by Amelia Jade
“You got our letter, then?” he asked, pointing at the envelope clutched by Madison.
Madison. What a lovely name.
“Letter? What letter?” she asked, then sheepishly looked down as Connor pointed.
“I’ll get the bags,” the father said, moving swiftly down the hallway.
“What the hell is going on?” Madison asked, stepping forward to confront him. “What bags? Why are you here, and why are you dressed like... like... spies?!”
Connor opened his mouth, but then closed it as Charlie elbowed him hard in the side.
He didn’t know what to do. Despite his earlier lie, their intel hadn’t mentioned a daughter at all. She wasn’t a shifter though. Should he take her? Their arrangement was for one only, not two. He couldn’t leave her behind though, could he? Connor knew that’s what he should do. The tactical side of him was ruthless though—it had no compassion. Connor simply stared at her, not speaking, until the father reappeared.
“You don’t seem very shocked by this,” he said to the father. He already knew the daughter’s name; he didn’t want to know this man’s name.
You are so fucked.
I know.
Shaking his head, he focused back on the present.
“Several of my friends have gone missing,” the man explained. “All of them shifters. I packed these a while ago, just in case we needed to make a run for it. Here,” he said, giving one to Madison.
“No,” Charlie said, stepping forward. “We’re only here for you, sir,” he said firmly.
The father looked at Connor.
He grimaced and nodded.
“Fine, leave then,” the man said. “I’m not going without her.”
“Going where, Dad? Will somebody please tell me what the fuck is going on?”
To her credit, Madison didn’t appear to be in distress. No, if he judged it right, she was pissed.
She’s a strong one, he thought, impressed. Her short hair was bouncing angrily, mirroring the look on her face as she stared back and forth between him and Charlie.
“Guys, what’s taking so long?” Delta’s voice buzzed in his ear.
Connor had to make a decision. Were they taking the girl, or weren’t they?
“We can’t leave her behind,” he whispered to Charlie, pulling him across the room to talk in private. “They’ll just grab her and use her as ransom, which means we’ll then have to go get her from their clutches. It’ll be better if we do this now, our way.”
Charlie hesitated. “That’s…actually not a bad point,” he said with a frown. “But she’s not a shifter. If things get complicated…”
He sighed. “I know, but I think we have to take that chance. It’s your decision though.”
“What?” Charlie frowned. Connor was in command of the mission. “Why?”
Connor glanced over his shoulder at the woman as she stared at them, arms crossed, ignoring her father. If looks could kill…
“I think my judgment is compromised,” was all he was willing to say.
Charlie’s eyebrows rose fractionally. “Oh.” He thought about it for a moment, then sighed. “Just bring her, let’s go.”
Connor nodded, reassuming command.
“Okay, shoes, bag,” he ordered, pointing to Madison and the bag and the pile of shoes by the door. “Running shoes, let’s move. Now.”
The father pulled his daughter along, who at some point stopped resisting, though she was clearly still unhappy.
Exiting the room, Connor took point, followed by the target, Madison and then Charlie.
“Where are we going?” she asked as they entered the stairway.
He turned and made a chopping motion across his neck. They were in full-on extraction mode at the moment. The Agency could be waiting anywhere. Although Connor expected Madison to protest loudly, her father raised a hand to his lips and gave her a pleading look. Madison looked unhappy, but she stayed silent, creeping along as best she could with the rest of them. She didn’t have the preternatural inclination toward stealth that shifters did, but she did a credible job.
You probably learn how to be real quiet trying to sneak out of the house with a shifter parent, he thought wryly, a smile slipping across his face, the features once more obscured by his balaclava.
“Delta, report.”
“Still all clear out front,” Delta said immediately.
Connor breathed a sigh of relief. They were moving earlier than intended, with only a fraction of a plan in place. Normally everything was planned down to the last detail, but with the spotting of the Agent nearby, they didn’t have time for that. Right now, they had to get them to the train yard, and onto the freight train their contact assured them was leaving tonight.
In forty-eight minutes, to be exact. He pulled the sleeve back over his watch and continued down the stairs, ears alert for the slightest noise that didn’t belong to his team. The stairwell looked the same as the one from their last mission. It was amazing how quickly everywhere started to blend together as they went on mission after mission. Subtle differences began to disappear.
He pulled the gray door open at the bottom, ushering Charlie through first, then the others in reverse order. The door led directly outside, into the alleyway behind the apartment building.
“Delta, move out,” he said.
Seconds later the door opened and Delta emerged. They herded their charges toward the parked SUV two buildings down, urging them to constantly move faster. There was still plenty of daylight out, which left Connor extremely on edge. It would be easy for any Agents watching the place to see them. He could only hope they had gotten the drop on them.
Reaching the vehicle, he slid calmly into the driver’s seat, punching the ignition button the instant his foot hit the brake pedal. The V6 under the hood came alive with a throaty purr, and he slammed it into gear, resisting the urge to take off as quickly as possible. The alley would amplify the sound of squealing rubber, alerting anyone who may have missed their flight so far. So instead he simply accelerated at a reasonable pace, before turning into traffic and hoping he could lose any tail in the busy city streets.
The target sat up front with him, while Madison sat in the back, with Charlie and Delta on either side of her. They both kept silent, though there was a noticeable difference between the father’s amiable quiet attitude and the sullen, brewing anger of Madison.
“Almost there,” he said softly, turning onto the side street that would take them to the train yard.
“Why the train yard?” Madison finally asked from the back seat as it became clear that’s where they were heading.
“To get you on a train,” he replied.
She snorted and he could feel the accompanying eyeroll, despite his focus on the road in front of them. “You don’t say,” she said sarcastically. “And why are we getting on a train?”
“To take it,” he replied, his voice tightening slightly as he turned into the train yard, though he hoped it wasn’t noticeable.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, sitting forward.
How the hell did she pick up on that? Even Charlie, his best friend, hadn’t reacted. He did now though, leaning forward.
“Trouble,” Charlie said softly.
“Trouble,” Connor confirmed.
Before he finished speaking a pair of headlights flicked on ahead of them. A pair of expensive-looking black SUVs pulled out from between buildings, at the same time a third set appeared behind them.
“They’ve got us boxed in,” Connor said, slamming on the brakes. Rubber squealed this time as their own SUV came to a halt.
“How the—”
“Quiet,” he said to Delta, silencing him with a look over his shoulder.
Connor felt bad chastising him like that in front of everyone, but he didn’t want their charges becoming rattled at the fact that the Agency always seemed to be one step ahead of them. He needed them calm and ready to do exactly as ordered if they were going to make it out.
The doors on the black SUVs opened and men began to emerge, guns in hand. Connor frowned. He hated those damn tranquilizer guns they had.
“Seatbelts,” he ordered, though everyone was already using one.
“This is the captain speaking,” he started muttering under his breath, throwing the vehicle into reverse and looking over his shoulder. “We would like to notify all passengers that we are expecting to move through some turbulence. There is nothing to be alarmed about, but the cabin may shake and rock a little. Please remain calm, and if you need assistance, please press the overhead button. Thank you for using Bravo Limousines and we appreciate your business.”
Madison was looking at him wide-eyed. “How can you be so calm?”
“Brace yourselves,” he said loudly.
The SUV’s rear end slammed into the vehicle blocking them in from behind, pushing it out of the way. Connor didn’t take his foot from the pedal, ignoring the glass that flew through the cabin as their rear window shattered. He just kept them moving. At one point the car bounced up in the air.
“We hit something!” Madison shouted.
“Someone,” Connor corrected grimly, but he didn’t stop.
Reaching the street they had just turned off, he spun the wheel, hit the brakes, and then slammed the SUV into gear once more. Tires squealed loudly as he punched it.
“Calculating route,” he said, imitating the annoying built-in GPS that he had disabled the first day they had the SUV.
Someone snickered, but he was too busy to notice. By waiting until the men had emerged from the vehicles, Connor had bought them some time before they could pursue. He doubted they were expecting him to be so aggressive with passengers on board, and had used that. To his surprise, it had worked. He wheeled around the corner as the road curved, following the outline of the train yard. The car bounced slightly as they crossed a set of tracks, then another.
“Seatbelts off, get ready to get out,” he ordered. “Head for the fence.”
Once everyone had complied he steered the vehicle off the road and onto the gravel shoulder, then onto the grass beyond. Punching the brakes, everyone hopped out before the car had even come to a complete stop.
“Delta first,” he ordered as he and Charlie locked their hands together.
Delta moved back, took one step toward them before planting his other foot in their hands, and then he jumped. Connor and Delta launched him upward at the same time, and effectively threw him over the fence that surrounded their objective, clearing the twelve-foot barbed wire barricade with several feet to go. He landed easily on one knee before turning back.
“You’re next,” he said to the father.
To his credit, the man didn’t hesitate. It wasn’t as smooth of a takeoff, and a much rougher rolling landing than Delta had achieved, but he was clear.
“Catch her,” he ordered, though the command was redundant. The pair of shifters were already moving in to position.
“What?” Madison asked, looking around shakily.
Headlights appeared around the corner.
“No time Madison. You need to go. Now!” he shouted, putting as much command into his voice as he could, trying to use it as a physical device to slap her into motion.
“Oh fuck this,” she said angrily, then backed up and launched herself at the pair.
Definitely a strong one.
“Get lower,” Connor said, realizing she wouldn’t make it onto their hands.
The pair desperately squatted lower, hoping to catch her foot.
Madison leapt for them.
***
And with a yelp they launched her up and over, right into the waiting arms of Delta and her father.
“You next,” Connor ordered.
Charlie hesitated for a second, but the screeching of tires as the SUVs reached them spurred him into action. They had but moments before the men were on them. He bent low, cupping his hands in front of him as Charlie stepped back.
Connor’s growl as he single-handedly threw his team member over the fence was loud enough to echo through the dark.
There wasn’t nearly as much room, and his pants ripped slightly on the barbed wire, but Charlie made it.
“What about you?” Madison shouted as Charlie and Delta ushered her deeper into the train yard.
Beyond them, a throaty horn sounded in the deepening darkness of night. The sun had been down for some time now, and the shadows were growing thicker by the second. His watched beeped.
“Train’s leaving! Get them on it!” he yelled.
“Freeze!”
Connor looked over to see a man climbing out of one of the vehicles.
Not today, shithead, he thought.
Then, faster than any man could move, he launched himself at the hood of his SUV, landing on the roof and jumping. The roof crumpled behind him, but it had supported him for long enough. His legs sprang him up as glass exploded in the windows, the roof collapsing in on itself.
That was why he hadn’t had the others use that method. Only one of them could have. And besides, the landing was going to hurt.
Connor shouted in pain as he landed fully in the barbed wire, the razor-sharp metal slicing deep into his skin in more places than he cared to know. One piece whipped by his face as he tumbled over it, the ground rushing up to meet him.
“Fuck,” he cried out as one of his fingers snapped awkwardly on the landing.
Snap-hiss.
Connor rolled frantically at the sound, just as something dug into the dirt nearby him.
They were firing!
The noise grew louder as more of the men approached the fence, trying to hit him as he scrambled to his feet and began to dodge, using the shadows as best he could. The men behind him were human, so their reactions and eyesight would be reduced heavily, especially as he made his way between looming train cars.
“Ow!” he shouted as something tugged at his arm. Looking down, he saw the scrape mark where a dart must have grazed him. “Lucky bastard,” he said, looking back into the dark.
His blood turned to ice.
Illuminated by the headlights was a man several inches taller than the others. It wasn’t his height though. It was the calm demeanor with which he stood near the others, lowering his tranquilizer pistol, which he had only used one hand on. His body language was relaxed, and yet laser-focused at the same time. Connor saw the head tilt, and realized the man must have picked him up in the darkness.
The gun came up in a blur and Connor ducked around the railroad car just as something clinked against the metal at head height.
Not good, he said, cursing under his breath as he took off after the others. He could hear the train lurching into motion, the loud echoing of metal as one car after another was slowly drawn taut by the movement of the engine. He was running out of time.
Ahead, he saw the rest of his team. Delta and Madison’s father were leading the way. Charlie was lagging behind, pulling Madison after him.
“We need to go after him,” she was saying angrily.
Something about the way she spoke told Connor that she was mad at herself, not at Charlie.
“He’ll be fine,” Charlie said, pulling on her again. The space between the two pairs was increasing as they raced after the moving train.
“I’m coming! Go!’ Connor shouted, catching their attention. “Get moving,” he said angrily as he drew up alongside them, snatching Madison up bodily and tucking her under his arm as they went.
“You’re covered in blood!” she yelped. “Put me down!”
“Then run faster,” he growled, but did as she said. The trio were within two hundred yards of the train when he heard the noise.
“That sounds like—” Charlie started, but was cut off as lights bounced crazily behind them, the rays casting wild shadows all over the train yard.
“A truck,” Connor finished, looking behind them as a fourth vehicle appeared.
The pickup bounced and careened across the tracks, but despite the
rough terrain it was gaining ground on them. Ahead of them the first pair was already on the train. Delta hustled the man inside.
“Get on!’ Connor shouted to Charlie, indicating he was going to have to assist Madison. They were starting to fall behind as the train picked up speed. They didn’t have long now before it would be going too fast for even a shifter to catch.
Charlie nodded his head and picked up the pace, leaping on to the back of the moving train.
“Sorry, but no choice this time,” Connor said, picking Madison up in his arms as he dashed forward, his shifter legs closing the ground on the rearmost railroad car. Unlike many trains it wasn’t another engine, but an enclosed cargo car.
“Charlie, catch her!” he shouted to the other man.
“What?” Madison shrieked in his arms.
“I’m going to throw you,” he grunted, churning his legs to get as close as possible to the train.
He bunched his arms, preparing to throw her.
Something flew out of the night, slapping him across the cheek.
Connor flexed his arms, launching Madison forward as he stumbled. She screamed and reached for Charlie’s outstretched arms.
Chapter Four
Madison
She was airborne.
Madison heard herself screaming as she flew through the air, propelled with a strength no human could match. Charlie’s arm came closer and she desperately reached for it.
Their fingers brushed against each other, and then she was falling.
No!
The ground came up quickly, reaching out to hit her as she bounced and then rolled up and over the tracks into the gravel-lined sides. Small rocks ripped at her exposed skin and clothing as she came to a halt. She scowled angrily, forcing herself to her feet. Everywhere hurt, but she had taken hits worse than that in her rugby days. The next morning would be a different story, but for now adrenaline was coursing through her veins as she darted after the train, followed quickly by the man with the blue eyes.
“We’re not going to make it,” she gasped.
