| |
Will sprang to the front. He released a long, low growl that seemed to emanate from his chest and gurgle up into his throat. Facing off with four pit bulls, who had stopped in their tracks, Will crouched to spring. The dogs stood their ground, each spreading apart from the others to surround him.
Two feet behind Will, Dalton slowly raised his weapon.
To everyone’s surprise, little Benjamin squirmed his way between us and popped out in front of Dalton. He took a spot beside Will and extended his hand toward the dogs.
“What are you...?” Dalton started for the small boy, but Vanessa Slate intervened.
“It’s all right. Watch.” The woman stood motionless at Dalton’s side, a few feet behind her son.
Then Benjamin began to hum. A haunting tune that filled the cool night air, its effects immediate. The dogs sank to the ground, submissive whines coming from each one.
“Nice job, little man.” Will looked down at the toddler who smiled up at him.
Dalton shuffled everyone through the gate past the tamed terrors and into the building through a side door where a light had just come on. To greet us, pistol in hand, was a rough-looking character with a long silvery beard and a bald head, spotted and darkened from the sun. He had one suspender over his shoulder and the other hanging at his hip, his eyes blinking in the overhead light.
“That you, Dalton?” The man squinted and lowered the gun, a wide grin creasing his face. “I thought you was dead.”
The two men locked forearms and pounded each other’s backs.
“Not this time, Grizz.” Dalton introduced us all in turn and the man scratched his head.
“I’ll never keep y’all names straight.” He turned his attention back to Dalton. “If you’re waking me up in the middle of the night with a crowd like this in tow, you must be needin’ to borrow Old Yeller.”
Will and I exchanged a quizzical look as Dalton grinned at the man. “I was hoping she was all fueled up and ready to go.”
“Where you going, so I can get her back when you’re done with her?”
“You’re better off not knowing. Just give me the keys and I’ll make it worth your while.”
The man narrowed his eyes at Dalton and then shook his head. “You always do. Get her back to me in one piece, will ya?”
Grizz handed over a set of keys and we all followed him to a large garage behind the building. I took a head count. With nearly a dozen of us in our motley crew, I couldn’t imagine how “Old Yeller” would translate into transportation for all of us to our next destination. Walking behind the burly man, I wondered if he’d earned the name Grizz for his barrel-chested frame and crusty demeanor, or if it was possible he’d once killed a grizzly. I wouldn’t have been surprised.
We rounded a corner and there she stood—Old Yeller. Five minutes later we were all loaded onto an old yellow school bus. I’d only seen them in pictures and abandoned on the city streets. This one had curtained windows and its sides brightly painted with peace signs and flowers, the words, Love Bus airbrushed in rainbow colors. Dalton said good-bye to Grizz, and as soon as the bus rumbled to life, we rolled out.
Garnet shuffled excitedly to the back row of seats.
“This is so totally retro,” she said, settling onto the leather seat and stretching her legs out. She let out a long sigh. “I don’t think I could have walked another ten feet.” Exhaustion showed on her face and the stress of the past days had left dark half-moons under her eyes. Garnet yawned. “I’m done. Don’t wake me till we hit Nashville, got it?”
Tyler sat across the aisle. Obviously worn out and done in as well, he propped his pack against the far wall and used it for a pillow. Neri and Baxter each found their own seat and were discussing our narrow escape from Dalton’s safe house over the seat back. The Slate family squeezed in together, the children both lying across their mother, draped over her like blankets. She released a long sigh and folded herself around her children, closing her eyes, finally free and safe for the first time in months. They had been through so much. I slid over into Will’s seat and settled in beside him, happy to drop my pack at my feet and take a breath.
“Crazy couple of days, huh?” Will sent a crooked half smile my way and my heart skipped, a reminder that no matter how tired I was or how much in shock, I would always be susceptible to Will’s easy grin and good nature. Despite his injuries and blood-smeared cheeks, he was as handsome as ever. His eyes, currently the color of storm clouds, were trained on me with an intensity that told me flat out that Will wanted nothing more than to kiss me right then and there. I bit my lip and swallowed before I could find my words.
“I haven’t had a chance to say...happy birthday.”
“You remembered.” His face lit with an appreciative grin. “Thanks.”
“I would have made you a present, but I didn’t think I’d see you again. I’m...glad you’re back.” I wiped the blood from his face with a wet cloth I’d procured from Grizz’s place and then leaned in and kissed his cheek, the soft stubble tickling my lips and making me smile as I lingered for a moment. Will’s mouth pulled into a grin.
“I couldn’t stay away.” His fingers glided between mine and he gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “And being here with you is present enough.”
My cheeks flushed with heat and I studied our entwined fingers, not sure how to respond. I still couldn’t believe Will had chosen to abandon his mission of going after his father—for me. My heart swelled and at the same time ached for the sacrifice he’d made. Whatever doubts I’d had about Will’s loyalty or his feelings for me, disappeared.
Even so, it was hard to imagine that anything had really changed between us. We were still so different in the way we viewed life, I wondered if I could ever learn to accept him for who he was. His ability to rationalize violence and my inability to come to terms with taking life still stood between us. A nudge of guilt and confusion had me changing the subject.
“Are you going to explain how you managed to get back into the Industry headquarters and rescue all these people? And while you’re at it, I’d like to know how you found me.” I leveled a challenging gaze at him.
“I was almost through Vegas when I realized I had to turn back.” Will pulled open the window curtain and peered into the darkness beyond. “It’s what my dad would want me to do—what the President...my Aunt Kathleen would want me to do.” Will’s voice grew low and he darted a glance around to check that everyone was asleep before he continued. “Agent Simms would have been killed or traded to slavers if I hadn’t gone back, and who knows what would have happened to the Slate kids and their mom. I couldn’t leave them all behind.” He paused, as if reading my thoughts for my next question. “I knew Zeph wouldn’t change his mind, but...I had to try.”
I lowered my voice to match his and leaned in toward Will, grateful for the warm strength that infused me when our shoulders pressed together. Even more so, I was grateful Will cared enough to have risked everything to try to save my brother—in spite of how I’d failed him when I let Malevich escape with his dad.
“How did you get in and out of the research facility?”
“I stole a waiter’s uniform and ID and snuck in on the food services detail. Once I infiltrated the research lab, it was easy getting past the Guardians. Especially with Zeph and Doctor Bartholomew’s help.”
At the name Bartholomew, my skin crawled. I knew I should be forgiving of the man since he’d taken Zeph under his protection and care, but I couldn’t help hating the person responsible for my mother’s death. It was true Doctor Bartholomew had been a pawn of Malevich and the Industry, but it was his experiments that had failed and ultimately caused her death. Mothers’ words from a journal entry found their way into my mind. Forgiveness is the key to peace. At that moment, I was a long way from finding either. I shook off my anger toward Doctor Bartholomew and focused on what was most important.
“So, Zeph helped you?”
Will explained in detail the events as they unfolded. After the lengths to which Malevich had gone to secure his plan, Doctor Bartholomew had seen the truth and how insane the man had become, and agreed he’d gone too far in imprisoning Agent Simms. Zeph found the Slates and freed Baxter.
“I didn’t ask questions. I figured what’s one more?” Will finished with a shrug.
I shook my head and chuckled. “For someone so good at being alone in the world, you sure do manage to draw a lot of attention.” I rubbed the top of his thumb with mine. His lips pulled into a half grin.
“I never said I wanted to be alone.” The smile faded. “It just seems to work out that way.” He cleared his throat and continued his story. “Anyway, I never would have been able to catch up with Malevich on my own. I figured Agent Simms might be able to find us some transportation. Turns out I was right. She’s an excellent pilot. All I had to do was lead everyone out through the drainage tunnels under Vegas and make it across to the airport without getting caught. We wouldn’t have stood a chance if Baxter hadn’t knocked out airport security long enough for us to find Agent Simms and escape on the stolen Condor. Baxter rigged the aircraft with a signal jammer so no one could track us.”
“That’s amazing,” I said, looking at the young boy who was sleeping with his head dropped back, his glasses on crooked, and his mouth hanging open. “Electromagnetic boy genius, huh?” I studied Neri, who appeared to be sleeping peacefully, her head resting on a rolled-up coat against the curtained window two rows behind us. “What’s her story?”
Will grew silent, his fingers tightening around mine. “She’s a healer like you.”
“What do you mean like me?” My pulse skipped. I’d known there were other healers, but I’d never met one before.
“I’m not sure exactly, but Zeph made it sound like it was important for you two to meet.” He glanced back at Neri. “Unfortunately, I ran into trouble trying to free her.”
“Is that how you got this?” I touched his shiner and allowed enough power to trickle out of my fingertips to erase the bruise. My hand slid down to the split on his lip, reopened during his fight with Dalton and the subsequent battle for our escape. One at a time, I moved on to the scrapes he’d sustained in the skirmishes of the past few days.
A moment later, Will gave me an appreciative smile, testing his newly healed lip with his tongue. “You’re amazing. Thanks.” He pressed a kiss to the back of my hand and then his face grew serious. “Neri was part of the breeding program.”
“I wondered.” I glanced back at the girl, who now had her eyes closed, her expression peaceful in sleep.
“I don’t think she was a willing participant, but her...mate,” Will said with a hard edge to his tone, “wasn’t about to let her go without a fight. His name is Marcus. He has wolf DNA like me.” His voice had lowered to barely above a whisper.
My heart jumped and an uneasy realization struck me. Neri was carrying a hybrid child, one with both wolf DNA and healing abilities—the same combination I would be faced with if considering a future with Will. Images of a superhuman werewolf creature with the ability to spontaneously heal itself came to mind. I swallowed and looked back at the angelic face of the red-haired girl, wondering if she was fearful of what her child would become.
“I guess now we’ll know what the possibilities are, right?” Determination filled my mind. Once Neri was fully rested, we would have plenty of time to get to know each other, and maybe she would have some answers for me. Will tipped his head down to capture my gaze.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. We should get some sleep. More questions can wait until morning.” I yawned deeply and slipped down in my seat, too tired to ponder everything Will had said. “Oh, yeah. By the way, how did you find me?”
“Before we left Stanton, Sam gave me the code to your GPS—the one inside your locket?” He looked down and caught my gaze for confirmation that it was no longer on a chain around my neck. Not surprised Sam would want Will to be able to find me if we got separated, I nodded and let him go on. “Agent Simms was able to track it from the Condor. We had just caught up to you when Graves captured you at the rest station outside of Dallas. That’s why I thought Dalton was with Graves. I saw him in an Industry uniform climbing into your vehicle and falling into line. We followed you all to the airport with every intention of stopping Graves and rescuing you, but then all hell broke loose. There was an explosion. Then the plane you were in took off. Graves must have had your locket because the GPS coordinates stayed with him on the ground when you lifted off. We followed you until...”
Will slowly brought his arm around me and pulled me to his side, the warmth soothing beyond words.
He spoke softly against my hair. “When that plane went down, I thought I lost you forever. I didn’t stop shaking until we landed at the site and I picked up your trail leading away from the crash. I tracked you on foot to the river with Agent Simms in the air. She was a few miles ahead of me when she saw the drone attack and watched you escape the cargo ship in the pontoon buggy. After she doubled back to find me, we followed you upriver to Memphis where she dropped me off again to track you. It took me some time to find you, but well—here I am.”
Resting my head on his shoulder, I closed my eyes, all the details blurring in my head. All that mattered was that Will had come back for me—and he was at my side.
“I’m sorry I lost your dad’s whistle. It was on the chain with my locket.”
Will pressed his lips to the side of my head in a gentle kiss. “Don’t worry. I’ll get it back for you.”
A shiver ran through me at the idea of him keeping that promise.
