Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33658 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33658 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
I push to my feet and glance around at the scientists, where they lie on the ground. Items in the room begin floating about. A chair jumps up and flips over, but I’m not afraid. I can feel the energy waving off of me—the power ICE created. There’s no other explanation. And I know I’m the reason everyone is on the ground. I walk to one of the scientists, relieved to find them alive, just knocked out. That means Tad is alive, too, and that’s as dangerous as it gets.
I glance at the locked doors and the badge around Tad’s neck, flat against his chest. Without allowing myself to think, I charge forward and bend over Tad, unclip the badge, dig for a wallet, retrieve a money clip, and luck out with a jackpot of three vials of ICE. I’ll have to buy more on the street, and I’ll figure that out later. I draw his weapon, thankful that my brother forced me to learn to shoot and confident with the steel in my hand. “Thank you, Kevin,” I whisper, thinking of my brother, who’d died in combat in Iraq, not long after my father, but I don’t waste any time on memories. I rush toward the door, desperate to get out of here.
In a flash, I’ve swiped the security panel. A light flashes green, but the doors don’t open. I punch the keypad next to the panel to find it requires a password. I try random, logical sequences. Nothing. I try again and again. My frustration and fear scratch at the energy in the room. Suddenly, water bursts from the fire sprinklers, and the doors open. Water gushes all over me as I rush out into the hallway, but I have no idea where to go next or how to find Jensen. Muffled voices sound to my right and I don’t want to leave without him but time is up. He’ll find me, I tell myself and I take off, running in the opposite direction.
Chapter eighteen
Jensen
Itold her I wouldn’t let anything happen to her, and what have I done? Allowed her to be taken. Each passing minute is driving me insane. I have to get to Layla. The Renegades will come for us; that is, if Maddox didn’t convince them we’re dead. I can’t risk waiting on them to act, not without risking Layla’s safety. I’ve waited too long as it is, and while I don’t believe they’ll kill her, not yet, I do believe Julian will offer her up as a sex partner to anyone who wants to try and lifebond with her, Tad included. I’m pacing the room, contemplating how deep the cut will be when I escape this room and save Layla, only to have the wolves corner us and punish us when the fire alarm blasts through the facility. Water sprays all over me, and the door pops open, and thank fuck for it all. The calvary is here.
Thankfully, I’m well prepped by Creed, who’d been undercover with Zodius, on the set-up of the facility and where I should be headed. I ease the door open, scan the hallway, and head the direction of the lab, which I think is most likely to be Layla’s location based on resources.
I run down a flight of stairs and pause at a door, easing it open, only to discover something blocking it. And there’s a Zodius soldier face-down in front of the door. All I can think is, I hope like hell the Renegades got to Layla before Julian did. I shove open the door and create a space large enough to examine the vacant corridor before I exit. Bending down next to the soldier, I retrieve the man’s weapons and then slick back my wet hair from my face.
I jog forward, stepping over two additional Zodius soldiers, both lying face-down, before I round the corner to find the lab door open. My gut clenches with fear for Layla, and I enter, not daring a breath until I confirm she is not among the six bodies on the ground. Fear for her is a wild animal clawing at my insides.
My gaze lands on the computer by the doorway; water is pooled around it. Not optimistic it’s working, let alone loaded with the information I need, I rush that direction, shoving my weapons in my pants, to punch the keys. Against all odds, the screen flickers to life, and I work my magic, tapping into the security feed, opening several windows at once, and confirming what I’ve suspected. There are no Renegade soldiers, and whatever is happening in this part of the city, knocking out the soldiers, is not happening elsewhere. Soldiers gather at a distant corridor, and I have no doubt the only reason this place isn’t swarming with them is that whatever had set off the alarm and flattened everyone isn’t contained.