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)
Why I’m still standing, I do not know.
I tab through another few screens and all but shout with relief. Layla is not only alive and still standing, but on the move. And by the grace of God, headed the right direction through the underground ventilation tunnel leading to the highway. But once she’s above ground, she’ll be exposed, and the Zodius soldiers will find her. I yank the computer from the wall, toss it, and draw my weapons. Knowing she has to have ICE to survive, I tear the lab apart, but come up dry. Cursing, I know I can’t hunt any longer, and I pray she has some with her. No matter the case, I vow to find a dealer and the ICE that she’ll need to survive.
I exit the lab, and there’s not a soul standing, and it’s weird as fuck. Whatever this is, I’m immune, and everyone else is scared shitless. With no obstacles, I’m at the tunnel in no time, but I don’t risk calling out to Layla. We’re on camera, I’m certain, unless the cameramen are all passed out. I reach the end of the path and exit to the highway, but Layla is nowhere to be found. And I have no idea how long she has until she goes into withdrawal, until she dies. I have to find her now.
Chapter nineteen
Julian
Once the sprinklers are off and I’ve sent in half a dozen men who haven’t passed out, I enter the lab with Dorian by my side. I grimace at the sight of Tad, face-down, and the only idiot still slumbering. I kick the asshole. “Get up, you moron. Get up now!”
Tad jerks to a sitting position, a stunned look on his face. “Holy crap. What the fuck happened?” He jumps to his feet. “Where’s Layla?”
“You tell me!” I snap. “Both her and Jensen are gone. How does that happen with my second-in-charge here? And, you idiot, she used your badge to get out of the lab.”
The doors to the lab slide open, and the lead scientist, since I stole him away from General Powell, rushes forward, his jacket neatly pressed, his glasses sliding down his nose. I’d expected the world from him when I’d recruited him, but all he’s given me is ICE in all its failing glory. Chin’s getting on my nerves and outstaying his welcome, if he isn’t careful.
“I just finished watching the camera feed for the past few hours,” Chin announces. “I do believe the woman shattered the glass and levitated items. I think she caused the men to pass out. It’s remarkable, like nothing we’ve seen before.”
I grind my teeth, barely containing the urge to snap the man’s neck. “Yet another side effect of ICE we should have known about.”
Chin presses his glasses up his nose. “Thousands of people have used ICE, and no one else has developed anything remotely similar to the skills this woman has demonstrated. Perhaps ICE reacted to her recent cancer treatments. I need the woman and her records from the German hospital to be certain.” He holds up a hand. “I make no promises, but if my theory proves correct, we could potentially combine ICE with the same cancer treatments and recreate her skills in your men. But we must locate her quickly before ICE withdrawal kills her.”
I want no part of creating such a skill in others unless that skill becomes my own. I eye Tad. “Find her, and you kill her. Bring her body to Chin to study.”
“I need her alive,” Chin argues.
“I want her dead,” I say. “Now, before she can be used as a weapon against us, which means before Jensen manages to get her to Sunrise City and under my brother’s protection.”
Chapter twenty
Jensen
I’m losing my fucking mind over Layla.
After a good three hours of searching the Area 51 desert terrain for Layla with no luck, I decide she must have hitchhiked out of here, and I have to assume she’s in Vegas. That’s the best scenario, and if I let my mind go too wild, I can think of plenty of worse scenarios, that’s for fucking sure.
In need of reinforcements, I windwalk to the Nevada mountains and the underground headquarters for the Renegades, Sunrise City, with murder on my mind—Maddox’s, to be precise. And why the fuck was no one there to help me save Layla? I charge through the facility and straight for the war room—the Renegades operation center.
Kicking the door open, I find Maddox sitting at the conference table with Caleb and Creed on either side of him, along with four other high-ranking Renegades. One look in my direction, and the room crackles with anticipation. No one dare says, “welcome home,” and Caleb motions for them all to leave. Everyone stands to comply, except for Creed, who considers himself Caleb’s personal bodyguard, which is fine with me. My issue is not with Creed.