Cheating Time (Longevity, #1)

by T. R. Graves

Chapter 33

  President's Prisoners

  Carlie

  "Carles," Jayden whispered again so close to my ear that only I could hear.

  My eyes fluttered open and I realized my mouth was covered. It was a good thing because I might have instinctively said something that would have alerted Barone to Jayden's presence. I'd been too afraid that Barone was going to make his way to my bed before I went to sleep.

  When Jayden realized I was wide awake and had an overwhelming amount of adrenaline pumping its way through my body, he put his finger to his lips and jerked his chin over his shoulder toward a door he'd cut in the side of the tent on the opposite side of the real door flap.

  Afraid for everyone I loved, afraid of what Barone would do if he found out Jayden had been in the tent, I shook my head and, without making a sound, said, "Go. Leave. He'll kill you."

  Jayden's jaw was set in a way that said he was not leaving without me. He was blackmailing me in much the same way Barone was. The difference was I wasn't afraid of Jayden. I was deathly afraid of Barone.

  After tonight, I can't stay with him. He'll systematically kill everyone I love in his efforts to control my mind, body, and soul.

  I jumped up, made a cradle in my T-shirt, and tucked in a still-sleeping Indigo, praying he didn't wake and begin mewing again. Jayden had even less patience than usual. He pulled me by the arm and had me duck through the secret opening.

  On the other side, I was helped up and pulled to the back of the tent behind Barone's by Dad. Holy hell! Dad! One look at him and I knew better than to say the first word. My job was to do without question anything he and Jayden wanted me to do.

  In the back of that tent, I saw another homemade opening, which Dad motioned for me to go through. He and Jayden followed me. This tent was empty. Dad grabbed my arm and led me to the real entry and nodded toward it. He expected me to leave this tent.

  Rather than go through any more tents, holding sleeping Surrogates, we began creeping around the campsite and making our way to the forest where Jayden and I'd run undetected earlier in the day. In order to lead by example, Jayden went out in front of our group. I took every step he took. I knew how quiet he could be so I made sure to land my footsteps exactly where his had landed. Dad trailed behind and was just as noiseless.

  When a creak came that hadn't come from any of us, Jayden had the three of us leaning against a tree and waiting. When it became clear the campsite was coming to life and our disappearance had probably been noticed, Dad looked at Jayden and me and whispered, "It's now or never. Jayden, you lead the way. I'll be behind you. You get her to safety no matter what happens. My only concern is her." Then he turned to me and said, "I love you, sweetie. Don't forget your mother and I have done everything we've done in order to keep you safe. Don't forget that!"

  "I love you, too, Daddy!"

  Dad pulled me into his arms, kissed my head, and pushed me toward Jayden. We all took off running, literally for our lives. Right before we made it back to the cave where Sean and Simon had been camping, Jayden took a sharp turn. With it, we found ourselves on an undiscovered path. All around the forest, we heard an entire army of people running, searching. None of them were trying to be quiet.

  They were stomping, hitting trees, yelling among themselves, and doing everything possible to bring back the president's prisoners. I bristled when I heard them speak about us as if we'd done anything that warranted being called prisoners but knew better than to focus too much on that fact because doing so would cause me to lose my concentration and make a mistake. Possibly a fatal one.

  The entire escape was frightening, but when Barone's voice began booming around the forest, I was more scared than I'd ever been, and that included the day I'd been attacked by a bed of copperheads and almost died. For me, Barone was the most frightening person, thing, or creature I'd ever known because I now knew he'd kill anyone or anything that threatened him or tried to sabotage his plans.

  I wasn't worried about myself. I was terrified for Dad and Jayden. I was terrified for anyone on my immunity list because those would be the people he went after first.

  Dammit! Why did I make that list? Dammit!

  "Carlie, you know what I'm capable of. If you stop this nonsense right now… NOW… I'll forgive all that has happened here tonight. If you don't, there will be no turning back. I'll snap the neck of every person you love and make you watch. Do you want their blood on your hands?"

  His tone wasn't nearly as calm and cool as it had been when he killed Indigo's sister. There was an anxiety behind it that made me think he was sure we were actually getting away.

  "Ignore him, Carles," Jayden whisper-shouted from in front of me.

  My head told me Jayden was right and I needed to ignore Barone. My heart reminded me I was in a no-win situation. He'd never let either Jayden or Dad live after today. Going back would not bring with it the absolution Barone proclaimed.

  We kept running. At least, we did until there was a loud pop from behind us that told me a shot had been fired. When I turned, I saw that Dad had been spun around by it and was stumbling, trying to keep his feet firmly planted and preparing to fight whoever was threatening us.

  Isaiah! Dammit to hell! Why him?

  "Go back to Barone and stay out of this, son! You don't want to do this," Dad coaxed Isaiah, who was standing with a gun leveled on all of us.

  "Shut up! Do as I say. I'm taking you back to camp. Barone told me he realized he'd made a mistake when he appointed St. Romaine his Lead. He promised if I brought you all back, he'd make it up to me," Isaiah yelled. "Now clamp your hands behind your head and walk your sorry asses toward the camp."

  With nothing more than the light of the moon illuminating our way, I stared toward Dad. Not only was he pale, but he was in intense pain. The kind that had him gritting his teeth and holding his arm awkwardly against his chest.

  As if reason were all that was needed when dealing with Isaiah, I said, "You just shot him, Isaiah. He can't put his arm behind his head."

  "I don't give a shit what you say. I want you all to put your hands on the back of your head. If you don't do that, you'll have a bullet hole in you within the next few seconds. There's only one of you I can't kill—Carlie. Still, I could shoot you," Isaiah said with a smirk so sickening I wanted to wipe it off his face almost as bad as I wanted to hurt Barone earlier in the night.

  I cleared my throat and admitted the last thing I wanted to admit to the one person as cruel as Barone. "I've got the cub in my hand, Isaiah. I can only put one hand behind my head too."

  "I'll take him," Isaiah said smoothly. "Barone said I'd get a special gift if I brought the two of you back alive."

  So he can kill Indigo in front of me also. I'd leave him in the forest to fend for himself and pray an animal with strong motherly instincts took care of him before I'd let this asshole have him.

  While I stood contemplating what I needed to do, another loud pop rang through the forest. With it, Isaiah fell to the ground and grabbed his leg.

  "What the hell?" he groaned while rolling around and beating the forest floor with his fists.

  From the side, I heard Sean. "Keep going. I'll follow behind. I'm going to make sure anyone who gets lucky enough to find this trail is taken care of. Go!"

  Without hesitating, Jayden grabbed Indigo from me and took off up the hill. Dad followed behind. There was no way to pretend he wasn't traveling at a slower rate than earlier. Without giving it away, Jayden accommodated for Dad's injuries and their impact on our escape.

  It seemed like it took hours, but it could have only been minutes before we reached a clearing. To my amazement and in the middle of the field was an autopilot drone big enough to hold a dozen people.

  Without a word between us, Jayden put Indigo in my palm and ushered Dad and me to the side door before lifting us into the aircraft. With more anxiety than I'd ever seen rolling off the Surrogate, he stood next to the drone, waiting for Sean. Mimicking Jayden and the way he studied
the forest, I stood holding the bar next to the door with one hand and Indigo with the other, waiting.

  When Sean burst from the covering of the trees, at the same time, Jayden and I breathed a sigh of relief. His breakneck speed alerted us to the fact that he was being chased, that he was running for his life. Unlike Dad and his ability to remain standing, Sean went facedown with his arms spread wide when a loud pop sounded over the quiet roar of the drone, signaling to us the fact that he'd been shot in the back.

  When Jayden ran toward his brother, I tried to jump from the MediChopper, wanting nothing more than to follow him, but several sets of hands grabbed onto me.

  "LET GO OF ME!" I yelled, glaring around and looking to see who dared hold me back.

  Dad had one arm and Thorne had the other.

  "LET GO OF ME!" I yelled, again.

  Neither man complied, and had it not been two people I admired and respected, I'd have at least tried kicking them.

  I knew they'd never let go, so I turned back to where Sean had fallen and watched as Jayden grabbed his brother and dragged him toward the drone, twisting and turning as additional shots were fired their way. Based on the the yelps following the pops as they grew closer, I thought at least two shots hit their marks, one for Jayden and another for Sean.

  When they were close, Thorne jumped from the aircraft and helped Jayden throw Sean in the aircraft like he was a sack of potatoes. He looked as if he might do the same for Jayden… until Jayden waved off his help and hoisted himself in. Thorne did the same, only by then the drone had taken flight and he was left hanging in midair and trying to fight the gravity pulling him back down toward the clearing.

  Rorie began screaming, "THORNE! THORNE! PLEASE HELP HIM!"

  Little did she know we were all grappling around, trying our best to grab a hand, a foot, a piece of clothing. I turned toward her, held out Indigo, and said, "Hold him!"

  She immediately complied.

  I lay on my belly next to Jayden. He held on tight to one forearm and pulled while I grabbed onto Thorne's hand. Suddenly, I had a surge of energy unlike anything I'd ever experienced in my life. At the same time it shot through me, I grabbed Thorne tighter and almost singlehandedly pulled him into the cabin of the aircraft with us.

  As soon as he was in, Jayden hit a button that shut the door, instantly silencing the rush of wind that had just been threatening to burst my eardrums. In the abrupt quietness of the compartment, we all looked around and took inventory of who'd made it and what condition they were in.

  The unexpected and unprecedented burst of strength and energy had shorted me out. My hands shook as I squatted and then sat. I had to do something before I dropped to my knees. Ignoring my weakness, I stared around the cabin.

  Against the wall and cuddling Indigo was Rorie. Next to her, licking Indigo, was Vixen. Guarding the mother and her baby was Jabdalja, Bagheera, and Sasha. On the floor and sprawled out in a way that instantly made me wonder if he was going to live was Sean. He was still recovering from histoplasmosis, and now he had two gunshot wounds to survive. Simon was lying across his brother's chest, crying and begging him to be okay.

  I felt sorry for him but knew there would be nothing I could do to console him. Not until we were somewhere Sean could get the treatment he needed.

  Next to Sean's feet sat a dazed and confused Thorne. He'd been born a scientist. Unlike me, he'd not been trained to fight. The fact that he'd quite nearly plunged to his death was weighing heavily on him and his nerves, and he was staring at me like I'd just done something miraculous. Determined to keep my deed secret, I looked away from Thorne and saw that on each side of me sat Dad and Jayden. Both had been shot, but the best I could tell, neither wound was fatal.

  So far, we've all made it.

  The question really became, How much longer?

  Barone had countless resources at his disposal. If he couldn't get us, he'd go after Gran and Tawney.

  My head jerked toward Dad, who seemed to be thinking what I was thinking.

  "Where are they? Can we get to them?" I asked frantically.

  His voice was monotone when he said, "Your mom is safe with Mac and Elle."

  "Gran says we can't trust them… that they work for Barone!" I cried.

  Dad nodded. "They did until he killed their baby because she was a genetic mutant. Ever since then, they've been double spies, making Barone think they were working for him while helping as many people as possible escape Barone's genocide."

  "What about Gran and Tawney?"

  Again, Dad nodded. Then with a lot of difficulty, he climbed to his feet and stumbled over to the drone's computer. He made sure there were no images for us to see as he typed nonstop, much like Jayden had when he was trying to reach Gran.

  Finally, he clicked a button and we saw Gran and Tawney with their hands behind their head as if they'd just been captured.