ENTANGLED
Page 32
Okay, Giles did have his uses.
Kel bit her bottom lip again, and her gaze caught Nate’s, torn. Nate knew why. Giles was in no shape to run if Greenway arrived while they were still here.
“I can run.” Giles closed his eyes. “Well, lope.”
“So we hurry. We do need money, and I’d like to grab my file from the doc's office.” Kel tucked Giles against her side, and he towered over her like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz.
“Now that’s unkind, Mr. Tin Man.” Giles shot him a hurt look. “You have no heart.”
Kel narrowed her eyes. “Did he think you looked like the Scarecrow?”
“Didn’t Dorothy like Scarecrow the best?” Giles asked her with a smile that made his dimples flash.
She laughed. The first time Nate’d heard her do it, and it cut him to the bone. It was a beautiful sound, like a bird set free. “To the Emerald City, dear Scarecrow,” she said in a sing-song voice, and clicked her heels. They started down the passage, as fast as Giles could go.
Nate had no choice but to follow.
In front of him, Giles lifted a hand, as if to scratch the back of his neck, and flipped him the middle finger.
Just great.
o0o
Tick. Tock.
She could feel the weight of time, the press of minutes against her skin, scratchy, like rough wool.
Giles half-lay on the reception couch, his face pale and slick with perspiration from their run to the admin offices.
“I just want to tell you something.”
Damn it to hell. She shook her head to clear it.
Nate stood shoulder to shoulder with her as they searched the big reception desk, and she inhaled his scent, plain soap and man, and forced herself not to shiver with anticipation.
He pulled open a drawer and lifted out a knife, one of those promotional things with a company logo on the hilt. He flipped the blade, pressed it against the skin of his thumb and slipped it into his pocket.
She tried not to stare at his hands.
How long had it been since she'd been touched by someone who didn't want to hurt her?
He brushed against her and she shifted, so torn, so compelled, she made herself crouch down and pull out the bottom drawer on her side of the desk.
“It’s like imprinting,” Giles said, hauling himself up into a sitting position. “If I’d been the one to find you, you’d want to do that to me, too.”
His words forced a startled laugh from her, even though her cheeks burned. “You comparing me to a wild animal, Scarecrow, dear?”
Giles waggled his eyebrows at her, and she laughed again, with no reservations, until she caught Nate’s gaze, and the laughter died in her throat. She stood, holding tight to the edge of the desk.
“Want to let me in on the joke?” His eyes were so hot, so intense, her mouth went dry.
“I think you can work it out.” Her voice came out lower than usual, husky. She saw his nostrils flare. A hunter catching the scent.
“You might like to know Greenway just pulled up in the car park.” Giles was looking toward the blind-covered window, and from a story below, she could hear the pop of gravel under tires.
They stepped away from each other, and she felt like an astronaut with her tether cut, free-wheeling out into space.
Nate pulled out a cash box and she flipped the lock without even looking at it, heading for Greenway’s office. She wanted her file so bad, she could taste it.
“About a thousand dollars. Should help.”
She glanced back as Nate tossed a bundle of notes in a little plastic bag at Giles.
Then she fried the electronic lock on Greenway’s office and stepped inside his lair.
Chapter Four
He watched her step inside Greenway’s office, ordered himself to get it together. Now.
This was not the time for gooey-eyes.
Behind him, Giles sniggered.
“I swear, Giles…” He spun, but Giles had his hands up in a gesture of truce. Then his eyes went hard.
“Hurt her, just one little prick of pain, and friend or no, I’ll pound your face in.”
Now, this was the old Giles. The mean, kick-ass Giles the way he’d been when they’d been brought here. It was such a shock to see it, Nate gaped. Closed his mouth. “You think I’m going to hurt her?”
Giles shook his head. “I know what you want to do to her, it couldn’t be more graphic, but she’s had it tough in here. Tougher than us, if you can believe that’s possible, and there is still a sweetness to her. A genuine warmth. Don’t do anything to extinguish that light, Nate, or I will fuck you over.”
Nate opened his mouth to respond, but Giles went still, lifted a hand. “Greenway is coming here first. Wants a dart gun all his very own before he wanders the passages.”
“He’s alone?”
“All, all alone. Little lamb in the woods.”
They shared a smile. Two wolves, free of their cage at last. And with Kel in the picture, not just their own scores to settle.
Nate moved across to Greenway’s office, saw Kel’s fingers flying over the keyboard at Greenway’s computer. “Giles says he’s coming up. Keep going, though, we’ll sort it out.”
She raised her head. “You sure?” There was a pinched look on her face. Like she thought the bastard was unbeatable.
“I’m sure.” This would be the most enjoyable thing he’d done in two years.
She gave a tight nod, turned her concentration back to the screen in front of her.
Nate heard the soft ping of the elevator reaching their floor. Giles was already pressed up against the wall beside the entrance door, Tank Man’s dart gun in his hand.
Nate took the other side.
He heard the doc’s tread on the thick carpet and Greenway walked into the room without hesitation, a phone to his ear. “I don’t care if it’s Halloween and you’re going to a party. We have a situation. Hello... Larson? Larson?”
Nate shivered as Kel’s power pulsed out, taking out the doc’s phone. Man, that was something. He hadn’t liked it, at first, but he was getting used to it.
“No one else coming?” he asked, lifting the dart gun he’d taken off Jenkins as he stepped forward. “What a pity.”
Greenway spun, his eyes so wide he looked like a cartoon character, far from the distracted, harmless scientist façade he cultivated.
“Halliway and Worthington.” He didn't sound pleased to see them.
“We’re only here at your insistence, Doc.” Nate's finger tightened on the trigger. “We’d have gone back to our lives in a heartbeat. You made us stay.”
Giles moved at last, his eyes unreadable. “It’s because General Whitford found out what happened to us that Greenway had to dismantle the facility. That’s why he can’t stand the sight of us. Whitford wanted us back, to be his little freaks, not the doc’s. And when Greenway didn’t want to give us up, Whitford rained a storm of unpleasantness down on him, didn’t he, Doc? Got all sorts of people angry with you for taking the treasures they didn’t know they had, and not sharing.”
“So that’s where I was going? Back to Whitford?” Nate shook his head in disbelief.
“Not back to your old unit,” Greenway said, his teeth clenched. “To a new little group Whitford has created, just for you.”
“And Giles?”
“Too sick to go anywhere.” Greenway smiled, his lips pulling back over his teeth like a bat about to bite. “A bit embarrassing, really. His decline. But he would have joined you eventually.”
Giles lifted his dart gun, and his hand was rock-steady, but the doc ignored the weapon.
“Where is Kelli? What have you done with her?” Greenway spoke as if he’d rather be asking anything else, but couldn't help himself.
“Right here.” Kel had come out of the office, and she had a dart gun in her hand. Must be the doc’s, the one he was coming to get. Her other hand clenched around something small. Nate was willing to bet it was a flash drive.
She had what she wanted from Greenway’s files.
“How did this happen, Kelli? How did these thugs even get into your room?” His voice was soothing, like he was talking to a difficult child.
Her eyes were stone cold. That warmth Giles had spoken of just minutes ago was gone. “What did you do to me, you bastard?”
Greenway blinked. “All I've ever done is help you learn control, Kelli. Help you reach your potential.”
“I just want to tell you something.” She said the words slowly, whispered them, really, in a way that made the hairs stand up on Nate's arms, on the back of his neck. Her face was sharp with that spooky focus of hers.
What the fuck was going on here?
Greenway reared back like he'd been slapped. “You're not supposed to remember...”
She watched him as he spluttered to a halt, something a little... lost in her eyes. Then, without hesitation, without warning, she simply lifted the gun a little higher and shot Greenway in the throat. He gave a startled shout, and Nate knew Giles had flinched along with him.
Her move was that of a trained killer, even if Greenway was knocked out, not dead. As she watched Greenway hit the deck, head lolling, he did not think she would have done anything differently if she’d held a gun loaded with bullets.
She crouched next to Greenway’s body, pulled his car keys from his pocket and stood. Looked between them, ice in her eyes. “Well? You coming?”
o0o
She'd only had trouble controlling her power four times. Twice when she was much younger, and still learning what she could do, once when her parents had died, and the fourth time, well, she shied away from that memory. The incident that had landed her here, in her own personal hell.
But as she stalked towards the stairs next to the elevator, the lights flickered on and off around her, and she could hear a repetitive ping ping ping as the elevator doors slammed opened and closed like a three year-old was manning the controls.
And it was worse than that. When she'd shot Greenway, it had felt as if another hand was lifting the gun. Not her.
She realized her feet were no longer touching the ground. She was walking on air, and not in a good way. She forced herself down. No need to expend unnecessary energy.
She wished she could have killed Greenway. He’d never stop hunting her. She should go back and break his neck, or smother him. She should, but she couldn’t. The... other her who had somehow taken over back there was gone. And this Kelli didn't have it in her.
“Wait up.” Nate’s call did not register as anything more than background noise, and she did not want to face him now. She was too confused.
“Hey! Will you wait the hell up?”
Finally, her feet slowed, and then stopped, waiting for them to catch up to her.
She should feel bad about leaving Nate to help Giles, but she couldn’t feel anything at the moment but pain. And rage.
“I take it the elevator is out?” Nate’s voice was dry, and it roused her. Snapped back some of her control.
She got a grip, stopped the doors at the open position. “We can use it.” She glanced across at Giles. “Easier than the stairs.”
Giles did not respond. He shuffled in after her, and put a hand on her arm. He did not say anything, and she was grateful. They must be wondering who they were getting into the elevator with. What kind of monster she was.
No one spoke as they descended. Kel leaned back against a steel wall and wished she could sleep.
The elevator touched down, and Nate lifted a finger to his lips, his gaze on Giles. “Anyone?”
Giles shook his head, but Nate had the dart gun up and ready as the doors swished open.
It was clear.
Kel wondered when the bogey man was going to jump out at them. This was way too easy.
“You getting any stray thoughts?” Nate scanned the lobby, and Kel realized he felt it too. The certainty an axe hung over their necks.
Giles shook his head. “Let’s move before old Larson decides it's more than his job’s worth to blow Greenway off for a Halloween party.”
“I’ll get the car.” Nate held out a hand for the keys, and Kel dropped them into his palm. He was the type who had difficulty letting other people drive. She’d bet money on it.
Nate’s fingers closed around the keys but he kept standing there, watching her. “You okay?” His voice was soft.
She shook her head.
He reached out a hand, tentative and gentle, and brushed her cheek. “Let’s get out of here, then we can talk about it.”
She didn’t say anything to that and Nate stepped away. “Wait for me out front.” He pushed through the glass swing doors, pressing down on Greenway’s key remote.
There were only four cars in the lot, and Greenway’s car turned out to be the Mercedes, lights flashing as it unlocked.
Kel opened the door, and cold air enveloped her, ripping away her breath. She coughed. “Wait inside ‘til Nate brings the car round, it’s too cold out here.” She let go of Giles’ arm and started to move through.
“Where the hell are you going, then?” He was already shivering—so, so thin, he had no padding against the bitter weather.
“There is something I want to do while we wait for Nate.”
She stepped out, closing the door firmly behind her, and saw Giles press his face up against the glass to watch her. Her t-shirt was so thin, she might as well be naked against the cold, and her arms felt like they were on fire.
She didn’t care.
She’d dreamed of this day for over a year, since she had gained the focus to lift herself. It may not be a wise use of her energy and time, but she would do it anyway.
She gathered her strength around her, pulling it in so it sat, bright and hot, within her chest.
She put her arms straight out on either side of her body, and leaped, spinning, up and up, like a skater in a pirouette, with the air her element, instead of ice.
She heard the short, sharp squeal of tires as Nate hit the brakes below, caught a glimpse of his head out the window as he watched her.
When the roof of the four story facility flashed past her, she stopped, tipped back her head and looked up at the sky, arms dangling at her sides. It was clear. So open and big. The blazing lights from the building obscured so many stars, but there were still a few to be seen, bright pin pricks of light, twinkling back at her. Enough to give her heart.
She hadn’t seen the open sky for three years. It made her want to keep floating up forever.
Below, she heard Nate drive the car forward again at last. He parked in front of the building and opened the car door, and with a sigh, she dropped, light as a feather, back to the ground.
He stood in front of her, so big, so broad, he blocked out everything. She lifted her face to his, but his expression was impossible to read.
A flicker of movement just over Nate's shoulder drew her gaze and she stepped back, a scream caught in her throat.
Something was crouched on the roof of the car.
He—it—was caped. Black, with red lining, and his face was abnormally pale. He smiled, and she caught the flash of fangs.
Whatever it was raised its arms and leaped. Before she could move, Nate grabbed her and swung them both to the side, as if he had eyes at the back of his head.
There was a thump as the…thing…hit the ground and her eyes went wide.
The creature lay still on the hard asphalt of the parking lot, limbs splayed.
Nate set her down, and Kel turned her head.
Giles stood just outside the door. He lowered his dart gun, and despite the cold, the move was precise.
“Nice aim,” Nate said. He crouched beside the body.
When he pulled its teeth out, the breath rushed out of her, and she fought hysterical laughter.
“It's a Halloween costume.” She was amazed her voice came out as well-modulated as it did.
“You thought it was a real vamp?” Giles' face lost some of its granite edge,
and he sent her an amused grin. “You did!”
“He looked the part.” She shuddered.
“It's probably the recalcitrant Larson,” Giles said.
“It is.” Nate flipped closed Larson's wallet. “He'll be sorry for leaving that party.” He stilled suddenly. Lifted a hand for silence. “There is someone...” He shivered, and at that moment, it hit Kel too. A strange, spidery brush of something dark, something hungry.