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Could love or… I don’t know, good sex really make you turn on the people you’d grown up with? I wanted to believe neither of those things could bethatinfluential, but some part of me hoped like hell that love was the reason. It would give me hope.
I’d managed to suppress the memory of hearing Sariel call me a murderer in his mind, just like how I was suppressing just about every other emotion I was feeling at the moment. I couldn’t allow myself to become overwhelmed at such a crucial time. Too much was at stake.
I also suppressed the feeling of inadequacy that tried to surface. Just like I’d done with the others.
A shiver wracked me when we stopped next to them. We were going in the wrong direction if we wanted to join the line, and the Paras that had begun to circle the perimeter would notice us soon enough.
“There's an SUV at the gate,” Johnny said by way of greeting. He didn’t meet my eye, and for some reason, that made me really angry. Coward
Sariel and I were clearly missing something, but I was more than certain that a conversationbeforehe had me bound in the back of his car would have avoided this situation entirely.
I sensed Neo before Johnny even reacted.
“He’s coming with us,” I announced.
“Excuse me?” Marilyn interjected, her brows rising. I felt my eye twitch at the way she sized me up. I didn’t care that she was one of the strongest Paras here, honestly. I was doing this.
“I said he’s coming with us,” I repeated slowly, as though I was explaining something to a toddler. “And you can’t have a problem with it.”
“Who the fuck—”
“She said I’m coming with, witch. Don’t pretend you don’t know who I am, Marilyn,” Neo’s voice was a little shaky but I figured that had more to do with the fact that we were running for our lives than anything else. “Now, act like you’re taking us to one of the transports parked near the exit.”
Marilyn’s lips pursed, then flattened into a straight line. I flashed her my sweetest smile as she grabbed me by the arm.
“Be gentle,” Sariel hissed.
Johnny was dressed like a Para, so it was easy for him to take one arm each of Neo and Sariel and begin to guide us down to the gate.
We walked right past the buses. There was a dark SUV idling on the curb outside; it was tinted dark enough that I couldn’t see the driver.
“That’s us,” Johnny announced. “It seats six—”
“Hey!”
Our heads snapped around in time to see a Para jogging in our direction. My heart plummeted.
“Run!” Sariel hissed.
“Stop!” the Para shouted.
I’d been hoping that they would train the people guarding some of the world’s most dangerous criminals better than that. I mean… shouting stop? Was he for real?
We’d made it less than a hundred yards from the SUV when a vine snaked out from the ground and lashed out in Neo’s direction. With reflexes I wish I could develop in this lifetime, he ducked out of the way.
I turned to look back, but Marilyn grabbed my hand. “Don’t look back!” she yelled. “They can handle themselves.”
And she was absolutely right. In fact, I was sure I felt a little excitement trickle down the bond from Sariel.
The driver’s side door flew open. I watched in complete shock as Reese, of all people, jumped out, pulled the back door open, then leapt back into the driver seat.
A bullet whizzed past Marilyn when we launched ourselves inside, clambering into the last row of seats just in time for the men to come flying in; Neo scrambled over the center console to settle himself in the passenger seat.
The door closed, and Reese sped forth.
I heard a sizzling sound, so I turned to look through the back windshield and gape at the honest-to-Godfireballcareening towards us.
I then stared, mesmerized, as Marilyn began to work. A cloud formed over the fireball; despite the rain not falling anywhere but on the fire, I could hear the torrential downpour.
