by Lora Andrews
Caitlin ignored the woman. “We can work something out. What if I’m the only one who can access its power?”
“I somehow doubt that,” he said with a smile.
“Simon, put this pitiful creature out of her misery and rip the damn amulet from her neck.”
“No.” Caitlin backed up another step. She was about six or seven feet away from MacInnes. “Don’t do this.” Her body shook. She glanced at the door. Cries were pointless. Daniel wouldn’t help her.
MacInnes pointed the weapon.
She couldn’t stop the tears streaming down her cheeks or the panic overriding her fear. She braced for the bullet’s impact as memories surfaced: Christmas dinner with her parents, gardening with her grandmother, Jadiel’s sweet face. And Ewen. A loss compounded by regret. She hadn’t been able to save the people she loved.
His finger moved over the trigger.
Caitlin closed her eyes. She accepted the inevitable and waited for the pain and darkness to descend. She’d done all she could.
Then…
Something came over her.
I refuse to die.
Her eyes flew open.
I refuse to concede.
She flung her hands out.
Stop.
A boom fractured the silence in the room. Blinding white light exploded in the air, followed by a blast of energy that shot from the palms of her hands. MacInnes and Cordelia flew across the room. Their bodies slammed against the bookshelves and slid to the floor like rag dolls showered in splintered wood and debris.
Daniel stood by the door, his hands fisted and his mouth agape as he viewed the contorted bodies lying motionless at his feet.
Caitlin stumbled back, shock coursing through her.
Oh, god. What did I do?
She closed her eyes. The overwhelming urge to vomit rose in her throat. She bent over and steadied herself with a hand against the chair, fighting for breath. She didn’t see Daniel crouch to pick the jeweled dagger off the floor. Not until her eyes caught the blur of his brown leather shoes did she lift her head to find him standing over her with the weapon in his hand.
THIRTY-FOUR
Daniel grabbed her wrist and hauled her to the French door, angling her hand away from his body. Caitlin fought him, her energy draining from her limbs like water flowing through a gutter. A faint pulse of power tickled her palms.
“We don’t have time for this.” He shook her until she stopped struggling. “Shit is going to hit the fan. Do you hear me? You’ve got five minutes before it all blows up in your face.”
His words sobered her.
Blood pooled on the floor near MacInnes’s crumpled body. “Is he dead?” she asked.
He wiped his chin with the back of his hand, the dagger held loose in his grip. “Most likely.”
“What happened to…my parents.” What she really wanted to ask was where MacInnes had left their bodies, but she didn’t have the heart to say the words.
Daniel slid the knife into his rear waistband. “I don’t know. They evaded capture in Massachusetts. We had several leads placing them in the vicinity of a cabin in New Hampshire damaged by a gas explosion.”
The house in Sugar Hill. Her family’s go-to place. Holidays. Vacations. A safe haven where her parents could escape life’s pressures. She could hear her mother’s corny reference to the Old Man in the Mountain, a granite cliff ledge that collapsed several years ago. “We’ll wait for you like stone Indians, honey.” And then she’d laugh herself silly as only Else Walker Reed could. Every single time. Every single trip.
If her parents had somehow managed to escape MacInnes, they would have sought refuge at the cabin. “There’s more you’re not telling me. I can feel it,” she said.
He ignored her comment, pulled out his gun, and screwed a tubular attachment to the front of the weapon. “You don’t have time for this.”
“Tell me the rest. Please. I need to know.”
His expression hardened. “Two bodies were recovered at the site but have not been identified.”
Two bodies. From the explosion.
Her mother was petrified of fire. She didn’t go near a stove because she feared getting burned.
Caitlin’s knees gave out.
Daniel held her up. “Don’t. Use your anger. Use your hate. Use whatever the fuck you need to, but if you breakdown now, he wins.”
“I’m fine.”
He released her.
She braced a hand against the door. “Help me find Ewen and the antidote.”
“You don’t need my help. You just blew two people clear across the room with your…” He didn’t finish the sentence.
Caitlin cringed. “I know and I…I can’t explain what you saw.” Or depend on a power she couldn’t control. “Look, Ewen believes you’re as trapped here as we are. If MacInnes is dead, this is your chance to get out. Help me find Ewen. Please.”
“There’s an escape route accessible through MacInnes’s office. It’s unguarded and will lead you off the property. You need to get there now.”
He opened the French door and dragged her outside. They ran along the manor, about thirty feet, and stopped outside another door.
“I’m not leaving without him. You don’t have to help me, that’s your choice. But please, tell me where I can find him and the antidote.”
Daniel clenched his jaw. “Bacteria can breed by the billions in a matter of hours. The strain MacInnes injected into MacLean’s body will mimic cancer. No one’s survived it. You need to let him go. You have a better chance of making it out alive without him.”
The chilled air cooled her skin. “How long does he have?”
Daniel averted his eyes. “You’re lucky if he lasts until morning.”
Oh, god. Caitlin flattened her back against the manor. “I’m not leaving without him. MacInnes said he was in a cellar. Tell me where.”
She’d failed her family. She’d lost Jadiel. She would not lose Ewen, too.
“You are not going to let this go, are you?”
“No, and neither should you. He saved your life. I’m not about to let him die in a dungeon alone.”
With a grimace, Daniel glanced in the direction they’d run from. “MacLean is on the lower level, which is accessible by a hallway near the kitchen. The antidote is stored in a lab above MacInnes’s office on the other side of the house. If you grab MacLean first”—he rubbed a hand over his face—“your chances of a successful evasion and escape are nil.”
“Yeah, well, tell me something I don’t know.”
“Stay behind me and do whatever the fuck I tell you. Don’t make me regret this. Got it?” He moved to the door and glanced over his shoulder to catch the nod of her head.
“Let’s go.”
The door was a servant’s entrance leading to a rear stairwell. To her right was a small hallway leading to rooms Caitlin assumed were the servant quarters. A swinging door on her left led to the kitchen. Daniel bypassed the door and moved swiftly to an opening beyond the stairs.
The manor was a series of rows and corridors. A twenty-seven-thousand square foot maze filled with wood paneled hallways and doors, but Caitlin recognized this section of the house. The hallway they were about to enter spanned the back wing. Another entrance to the kitchen was farther down on her left, and across from it, the central artery that led to an elegant staircase and the upper levels.
Daniel turned right and shot down the length of the hall. She hustled after him, her rubber-soled hiking boots soundless against the dark wood floors. A rug ran the length of the corridor with fancy tables and expensive vases strategically placed here and there. The juncture at the end of the hall formed an inverted L. A pair of closed doors comprised the corner, and the short leg extended another fifty feet to meet a wooden wall.
Daniel turned left, stopped, and pulled her beside him. He glanced over his right shoulder, peering down the hall they had just vacated.
“That door”—he angled his chin to the opposite wall—“leads undergro
und to the cells.” He grabbed her hand and shoved his gun into her palm. “There’s no safety. You’ve got fourteen rounds. Keep the barrel pointed down at all times. Don’t touch the trigger until you’re ready to fire.”
The alien feel of the weapon weighed like lead in her hand. Before she could protest, he darted across the hall and unlocked the door.
“I’ll hold off the alarm for as long as I can. But I can’t promise you a fucking miracle. Get his ass out of that dungeon and get to the office. I will—”
Chaotic shouts sounded from the other side of the mansion.
“Fuck.” Daniel’s face contorted. He ran a jerky hand through his buzz cut and turned an ear toward the escalating noise.
She saw it play out in his expression. If he turned her in now, no one would be the wiser. He could save himself. Protect his cover.
The urge to flatten her palm against his arm, to use her gift to force Daniel’s will, rolled through her. She held her breath and rode out the compulsion with a clenched fist. Ewen said power corrupted. She was beginning to think he was right.
“Change of plans.” Daniel grabbed the gun from her hand and stepped over the threshold, dragging her with him.
Darkness assailed her when he closed the door. They rushed down the narrow staircase, her eyes adjusting to the light. When they reached a point where the darkness forced her to slow her pace, she extended her hands, her palms scraping along the rough stone wall, serving as a guide until the stairs took a sudden sharp right.
The laborious sound of her breathing boomed in the small confines of the old stairwell, echoing the thoughts bouncing in her head. She’d killed MacInnes and Cordelia. She’d almost succumbed to the urge to force Daniel’s help. What if she couldn’t control her magic? What if...
She had to stay focused. Get Ewen out of his cell. Find the antidote. Escape.
At the bottom of the stairwell, the area widened as the passage forked left and right. Daniel stopped, raised a finger to his lips, and signaled right to a light at the end of the curved path. An arched entry separated the cellar from what appeared to be another room. The shadowy outline of a man was visible. Daniel quickened his pace, taking long, sure strides, his footfalls silent against the sandy floor.
Weak with nausea, Caitlin struggled to keep up. The sole of one fancy hiking boot squeaked in the quiet of the cavernous space. Daniel stopped short, and she slammed into his back.
The clang, clang, clang of a baton striking metal sounded from a distance. A single male voice rounded back to their ears, the words “filthy dog” bouncing off the dank walls like an angry sound wave.
Daniel signaled a silent stay-put and tread several steps ahead. He stopped, spread his legs, and extended his arms.
Then fired.
THIRTY-FIVE
The muted crack of the gunshot jarred every nerve in her body, but it was the thud against the stone that pulled the gasp from her mouth.
She ran the last few steps into the room. A man dressed in the standard uniform lay prone on the dirty floor with one arm caught beneath his body at an awkward angle.
Daniel had killed one of his own.
She dragged her eyes from the blood soaking through the guard’s uniform to the arm Daniel raised. To the weapon pointed at the cell. To Ewen’s face, his eyes narrowed with the fearless intent of a warrior confronting death with dignity and honor.
“No.” Caitlin threw herself at Daniel. They toppled to the floor, knocking the gun from his grip. It hit the stone with a clang. Scrambling to her feet, she snagged the weapon off the floor and spun to face Daniel, the gun clutched in her shaky hands.
“Stop, or I swear I’ll shoot.”
Daniel stretched his neck. “No, you won’t. Put the gun down, Caitlin. This isn’t what you think.”
“Oh no? What is it then? Huh? Another play from the MacInnes Book of Horrors?”
“No play.” He pointed to the locked cell. “I need to open the gate to free your friend. MacInnes holds the only key. And you and I both know that’s a dead end.”
She refocused her attention on the man who could easily tear the gun from her hands yet chose not to. “You weren’t trying to kill him?”
“No.”
Ewen leaned against the iron bars. “That weapon will destroy the locking mechanism?”
Daniel shook his head. “For that, you’d need a shotgun and special ammunition. Most of this is original.” Daniel waved a hand at the wall of grilled iron that separated Ewen from the chamber. “There’s wear on the hinges. The plan is to shoot, weaken the metal, then kick the hell out of it before the cavalry descends.”
He turned to Caitlin. “Right now the lockdown protocol has been initiated, which means no one gets in. No one gets out. Next, they’ll be counting heads. And when they find yours missing… You’re a smart girl. Figure it out.”
“Go on, lass. Give the man his weapon.” Ewen’s tone calmed her self-doubt. “He will aid us or suffer for his betrayal.”
He shot Daniel a warning look.
She lowered her arm, and he took the gun from her hand.
“Stand back. Both of you.” Daniel fired two quick shots into each of the rusty hinges. The shell casings pinged against the floor. He shoved the gun into his holster and side-kicked the gate until the bottom hinge came loose. Ewen assisted from the other side and together they lifted the heavy iron gate from the remaining hinge.
Once out of the cell, Ewen extended his hand to Daniel. “You have my gratitude.”
“Don’t thank me, yet. You’ve still got to make it out of this hellhole alive.”
“An optimist, are you Daniel?” A grin lit Ewen’s face. “I’ll thank you for the warning, but hell is no’ ready for the likes of me.” His gaze swung to hers. The humor in those deep blue eyes faded and his expression warmed. “Caitlin.”
The deep lilt of his voice stole her breath. Something snapped inside her. She ran into his open arms. Emotions—joy, grief, anger—overwhelmed her and she buried her face in his neck. “My parents.” She couldn’t say the words. “He—they’re—”
“Och, lass.” He held her tighter against his battered body. “We’ll avenge them.” He pulled away and cupped her face with so much emotion in his eyes Caitlin’s heart hurt. “I promise you we’ll bring them the honor they deserve.”
God, if she weren’t careful, she could really fall hard for this guy.
A sheen of perspiration coated his skin, and under the dim light, she noted the yellow undertone to his skin. “Are you feeling all right?”
“I should be angry with you for risking that bonny hide of yours.” He brushed a knuckle down her cheek.
The roughness of his skin sparked a shudder. “Angry?”
“Aye, angry. Were you worried for me, sweet?”
No, not worried—scared. Scared he was dying. “Aye, I was worried, you big lug.”
His cocky grin, the one that said I’m all that and more, spread across his handsome face. He pulled her hard against his chest and wrapped his strong muscular arms around her. “A man can learn to appreciate the worry of a good woman. But worry not, lass. I am well.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am,” he said and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
Daniel cleared his throat. “Hate to break the lovefest, but we have a small window of time here.” He turned over the dead guard, searched his jacket, and pulled out the man’s weapon, a gun identical to his. “Our best bet is to use the disruption to our advantage. My men will be on high alert. They’ll suspect an escape attempt from you, but not her. So we’ll create a diversion while she procures the antidote.”
Ewen moved to stand near Daniel as he checked the gun. Daniel explained the clicks and clangs as he manipulated the weapon. Ewen shoved the gun in his back waistband, then grabbed the dead guard’s ankles. He and Daniel lugged the body into the empty cell. A trail of blood followed like a snail’s path.
“Do you have a plan to exit the manor?” Ewen asked.<
br />
Daniel cracked his jaw. “MacInnes’s escape route is the only way. It won’t be guarded. It’s accessed through the same stairwell you’ll use to enter the lab. The problem is getting from point A to point B.”
Ewen eyed the guard. “Does MacInnes suspect your involvement?”
Daniel scratched his jaw and looked at Caitlin. “No. MacInnes is dead.”
“I…” She averted her face. Magic corrupted, and tonight she’d used magic to kill. “There was an explosion.” She felt the weight of Ewen’s stare.
Ewen tipped her chin with a strong finger. “There is no shame in defending yourself, lass. You did what you had to do to survive. I’m proud of you.”
Emotion clogged her throat. He’d meant every word. “Are you hurt?” he asked, his voice gentle.
She shook her head. She couldn’t talk. If she did, she’d cry.
Bright lights flooded the room.
“Fuck.” Daniel scowled. “We’ve got company.”
He flagged them to the opposite wall, an arched entrance that separated the cell from the rest of the dungeon, and tossed Ewen the jeweled dagger.
Beside her, Ewen flattened his back against the stone wall and peered into the cavern. The archway was constructed of thick stone slabs. The lip around the frame jutted out from the wall and provided some relief from peripheral discovery. Not enough to shield their bodies from the enemy’s direct line of vision, but it would buy them time for an ambush. And at this point, it was all they could hope for.
Heavy footsteps echoed from the stairway. She couldn’t tell how many men approached, not with her blood pounding in her ears like a herd of buffalo.
Daniel signaled the count with his fingers. One, two, three. God, she’d feel better about their odds if her he-man warrior weren’t suffering from a killer bacteria destroying his red blood cells.
Daniel positioned himself in front of the cell with his back to the oncoming troop, blocking the view of the now detached gate leaning against the iron cell.
“Cohen,” a man barked.
The Order’s guards entered the chamber. Caitlin held her breath.