The Decaying Empire (The Vanishing Girl Series Book 2) (33 page)

“Ow.” I rubbed my head and glared at the overhead compartment as I slid into the aisle. They just
had
to make coach inconvenient for everyone but kids and other little people.

“Bastard,” Caden threw in. He reached for my hand, his eyes twinkling as he squeezed it.

I knew what he was thinking, because the same thought repeated in my mind.

We did it.

I grinned at him, not letting go of his hand as we made our way off the plane.

“So we’re meeting Adrian at baggage claim?” Caden asked, his expression darkening slightly. The thought of the two of them meeting and interacting was already giving me a headache.

I nodded, chewing the inside of my cheek. I’d called Adrian before our plane took off, so if all went well, he’d be waiting for us just outside the gates.

“Have you ever wondered why Adrian’s little team of scientists haven’t already exposed the Project?” Caden mused.

My eyes slid to his. “They didn’t have the proof needed to expose the Project,” I said.

“Hmm.” He didn’t believe me.

I swiveled to face him. “And what do you think . . . ?” My voice died as I caught sight of men in suits standing at our gate. One of them met my gaze and took a subtle step forward.

Oh. Crap.

Caden followed my gaze. He cursed under his breath. “We’re going to casually walk past them and act like nothing’s off.”

“Uh, I think it’s too late,” I said, staring down a man I suspected was an agent.

I silently apologized to the man who had sat next to me during the flight. As he passed by Caden and me, I pointed to the black briefcase he carried. “Oh my God—bomb!
He’s got a bomb
!
”

There was nothing that worked an airport into a tizzy more quickly than those four magic words.

I kept screaming until others took up the mantle from me. Caden grabbed my hand, and we ran, not daring to look behind us.

“Nice,” Caden said.

“I have my moments.”

Someone tackled me from behind, ripping my hand out of Caden’s. I felt a knee in my back, and my hands were yanked behind me.

Caden turned, his eyes widening.

“Run!” I shouted, panic coursing through my veins. They couldn’t take him. Instead of running, he shrugged off his bag and stalked forward.

“No, Caden.” Even as I spoke, other agents swarmed him.

He smiled and then he attacked, his movements powerful and quick. Amazing that the same man who’d held me gently could also be this.

My captor’s knee dug into my back, and I returned my attention to him.

Fight to the death.

That was the only option left to either Caden or me. Now I just waited for my moment.

It came when my captor leaned in to cuff me. I jerked my head back, slamming it into his face. I heard a satisfying crack, and the man’s hold loosened. I twisted, forcing him off me.

Pulling my arm loose, I smashed it into his face. He howled, holding his nose. I rolled onto my back and kicked out at him, my boot also smashing into his face.

Motion to my left caught my attention, and I only had enough time to register the fist before it crashed into my temple and the world went dark.

CHAPTER 23

I
rubbed my throbbing head. Damn, that had hurt.

I stared down at the cement floor and that damn drain. Immediately my muscles seized up. I was back in that bleak room where dangerous people came to die.

At least this time, I wore black fatigues and I was armed.

As with my last visit here, another burly man waited for me. He was not the same guy as before, and if first impressions were anything to go by, he would have no problem with the idea of killing me.

That made this easy.

In one fluid motion, I flipped open the holster at my waist and leveled a Glock at him. I didn’t hesitate. The man barely had time to register that I’d pulled a weapon on him before I cocked it and pulled the trigger.

The sound exploded through the room. Blood misted over me as the bullet tore through the man’s chest.

His eyes widened with surprise. As he gasped for breath, I crouched next to him, removing his weapons. In his pockets my fingers wrapped around a keycard. I glanced at the door and back down at the card, which I guessed was my ticket out.

I stood, and the man reached for me. I kicked his hand away, not looking back as I exited the room.

You live by the sword, then expect to die by it as well.

I know I did.

When I left the room, I didn’t know what I expected to find. Definitely not the familiar exposed pipes and fluorescent lighting of the facility’s basement. I assumed torture only happened in places apart from the continental United States. But it made sense that it would be centered here. This place seemed to be the home base of teleporter operations.

I made my way up to the ground floor, not stopping until I stood outside Richards’s office, exactly where I knew I’d find him.

His voice drifted out.
“. . . unfortunate, but she’ll be back. You have the other teleporter at least?”

I brought up a boot and kicked the door open. “Call them off,” I said, aiming the Glock at Dane’s forehead.

Other than his eyes initially widening, his face revealed nothing. He was good. Slowly he moved the phone away from his face. “You know I can’t do that, Ember,” Dane said. “Even if I could, my agents—”

I cocked the gun and pulled the trigger. The bullet clipped Dane’s shoulder. He let out a string of curses, dropping the phone to clutch his arm.

I was just about done with this sadistic game of cat and mouse.

“The next one will cripple you for life,” I said, “and the one after that will prevent you from ever having kids.”

I added, “If you manage to live through those, I’ll shoot you in the abdomen and make you wait an agonizing ten minutes for death. I hear it’s quite painful—I wouldn’t know, but Caden has an idea.”

“You’re foolish to think that I’m going to—” Dane said.

I cocked the gun again, aiming at him, and he rushed me. I fired, this bullet nicking him in the thigh.

He bellowed, clutching his leg. I guess I’d lied; he had another chance to follow through before he became a cripple. “Dick’s coming off if you reach for your weapon,” I said. “Please reach for it. I’d then get to call you Dane the Dick
less
.”

He growled at me but lifted his hands in the air, wincing as the motion jostled his injured shoulder.

I kicked the door closed and locked it, my eyes and aim never fully leaving Dane.

“Now, pick up the phone and have your men release Caden.”

He glared at me, his jaw clenched. For a man like Dane, this must have been the ultimate insult—getting owned by a teenage girl, the very girl he’d just almost caught. I was trying not to enjoy myself too much. But it was hard, so very, very hard.

I cocked the Glock 23 and lowered my aim. “Say good-bye to your meaningless sex life.”

“Wait.” Anger, rather than fear, laced his tone.

Slowly he crouched, his injured arm reaching for the phone he’d dropped in front of him.

“Nuh-uh,” I said. “Grab it with your good arm.”

His face remained studiously blank, but like everyone else, he had tells. The tightness around his eyes and mouth told me that he was seething. He drew his injured arm back and reached out with his good arm.

He then slowly rose to his feet. I could hear a tinny voice coming through on the other end of the line.

“Call the agents off,” I said.

He ground his teeth.

“I know you don’t want to die, and that’s how this is going to end at this rate,” I said.

Flashing me a hateful look, he brought the phone up to his ear and spoke into it. “Release the target and pull back.” His eyes darted to mine when the speaker on the other end said something. “I’m peachy,” he replied. One eye twitched and his gaze shifted away from me. Another tell. “Pull your men back and get—”

I fired the gun, and the bullet hit him square in the knee. Richards shouted, the pitch of his shriek raising the hair on my forearms. I swallowed my bile.

“‘Peachy’? Really? Even I recognize a code word when I hear one,” I said, doubting he could hear me over his screams.

While Dane clutched his leg, I crouched in front of him and patted him down, lifting a gun off him. I emptied the bullets and tossed it to the other side of the room.

Dane swore at me.

Ignoring him, I picked up the phone from where he’d dropped it again.

“Dane, what’s going on?”

“Dane is five seconds away from losing his life,” I said. “And do you know how many questions that’s going to raise? Lots. A lot of people will be dragged through the mud, and I’ll make sure you and your men are among them.”

“We don’t deal with fanatics.”

My grip tightened around the phone. “You think that I’m kidding—I’m not. I’d love nothing more than Dane dead, but you are holding someone very important to me. He’s the only thing I care about.”

“We can’t—”

I leveled the gun at Dane and cocked it, aiming at his abdomen. Next to me the door shook as someone banged on it. My actions were garnering attention.

“Chase!”
Dane screamed.
“Call off your fucking men!”

Chase cursed. He shouted on his end.

“Hand the phone to your prisoner,” I said.

Chase cursed again. While the phone changed hands, I knocked over a filing cabinet that landed in front of the door. It would only hold whoever was behind the door for an extra second or two, but that was all I needed.

On the other end of the line, I heard someone exhale as they put the phone up to their ear.

“Caden?” I bit the inside of my cheek; my voice had gone soft without my meaning it to.

“Angel?”

I blinked back the wetness in my eyes and huffed out a breath. “Get out of there.”

“Screw that. I’m not leaving until you return.”

Of course he wasn’t. Why did I waste my breath? “Then at least make sure they leave—I don’t trust them to leave us alone.”

“On it, angel.”

I heard yelling and shuffling on the other side. I could only imagine what might be going on in that airport. “So how, exactly, did you manage this? And what is that god-awful noise on your end?”

“That’s Dane.” Dane moved from shouting to moaning. “Apparently I make a decent extractor after all.”

Caden’s line went quiet. “Is—is he okay?” he asked.

I glanced over at Dane and wished I hadn’t. It didn’t matter that he’d been trying to kill me. Seeing someone in pain made my stomach roil.

“He’ll live.” But he might never walk again.

“D-don’t kill him, angel.”

I bit my lower lip. He knew that was my end game. “He won’t stop hunting us if I don’t.”

“Please.”

I swallowed. “I love you,” I whispered.

“Angel—”

I hung up.

“You know,” I said, staring at Dane, “Caden loves you. He’s the only one keeping you alive right now.”

Dane glared at me. A thin film of sweat covered his face. “You owe the Project everything—your very life—and this is how you repay us?”

“A child doesn’t owe their parent for bringing them into existence. I asked for none of this.”

“We’ll never stop coming after you.”

Kill him!
my brain screamed at me. Doing so would draw attention to the Project, and I was betting serious money that someone wouldn’t like what they found out about it. And then the Project’s little house of cards would come tumbling down.

But staring someone in the eyes and ending their life? Someone injured and unarmed—that was horrific enough. Caden’s plea still echoed in my head. I needed to be able to look myself in the mirror without flinching.

I glanced at the door, which shook on its hinges. It would go soon, and so would I.

“It wasn’t just to make Caden happy, was it?” I asked.

Dane groaned. “I need a doctor.”

I eyed him. “Yeah, you do.” I sighed. “There’s a guy in your dungeon with a bullet in his chest. You’ll want to inform the medics of that when they come for you.”

I sat down next to Dane. Three gunshots had done him in. He wasn’t a threat at the moment. “You woke me up for another reason.”

His only response was to shudder as a chill came over him.

“Caden doesn’t splice. And I have information on your enemy.” The reasons for his reviving me overwhelmed the reasons for his keeping me sedated.

Dane nodded, and I covered my eyes. His plan unfolded in front of me. He’d hoped I’d reconnect with Adrian and lead them straight to him. I had.

They also wanted more teleporters that didn’t splice. I would’ve given them that had I stayed at the Montana facility.

The door slammed open, dragging my attention away from my thoughts. Several teleporters filed in. They saw Dane on the floor and me sitting next to him, gun in hand. One of the guys held an M4, and he leveled the weapon at me.

I stared him down, my body numb to the sight of a gun barrel. So much violence had desensitized me. And now that I’d gotten what I’d come for, my muscles felt like lead.

So damn tired.

“Medic!” the teleporter yelled over his shoulder. “Stat!”

I never saw his head turn back to me. One moment I was there, and in the next I was gone.

When I blinked open my eyes, someone had picked me up and cradled me in their arms. My head bounced with every movement, the throbbing escalating with each jostle.

I blinked again and got an eyeful of chest. And then we bounced again, and my head bumped into that chest. I groaned.

“Angel.”

“Mmm.” I rubbed my head against Caden’s chest. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“Are you?”

I nodded, and that was when I realized I was naked. In an airport. While we were running for our lives. As I peered into the crowd, people shouted and pointed.

“Why aren’t we getting stopped?” I asked.

“Beats the hell out of me, but I’m not going to question it,” Caden replied.

As tempted as I was to wiggle out of Caden’s arms, I let him carry me. Didn’t matter how often people saw me naked—running while they openly gawked was never really my thing. Luckily, Caden didn’t seem to be getting too winded. Praise Jesus for muscles.

When we made it to baggage claim, I saw Adrian. He looked as though he’d just gotten hit by a semi. “There he is.” I pointed.

“I see him,” Caden replied evenly.

Adrian’s eyes took us in, lingering longer than necessary on certain sections of my bare flesh.

Caden growled, “I’m going to eviscerate the guy.”

“He’s not the only one getting an eyeful,” I said. Unfortunately.

“Yeah, but that look of his is all proprietary and shit. Guy’s as good as dead.”

I rolled my eyes.

Adrian shook his head and whistled when we got to him. “Well, you definitely know how to make an entrance, Ember,” he said.

I flipped him the bird.

Caden and Adrian nodded at each other; both had flinty eyes. The awkward tension was just as palpable as I dreaded it would be.

“We’re going to need to move,” Caden said. “Agents followed us here.”

Adrian cursed, glancing over our shoulders.

“They’ve backed off for the moment,” Caden said, “but don’t expect it to last.”

Adrian’s gaze flicked to me again. “Are they the reason your clothes are gone?”

Caden cleared his throat. “Yes. Now, can we get to the car? Angel here ain’t the lightest little feather.”