“You ready?” Luke asks.
I shake my head, turning toward the house. The flames climb higher now, nearly engulfing the entire structure. I feel the heat and smell the smoke wafting off the building.
I welcome the flames. There’s no fear now, only vengeance rushing through my blood. My father underestimated me if he thought the fire would destroy me. It fuels me now.
“Are you ready?” Luke asks again.
I shake my head. “Give me a second. I need to watch it burn.”
###
I spend the flight staring out the window. I don’t know how Luke got the plane, and I don’t know what we would have done if he hadn’t. We’ve barely spoken since Oscar flew us away, heading straight for a private airstrip Luke knew about. It’s only a matter of time before they—Ares, my father—realize we didn’t die.
Luke was right before. There’s no choice but to retreat. Even if it’s only temporary.
“Are you hurt?”
I shake my head, not looking up. There’s a gentleness and concern in his voice that I’m not ready to handle. I need to be ice right now, need to be solely focused on Grace. I can’t afford the pain that rips through me at the sight of Luke’s battered face.
He slips into the seat next to me.
“We’ll find her.”
“We have to.”
“We will.” Luke squeezes my hand. “They won’t hurt her. They need her.”
I nod. I know he’s right. Grace is too valuable to them. She may have been too young to really undergo our father’s training, but she has potential. And he can control her. Just like he’s tried to control me. Whatever role he plays in Ares, he’s calling the shots, at least some of them. And I don’t doubt the Director is right beside him.
Luke always said our families were old friends. We just never realized how ugly the connection is.
“I should have traded places with her. I should have let them have me.”
“Do you really think it would have ended there? They don’t want Grace. They want you. They want both of us. They’ll always use her to get to you; she’ll always be a tool to them. And when her utility runs out, when they no longer need her to get to you, they’ll throw her away. You’re too smart to not realize that. I know you want to be a martyr for your sister, but you have to be tactical about this. You can’t afford to be emotional. We’ll get her back.”
I turn toward him, our faces just inches apart. The plane is dark and quiet around us.
“Why are you still here? Why are you helping us? You can walk away from all of this.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
I need to hear him say it. I need a glimmer of what I experienced in his arms.
“Because.”
He reaches out, brushing a strand of my loose hair behind my ear. I close my eyes, relishing the feel of our skin touching.
I want more.
I want to stroke his skin, cover his bruises with my lips. I hate that my father hurt him; I hate knowing the kind of pain Luke was forced to endure. I wish I could erase every bad thing that happened to him in that room, wish I could have traded places with him.
“I would do anything for you, X. I love you.”
There it is. The words I’m afraid to voice, but desperately need to hear. I feel it now more than ever, the tie binding me to Luke. The one that was always there, even when I didn’t realize it.
I love you, too.
I move forward, capturing his mouth in a swift kiss. It’s a desperate kiss, one born in flames and fire, one fueled by fear, pain, and regret. I’m desperate for him, drowning in him. He kisses me back with the same intensity. His arms wrap around my waist, his hands stroking my back.
We’re both trying to fix what I fear is irretrievably broken in each other.
In this moment, I’m someone else entirely. I’m the girl I wish I could be. I kiss him using my lips and mouth to say everything I can’t. I soothe. I caress. I heal.
I wish things were different, wish I were someone else. Someone who could be with Luke and give him what he deserves. I wish we were two normal people, happy and in love.
I wish.
I pull away, my lips puffy, heart pounding.
There’s a silence sweeping in now, replacing the hunger and the lust. It brings with it sadness. Something flickers in Luke’s eyes. A regret of sorts. I know it mirrors the emotion shining in my own.
“I know,” he whispers. I close my eyes, basking in the sound of that voice. I could get lost there.
“No distractions.”
“No distractions,” I echo. My voice is full of apology even though I know he understands. We’re cut from the same cloth.
“I can’t afford to be distracted. Not now. Not until I get Grace back.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
Luke shakes his head. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. We’re a team. We’ll find Grace. We’ll finish this.”
“Thank you.”
Luke’s hands clasp mine. His fingers graze my hand, traveling down to trace the scar between my palm and my wrist. He rubs it. Once, twice. And then he releases me, the connection broken.
We don’t speak for the rest of the flight.
Chapter Thirty
I don’t sleep. I plot, I plan, I scheme. I’ve become everything they always wanted me to be. Any emotion is locked away. There is no softness in me. No peace. No weakness. All that matters is getting my sister back.
The plane touches down on a deserted airstrip with a hard bounce and a whine, the sun beginning to rise, the sky a palette of reds, pinks, and yellows that looks too perfect to be real.
“Where are we?”
Luke glances out the tiny plane window. “If I had to guess? Somewhere in the Mediterranean?”
“Menorca,” Oscar answers, stepping out of the cockpit. “I have a contact here. We can stay in his house while we regroup.”
While we retreat.
I pull out my phone, staring at the screen, willing a message to appear. I hate being impotent. It’s too close to the memories of before, when they would tie me to that chair for hours until I nearly went mad with fear. There is nothing more terrifying than someone having complete and total control over you. Or so I thought. But now I know, the most terrifying thing in the world is someone having complete and total control over the person you love most.
They will hurt her. They will take all of the goodness inside of her, all of the bright and shiny parts, and turn them into something dark and mangled. Something like me.
Unless I stop them.
Luke and I grab our gear as Oscar deals with the plane, and then the three of us are jumping into an open-top Jeep, Luke behind the wheel, Oscar next to him. I sit in the back, my phone clutched in my hand, images of my little sister being tortured in a small, dark room filling my mind.
The drive feels endless, but finally we pull up to a two-story white house built like cubes stacked on top of each other. It’s modern and clean, and I barely register anything about my surroundings, my thoughts consumed by Grace.
We choose the dining room as our war room, setting up the computers Oscar brought with him, putting everything we have about Ares and the Academy on the table.
When we’re done, they both look at me.
“What do you want to do?” Luke asks.
This is the moment that has consumed my sole attention since I watched that house burn to the ground.
“I want to leak every single file we stole.” I turn toward Oscar. “I want to put it on the same sites that you used to track the missing assets. I want to peel back the curtain on the Academy and Ares so that every asset knows the truth about them.”
“You want to incite a revolution,” Luke says.
“Yes.”
Neither one of them answers me.
“We don’t have the manpower or the ability to destroy the whole organization. Period. But what if we don’t have to? What if we coo
rdinate an attack with all of the other assets around the world? A global strike on the academies and Ares.”
“Do you really think these files are enough to inspire everyone to fight back?” Luke asks.
“It’s our best shot. Our time is limited. Their resources and connections far outnumber ours. They’re going to search for us, and the longer they do, the greater the likelihood that they’ll find us. They won’t anticipate us regrouping or attacking so quickly. The element of surprise is the only thing we have left.
“I think everyone has lost something at the hands of the academies and Ares. I don’t think anyone is happy in their situation, but we’ve all been trained to isolate ourselves. People will be stronger if they have allies in this. It makes a difference, knowing that you’re not alone.”
Luke reaches out and squeezes my hand, his voice rough. “Yeah, it does.”
“I think the files will highlight how dangerous Ares is. We can also leak the lists of the disappearing assets, all of the information Oscar has collected. That in conjunction with the records we have is pretty damning. We just have to hope that people have their own doubts and concerns to fuel the fire.”
It’s a lot to count on, but we’re all out of options.
“How quickly can you release this information?” I ask Oscar. “And how widely?”
“I can have it uploaded in under an hour. It’ll spread fast.”
“We need to find a way to mobilize them,” Luke interjects. “A call to arms, so to speak.”
“We could write a message,” Oscar suggests.
“I was thinking something with a little more impact.” Luke’s gaze settles on me. “You up to making a video?”
“Me?”
I’m the last person I would think of for this. “Plays well with others” isn’t exactly my style.
“They took your sister. Took your life. You’re the face of this, whether you want to be or not. Do it for Grace. Do it for us. I know you; you want to destroy them. Make it count.”
He’s right; I want to be the one pulling the trigger that takes them down. This isn’t a job. This is personal.
I turn to Oscar.
“Do you have a camera?”
###
I’ve done this before—stared into a camera. They videotaped me when they experimented on me and the red light taunts me now as the memories try to fight their way inside my head.
I take a deep breath, channeling my rage, using it to carry me somewhere else, somewhere far away from the memories of what they’ve done to me in front of the camera.
Oscar gives me a nod and I began reciting the speech we decided on, the video streaming live. I don’t look at Luke, instead focusing my attention on a spot over his shoulder, on the mission, on getting my sister home.
“My name is X. I’ve been an asset—an assassin—at the Academy in London for most of my life. They are not who they claim to be. We are not who we think we are. All along they’ve told us that we’re writing wrongs, that we’re the scales of justice penalizing the guilty for their crimes and restoring balance to a chaotic system.”
My gaze locks with Luke and the determination blazing in his eyes fuels me.
“Everything they’ve told us is a lie.”
With each word, my voice grows stronger.
“A week ago, we broke into the Academy in London.” If that doesn’t get some attention, I don’t know what will. “We’re uploading the files now. These files cover all of the assets that have gone through the Academy in London. They show what we really are to them: their private army, expendable weapons that are deployed until our utility expires and we are terminated. They show that there is another organization behind the academies—Ares—a secret organization that has been kept from us all of this time.
“How many of you have lost someone you cared about? Have lived in fear in their shadow? How many of you are sick of them running our lives, angry at being controlled, at being little more than a thing to them? Never a person, just a blunt object.
“They’ve killed my parents, tortured and experimented on me, tried to kill me, and taken my sister. They won’t stop what they do, won’t stop the killing and the lies. They will never stop until we make them stop.
“If you have the same anger burning inside of you, if you’re ready to take back your life and make them pay for everything they’ve taken from you, then we ask you to stand with us. We’re ready to take down the academies, Ares, to burn them to the ground and walk over their ashes.”
I find Luke again, my words for him.
“They’ve controlled us for all of these years because they’ve separated us, kept us from forming attachments. It’s time to stop playing by their rules. No one person can take them down, but together we can prove what they’ve always known. Together we have the power to destroy them.
“They’ve taught us to be invisible. To blend into the shadows as ghosts. They’ve taught us to keep to ourselves, to operate on the fringes of society, to change our identities with ease. They’ve taught us to disappear. They’ve taught us to kill.”
My next words come with a promise. One I’ll die for.
“I’m coming for them now. Join me.”
The feed cuts out as Oscar flashes the “Project X” symbol he created on the screen, the image filling me with purpose. Every mission needs a codename and there’s a symmetry to using the name they used for their unholy experiments—me and Luke—that is simply irresistible. It’s the banner I’ll carry when I annihilate them.
The documents flash across the screen as Oscar uploads everything we have: the battle plans we’ve drafted to be disseminated to every asset, all of the files we stole, Oscar’s ongoing attempts to catalogue deaths, everything they need to join our fight.
We’re taking a big risk trusting these nameless assets out there, but I figure it’s time to do things differently. If I’ve learned anything in all of this, if being with Luke has taught me anything, it’s that I’m stronger when I have people fighting beside me. Ares wants me weakened and alone. They want me to think I have no one to trust.
Divide and conquer.
I’m done playing by their rules.
Tomorrow we go to war.
Chapter Thirty-one
Tonight the streets of London are mine.
I walk through the quiet neighborhood, past the rows of stately homes in this part of Primrose Hill. I’m dressed in black, blending in with the night, my gaze alert.
It took Oscar two hours to comb through the property records, to discover that the Academy still owns this plot of land, an unfamiliar house erected over the spot where my family home once lay.
The best that we could tell it’s kept vacant, perhaps used as a safe house of sorts.
There’s a beautiful, terrible symmetry to this, too.
I glance down at my watch, slipping in between the shadows with ease.
Twenty minutes.
I’m walking to my execution or my salvation, but either way this ends tonight.
“Talk to me, Oscar.”
His voice comes through my earpiece with a crackle of static. “Everyone’s in place. Waiting on your go.”
“And the others?”
“Reports are trickling in from the other academies. It’s starting.”
If everything goes according to plan at approximately nine p.m. Greenwich Mean Time, twenty minutes from now, every single academy in the world will be attacked. There wasn’t time to coordinate much beyond sending the information out; the longer it lingers on the Dark Web the higher the chance that Ares will find it, that they’ll prepare for what’s headed their way. It’s fast, but we were trained to be the best. I hope it’s enough.
I swallow, my palms sweating beneath my gloves.
“And Luke?”
“He’s in position. Everything looks fine.”
I pull out my mobile phone, turning on the camera, taking a picture of the house in front of me. I open my email, my fingers trembling slightly as I
type the message.
Fifteen minutes. Bring Grace. I’ll give you what you want if you let her go.
I attach the image and send it to the email address they used when they sent me the picture of Luke, a sliver of fear sliding down my spine.
What have I just done?
They’ll come. Even though it’s on my terms, they’ll come because they’ll think I’m desperate to get my sister back, impulsive, ready to risk it all to save her. They’ll come because they’re arrogant, because even as they’ve monitored me, tracked me, trained me, at the end of the day I’m just a nineteen-year-old girl. Hardly a worthy adversary.
Aggressive mimicry. It’s a beautiful thing.
I slip back into the shadows and my gaze scans the perimeter, the knowledge that he is out there somewhere watching my back calming me somewhat.
Still—it’s the longest twenty minutes of my life.
They won’t have much time to mobilize a team, to get from the Academy to the place where one life ended and another began. Even with all of their training, all of their skills, they’ll be rushed, giving us the shot we need.
I count in the dark, steadying my nerves, my heart pounding.
“Incoming.”
I glance down at my watch at the sound of Oscar’s voice in my ear. Eight fifty-eight.
They come in black SUVs with tinted windows—one, two, three. They position themselves strategically, blocking the street to oncoming traffic, clogging my escape route.
I wonder how long it will be before we draw a crowd. They must think this will go quickly and easily, or else they’re so connected they don’t care.
The doors open and men dressed in black, heavily armed, step out, weapons drawn.
What have I done?
My heart races as I count the men—nine total. They form a perimeter around the vehicles, creating their own zone of power. And then the final door opens.
I see Grace, her tiny body hunched over, her hands bound in front of her by black cords. Anger, panic, fear flood me. I take a breath. Another. I can’t charge in there as much as I want to. Not yet.
My father exits the car next. He looks much like he did in the photo in my room— just a bit older and entirely too much like me. Whatever his role was when he was younger, I doubt he was an assassin. His gaze sweeps his surroundings, but it’s more cursory than anything else. He believes that the men with guns will protect him. An assassin protects him—or her—self.
Between Shadows Page 22
