Sam’s head pounded. Jennings grabbed her arm, nearly wrenching her shoulder out of its socket as he hauled her up. She swayed as the blood rushed to her head and fought her way through the murkiness. At least she’d managed to get her grandma out. It would have to be enough.
“I knew I shouldn’t have listened to her,” he muttered.
He tossed her over his shoulder. She lost a few seconds as her body bumped against his back, and surprise flickered through her fleetingly. As skinny as he was, she hadn’t expected him to be so strong.
She’d underestimated him.
He exited the room and strode down the hallway, Sam’s head bouncing uncomfortably. Her stomach churned with warning. “Put me down.”
She felt the bile rise in her throat. “I’m going to be—”
Sam heaved. Even without food in her stomach, she made enough of a mess that Jennings cursed and tossed her down on a couch in what appeared to be the living room. Without time to prepare, her head snapped back and hit the arm of the couch.
Wooziness made her head wobble. She lost track of time. Had it been a minute? Five? She blinked a few times to clear the mental fog. Jennings continued cursing. Though she couldn’t see him, his voice seemed loud. She clapped her hands over her ears. Her stomach rolled again and heaved, but nothing came up.
She had to get out before Jennings came back. He’d already been angry at her escape. After throwing up on him, she didn’t want to know what he’d do to her. Across the room, she thought she saw a door. Her vision blurred and she squinted until it came into focus.
Definitely a door, partially hidden by wall separating the entryway from the living room.
She pushed off the couch and stumbled sideways, away from the door. She gritted her teeth and forced herself back on course for the door. She had to make it out. Her grandma was out there. They had to find Coop and Uncle Dan so they could—
Sam stopped as though she hit a wall and bounced back as Jennings grabbed her by her shirt. She fell hard against him, but he used her momentum to back up a step. No. Sam surged forward. She wasn’t going to let him win.
A loud bang made her flinch, flashbacks to the safe house and Jones flitting through her mind. But when she lifted her head, she saw the door had been opened.
By Coop and Uncle Dan.
A cold, metal barrel pressed against her forehead.
Everyone froze. At least, Sam thought they froze. Coop and her uncle swam in her vision. She blinked, willing them to come into focus.
“Put the gun down, Jennings.”
Sam wasn’t sure how Coop and her uncle had found them, but she had never been happier to see Coop. She hadn’t faced him from across a room since he’d discovered her scavenging for food. How much had changed since then. He held his hands up, silently urging everyone to stay calm, but the muscles in his face were tight.
Her uncle pointed his own gun at Jennings. “You don’t want to hurt her.”
“Put your gun down.” The cold metal pressed harder into her head. “And move out of my way.”
Jennings pushed her forward, his aim steady. Her uncle’s gun trembled. It wasn’t just her vision. Sam hadn’t even known her uncle owned a gun. A shiver rolled over her body and her eyes lost focus. Her headache intensified.
“What’s going on here?” Her mother’s screech made Sam wince. But she looked frantic, her suit wilting around her.
“Katherine.” Her uncle’s growl told her that he and Coop had been able to piece together what her mother had done.
But her mother was watching Jennings and Sam. She narrowed her eyes and pulled herself up straight. “Richard Jennings. Release my daughter. That’s your future leader.”
So it was true. Her mother really did think that she could remove Sam’s Gift and put her in charge of the Hunters. In a weird and twisted way, her mother cared for her. Coop and her uncle wore befuddled expressions, but before either of them could ask anything, Jennings shifted toward her mother. Sam’s eyes slid shut.
“Ms. Benson, your daughter is a memory-bringer. We caught her conspiring with Coop, who’s been sharing our secrets the entire time. She’s never going to be our leader. I don’t know what Smith told y—”
A shot cut him off, and his grip loosened. Without him holding her up, she swayed and let herself drop to the floor. Someone groaned in pain, and Sam curled into the fetal position. Another bullet whizzed above her head.
The silence pounded in her ears for a few heartbeats. A clock ticked somewhere in the house.
“Samara.”
Her eyes popped open at Coop’s voice, and he lifted her up, running his hands over her body. “Are you hurt?”
It took Sam a few moments to process the question. She touched the back of her head and winced when her fingers skimmed over a tender spot. “My head hurts.”
“But no bullet wounds?”
“No.”
Coop grabbed one of her shoulders and tipped her chin up until she met his eyes. “Let’s get out of here.”
“But—” Sam cut herself off, realizing he was deliberately blocking her view of the room. Her stomach flipped. She pushed him aside. Jennings was closest, on his knees with one hand pressed to a wound on his shoulder. Good. He deserved it. Her uncle stood off to the side, talking on the phone.
Her mother lay in a pool of blood that was spreading onto the white carpet.
Sam blinked. No. It had to be a mistake. Her mother had been across the room, far away. But no matter how many times Sam tried to blink away the image, it stayed. Blurred.
Her mother. Sam dropped to the floor next to her and grabbed her hand. She had so many questions to ask her mother. But she was already fading, her hand limp. Sam stared uncomprehendingly at her mother until Coop squatted next to her and pried her away. But who had—how had—?
“Samara.”
Coop squeezed her hand and she tore her eyes away from her mother.
“Your mother lunged at Jennings while he was talking. Your uncle shot at the same time. He meant to hit Jennings.”
Sam turned back to her mother. She wanted answers. She wanted to know what her mother had been planning and she wanted to know about her father. Had Smith known who she was when he’d questioned her? She wanted to know how her mother had managed to hide her secrets.
Coop pulled her to her feet and crushed her to him. “It’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.”
“She wanted to take away my Gift and make me lead the Hunters.”
Coop stroked her hair.
“Smith’s my father.”
His hand froze. “She told you that?”
“No. My grandma made the connection. And I-I had a memory. I don’t know if Smith knows.” A thought penetrated haze, making her words urgent. “My grandma. She’s outside. We’ve got to get her.”
“Your uncle and I spotted her on our way in. She’s sitting in your uncle’s vehicle.”
“I want to see her.”
Being outside was like being in a different world. The birds chirped back and forth in conversation. A breeze lifted her hair off her neck and rustled the leaves of the few trees in the yard. The faint drone of a lawn mower hummed in the distance.
It was entirely undisturbed by what had happened inside. Her world had tipped on its axis, but nothing had changed. Not really.
She spotted her grandma inside her uncle’s car and burst forward, only to have her head pound. Sam slowed, hugging her grandma when she finally reached her.
Her grandma returned the hug and pulled away. “Is this Coop?”
He nodded and stepped forward. “Michael Cooper, ma’am.”
“How did you know we were here?” she asked.
“I heard the commotion and saw Samara being taken.” He ran his hand through his hair. “When Dan arrived, I explained the situation and we searched through Samara’s mom’s office. We found papers and a few bills with this address.”
Her grandma inclined her head toward the house. “What happened in there?”
&n
bsp; Sam opened her mouth to explain, but Coop said, “Dan managed to stop Jennings.”
“And Katherine?”
Coop’s mouth twisted. “An accident. She’s gone.”
Her grandma bowed her head. “I was afraid of that. I had a memory once, long ago…” When she lifted her head, she had shifted into elder mode. Sam saw it in the way her eyes hardened and her shoulders rolled back. “We’re going to undo the mess your mother created.”
“I’m going to help.” Sam paused. She’d been groomed for elder duties for years, but—“I want to start a Gifted army.”
Her grandma smiled. “I know. I had a memory about that, too.”
Coop stepped forward and took Sam’s hand. “Together, we’re going to defeat the Hunters.”
Epilogue
A few years later…
Janey shifted her bag to her other arm, staring up at the chain-link fence and the gray stones of the base. She cocked her head. The resemblance to the Hunters’ compound was eerie.
Blowing out a breath, Janey put it out of her mind. What did she care? She had one reason for being here. A reason that had kept her going since the day Coop and Sam had left her house.
They needed her. And she needed to kill Reed for what he’d done.
Elusive Memories (The Hunted #1) Page 27
