by Amelia Jade
“I don’t have a phone.”
That’s what you say? Really? Not “be safe” or “come back to me”? Good job, brain.
“I know. I’ll call your hotel this time,” he said with a wink, and then vaulted over the counter, narrowly missing the shop owner, who started yelling louder than before. She threw the hanger in her hand at Justin, but it bounced harmlessly off his back as he disappeared, heading toward the rear exit of the shop.
Well that was uneventful—
The door behind her opened, a gust of outside air rushing through the place, whipping some of the clean clothes on the rack into a frenzy.
Shay whirled to see two large and clearly in-shape men enter the store, dressed in all black, looking very authoritative and official. Their utility boots clumped on the floor as they strode up to the counter.
“Where is he?” they asked, looking back and forth between her and the little lady behind the counter.
“Uh, where is who?” she asked, trying not to shake.
Who were these guys? Why were they after Justin? They had the look of law enforcement officers about them. Not the street cops either, but the special teams that were called in when something extra bad was happening.
A thought raced through her system. Was Justin a criminal? Is that why he had to run so often? Was his “team” just a bunch of common crooks? Nausea flooded her stomach as she reached for the counter to steady herself.
“Big tall male. Very short-cut hair, wearing a leather motorcycle jacket. We saw him duck in here,” one of them said, his partner peering over the counter to see if Justin was hidden back there.
The little lady at the counter was looking back and forth. So far she hadn’t said a word, but Shay had her doubts about how much longer that would last. Gathering her nerves, she prepared to lie.
“I didn’t get a good look at him,” she said. “But a guy did open the door and start to come inside before leaving. I remember because he ducked and ran out of here still in a low crouch, looking really weird and scared.”
The pair looked at each other, and turned to head back out the front door.
Shay sagged, relieved that they had bought her lie.
The door opened, but this time there wasn’t a big gust of wind to accompany it.
“You notice that?” the first one said to his partner.
“No wind,” the other replied immediately.
“Back door,” they said together and turned, clearing the counter easily, sending the little lady sprawling out of the way.
Justin!
Thoughts cascaded through her head as she tried to understand just what was going on. Had she lied to the police or a government agency? Why were they after Justin? Who was he?
Curiosity and a desire to know the truth got the better of her, and she jumped over the counter herself, helping the little lady to her feet before following the two men out the back door.
Something was going on, and Shay needed to know what.
She only hoped that it wouldn’t bring her world crumbling down for the second time in only a few weeks.
Chapter Eight
Justin
You got Shay involved! That was the one thing you were supposed to ensure never happened.
Justin continued to curse himself as he walked down the alley behind the dry cleaner. He could still feel the taste of her lips upon his, a faint hint of cherry left behind from her lip gloss. His entire body was yelling at him to go back there, to kiss her fully again and to let the natural order of things take over.
His brain was telling him to get the fuck out of there before the Agents showed up. Then it switched to telling him to go back, because Shay was in danger because of him, and he needed to ensure she was safe.
“Argh!” he screamed, inarticulate frustration boiling over as he slammed his fist into the side of a garbage dumpster. The green-painted metal dented under the blow, though he paid for it as pain shot through his knuckles.
Finally he came to a decision. Shay needed to stay safe. He didn’t think the Agents had seen her over the rest of the people around, but he couldn’t take that chance. He needed to ensure that he led them away himself.
Turning, he went to jog back down the alleyway, but his strides faltered before they barely even started as two men dressed in standard Agency black exited the rear of the dry cleaner, spreading out into the alley as they saw him.
Shit.
He glanced around. Garbage and other refuse lined the walls. Three-, four-, and five-story buildings abounded in this section. Another block in three directions and they were surrounded by towering skyscrapers that would provide no refuge for him. The fourth way led him toward more low-lying buildings, many of which were occupied by owners trying to make a living in King City. The buildings were often decorated with a multitude of colors and flashing signs. It would be the perfect place for him to lose his tails—if he could get there.
The Agents jogged down the open path toward him as Justin looked around for what he needed.
There!
He judged the distance, took a few steps back, then ran forward as fast as he could. One foot pushed from the ground, launching him up onto a windowsill. From there he rebounded to the top of a dumpster and then threw himself straight up, his fingers wrapping around the fire escape. This was a simple ladder, not a full metal staircase. Justin pulled himself up hand over hand as fast as he could until there were enough rungs below him to engage his feet. As soon as that happened he flew up the ladder, his limbs a blur.
The entire metal apparatus shuddered, the vibrations throwing off his grip. He slammed to a halt, hanging on by one hand and one foot. Below, he saw both shifters mimic his move perfectly and begin to ascend the ladder as well.
“Dammit,” he muttered. They were Extremis Agents: half-breeds given an injection of a serum that bonded to their shifter DNA, giving them many of the abilities of a shifter, without the manifestation of an inner animal. That was the only advantage Justin would have over these two if they managed to catch him.
“So it’s simple then,” he said. “They can’t catch me.”
The idea of stopping to fight the Agents didn’t even come up as an option. It was there in his head of course; there was no way it couldn’t. After all, it might still come to that. But if it did, it would be because Justin had exhausted his other options. Killing two Agents in broad daylight was not a smart move. Too many people would see them, or hear the fight. He didn’t have his mask on either, so witnesses would be able to describe him.
No, he had to try and escape. The only bright side to it all was that both Agents were following him. Neither had stayed with Shay, so she was safe. Knowing that fact allowed him to breathe a lot easier.
The top of the building neared and with an extra burst of effort, Justin launched himself up and over the lip, expecting to land on the gravel-topped roof with a quick roll.
Instead, he found himself falling amidst a tangle of rooftop clothing lines, full of wet sheets and other laundry strung out to dry. Cursing, he stood, ripping the sticky fabric from him as fast as he could.
A noise caught his attention as the first Agent cleared the lip of the building behind him. Without thinking, Justin grabbed the sheet in his hand and, like a matador, furled it up and around his target, wrapping the Agent in the big purple sheet. While the man shouted his anger, Justin took off, ducking between more lines of clothing that were still standing as he made his way across the roof.
He emerged from the lines of clothing with just enough room to slide to a halt. The next building was a story shorter. Surveying his landing, Justin took a step back and launched himself across the small gap, dropping his shoulder as he went. He impacted the gravel and rolled to his feet, the sting of his landing already fading from his shoulder.
Feet churning, he made for the next building, even as the ground thudded underneath him once, and then twice, to indicate both his pursuers were still close behind him.
“Stop!�
�� one of them shouted, but he ignored them, heading straight for the next building.
They were of the same three-story height, and he didn’t even pause as he approached, simply throwing himself over the lip. The big shifter sailed through the air and landed in a crouch, rising almost instantly as the Agents were already in the air behind him
Damn, they’re quick.
A sliver of fear raced through him that perhaps these Agents had taken a different strain of the Extremis serum. Did they have enhanced speed? Perhaps greater strength than his? If they caught up with him, Justin could be in a world of trouble if that were the case.
Adrenaline spurred him faster and gave him more strength as he worked to ensure they wouldn’t catch him. He approached the end of his building, where another loomed up a full story taller than his own. Gritting his teeth, Justin surged forward. He leapt up onto the ledge, and without stopping flung himself upward, arms reaching for the roof of the next building. There was no fire escape; he had to go straight for it.
He glanced down at the nearly four-story drop to the ground below, a whisper of doubt entering his mind just before he slammed into the side of the building, his fingers scrabbling for purchase on the raised stone and brick lip that seemed to surround all the nearby buildings.
His right hand slipped! For just a moment Justin was swaying freely in the mid-morning breeze, held aloft by the four fingers of his left hand alone. Just as quickly as he froze in shock, his reflexes, honed by many years of training with the other Sentinels, kicked in and he swung his right hand back up onto the lip, gaining purchase. His legs kicked and pushed rapidly until he was able to haul himself up and over, onto the ledge.
“Oh come on,” he muttered aloud, his eyes drawn to the building below him just in time to see one of the Agents launch his partner up and toward the building Justin currently lay upon, giving him much more height.
It also meant he was vulnerable.
Justin wasn’t willing to kill them in daylight, and he stuck to that, hoping to find another way to evade them. But the Agent had enough height that he was going to clear the lip that Justin was on and land on the gravel roof two feet down.
All Justin had to do was bunch his legs up, and as the Agent passed next to him, kick out.
There was nothing the man could do besides grab at Justin’s legs, but there was no hope of him finding enough purchase there. The enemy Agent went tumbling across the roof until he connected solidly with the lip over there, his head slamming into the stone.
He had hoped it would buy him some time, but the Agent just shook his head and leapt to his feet, eyes focused on Justin.
Behind him, the first Agent leapt across the distance, following Justin’s path as he grabbed onto the lip and began to pull himself over.
“Oh come on,” he muttered. “Do you guys ever give up?” he asked under his breath before taking off again.
The straight line between buildings that he had been taking ended, and Justin was forced to go to the right. The building he was on seemed to be a long one. He was able to go quite some distance before being forced to leap to the next building, which thankfully was the same four stories as the one he was currently on. Behind him the Agents continued to pursue him. Justin was starting to breathe a bit more heavily now as the chase continued from rooftop to rooftop.
It dawned on him, as he had to make another right turn to continue having a building to jump to, that he was heading back the way he had come. Not good. This was going to lead them to Shay if they continued.
Assuming she’s still there. By now she’s likely realized that I’m long gone, and isn’t going to stick around.
He wondered if she would even still be at the same hotel when he finally had a moment to contact her.
If I were her, I’d be finding somewhere else, somewhere where I can’t get drawn into this world.
Part of him hoped Shay would do that so that she would be safe, even if it meant he would never see her again.
Shaking his head, Justin realized he had allowed himself to be distracted. As hands wrapped around his midsection, taking him down, he realized it might have been a fatal distraction. The Agent tackled him hard, and the two of them went down, bouncing across the roof. Bits and pieces of metal that he had avoided while running slammed into his body, and then the Agents as they began to roll, opening cuts on both of them.
Justin grunted in pain as it was his body that slammed hard into the raised lip around the roof, bringing the pair to a halt with bone-jarring swiftness. The Agent’s body used him as a landing pad, adding insult to injury as he tried to rise, ignoring the cries of pain from a dozen parts of his body.
The Agent rose even swifter, seeming to have come out ahead. He grabbed Justin by the collar, shook him violently with his extreme strength that had been enhanced by the blood of a shifter, and then hurled the Sentinel over the edge of the roof.
***
Justin shouted out in surprise, and possibly just a bit of terror as his feet caught on the edge of the roof, imparting a spin to his fall.
He reached out, managing to snag the fire escape, but the flimsy metal gave out under his strength and the pull of his weight, and he continued to fall. His head slammed off another piece of railing, shooting stars across his vision and spinning him faster.
Then he hit the ground, which to his surprise gave out under him. It was only after the stars began to clear from his vision that he realized someone must have been watching over him. He had landed in a garbage dumpster, the blows on the way down slowing him just enough that the bags of trash had cushioned his fall. Something was still broken in his ribs, and if he didn’t miss his guess, the warmth seeping down his face and across his shoulders wasn’t liquid from the garbage, but blood pouring from his head.
Still, he was alive.
Above him, metal clanged as the two Agents raced down the fire escape after him, not content to just let him be.
Justin snarled. He was angry. It wasn’t often that someone got the best of him. Even Jared, arguably the best on their team, was hard-pressed to beat him, though he did so more often than not. For some punk-ass Agency shithead to do this to him was unacceptable.
Rolling over, he hauled himself up and out of the garbage bin.
“Justin?”
He froze at the voice. Twisting his head, he saw several hundred feet down that the alley he had fallen into was the dry cleaner. Standing between there and him was a beautiful figure with greenish-blue eyes and a beautiful face, staring at him in shock.
“Go!” he shouted, his legs wobbly as he worked to stand. “Get out of here!”
A tremble ran through the ground as the Agents jumped, landing in the alley behind him.
“So she does know you,” one of them said. “I thought so.”
Justin swung around, holding the sudden surging roar of anger from his bear in check. “We don’t have to do this,” he said slowly, backing away from them, ensuring he put himself between the Agents and Shay.
The Agents exchanged confused glances. “Do what?” one of them asked, his voice muffled as always by the black masks they wore. This pair even had sunglasses still in place after the chase, preventing Justin from even seeing their eyes.
“Fight,” he said firmly. “I don’t want to kill you.”
The duo chuckled. “In case you haven’t noticed, freak, you’re a little outnumbered.”
Justin stood up straight. “Freak? You’re the ones with things you weren’t born to. At least what I have is natural.”
One of them snorted. “Natural? There’s nothing natural about what you do. You’re an abomination, a mutation that needs to be eradicated. We are the future.”
The Sentinel rolled his eyes, still backing away.
“Justin, what’s going on?”
He froze. That was Shay’s voice, but it was much closer than before.
“Why are you still here?” he asked. “You need to run away.”
“I don’t want to
leave you,” she said firmly.
He growled. “I can’t protect you if you’re here.”
The Agents laughed. “You can’t protect her anyway,” the one on the left said.
Then they charged.
No. Don’t make me do this in front of her!
Shay didn’t need to see this, to be a witness to what was about to happen. What must she already think of him? Would she even talk to him again if he gave her a first-hand view of the world he lived in?
The decision was taken from him as one of the Agents tried to dodge past Justin and make a grab for Shay. The lack of training, at least in comparison to him, showed there, as he should have waited an extra heartbeat or two for his partner to engage the Sentinel. But he didn’t, and so Justin hit the overeager attacker in the side, his punch breaking ribs as he drove it up and into the attacker’s side. The unexpected blow sent the Agent tumbling.
Justin finished his move, completing a spin so that he was back facing the first shifter, doing so just in time to receive a fist to his face. The big man fell to one knee, dazed but far from out of the fight. His legs flexed and he drove his shoulder into the Agent’s stomach. The powerful muscles in his tree trunk-like limbs exploded upward with force, and he lifted the Agent from his feet before slamming him hard to the ground, catching the Agent completely unawares with the move.
For just a moment, both Agents were out of the fight. He turned to Shay, who was only a few dozen feet behind now, looking at him in horror.
“Get out of here!” he shouted, taking a step toward her.
A hand grabbed his elbow. With an angry snarl Justin planted his back foot and pushed off, driving his other elbow backward as hard as he could. It connected solidly with the Agent’s nose and blood exploded everywhere, pouring from the mangled ruins of his face. But the other shifter didn’t drop.
Instead, his other hand darted out toward Justin’s stomach.
The shifter jumped back, narrowly avoiding the knife blade, coated as always these days with the green paste that somehow managed to slow his healing powers to a standstill. If the Agent managed to stab him with the knife, Justin stood a very good chance of bleeding out in the alleyway.
