“You have guards three floors away and closing fast,” Misty said.
Centipede looked to me, her eyes wide with panic. “We need to go.” I understood the instinct. It was self-preservation. I didn’t blame her.
“We can’t leave them,” I said. “They’re part of our team, and I’m not leaving my partner behind.” I wouldn’t let my thoughts stay on Travis. I didn’t want to think about what KATO would do to him—if they even let him live.
She held my eyes for a long moment, and I could see the internal debate waging in her. “I don’t like this,” she said, finally. “But lead the way.”
I pushed my comm in. “Magpie, are the guards taking the stairs to us?”
“Yes.”
“Do we have control of the elevator?” I asked. I was already running for it. Thanks to all the time I spent poring over the blueprints, I knew exactly where I was going. Centipede followed close.
“We do,” Misty said. “I’m sending it your way.”
“Make sure they can’t see that it’s operating,” I said. “Have it drop us off a floor below the supervisor’s office.”
“Copy that.”
Centipede and I stepped onto the elevator and there was another voice in our heads.
“Hey, Raven.” It was Sam. “I’m patching you into Vulture and Scorpion’s comms.”
I held my breath, praying to hear Travis’s voice.
But it wasn’t Travis I heard. The voice that filled my ear turned everything inside me cold.
“You will tell me why you are in this office!” It was Jin Su.
He was here. And he was alone with Travis and Venom.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
THE BREAKING POINT
I stared at the metal doors in front of us, forcing my brain to process the information. Travis was trapped in a room with Jin Su, and there was a team of guards standing outside the office, presumably waiting for Jin Su’s word to take them into custody. That was how the guards knew to jam our signal and look for more of us.
“We can’t stay,” Centipede said as we stepped off the elevator. Her voice was soft but insistent. “Not with him here.” She shifted on her feet, her distress more apparent than ever.
I was afraid too, but it wasn’t for myself; it was for Travis and Venom. I needed Centipede if I had any chance of saving them.
In my ear, Jin Su was talking again. “I expected better from you, Venom.”
Venom started to speak. “I—” Her words shook with a fear I hadn’t expected. Out of all of us, she had seemed the least afraid.
“Step away from her.” That was Travis. His voice was a low protective growl. I heard a hard thud next and then Travis groaned. My heart beat faster, the terror coursing through me. I had to get to him.
“This is a trap I set,” Venom said. “I brought him to you.”
“No!” I snapped into my comm. I was losing her. Centipede started moving down the hall, and now it was a race. If Venom started talking she would turn Centipede and Misty in. But if Centipede could somehow get there first and get her story out, she could take the credit for playing us. I was sure even Misty, thousands of miles away, was preparing to run and find a way to save herself. “Vulture, we’re a team, remember? They can’t tell you what to do. Don’t give them that power!”
“Go on,” Jin Su said to her. His voice was cold, and it was clear that while she would be in a severe amount of trouble either way, what she said next could very well save her life.
Venom kept talking—she had to—but she mumbled and stumbled over her words, buying time. I let out a breath. Down the hall, Centipede had stopped moving away from me. She rocked on her feet though, ready to make a break for it if she had to. I hadn’t planned for this. I had no idea what I could possibly say to keep them with me, but I had to try. Then I remembered what Travis had told me on the plane.
“I know you’re afraid of him. I am too,” I said to Venom, speaking quickly. “And you shouldn’t forget what he’s done to you.” I swallowed. The only person who ever knew I was afraid of anything was Travis, and even he always had to guess before I would admit to anything. But they needed to remember why we were doing this.
“He is responsible for the burns, and the beatings, and the cuts. He’s the one who orders you to kill people you don’t want to kill.” Venom had stopped talking, and Jin Su was yelling, but I was too focused on my problem to make out what he was saying. “So you can be afraid, and go back to him like they trained you to, or you can use that fear to break them.” I took a breath and pushed on, knowing I was running out of time. “We have more power right now than they ever wanted us to have. If you stay with me, we can give them something to be afraid of.”
There was a long pause, then Venom spoke. “I—I have nothing to say.” She was speaking to Jin Su. Her words were strong, despite her hesitancy. I looked down the hall at Centipede, who nodded.
“Vulture, Scorpion, we’re coming for you.” I turned to Centipede. “We need to split up. You take the closest set of stairs and I’ll take the ones on the other side of the building. We’ll come at the guards from either side. Once we’re in the room, it’s the four of us against Jin Su.”
“Whatever you say.” There was still fear in her eyes, but she was all in, and back in full mission mode.
We took off running.
“There are five guards outside the door, and now ten others searching for you,” Misty said.
“Copy,” I said. “Condor, I’ll let you know when I’m outside the door. Wait for my signal.”
I could hear the back-and-forth between Jin Su, Travis, and Venom. It would be only a matter of time before Jin Su lost his patience. He’d go after Travis first. He was expendable. He would probably suffer just enough to be an example to Venom before Jin Su killed him. I pushed every terrible outcome out of my mind and focused on what was in front of me.
I signaled Centipede when I was in position and we moved in as planned, creeping down the hall while the guards were focused on the door hiding Travis and Venom.
The guards had AK-47s pointed at the office, prepared for action. Centipede and I made eye contact, inching closer. Each of us had our gun drawn and trained on them. The last thing I wanted was to start shooting. I didn’t want to give Jin Su any reason to get trigger-happy. Our best approach was for each of us to disarm two guards as quickly as possible, then we’d have the remaining agent outnumbered. I nodded at Centipede just once. It was enough to put her in motion.
We moved quickly and in sync. The fact that we were raised on the same training regimen couldn’t have been more obvious. We were each able to knock out the two guards closest to us in quick, sharp movements. The fifth guard turned in Centipede’s direction, gun out and ready to fire. I knocked his feet out from under him and Centipede kicked him hard in the face until he was unconscious.
I turned to the office door to make my move.
Then I heard a gunshot from the other side.
My whole world stopped. It had been only one shot—it had to have hit its target.
Time moved impossibly slow, and I felt hot and cold all at once. I forced my legs to work, pushing myself forward and nearly ripping the door off its hinges to get it open.
I took in the scene quickly.
Travis was on the ground—alive, but breathing hard next to a chair he appeared to have dove out of.
Venom was a few feet away from him, and next to her was Jin Su. Both Travis and Venom were mask-less. It wasn’t hard to work out what had happened. Jin Su pulled a gun on Travis and Venom had tackled him as he fired. Now Jin Su was on his back next to her, his gun again pointed at Travis. He was poised to pull the trigger again, and there was no way Travis would be able to avoid it.
I didn’t think. I reacted, burying bullets in Jin Su’s chest until he went limp. It took four.
The shot
s from my gun seemed to echo through the room. I pivoted to Travis once I was positive Jin Su was down, taking in every detail. He was panting, and there was a sizable gash on his eyebrow that appeared to be bleeding steadily. Otherwise, he seemed okay. He locked eyes with me, looking as relieved and grateful as I felt. My hands felt like they were vibrating. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to get to him—to take a closer look. To be sure. But I couldn’t seem to move.
“Half the guards in the building are headed your way,” Misty said, snapping me back to the situation at hand.
Travis jumped up off the floor. “Get that door locked,” he said to Centipede as he retrieved his gun from Jin Su’s body. Centipede did as she was told.
Venom stood and took in the dead director. Then she turned to me with an expression of deep approval. “You did a very nice job.”
I gaped at her for a moment, then turned to Travis. “Did you get the development file?”
“No,” he said. “We only managed to knock out the facility supervisor.” He gestured to the man next to the door, who I hadn’t noticed. “Jin Su was already here when we got in. We weren’t prepared.”
“Guards are on your floor,” Misty said. The office door rattled. They were right outside.
“We’re out of time,” I said. “I have the serum. It’ll have to be enough.” I didn’t want any of us in this building for another second.
“Magpie,” Travis said into his comm. “We need an out.” He found his mask on the floor and tossed Venom’s to her.
“There’s an emergency exit in this office somewhere,” I told her. I’d seen it on the blueprints.
“I found it,” she said. “It’s behind the first bookcase on the left, but I can’t see how it opens.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I said.
The four of us wordlessly spread out around the office, looking for any kind of lever or button that might open the bookcase.
A light moaning from the ground distracted all of us. The building supervisor was waking up. Venom moved the fastest. She was on him in a second, her foot hitting at the side of his neck. She leaned into him, twisting her hip just enough to make it crack. He went limp in an instant.
I swallowed, hating that she’d added another body to this mess. But I had no place to say anything.
“I found it!” Centipede said from behind the desk. She had the top drawer open and appeared to be pressing some kind of button underneath the top of the desk. The bookcase sprung to life, swinging out, with just enough room for a person to slip behind it. Venom darted through the door without a second glance, with Centipede right after her.
I took one more look at Jin Su dead on the ground. I had done that. And I would do it again if I had to.
“We need to move,” Travis said, pushing me toward the door. He pulled the bookcase closed behind us. We were faced with a spiral staircase that snaked down the six-floor building. Venom bounded down the stairs as Centipede followed, still in complete business mode.
I pushed my comm in, doing my best to shove all of the insanity to the back of my mind. “Venom, don’t go through whatever door is at the bottom until we’re all together.”
It felt like a basic note, but at this point, I wasn’t taking anything for granted. She stopped at the base of the stairs and looked up at me, her head cocked. She seemed confused, but did what I had asked.
I pushed my comm in. “Magpie, do you know where this lets out?”
“It takes you to the first floor and drops you off right near an exit,” she said. “Guards are there now, but they’re moving. I’ll tell you when it’s clear.”
“Copy,” Travis said.
“We can just kill them,” Venom said, as if it were the most obvious solution in the world. “They already know we’re here.”
Now even Centipede was looking at her like she had gone too far. She turned to me. “She’s still unstable.”
Venom rounded on her. “You are the unstable one.”
I ignored Centipede and turned to Venom, gathering my patience to answer her question. “We can’t afford to draw any more attention to ourselves.”
She cocked her head to the side, considering me. “All right, then.”
I let out a sigh of relief and looked to Travis. His wide-eyed expression matched how I felt, but he gave me a nod of approval.
“You’re all clear,” Misty said. “You’re going out the door, then to the right. There will be another door in front of you, but then you’re on your own. We don’t have a camera on the outside.”
Travis grimaced but pushed his comm in. “Copy that. We’ll touch base when we’re clear of the facility.” Then he turned to me. “You get the door, I’ll clear the area.”
I moved past Centipede and Venom, quickly finding the doorknob. Travis raised his gun higher and stood next to the door. Centipede and Venom watched us.
Travis caught my eye and nodded. I pushed the door open and stepped back, giving him room to get out. He cleared the hallway quickly and motioned me toward the other door.
Again I waited for his signal. If we were going to run into another problem, it was going to be here. But we didn’t have time to second-guess. Travis nodded again and I threw open the door.
It was quiet. He did a quick sweep in both directions. “Clear.”
I motioned back to the others and they did as I asked, hurrying from one door to the next.
A few seconds later, we were out. There was a smaller peak a short distance away. That was where we needed to be. None of us spoke as we sprinted, guns still drawn, toward our goal. We stopped behind the crest to catch our breath.
I pushed my comm in, but took care to keep my voice low. “Magpie, we’re covered.”
“Copy,” she said.
Then Sam cut in. “I managed to get satellite access. I’m seeing activity around the building. They’re filtering their way outside now and heading in your direction. You have to keep moving.”
I glanced at Travis and the girls. I could see hints of panic in both Centipede and Venom. The stakes were higher now than ever. The director was dead and they had been involved. There would be no talking themselves out of anything if they were caught now.
I pushed my comm in. “We’re headed east toward the plane. Let us know if we’re going to run into trouble.”
“Don’t worry,” Sam said. “I’ve got a lock on your position and I’m tracking their movement. They won’t sneak up on you.”
“They’re going to find us,” Centipede said. Her voice was hard, cold, and factual.
“They won’t,” I said. I felt strong and determined, and my voice held the same power. It was enough to make them all look to me—startled. “I have fought too hard to accept that. We keep moving and we get to that plane before they get to us.”
“We killed the director.” Her voice cracked as the weight of it all hit her. “This was a mistake.”
I pivoted around to face her. I could see she was shaking—she couldn’t hide it, and I feared she was even closer to turning now than she was in that hallway. And this time it would be her choice, not Venom forcing her hand. After everything we had just escaped, we were so close to getting away.
I put my hands on her shoulders and looked her square in the eye. “There is nothing you can tell them that will make them go easy on you at this point,” I said. “There’s no such thing as ‘worse’ now. It will just be bad, and hard, and painful. You know who they are, and if you’re okay with that, then fine. But that’s your choice.”
I turned and headed onward. Travis fell very quickly into step next to me. I felt him watching me. He carried his tablet with a map of the area pulled up. “Can I see that?”
He handed it over without a word. I led us through the desert, navigating around the peaks and through the valleys, toward the plane. I wasn’t at all surprised when I looked behin
d me to find that not only was Venom still with us, but Centipede as well.
I nodded at her. “Good call.”
Her jaw locked, but she didn’t say anything.
“The serum’s still okay, right?” Travis asked, taking the tablet back from me. I caught a glimpse of the blood leaking out of the eyehole in his mask. The bleeding had lessened considerably, but it still looked bad.
I reached for my inside jacket pocket, letting the air rush over me as we moved. I ran my fingers over the case. “Yeah, it’s safe.”
He nodded as we ran.
Then Sam was in our ears. “You guys need to hurry up,” he said. “They must have some kind of bead on you. They’re fanned out and moving fast.”
I glanced at Venom and for the first time, I noticed the fear in her eyes. Centipede was the same.
“Come on,” Travis said. “None of you are getting caught tonight.” He took off sprinting, and the rest of us followed his lead.
We bobbed and weaved and did everything we could to stay lost in the cover of dark. As we ran, I put Centipede and Venom in front of Travis and me, adding an extra layer of protection between them and KATO.
I heard voices coming up behind us and pushed my comm in. “That plane needs to be ready to take off when we get there.”
“Copy that,” Sam said. There was a tension in his voice that told me we were running out of time.
“How much farther?” I hissed at Travis. They had to be closing in on us.
“We’re almost there,” Travis said. “We should see the plane any second.” And then I did. I dug deep and pushed on, letting the adrenaline carry me to the end.
Centipede arrived first, with Venom right behind her. Travis beat me by feet, but stepped aside, letting me get on first. I hurried up the stairs, only glancing back in time to see the KATO agents pouring out from around a peak behind us, charging forward. The engine was already going.
We were off and running in seconds. Venom and Centipede kept their heads down, but I pressed mine against the window. I needed to see that they couldn’t get to me. That we were leaving them behind. They had their guns raised, preparing to fire as we left the ground. I heard a couple of the bullets hit the metal side, but we were already too far out of reach.
Enemy Exposure Page 25
