth gritted from exertion. I wanted so badly to fall into his arms, let him hold me and take charge of the situation as he always did. But I wasn’t done.
I pointed to a slight woman in a stunning black gown who was helping to tie someone up. She had the freezing ability, able to suspend a person in motion—essentially put them on ice.
Tyler rushed over to her, spoke hurriedly, and ushered her to my side in seconds. She looked nervous, her wide brown eyes darting from mine to his, but she took my hand when I held it out. I was fading, and I needed the contact to transfer to her.
I could see Tyler’s lips moving as he spoke to her, hear his voice, but his words weren’t registering. I turned and led the way back to the reception desk. Halfway around it, I stumbled, but a firm, warm hand steadied me. Mr. Takata was still by my side. As soon as it was clear I wasn’t going to face-plant, he released me, tipping his head forward in a little bow.
By the time I turned back, Tyler and the woman were already kneeling beside Alec, nudging Jamie out of the way.
I lowered myself to my knees on his other side. Taking his hand in mine again—it was st
icky now, not slippery—I kept pushing Light at him, but there was no point anymore. No amount of Light could help him now. And I had nothing left to give.
I had nothing left.
My eyes drooped, and my head felt heavy. Even as my mind fought to the last second for consciousness, my muscles ultimately gave in. My vision faded, and I fell in a heap next to Alec, our limp hands stuck together with his drying blood.
I came to just as the paramedics were taking Alec away and discussing having me taken to the hospital in another ambulance. I refused, demanding to stay with Alec. They were stubborn, but so was I, and in the end we tailed Alec’s ambulance to the hospital.
Lucian was already there. Josh and Ethan rushed forward as soon as we stepped inside, hugging me tight despite the gore clinging to me. They fired off questions, demanded I see a doctor, spoke over each other while frantically running their hands over me.
During the surgery to remove Alec’s bullet, I was checked over by a doctor—not even a concussion, thank you very much—and despite my protests, everyone insisted I should go home, clean up, have something to eat. Alec was stable, but they were keeping him sedated so his body could have some time to heal.
“I won’t leave this room, and Olivia is on her way,” Lucian reassured me.
Tyler had to go back to the scene and do some damage control, make sure his guys were doing what needed to be done. He ran his hands through his hair, his worried gaze darting to Alec, then me. He pulled me into a hug and held me for a long time. I gripped his filthy suit jacket, my eyes closed.
“Please, Eve. Please go home. I need to know at least one of you is safe and warm.” He spoke into the top of my head, his chest reverberating under my cheek.
Grudgingly, I realized he was right. I couldn’t do anything more for Alec—he had all the Light he needed and then some. The hospital, under medical supervision, was the best place for him. But I could do something to ease Tyler’s worry.
I nodded against his chest.
We peeled apart—the front of my dress had stuck to his suit jacket. That’s how much drying blood I was coated in.
Vivid Avowed (The Evelyn Maynard Trilogy Book 3) Page 15