From Burning Ashes (Collector Series #4) (39 page)

Ryker sent me out first. He stayed behind to
be certain Maxen stayed dead. I figured Ryker would set fire to the
place, clearing the building of any trace of the fae who ran it or
what had been happening there. In an old building like this, an
electrical fire would not seem strange. Sure enough, when he came
out, smoke billowed after him.

“Is everyone out?” I asked. The girls, Maria,
and Carlos were gone when we exited the building.

“I made sure,” Ryker confirmed, strolling up
to my side.

Goran gave him a nod of thanks. “I was about
to send my men in to do that.” He handed us weapons from a pile on
the ground, a gun and several knives we could tuck away. All the
things we requested from Lars.

“Wanted to be sure one person never got the
chance to escape,” Ryker replied.

I lifted an eyebrow.

“I needed kindling to start a blaze,” he
replied to my unvoiced question. “Maxen worked well.”

I flicked my chin and turned to face the men
milling around the lane. Sprig held on tightly against my neck.
“All right.” I cleared my throat, pushing authority into my voice.
“I know you are here on the request of your King, but I still
appreciate each one of you for fighting next to me.

“What we are doing is going to be difficult.
Yes, these people we’ll face are human, but
do not
underestimate them. DMG is well secured, and the people who protect
it are highly trained. Many are top elite in the military, and they
know the terrain. Each one will have guns that can kill fae. And
they will not hesitate.” All of Lars’s men were pinned on my every
word. Not one condescending expression, like
why is this little
girl speaking to us like she is the authority
?

They all faced me like soldiers. My soldiers.
“If it was only them, it would make our job easier, but a lot of
innocent civilians are in the building.”

“Innocent?” a man scoffed from deep in the
group.

“As much as you think all the humans working
there are evil, some don’t realize how far Rapava has gone. They
think they are helping their country. They were given orders, and
they are doing their duty.” I knew many of the innocent probably
would not get out. The line between those who knew the evil truth
and those who didn’t would be undistinguishable, especially to
these bloodthirsty fae.

A few lives to save the masses
. I
heard Rapava’s voice taunt me in my head. I pushed away the sick
feeling. No. This wasn’t the same.

“Focus on the ones who want to fight back.
Once we get in, most of the scientists will try to flee. Let them.
The ones trained for combat, the hunters, even the seers will not
run. They have been waiting for this fight for a long time.
They
are your focus.” I rubbed my hands together. The weight
in my voice echoed off the buildings around us. Fire crackled
behind me. “This place is far more guarded than I was ever led to
believe. There are not a lot of options to enter. The tunnel we
have to use to enter will only give them more time to prepare for
us. They are always watching. We have to attack immediately and
fast. Once we have broken through the door, some of you will stay
above ground and some will follow me down. Remember, the Collectors
have caught
many
of your kind, so don’t let your guard down
for a second.

“Okay. Let’s do this.” I clapped my palms and
turned down the lane. “Follow me.”

They snapped to at my voice, turned with me,
and quietly shadowed me without question.
Hell
. I had not
expected them to take an order from me so easily.

“We’re going through a drive-thru on the way,
right?” Sprig said into my ear. “Like a last meal kind of
thing?”

I just patted his head.

Lars’s men stayed close, following me every
step of the way down into the pits of hell, from where none of us
might crawl out again.

####

“That’s the door?” Goran whispered next to
me, nodding at the pair of taupe doors blending in with the
structure. The nondescript doors on the side of a building down an
alley were so unnoticeable your eye would naturally move on.

“The hidden camera is there.” Ryker pointed
behind an advertisement, where it blended in with the wall.
“They’re going to know we’re here the moment we enter the
alley.”

“That’s why we need to strike fast.” I
gripped the round object in my hand.

“You want me to do it?” He tapped the device
in my hand.

“No. I need to do it.” My fingers clutched
the detonator. The back side was already gummed up, ready to stick
to a surface. Lars had provided us with grenades, smoke bombs, and
a few low- and medium-grade detonators.

Ryker and Goran crouched next to me in the
bushes, the rest of Goran’s men close behind.

Sprig had refused to stay back and remained
perched on my shoulder. “This is my battle too,
Bhean
, after
the things he’s done to me and my kind, I am not sitting out of
this fight. Plus, you might need these magic fingers, remember?” As
much as I wanted to refuse him, keep him in bubble wrap far away
from here, he had every right to be involved, and I would not take
that away from him.

The door was bolted and made of thick steel.
After we got through it, we still had a short tunnel then layers of
doors and levels to move through to get to the center of DMG. The
only staircase I knew to get down was from the first two levels.
For safety there had to be more stairways hidden, but I never asked
and no one showed me. I hadn’t ventured farther than those few
levels when I worked as a Collector.

“Once we are in, I will start dispersing my
men so each level will be covered,” Goran stated.

“But Rapava’s mine,” I said to both men.

“I will try to honor your wish, but I will
not guarantee it. I have been told to shoot him on sight.” Goran
tipped back on his heels.

“I understand.” I nodded.

“And I can’t say if I see him I won’t cut off
his head,” Ryker huffed.

“All right. Are you ready?” Goran asked.

I took in a deep breath. “Yes.” I stood and
slid my finger softly over the button. One little slip or push and
I would be blown into fragments.

“Sprig, stay with Ryker,” I ordered.

With one look at my face, he didn’t make a
peep. He leaped over to the Viking and wrapped his tail around
himself. I moved out from the brush, leaving our hiding place.
Ryker grabbed my free hand as I moved around him. I met his gaze,
his white eyes igniting the dark, staring intently into mine.

“We’re going to get through this.” He
squeezed my fingers. “Together.”

I tried to smile, but it felt more like a
grimace. I released his grip and turned back to the doors. I
couldn’t think of anything but my target. It was finally here. The
day. The moment. The fight I had talked about for so long.

My heart thumped in my chest as I moved
against the brick wall, slinking down the alley. The moonless night
left no shadow behind me. I shut off my brain. I didn’t want to
think about what lay ahead. How many of us might die? Would I find
Lexie and Croygen alive? Would I be able to do what I set out
to?

The only thing I knew was in a few hours,
when the sun kissed the earth, this would probably be over.

The doors were in sight. I only had about
five seconds to get away once I stabbed the button and only thirty
to return and get through the doors before Rapava’s men responded.
I sucked cool night air deep into my lungs, my hands shaking,
sensing the hidden camera raking over me. Did they already know we
were here?

I slammed the bomb between the two doors,
pressing the red key. Then I swiveled and ran, pumping my arms
hard, though I felt like I was moving through quicksand.

Five.

Four.
Move faster!

Three.

Two.
Shit! I’m not even to the alley
entrance yet.

One.

BOOM!

My body flew into the air. Fire and heat
curled behind me, licking my back. My arms windmilled through empty
space and then I hit the ground, rolling over the rough concrete
with painful thuds. When I stopped rolling, I looked back at the
doors, which had exploded, were open and smoke wafted out.

“Now!” I heard Goran yell, and in a blink, a
horde of men headed for the doors.

“Zoey?” Ryker raced up to me, helping me to
my feet. “You all right?”

“Yes.” I regained my footing though my head
swam.

“Damn,
Bhean
. You might need to borrow
my cape. You went flying!” Sprig leaped back onto my shoulder,
gripping strands of my hair.

“You do need to work on the landing.” Ryker
winked then grabbed the back of my head. His mouth crashed into me,
his lips taking mine. Then he broke away, leaving me breathless.
“Let’s do this.”

I nodded, feeling dizzy. I grabbed the gun
out of the back of my pants and both of us ran for the entry.

Goran led his men, moving them through the
fae detectors. We didn’t care about the blazing alarms ringing
through the passage; we didn’t really care to keep our arrival a
secret once we were in.

I led them to the stairs that brought us to
the first level. Boots thumped behind me, mimicking my heart, as we
went down. A handful stayed in the passage watching it and the
elevators, ready for those who would flood out of the rat trap.

I swung the door open, my gun pointed. We
entered an empty hallway. At this time of night, I hoped some of
the nurses and lab technicians were home in bed. But I knew Rapava
was here. He was always here.

We moved out slowly, inching down the
corridor. Corner after corner we were met with nothing. The silence
felt unnerving. My skin crawled with intuition.

Even when I had been here at three or four in
the morning, this place was still more active than this.
Twenty-four hours a day DMG was filled with employees. Rapava had a
revolving staff that worked days, nights, and graveyard shifts.

There were fewer workers at night, but this
seemed epically silent. That’s when it hit me. I had no idea how he
knew, but he did. Rapava knew we were coming.

This was a trap.

I had just opened my mouth to tell Goran,
when a tin object rolled down the hallway toward us, sizzling with
smoke. Then it detonated. My back hit the floor, Sprig tumbling off
my shoulder with a cry. Haze consumed the air, obscuring our
vision.

“Sprig?” I bolted back up to my feet. Blurry
figures and loud voices were coming straight for us. A lot of them.
A bullet whizzed past my head. I dove back to the ground, keeping
my gun pointed toward the hazy outlines approaching.

“Zoey.” Ryker’s voice came from behind me. “I
have Sprig.”

Relief washed over me, my lungs hacking up
the smoke, my eyes watering.

“Come on.” He grabbed my ankle and tugged it
toward him. He and I had to keep going lower. Rapava would hide
like a coward in the belly of his creation. Take out the kingpin
and his followers would follow.

I wiggled back, the vapor slowly clearing,
giving us less cover in which to hide.

“Go! Go!” Goran waved us off and moved to the
place I vacated. We shifted back until it was safe to stand.

Ryker held Sprig, who was out cold, as we ran
for the elevator on the other side of the hallway. Before we dealt
with Rapava, we had to find my sister and Croygen. We stepped in,
and I shoved in the key card Kate had given me.
Please still
work
. The elevator dinged and the doors closed.

“We split up. The floor is huge. They could
be anywhere.” I bobbed up and down nervously as the elevator
lowered us into the earth.

“We need to release all the other fae he has
down there.” Ryker placed Sprig’s sleeping body in my hoodie
pocket.

“I know. Not easy. Each room is locked, and
the Plexiglas in each one will not break.”

He rubbed his face with aggravation.

“We take down Rapava, then we can go back and
let them all free.”

He nodded, pulling out his gun as the
elevator came to a stop. Usually fae didn’t fight with guns,
preferring swords or something that takes skill. But we weren’t
playing with fae. Humans would shoot to kill us. We needed to shoot
first.

The doors slid open, and we both stepped out
cautiously.

The smells, the buzz of the lights overhead,
the sound of my boots squeaking over the floor, it all inflicted me
with memories, with trauma. My skin prickled; my lungs
clenched.

“You take that hallway. I’ll take this one.”
I pointed my gun down each path.

“I really don’t want to separate,” Ryker
growled.

“We have to. And we have to move fast.”

Ryker gave me a curt nod then proceeded down
his designated passage. I swung down the opposite one. The hall I
chose was mostly vacant. I didn’t know if I should be relieved or
sickened. Had it been full at one time? If it had been, I
understood all too well those people, or fae, weren’t alive
anymore.

“Sweet honey and butternut biscuits, stop
touching my ass.” After a few beats Sprig’s head peeked out of my
pocket. I put my finger to my lips. He nodded, then slipped out,
crawling up to my shoulder, his backpack hitting my cheek as he
settled.

“What are we doing?” He leaned into my
ear.

“Looking for Lexie and Croygen.”

“
Except
the pirate, right?”

I ignored him and continued to move past each
window. There were a few fae, most sleeping. When I reached the end
room, it appeared to be slightly bigger and set up more like a
testing room. The eggshell-colored room was embellished with lab
equipment. A robot machine was positioned above the lone hospital
bed, decked with needles, blades, and a Taser.

A shirtless man was pulled into an eagle pose
with all his limbs chained to the bed. I moved to the glass,
feeling my stomach spin like a washer. Dark hair, slender but
muscular frame, a tattoo on his shoulder and chest.