The Extractor

by Leslie Georgeson

  A knock came at the door.

  Rap. Rap. Rap.

  Oh hell.

  Glenda must be here.

  I leaned back. Ryan rose to his feet, holding his hand out to me. I slipped my hand in his and he helped me up.

  He kissed me tenderly, then stepped back. “My mom knows I’m crazy about you, so there’s no need to hide what’s between us. Last night she was talking about planning our wedding.”

  I laughed softly, heat creeping into my face. “That sounds like Glenda.”

  Ryan opened the door.

  Glenda stood out in the hallway with Tracker and Jacob.

  “Thanks for making sure she got here safely,” Ryan told them. “You guys don’t have to wait around. I’ll see that she gets back to her room.”

  They nodded.

  Tracker caught my eye and inclined his head. “Liz.”

  “Hi,” I murmured.

  Jacob waved at me, and I waved back.

  Ryan ushered Glenda inside and closed the door.

  “What’s for breakfast?” Glenda made a beeline toward the table and snatched up a donut. I had expected her to gush over our relationship, but she seemed more interested in the food, which was odd.

  Ryan and I exchanged a glance.

  “Help yourself, Mom,” Ryan said with a chuckle. “If I’d known you were so hungry, I would have sent food directly to your room.”

  Glenda devoured the chocolate donut in a few bites, then poured herself a cup of coffee from the small thermos Ryan had brought up from downstairs. She sipped the coffee, then picked up a cinnamon pastry and bit into it, turning toward me.

  Ryan was eyeing her with a weird look on his face. It wasn’t just me who thought she was acting a little strange.

  “Have you tried this one, Liz?” she asked, holding the cinnamon pastry out to me. “It’s really good. Want a bite?”

  “Uh, no thank you. I already ate.”

  Glenda shrugged and turned back to the table.

  And as she did so, I noticed something even stranger.

  Blood. On her white shoe.

  A tingle of unease went down my spine.

  Something wasn’t right.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Ryan tensing, as if he too noticed something was off about Glenda.

  Glenda selected another pastry from the tray, and spun back around to face me. Her eyes flashed with something dark that made my breath catch. Glenda had never looked at me with such loathing before. She was too sweet. Too kind. Glenda liked everyone.

  Then Glenda moved swiftly, like a striking cobra.

  Yanking a gun out of her shirt, she whirled on Ryan and fired.

  Bang, bang, bang!

  A hiss of pain escaped Ryan as he catapulted through the air, hitting the floor and rolling behind the armchair.

  “Run, Liz!” he shouted, his voice sounding strained. “Go get Luke! Hurry!”

  My limbs froze in terror.

  Ryan’s blood splattered the floor where he’d rolled away. He was bleeding.

  Glenda had just shot Ryan. Her son.

  Before my stunned brain could urge my limbs into action, Glenda turned on me, roughly yanking me back against her and pressing the gun to my temple. And then I felt it.

  An evil aura radiating off of her...

  Then the truth finally sank home.

  Glenda’s strange behavior…

  The blood on her shoe…

  That evil aura…

  This wasn’t Glenda.

  It was Mateo.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Ryan

  As a soldier, I’d been trained to not have a weakness that might be used against me. For a long time, I’d followed that training, my only weakness being my dreg brothers.

  Then, I’d shoved caution to the wind and gone in search of my mother. And she’d become a weakness.

  In the process, I’d met and fallen in love with Liz. And she’d become another, bigger weakness.

  I’d forsaken my training in my search for happiness.

  And now I was paying the price for giving my training the middle finger.

  Blood seeped out of me in a steady stream. Two of the bullets had struck me before I’d managed to get out of the way. Both wounds were in my torso, one in my lower abdomen, the other higher up, right beneath my heart. If I’d been out on a mission, I would be wearing a vest right now, and the bullets would have only bruised me, unable to pierce through the vest’s armor. But I wasn’t out on a mission. And I wasn’t wearing a vest.

  Bullets were designed to harm. To plunder through flesh and bone. To kill.

  The human body was defenseless against a bullet. And I could feel that defenselessness now as my blood pooled out onto the hotel carpet beneath me. I might be a dreg, a super soldier, but I was still human. Still killable.

  Somehow, Mateo had gotten past Tracker and Jacob. How had he done that? Somehow, he’d fooled Tracker and Jacob into thinking he was my mother. The sneaky little bastard had discovered where we were staying. And he’d found my mom.

  But I couldn’t blame any of the other dregs. They didn’t know Mom, so it had probably been easy for Mateo to trick them. I would have to ask Tracker and Jacob later how Mateo had gotten past them. What had he done to my mother? Was she still alive?

  If only I’d picked up on the strange nuances in Glenda’s behavior sooner, before it was too late.

  Because now, it was too late.

  Mateo had Liz.

  And my wounds were serious. I could easily die right here in this room.

  If I could somehow save Liz, then it would be worth dying for. But I had to get her away from Mateo first. I couldn’t die before I saved her. He could easily drag this out for hours and simply wait for me to die, holding Liz hostage to keep me at bay. Mateo held all the cards right now and he knew it.

  “Liz and I never got to finish what we started,” Glenda said in a rough voice just before she morphed into Mateo. I peered around the armchair where I was crouched, pressing my prosthetic hand against the wound in my abdomen, and my other hand against the wound just below my heart. The pain was intense, but I focused instead on the son-of-a-bitch who held Liz hostage.

  I was bleeding profusely now, the wounds life-threatening. I wouldn’t last long if I didn’t get medical treatment. But I was more worried about Liz.

  “Let her go,” I hissed out. “She’s an innocent. You can have me.”

  Mateo snickered. “I already shot you. You’ll die soon enough, dreg. As soon as you do, I’ll only have seven more dregs to kill. But I’m taking Liz with me as an insurance policy. I’ll need a hostage to escape this building alive. Besides, it will hurt you if I take her away. She’s your weakness. And I want to hurt you.” He let out another gleeful laugh.

  Bastard.

  Liz cringed, but Mateo only pushed the gun harder against the side of her head.

  “Please, Mateo,” she pleaded softly. “Ryan needs medical assistance. You can take me and go. But please, if you don’t let him get some help, he’ll die.”

  Mateo snorted. “That’s the point, Lizzie. He needs to die. They all must die.”

  A wave of pain washed over me, centering in my chest. I sucked in a breath, trying not to curl into a ball. Luke would be showing up soon. Our dreg bond would have already alerted him to my physical pain. But would he arrive in time?

  “What did you do to my mother?” I growled out, trying to ignore the pain.

  Mateo smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  Damn him. I had to get Liz away from Mateo. Then I had to find and save my mother.

  And yeah, somehow manage to stay alive through it all.

  “I’m leaving with Lizzie now,” Mateo announced, slowly dragging her toward the door, keeping her in front of him. The little fucker.

  I had set my gun on the nightstand after I’d returned with breakfast, so it was currently out of reach. But my knife was in the sheath at my ankle. Pushing past another wave of pain,
I yanked the knife free. I was a damn good aim with my knife. I would endure the pain long enough to save Liz. I had to. If I was careful, my hand sure, my aim spot on, I might be able to hit Mateo in the arm wrapped around Liz’s waist, or maybe even the hand holding the gun to her head. It wouldn’t kill him, but if I could wound him, then I could weaken him and give Liz a chance to escape.

  I weighed my odds of being successful, trying to choose the action that would be less likely to cause Liz any harm.

  If I aimed at the arm he had wrapped around her waist and missed, I could mortally wound Liz.

  If I flung the knife at his hand holding the gun to her head and the gun went off, Liz could easily get shot in the head.

  I breathed in deeply, slowly exhaling.

  I couldn’t miss. I had to choose my mark, and throw the knife.

  Then Mateo lifted his gun and fired at me again.

  Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

  I jerked back, hissing as a bullet sliced through the center of my hand, rendering it useless.

  I dropped the knife.

  Bastard!

  Lifting my prosthetic arm, I forced the fingers to cooperate and pick up the knife. I’d never thrown a knife with the prosthetic before, and I wasn’t sure if I could do it now. Knife throwing required precision. Skill. Perfect timing. If I didn’t release it at the right moment, it wouldn’t reach its mark.

  And I could hurt Liz.

  But if I didn’t do something—quickly—I would lose my chance to save Liz.

  Breathing in deeply again, then out, I took aim with the knife, my gaze focusing intently on Mateo’s arm around Liz’s waist as he dragged her toward the door.

  Concentrate. You can do this.

  They were almost at the door.

  It was now or never.

  I couldn’t miss.

  Steady…

  Aim…

  Throw!

  As if I was watching in slow motion, everything stilled around me, my entire focus on the knife as my prosthetic fingers released the handle and it sailed through the air…

  Silently, the weapon approached its mark, turning end over end over end…

  Then, it struck its mark, embedding perfectly into Mateo’s forearm, not even coming close to Liz.

  The breath whooshed out of me. My prosthetic hadn’t failed me. I didn’t hurt Liz.

  Mateo yelled and cursed, thrusting Liz aside as he jerked back and pulled the blade free, sending me a murderous glare.

  Liz launched herself forward, out of his reach. Toward me.

  Hurry Liz!

  I reached for her, scrambling to save her, my girl, my love, summoning the last of my dwindling strength.

  But Mateo was quick, his movements so fast, they were barely detectible.

  With a blur of movement, he rushed forward, wrapping his arm around Liz’s neck, and yanked her backward out the room before I could stop him. It happened so fast, I had no time to react before they disappeared from sight. He was like Jacob. A whirlwind.

  I tried to go after them, dragging myself across the floor, but I was losing blood too quickly, and my strength was rapidly draining away.

  No! Liz! Lizzz!

  Screams came from out in the hallway. Then several hotel guests gathered around my doorway, gaping at me from the hall.

  “Stand back!” a familiar voice barked out.

  The crowd parted, and suddenly Luke was there, rushing forward to bend over me. He pulled his phone from his pocket and shouted, “Ryan’s down in his room! Gunshot wounds. Hurry, man. He’s critical.” He stuffed his phone back in his pocket and rolled me over.

  “Lie still,” he ordered. “Nate’s on his way.”

  “Mateo took Liz,” I whispered, gasping as another wave of pain crashed over me. “He fooled us, made himself look like my mom. Please man, you have to get her back.”

  Luke’s face was expressionless, but his eyes swirled with pain. My pain. He inhaled sharply and turned his faced away.

  Nate and Tony arrived, rushing forward to lean over me.

  “Fuck,” Nate murmured as he assessed my condition. “He’s going to need a transfusion. Stat.”

  Tony rolled up his sleeve. “Let’s get on it.”

  Luke rose, stepping back. “I’m going after that little fucker. Nate will take care of you. You don’t die on me, all right?”

  Before I could respond, he retrieved his phone again and snapped into it, “Ryan’s down. Nate and Tony are assisting. Yeah, it’s bad. I need help tracking Mateo. He took Liz. You with me? Good.” He stuffed his phone back in his pocket and turned back to me.

  Our gazes locked, the vengeance in Luke’s eyes telling me he had one purpose right now. Find Mateo.

  “Tracker’s going to help me find her,” he announced. “He said he was sorry for failing you. He’s not sure how Mateo got past them. I’ll bring your girl back. Just don’t die on me.”

  He swept out of the room, passing Logan and Noah as they hurried in.

  Liz. Oh fuck. Would Luke get to her in time?

  That was my last thought before I blacked out.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Liz

  How had I become Mateo’s prisoner again? I should have noticed sooner that something was wrong with Glenda. I was the only one who truly knew Glenda, so I should have picked up on it sooner. Ryan hadn’t seen his mother in fourteen years, so it wasn’t his fault that Mateo had fooled him. But I should have known. I should have said something, done something to prevent this from happening. But by the time it had finally registered in my brain that Glenda wasn’t really Glenda, it was too late.

  I’d failed Ryan. And now he might die.

  I was on my own with a monster. A sadistic freak who liked to torture and kill women.

  I didn’t understand how someone could be so sadistically evil, especially someone as young as Mateo. The kid couldn’t be any older than nineteen or twenty, but there was so much evil in him he barely seemed human. I didn’t believe it was possible to be “born evil”. I believed everyone came into this world innocent and pure. Evil had to be shown. Taught. Learned. Had The Company turned Mateo into the beast he was now? What had they done to him? What had caused him to be this way? Or was he not really Mateo, but someone who had taken on Mateo’s appearance? And if so, then who was Mateo really?

  People paused to gape at us as Mateo dragged me down the sidewalk and into the parking garage, but no one moved to intervene. They took one look at the gun in his hand and the evil intent on his face, and backed away.

  When we reached the second level of the garage, Mateo shoved me into another car four rows down, a car that I assumed was stolen—a light blue Mazda, this time. He forced me behind the wheel again, holding the gun to my head. Blood oozed from his arm where Ryan had hit him with the knife, dripping down into his seat. My head was still reeling from that amazing stunt. Ryan had aimed that knife perfectly, wounding Mateo and making him release me. But I hadn’t gotten far before Mateo had grabbed me again.

  Though he was wounded, it didn’t appear to slow him down at all.

  “Drive, bitch.” He pressed the gun against my temple.

  What would he do if I refused? Would he shoot me? He’d said he needed a hostage to get away, but now that we were gone, he didn’t need me anymore. Did he hate Ryan so much that he wanted to hurt me to make Ryan suffer? Or was he just a psychopath who couldn’t resist going after me again? Why me? I didn’t wholly understand Mateo’s motive. And what had he done to Glenda? Had he killed her? Was she alive?

  “Where’s Glenda?” I demanded, turning to glare at him. “What did you do to her?”

  His eyes gleamed with maliciousness. “She’s tied up in her room. I couldn’t risk trying to sneak her out and having the dregs see me, so I left her there.”

  Relief swept through me. She was still alive. He must have forced Glenda to make that call, then morphed himself into Glenda and shown up as her.

  “How did you get into Glenda’s room
without anyone seeing you? How did you even find us?”

  He chortled. “That was the easy part. I’m The Shifter, remember? I’m a fucking chameleon. I can change into anyone I want. I followed you guys last night, then I waited for Ryan to come out, and when he went over to his mommy’s room, I followed him. He hardly glanced at the old hobo pushing the shopping cart down the street.” He sniggered. “He looked right into my eyes when he came out of Mommy’s room last night, but I was just a restaurant delivery boy, bringing takeout to hotel guests. Ryan never knew it was me. I stuck around, impersonating the delivery boy so Tracker and Jacob wouldn’t get suspicious. I even delivered food to them and chatted with them for a few minutes. Then I made my move and tied up Ryan’s mommy. I pretended to be her, fooling everyone. It was pretty brilliant, if you ask me.”

  Brilliant wasn’t a word I would use. Cunning. Evil. Demented. That was Mateo.

  “What about me? Why did you take me? You don’t need me anymore. What do you want? Why don’t you just let me go and leave? If you can change into anyone you want, then why do you even need me? Why don’t you just blend into whomever you want and just disappear?”

  His gaze darkened. “It doesn’t work that way. Changing requires energy. And if I’m injured like right now, it’s very difficult to control the shifting, hard to draw up the amount of energy required to morph into someone else. Sometimes, I get stuck in one form for a while. And other times, my body shifts uncontrollably and I can’t stop it. We had witnesses back there at the hotel who can identify me, so I need to hightail it out of here. I need to find a place to hide until I can get the shifting under control. I know just where to go. As for you, you’re my reward for taking Ryan out. He’ll die soon, if he’s not dead already. I never got to have fun with you like I planned. We’re going to a place where I can play with you however I want, for as long as I want. We’re going to a place where no one will hear your screams, and even if they do, they won’t care.”

  My heart thudded in terror. Oh, dear God.

  He ground the gun against my temple. “Enough talking. Now, drive!”

  I winced at the pain. Drawing in a deep breath, I put the car in gear, easing the vehicle out of the garage and into the morning traffic.