Exposure (44 page)

I spun toward the voice.

Hawfield was ten feet away, holding his lantern, a stunned expression on his face.

“Damn gymnast!” Hawfield charged, one hand reaching for his gun. His massive bulk filled the narrow tunnel.

I fled in the opposite direction.

“There’s nowhere to run!” Hawfield bellowed.

Boots pounded behind me.

Reaching a T intersection, I shot to the right, with no idea where I was going.

Crack! Crack!

Stone chips flew as bullets tore through the space I’d just vacated.

Oh my God oh my God oh my God!

Searing heat rose in my chest. Haloes appeared at the edge of my vision.

No! Not now!

My senses began to overload. I stumbled into another crossroad, cut left.

Footsteps echoed a few paces behind me.

Shock waves traveled my nervous system.

Disoriented, I tripped, landing heavily on the ground.

Rolling, I saw another chute to my left. Cold air drifted from its mouth.

“Game’s over, honey.” Hawfield loomed above me, sucking in wet, panting breaths.

The detective pulled the slide on the HK45.

Click.

With a last gasp, I scurried for the hole in the wall and shimmied into the adjacent room.

“Get back here!” Hawfield growled.

I rolled sideways as the gun barrel appeared in the opening.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

A deafening roar filled the chamber.

Somehow, my flare hung on by a thread.

I covered my ears, tried to block out the gunshots reverberating in my brain.

Through a cloud of pulverized stone, I spotted salvation.

Stairs. Leading up.

I took them at a dead sprint.

Behind me, I heard the detective force his way through the gap.

“Give it up, kid!” Hawfield craned his neck. “I’ll chase you down like a dog!”

The stairs were high and incredibly steep, with a tiny square of light at the top.

Reaching the apex, I felt a light breeze on my face. Heard a sparrow’s call.

Ignoring sounds of pursuit, I slithered through an old trapdoor and exited a small cave.

Fresh air. Blinding sunlight.

Tall trees surrounding me, staring down with solemn faces.

I wavered a moment, frozen in indecision.

What about Ella?

No choice. I couldn’t do anything for my friend without ducking Hawfield first.

I’ll be back, Ella. I swear on my life.

Picking a direction at random, I bolted into the woods.

“H
iram, look out!”

Too late. The leash jerked from my fingers.

“Oh, crap!” I stumbled, nearly face-planted on the pavement. Caught a lone glimpse of Coop’s hindquarters disappearing through a line of magnolias.

Shelton smacked his forehead. “Nice job, Stolowitski. He’s loose!”

“Told you it wouldn’t work!” I shot back, rubbing my wrenched shoulder. “When has Coop ever agreed to my authority?”

Ben held his tongue, but his golden glare spoke volumes.

We were back in the Drayton Hall parking lot. Less than two hours had passed since Tory went missing there, but it felt like a million years.

I wiped sweat from my forehead, could feel my cheeks blazing scarlet. “Hey, next time
you
try to restrain that monster. Coop must weigh eight hundred pounds! It’s like walking a grizzly bear.”

Shelton rolled his yellow eyes. “What now?”

“What else?” Ben took off after the wolfdog. “We follow!”

“Great. Running.” With a groan, I lumbered after him. “Worst birthday ever!”

Ben had driven back to the plantation like an aspiring NASCAR champion. Coop selfishly took shotgun, staring intently ahead, seemingly in agreement with our chosen route. Shelton and I sat in the back, staring out our windows like a couple of weirdoes. Mesmerized. Neither of us had ever ridden in a car while flaring.

So many things to see. To hear and smell. A constant sensory barrage.

I wanted to take the whole world and eat it.

Ben glanced at us once, in the rearview, and chuckled. I guess he’d done it before.

But after twenty minutes of breakneck speed, my canine DNA decided to sledgehammer my brain. Turning onto the plantation’s long driveway, my flare suddenly spiked like hot monkey fever, then nearly fizzled out completely. I broke out in cold sweat, nose burning, vision strobing, ears ringing like a hot microphone. It’s a miracle I didn’t mess my shorts.

Beside me, Shelton winced and rubbed his temples. The car swerved momentarily as Ben gritted his teeth, his face gone paler than a Twilight vampire. Even Coop reacted, shaking his head as if to fend off a swarm of bees.

The wackiness passed as abruptly as it started. I nearly coughed up a lung, but my other body parts seemed to function okay. I was relieved, but more than a little spooked—Tory’s recent blackout was fresh in my memory. I wasn’t anxious to lose consciousness and roll into a ditch or something. Not if I could help it.

In any case, our Viral telepathic jump circle refused to engage, probably because we didn’t have the slightest idea how to engage it. Without Tory, we three bozos were flying blind. No, worse than that—we couldn’t even locate the airplane. It was during our last failed attempt that Cooper yanked my arm from its socket and bolted for the hills.

So Shelton and I bombed after Ben, through the magnolias and onto the humongous lawn fronting the manor house, in hopeless pursuit of an enraged runaway wolf hybrid.

Flaring, I spotted Ben easily, fifty feet ahead, dashing eastward across the acre of grass. Coop was thirty yards farther up, bounding at full speed toward the woods on the opposite side.

“Wait!” Shelton pointed the other direction. “The barn’s that way, on the
west
side of the grounds!”

“Coop doesn’t seem interested!” I shouted as we ran. “What’s this way?”

As I spoke, Coop reached the tree line and disappeared among the shadowy trunks.

“Coop’s headed for the edge of the property.” Shelton attempted to shrug while sprinting. “Far as I know, that’s empty forest. The handout doesn’t list anything.”

“Super.” Panting. Wheezing. “I’m excited.”

Though my mind is a steel trap, I’m not exactly built for long distance pursuit. I carry a bit too much weight in the . . . everywhere to be an effective cross-country runner. Yet with my powers unleashed, I felt light as a feather. Strong. Fast. Agile. Nevertheless, I was still puffing and blowing a Clydesdale by the time we reached the woods.

Ben waited at the edge of the forest. “The mutt never broke stride. I think Coop knows where he’s going.”

“Maybe he’s tracking her perfume?” I gasped hopefully, turning my head to eject a lethal snot rocket.

Shelton waved at the silent grove before us. “But how do
we
track the wolfdog?”

Ben stared at the snugly massed jumble of trees, as if trying to extract an answer by sheer force of will. Finally, “Follow me.” He jogged into the gloom.

I glanced at Shelton, who was looking at me.

“Deserted forest,” he said. “No idea where we’re going.”

I nodded. “A psychopath might be hiding inside. I’m a terrible hand-to-hand fighter.”

Shelton shook his head. “This is my life now.”

“Hey, at least it’s not
your
birthday. Worst one ever, by the way.”

His fist came up. I dapped it with mine.

“For Tory,” Shelton said.

“For Tory.” All joking shelved.

Squaring our shoulders, we hustled into the woods.

• • •

“Hi!” Shelton hissed. “Hear that?”

“Of course I do.” I spoke just as quietly. “My powers are maxed out right now. I can hear your freaking heartbeat.”

He nodded, eyebrows up. “Same here.”

Then Shelton whistled lightly to catch Ben’s attention up ahead.

When Ben turned, Shelton tapped his ear.

Ben nodded impatiently. He brought two fingers up to his eyes, then pointed them left.

“What does that mean?” I muttered, taking a private moment to adjust my sagging shorts. “Look that way? Go investigate? I’m not an army ranger here.”

Hearing me, Ben covered his face. Then he whispered, “Just watch my back.”

“That’s what I’ve
been
doing.” But I zipped my lips at his exasperated glare.

We’d all heard the barking.

Coop? The yips had sounded like Tory’s wolfdog, but honestly, it was impossible to tell.

Ben crept forward through the trees. This stretch of forest was particularly terrifying—tall, skinny oaks, with little understory in between. Yet the trunks were tightly packed, limiting how far one could see. The effect was a sensation of being exposed on all sides, while simultaneously feeling hemmed in and surrounded.

I hated it. Beside me, Shelton looked close to passing out.

A furious baying erupted just ahead. Something large crashed though the trees.

Ben froze, unsure how to react. Then he arrowed directly for the commotion.

“Go
toward
the sounds?” Shelton squawked. “That’s a classic horror movie mistake.”

“Too late now!” Steeling my nerves, I fired after Ben. Shelton trailed a step behind.

The noise rose, a sudden cacophony of barks and whines.

Definitely Coop.

Then Ben yelled at the top of his lungs.

Adrenaline flooded my system.

I vaulted a fallen log, circled a clump of willows, and stormed into a small clearing.

Coop was rolling in the leaves, pinning someone beneath his massive bulk.

Ben dove on the tangle with a voice-cracking whoop.

Raising both fists above my head, I unleashed a primal growl, preparing to launch my full weight onto whatever I didn’t recognize and pummel it with my eyes closed.

Ben saw me coming, held up a hand in alarm.

“Hi! Stop!”

I skidded to a halt, eyes wide, lungs pumping. “What!? What’s going on!?”

Coop rolled to his feet, began licking the person at the bottom of the pile.

It was Tory.

I
began breathing again.

Hiram had stopped his blind charge and wouldn’t crush me. Thank goodness. Pushing Cooper aside, I got to my feet. Felt a huge surge of warmth.

I was no longer alone.

The Virals had found me.

Ben was beaming, unable to hide his relief. He turned quickly, wiping his glowing eyes. Shelton darted forward and crushed me with a hug.

Coop was dancing and bucking, his tail wagging so hard he had trouble keeping balance.

My boys. My heroes.

“How?” Ben asked simply.

“My wolfdog found me.” Catching him, I hugged Coop tight. “I was totally lost, hiding behind this log. He appeared like a guardian angel. Where are we, anyway?”

“The woods south of Drayton Hall,” Shelton said. “A mile from the river, maybe twice that from the barn where you disappeared.”

So close. We barely traveled at all.

My elation quickly evaporated. Ella was still locked in that terrible cell.

I scanned the group. Noted with satisfaction that everyone was flaring.

“
Hawfield
is the kidnapper.” I waved for the boys to huddle close. “The twins faked their abduction, and were working with that jerk to rip off their trust fund.”

“Faked?” Blood rushed to Ben’s face. “They made the whole thing up?”

“Holy crap!” Shelton reached for an earlobe. “The
cop
did it?”

“Why would they steal their own money?” Hi wondered.

“I’ll explain everything later,” I said. “What matters now is Ella. Hawfield took her to keep her quiet. I found the twins hiding in the barn, but they took off. Hawfield showed up, and my flare bugged out. Then he locked me up with Ella in the cell from the video.”

“So you confronted the twins alone, without waiting for us?” Ben couldn’t keep the anger from his voice. “After making us promise not to do anything like that?”

“We can discuss my impulsiveness another time—”

“Oh, we
will,
” Ben assured me.

“—but right now,
Ella
is all that matters. That cell is somewhere in these woods. Deep underground, at the bottom of an old well. I flared and escaped, but ran into Hawfield and had to leave Ella behind.”