Pounding on the door startled Addy from her sleep. It took a few seconds for the sound to register and she looked across the room at Gage, who was sitting up on the couch. He looked just as disoriented as she felt.
“Gage?” A muffled voice said through the door.
Gage jumped up to see who it was and pointed at Addy. “Stay there.”
She looked at the clock and discovered they’d only been sleeping three hours.
He only slightly cracked the door, but it was immediately pushed open all the way. Juliette walked in with some of the Akori guards that Tanner called Team Jax. Bernard followed behind them.
“Addison!” Bernard exclaimed, looking shocked to see her in Gage’s bed.
Juliette rolled her eyes. “You really didn’t see that coming?”
Gage pulled his shirt on. “I stayed on the couch.” He pointed at his pillow and blanket.
Juliette had a serious expression and she cut her eyes to Addy. “We’ve been looking for you.”
Addy was still sitting on the bed covered up. “Is Jax ok?”
“This isn’t about Jax.” Juliette diverted her eyes. “We’ll wait outside while you get dressed.”
Gage closed the door behind them. “This place is like a nightmare anymore, I swear.”
“Weren’t you saying it could only get better?” Addy stood up and grabbed her clothes, heading to the bathroom.
After that scene, she was feeling way better about Gage having more self-control than her when they went to bed. She actually wasn’t sure how much of it was self-control and how much was simply payback. Once he turned the lights out, she’d been awake for a long time fighting the urge to pounce him on the couch. When she could tell by his level breathing that he was asleep, she finally gave up and closed her eyes.
Admiring her necklace in the mirror, she thought about the night before. The memory of Kim running off with Matt and the other prisoners resurfaced, causing dread to wash over her. She hurried up and finished dressing.
When she came out Gage was ready to go, standing by the French doors leading out to his balcony. It was gloomy and windy outside. She stood next to him, slipping her arm through his.
“What do you think they want?” Addy asked in a whisper as if they might hear her through the door.
“At this point it could be anything.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.”
Addy felt out of place in her dress and carrying her heels when she walked into the library. Tanner and Stubbs were seated at the table. To her relief, Tanner was still wearing the same clothes he had on the night before too.
“So I’m not the only one who was roused from my blissful slumber,” Tanner said in an irritated voice.
Gage nodded at Tanner and they exchanged commiserative looks.
“Sit.” Juliette pointed to a chair. “We have a lot to go over.”
Gage, Bernard, and Addy joined them around the table. There was a tray of coffee and Addy poured herself a steaming cup.
Juliette got right to the point. “Why were you exchanging text messages with Matt the evening before you came to see Jax?”
“Me?” Addy just about choked on her coffee. “I wasn’t!”
“We found messages on his phone from you,” she said with a sharp, accusing edge to her words.
“Kim had her phone that night,” Tanner said, looking directly at Juliette. He circled his eye to Addy. “Remember—she asked for it to take the pictures?”
Addy explained how Kim had borrowed her phone to take the picture of the symbols on the backs of their necks and went into her room with it. She felt like she was just punched in the gut as she told the story.
Gage grabbed her cup and took a drink of Addy’s coffee. “What’d the messages say?”
“Exactly what the girls had been doing and where they were,” Juliette said as she slid Matt’s phone over to Gage. “There were some pictures too.”
He grabbed it and scrolled through the messages.
Addy leaned over and saw the picture of her and Tanner’s symbols. Then she watched as Gage scrolled through the pictures of her and Tanner together. “Why would she send those?”
Juliette looked at the phone. “Probably so they’d know what the Akori Shepherd looked like. Kim gave Matt enough information to figure out there was another male Sanders. That’s probably how the Mesen knew about Jax before he ever made it to Tremain.”
Gage’s face was tense as he viewed the pictures of her smiling and posing with Tanner. She leaned over and put her hand on his knee. He changed his expression and reached down, putting his hand on top of hers.
They went through more text messages Kim and Matt had exchanged. She’d been telling him everything for the last few weeks. Matt had taken and sent out pictures of the Overseer’s Stone, too.
“The pictures Matt sent out of the stone went to others we suspected of being spies for the Mesen,” Patrick said.
Bernard leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table. “Well, as disappointing as it is, at least we know who told the Mesen where to find Jax.”
“And who took the Overseer’s Stone,” Stubbs said.
Addy poured herself more coffee and looked across the table at Tanner to see if he wanted some. He was focused on what Bernard was saying and not paying attention to her. She was about to kick him under the table when he slid his cup over for her to refill without turning away from Bernard. She realized that he did things like that a lot.
“I just don’t get what Kim was thinking,” Gage said, shaking his head. “Addy’s been such a good friend to her—we all have.”
She sat for a minute not saying anything, sipping on her coffee. It was just unbelievable that Kim had been passing information to Matt about everything she did. “We need to find Kim. She’s just a human—obviously one who isn’t making the best decisions.”
Gage looked from Addy to Bernard. “I agree. As much as I hate to say it, she’s just not safe with Matt.”
“With help from some of Bernard’s contacts, we were able to get a location on her cell phone,” Juliette said. “We can only narrow it down to about a square mile area in Miami though. Some of our people headed out to start the search this morning.”
“I’m going.” Addy stood up. “She’s my problem, I brought her here.”
“Addison I don’t think you should leave your brother.” Stubbs looked around at the others for support.
Juliette ignored him and tipped her head toward Addy. “Kim is your problem,” she said, “but we’re all going because the rest of them are our problem.”
Bernard cleared his throat and looked between Gage and Tanner, raising his eyebrows.
“Of course, I’m going,” Gage said to Bernard.
Tanner caught Addy’s eye and nodded. “I’m in, girlie.”
A large group of Akori came into the room and Juliette and Patrick started firing off orders. Some would stay to guard Jax and some would go to Miami with them. Bernard and Stubbs were asked to stay behind and coordinate the operations from the estate. Tanner, Gage, and Addy were told to hit the vault and pick up weapons and black combat gear like Team Jax wore.
An hour later, Tanner and Addy were climbing into Gage’s Jeep while he punched the location Juliette gave them to search into his GPS. It was only about 15 minutes to their destination and they pulled down the driveway with the rest of the group.
They discussed how Kim could’ve possibly gotten the prisoners out alone as they drove. Matt and Renee should’ve been pretty banged up still. Addy was surprised they were able to get away, especially without being seen. They decided that Kim must have had help breaking them out.
“The Team Jax fashion is surprisingly comfortable,” Tanner said. He had a large quiver of arrows and a bow on his back. “I bet he designed it himself.”
Addy couldn’t help but laugh. “I can totally picture him and Juliette debating how many pockets for knives would be necessary to achieve the
desired fashion and functionality balance.”
The navigation directed them to turn left at the next intersection. Gage pulled into the parking lot of a large cinderblock warehouse. Patrick had the area divided into a grid pattern and assigned each group an area to search.
It was storming outside and the forecast called for rain the rest of the day. Tanner called Patrick and let him know they were in position. They were told to stay put and wait for instructions because another team thought they might have a lead a few blocks away.
Addy hadn’t told Gage about what her, Tanner, and Bernard had discovered the day before, and even though Bernard said not to talk about it, she really wanted to get him up to speed.
“Tanner, I think we should tell Gage what we figured out yesterday,” she said.
He sounded surprised. “Sure, if you think it’s ok.”
“I do,” she said, turning around to look at him.
He nodded and shrugged his shoulders.
Addy shifted in her seat and looked at Gage. “We found the guest book from the last Reunion Ball and it said your dad was there.”
He looked over and smiled. “Yeah, I know.”
“Oh.” Addy didn’t know what to say, she figured he would’ve told her something like that before.
Gage reached over and laced his fingers through hers. “My family is one of the oldest Akori families—he was at every ball.”
Tanner leaned forward from the backseat. “That’s not all.” He began to tell Gage how Eva made Oren the Overseer after the ball and that they believed the stone prevented the Akori from using more powers.
“I would say that’s crazy, but with everything going on it makes sense,” Gage said. “Addy, do you remember hearing Stubbs say Matt made Kim let them go last night?”
She had to think for a second. “Yeah, I think so—why?”
“Could he have been saying that Matt used his powers on Kim? I mean, if we’re assuming there are more powers out there then it’s possible,” he said. “Juliette changed her direction pretty quickly after Stubbs said that.”
Tanner nodded. “That sounds like a possibility to me.”
Addy was happy to have a potential explanation for Kim’s betrayal. “Now if we can just get her away from—”
Tanner’s phone rang. He said a few words and hung up. “They found them.”
He directed Gage to drive a couple of blocks away. Juliette and the rest of the group were gathered in the parking lot of a tall red brick building that resembled a warehouse.
“From what we can tell, it’s just Kim, Matt, Renee, and about a dozen other Mesen inside,” Patrick said.
Juliette turned to Tanner. “You’ll follow me. Once we’re inside I’ll find a position for you high enough to give you clear shots.” She pointed to Addy and Gage. “You’re both going in with Patrick’s team.”
Tanner started to follow Juliette but Addy grabbed his arm. “Please be careful.”
“You too, girlie,” he said, backing away and pointing to Gage. “Watch your back.”
Gage nodded and they watched Juliette and Tanner enter the building. Addy suddenly felt scared and uncertain. Gage grabbed her hand and walked her around to the other side of his jeep away from the others.
“It’s just like last time. Keep your head up—I can’t imagine Matt just letting us walk in there.”
Addy nodded as images of the attack on the estate flashed through her head, making her tremble.
“Come on, shake it off.” He leaned his head down on hers. “Put your doubts away and just do what needs to be done.”
“I’ll try.”
Gage grabbed her by the shoulders. “No, you’ll do it—or you can just wait out here.”
“I will,” she said, nodding her head.
“Let's move!” Patrick shouted from the other side of the jeep.
Carefully, they moved up flight after flight of stairs, clearing the floors of the light crew of Mesen guarding them. When they reached the ninth floor, she heard shouting and fighting break out. There were a lot more Mesen in the blue combat uniforms than the dozen Patrick had mentioned. It was just like in the estate, fighting and Scattering all over the place. Juliette and Patrick worked as a team and pushed a group of Mesen back up the stairwell on the far wall.
Addy sliced through an Akori man, making him Scatter, when she was pushed to the ground from behind. She knew without looking who it was.
“It's nice to see you,” Renee said, trying to stomp on Addy’s chest.
Addy found it completely annoying that Renee always felt the need to talk as they fought. It made her feel like she was trapped in a Japanese anime where they exchanged more witty banter than punches.
As she rolled out of the way, she grabbed Renee’s leg and pulled her down. There was no way she was going to let Renee get the upper hand again. Addy took a fast swing at Renee with her sword, but missed.
Tanner was perched up in the rafters picking off Mesen who came too close to Addy. Arrows flew by her head as she fought with Renee, who had a dagger. She was able to slice into Addy a couple of times, but the Team Jax gear stopped it from going deep.
A scream from the other side of the room stopped them. It was Kim, and Matt had a knife to her throat. Renee apparently had enough of Addy and ran behind her brother.
Tanner jumped down from the rafters and stood next to her. Addy noticed the only ones left on that floor were Matt, Renee, and Kim on one side of the room, and Gage, Addy, and Tanner on the other side.
“We’re gonna head out,” Matt said. “You’re not gonna follow.”
Tanner looked around. “Who are you talking to, man?”
“We’re not gonna let you leave,” Gage said.
Footsteps were pounding on the stairs behind them and Matt quickly whispered something in Kim’s ear. Her eyes got big and a second later he closed his, sinking the knife deep into her chest. Matt shoved her at Addy and he and Renee made a break for the fire escape.
Addy shrieked as Gage caught Kim and lowered her to the concrete floor. Blood was everywhere. Her eyes were wide open and she was gasping for air.
She was screaming at Kim to stay alive as she tried to stop the bleeding. “There’s too much blood—I can’t stop it!”
Kim started making gurgling sounds as Juliette and Patrick came running up behind her.
Addy shouted over her shoulder at them. “We have to get help!”
Gage grabbed Addy and flung her at Tanner. “Hold her back!”
Tanner’s arms locked around her and she immediately realized what was happening. “Stop, you can’t—don’t, Gage!”
Gage turned back as she was fighting to get away from Tanner. “Pay attention,” he said, quickly putting his hands on her face. He made her look at him as he spoke in a hushed voice. “There’s no other choice. I need you to calm down.” He wiped the tears that were running down her cheeks. “Everything will be fine.”
“No, no, no—listen to me!” Addy’s heart pounded in her ears and it felt like it might explode out of her chest any second. “You can’t, you’ll…” She broke into sobs, her words were barely comprehensible. “Please…”
Gage hesitated for a second, but knelt down beside Kim and put his hands to her wound. Addy kicked and thrashed around in Tanner’s arms, making him hold her tighter.
A flash of bright blue filled the room. The sudden burst of light stunned him and Tanner loosened his grip momentarily—just long enough for her to break free. Addy threw herself toward where he was kneeling, but it was too late—Gage was gone. The only sign he’d been there at all was his ring—soaking in a pool of Kim’s blood.
Chapter 25