Last Chance (DarkWorld: SkinWalker Book 3)

by Ayer, T. G.

  “Okay.” Logan got to his feet. “Let me do some digging. Maybe I can find information on similar structures. Perhaps that will give us a good idea of how something like that is built and where the likely emergency exits would be. If anything, at least it will give us a better idea of what to look for once we get inside.”

  I slid off the stool again and studied the table full of people who’d come to support me. For a moment, I was overwhelmed and had to swallow back my tears.

  “Okay, everyone get some rest. Once Logan gets back with some schematics, we can plan a way inside. I’ll message you all with the time to meet.”

  “We’re going as soon as possible, right?” asked Anjelo. He was tossing his phone from one hand to another, and I knew it meant he was worried.

  “Yeah. I’d go right now if I could, but yes, we aren’t going to waste any time about this.”

  Anjelo sat back, looking satisfied. He’d kept his new look after he returned home, and although I liked it, I missed his super-short crew cut. He nodded and got to his feet. Chairs slid on wood and fabric rustled as everyone took that as their cue to move.

  Soon, only Logan and Grams were left, and the apartment felt abandoned. Logan moved toward me, threw an arm around my waist, and gave me a hug. Despite my weakened state, my skin sizzled where he touched me.

  “I have to go,” he whispered in my ear. Pots clattered in the kitchen as Grams began dinner. Logan placed a heated kiss on my neck and said, “When I get back, I’m going to make sure you know exactly how you make me feel.”

  “And how exactly do I make you feel?” I whispered, our mouths inches from each other.

  “Oh, you’ll have to wait until I return. But if you want an idea, its something along the lines that even when you’re weak and broken, you still manage to get my blood burning.”

  “Mmm. Is that a good thing?”

  “Definitely a good thing.”

  “I should get weak and broken more often, then.”

  He grabbed my ass and squeezed, simultaneously pressing me against his body, his arousal firm against my hip. “Don’t you get any ideas. I quite like my women in one piece, thank you.”

  More clattering from the kitchen made me grin. Logan released my butt and kissed me firmly on the neck before hurrying to the door.

  His woman indeed.

  ***

  Chapter 35

  Logan returned within a few hours with plans he’d found in Omega’s archives. “What are these plans for?” I asked as he set them at the far end of the table.

  “If I tell you, I’d have to kill you,” he said, his voice bland. Grams and I both rolled our eyes. We were occupied setting the table with deep plates and tableware. “What’s for dinner?” he asked, staring at the pots on the stove. He looked like a man dying for a meal.

  “Spaghetti Bolognese, and don’t change the subject.” I glared at him.

  Logan grinned and headed to the kitchen, giving me a light shrug. “I actually have no idea. I didn’t waste time trying to connect the coded number reference on the bottom.”

  He washed up, then waited beside the pot for Grams to hand him a deep serving bowl, which he proceeded to fill with the spaghetti sauce. Steam swirled around them as I watched Grams point him to a large colander in the sink. Logan seemed very domesticated as he dropped the pasta into the colander to drain, then tossed it in olive oil as Grams poured. The look on Grams’ face said she approved.

  So did I.

  A wash of dizziness flowed over me, and I sank into the nearest chair, leaving the rest of the work to them. Soon, we settled in to eat, and the next few minutes were filled with “Pass the pasta” or “Sauce” or “Salad” as was required.

  I was grating parmesan very liberally over my plate when Logan said, “I have no idea how you can eat that stuff.”

  “Why not? It makes the pasta taste delicious,” I said, breathing in the fragrant steam rising from my plate.

  “Because it tastes like feet.”

  I almost splattered my food all over the table. “Feet? How the hell does Parmesan taste like feet?” I asked, laughing at him.

  “Well, it smells like feet. Smelly feet,” he insisted as he shoved a fork into his pasta and twirled it.

  I shook my head. “Your loss, then. More for me,” I said as I wrapped my mouth around a forkful of pasta goodness.

  ***

  With the table cleared, we gathered around the plan drawings that Logan had brought over. Two-dimensional drawings of the building occupied the top left corner, while different floors were mapped out in finer detail on the rest of the map. Whatever this place was, it looked huge.

  “Omega stores their maps by type of structure, so this one was filed as subterranean. Unfortunately, I would have wasted too much time trying to figure out the ID and location of the facility. I figured we didn’t really need to know that.”

  “True,” I said, placing a glass on one corner to prevent the map from rolling away.

  We studied the different levels, air ducts, elevators, emergency routes, water purification, generator rooms. Everything about the way a subterranean building was built should have fascinated me, but all I could think of was Mom and if she was all right and still in one piece.

  Once Logan finished studying the layout, he said, “Right. I think you can let everyone know. We can head out tonight. Facilities like this usually house the staff, so we can’t guarantee the place will be abandoned at two in the morning, but it would certainly reduce the risk of being seen.”

  “At least we have the jumpers to case the place for us. Having them certainly makes things a lot easier,” I said, nodding and thanking Ailuros that I knew a few paranormals.

  ***

  The dunes surrounding the facility sloped high enough to provide sufficient cover for us. Mel and Saleem had taken turns bringing Drake, Logan, and I to the location. I was still a little unsettled after Grams got a last-minute call from Sentinel. It didn’t sit well, especially when I was unable to contact Cassandra or Larsson.

  All Sentinel agents seemed to have been called off this mission at the last possible minute, and it made me suspicious. And worse, without the addition of Larsson, we were forced to leave Lily and Anjelo behind.

  Logan had charged them with keeping all weapons primed and at the ready in case Mel or Saleem returned for additional supplies. Both were unhappy with having been left behind, but it made no sense to take them with us and give the two jumpers additional work during team extraction.

  The one person who had joined us was the enigmatic Drake. Mel had hinted at a unique ability to thwart an opponent while fighting that could come in handy. And she’d insisted that between her and Saleem, two jumps each to get us to safety would be fine.

  Now, Logan, Saleem, Drake, and I gathered in the sands and waited for Mel to scope out the area and find a place to transport us to. She held Mom’s portal key in her hand, just to give her the extra juice to project. Then she pocketed the key and nodded.

  Dressed head to toe in black, with our faces hidden behind black ski masks, the darkness hid our movements, but who knew if the owners of this facility had invested in thermal sensors, which would have already detected us by now?

  “Let’s get moving,” I said as Logan also shifted restlessly and glanced at his watch.

  Mel nodded. “Let me just show Saleem where to go.” She glanced at the Djinn and held out her hand. He took it and they disappeared. Seconds later, they reappeared, seeming unaffected by the jump. I wasn’t certain that I’d ever stop being amazed by their ability to teleport.

  Mel and Saleem jumped the whole team directly to the floor Mom was being held on. To get to it, we would have had to pass the guards that watched the entrance. Thankfully, bypassing them was easy enough.

  We slipped into a room immediately to our left, and Logan turned to face us. He patted his bag and said, “Saleem and I will look for the generator and set these detonators to time with the extraction. We’ll do the same with
the elevator. Make sure nobody can use it to get to this floor. Then we’ll eliminate whatever guards there are around here. Keep an ear out on the comms at all times. Kai, Mel, and Drake, go for Celeste. Mel, first priority is Celeste. Extract her first, then come back for the rest.”

  Mel nodded, then looked at Saleem. “Saleem knows where we’ll be.”

  Logan nodded.

  With everyone set, Saleem held out his hand to me. He was ready to jump when Mel put a hand on his chest to stop him. “Wait. I just projected to check things out and there’s someone in the observation room. We need them incapacitated. I think it’s one of the scientists or technicians.”

  “Just incapacitated?” asked Saleem.

  “Yes, Djinn. We didn’t come here to go on a killing spree,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

  He just grinned at her with mischief in his eyes.

  “Fine. Logan and I will go and see what we can do about incapacitating them,” he said, his eyes still teasing Mel even as the both of them disappeared in an explosion of orange embers and ash.

  Waiting for them seemed interminable. Pain lanced through my palms and I had to force myself to unclench my fingers. My panther had responded to my frustration again, finding her way through my defenses without my knowledge and lengthening her claws with such ease I hadn’t registered the change.

  At last they returned, both looking smug. Mel and I shared a narrow-eyed glance that didn’t bode well for the men in our lives. Both took the hint and sobered up, which I ended up finding too funny.

  “All clear,” said Logan as Saleem came to stand with me.

  Mel held out her hand to Drake, and then we all disappeared into thin air, arriving in the small viewing room attached to Mom’s room. Saleem left us there, disappearing almost instantly. The viewing room was filled with equipment, monitors, and various machines keeping tabs on Mom’s vitals.

  Through the glass screen, the shadows hid most of Mom’s face as she slept, but enough of her features were visible for me to heave a sigh of relief. She looked fine. I stepped toward the door, but Mel tapped my shoulder. I glanced back at her, and she whispered, “Wait. We need to make sure nobody is inside the room with her.”

  I nodded as Mel disappeared. She returned a moment later with a relieved smile. “All clear. Drake, you keep a watch on the door and alert us.”

  Drake nodded and we left him, entering Mom’s room silently. We reached the bed and got a good look at her as she lay there, unconscious. Her black hair was held away from her face by a wide elastic band, her skin pasty and dry. At first it looked like she was being given a blood transfusion, and fear rippled through me like an earthquake. But when I looked closer, fury replaced that fear. They were bleeding her. When I glanced at Mel, her expression mirrored mine.

  We scanned the rest of the equipment, and then I touched the microphone at my collar. “What time was the power hit set for?”

  “Two forty-five,” said Logan in my ear.

  “We need to reschedule. We need to wait for the power pulse.”

  “Okay, we’ll wait for your signal.”

  “What are we waiting for?” asked Mel as soon as I finished talking to Logan.

  I pointed at the wires connected to Mom. “These look like they’re monitoring her heartbeat. And the others seem to be measuring her vitals. If we detach her, then it would set off any number of alarms.”

  Mel was already nodding, “And if we wait for power shutdown, they might think that’s the reason for the lack of measurements coming from your mom. It should buy us some time. Good thinking.”

  I merely looked back at my unconscious mother. I couldn’t even take the chance of waking her up in case waking vitals would call someone out to check on her. I motioned to the outer room, and Mel and I tiptoed through the doorway.

  To find a guard standing in the middle of the room, staring at the two empty chairs where he would have expected two medical staff to be. He flinched when we entered the room, his eyes going wide as he reached for both his walkie-talkie and his gun.

  A finger tapped his shoulder, and as the guard spun around, he lifted his gun from its holster. As his hand came up to aim his weapon at Drake, both the guard and I gasped.

  Drake slammed a fist onto the guard’s hand and then lost all solidity, transforming into liquid smoke. Just in time. Having lost his gun, the guard, now infuriated, threw a left hook. And went right through where Drake had been standing, his hand drawing trails of smoke with it. As his hand passed through the black smoke, the guard made an odd sound, something somewhere between confusion and fear.

  Drake took the opportunity to solidify and plant his fist into the man’s throat. The blow was loud, and I winced. When the guard fell, both Mel and I caught him before he hit the ground.

  “You didn’t have to kill him,” Mel snapped at Drake, who was fast becoming solid again. And then I knew what he was. A Gargoyle. And the only way I could tell was he’d lost his glamor as he solidified back into human form, revealing inky black swirling markings on grey skin. My jaw dropped, and Drake gave me a sweet smile before turning his attention back to Mel. “Broke a couple bones in his throat, yes. Killed him? No.”

  “Okay then. That’s totally fine, isn’t it?” asked Mel as if she were scolding a five-year-old.

  Drake ignored her, and she just huffed. “How long ‘til the power goes out?”

  “Ten minutes,” I said, glancing at my watch. I sighed and peered back into the room at Mom. “It’s going to be a long ten minutes.”

  Time passed so slowly I felt like I would explode. Every time I looked at my watch, it seemed only thirty seconds had passed. I shook my head and wondered if I needed to learn a little more patience.

  Might do me some good.

  Something changed in the air, my panther picking up a jump in the frequency the generator set off. Then we were plunged into darkness. My panther sight kicked in immediately, and for the first time I didn’t fight as my feline took over my senses.

  “Let’s go, Mel,” I said as I ran into the room. I removed all the tubes and electric nodes from the body, moving as quickly as I could without hurting her. At last I reached the lure in her inner elbow.

  As I began to remove it, Mel whispered, “How the hell are you seeing all of that? I can’t see a thing in this pitch black.”

  I chuckled. “Sorry. It’s my panther sight. Works well in the dark.”

  “Ah, that certainly explains it,” said Mel as she waited beside me, unable to do much else.

  As soon as I was done, I caught Mel’s arms. “Here. She’s ready. Take her home.”

  Mel nodded. “Okay, see you in a bit.” She disappeared, and with panther sight, it was interesting what I saw. The air parted as if it were made up of beams of red-and-white light. Mel’s body shifted, turned into shimmering particles, and melted into the streaks of red as if she were as much a part of it as it was of her.

  Impressive.

  I left the empty bed and hurried to Drake in the observation room just as the generators kicked in, the low-powered lighting a sickly yellow glow in the observation room.

  “They gone?”

  I nodded and spoke into the microphone. “Number one is home,” I said, then felt ridiculous. But something made me wonder whether it was a good idea to use names or specifics even if we thought the wireless was untappable.

  I sighed. The effects of my injury were slowly taking their toll on my body. All this jumping must be wreaking havoc with my wounds. I was about to sit on the counter behind me when a shadow closed in outside the door.

  “Drake,” I hissed softly, but he’d seen the potential visitor too.

  There was no time to move and hide, so I remained where I was as the door opened with a soft whoosh. A man entered the room, his eyes on the clipboard he held in front of him. He’d walked within almost ten feet of me before he realized anything was wrong.

  When he looked up, I stifled a gasp.

  Our eyes met, mirroring in g
reen.

  The man staring at me was supposed to be dead.

  “Uncle Niko?”

  ***

  Chapter 36

  He gave me a warm smile and was about to respond to me when Drake hit him hard at the back of his head. Niko crumpled into an untidy heap at my feet.

  I stared at him, mouth hanging open, then slowly turned my gaze to Drake who was standing stock still, watching me with the oddest expression. “Uncle?”

  “Yeah, long story,” I said, my voice quivering, my heart hammering. How could he still be alive? There were a few new scars on his face and neck, but what did that really mean? Had someone saved him after he fell into the flaming pool? I’d been so sure he was dead when Widd’en kicked him in.

  But Niko was most certainly not dead.

  Drake bent and dragged him around the wider island desk, out of sight of the door and safe. “I’m assuming we need to extract him too?”

  “Of course we have to,” I said, feeling a little at odds with Niko’s unexpected presence. Sure, we had to take him with us. I had to think of Grams, seeing as how I was looking at her son lying there unconscious.

  “But he’s working for these people,” Drake protested, still looking thoroughly confused.

  “We don’t even know who he’s working for,” I retorted. And then it clicked.

  Like a key turning into a lock, I recalled Illyria saying they had a capable scientist working on the ammo. Who better than Niko? No wonder she’d been reluctant to reveal his identity. And all the bloodletting they’d done to Mom in the warehouse? For all I knew, Niko was involved there too. “All I know is he needs to make reparation for what he’s done. He’s guilty of more than just experimenting on Mom. He has to pay for his crimes.”

  Drake grunted as he glared at the unconscious Walker.

  “Oh, and just one more thing.” Drake glanced up at me. “Don’t let either Anjelo or Lily near him. If I know those two, they’ll rip him to shreds.”

  “How do you know they’ll do that?” Drake asked, clearly skeptical.