Modified- The Complete Manipulated Series

by Harper North

  I kick open his door, unleashing a torrent of classical music so loud we could have brought an entire army and still surprised him. He looks up from the laptop sitting on his huge desk, apparently expecting to yell at his maid. Instead, his mouth drops open in shock as I glare into his widening brown eyes.

  He scrambles for a desk drawer where he probably keeps a gun, but I cock my weapon and aim it straight at his head. “Don’t.”

  Sky and Emma appear at my sides, blocking the door completely.

  “Stand up!” I order, barely able to hear myself over his music. “Stand, or I’m going to shoot you right now.”

  Cho pushes back his fancy leather chair, halfway lifting his hands into the air.

  “I—I’ll call my whole army,” he sputters. Sweat beads around his temples, just like the first time I took him hostage.

  I laugh. “How would they hear you?”

  His eyes dart downward, and I realize there must be a button under his desk.

  I fire a single round. Cho jerks back in his chair, causing it to roll several inches away from the desk and his button.

  A circle of smoking blood appears on his shoulder, and he looks down at it as if he can’t believe I’ve just injured a god.

  “Did you think I was lying?” I yell.

  “Fin!” Sky yelps.

  “We need him alive,” Emma says. “Some arteries go through the shoulder.”

  Cho rises, shaking. He stands before a curtained picture window that looks out on Sunlight Gardens.

  “Hands behind your back!” I shout.

  He obeys and swallows hard. “What are you going to do to me?”

  “Whatever we want.”

  “I assume you’ve killed my maid, then?”

  “No,” Sky says, edging around the desk with his gun held high. “We assumed she was your prisoner. She’s locked in a bathroom. Alive.”

  Cho turns his head to smile at Sky. “That was very stupid of you.”

  Sky meets my eyes with a pained expression, but I would have done the same.

  I hope.

  “Grab him. Emma, find something to tie his wrists with.”

  Sky seizes Cho’s wrists, twisting them together. He wrenches him around and blood spurts out of the wound I inflicted. It seems we do a lot of stupid things.

  Sky pulls back the curtain and immediately drops it. “Guards.”

  My heart sinks as I join him by the window and take a peek. Two guards are already running up the path. Toward the bottom of the hill, the woman in pink rushes out of her home, still wearing the rocking chair she’s tied to hunched over her back. As three more guards approach, she gestures up the hill with her whole body.

  They don’t even stop to free her.

  CHAPTER 11

  I WATCH AS the woman and her rocking chair slip back into the house, preparing for the coming firefight. The five guards fan out and vanish between other homes.

  I jerk the curtain back into place. “Time to go.”

  “Go where?” Sky asks. “Shouldn’t we try to take them out?”

  I shake my head as I begin yanking open desk drawers. “They’re snipers. They’re going to wait while their buddies block the exits. We have to go now.”

  I find what I’m looking for—a shiny black handgun that looks quite a bit deadlier than the ones Cal handed out. I tuck the old one back into its holster.

  “We can’t go back the way we came,” Emma says.

  “I know.” I drum my fingers on the desk, my mind whirling.

  “Wait,” Sky says. “We have to go back. We left—”

  I shoot him a silencing glare, but it’s too late. Cho’s smile widens.

  “Something important?”

  Sky twists his arms tighter. “Just more weapons to shoot you with.”

  “But this one looks like it will work just fine.” I brush past him, purposefully poking his shoulder with the gun barrel. More blood spurts out. Another reason to hurry. If he bleeds out before Cal can question him, then none of this even mattered.

  “Where’s your escape tunnel, Cho?” I ask, leading the way out of the office.

  Sky follows, clutching Cho by the arms while Emma keeps her gun trained on the back of his head.

  “There isn’t one.” Cho sounds so put out I actually believe him. “This wasn’t built for someone like me.”

  We reach the stairs and I halt. There could be a sniper down there already. Sky looks at me and I tilt my head. Cho can go first.

  Sky pushes Cho down the stairs before him, thrusting him into the kitchen area ahead of us, hoping any snipers will shoot the wrong guy.

  Nothing happens.

  As Sky takes the last step, Cho twists, throwing him off balance. They both hit the floor. Cho leaves an ugly red streak on the carpet as he struggles to stand, but I jump down the last few steps and plant my foot in his back. He screams.

  We yank him back to his feet. I glance around the kitchen and spot the blinds, blowing lazily in the open doorway. The pull string. I jerk it right off and quickly wrap it around Cho’s wrists. It’ll do. And the way it cuts into his skin looks appropriately painful.

  “What’s the plan here, Fin?” Sky asks as I drag Cho toward the back door.

  I stop. No… we’re going out the front door.

  I spin around, pulling Cho—and by extension Sky—with me. Emma smiles and falls in behind us.

  “The front door? Are you insane?” Sky sputters.

  “No, she’s a genius,” Emma says.

  “They’re expecting us to go out the back. So, we’re going out the front.”

  I’m guessing we have a twenty-five percent chance of success. Survival depends on which way the snipers chose to face. But even if they’re facing the main street, they won’t want to hit Cho. Maybe our odds are even up to thirty percent.

  We pause in front of the enormous wooden front doors. I look my friends in the eyes. “The only thing that matters is getting Cho back to Cal. If one of us goes down, the others have to keep going. No hero stunts. Lacy and Talen… everyone actually… they’re counting on us. Agreed?”

  Emma nods as sweat beads on her forehead.

  Sky and I share a long look. I pushed him away because I didn’t want to watch him die. Now, I’m telling him that if I have to, I will leave him. I make sure my eyes say it’s the hardest thing I’d ever have to do. He nods, and I understand he’ll follow the rules.

  Gulping, I open the door.

  We step onto the porch with Cho thrust in front of us for some measure of protection. I press the gun I took from his desk into his forehead, and then, just for fun, I pull the other out of the holster and push my gun into his ribs.

  “You have an appointment with someone who wants to see you alive,” I tell him. “And it’s in your best interest to run just as fast as the rest of us. But if you so much as trip, I will put you down instantly.”

  His face remains impassive, but his throat bobs hard.

  “Good. Let’s go.”

  We ease down the steps, our weapons fanned out to cover the road and the houses on either side of it. The cavern is eerily silent, and I realize there are no gentle sounds of lapping water here. That’s how they have so much room for such big houses.

  We march Cho down the center of the street. He walks briskly, like he’s here on his own business, not tied up and leaving a blood trail behind us. Maybe this will work.

  Two houses down, curtains flick open and then pinch shut.

  “Time to run,” I say, strangely calm.

  Our footsteps echo off the ceiling of the cave as Sky shoves Cho into a breakneck run. I swing the fancy pistol back and forth, aiming between houses, and Emma does the same. I count the houses between us and the bushes we need to get behind to get to the vent. Five. Four—

  A shot pops off behind us. Sparks fly from the pavement by my feet, leaving a black streak on the ground.

  Sky whirls, putting Cho between him and the snipers now behind us. He jams his gun against Cho
’s ear.

  “One more shot and he’s dead!” Sky bellows. “Snipers, show yourselves!”

  So much for nobody playing the hero.

  Emma sticks with the plan and runs ahead. Good. Someone needs to get Cia out of here. I skid to a stop and turn back, both pistols raised to cover Sky on either side.

  “Show yourselves!” Sky orders again. “Civilians, too! Everyone on your porch!”

  “Listen to him,” Cho gasps. “Stand down. Let me see your brave faces.”

  I shudder at the way he talks to his followers like small children, but one by one, the snipers step into the open, and a handful of civilians gather on their porches, each one wearing a green jacket tied around their waist.

  “I have an appointment,” Cho says. “With who, I do not know. But they wish to see me alive. So please, stay calm. Rest assured I will negotiate a swift release.”

  “Tell them to drop their weapons, Cho,” I demand. “I don’t like being shot in the back.”

  Sky looks to me, shocked and disappointed that I broke my own rule. I shrug.

  “Weapons down, please,” Cho says, and they obey. “Yes, that’s it. Very good. Thank you. I will see you all very soon.”

  “Tell them to turn around,” I say.

  “They won’t like being shot in the back either,” he replies.

  “No one’s getting shot if they play nice. I don’t want them to see which way we go.”

  Sky nudges Cho’s temple with the gun, and Cho complies.

  “Turn around!” he shouts.

  Snipers and civilians alike turn their backs to us.

  “Let’s go,” Cho says, turning himself around to face me. “I don’t feel very well.”

  We resume our stroll down the street. Every time I glance behind me, the snipers and civilians are still staring up toward Cho’s house. I’ve got to say; the guy certainly has a knack for crowd control.

  A shot blasts out of the dark entrance to the train station. Then two more. Sky and I press in behind Cho, our human shield. Three guards rush down the step, rifles on their shoulders.

  “Tell them,” Sky growls. “Before I have to shoot you.”

  Cho moans and then doubles over and vomits on the sidewalk. In that instant, the soldiers release a storm of bullets over his head. Sky and I hit our knees, trying to keep Cho ahead of us.

  Three shots ring out from behind us.

  Three thuds follow.

  The guards’ blood spills down the steps.

  “Go!” a small voice shouts.

  I turn to see Cia dropping off the front porch of the nearest house, smoking pistol in hand. She hits the ground running.

  I loop my arm through Cho’s and Sky does the same, dragging him between us as we follow Cia back to the vent. We crash through the bushes. Cia passes us halfway to the vent, running ahead and diving into the opening. We shove Cho onto his hands and knees, and he crawls right in, leaving splashes of blood all over the grass. Great.

  Sky follows immediately, but I pause to look back. I can’t see the whole road, but I can see enough to know that at least one pair of civilians is still following Cho’s orders. A chill runs up my spine.

  I crawl into the vent. Emma’s pressed up against the wall, panting. As soon as my feet are in, she reaches out, swings the grate closed, and flips the latch back into place.

  I collapse flat on the floor, gasping for breath. Emma pats my shoulder. The smell of Cho’s blood fills the air. Somewhere ahead, I hear Sky and Cia arguing.

  “What?” Cia says. “Don’t you think they really, really needed it?”

  * * * * *

  I lose all sense of how long the journey back takes. Cia leads the way, followed by Sky, then Cho, me, and Emma. The vent takes us over the room where Cho’s Naturals had been playing cards, but it’s empty now. I wonder if they’re planning a rescue mission, or if they’ve all just joined the others at Cho’s home.

  The heat kicks on and blows hot air directly into our faces. I duck my head and keep going. The vent’s floor is streaked with Cho’s blood. I swear he’s only alive at this point because he’s convinced himself he’s an immortal deity who can’t die.

  Finally, after what feels like miles but probably isn’t, Cia shouts, “Mom!”

  And then we’re dropping one by one through an opening into a cave lit by a single battery-powered lantern. By the time my feet hit the stone, Cia and Sky have both fallen into Starla’s arms, and she’s covering them in kisses. Cho writhes on his back, the entire front of his shirt now stained red.

  Emma lands beside me. “I’m not sure he’s going to make it much farther.”

  Starla looks up at us. “The others aren’t far. Reinhart made those underground men take them back to the train tunnel.” She frowns. “I could tell he wanted to make it as hard as possible for you to find them again. That’s why Cia and I stayed behind. I don’t think they ever noticed we were missing.”

  “If Reinhart had, you’d be—” I bite back the word that springs to mind.

  “I know.” The look in her eyes says she was aware of the fate that might still be waiting for her.

  “Don’t worry,” Sky says. “He was never going to shoot anyone in front of Cal’s men. He just wanted to look merciful when he didn’t follow through on the threat.”

  Does Elias know that, or is he okay with Reinhart shooting anyone he perceived as disobedient? That’s not the Elias I know.

  We decide that Cho isn’t going anywhere on his own two feet again, so Sky takes his arms and Emma and I each grab a leg. His moans echo eerily through the caves as we follow Starla toward the camp Reinhart has set up to wait out the twenty-four-hour deadline he gave us. I can’t help thinking he wanted to get us out of the way to stage a revolt. He doesn’t care if Lacy and Talen ever wake up.

  Starla has found an opening directly onto the catwalk alongside the track, so we don’t have to worry about carrying Cho over the electric rails. I hear voices up ahead, and the shadows cast by the lantern swinging from Starla’s hand meld with a dim glow around the next bend.

  We round the corner and find twenty guns pointed at us. Starla and Cia lift their hands. Reinhart steps forward, hate glimmering in his eyes. He hasn’t even spotted us behind them yet.

  “What do we have here?” Reinhart asks. “Traitors?”

  Cia laughs. “I think you mean heroes.”

  She and Starla both step aside as we carry Cho into the camp and drop him at Reinhart’s feet.

  “Special delivery,” I say, giving Reinhart my best bored expression. His jaw drops. Cho’s head lolls toward his bloody shoulder. Just when I think he’s dead, his eyes flutter open, and he squints up at Reinhart.

  “Are you my appointment?” he slurs.

  “You brought Cho,” Reinhart says in disbelief. “That… those were not your orders.”

  “Who cares?” Elias rushes forward. “Fin, this is incredible!”

  He looks at me across Cho’s prone body, and his eyes dance with admiration and undeniable longing. Sky must see it too, because he moves closer to me and takes my hand.

  Elias’ face immediately shutters. He steps back to Reinhart’s side.

  Reinhart lets loose a long, growling sigh. He runs a hand back through his hair and then whirls on the rest of the group, pointing at Cho. “I want four men carrying him. Our heroes—” his voice breaks on the word like it hurts him to say it, “—need a rest.”

  “Where are the Naturals?” Elias asks, his face now neutral.

  “They’re either headed this way, or they’re all still staring at Cho’s home.”

  “Huh?”

  I shake my head. “Long story.”

  “Weird story,” adds Sky.

  “Long, weird story,” Emma agrees.

  “Wait. What are the Naturals?” Blasty asks, joining Reinhart beside Cho. He holds a pair of old-fashioned handcuffs.

  “That’s what Cho calls his followers,” I say, shooting Elias a look. He should have known better than to
call them that. It sounds too close to Originals. “This guy plans to set himself up as some god down here and make you all worship him.”

  Blasty grimaces. “But is he a Destroyer?”

  “Everything he touches turns to ash, so you tell me.”

  David appears at Blasty’s side, looking even more skeptical. “This is a leader?”

  Reinhart sighs. He points at the blood-crusted medals on Cho’s chest. “You ever seen a nobody decorated like that?”

  “Can we please hurry?” I ask. “I’d like to wake my friends up sometime this century.”

  David and Blasty share a look. David says, “Cal will decide if this prisoner is a true Destroyer and if these Naturals are a threat. Then he’ll decide the fate of your friends.”

  Blasty gives me a sympathetic look that suggests he believes our efforts have been in vain. I’m not sure what I’ll do if that happens, but it will probably involve shooting. I glance at Cia. At least we have a new expert sniper on our side. We agreed on the way back that we would keep that piece of information to ourselves so Cia didn’t get drafted into anyone else’s schemes. Starla even made her give Sky the pistol back.

  David and Blasty cut the string we tied Cho’s hands with and replace it with the handcuffs. Then they each grab him under his arms while two former EHC ops grab his legs. They lift him and start back down the tunnel. Elias falls in behind them.

  Reinhart gives me and Sky and Emma a long, hard look. He doesn’t look nearly as relieved as you’d think he’d be. He spins on his heel and marches ahead of us. I motion for Emma, Starla, and Cia to go ahead of Sky and me. I want to be able to listen for soldiers coming up behind us.

  “We need to watch out for Reinhart,” I whisper to Sky. “And Elias, I’m afraid.”

  Sky squeezes my hand and I lean my head on his shoulder. “You know what I need?” Sky says softly. “A nap. A meal. A shower. And another kiss like—”

  I slap his chest playfully. He slips his arm around my shoulders. I guess we’ve both decided not to waste any more time talking about our relationship. I’m okay with that. It exists, and that’s all I need to know.