Chapter Thirty-Six

Harvard

The team fanned out to keep watch on the substation while I cobbled together the EMP. It wasn’t as powerful as I would’ve liked, but it would be enough if we could get it inside. By the time I got back into position alongside Jean-Luc, the moon was high in the sky. A bright white spotlight that further hampered our ability to stay camouflaged.

I couched down next to Jean-Luc. “Any movement?”

“Nah. Nothing. They haven’t even closed the door since we opened it.”

“Good.” I handed him my rucksack and pulled out the small case containing my hornet-shaped drone. The one Sami had named Tinkerbell. I’d toyed with a new camera for it when I was too anxious to sleep, and I thought I had the kinks worked out. At least I hoped so. Tink was small enough that she wouldn’t bing on the Cricket’s radar and she’d fit through the crack in the door. I needed her to be my eyes and ears inside.

As I set up the drone, Jean-Luc gave my rucksack some serious side-eye. “Is this the bomb?”

“It’s in there.”

“And you want me to carry it?”

“Only until we get close enough for me to go in with it.”

Jean-Luc grumbled but slid the straps onto his shoulders. “You’re lucky I love ya, kid. I wouldn’t carry a bomb on my back for anyone else.”

I grinned at him, and he shot me the finger.

Man, I’d missed this bantering with Jean-Luc on a mission. I didn’t realize how much until that moment. I’d let my demons drive a wedge between us, but no more.

I returned my attention to my drone and held my breath as I worked the controls. Please fly. Please fly. Please fly.

Tink rose smoothly into the air.

“Cool,” Jean-Luc said.

I exhaled and checked the screen of my phone. Camera operational. Yes! “Let’s see what they’re doing in there.”

I guided Tink over the fence to the open door. So far, so good. She slipped inside unnoticed.

And the lights went out.

“Fuck,” Jean-Luc whispered.

“Lucky for us, we have night vision.” I switched the camera to night mode. The building was long and narrow and filled with columns of what looked like giant circuit panels. At the far end was the muted glow of a light source, like that from a computer screen or two. A generator’s rumble echoed around the building, but underneath I heard laughter. Cheers. They were throwing themselves a little celebration.

“Fuck yeah!” Adrian’s voice.

My hands tightened on the controller. I wanted to smash his face in with it.

“We’re going to be so rich!” a woman said.

Not Sami, but it struck a faint chord of recognition.

I shook my head as the voice clicked with a face. Ciara Lynn, aka Morgana le Fay. She’d been Adrian’s girlfriend when we were teenagers. Another foster kid, she was smart and talented and just as damaged by her early life as Adrian.

Dammit, Morgana. Why did you get involved in this?

Stupid question. I knew why. Quite simply, she was an addict. I remembered that feeling, that thrill of thinking you got away with something impossible. I remembered the pull of it. Chasing that digital high destroyed lives as surely as any other drug.

“Yeah,” Adrian said, “and while they’re tracking down Khaos, we’ll be—”

“Wherever the hell we want!” Morgana singsonged. “With their money.”

Jean-Luc and I exchanged a glance. They weren’t expecting us. They thought they had already beaten us, that we had retreated.

They didn’t know a damn thing about HORNET. We don’t retreat.

There was some shuffling at the other end. Chairs rolled across the concrete floor. They were probably packing up. They’d done what they’d come here to accomplish, and the longer they stayed, the more chance they had of getting caught.

I guided the drone closer and saw two figures hovering around a third. Sami. They had her tied to a chair.

“What do we do with her?” Morgana asked.

“Oh, Fragment,” Adrian said on a heavy sigh. “I wish I could overlook the fact that you fucked Khaos.”

“He fucked all of us,” Sami said. “I was just stupid enough to get fucked twice.”

I couldn’t stop my wince. There was no inflection in her tone, nothing to give any indication of her true feelings. Which, objectively, was a good thing. If she still felt anything for me, she wouldn’t want Adrian to know.

Morgana considered Sami. “Maybe we should let her go. She may have screwed up, but she’s one of us.”

“Is she, though?” Adrian asked. “I think we should leave her here. Let her blow up with the evidence.”

Jean-Luc stole a quick glance at me, brows raised in question. “You ready?”

I nodded. Now that I knew what the interior looked like and where everyone was located, it was go time. I called Tink back to me and said into my mic, “Going comm blackout.”

“See you on the other side, kid,” Lanie answered.

“Don’t be stupid,” Jesse added. “I don’t wanna be pickin’ pieces of you off the ground.”

On that cheery note, I pulled my earbud out and put it in my duffel bag, along with Tink. I held the bag open for Jean-Luc, and he tossed in his electronics. I had designed the bag to be a portable Faraday cage. In theory, it should protect everything from frying.

Jean-Luc carefully removed my rucksack from his back and held it out to me. I opened the flap and pulled out the EMP. It looked like a regular old pipe bomb, but Ian had helped me calculate the explosive materials inside so that the blast itself wouldn’t do much damage. The magnetic burst it would release with the blast was another story. If I was right, I was about to knock out power to a large chunk of the state.

Couldn’t be helped. If given the chance, Adrian would do so much worse.

I handed Jean-Luc the Faraday bag. He exhaled softly. “Sure about this, mon ami?”

“It has to be me. He won’t let anyone else close enough.”

“Merde. I know.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“I know you will, but I still don’t like it.” He held up a hand before I could protest. “Before ya go jumping down my throat, I wouldn’t like it if it was Jesse or Seth or, hell, even Ian.” He jerked a thumb toward the building. “That asshole in there is a temperamental psychopath with access to experimental technology. This rates high up there on our most-dangerous-missions meter.”

“He won’t hurt me. He wants me alive so he can gloat.” I hoped I sounded more confident than I felt. Temperamental psychopath was a perfect description for Adrian. He almost certainly planned to keep me alive, but if I made the wrong move or said the wrong thing, he could snap and act on impulse.

I set the timer on the bomb and placed it back in the rucksack. I slid the straps onto my shoulders and tested it with a small jump that had Jean-Luc cringing and cursing under his breath in Cajun French.

“Hey.” He caught my face between his hands before I turned away and gave me a light smack on the cheek. “You make damn sure you don’t have that thing on your back when the timer hits zero. It’s not a lot of explosive, but it’s enough to separate your legs from your spine if you’re still wearing it.”

I grimaced at the mental image. Which was probably exactly what Jean-Luc had been going for. “I’m dropping it as soon as I get it inside. Promise.”

Jean-Luc stared into my eyes for a moment, then nodded once as he patted my cheek again. “Good man. Now go save your girl.”

My girl, I thought as I stepped out from the cover of the trees. Was that even true anymore? I didn’t see how we had any shot of a future together. Even if I had forgiven her sins, could the team? Could her classmates? Could she forgive me for my sins? And for abandoning her a second time?

Right now, none of it mattered. All that mattered was getting her out of there alive and hopefully not ending up dead in the process.

I spotted the drone. My drone, the Noisy Cricket, rising from the roof of the building like I’d awakened a slumbering dragon. I held up my hands to show I was unarmed and half expected it to open fire on me anyways. It didn’t. Just hovered and stared me down. Adrian had to be on the other side of the controls, watching me approach.

“Adrian,” I called. The drone didn’t move. “Let’s talk.”

Nothing happened for a long moment. So long that sweat started gathering along my spine despite the near-freezing temperature. I could all but hear the timer ticking down on the bomb.

Cutting it close.

Too damn close.

If Adrian didn’t let me in, I’d have to throw the bomb and hope for the best. At the very least it should take out the Cricket, enabling my team to launch a full-scale assault. It’d give us an advantage but not the upper hand. The EMP needed to go off inside to make sure we took out all of his technology.

Finally, the Cricket dropped back to the roof.

I took that as an invitation and stepped inside. They had turned on industrial-powered lamps, which were bright enough that I was momentarily blinded. Rough hands disarmed me and yanked the rucksack off my back. That same person kicked at the backs of my knees, forcing me to the ground.

Adrian came into view as my eyes adjusted to the light. He stood a few feet in front of me, Morgana faithfully by his side.

“What do we have in here?” He passed the rucksack to Morgana. She’d find the bomb, but it was too late. There was no time to get it back outside.

I ignored her, returning my attention to my former best friend. “Adrian, man. What do you hope to accomplish?”

He snorted in disgust. “You even have to ask? You’re so out of touch.”

“No, I’m not.” My throat thickened, and I swallowed hard to ease the tightness. “I’m fully aware of what I’ve done. Are you? Adrian, you put an innocent kid in the hospital with burns that will affect him for the rest of his life if they don’t kill him. You took a woman’s life.”

“Like you’re mad about that? I know how she was, how she treated you like a meal ticket. Way I see it, I did you a favor.”

“By framing me for her murder?”

He smirked. “A nice touch, wasn’t it?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Morgana lift the bomb out of my rucksack.

“What the—?” But she never got the chance to finish the question. It exploded in her hand.

I dove to the floor and flattened myself to the concrete. I wasn’t far enough away, and the quick punch of it knocked the air out of my lungs.

Everything went black and silent. The generators stopped rumbling. The work lights and computers died like someone had hit their off switches simultaneously.

My head rang, and the pitch-black room spun around me in dizzying waves. Yeah, definitely too close.

I staggered to my feet. A hand reached out from the blackness and gripped my arm. I struck out, but without anything to orient me, it was as effective as taking a swing at a shadow.

“Friendly!” Jean-Luc said. “Here.” He shoved night-vision goggles at me. I yanked them on and held out a hand for my weapon as my eyes adjusted.

Someone screamed, a high thin wail that shredded the silence following the bang. We spun toward the sound, weapons in hand, as the rest of the team streamed in behind us.

Morgana collapsed to the floor and curled into a fetal position, still making a high-pitched noise that was like her original scream’s scrawny younger sibling. Adrian stumbled blindly, repeatedly hitting a button on a remote. Probably for his psychotronic weapon.

Sorry, buddy. That wasn’t going to work now.

When nothing happened, Adrian threw aside the remote and grabbed a gun, swinging it toward every small sound. He squeezed the trigger, and a bullet buried itself in a circuit panel only a few feet from my head.

My heart stuttered when he oriented himself enough to point the weapon toward Sami. I leaped for him, but Sami moved faster. She surged up from her seat and knocked the gun aside with her bound hands, grabbed fistfuls of his hair, and yanked him down to meet the upward thrust of her knee.

“Whoa,” someone whispered behind me. “Who taught her that?”

I grinned. It was an impressive move, especially since Sami didn’t have night vision like the rest of us. She was going all on instinct and touch, and nobody in HORNET had taught her that.

Adrian stumbled backward, landing on his ass, blinking through the blood and pain of his broken nose. And still he tried to point his gun at Sami.

Mistake.

I stepped over him and kicked the gun from his hand. I crouched down and rested the muzzle of my weapon between his bugging eyes. “Game over, asshole.”

And he peed himself. It spread under him in a puddle that smelled like pure terror. He thought I was going to pull the trigger. I’d be lying if I said my finger didn’t itch to. The little part of me that was still Khaos wanted to.

But I wasn’t Khaos anymore.

I was Harvard.

So I punched him.

“That was for my mother. This is for Will Campbell,” I said and struck him again with all the rage bottled up inside me. Blood splattered from his mouth. “And for manipulating Sami. Using her. Hurting her.” Another punch.

Adrian crumpled to the ground and didn’t get up. He lay there making soft, pathetic mewling sounds.

My rage spent, I stood and shook out my hand. My knuckles were going to be bruised, but it was worth it.

Ian whistled softly. “Badass. Didn’t know you had it in you, Harvard.”

I didn’t bother hiding my smirk as I turned away from them. Being called a badass by the king of badasses was the highlight of my extremely fucked-up night.

I stepped back and let my teammates drag Adrian to his feet and march him toward the door. Jesse crouched over Morgana, who lay sprawled on the floor in a pool of blood.

“Sami?” I spun to find her and nearly collided with her.

“Eric.” She took a few stumbling steps, and I caught her as she collapsed.

“I have you. You’re safe now. Someone get me—” I didn’t have to finish. Jean-Luc was already handing me his multi-tool. I cut the zip ties around her wrists, and she hugged me so tightly my spine cracked.

“I’m so sorry,” she said over and over. “I never meant for any of this—”

“Shh. I know.” I pressed a kiss to the side of her head. I couldn’t not kiss her. I had been too close to losing her. “C’mon, let’s get you out of here.”

We had just stepped outside into the cold night air when noise and chaos erupted around us. I spun toward the noise, using my body as a shield for Sami, and stared in disbelief as Morgana shambled into the moonlight. She carried a gun in her one good hand, the muzzle pointed directly at Sami and me. Her other hand, the one the bomb had been in, was mangled beyond recognition, and she held the bloody pulp of it pressed against her chest. The skin on the right side of her face was shredded, and her lid sagged over a bloodshot eye. Her other eye had swollen completely shut.

I risked a glance into the darkness behind her, expecting to see Jesse, but nobody else emerged.

Jesus, what had she done to the cowboy? Was that Jesse’s gun in her hand?

“Khaos!” She hissed my name through broken teeth. “You ruined everything!”

She was crazy. No sanity left in that one wild eye. I grabbed for my sidearm, but it wasn’t there.

Sami stepped out from behind me, my pistol leveled. “Don’t do this, Morgana. Please, don’t.” Although her voice shook, her hands were rock solid. Her finger moved off the guard to the trigger. “Adrian did this. He used both of us. Let me help you.”

“I don’t need your help. Adrian is all I need. Adrian!” she called out, and when she received no reply, she swung her weapon toward me. “Where is he?”

“Don’t do this. He’s not worth it,” Sami said softly.

“I could say the same for your boyfriend.”

I held up my hands in mock surrender. If Sami kept her distracted for a few more seconds, I could grab my rifle off my back and—

Fuck. No time. I saw Morgana’s finger tightening. Saw the intent in her eye. She didn’t believe that Sami would shoot her, but she fully planned to kill me.

I heard the shot. One single, quick crack that echoed through the trees. For a second, I wondered if I had been shot. If my brain just hadn’t caught up to the pain of it yet. But then Morgana took a lurching step to the side and collapsed.

Goddammit. I whipped around to find Sami. She was candle-wax white.

Sami slowly lowered the muzzle of her weapon and pointed it toward the ground. Her chest heaved like she’d raced Deadman’s Run up and back in record time. I scrambled over to her, tried to pry the gun from her hand, but she wouldn’t release it.

Her knuckles shone white from her grip on it. “She— She made me.”

“I know.”

She turned her head in an almost robotic motion and stared at me with blank eyes. “I had to. She was going to kill you.”

“I know. Let go of the gun, Sami.”

As if a switch flipped, her hand popped open, and the gun dropped to the ground.

“Jesus, Sami.” I tried to gather her into my arms, but she shoved me away and backed up. Like a caged animal, she ping-ponged her gaze back and forth between me and Morgana’s body. She wasn’t running on logic right now, but raw horror and adrenaline. I reached for her again, but she knocked my hands away.

“I—I need to go. I can’t stay here. I can’t—be near you.” She spun away and ran from me.

And I let her go. I had destroyed so many lives. Hers. Adrian’s. Morgana’s. How did you even attempt to make something so horrible right?