***
It was my turn to go in as the Warrior. Patrick had sent Chad in ahead of me, maybe thinking his son would lose his mind if he had to see Andon. Personally, I would love to see that Wolf before I went in, just to make sure he was actually going to show up.
Chad hadn’t uttered a word when he’d stormed off toward the facility. Not even a backward glance.
Patrick came up next to me. “You do realize we made a terrible mistake and I should have known better.”
“Your wife, daughter, and sons are still in there.” Tia must be terrified. Carol probably not much better. The little boys would be wrecks.
“They’re the most important things in the world to me. Along with Micah and Chad. Both of whom are now inside. And you’re the most important thing in the universe to Chad. Without you, he’d be dead. I don’t remember the time without him. His mother does. I feel lucky to have no recollection of it. But I’m told you ended his existence as a Vampire. Over and over, you save him, and I let you throw yourself, literally, to the Wolves.”
“You’re not in charge of my destiny.” I’d always had that responsibility all to myself.
“He wasn’t wrong.”
“He never is.” I smiled. Out of any of us, Chad had the most defined sense of right and wrong. In his world, ending the bad guys was paramount and we were always on the side of right. Somehow, there had to be a happy ending. “But in this case, so was I.”
Chad’s pain couldn’t dictate this even though I wished it could. “I’ve never been made for fairy tales.”
“You have what you need?”
I nodded. “Yep.”
“Then you’re up.”
“Rachel Clancy.” I turned at the sound. Andon stood behind me with his pack surrounding him. They all had eyes for me and in them I saw my own death. I shuddered before I could stop myself.
With Wolves, I had to remember to control my reactions. They could scent everything. Why give them the satisfaction of showing them visibly what they already knew?
“You’re not reneging.” Andon hissed out his words.
“I don’t plan on it.”
Andon nodded. My aroma must have confirmed my reply. I would live up to my end of the bargain.
“Then where would you have us?”
Patrick answered for me. “Here. I’ll explain what’s going to happen. Rachel, you need to get in there.”
“Right.” Only Patrick and I remained outside, and Icahn had been demanding my presence for hours. Of course he hadn’t sent everyone out yet. Tiffani and Tia remained inside. Patrick’s boys were back outside, as well as their mother. She’d hugged me, and I’d almost lost it. Somehow, she would see to it Chad was okay after I was gone.
It wasn’t going to be an even trade. Lots of non-Warriors remained inside and probably would even after we’d all gone in with them. There would be casualties. But we’d have to do our best.
I stepped forward.
“Aha. Rachel Clancy. You’ve come home. How lovely to have you here.” I hated the sound of Icahn’s voice.
The others had gotten to walk themselves in but apparently the good doctor didn’t trust me that far. Two goons—one of whom I recognized immediately as Darren—rushed forward and grabbed me by the arms.
I passed Tia, who rushed out the door while I entered it. She gasped when she saw me.
“Rachel!” she called out.
I had no idea what she would have said as I was yanked forward.
I didn’t try to struggle.
The goon I didn’t know squeezed my arm too tight, and I sucked in my breath. I didn’t care how much he hurt me, how much he bruised my skin. I wouldn’t cry.
“There’s no need for that.” Darren corrected the other guard. “She’s a little girl.”
“You care too much about this one. Always did.”
“I’m not a little girl, Darren. And considering the monsters you’ve all proven yourselves to be, I don’t need or want you looking out for me.”
Darren tugged me away from the other man. “I’ve got her and I’m bringing her to the blue room.”
“The rooms have colors now.” I didn’t even look at Darren while I spoke. “You boys not smart enough to read names?”
“We need to talk.” He spoke into my ear. “And you’re the only one I trust here.”
“You trust me? That’s a bad idea. You’re on my list for execution. The first bunch out.”
Darren had been my jailor-slash-workout buddy when I’d lived here. He fancied himself my friend. He’d been kind to me when he’d forced me into cryogenic freeze. And apparently watched out for me to make sure my numbers remained steady during my frozen time. In other words, he’d checked to see I wasn’t dead.
For that, I’d hope he got killed fast.
He pushed me ahead and I did a little pretending to drag my feet. If I acquiesced too easily, they’d see right through it.
Finally, we arrived in a room. I took a quick look around, not at all surprised to see the people in it were in all states of distress. Tiffani sat strapped to the wall, her head in her hands. She wept quietly. Micah had been cuffed and gagged. He sat across from Tiffani. When I entered, he raised his eyebrows, the only greeting he could give me.
Glen, sporting a large shiner, had both his hands tied to the wall. He must have tried to escape. Good for him.
I spoke to him first before I could be told not to. “Your son is fine. He’s with Tia and her mother now.”
He nodded. “Thank you.”
“And, Tiffani, your son is out there, too. I think he’s also with the Lyons.”
I hadn’t looked too long at Keith’s son. It might have doubled me over.
“Thank you, Rachel.” She lifted her head. Glaring at Darren, she spoke. “But my husband isn’t there. Because they murdered him. Butchered. Like an animal. I swear you’re all going to pay. Every last one of you will know pain.”
“We didn’t know.” Darren tugged me toward him. “I need to speak to you.”
“Liar.” Tiffani hissed. “Rachel, don’t believe anything he says.”
The door swung open and, although I’d expected Icahn, I got Deacon instead. “Oh. If it isn’t another murderer.”
“People in glass houses, Rachel. They shouldn’t throw stones.” He bent over, really getting in my face until I wanted to back up from how uncomfortable it made me. Instead, I stood my ground. “I cleaned up the mess you left in the lab.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He poked at my shoulder. “Only you could have gotten in and out of here.”
“What?” Playing dumb never worked, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t give it a go on occasion.
“Where is the Wolf?”
“Did you and Icahn lose something?” I couldn’t help myself. I kicked him, hard, in the shin.
“Son of a….”
I didn’t hear the rest of his curse. Darren spoke over him. “Despite his current manners, I am trying to tell you we had no idea what Dr. Icahn planned for Keith. We really didn’t. And Deacon cleaned up the lab so no one else knows about it.”
“Why bother telling me any of this? You saw what they did to Keith.” At the mention of his name, Tiffani wailed. My heart bled for the poor woman. They’d been so in love, such a cohesive, beautiful unit of family. Gone now, forever.
I’d never had a child with Chad, but I knew the pain of losing him. Tiffani, who had spent so much longer loving her husband than I had my boyfriend, must be in utter agony.
“You know what they’re about to do to us.”
“No way.” Deacon shook his head, rubbing his leg. I really must have gotten him good. The thought gave me no shortage of satisfaction. “He’s not going to kill all of you. I won’t allow it.”
“You won’t allow it?” This time I looked at Darren. “Has Deacon been hit on the head one too many times?”
Tiffani looked up and, even through her tears, snickered into her hand
. Micah groaned and Glen laughed outright. I was glad I could amuse the room.
Or maybe they found the image of Deacon being hit on the head really amusing.
“I think he’s in denial. I don’t think I can get all of you out of here.” Darren rubbed at his forehead. He really did look bothered. When it came down to it, Darren happened to be a really simple person. He gave loyalty, and he stuck with it. The fact he’d given his trust to the most undeserving man in the universe could be deemed a tragedy in some kind of Greek play. In my world, it drove me crazy.
Was it possible Darren had finally seen the error of his ways? He never lied.
Or, at least, I’d never seen him do so.
“There’s no way you can get us all out of here. We’re dead, remember?” I stared at his eyes when I spoke, hoping I could see all the way down to his soul.
“I’ll get you out.” Darren acted like he’d spoken the best words on the planet. He actually danced from foot to foot.
“No.” I shook my head. “If they go down, I go down with them.”
“Rachel.” Deacon caught my attention. “What do you have planned?”
“What could I have planned?”
“I want to help you, damn it.”
“You want to help me? Try remembering who I am. Try putting two and two together and recalling our life before Icahn changed it. If you can get your brain to do that, and actually be my friend again, then I’ll talk to you about helping. But if I were you, I’d try to hurry it up. I’m going to be dead very shortly.”
Or not. I’d be dead later in the evening. When the Wolves got finished with me.
Where was Chad? They must have put him wherever they stashed his father and some of the other Warriors?
“Who decided which prisoners went where?”
“In this case, I did.” Deacon ran a hand through his hair. The boy in the cage had become the traitorous man.
“Maybe I should have left you in your cage.” I didn’t really mean that. I said it to be mean. Beneath me, but who cared anymore?
“See, there’s the problem. If I decide you’re all not crazy, I’m just some guy who had been left in a cage to be fed on by Vampires. I’m the one who needed you to rescue me.”
“You’re the guy who drove your Vampire captors so crazy they sacrificed all the money and time they’d spent to keep you alive and decided to kill you early just to get you out of their hair. Sounds like you, doesn’t it?”
Just then a loud eruption sounded. I knew it was my signal. Turning to Micah, he nodded. I reached in my pocket and pulled out the small plastic pellet I’d shoved in the lining. With a swift movement, I jumped to Micah and pulled his out, too.
Smoke erupted from the caplets. Glen had made them the year before. He recognized what they were and sucked in a deep breath. Smart guy. We all had to breathe shallowly, or we’d get dizzy and slow.
That was what we needed. I unhooked Micah from the wall and headed for Tiffani. Micah would get Glen and we’d all get out of there. Or at least as many of us as could would do so.
The rest of us would fight.
I heard the Wolves roar in the hallway. They’d come to kill. First Icahn and his cronies. Then me.
I gulped. “Deacon.” I shouldn’t be talking with the smoke in the room. It was only going to make things worse. “Darren. You guys don’t deserve this. But get the hell out of here. While you still can.”
I turned toward the door. If they heeded my warning, that would be great. If not, they were no longer my problem. I had monsters of the human variety to kill.
Chapter Seven
The scene in the hallway was chaos. I stopped moving and watched. Usually, I’d throw myself into the fray headfirst but, this time, I stopped to observe. How many times in my life would I get to see something like this? Isaac Icahn totally taken by surprise?
I grinned. Violence shouldn’t be so amusing to me. Glen grabbed my arm. “You remembered the gas tablets.”
Keith had given Glen the task of creating offensive weapons. Icahn had left enough of his chemicals and projects around, giving Glen had plenty to work with. But up until the moment it had worked, I hadn’t been one hundred percent certain they would perform.
I nodded. “I remembered. How could I forget? I got gas in the face so many times while you tested it.”
“I knew you would come. I knew we’d be saved.”
“It’s not over yet.” I nodded at the group. “Go get in there. Kick some ass.”
Glen grinned. “When this is over, we’re all going to live so much better. A real life, Rachel.”
“A real life, Glen.” I’d never know who his son turned out to be, not if everything went the way the deal I’d made said it would.
He ran off and I watched him jump right in, taking down two guards within his first few minutes of fighting.
I shook my head. Glen had gone from being the guy who tortured me in school, at least in this lifetime, to Tia’s strange husband, to someone I relied on. For such a young father, he’d really stepped up when his son had come.
“Just going to watch?” The Turtle stood in front of me, his knife pointed in my direction. Another few inches and he’d be able to jab it in my side.
I stared at it and then back at him. “You’re going to stick your blade in my skin?”
“I am.” Sweat dripped down his face.
This man had been responsible for so much of my personal distress the year we’d lived above ground. What I understood two years later—somehow I hadn’t grasped it then—was all signs pointed to Turtle being a pervert. He liked girls who were too young for him to look at.
I put some distance between us before he cut me. Turtle had never been trained, at least not by us, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t somehow manage to inflict a lot of damage.
“The thing about stabbing people is, it’s a lot harder to do than it looks.”
Getting ready to kick the weapon out of his hands, I leaned back on my left leg. But before I could spring forward, Turtle hit the floor, blood gushing out of his throat.
Micah met my eyes. “It’s not hard for me to do.”
I grinned, shaking my head. “Not when you get to stab him.”
Turtle gurgled on the ground. I tried not to listen. There were aspects to doing all of this I just couldn’t deal with. In my heart, I’d never be a killer and even though Micah pretended otherwise, neither was he.
“Well, rescuing pretty girls, even those who belong to my brother, happens to be a specialty of mine.”
The reference to his brother reminded me of something. “Micah.” I grabbed his shirt. “Do something for me.”
“Sure.” He stared at my fingers grabbing him.
“When this is over, if you don’t see me…if something happens….” I wasn’t going to be more specific. He could think I worried about dying in this fight. “Go to Chad. Please. Tell him I said our last words were not in anger, and our fight never happened in my heart. I love him.”
“You essentially want me to pass a verbal note to my brother in study hall? Don’t die. Live and tell him yourself.”
I swallowed. “That’s what I want, of course. But just in case.”
“Fine.” I let him go and he pulled at his shirt.
“You’re all kinds of dramatic today, Clancy. You’d think we were at war.” He grinned. Micah had the ability to let things go faster than anyone I knew. “Get moving, girl. This is not a spectator sport.”
“Right.”
Micah took off into the fray. I stepped forward, searching the crowd until I found whom I looked for. Chad. He fought so methodically, the best out of all of us.
He had Liam Icahn in a corner. I knew the man would not be alive much longer. I didn’t need to watch.
Instead, the person I needed to find so I could kill him still managed to not be involved in a fight to the death. Isaac Icahn watched the destruction of his empire from a perch above, like some kind of king on his throne.
&n
bsp; “Hell. No.” I rushed toward the stairs. Everyone else might be too busy to take note of exactly where he’d gone, but I’d played this game one too many times with him in the past. He vanished like a pro. Not this time.
I reached the landing the same time Andon Kenwood did. Of course, wearing his Wolf form and looking like a creature out of mythology that happened to be oh so real, Andon could have been any of his brethren. I could be wrong about who I thought it was. Except I never would make a mistake when it came to the werewolves, not like any ordinary Warrior could . I’d known Jason in his Wolf form, too. Andon growled, crouching low.
Icahn sighed dramatically. “It would be the two of you. Here with me in all this mess….”
“I suppose you have something to say on the subject.” Andon might have been more articulate, but as I was the only one currently using human vocal chords, I had to be the one to answer Isaac Icahn. Even if I’d rather he just shut up.
“You should both be dead. The only reason you stand here, Rachel, is because this man’s son wanted you to live to be his mate. He shouldn’t be here at all. I should have eliminated the Wolves right away when you were all completely out of it. They’ve been nothing but horrors since.”
“It’s always a lot of talk with you. A lot of blah-blah-blah-you-don’t-understand and woe-is-me-I’m-such-a-genius. But it’s all ended. Have you noticed? You’re losing.”
“And what happens to this world without me in it?” He pounded his hand on the balcony. Did he realize one of his sons was likely dead at Chad’s hand? Probably not. That would take a level of awareness his narcissistic personality didn’t allow for.
“It goes on without your manipulation of everyone’s lives. We get to self-determine our destiny.”
“The Vampires will run amok without me handling their food supply. They’ll overtake you within the year.”
I waved my hand in the air, dismissing him. “We can kill Vampires. I suppose I should be thanking you for teaching us those skills. But I’m not going to.”
“Insolent little girl.” His face had turned red. “The other scientists in the other habitats will come after you. I’m just the beginning. You won’t even see them coming.”
The Warrior - Initiation Driven Subversive Redemption Justice Page 80
