In the rearview mirror, I saw Blake frown. “I want to get them out just as badly as you, man, but we have a limited gap of time. That’s all.”
“We stick to the plan.” I met my brother’s gaze in the mirror. “That’s it, Dawson. I’m not losing you again.”
“Nothing’s going to go wrong, anyway,” Kat interjected. “Everything’s going to go as planned.”
My jaw tensed, seeing the access road up ahead. I slowed down, merging into the left lane. There were no markings, but this was the only road that resembled the one on the map. In the rearview mirror, I saw Matthew’s headlights follow me. A couple hundred feet on the dark road, there was an old farmhouse to the right, barely lit under the silvery moon.
Bingo.
“Creepy,” Kat murmured, staring at half the missing roof. “I bet your ghost guys would say this place is haunted.”
I chuckled. “They say every place is haunted. That’s why I love them.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Dawson said as we parked, and Matthew was right behind us.
Matthew and I killed the lights and engines. Glancing at the clock, I saw that we had five minutes till nine. There was no time to waste at this point.
Blake’s cell went off again. “He’s just making sure we’re ready.”
“God, he’s an annoying little kid,” I muttered, facing where Matthew parked. “We’re getting ready to do this. Andrew?”
He slipped out, murmuring something to Dee and his sister. Then he turned, throwing up what looked like a gang symbol. What the hell? “I’m ready steady,” he said.
“Geez,” Blake muttered.
“We stick to the plan. At no time do any of us,” I directed mostly to Dawson, “deviate from the plan. All of us are coming back tonight.”
Everyone was in agreement as we piled out of the cars. I met Kat around the front, placing my hand on her arm. “Stick close to me.”
She nodded.
Her nervousness was a tangible entity, and I couldn’t blame her. I wasn’t letting myself think too much about what we were doing, because it was freaking insane. “Time?” I asked.
Blake glanced down at his lit cell phone. “One minute.”
In the darkness, I found Kat’s hand and squeezed.
“Thirty seconds,” Blake said.
I stopped making my lungs function.
“Ten seconds.”
Giving her hand one more squeeze, I then held on. There was no way I was letting her go.
Beside us, Blake bent forward. “Three, two, go!”
We were gone, the five of us, rushing through the darkness. Energy rippled through the air, charging it with static. We hit the mountain, sticking close to the road but avoiding the streams of light.
I held on to Kat, but I didn’t have to pick up her slack. She was keeping right beside us, moving just as fast as the rest of us. A little over a minute, bright spotlights lit a twenty-foot tall fence. We slowed down, coming to a complete stop behind the last stand of trees.
Red and white signs marked the fence as being electrical. Beyond them was a football-field-length open space and then a massive structure—Mount Weather.
“Time?” I asked.
“One minute after nine.” Blake ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, I got one guard at the gate. Do you see any others?”
I scanned, not seeing anyone else. Luc had been right. It was a shift change, and only the gate was covered. We were going to have to hit the guard before he knew what was coming.
“Give me a second,” Andrew said, slipping away from the trees, creeping toward the guard dressed in black.
Tensing, I watched as he dipped and placed his hand on the ground. Blue sparks flew and the guard started to twist toward where Andrew was crouched, but the surge of electricity reached the guard.
The man rattled like someone shook him. The gun he carried fell from his hands, and seconds later, he was lying on the ground beside it. The man was alive, but oblivious to the world.
“He doesn’t know what hit him.” Andrew grinned as he blew a breath over his fingers. “He’ll be out for about twenty or so minutes.”
“Nice,” Dawson said. “I’d have fried his brain if I tried that.”
I chose not to respond to that as I approached the gate. All I could rely on was that Luc had taken the cameras down and given us the right codes. If not, we were officially screwed.
And Luc was officially a dead kid.
“Icarus,” Blake said quietly.
I nodded and then quickly typed in the code. A mechanical clicking followed, and a low hum broke the silence. Our breaths puffed, forming misty clouds in the cold air as the gate swung open.
Too soon to be relieved.
Motioning everyone forward, we raced across the field and reached the building. I scanned the wall, not finding the control panel to enter the second code.
“Where’s the damn keypad?” Dawson demanded, pacing between the doors.
Kat stepped back. “There.” She pointed toward the right.
Andrew jogged over to where the panel was stuck behind an overlay. “Ready.”
Glancing at Kat and then me, Dawson nodded and focused on the middle door in front of us. “Ready.”
“Labyrinth,” I murmured from where I stood behind Kat and Dawson. “And please, God, spell it correctly.”
Andrew snickered and then entered the code. A second passed and the door quietly slid open, revealing a wide orange tunnel. All the way at the end were the elevators. From there, we’d go down six floors, and then we’d find the cells.
What happened next was so fast.
Dawson stepped through the door, Kat right behind him. I reached for her, wanting her to stay at my side, but before I could even touch her there was this small hissing sound, as if we’d neared a pit of vipers.
Without warning, Dawson dropped to the ground in a withering heap. My stomach dropped as horror and anger rose swiftly. I raced to his side, placing my hands on him. He jerked as if my touch scalded him. I scanned his body, seeing no visible injuries.
What the hell?
“No one moves,” Andrew ordered as Blake’s face paled.
Then it hit me, the way Dawson contorted his body. It was so familiar, as was the glazed-over look of raw pain in his eyes. Onyx.
The whole damn world stopped as I looked up. On the frame of the door, there was a series of nozzles, facing down. The hissing sound came again. Onyx, I realized stupidly, weaponized, airborne onyx.
I lurched forward, but it was too late.
Kat locked up, her back stiffening unnaturally. Her mouth dropped open in a silent scream as she took a direct hit.
Chapter 14
Instinct took over as everything else shut down. Reaching Kat, I winced when pain clouded her face as I picked her up. Gathering her against my chest, I spun around as Andrew grabbed Dawson. I had to get the onyx off her.
I ran fast, speeding across the lawn and back through the woods, near the access road, reaching where the others waited in less than a minute. I had no idea what kind of damage airborne onyx could do, but the bitter tang of fear was overwhelming.
“What happened?” Dee cried out, racing forward.
“Onyx—it was in the air. It’s all over her.” I stepped back when Dee came forward. “Don’t. It’ll get on you. Andrew is bringing Dawson. I need to get it off her. Now.”
Matthew cursed, slamming his fist into the side of his car. Metal dented. He whirled on us. “The river! Get her to the river.”
Spinning, I took off again, knowing that the river was at the base of the mountain. Wind howled as I raced to the river we’d passed on the way in. It was bone-chilling cold, but it was the quickest way for me to get the horrible stuff off her.
Everywhere she touched my bare skin, the onyx burned. The red-hot pain felt like tiny hooks were under my skin, digging in and ripping through bone and tissue. I powered past the fiery hell, focusing on the river. Once the musky scent of the water invad
ed my senses, I wanted to drop to my knees but couldn’t. We hit the water at full speed.
“Hold on to me,” I told her. “It’s going to be cold, but the onyx is all over your clothes and hair. Just hold on, okay?”
Kat didn’t answer, and I strung together a mouthful of curses as icy water lapped at my legs and then my knees. I gritted my teeth, and when the water reached Kat’s leg, soaking through her pants, she tried to scramble up me, but I couldn’t let her. Holding on to her and hating myself for doing this to her, I folded my hand along the back of her head and then dunked both of us under water.
Fuck.
The ice-cold water seized up every part of me, and I knew if it was this bad for me, it was worse for Kat. She was shaking her head erratically, stirring up sediment, but the burn was fading.
Using my knees, I pushed us both back up. Our heads broke the surface. Kat dragged in air by the lungful as I raced us out of the water onto the riverbank just as Andrew launched into the river, taking Dawson under. Gently, carefully, I laid her down on the bank. Hands shaking, I smoothed the clumps of wet hair off her pale face. Her gray eyes were wide, lips nearly blue, and her chest rose and fell sharply.
Behind me, water splashed. I looked over my shoulder, surprised to see Blake helping drag Dawson out of the water. They laid him next to Kat. She slowly turned her head toward them. None of us moved.
Then Dawson flung an arm over his face as he bent one leg. “Crap.”
Relief made my knees weak. I cradled her cheeks again, turning her head toward mine. “Are you okay? Say something, Kitten. Please.”
“Wow,” she croaked out.
I stared at her a moment. Wow? Then I was moving without thinking. Folding my arms around her, I lifted her into my arms as I fell back on my ass, holding her so tightly she let out a hoarse squeal.
“God, I don’t even know…” I cupped the back of her head. “I was scared to death.”
“I’m okay.” Her voice was muffled. “What about you? You had to have—”
“It’s all off me. Don’t even worry about that.” A shudder rocked me. “Damn, Kitten…”
Kat clutched the front of my wet sweater as I ran my hands over her, making sure there were no injuries I hadn’t seen. When I found none, I kissed her forehead, then each eyelid. I couldn’t get my hands to stop trembling.
Two sets of headlights appeared, and out of the stream of questions, Dee dropped to her knees beside Dawson, clutching his hand. “What happened? Someone tell us what happened.”
Matthew and Ash walked up behind her as Andrew did his best to explain what happened. “I don’t know. They had something that came out of the doors when they opened. It was some kind of spray, but it had no smell and we couldn’t see it.”
“It hurt like a bitch.” Dawson rubbed his arms. “And there’s only one thing that feels like that. Onyx. But I’ve never seen it like that before.” With stiff movements and Ash and Dee’s help, he climbed to his feet. “It was airborne. Insane. I think I swallowed some.”
“Are you okay? Katy?” Matthew asked.
Kat nodded. “How did you know to get us to the river?”
Lifting my hand, I knocked the wet hair off my forehead. “I guessed it was onyx when I didn’t see any visible wounds and it was on your clothes and skin. I remembered passing the river. Thought it was the best place to go.”
“We didn’t even make it past the first set of doors.” Andrew barked out a laugh. “What the hell were we thinking? They have that place wired against Luxen and apparently hybrids.”
Come to think of it, how did Blake not know about this? He’d been to Mount Weather before. How did he not know about the onyx?
Helping Kat stand, I dropped my arms and then stalked over to where Blake sat. “You’ve been to Mount Weather before, right?”
Slowly, Blake pushed to his feet. “Yeah, but nothing—”
I slammed my fist into Blake’s jaw, knocking him back down. He leaned over, planting his elbow in the dirt as he spit out a mouthful of blood. “I didn’t know—I didn’t know they had something like that!”
“I’m finding that hard to believe.”
Blake lifted his head. “You have to believe me! Nothing like that ever happened before. I don’t understand.”
“Bullshit,” Andrew said. “You set us up.”
“No. No way.” Blake staggered to his feet, his back to the river. He placed a hand to his jaw. “Why would I set you guys up? My friend is—”
“I don’t care about your friend!” Andrew shouted. “You’ve been there! How could you not know they had the doors rigged with that stuff?”
Blake turned to Kat. “You have got to believe me. I had no idea that was going to happen. I wouldn’t lead you guys into a trap.”
“And Luc didn’t know?” she asked, sounding doubtful.
“If he did, he would’ve told us. Katy—”
“Don’t,” I warned as the edges of my anger started to shimmer. “Don’t talk to her. Don’t even talk to any of us right now.”
Blake opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He shook his head as he stalked back to the cars.
There was a gap of silence, and then Ash asked, “What do we do now?”
“I don’t know.” I watched Dawson pace. “I really don’t know.”
Dee rose. “This sucks. This sucks donkey butt.”
“We’re back at square one,” Andrew said. “Hell, we’re at negative one.”
Dawson whipped toward me. “We can’t give up. Promise me we won’t give up.”
“We won’t,” I assured him. “We’re not giving up.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Matthew walk out from his car and drape a blanket over Kat’s shoulders. He said something to her, and Kat hunkered down in the blanket. A second later, he guided her back to the SUV. I heard the door close and the engine come on.
Exhaling roughly, I faced Dawson. Our gazes locked. “I’m not giving up.”
Dawson lifted his chin, his mouth pressed in a flat line. He didn’t say anything as he stalked back to the SUV. I looked up. Stars blanketed the sky, as endless and unforgiving as our rescue mission had been.
Kat had stopped shivering halfway back to Petersburg, but I was still worried about her. She might be a hybrid, but she’d been doused with onyx, and I’d nearly drowned her in the Shenandoah River. There was no way I was letting her out of my sight tonight.
Near midnight, I pulled into the driveway. Blake had slunk off without so much as a word, and I hoped he walked off a cliff somewhere. I didn’t care. Catching Kat before she could head next door, I steered her inside. Everyone was talking, but again, I didn’t care. Still shrouded in Matthew’s blanket, Kat looked numb and exhausted.
I took her hand. “Let’s get you into some dry clothes.”
She waved me off at the bottom of thestairs when I went to pick her up. “I’m fine.”
I made a disgruntled sound, but stayed behind her as she slowly climbed the steps, just in case she went ass over teakettle. Once in my bedroom, I closed the door behind us.
Kat sighed. “We kind of deserved this.”
Walking over to where she stood, I pried the blanket off her. “How so?”
“We’re a bunch of teenagers, and we thought we could break into a facility run by Homeland Security and the DOD? I mean, come on. This was bound to go wrong—wait!” she said, grabbing my wrists as I grabbed the hem of the thermal. “What are you doing?”
“Getting you naked.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Uh, wow. Way to cut to the point.”