Bennet held a Magnum Eagle, standard issue for local police, and with a flick of his thumb, switched the gun from manual to automatic. On automatic setting, the device registered any movement, and then fired the entire clip into the unfortunate recipient. I stayed really still, settling a hand on Gabriel’s wound in the process, trying to staunch the flow.
Bennett’s hands looked intact, which was a surprise, given how recently—and badly—I’d damaged them. With a sadistic grin, he held one up for me to see.
“They had to amputate, thanks to you. These are titanium skeleton with bio-skin, looks real enough I might even get used to them,” he commented, lowering the gun so it pointed at my head. “Now get to your feet.” He lowered the gun even farther, so it was aimed directly at Gabriel. “You fucking try anything, I’ll finish him off.”
I stayed right where I was, increasing the pressure on Gabriel’s wound, my gaze glued to Bennett’s face. Could my magic reach him before his bullet found Gabriel? Could I take the chance?
“One thing about these hands…” He winked at me. “Faster than human reaction times, and trust me, I’ve been practicing. I’ll put a slug in his head if you so much as look like you’re going to use your magic.”
“Andy…” Gabriel moaned.
Fear like I’d never known rose up in me, at the fear in his eyes, at the horrific amount of blood—Gabriel’s blood—spilling warm over my hand.
If I took my hand away, Gabriel would die, and I couldn’t let that happen, not with his blue gaze devouring me, not while I could still do something… My thought trailed off to nothing as I watched the red laser dot dancing just over Gabriel’s heart, then raised my eyes to Bennett’s. There was glee there, but more than that, there was hatred, as his finger caressed the trigger.
“Take your hand away and stand the fuck up.”
“Let me get him help,” I pleaded, knowing it was a lost cause. “Just… let me make one call, then I’ll do anything you want.” This was torture, begging for something Bennett took joy in denying me. Shifting so I blocked most of Gabriel’s body with my own, I pulled up a dredge of my magic, flames flickering at the ends of my fingers.
“Do you seriously think I care if he dies?” Bennett laughed. “I’m here for you. I’m here for the fifty-thousand-dollar reward on your worthless hide.” Something hit me out of nowhere, a stunner, maybe, but next thing I knew, I was lying alongside Gabriel, watching his pain-filled eyes as he reached his arm to me, his fingers clawing through the gravel.
Bennet kicked it away before his robotic hand closed on my wrist, wrenching it, my bones bent to snapping.
Then Gabriel’s face disappeared as I was dragged through the gravel. By the time Bennet loaded me into the trunk of his car, he was out of breath, my body was still paralyzed, and then I was in the dark as he slammed the lid closed and pulled out of the parking lot.
A few seconds later, I didn’t hear, as much as I felt, the wave of released magic when it hit us. The car spun wildly, and then I became the ball in a pinball machine as the vehicle flipped over, the sound deafening as we tore through trees and god-only-know-what-else. When we came to a rest, I wasn’t sure if we were right side up or upside down.
My face was warm and wet, and I may have broken my ankle, from the pain screaming through my leg. I didn’t care, not about any of it. I had to get back to Gabriel. I had to see if he was…
Instantly I blocked out the rest of that thought. He was alive. He had to be alive.
Feeling around, I slid my hand over sharp metal beneath me, not carpet, which told me we were upside down. After a few failed attempts, I managed to produce a tentative lick of fire, the glow illuminating the confined space, my knees drawn tightly to my chest as panic bloomed. My breaths coming fast, I tried to form the magic into a sword to cut through the walls of the trunk, but only succeeded to scorch the interior. I smelled hair burning, but maybe it was only carpet. Bennett’s trunk was reinforced with titanium, which just fucking figured, since his side hustle was capturing Elementals. Cursing myself, I searched the interior for anywhere that looked vulnerable.
There was a sliver of light coming in, and after a deep breath, my magic spun toward it, cleaving open what used to be the driver’s side rear fender. It took a couple of tries to melt a hole large enough, but finally, I climbed out into the middle of a disaster movie.
It was clear we were still within the blast radius. The trees on both sides of the road, some fifty feet tall, were splayed out like cordwood, all pointing away from the blast site. Gingerly, I tried putting weight on my ankle, and it immediately went out. Bracing myself against the side of the crumpled car, I hopped toward the driver’s door. Empty.
“I hope you went straight through the windshield, you piece of shit,” I muttered, crouching down and scanning the trees. I’d barely pulled my head down when a shot whistled past me, followed by Bennett’s maniacal laughing.
“Dead or alive, McHale. I get more if you’re alive, but at the moment, I’ll take what I can get.” He cackled while I tried to determine where the voice was coming from. At least the wrecked car was between us, or he’d have shot me by now.
“Aren’t you a little out of your jurisdiction?” I asked, kneeling behind the tire. “Bringing me in won’t further your career.”
“Do you honestly think I give a rat’s ass about my career? I’m in this for the money, and after everything I’ve gone through, you can be goddamned sure I’m collecting the bounty.”
“Shit, Bennett, are you going to keep whining like a little bitch about what happened?” I called, hoping he’d keep talking. “Get over it, already.” I heard the faint crunch of underbrush as he jockeyed for a better position near the front of the car. Asshole made enough noise to… well, wake the dead.
It was me or him, and if I didn’t get back to Gabriel quick…
My panic fizzled away as adrenaline took its place, followed by a heady wave of power. I pictured Bennett holding the gun with two hands, the muzzle trained on me as he advanced in a crouched position. I knew he’d fire the second the gun cleared the front of the car, before I had a clear view of him.
Which was why, the second his foot crunched down into the ground, I stood up. In slow motion, he raised the barrel slightly and pulled the trigger, the same time I threw a wall of white plasma up between us. He was still set on automatic, and the clip emptied itself, all the bullets melting on contact, while he shielded his eyes from the glare.
This time my ankle held, or maybe I didn’t feel the pain. It was hard to tell, because while I advanced on Bennett, desperately fumbling to pull his other weapon from its holster, all I saw was fire.
I flashed back to the day the bodyguard tried to kill me, and unbidden, my magic surged through me, trickling out the ends of my fingers, setting the brush around us aflame. Bennett stood between me and Gabriel, but not for long.
“McHale… McHale, you stop right there,” he shouted, as if he still exercised control over this situation. Clumsily he outed his other gun, fixing the barrel on me with a wobbly grip.
“I’ll just melt those too. But we can go again.”
In answer, he fired, only for my magic to swallow up every shot.
“Who paid you to come to New York?” I asked, still advancing while he began inching backwards, a look of horror on his face as he realized he’d miscalculated. I’d kill him, but first, I wanted answers. “Who, Bennet?”
“How do you know I was paid?” he whined, making a play for his ankle piece. I drilled a hole through his bionic hand, and it hung limp, like a deflated balloon. He stuck his chest out, defiant until the end. “I’m here on official police business, McHale, and if you kill me, that’s mandatory life in prison.”
“Dude, I’m an unregistered Elemental, about to become a biology experiment for the government. Do you seriously think your threat’s going to work on me?”
He twitched, and I took out his other hand, leaving him helpless.
“Now, I’ll
ask again, and you’d best answer me quickly. Who paid you to hunt me down, and how did you know where I’d be?” I gathered a sphere of plasma in my hand, spinning it in a lazy circle. “Now or never, Bennett.”
“Can’t say, except they already gave me a fifty-thousand-dollar advance,” he babbled. “I’ll collect the other half once you’re delivered.”
“And where are you supposed to deliver me?” I asked, drawing even with him while he eyed the decimated forest behind him. “Oh, go ahead, I’d like to see how far you’d make it. Now answer the goddamned question,” I snapped. “Before I kill you just out of spite.”
“Like I said, I don’t know. I was supposed to get instructions once I texted them about your capture, but I never got that far.” He kept shuffling backwards, keeping his gaze on me. “What happened to the plant?” he asked, his voice shaking. “Was this all your doing?”
“Yes,” I told him, right before I killed him with a burst of plasma right through his heart.
Calmly, I walked to his body and collected his cell out of his pocket, then limped in the general direction of the road.
Unlocking a cell phone with magic is simple when you’ve practiced enough, and in seconds, I was scrolling through his messages. If I knew Bennett, he was lazy and liked shortcuts, which meant he saved previous messages so he could just reply without going through the rigamarole of finding the contact in his phone book.
He had three message histories, one from the Seattle PD, one unknown, and one from a blacklisted number. I chose that one and thumbed up the messages.
Call when Package is en route.
I went back through the previous messages as I began to fight my way through the debris to the highway. The texts were a virtual treasure trove, tracing every move Bennett had made in the last forty-eight hours. With any luck, I’d be able to backtrack and figure out who hired him, even though I had a good idea. Also, luckily for me, Bennett wasn’t overly chatty, so I sent a short response.
What’s the delivery location?
I stopped my progress when I realized there was still Bennett and the wrecked car to deal with, surely, thoroughly covered in my blood and DNA. Smoke would attract attention, but a sweep of the car would put me firmly in someone’s headlights, whether the government or the Seattle PD, so I torched both. Bennett was nothing but ashes, and the car was impressively aflame when I limped out of the woods.
I was still awaiting instructions when I reached the road, trying to determine my exact position. My ankle wouldn’t allow for much of a hike, and it looked like we’d crashed less than a mile from the complex. It was hard to tell, since all the landmarks had been wiped away.
I watched a car roll slowly toward me, a thick, hairy arm sticking out the driver’s side window, holding a cell phone. When he got close, I stepped out into the road and waved my arms.
“Wow, have you ever seen anything like this before?” the guy asked, sticking his head out the window as he coasted up beside me in his minivan.
“Nope. I got caught up in the explosion, or whatever it was,” I explained quickly, counting the minutes since I’d last seen Gabriel. “Any chance you can give me a ride?”
“Sure, where to?” the guy asked, not fazed at all by the utter destruction he was filming, including the plume of heavy black smoke rising out of the wreckage behind me. Once I was inside, he resumed filming as he piloted the car one handed.
“I think I saw a building down the road,” I told him, craning my neck until I saw the building appear on our left. Please, please let Gabriel still be alive.
“I’m Sam,” he said, deftly zooming in on a wrecked, moss-covered stone wall, half of it tumbled into the road. “Do you think it was a gas leak?”
“Is that what they’re saying?” I countered, watching the containment building come into view.
“News people don’t know. Some said a tornado, some said a gas leak. Government’s sending in teams to check. Safety kinda stuff, I guess. Thought I’d beat them down here and get some righteous footage for my social media account. This is totally going to go viral.”
The building was intact, other than some superficial damage, but the roof… the roof was partially gone. Just gone, like it had never even been there. I rolled down my window and smelled nothing but the ozone-sharp scent of spent magic. I half expected some residual effects, but the air just felt like air, normal, other than the overwhelming smell.
“I think I smell gas. Do you smell gas?” Sam asked me, a quiver in his voice.
I ignored him and pointed to the parking lot where Gabriel’s car sat, still intact, except for a section of fence laying on the hood.
“There,” I told Sam. “You can drop me off there.”
33
Gabriel was still on his side, blood staining the gravel around him black.
“Please let him be alive,” I prayed as I burst from the car, hobbling toward him until my ankle gave out, crawling the last few feet. Tuning him over only revealed a bone-white face and tightly closed eyes, while I worked my fingers inside the jacket to find his pulse.
Thready. But at least he had one.
“Uhhh…” Sam the good Samaritan eyed Gabriel’s prone form. “Should I maybe… call somebody? Like the police?”
I dug the wad of cash out of my pocket and shoved it in his hand. “Nope. Take this and forget you ever saw me.” He backed away, nodding vigorously. Of course, he’d talk. He’d probably tell every neighbor on his street what he’d seen today, but I didn’t care. He snapped one shot of the destroyed building, then left with a spray of gravel while I brushed Gabriel’s hair away from his pale face. He’d been at ground zero when the magic was released, and even through there wasn’t a lot of damage to the building, enough was released to do real damage to biological forms.
Shit, that’s how this whole mess started in the first place.
While Gabriel still had a pulse, he still had a bullet in him, and he’d just been hit with so much radiation, I shuddered to think what was happening inside his body. There was twenty feet between him and his car—if the thing would even start. I dug his keys out of his pocket, and the moment I was close, the driver’s door swung open with a chipper, “Welcome back, Mr. Vanguard.”
Which was amazing, since I’d expected the electronics to be fried. I started it up and pulled alongside Gabriel, flung the passenger door open, and lifted him as high as I could, both arms locked beneath his shoulders. We must have looked ridiculous, and it was an epic fail in coordination, with his limp, dead weight and my ankle not working properly.
But I got him inside, buckled him into the passenger seat, and pulled out of the parking lot, trying to locate the button that would black out the windows. The last thing I needed right now was any interaction with the police, or worse yet, Devilton guards.
The Devil’s Highway was filling up as everyone within a few miles clogged the road, rubbernecking at the flattened forest as far-off sirens wailed. The car was self-driving, so I trusted in God and technology and switched it over, finally figuring out how to darken the windows. Bennett ambushing us had ruined everything, and it might cost Gabriel his life. I should have considered the possibility he’d be watching for me. I’d totally underestimated the power of money to motivate.
Gabriel was slumped forward, and the smell of blood filled the cab. I worked the jacket off of him, then unbuckled the vest and threw it aside. The wound was on his back, on the lower left side, and I couldn’t find an exit wound, which scared me even more. Flipping the glove box open, I pulled out the standard-issue med kit, riffled through it and pulled out a handful of gauze. Keeping the pressure on, I watched as it turned bright red, then grabbed more.
I ran out of gauze as we approached the Newark end of the tunnel and dialed up Daws on my phone. Counting the rings, she picked up just before we reached the gaping mouth of the tunnel. “We’re headed back. I’m going to need help, Dawson. Gabriel’s been shot.”
There was a long silence before she answere
d, her voice sounding strangled, “ETA?”
“Twenty minutes.”
Then we were swallowed up by the tunnel and the phone went dead.
Daws and Henry were waiting when I pulled into the alley where the Shelton mercenary had almost blown my brains out. Ham-sandwich guy was there, too, looking concerned. About what, I didn’t know, maybe the huge no parking sign I screeched to a halt in front of.
Henry pulled the door open before the vehicle came to a full and complete stop, violating several well-known safety rules, while Daws shot me a death glare. It wasn’t hard to look properly remorseful. Turns out they’d been right to warn me away from Gabriel, a fact I’d replayed more than a dozen times on the drive home.
“Is there a doctor you can call?” I asked, limping as fast as I could to keep up with them as they settled Gabriel onto a gurney and started inside with him. When I went to follow, Daws stopped me by planting her hand firmly in the middle of my chest.
“We’ve got this.” Her tear-streaked face showed no signs of compromise as she hissed, “We told you to stay away from him. But you just couldn’t do it, could you? You had to drag him down into your wretched mess of a life, and now look at him. He could die.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, and I meant it with all my heart.
“I don’t care,” she said, turning so she blocked me as much as her tiny frame allowed. “If we lose him, I will destroy you,” she told me. “Do you understand? I will take everything from you that matters.”
Her low threat forced me a step back. She wasn’t wrong to be this upset, but I was desperate to stay with Gabriel, and craned my neck, watching him disappear as the elevator doors closed.
“Please let see him.” When she didn’t budge, I assured her. “Just long enough to make sure he’s going to be okay. Please?”
Betrayed by Blood: The Shelton Family Legacy : 1 Page 23
