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He chuckles when we quietly ascend the fire escape stairwell. Tensions are high, and I know once we enter the main building, this is all going to happen fast.
We reach the top level, the large green door before me, and I turn back to Alpha. “Stay by my side, anddon’tdo anything stupid.”
He grins. “I never do anything stupid.”
I glower, shake my head, then push the door open with a heavy exhale. “Here we go.”
He follows behind me, keeping close.
We enter the back hall. It’s quiet. It normally is, but I can generally hear some kind of movement. Right now, there’s nothing which is a little too convenient, if I am honest.
We arrive at the end of the hall leading out into the main area, and I glance around at the open expanse. At the other end are Vulture and Crow’s offices, where we need to be.
I turn back to face Alpha. “We have to make it across the opening to the other end.”
“There’s no one here. Why are we even hesitating right now?”
“They’re here. I just don’t know where. And I don’t know if they know we’re here. My guess is they do. This has been far too easy.”
“You’ve got this, Haven. I trust you.”
A slow smile crosses my face, and I turn back, facing the opening. “Okay, let’s go. Stay close.”
I take off toward the offices at the other end, Alpha running behind me, but Vulture steps out in front of us. I skid to a halt as she waves a pair of electrified nunchucks around effortlessly.
My eyes widen when I glance over my shoulder. Crow is moving into position behind us, blocking our exit.
Of course, they knew we were here.
They have probably been watching us ever since I landed the helo.
Shit.
“Blue Jay, I see you’ve brought your target with you. Not how we normally do things, but it is definitely a way for us to carry out the end result,” Vulture grumbles out the words, her nunchucks buzzing and zapping with the electricity flowing through them as she waves them through the air.
My breathing rushes, and I glance over my shoulder at Crow edging toward Alpha, whose eyes are focused on me. “Don’t do anything stupid,” I remind Alpha, turning back to Vulture. Mymentor, the woman who trained me, the woman who made me into the assassin I am today. Without her, I would never have gotten to the position I rose to in The Nest. “Vulture, this doesn’t need to go down this way.”
Both she and Crow snort out a laugh. “You’ve gone rogue, Blue Jay. We never thought out of all our birdsyouwould be the one to betray us. But, here we are,” Crow states, stepping closer and closer to Alpha.
My anxiety begins to rattle through me. Normally, I am calm in a fight-or-flight situation, but with Alpha’s life on the line, I donotlike this situation one little bit. I need to act, and I need to act now. “The thing I can’t seem to understand, Crow, is how you can run a place like this, knowing you’re taking little girls away from their families. From their fathers, fathers like Alpha.”
Crow raises her brow, letting out a small laugh. “Sothat’swhat this is about? The minor you took? Poppy was it? She isyourdaughter, Alpha?” Crow asks Alpha directly.
Alpha flares his nostrils. “She is.”
Vulture lets out a cackling laugh. “It’s all beginning to make sense now. Why you’re throwing everything you have trained for away for this subservient fool.”
Alpha is ready to fire back, but I place my hand on his chest, stopping him from aggravating them further. “I’m not throwing it away, Crow. I’m flying the nest. I am breaking free of the shackles binding me to a life I was never meant to live. One I was trapped into without my consent.”
Vulture scoffs. “You weak,pah-theticgirl. We were all brought into this life without our consent. But we were brought to serve. To be a slave to The Nest. We are trained for a purpose. We are elite for a reason because of the rigorous techniques we go through when we’re young. Without learning young, the birds won’t fall into line. Theywon’tcooperate. Maybethat’swhy you’re flying the nest right now, because you were olderon intake. Because you missed the minor training when they brought you to us. We thought then that you would fail, but early tests showed you were willing and able to cooperate. We should have gone with our gut instinct. You were already broken before you came to us. We failed you, Blue Jay. We should have culled you to save you from what is about to happen to you now.”
I tense my hands into tight fists. “You don’t need to save me from anything, Vulture. Don’t hold back. I’m not going to.”
Vulture grins, snapping the nunchucks. As they crack and sizzle, I turn to Alpha. “Stay where I can see you.”
He nods, turning for Vulture, drawing a knife from my ankle strap. She grins, uses her hand and fingers to wave me over, but then races toward me. I lunge at her, and at the same time, she twirls her nunchucks at me. I duck out of the way, sliding my left leg out to scoop her feet from underneath her. She sees it coming and jumps over my foot, her nunchuck coming down and hitting me straight on the back. A sudden jolt of electricity snaps through my body. The energy and vibration of the volts surge through me, and I grit my teeth. Rolling out from under her, my hand slides out with the knife still in my grip, and I swipe for her Achilles. The blade slices through the back of her ankle, blood squirting all over the floor while she yelps in pain, dropping to her knee.
Quickly rushing to my feet, I turn just in time to see Alpha with his gun aimed at Crow, and I smirk to myself turning back for Vulture. The woman is quickly back on her feet, even though her right ankle is completely mangled.
