Darklight 2: Darkthirst

by Forrest, Bella

  He knew I wanted confirmation about Alan’s involvement. One day was too long, but I wanted to know how far it stretched back.

  “Sure. There was Laurence Sims, Elena Bradley, Calum Jones,” Fenton said and began counting on his hand. He sucked in a sharp breath. “Alan Sloane. There are more, but I can’t remember their names. They all were involved in every part of what I found. The experiments. The torture. The gas chambers. Everything.”

  Anger rose up in my stomach. Everywhere I looked for answers, I found Alan’s nefarious work. It made me sick.

  “So, you’ve been drinking your troubles away since being fired?” Bryce asked sardonically, gesturing to Fenton’s glass of champagne.

  Fenton’s eyes flashed with indignation. “I have not,” he said sharply. “Actually, I’ve been busy communicating with the other fired board members. We’re continuing our investigation and trying to find ways to expose the board from above.”

  “How do you plan to get anyone to listen?” I asked, doubtful. It was great Fenton was doing his own investigation, but he’d already failed once. He couldn’t take the board down at the source. The CIA might be compromised, as well. We were running out of options here.

  Fenton smiled sneakily. “The benefit of being wealthy is that you have the ear of a lot of people. People who need campaign contributions. I’ve been discreetly talking to members of Congress and other government officials, planting my concerns and suggesting a third-party audit of the Bureau. I can’t say I’ve got anything rock-solid yet, but I’ve managed to build up some momentum. I plan to surprise the board with the work I’ve been doing as soon as I can.”

  I would pay big money to see Alan and his peers’ shocked faces as they stared at Fenton, taken down by the very man they fired. Did the board think we dissenting soldiers were the only ones they needed to be concerned about? Perhaps the board would do better to be nervous around rich ex-employees.

  Bryce grinned. “I’m impressed with you, trust-fund baby.”

  “Cheers,” Fenton said sarcastically, raising his glass. His tone turned crisp. “I’d forgotten your habit of addressing everyone under your command as children, Bryce. I find it just as charming as I used to.”

  Fenton evidently knew Bryce well enough.

  “Oh, it’s not so bad,” Bryce said with a twinkling eye. “First Lieutenant Sloane here has now graduated to the status of a proper adult. I’ll have to wait for you to prove yourself before you can do the same.”

  An odd sort of pride bloomed in me at Bryce’s acknowledgement.

  Fenton’s lips curved upward, taking the hit with good humor.

  “As much as I appreciate that, we’re running out of time,” I announced firmly. It was a lovely moment, but we still needed to proposition Fenton for help. Time to see what this trust-fund baby could really do.

  Bryce nodded. “Fenton, given that you’re going about this the legal way, it would be foolish to tell you what we’re going to do. You could be compromised, and while I’m aware that you’re a good actor, I’d rather you didn’t have to lie for our sakes. Let’s just say our team might be doing things that aren’t entirely legal, per se. It’s good to know we have you in our corner, though.”

  “I understand,” Fenton said, his eyes wide with interest.

  Bryce surveyed him for a moment and smirked, evidently satisfied by Fenton’s genuine reaction.

  “Let’s say hypothetically,” Bryce began and cleared his throat, “if I were to tell you some people might soon… uh, remove… a few board members and force a Bureau surrender… Just a wild idea, you understand. Possibly tomorrow. Would you and your crack squad of fired friends and government pals be able to follow up and bring the board members to justice?”

  “I… I think I could. If something like that were to hypothetically happen,” Fenton said slowly. “I can mobilize the justice system as much as possible.” His eyes hardened, far from their haunted, despondent look before. Now his gaze seemed focused and intense.

  Hope grew within me. Perhaps this trip would benefit us after all. Please, please let Fenton be someone we could trust. We couldn’t take any more betrayals.

  Bryce pulled out the burner phone. “I’ll give you our number in case you need to contact us. Don’t bother tracking us. Just keep an eye on the news. We’ll be in the midst of things soon enough.”

  They exchanged phone numbers. I looked on, impressed. Despite his earlier frustrated outburst, Bryce knew exactly what to say and how to work the game with the officials. There was still so much he had to teach me. I wanted to be like that someday.

  Fenton winked. “I’ll forget I saw any of you, of course. But I expect news tomorrow if you can.” His eyes wandered to the house. “Just in case, though… follow me.”

  Fenton strode across the lawn. Bryce shadowed him without pause, and I took up the rear after a quick glance at Laini. Hopefully, there wasn’t a trap lying in wait for us in the study. Laini’s silent presence comforted me, though I couldn’t see her. She moved expertly in the shadows behind us.

  Away from the music, Fenton led us to the other side of the property. We strode quickly down a walkway toward a square metal doorway that I could only imagine led to some kind of underground bunker. The Bureau had such areas in case of bombings at our family apartments. Bryce and I shared a curious look.

  Fenton popped open a small black box on the side of the metal door and pressed his thumb onto a glass plate. A red laser flashed over it.

  Why did a former Bureau captain and current trust-fund baby need a bunker with biometric data security measures? More importantly, how could I install one in my future house?

  He typed in a code after the thumbprint scan. The door opened with a satisfying click.

  My jaw dropped when we went inside. Red and white LEDs lit up the length of the black storeroom. And it was a storeroom, filled with every weapon imaginable. Guns, laser rifles, grenades, knives, swords, armor. There were things I didn’t even recognize on the far wall. To our right, neatly arranged ammunition sat on shelves, corresponding with every ranged weapon. At the far end was a case filled with communication equipment. Stacked on shelves nearer to the floor were clean clothes in black, dark green, gray, and various types of camouflage.

  “That’s what I’m talking about,” Bryce said, impressed.

  I blinked, dumbfounded, as I took everything in, taking stock of the immense variety and the sheer number of weapons. Were my eyes working? Even Laini stared in stunned silence.

  “You can borrow a few things as you see fit,” Fenton said with a satisfied smirk. “Everything is legal, believe it or not. Being a rich kid has its benefits in the end.” He checked his watch. “Now, I’ve got to get back to my fiancée’s party before she notices that I’m gone and cancels our engagement. The door will close automatically and lock behind you when you leave.”

  Fenton made to exit, but Bryce stopped him with a serious look.

  “Please watch your back,” Bryce warned. “Jim Zimmerman was silenced by the Bureau for less than what you’ve done. You need to be careful.”

  I suppressed a wince, remembering Jim’s face and the gunshot wound in his temple.

  Fenton’s eyes widened. He nodded shakily. “Understood. I’ll manage with my security system, I hope. And I hope your team creates such a stir that the Bureau will have their hands too full to try to stop the rest of us.”

  He looked us all over deliberately, and I wondered what chances he thought our scruffy little team had.

  My stomach knotted with anxiety. I hoped he would stay safe, especially after taking the risk of helping us.

  “Thank you,” he said. “No matter what happens, thank you for all you’re trying to do.”

  With that, Fenton left the room and made his way back up to the house, dumping his glass of champagne out on the lawn as he went.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The air high above Chicago was chilly, and I was thankful for the fresh clothes we’d taken from the sup
plies in Fenton’s bunker. The plain green combat trousers tucked into my dusty boots and the lightweight body armor, also from Fenton’s bunker, fit tightly over my long-sleeved black top. Buttoned over it all, I wore the ratty sheepskin coat I’d adopted in the mountains. I was as battle-ready as I was ever going to be in a situation as desperate as this one.

  I leaned against Dorian as I craned to look down, hoping the layer of clouds beneath us kept us hidden on our redbill. Louise had worked to scramble the scanners, but it would be a while longer before she could access the other surveillance. The Chicago HQ building was right below us. The board meeting would begin in forty minutes.

  I’d never been this nervous or determined on a mission before. Our potential for a peaceful future was at stake. A future for my parents, my brother, my family. A future for the vampires where they weren’t hunted. Maybe even a future for Dorian and me.

  Dorian surveyed the sky around us, keeping a lookout for other redbills from Team War. “I don’t sense anything yet.”

  While I still felt tense from our unresolved discussion the night before, I was glad he was with me. Our own team members had scattered to their positions. Zach, Louise, and Sike would focus on our parents’ apartment and the Bureau’s security cameras to record the meeting. If our parents were there, Zach would lead the charge—either by convincing them to come with him or by accompanying them to discuss the situation with Alan in the board meeting. If our parents tried to raise the alarm, Sike would help Zach restrain them and extract them from the building while Louise focused on locating a laptop and finding a building near the HQ to hack the systems. If our parents listened to Zach or ended up taking him to confront the board, Louise and Sike would hide in the apartment and hack into the building’s systems from within HQ.

  Laini, Bryce, Gina, and Bravi should currently be infiltrating the Chicago HQ through a back entrance, trying to find Team War’s bomb and disable it. I hoped they wouldn’t run into any conflict with Vonn’s team.

  Dorian and I would distract the board by pretending to surrender. Our role was to protect the board members from potential Team War attacks, keep them distracted until backup arrived either in the form of Zach accompanying our parents or the infiltration team after they’d found and removed the bomb. Whoever was on our side in the room was also charged with preventing the board members from escaping until Fenton or Bryce’s contact arrived with backup. We would need to distract the board for at least twenty minutes in order to give our teams time to complete their own missions.

  With enough of us piling on, Alan and the board would surely have to surrender. There were still so many things that could go wrong, but it was too late to back out now.

  Feel the fire and dig deep.

  I relied on the cracked watch Bryce had given me to keep track of time as it crawled by. Bryce had told me to call half an hour before the board meeting, which should give the other teams enough time to initiate their parts of the plan. Dorian and I had no way of knowing how the rest of our team was doing because we had to forego any comms. While it left us out of the loop, it meant that when we were searched, we wouldn’t hand the Bureau and board direct access to our plans.

  I checked the screen every five minutes as we waited for the appointed moment. Dorian kept a vigilant watch on the skies around us. Neither of us spoke, too wired with nerves to say anything. Finally, the watch read twelve-thirty. The meeting would begin at one. I pulled Zach’s phone, dug from the bottom of his gear bag after several weeks of disuse, from my pocket. I slid the battery in, thinking of my upcoming call with Alan.

  Was he anticipating anything from our side tonight? Was he one step ahead, making this all for nothing? I silenced the doubts as Zach’s phone sparked to life and booted up, letting my anger rise to take its place. All the lengths we had gone to—sacrificing our jobs with the Bureau, running for our lives, being separated from our families… Grayson’s life. Jim’s life. We wouldn’t be at the mercy of Alan and the board’s priorities any longer.

  My hands shook as I dialed his number from memory. I hated that I used to call it sometimes when I wanted advice or to tell him about a mission that had gone badly or to ask him what to buy my dad for his birthday, never truly knowing the real man. He’d presented me with a careful mask all my life. It was time to rip all that away now.

  The phone rang twice before it clicked as someone picked up. My breath turned ragged. Dorian shot me a wary look. He was right—I couldn’t screw this up.

  “Hello?” Alan answered almost cheerfully as if it were just another ordinary day. Was he tracking the phone? He must have known I would come to find him after his threats against my parents.

  “Alan,” I said through gritted teeth, pushing down the surge of fury his voice had sparked inside me. I needed him to think our surrender was genuine. We would have the final say if everything went according to plan.

  “Lyra,” he said pleasantly. “Good to hear from you.”

  It was good to hear from me after he’d casually threatened his own family? “I’ve thought about what you said.” I spoke in a firm and businesslike tone, but the edges of my words brimmed with frustration. “I agree to your request.”

  He paused for a second. “Well, that’s excellent news.”

  At the hint of smugness in his voice, my grip on the phone turned white-knuckled. I wished I could scream everything I secretly wanted to say. Dorian squeezed my arm in warning, his eyes still scanning the sky.

  “I have conditions. I’ll only agree to surrender if I’m brought before the board to plead our case. Dorian will accompany me as a demonstration of goodwill. To prevent any accidents and prove we’re genuinely invested in coming to a peaceful compromise, Dorian has agreed to be put in handcuffs.” I felt like we were toeing the line with danger, but we needed to get into the boardroom. It seemed unlikely Alan would allow the vampire that had nearly killed him only days ago into the room with no restraints.

  “I appreciate that,” Alan murmured with a touch of delight. He was getting Dorian and me in this package deal, why shouldn’t he be happy? “He’ll need to put a muzzle on, of course. We use it on any captive vampires to keep their fangs restrained. He won’t be able to break free from it, I assure you.”

  I pushed past my anger and feigned composure. “I have additional evidence I would like the board to hear. I’ll only come if I can speak to the entire board.”

  “Of course,” Alan said. “I’m sure they’ll be very interested in your… new information. I can’t promise their reactions will be positive, but I’m glad you’ve come to a reasonable decision.”

  A reel of images flashed through my mind as he spoke in his oily, diplomatic voice: Dorian’s agonized face after the dark matter weapon attack, Grayson’s body dropping to the ground, Jim dead in his office chair.

  Alan was a monster in a way the vampires never would be, in a way that even the creatures we had battled recently weren’t. The vampires killed with reason and for a cause. It was woven into their very nature. The soul-scourger and the shrieking decay were brutish and destructive, but they had no malice, no premeditation, no self-serving motivations. Everything Alan had done—to me, to my team, to the vampires, to the civilians he’d endangered, to the Bureau soldiers he was manipulating and sacrificing to his plans—it had all been for his own selfish gain. He probably didn’t even care if I was angry.

  “Are you there?” Alan asked.

  “Yes,” I managed, still refusing to let my anger run free in my voice. “We’ll see you soon.” I ended the call before he could say another word and screamed out into the cold, empty sky until my lungs burned, and my throat was dry.

  Dorian pressed a hand against my shoulder, brow furrowed. His mouth twitched. His anger at my distress was obvious.

  I sucked in a steadying breath. The cold air filled my lungs, helping fight off the hot sensation of fury as I tried to focus on analyzing Alan’s behavior during the call. He had been composed the entire time… almost too ca
sual. “I feel like he’s planning something. He agreed too easily to my condition that you come along with me.”

  Dorian set his jaw with determination. “Whatever he’s planning, we can handle it,” he promised.

  His confidence reminded me of our conversation last night. We had been too mission-focused to bring it up again since then. Was I right to be hesitant about Dorian’s self-assurance? It was almost more irritating than comforting at this point, especially as we were now faced with the added difficulty that he had to wear a muzzle and be restrained for the entirety of our time in the boardroom. I couldn’t forget his behavior on the Amish mission. If the board was as evil as we thought, then I could only imagine how he might respond. While the restraints removed any chance of him losing control and attacking a board member, it also left him vulnerable.

  “Are you sure you can handle this?” I asked. “They’re going to muzzle you as well as restrain you. If you need to break free will you be able to? Alan seemed confident you wouldn’t.” My legs felt heavy as I anxiously surveyed Dorian.

  “I’ll be able to get free if I really need to,” he said. “But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. We don’t want any more bloodshed.”

  The redbill began to descend slowly. The puffy clouds passed over my face, the chilled moisture and wind slicking over us as we dropped. Arms wrapped around my waist. Goosebumps danced across my skin, not just from the cold. Dorian turned my shoulders, so I sat partially facing him.

  “I haven’t changed my mind about my priority on this mission being to keep you pain free so you can do your job,” he said, his eyes warm like a tropical lagoon as he studied my face. “But I want to do this, just in case.” He leaned down toward me.

  As angry as I was, I wanted to touch him. I wanted to savor our physical closeness before the world unraveled around us. His lips met mine, and I kissed him back. A warm sensation filled me. There was little pain in my chest, which gave me bittersweet joy. I couldn’t deny the relief I felt. But he hadn’t listened to me, and I could lose him because of it. I kissed him hard, trying to banish the image of him cold on the ground, surrounded by his blood, eyes sightless all because he was trying to keep me safe. I felt like I was holding a ghost, trying to make him real again. But he wasn’t gone yet.