by Jodi Redford
Teague suddenly slammed to a stop. “Motherfucker.”
“What?”
Ignoring her, he crossed the floor in two lunging strides, the heels of his work boots crunching through the scattered debris of glass and metal. Ruby’s stomach bottomed out as Teague dropped onto one knee next to a smashed security bot half-hidden behind a pallet of shattered bottles. Her knees wobbly, she lifted to her feet. “It’s destroyed, right? No pictures could have…”
Teague inspected the unit’s transmission port. “The bot sent them a few seconds before it was hit. No doubt the pics are winging their way to Shadow HQ as we speak.” He clenched his fist and clocked the decommissioned bot, the brute strength in his punch whipping the device into the adjacent wall.
God, she’d really mucked things up. She could live with the exposure she’d brought upon herself. Hell, she’d known the huge risk she was taking the second she put on the cat suit and Light Guardian bracelet. At the time, she’d figured it was her destiny. A chance to finally find her place in the world and do something right for once. But somehow she’d even managed to screw that up.
“Maybe the bot only caught me on camera.” Even as she voiced that shaky hope, common sense told her otherwise. All bots commissioned by Shadow Soda came with long-range and wide-angle lenses. Not likely Teague would have been out of frame.
His wry expression confirmed her suspicions. Pivoting, he strode toward the hallway. She hurried to catch up with him. “What do we do now?”
He granted her a narrow-eyed look when she pulled even with him. “I have no damn idea what you’re doing, but I’m getting the hell out of Dodge.”
She stared at the grim set of his mouth, her gut clenching.
“Can—”
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to ask.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Teague, I have nowhere else to go.” Her family would be no help. They’d likely just turn her in. Especially if there was a nice fat reward involved.
“Princess, I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe you should have thought about that before you decided to play Let’s fry Daddy’s minions.”
She opted to ignore his mocking usage of the word princess for the time being. “That was never my intention. It was supposed to be an easy slip in and slip out. Change the mind-control settings, and nobody would be the wiser.”
Teague shot her another disbelieving look. “That’s what you were doing?”
“Well, it’s what I had planned. I was gathering the serial numbers for the correct vats to disable when the alarm was sounded.”
“If you thought that’d work, you’re even loonier than rumored.”
She hurried her pace to keep up with his much longer legs. “Rumors? Don’t believe everything you hear.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “You implying the story about you breaking into that test lab and freeing all those rats was a load of bullshit?”
She was never going to live that down. “It’s not freaking right making diabetic rats drink sugar-laden soda,” she grumbled beneath her breath.
Teague grunted and swung open the rear service door. He held it aloft for her, but she hesitated.
“Ruby, what the fuck are you waiting for?” He practically growled the words.
“I can still disable the dispensers.”
“Are you out of your damn head? Obviously that’s a rhetorical question.” He jabbed his index finger toward the hallway behind them. “This place is going to become war-zone central any minute now.”
“I can’t leave until I finish this.”
“Turning off the dispensers won’t change anything.”
“Maybe it will.”
“I take it back. You’re not just crazy, you’re fucking suicidal. Taking on the Shadow will only get you killed.”
She was all too aware of that. Despite his assurances to the contrary, she wasn’t insane. Fear and doubt had been her constant companions for the last few days, ever since she’d discovered the truth about her heritage. The reminder of the charade her father had perpetrated for the past twenty-five years rubbed fresh salt in the tender wounds she was still nursing. She wanted to hate him for the lies he’d given, for what he’d attempted to turn her into. But the betrayal was still too fresh and raw to allow anything beyond hurt to penetrate.
Pushing aside her anguished musings, she peered at Teague pleadingly. “Two minutes. That’s all it’ll take.”
A grumble came from the back of Teague’s throat before he tugged the door shut and stalked past her. “You’re bound and determined to get my ass blown off before the night’s done.”
“No way. It’s too nice of an ass.”
He stopped dead in his tracks. Taking advantage of his momentary spell of silence, she hurried by him with a cheeky grin. She retraced her steps to the master control room. Stepping inside, she surveyed the multitude of brightly colored lights flashing across the plethora of control boards paneling the cement-block walls of the otherwise-empty space. Each fiberglass board monitored one of the stations scattered throughout the facility, and the patchwork of blinking circuits was the computerized brains powering Shadow Soda’s high-tech bottling system.
Teague entered the room and halted beside her. “So what made you think of disabling the mind-controlling mix?”
“I originally planned to smash the circuit boards, but I realized subtlety would be better.” She dug beneath the neckline of her cat suit and pulled out the paper she’d jotted the serial numbers on. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Teague’s heated interest in her cleavage. Her nipples immediately hardened in response. Damn, that was embarrassing and uncalled for. Strategically shifting away from Teague, she located the control button for the first dispenser. “Bottom line, it’d be too easy for them to temporarily shut down this plant and continue operations elsewhere. But this way the Shadow’s getting nailed square in the cojones. They won’t even be aware of what’s happened until it’s too late to fix.”
All of her life she’d lived with the hopeless frustration that came from being under the evil Shadow’s thumb. In 2012, almost two years before Ruby’s birth, the alien queen who presided over the Shadow invaded Earth and took over its resources and inhabitants. Understandably enough, most of the native populace had rebelled and fought to defend their freedom, but there’d been those like the Winstons who’d seen a beacon of opportunity. Why fight the enemy when you could join them? So the Winstons, along with other human criminal masterminds, had been assimilated into the queen’s network and given her dark, twisted powers in exchange for loyal obedience. Eventually they’d been enlisted as her Shadow Czars and appointed with the job of keeping the humans enslaved. But their biggest task had been to annihilate the Light Guardians—humanity’s only hope against the Shadow.
The queen and her czars had succeeded too, wiping out every last Light Guardian who’d traveled to Earth, including Ruby’s mother. Her real mother. Not the one Reginald had passed off as Ruby’s mom for the last twenty-five years. Miranda was about as different from Luna as a person could be. Not too surprising though, considering Miranda walked on the darker path of life, whereas Luna had been one of the good guys.
“It’ll go faster if you give me some of those numbers,” Teague said, butting into Ruby’s musings. Not waiting for her reply, he snatched the paper from her and carefully ripped it down the middle before returning the upper portion to her.
She watched him move to the neighboring bank of panels. The full enormity of everything hit her then. They were the last of the Light Guardians, a race that was supposed to be extinct. A race that the Shadow would go to any and all lengths to destroy.
It’d be a miracle if she and Teague survived the night.
Chapter Three
Once the last of the necessary circuits were disabled, Teague grabbed Ruby’s elbow and herded her toward the exit. Outside, damp night air slapped him with a brisk reminder of the ticking clock. The Shadow Net’s he
ad honchos would invariably be roaring into the lot any second. Quickening his pace, he beelined for the sleek Kawasaki NightWing crotch rocket parked near the loading dock. He’d left his jacket back in the plant, but luckily the key for the vehicle was still in his pants pocket. He reached the bike and freed the helmet from the lock on the handlebar. Glancing over his shoulder, he caught Ruby giving him pathetic puppy-dog eyes.
Jesus. He’d helped her with her loony-tune scheme. Getting any more involved in this shitapocalypse would get his ass blown off. “Find a hotel somewhere to lay low for a day or two. Come up with a plan that doesn’t involve landing your neck in a noose. You’ll be fine.” Possibly.
“Teague, we’re on the same team here.”
“No, babe, we’re not.”
She hurried toward him and splashed through one of the many puddles dotting the lot. Grimacing, she slammed to a squishing halt and stared at him, the breeze ruffling her wild red hair. He couldn’t think of a worse moment to be reminded of the countless times he’d woken during the middle of the night, his sheets sweaty and twisted and his dick hard after a particularly vivid dream of Ruby riding him cowgirl-style while those flame tresses tickled over his chest. Yeah, his brain had always known that Ruby was a complication he couldn’t afford. Too bad his cock was a hell of a lot slower about getting the memo.
“You’re a Light Guardian, just like me. We’re the good guys. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
Yeah, it meant they were sitting ducks, with big-ass bull’s-eyes affixed to their backs. He’d seen firsthand the repercussions that came from being a Light Guardian. Maybe Ruby had stars in her eyes regarding their heritage, but he sure as shit didn’t.
“I’ll say it again. Find a place to settle low.” He flicked her with an assessing look. “And lose the getup. It’ll only draw the kind of attention you don’t need.”
“I can’t. It’s my mother’s. One of the few links I have left to her.”
Although he knew it was stupid to linger when the Shadow’s reinforcements were breathing down their necks, he risked a closer inspection of Ruby’s attire. His attention fell to the cuff anchored around her wrist. The vague cloud of déjà vu that’d been haunting him cleared from his brain and he blinked. “That looks like…”
“It is.”
He squinted at Ruby. “You’re honestly trying to tell me that your mother was Luna Light Fire?”
“Trust me, I wouldn’t believe it either if I hadn’t seen the proof with my own eyes.”
Everyone on this godforsaken, fucking planet knew who Luna Light Fire was. Although the Shadow had done everything in their power to wipe the memory of Luna from existence, they hadn’t been successful. He doubted they had the slightest knowledge of the secret club room hidden deep in the catacombs beneath the Shadow-run orphanage he grew up in. As a boy, he’d snuck down there and watched from afar while the others huddled beneath their outlawed mural of Luna and played cards while dreaming their impossible dreams. Even then he’d been a cynic and refused to pin his nonexistent hopes on the faded image of a superhero who could no longer ride in on a glowing thunderbolt and save them all. Because in the end, there was no such thing as an invincible hero. There was only survival, and those who were smart enough to grab on to it and never let go.
Averting his gaze from Ruby, he loosened the shield on the helmet and started to lift it over his head.
“Teague, listen to me. We’re the last of our kind. We need to stick together.” The milky moonlight spilled across Ruby’s features, revealing the spark of hope in her green eyes. “We’re stronger together than apart.”
He knew from personal experience the fallacy of her statement. “I can’t protect you.”
“I’m not asking you to. I can hold my own.”
Lowering the helmet, he dragged in a deep breath and thought longingly of the fifth of Jim Beam back at his loft. Not that he’d ever see it again—the whiskey or his swanky penthouse at the Neon Palace. After tonight’s fiasco, the Shadow would be swarming all over his place. Better to take his chances with his safe house. Tomorrow night he’d heed his own advice and get the hell out of Dodge. Maybe he’d head south. Old Las Vegas was supposed to be nice this time of year.
He returned his attention to Ruby and caught her pleading look. Weariness sat heavy on his sternum. There was one option he could give her—one that might actually keep her out of the Shadow’s radar for the time being. “Associates of mine live outside of Shadow Rapids. They’re pros at staying off the grid. They can help you.” Swinging his leg over the bike, he settled into the seat and gave the engine some throttle before releasing the kickstand. His gaze swept the empty lot, and a nugget of hollow resignation wedged beneath his rib cage. Don’taskdon’taskdon’t—“Where are you parked?”
“I took a taxi.”
Fucking unbelievable. “In that getup?”
“I was wearing a trench coat earlier.”
“Yeah, I saw it.” He chuffed in response to her frown. “Let’s just say your skulking skills need some perfecting.”
Her dejected expression proved his downfall, and he gusted a defeated exhale. “Climb on the back.”
She did as directed and hugged his waist. Blocking out the image of her hands mere inches from his fly, he gave the bike full throttle and zoomed out of the lot. He kept to the lesser used side streets as he headed for the heart of downtown. Much as he loved the idea of leaving the garish spectacle of Neon City in the wake of his exhaust, there was no way he and Ruby would clear customs without some improvised ID, and especially not with the way she was dressed. He’d have to phone his local contact and get some forged papers overnighted to his safe house.
The realization of where his thoughts had just taken him stirred the gloomy unease in his gut. Somewhere between walking out the exit of Shadow Soda and his present circumstances, he’d begun to think of Ruby as his responsibility. What the fuck was wrong with him? If he had a single functioning brain cell, he’d put Ruby on the first available transit to Shadow Rapids before he found himself sinking any deeper in this pit of quicksand.
We’re the good guys, Teague. Even in its phantom form, her words possessed the power to make him feel like a world-class dick. If his mentor, Linc, were still alive, he’d club Teague upside the skull for even entertaining the idea of leaving Ruby to fend for herself. The reminder of his long-lost friend twisted the knife in Teague’s belly. Linc had been one of the good guys. The best of the best. He’d never abandoned Teague. Even when it would have been the most logical thing to do.
Even when it would have saved Linc’s life.
The stinging pain searing Teague’s innards intensified. Tonight he’d destroyed his best shot at enacting vengeance on Linc’s behalf. God knows it wouldn’t have meant shit to his mentor. Linc had believed in turning the other cheek. He’d always been a far better man than Teague would ever hope to be.
Teague nosed the bike down a narrow alley, heading the opposite direction of the seedy hotels lining Shadow Boulevard. The towering glass and stone edifices of the city’s skyscrapers hugged the smaller tenement buildings clustered within the innermost limits of the urban sprawl. Here was where the majority of the human inhabitants lived—if you could call it living. They existed amongst squalor that even a rat would turn its nose up at. Not that the humans were aware of their living conditions. They were so brain-blitzed on Shadow Soda and the multitude of other addictive, mind-controlling substances the Network had hooked them on that they existed in a permanent la-la land.
His mind trekked back to the small act of sabotage he and Ruby had performed back at the plant. A part of him couldn’t help admiring Ruby’s initiative. He had to hand it to her—she had some huge brass balls. There weren’t many who’d take on the Shadow Network. Too bad her plan didn’t stand a hairball-in-hell’s chance of working. Somewhere down the line, the powers at large would figure out the humans were beginning to act like themselves again, and they’d snuff that potential rebellion
before it reared its ugly head.
A stiff breeze blew through the alley, dislodging a ratty towel from where it hung suspended from one of the overhead clotheslines. Teague veered around the crumpled lump of fabric and steered down the steep incline leading deeper into the bowels of Tenement Row. Baying dogs sounded in the distance. There weren’t many of the mongrels left, considering how they were prized snack choices of the Shadow’s pet minions.
The bike bumped over the rough cobbled lane, forcing Ruby to squeeze his middle in a tight hold. Those luscious breasts he hadn’t been able to tear his rapt gaze from earlier pressed firmly against his back. At the moment, he wasn’t sure whether or not to be grateful about leaving his jacket at the plant. He tried to ignore the increasing snugness against his fly and the realization that he enjoyed her touching him. Far too much.
Soon as he got her new ID, he was dropping her off with Joe, Miles and Sabby—his associates in Shadow Rapids. Let them deal with Ruby. It’d give his sanity—and his libido—a much-needed break.
He slowed as he neared his safe house. Coasting through the weed-infested sliver of yard, he cleared the outer courtyard and pulled beneath the ivy-shrouded pergola. The dense screening of foliage provided the perfect foil against prying eyes. Toeing the kickstand in place, he climbed from the bike and helped Ruby dismount. Her silver cat suit felt slick and insubstantial beneath his grip. Would her bare skin be just as smooth and silky?
Don’t fucking go there. Releasing her like she might detonate beneath his palms, he swung around and ducked through the opening of the pergola. A short pathway lined with broken bricks led to the boarded-up door of the safe house. He pried one of the slats free, enabling just enough room to crack the door ajar. Sliding through the opening, he felt around for the wall switch, issuing a silent prayer that his designated courier had paid the electric bill. A mellow flood of light banished the gloom, and Teague allowed himself to relax. Electricity meant his signal scrambler wasn’t out of commission, which in turn meant he could safely put the call through to Colin, his contact. Finally something was working in his favor tonight.
