“I believe in honoring my commitments, sir. Also, in all fairness, it’s not like I’m having to do my patrols in 112° weather with a sixty-pound rucksack on my back. This is pretty much a cakewalk.” Again, one thing her grandmother always taught her, the truth would set her free.
“Ain’t that the damn truth.” He chuckled and spared a glance at the clock. “We already field your shift for today, on the off chance that you would be out again.”
Her stomach sank. She might not want to work for potential criminals, but she sure as hell didn’t want to get fired by them either. “I understand, sir.” She did, too. Their security relied on the overlapping patrols in a very strict timetable. “I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused.”
Braxton waved a hand as though dismissing the concern. “I’m just glad you’re feeling better. You have plenty of sick leave. In fact, you have plenty of vacation leave owed you as well.”
For three years, she’d worked for Braxton’s company, and hadn’t missed a day or taken a single leave. The last had more to do with the fact she didn’t want to go anywhere rather than any deep and abiding devotion to the job. “Yes, sir. Hadn’t really thought about it.”
“Well, maybe now is a good a time as any to think about it. We had to bring up one of our guys from another job, so we’re all covered here.” He pulled out a form and slid it across the desk toward her. “Go ahead and fill this out. You can take two weeks leave while we determine where, if anywhere, we have for reassignment.”
Son of a bitch. He was firing her. Scooting forward, she took the form and met her CO ‘s gaze. “Sir, I do apologize for the trouble my absence created, and I would appreciate any recommendation on your part which would allow me to keep my job.” The last was all a lie, but if she was going to be able to help Drake and the others, she needed to be have access to the facility.
Braxton gave her an almost apologetic look and, for a moment, she could have sworn she saw pity in his eyes. “Archer, it’s standard policy when any member of our team’s goes missing without notice for more than twenty-four hours that your job is subject to reassessment. We handle too many high-security contracts to run the risk of one of our agents being compromised.”
Outrage scored along her nerve endings. “I’m out sick for two days and you think I’ve been compromised?”
“Doesn’t matter what I think. It’s why we have a policy. Fill out the form. Then you will be escorted from the facility. Your security passcode will have already been changed. Cooperate, and I’ll make sure you’re compensated. Make this difficult, and you won’t enjoy the result.”
So, they weren’t giving her any options in this. Fine. Rising she took the form and nodded to Braxton. “Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me over the years.”
She shoved the form into her backpack as her CO rose. “Archer, you can fill that out here, and we can go ahead and get processing your papers.”
“I appreciate that.” She withdrew, tacking on the sir. “However, I came in with a screaming headache, yet I was ready to do my job. I accept that I no longer have a job, which means I am free to go.” She tugged the backpack up onto her shoulder and inclined her head to him. To think she had once saluted this man. A part of her wanted to believe he’d meant everything he said, that he was only releasing her because of company policy.
But her gut recognized a lie when she heard it. In all fairness, she had been compromised. At the door, she paused and glanced back at Braxton. “Do I need to wait for my escort? Or will you be showing me out?”
“I can do that.” For the first time since she’d walked in the room, he almost sounded apologetic. Perhaps the way she handled it was exactly the way she needed to. Good, let him feel guilty.
“I would appreciate it.”
In silence, he walked her to the main gate. No one on duty would meet her gaze. Once clear of the gate, she gave them a casual wave and set off for the subway.
It looked like she would be calling Drake a lot sooner than she intended.
Chapter 9
Letting Joss enter the facility proved a more difficult challenge than Drake expected. He didn’t for a moment doubt her capability or her competency. What he worried about were the powers behind Rex labs. Whether it were scientists or mad men, or maybe just mad scientists, they’d managed to capture two of the most formidable men he’d ever known. Not only had they taken both of them, they’d managed to keep them captive. Prior to that engagement, they’d taken two of the Infinity team members, torturing both, while implanting a deadly dangerous experimental chip in Amanda in order to utilize her skills and powers against her fellow teammates—and apparently even on the Boomers.
So, yes, Drake worried for Joss. The plan called for her to report on shift, and go about business as though nothing had changed. She thought she knew which guard she could trust to hit up for gossip. On breaks, she could vary her pattern and pass through building she didn’t normally walk through. It wasn’t the speediest of solutions, but they had all agreed it was the most sound.
It was also a plan that required time. While none were a fan of leaving Michael and Rex a minute longer than they had to, they also needed to know specifically where they were. Once they had that location, they’d hit the facility with everything they had.
Playing the waiting game had never been his favorite. He’d just settled into his spot on the roof, binoculars focused, when he caught Joss exiting the facility less than fifteen minutes after she entered. The tightness in her jaw and the determined look on her face alerted him to how serious the problem likely was. He knew the path she would take, so he kept his binoculars focused on the gates.
Sure enough, less than sixty seconds after she’d exited, four men in black followed her. Two behind, two heading across the street to parallel her path. Drake rose and sprinted across the rooftop to a fresh vantage point. He found the fifth member of their team tucking a newspaper under his arm as he started walking toward her subway station just ten feet in front of her.
They had her in a box. The flow of pedestrian traffic on the street made the chances of them taking her in broad daylight slim. Still, they continued to flank her. Joss Archer proved very aware of her surroundings when he’d followed her home days earlier, so Drake possessed no doubts about whether or not she knew they were there. The presence of civilians curtailed her response, though she avoided the narrow alley she had taken previously and stayed on the street. Another subway station sat three blocks north of her current location. It wasn’t as close as her usual stop, but it was definitely more in the open.
Drake had to make a choice. Intercept and retrieve or let her go. Were the five men a trap for her or for him? She known they’d be watching, and he’d trusted her when she said she wanted to no part of torture and experimentation. Could she have been playing them? Or had she herself been played? They knew there were no lengths the group wouldn’t go to in order to achieve its goals.
The question was, how far was Drake willing to go? Abandoning his position, he raced across the rooftops, planning to get ahead of them. He admired the fact she chose a path that took her through the most civilians. Even though they had her in that box, they were less likely to attack—at least until they saw no other option.
A second question flowed to the back of his mind as he continued his run across the rooftops, leaping from building to building. Why hadn’t they taken her when she was inside? Why would they let her leave, only to send the bag and tag team after her? It made no sense.
Unless she isn’t the target.
Arriving at a building one block ahead of her, he didn’t hesitate to drop down to street level. His legs absorbed the shock of the fall and sent only a minor vibration along his spine. Where Garrett had poison in his touch, and Michael had his eagle eye, Simon his roving brain, and Rex the ability to shift into anything in organic… Drake’s power lay purely in his strength. His skin was tougher and his muscles capable o
f great feats. At the end of the alley, he pressed against the wall, leaning one shoulder into it like so many other kids he’d seen just hanging out, and turned his attention toward his oncoming quarry. In the thirty-eight seconds it had taken him, they hadn’t changed their positions. One man still led then Joss then two men behind and to men across the street. They hadn’t closed in any closer. Maybe this could work.
Did he let Joss know what he planned to do? Or did he wait to act until they began their next move? Strategy was not his favorite game. At the end of the day Drake preferred to receive the orders and execute them. He didn’t like the responsibility of having to make the choice. He liked it even less when Joss’s life seemed to be the ante he gambled. What if he made the wrong call? What if, by action, he put her in danger? Or endangered himself… No, he didn’t matter, except that if he were taken, that was one less person to search for the captain and Rex.
The mission had been everything. He could hear the captain in the back of his mind. He didn’t need a chip or a communicator to know exactly what the captain would order. Never sacrifice the mission.
Except when it came to Rory. The captain would do anything for Rory, even endanger the mission, no question. Not a single one. Ten seconds remained until Joss and her pseudo posse reached him.
Rory wasn’t in this equation. None of the other Boomers were present. Drake possessed nothing that could lead them back to where the Boomers were. The team was safe. The only people in danger—correction, the only person in danger—at the moment was Joss.
The lead man reached the mouth of the alley. The time to act had come.
He would discover whether Joss was on his side or theirs once and for all.
He had no choice. Striking, he grabbed the man by the throat and jerked him into the alley. One squeeze and a twist and the man went down. He hadn’t broken his neck, but chances were good that he wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon. A shout echoed from across the street, then Joss was at the alley entryway, shock written across her face. He held out his hand to her…
Time for truth—would she take the rescue or would she attack him?
* * *
She’d known the moment they fell in behind her. Joss wasn’t a fool. Whoever she’d worked for, they’d suspected she’d been compromised. She couldn’t blame them, as she had been. It seemed too good to be true that they would just let her go. Of course, they weren’t letting her go. The minute the bag and tag team began to follow parallel and then stepped out in front of her—she’d understood what the gameplay was. They planned to follow her back to the Boomers. Which meant going to the Boomers was the last place she would ever arrive.
Maybe she didn’t truly believe everything they said. Time travel… Seriously? Never would she be able to wrap her mind around that concept.
She was loyal. She had given them her word. So, first, she had to lose the bag and tag team—but only after she’d convinced them that she had no idea where their actual targets were. Of course, the plan relied on the Boomers not rescuing her. When the man ahead of her suddenly vanished into the alleyway, she knew the chance of her plan working was over.
Drake stood there, his face solemn, and his hand extended toward her. She had a choice to make. Run like hell, pretend she had no idea who he was, and hope that he got clear before the rest of the team made it. Or go with him…
She’d been wrestling with the dilemma from the moment she woke to the moment she’d walked out of the Boomers mansion-place-thing-whatever the hell they called the place that they were staying in. What was she willing to give up to help these people she barely knew? What was she willing to do? Should she even be willing to risk anything?
All of her questions evaporated when she slid her palm into Drake’s hand and muttered, “I sure as hell hope you know what you’re doing.”
A smile softened the tough man’s mouth and lit up his eyes. Even though the alleyway itself was shrouded in shadow, it was like the gold tattoo on his face began to glow. Something clicked inside of her. She’d made the right choice.
Come hell or high water, she was in. All in. Time seemed to elongate as Drake tugged her forward into the shadows. He pulled her arm around his neck and said, “Hold on.”
Instinct and training collided. Even though she wanted to ask why, she didn’t. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight. One moment they were on the ground, the next moment he’d squatted and she could almost feel the power gathering within him. Then they hurtled upward. He landed, light as a feather, on a rooftop eight stories up. It was the single most exhilarating thing she’d ever experienced, even if a part of her wanted to throw up.
The landing on the roof wasn’t the end of the journey, though. He lifted her as if she were as light as paper and began to sprint. Rooftops passed by dizzying speeds. One moment they were on ground, the next on the roof, then they were flying across these vast spaces to land on the next. He moved in a crisscross pattern, mostly staying on the same side of the block, until—
Oh, dear God. She couldn’t look as he jumped and cleared an entire avenue block to land on the other side.
Whenever he stopped, she definitely planned to throw up. Until then, she held on for dear life. Again and again they made the leaps until, as far she could tell, they were six to ten blocks away from where he’d originally grabbed her. The moment he set her down, she gripped his biceps tight, digging her fingers in. Her legs were like Jell-O and her muscles like butter. Everything shook and trembled.
“Deep breaths, Joss.” Drake’s lips were right next to her ear, and it sent an entirely different kind of shiver through her shaking body. “You’re going into shock. Just take deep breaths, try to get your heart rate down. Do you need a paper bag?”
Paper bag? She was not having an anxiety attack. She was not hyperventilating. He placed a bag over her mouth, and she was suddenly breathing into it so fiercely, the sack crinkled with every inflate and deflate. The crackling and snapping of the paper did more to ground her than the soft caress of his fingertips against her throat.
Wait, a caress? Forcing her eyes to open, Joss met Drake’s very concerned gaze. Bit by bit, reality reasserted itself. Yes, his thick fingertips rested against her throat. No, they weren’t caressing her. He was checking her pulse. Still, the contact helped.
Lowering the bag, she gave him a rueful smile and shook her head. “You need to come up with a better warning next time.”
Another flash of a grin and her heart did a little flip-flop at the sight of it on his face. A man truly was beautiful. At least, he was when he smiled. She needed to amend that thought before she began having distinctly inappropriate ideas, which didn’t belong in a military operation. Of course, this wasn’t the military. And she’d become a fugitive from a corporation? Wait a minute. People had rights, and corporations were businesses. But they didn’t make the laws and she couldn’t be a fugitive from one of their operations…
God, all of it gave her a headache.
“How are you feeling?” Drake remained ever sturdy. When she forced her eyes open once more, she found him studying their surroundings.
Speaking of surroundings, did she really want to know where they were? A part of her did. The rest of her considered that a really bad idea, considering she still couldn’t get her breath back fully. Of course, was it the run that had left her breathless, or Drake’s nearness?
Apparently, her conscience had a very perverse sense of humor. “I think I’m okay.” Yep, that was about as firm on the subject she was going to get, at least at the moment. “You shouldn’t have rescued me.”
“You’re welcome,” he said with another hint of a smile. Thankfully, it wasn’t a full-on grin, or she might’ve been left stuttering and drooling. “What happened?”
“Not sure we should be talking about it here.” The last thing she wanted to do was get up and start running again, because the man might take it as a hint to go jumping from rooftop to rooftop. That shit looked really cool on televis
ion or in the movies or even in the newspaper, when she saw so-called heroes performing great and fantastical feats.
She was no hero. She really didn’t want to do that again. Not when the only thing standing between her and going splat on the concrete below was a single person.
“Yeah, they didn’t buy that I was out sick for three days.” No matter how frenetic her heart rate, she was determined to keep her responses cool, collected, and maybe even just a little bit normal. “I’m pretty sure I just got fired.”
A frown deepened his countenance. Drake glanced from her to the roofs around them and then over the ledge. She realized that he was looking down at the street.
“Do I want to know where we are?”
“We’re safe for now,” Drake said. “I’m debating going to a safe house we keep here in the city until we are certain you have no trackers on you.”
Her stomach didn’t lurch at the mention of trackers. Nor did it start to boil and bubble and send bile burning along the back of her throat. If she ignored it, it didn’t happen. “Trackers… on me?”
“These people put microchips in other people’s brains. What makes you think they don’t have a subdural tracker on you somewhere?”
“The fact that you took me to your secret hideaway bunkhouse thing.” She folded her arms, more to offer herself comfort than to enhance her own stubborn position. “One would assume you’d never have taken me there if they could track me to it.”
Drake nodded once. “No, I wouldn’t have. But you were inside for fifteen minutes. In that time, you’re telling me they relieved you of duty then sent you out. As for them firing you, I apologize, except that I’m glad you don’t work for those monsters anymore.” The little addendum mollified some of the feelings of guilt, anxiety, and pure raw fury nibbling inside her gut.
Joss nodded. “Thanks. Fortunately there was a good severance package. They didn’t mention a bag and tag team, or maybe that’s part of the severance they didn’t bring up.”
Unstoppable Page 10
