Cipher (24 page)

The teams slowly closed in. Always in a circle. No one letting her out of sight.

Then a shot rang out.

Emma hit the ground, and I bit my hand so hard I tasted blood.

A man in a lab coat broke through the ring of security and pressed a med device to her wrist. “She’s fine. She’ll be out for the next twelve hours or so. Enough for us to get her to the facility.”

I breathed out a sigh of relief. At least she was alive. They needed her too much to really hurt her.

“Good. Let’s move.”

“What about Marquez?” one of the men in black said. I recognized the voice. Colonel Santiago.

“Let him go. We have what we need, and he’s dead the next time he steps foot on Seligo-controlled land.”

I slid to the ground as I watched Santiago carry her away. Her head lolled down over his arm, blue hair spilling over.

Every instinct screamed to take her from him.

But I couldn’t. I clenched my teeth so hard my jaw cracked.

I couldn’t fight now and win. I had to wait. I had twelve hours to find out where they were taking her. Twelve hours to get to her before she woke up and they started experimenting.

As the sound of choppers faded in the distance, I placed the call. Emma had been taken. I needed pick-up.

After everything I’d been through, nothing compared.

I’d rather be twelve years old again, letting my father kick the shit out of me a thousand times than see her hurt.

And I’d just let her sell herself for my life.

I stood, brushing grass from my knees.

I’d get her back or die trying.

Chapter Seventeen

CIPHER

I faded in and out. Lights were bright and then there were none. It was dark. Motion rocked me. But no matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t wake up.

Every time I grew close, I was sucked back down into the darkness.

***

I woke up strapped to a bed. The room smelled of dust, rust, and concrete. Clear plastic walls that had to be ten inches thick formed my square prison. The hospital bed I was strapped to took up the center and a few rolling carts and IV stands surrounded it. Gas lamps lit the room.

“She’s awake,” said a voice off to my left, but I couldn’t see the man who spoke.

How much time had passed since the island? It could’ve been hours or weeks.

I swallowed back panic. I hoped it hadn’t been weeks.

Uncle Jack stepped through the plastic. He’d always been tall and lanky, but now he was much too thin. His cheekbones stuck out and his eyes were sunken in. The hair along his temples had grayed. My dear uncle looked like hell warmed up. Someone had been keeping the serums from him. No wonder he was so desperate to catch me. Bringing in a Red would be more than enough to put him back in Nagi’s good graces.

“I had this room made especially for you,” he said. “Not a lick of electricity within a mile radius.”

I tried to push away the fear that chilled my skin, but I couldn’t. I was stuck here, at his mercy. I couldn’t believe I was related to him.

I reached out, trying to feel even the littlest trickle of electricity, but nothing was there. My hands shook in their bonds, and I closed them in fists. He’d put me in an empty landscape with nothing for me to pull from. How in the hell had he found a lab in a dead zone?

Only one possibility explained it. He hadn’t found the dead zone. He’d made it. I really was in a Seligo facility made just for me.

My breathing quickened. I tried not to tug on the restraints, but I couldn’t help myself. My stomach turned as I struggled. I couldn’t even get an inch of wiggle room.

My uncle’s laughter echoed through the warehouse.

I stilled, my breath coming in gasps.

“Notice something about this room, niece of mine?”

“Fuck off!”

“Now that wasn’t polite.”

I could nearly hear the smile in his voice, but he’d stepped far enough away that I couldn’t see him.

“I’ve done my research. I had this whole base built especially for your capture years ago. Totally off the grid.”

He couldn’t be serious.

I suddenly felt cold.

This was a nightmare. I was tied down, with no weapons, no abilities, nothing. I was completely at my crazy-ass uncle’s mercy.

My breath came in short pants as I struggled not to totally lose it. I wanted to go home. I wanted to go back to Knight. Where in the hell was he?

“Where is Dr. Grozdan?”

“I’ll go check, sir,” someone answered from beyond the plastic.

“I want guards around her at all times. She won’t get away from us this time.” He spun around and strode from the room.

I lay back and closed my eyes, trying to think of a happy place, but for the life of me I couldn’t. The only thing I felt was fear. Mind-numbing fear.

Who the hell was Dr. Grozdan and what was he going to do to me?

Chapter Eighteen

KNIGHT

I pulled up to the Ravens’ compound, and jumped off my bike. It’d taken me three days to get back to Colorado. Three days of dodging Helix security.

Three days that Emma was with them, and I wasn’t there to save her.

My muscles ached with tension. I needed to be loose, calm, and decisive, but my emotions didn’t give a fuck about cooperating.

I tried to think of this as just another of the countless missions I’d been on, but it wasn’t. It couldn’t be when Emma was involved, and I knew my judgment was suffering for it.

I made my way through the maze in the main compound building. When I found the right door, I placed my hand on the lock, and gave the computer my access code.

The doors slid open, revealing the central control unit, ringed by rows of desks. An intel agent sat at each desk, typing furiously.

I strode toward Samantha. She sat close to the center of the action, next to the Lady’s empty desk, where she was scanning through info on a massive screen. Her fingertips guided intel across the glass, sorting it into subcategories.

Her hair was hot pink today. Emma would love that.

My breath caught. Every time I thought of her, it was a like a stab to the heart.

Sam hopped down from her post. “Knight.” She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed for a second before letting go. “You okay?”

I gave her a hard look.

“No. You’re not. That’s what I thought.”

“I didn’t expect to see you here, kiddo.” She liked to run coms from her own office, but that meant she couldn’t coordinate with other Ravens as easily.

She climbed back into her seat. “You need the best. I’ve got your back.”

I let out a breath. I did need the best, and Samantha was that. Even if it put that much more responsibility on her, there was no way I’d turn down her help.

“Sam!” A Raven called from the back of the room. “I’ve got something.”

People moved out of the way as I half-ran to the screen. “Report!”

“There was a sign of power fluctuations two hours ago at the Mission Street facility.”

“Sam, can we get a video feed—”

“Already on it.” She was typing away on a nearby screen. “Listen, Knight. We only have one operative in this building. It’s rarely used, and we didn’t see the need to place more than one Raven on site. He’s on his way to see what’s making the power grid go crazy, but he can’t blow his cover.”

I wanted to call bullshit, but I knew blowing more Ravens’ covers wasn’t an option. Not anymore. Plus, I might need someone on the inside to help me get her out of wherever she’d been stashed. “I understand.”

“Playback is from a while ago,” Sam said as a security cam feed filled up the screen.

A team of Black Helixes loaded Emma into an elevator. She lay limp on a stretcher, freckles stark against her bloodless face. I nearly threw up.

I never threw up. Not on any of my missions. But seeing her there, so vulnerable…

Samantha fast-forwarded the feed. When the team stepped off the elevator, the screen went blank.

“Sam?”

“I’m trying to pull up the feed for that floor.” Her fingers were almost blurs as she worked. “The cameras on this floor were turned off twelve hours, twenty-eight minutes, and forty-two seconds before this. I’m guessing our enemies are taking extra precautions now that you, Dex, and Oliver have been confirmed as Ravens.”

I crossed my arms to stop myself from punching the screen.

More thumbnail feeds popped up. Video coverage for the Seligo facility. One by one, the screens went blank. “Everything goes out an hour after Emma got there. I’m guessing this place was a diversion while they moved her somewhere more secure, but we have to wait for our agent to confirm.”

Spots danced in my vision.

She’s gone.

“Find her,” I spat the words and regretted it. This wasn’t Sam’s fault. I was the one who went to that island. I was the one who let her take the fall.

My father had been right. I was nothing but a loser.

“I’ll find her. It’s only a matter of time.” Sam turned to the room. “Everyone, start scanning for cars leaving the area. Should be a train of them. Start at—” She shouted orders, and people scrambled.

I paced the room as I waited. I wanted to take over. To start searching, too. But there wasn’t an open space, and I wasn’t sure my brain was working right. I was losing my mind a little.

Or a lot.

“Hunter,” Sam said.

I jolted free of my thoughts. “What’ve you got?”

Sam tapped her screen. “We’ve narrowed it down to three vehicles. She has to be in one of these. But I think this car’s your best bet.” She pointed to a car weaving through traffic. “I was able to follow it into a dead zone.”

I nodded. “That’d be a good place to stash Emma. She’d be totally helpless. Cut off from her abilities.” Except they didn’t know we’d been working on the island for that exact scenario.

“Exactly. We pulled in everyone we could spare for you on this op. It’s not a lot, but it’s the best we can do right now. The team’s waiting in the briefing room. Dex is on lead.”

Good. I wasn’t in any kind of mental place to take on commanding this, even if I wanted to. Dex wouldn’t let me down. “Got it.” I squeezed Samantha’s shoulder. “Get us a location, and we’ll take it from there.”

Down the hall, a team of seven Ravens was waiting. None of them had helixes except me and Dex, but I’d helped train many of them and they were good operatives. The room had screens in the front and rows of seats. Each chair had a com attached to it. Dex stood in front of the room talking to the group assembled.

“Fox, your team is first in the air. Rico, your team’s second. I’ll let you pick who has the third and fourth spot. I want you in formation. Once we get Emma, we’re going to have to haul ass out. We need you covering our asses all the way back to the Colorado station.”

I cleared my throat and Dex turned to me. “You found her?” He asked me.

“Yes,” I said. “What do we have for resources?”

“Five ground teams en route. Plus four air. Won’t be here for another day, though.”

I shook my head. That wasn’t fast enough, but we’d have to do. “Where’s Oliver?”

Dex rolled his eyes. “With Mona. Says he’s out for the next week. Doesn’t want to abandon her in an unknown place.”

Dex wasn’t hiding his disgust at all. “I’d do the same if the situation was reversed.”

“No, you wouldn’t.”

I slapped his back. “Let it go, man. We need to get moving.”

“We’re going in civie cars,” Dex said, and then paused for objections. The room stayed silent. “Not the best, but I don’t want us getting spotted on the way. Sam is covering intel. Once she finds our in, we move.”

I cleared my throat. “My Red is in there, and I won’t have her turned into some fucking science experiment.”

The group shouted agreement.

“This is a dangerous mission. We’re going into the den and pulling one of our own out. And it’s personal to me. As much as I’d like it not to be, that will color my judgment. Shit goes down, look to Dex.” I clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s move.”

***

Four hours later, I was outside a warehouse on my stomach. “What’s the readout say?”

“Five heat sigs inside.” Dex’s sensor unit beeped. “One could be Cipher. More outside, but nothing big. We can be in and out in fifteen. Gives us enough time to cover our tracks before the Seligo jump on it.”

“Good. Let’s do this.”

I started to move, but Dex grabbed my arm. “You’re not seriously going in first.”

“Why the fuck wouldn’t I?” Although I knew perfectly well why I shouldn’t. I wasn’t running this show. Dex was.

But I didn’t give a shit about procedure right now.

Dex rolled his eyes. “Fuck it. Let’s go.”

I gave the signal and we moved.

Moving through the security was easy. Too easy. We moved through the compound with little to no resistance, taking down a few token guards. When we reached the room with the heat sigs, I busted through first.

Shots rang out, and I stepped back through the doorway, using it as a shield.

I popped around again to another chorus of gunfire. This time I paid attention to where the shots were coming from.

When I popped out a third time, I fired first, and didn’t slow my stride. Four shots was all it took. The bodies hit the ground and I stepped over one to get to the chair in the center of the room. A girl with strawberry blond hair was strapped down, but from across the room I knew this wasn’t Emma. The girl wore a short skirt and a skimpy top, and she was too tall, even sitting down.

She was hunched over, but looked up as I approached. Not Emma. Not even close. Her eyes were dark brown. No freckles. Makeup smeared down her face.

I squatted down next to her and pulled out one of my knives. She flinched, but when I cut her free, she relaxed enough to start crying and throw herself at me.

I didn’t want her gratitude. I wanted to get the hell out of here. “Sullivan?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You and your team are on cleanup. Make sure she gets taken care of.” I passed the girl off and hurried out of the room. I jammed the buttons on my com, fingers shaking. “Sam. What the fuck.”

“I’m sorry. I could’ve sworn that was the right one. The other went to a building in the city. I checked the video feeds just now. It’s definitely not her.”