I looked past them and saw the small room at the end. Inside the solitary small crib was a tiny child whose aura was so bright it forced me to blink.
Hurry, Riley. Our time is almost up.
I hurried. But only to the doorway. Starr was sick enough to set up some sort of trap to protect his hostage on the off chance that the power went off.
I couldn’t see anything out of place. I stuck an arm through the doorway, and nothing happened. No alarms, no bombs, no traps. I walked over to the cot.
The child inside was the image of her mother—white on white—except for her eyes. They were the most amazing shade of violet I’d ever seen. And not only that, the kid seemed aware. Like she knew why I was there, and what I intended.
There were no wires attached to the little girl, but given Dia said her daughter had been booby-trapped, I wasn’t about to pick her up until I was very sure it was safe.
I gently felt her limbs and little body, trying to see if there was anything implanted, then did the same to the area surrounding the cot. It wasn’t until I looked underneath that I saw the sensors.
I looked in Quinn’s direction. He was looking at me rather than the free floor show, which was a little surprising given his earlier flirtation with voyeurism.
It looks like the cot is rigged with explosives or something. Can you search their minds and find out where the kill switch is?
There had to be one, simply because Dia was allowed to cuddle her child once a week.
Light switch near the door is the trip. He paused. Lucky you didn’t just lift her up—it’s powered by the backup gen, same as the security doors.
It figured. Once I’d flicked the switch, I wrapped the child in her blanket and lifted her up. She didn’t say anything, didn’t do anything, not even wriggle or whimper at being picked up by a sweaty, bloody stranger. She just looked at me with those amazing eyes of hers.
Seeing too much, as her mother felt too much.
A shiver ran through me. Maybe Starr wasn’t just keeping this child for ransom reasons. Maybe he also wanted to know what was going on inside her head. Because something definitely was.
Jack wants me to blow this lab if possible.
I’ve instructed one of the lovers to reset the switch as we leave, Quinn said. The cot will blow instantly, and it’ll give us cover and time to escape.
And Starr might just think someone got careless.
Perhaps.
Quinn sounded doubtful, and I can’t say I blamed him. I cradled the little girl close and walked back to Quinn. The threesome on the floor were reaching the heights, their moans becoming louder and louder.
People come to investigate the noise. Shadow the child. He turned and led the way back out.
I drew the darkness over the child’s body and followed Quinn out the door. Several people had gathered at the end of the corridor, sniggering and talking. Even as we passed them, they began to creep forward. At least with their attention on the threesome doing the horizontal tango, they were less inclined to notice us. Not that Quinn would have allowed them to, anyway.
A point he proceeded to prove by spinning open the old door and ushering me through. Not one of those in the hall turned to look, even though some were very close. When the door had closed again, I asked, How are we going to get back through the chameleons?
We run like hell.
No, really.
Really.
Fuck. Chameleons were fast. I knew that, he knew that. Outrunning them hadn’t been an option the first time I’d crossed paths with these creatures, and I doubted it would be now.
As we reached the door, an explosion shook the air and the walls. Dust rained down from the ceiling, and alarms began to sound. Quinn ignored it all and gripped the door handle, his fingers a flame against the cool metal. Ready?
No. I cradled the baby a little closer, shielding her as much as possible, then reluctantly nodded.
Quinn thrust the door open, and I ran through. The darkness howled, a sound of anger that seemed to echo off the very walls. Air stirred, a whirlwind of hate that seemed to be aimed at me more than Quinn. I didn’t look back, didn’t look sideways, just concentrated on getting to the door and the tunnel beyond it.
Something brushed past my hair and crashed into the wall near the door as I ran through. Bones snapped, a creature howled. Quinn, cleaning up behind me, ensuring safe passage. I fled into the tunnel, my footsteps slapping against the cold stone.
Behind me, a creature roared, the reverberations echoing through the red-tinged darkness. Though I heard no sound, Quinn grabbed my arm, pushing me forward faster. It felt like I was being run off my feet and yet didn’t seem anywhere near fast enough.
Wasn’t fast enough.
Even as the ladder came into sight, there was an odd click and suddenly cameras were moving, tracking us.
A heartbeat later another alarm sounded, closer and harsher than the other, a strident sound that was deafening in the tunnel confines.
The child didn’t make a sound. Didn’t move. She breathed—I could feel it, see the bright heat of her body—but her stillness was eerie. Hell, I jumped when that alarm started, but not the kid. It was almost as if she understood that she couldn’t cry, that to do so would put us all in even greater danger.
Of course, she could also be doped out of her tiny mind, but somehow, that just didn’t ring true.
Maybe it was me who was out of my tiny mind.
As we neared the ladder, Quinn touched my shoulder. I slowed, watching as he scrambled up. From behind came the skitter of claws on stone. He hadn’t locked the security door and I cursed him—until I realized he’d given us cover. Starr just might think it was the creatures who had tripped the alarm.I reached for the rungs and began to climb. It didn’t matter if it was clear or not up top—I’d rather face six men with guns than two extremely pissed chameleons.
No matter how awkward it might have been to climb a ladder while holding a kid, let me tell you that no ladder had ever been climbed quite so fast. Quinn grabbed my hand and helped me over the final section, then slammed the door shut on my heels and closed the cover. I leapt over the bodies of two security guards who’d obviously been patrolling nearby, and ran like hell into the thick darkness of the forest.
The thump of many footsteps against concrete suggested security were answering the alarm. I hoped my brother wasn’t amongst them or, at least, wasn’t the first in line to open that door.
Unease rolled through me again, and this time, I knew for sure it centered on Rhoan. I just wasn’t entirely sure why. Was it simply sibling concern? Or the growing certainty that something had gone seriously wrong for him? Maybe the next thing I needed to do once I’d delivered Dia’s child to safety was hunt him out—if only to see him and ensure he was okay.
Because the last time I’d felt anything like this, he’d been kidnapped and milked for his seed.
And then something else hit me—the realization that Starr was likely to check the whereabouts of all his people. Including the whores and us fighters. I stopped abruptly.
“What’s wrong?” Quinn’s voice was even, showing no hint of breathlessness despite all we’d been through. Annoying, to say the least.
“I need to get back to my room, which means I need you to do me a favor.” I swiped at the sweat trickling down the side of my face. “Will you take the child to the forest and wait for the shifter to come in and collect her?”
He frowned, and gave the silent little girl a dark look. “I am not overly fond of children.”
“I’m not asking you to be fond of her. I’m just asking if you’d take her to safety.”
He didn’t answer immediately, so I offered up the child. Somewhat reluctantly, he took her. “When and where?”
Rather than respond, I flicked the com-link and said, “Jack?”
“Regular reports, Riley. That was in the very first lesson on proper guardian behavior.”
“I think that was the one I slept through.”
He swore. “Damnit, just report.”
I smiled. It might not be wise to bait my boss, but damn if it didn’t feel good when he bit. “We’ve got the kid and blown the lab, but the shit has temporarily hit the fan. Quinn’s going to bring the child to the meet now. I’ve got to get back and act like nothing has happened.”
“Everyone’s cover still intact?”
“That very much depends whether the cameras in the tunnels had infrared or not.” I hesitated. “Listen, those underground levels are not new. Quinn reckons they’re far older than the cartel itself. You don’t think this place is situated on an old military bunker, do you?”
“Maybe one named Libraska, you mean?”
“Well, it does make sense for Starr to have his most valuable asset close to hand.” And it would also explain the existence of the elevator entrance to his rooms—the one no one seemed to know about.
“We’ve no records of any installation, military or not, being built in this area, but I’ll get Alex to check with her Government source. Hopefully, we’ll have an answer soon as to what Starr is sitting on.”
Alex was Alex Hunter, the woman responsible for the birth of the Directorate, and who’d been in charge of it since its inception. Not only was she a very old vampire—far older than even Quinn—but she was also Jack’s sister. Talk about job security.
Though how Jack could be several hundred years younger than Quinn, and yet still be the sibling of someone several hundred years older, was a point Jack and said sister had so far been unwilling to explain. But I very much intended to get an answer, even if I had to nag Jack to death.